History
of Carryduff
It was in 1971 that a group of parents,
concerned at the lack of playing facilities in the
fast growing southern suburb of Belfast, came together
to form a schoolboys Gaelic Football team. The prime
movers in clubs were Harry McEvoy, Paddy MeEvoy and
Martin McAteer, and within a couple of years a full
G.A.A. club had come into being. with a team entered
in the East Down League.
Progress was spectacular in this
decade, as they rose to become one of the strongest
Junior teams in the County.The 1978 season, for example,
saw 15-year old Greg Blaney, one of top Gaelic Footbaiiers
of the Eighties and Nineties, make his clubsenior
debut alongside Dan McCartan and P T Treacy - two
of the 'Greats' of the Sixties.
Though the club did reach Division
II in 1981, it was not until the miid-Eighties that
the fruits of a painstaking juvenile coaching policy
began to be seen. and by the end of the decade new
"home grown" stars like John Kelly and Mark McCartan
had brought the club to the First Division.
From the early days, the club has
been characterized by a thriving social dimension.
There has been heavy involvement in Scor. with pride
of place joy to the Carryduff Ballad Group which won
the All-Ireland title in 1983.
Handball was added to the club's
activities in 1985, and the club won the Down Leagues.
Four of its players, Greg Blaney,
Neil Collins, Mark McCartan and John Kelly featured
prominently in Down's All-Ireland accomplishments
in the Nineties.
Sunday the 7th April 2002 saw Carryduff
open their new pitch - Carryduff U12 B team took on
Loughinisland.
At present the Club is planning their
next stage in their pitch development which should
see a club house being developed over the next few
years.
The Clubs founding members were:
Harry McEvoy, Matt Fitzpatick, Colum
Glavin, Michael Murray, Joe Swail, Paddy Shevlin,
Paddy McEvoy, and Bernard Clarke
Harry McEvoy: To many people,
Harry McEvoy is simply Mister Carryduff. A founder
member, he holds the remarkable record of having been
on the Committee every since the Club's inception
in 1972.
He was the very first Chairperson
of Carryduff GAC and has held that office on a number
of occasions since, also as Vice-Chairman and Secretary.
The founding of Carryduff GAC was
not a first for Harry - 1955 he helped found his native
Drumaness GAC when the nearby Ballynahinch club folded.
Harry had played Minor and Senior football for that
club and indeed had a spell in the Chair as well!
In 1958, he was elected Secretary of Drumaness and
held that post until he moved to Carryduff in 1964.
For almost four decades, Harry has
loyally served the Gaelic Athletic Association in
County Down in the promotion and administration of
its games and culture. One of the most respected men
in GAA circles, he has held the top office in the
county, having been elected County Chairman in 1977
and was Chairman of the East Down Board for twenty-five
years from 1981-1996. He has also chaired the County
Activities Committee, he was the first Chairman of
the Down FAS Committee and has been heavily involved
in Ciste Gael and Scor.
Retired principal of Drumaness P.S.
Harry is married to Greta. They have five children,
Joe, Marie, Sean, Briege and David, all of whom have
made contributions to this club particularly in Scor
Na Nog, with outstanding success. The unselfish, and
often unsung contribution of Harry McEvoy to the GAA
has benefited not only his club, of which he is an
Honorary Life Member, but also his County through
the many years of his involvement. The existence of
Carryduff today owes much to his expertise, drive
and dedication.
Matt Fitzpatrick: Orignally
from Newtownbutler in County Fermanagh, Matt is a
well known journalist whose weekly column on GAA has
been a feature of the Down Recorder for many years.
His contribution began as Snippets in 1975 and became
the much read Matt's Chat in 1991.
Matt's desire to pursue a career
in journalism was sparked by a request he received
from the late Senator Paddy O'Hare(RIP), the then
editor of the Fermanagh Herald, way back on Easter
Sunday 1947. Newtownbutler played Lisnaskea in a Minor
match and at the tender age of fifteen, Matt produced
his first report on a match in which he had played!
