Old Christians GAA Club
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| Seán Chríostaithe | |||||||||||||
| Founded: | 1962 | ||||||||||||
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| County: | Limerick | ||||||||||||
| Nickname: | Christians | ||||||||||||
| Colours: | Black and Red | ||||||||||||
| Grounds: | Rathbane | ||||||||||||
| Playing kits | |||||||||||||
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| Senior Club Championships | |||||||||||||
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Old Christians GAA club is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Limerick, Ireland. It was formed in 1962 for the development of the games of hurling and Gaelic football in the southern part of Limerick city. Since then, the club has gone on to develop a number of league and championship winning teams at all level and has contributed a number of players to Limerick county teams. These include Bernie Hartigan, who won an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship with Limerick in 1973, and Ger Hegarty, who won a Munster title and a National Hurling League medal in the mid-1990s.
Location
[edit]The club is centred on Our Lady Queen of Peace parish which is a working class parish on the southside of Limerick City. Its players also come from Our Lady of Lourdes and Holy Family parishes. The main areas that provide players include Rathbane, Janesboro, Kennedy Park, Prospect, Ballinacurra Weston, Roxboro and Southill.[citation needed]
History
[edit]Prior to the foundation of the club, sportsmen of the area played with South Liberties GAA or other city clubs such as the Commercials, Young Irelanders or Claughaun GAA. The club was originally set up in 1962 both to provide a GAA club for past pupils of Sexton Street CBS - hence the name 'Old Christians'. The club was formed to promote hurling and football on the southside of the city in an area where rugby and in particular soccer were popular.[citation needed] Though they won the 1962 Limerick Senior Football Championship in their first year with victory over Claughaun, their main concern was hurling in those early years and their under-14 team won the All-Ireland Féile na nGael title in 1972 beating Nenagh Éire Óg GAA. They continued to hurl at a senior level up to the mid 1970s when the club went into decline, as not as many hurlers were coming out of Sexton Street CBS to play with 'Christians'. Old Christians went on to win both Minor County Championships in hurling and football in 1966.[citation needed]
The 1980s saw a revival,[citation needed] and the club won several underage city and county titles. The minor hurlers reached the county final in 1984 under the Southill/Old Christians name. The popularity of football also grew and footballers played with the neighbouring Ballinacurra Gaels club and later in hurling as well in the 1990s. Old Christians won the 1992 County Intermediate Hurling Championship but they struggled to compete at senior level and were frequently fighting relegation.[citation needed] They were eventually relegated to the intermediate