After this rather inauspicious start, he put his talents
in the journalistic field on hold to pursue a career
in the civil service. It was upon his retirement that
he found the time to pursue his first love and is
now a regular match reporter for the Irish News.
Matt played his first football with
Newtownbutler GFC with whom he won a host of medals
including a senior championship. He was also a regular
on the great Fermanagh Junior team of the late '50's
When he moved to Belfast, he played with Queen's,
Mitchels and Eire Og and added to his collection an
Antrim S.F.L runner-up medal.
Coming from a family with a strong
GAA tradition- his father was a Member of the Fermanagh
County Board- it is hardly surprising to learn of
Matt's own involvement in adminstration at both club
and county levels.
He has been associated with Carryduff
from its earliest days and was one of those responsible
for organising Under-Age teams back in 1971-1972.
Matt has been a member of the County Board since 1966
and was County Registrar in 1974, 1977-1979. He has
been East Down Secretary on three different occasions
and has been the Divisional Board Treasurer since
1979.
He served as Secretary of Ballyhackamore
GAC and when this club became defunct in 1971 he helped
found Carryduff GAC a year later and brought with
him, from Ballyhackamore, two of our leading players
from those early days, Gerry Cullen and Mickey Leonard.
Colum Glavin: An Honorary
Life Member, Colum has been heavily involved in Carryduff
GAC since day one and served on the initial Committee.
He was also the club's very first
team manager, a position he held from 1973-1975 inclusive
and again in 1978. During that time Carryduff won
the East Down Junior League and the East Down League
Shield and were twice runners-up in the Down Junior
Championship. Colum was Chairman of the Club in 1976
and was Vice-President in 1982.
Coum played his early club football
with Ballykinlar, Annesborough and Dundrum and was
also a committee member with Dundrum. He won County
Junior Championship medals with Annesborough and Dundrum
and represented Down at Junior and Senior level between
1943 and 1949.
His father was a former East Down
Chairman and club Chairman of Dundrum until his death
in 1960. With such a strong GAA tradition in his family,
it was envitable that Colum became involved in activities
not only at county level, serving as a committee member
on the East Down Board for a spell.
A retired architect, Colum is married
to Julie-Ann and they live at Beechill. Sons Liam
and Damien have both played for Carryduff teams at
all levels.
Whilst the Club has grown and attracted
new members from many parts, Colum " would prefer
to see a parish-only team even if it should mean a
relegation to the lower divisions " . A steadying
influence in the Club for many seasons, Colum therefore
takes great delight in seeing the indigenous youth
of the parish now coming through in numbers to take
their places on our first team.
Michael Murray: Michael,
more commonly known as Mickey, is a native of Ballynahinch
and played his early football for Drumaness before
transferring to Carryduff in 1973, albeit he had become
one of our first members in 1972. In fact, Mickey
holds the distinction of being a Carryduff Member
whilst at the same time assisting his former club
to an All-County Division 'B' title.
Apart from that honour, Mickey has
won an East Down Junior League medal, two East Down
League Shield medals (one as captain) and one All-County
Division 111 medal with Carryduff. He has also represented
his school, St McNissi's College at Rannafast and
McCrory Cup levels and played on the Freshers Team
at Queen's University.
As a player, Mickey adopted a no
nonsense approach to his role of a defender and was
affectionately(?) known as " Thunderthighs " . Many
illustrious opponents had good reason to enquire,
at the end of a game, as to the identity of the tigerish
defender whose speciality was " close encounters "
!
Mickey has been a member of the Carryduff
Committee on a number of occasions and a leading Member
of the Club in its early years. A lecturer in Town
Planning at the University of Ulster, Mickey now resides
in Saintfield but nonetheless he still takes an active
part in club affairs.
Joe Swail Joe was born in
Banbridge but the family have lived in the Carryduff
area for many years and indeed have all made outstanding
contributions to the club over that period.
As a player, Joe possessed that little
bit of extra flair and in his career won many honours.
Like his father Jimmy, he wore the red and black of
Down with distinction, at many levels including senior
and won an Ulster Junior Football Championship along
the way.
Before coming to Carryduff, Joe played
with Kilclief with whom he won two Down " A " league
medals and also played for St John's (Belfast) picking
up Antrim Minor League and Championship medals. Whilst
with St. John's, he was selected to represent the
Antrim Minor team and won an Ulster League medal with
them.
Joe's roll of honour didn't suffer
from his joining Carryduff and he went on to pick
up five further medals. Indeed his years with Carryduff
saw Joe regarded as one of the most prominent Gaelic
sportsmen in the county and he was suitably rewarded
with the accolade of East Down Player of the Year
in 1976, a considerable honour as election was by
the rest of the players in the division. Apart from
his activities on the playing field, Joe was the Club's
first Secretary in 1973.
He was also the club's first Senior
Captain and another was to come his way the following
year- Player of the Year. Over the years, he has served
the club in many roles - Secretary, Registrar, P.R.O.
and as Mentor for Juvenile teams and as Senior team
trainer.
Paddy Shevlin: Paddy is a
native of Carryduff and has been with the club since
it was established. Along with his brothers Peter
and Kevin, he wore the purple and gold jersey with
pride and much enthusiasm for more years than he would
care to admit. Paddy has won East Down Junior League,
East Down Intermediate League, two League Shield and
All-County Division 111 League medals.
He also holds three Junior Championship
runner-up medals. Apart from his playing activities,
Paddy served on the club committee from 1972-1977
and managed our second team for a number of years
along with Paul Maginn and Gerry Cullen.
In addition to his prowess on the
football field, Paddy was also an accomplished cricketer
and was fondly known to his team mates as " The Nawab
of Pataudi " !
Paddy McEvoy Although Paddy
was never really a member of the Carryduff Senior
Club, he was a driving force behind the youth team,
organised in 1971, and which was a forerunner to the
formation of a gaelic club in the village. He played
a major part in that early youth team when he decided
" to try to stimulate the formation of a club in Carryduff,
because I felt that the local youth should have the
opportunity to play the games " .
Paddy considered it important to
have a Gaelic club in Carryduff because of " the manner
in which the meeting and relating on equal terms regardless
of station in life " and also " the ability of the
GAA to create and sustain a kind of counter-culture
that is with the traditional values and customs "
. Whether he was a member or not is irrelevant. Paddy
will always be held in high regard by the Gaels of
Carryduff for the major part he played in the formation
of our Club.
Paddy has made sizeable contribution
to not only Carryduff GAC, but also to the East Down
and County Boards over the years and is an active
member of the Downpatrick Club.
Bernard Clarke Bernard, like
Paddy Shevlin, is also a native of Carryduff and as
such was anxious to establish a Gaelic club in his
own area seeing it as a natural progression to provide
senior football for the locals who were, at that time,
playing for nearby clubs.
Bernard was a prominent player on
the teams of St McNissi's College, whence our Club
colours derive, and also Queen's University, being
on the Queen's Sigerson panel in 1974 and 1975. Over
the years, Bernard has played in many positions for
Carryduff and has been a spectacular and reliable
goalkeeper, captaining our first team in 1974. It
has always been an ambition of Bernard's to play on
the same Carryduff team as his son.
This he achieved in 1996 when he
and Rory both lined out for our third team, thereby
emulating what had been achieved previously by Dan
McCartan (with his son Mark), P.T. Treacy (with Brendan,
RIP) and Gerry Cullen (with Aidan). Bernard has been
a tireless worker on the club's behalf helping out
at under age level and serving several spells on the
Committee. He was Chairman for three years from 1992
at a time when the Club successfully embarked on its
first major fund-raising venture.
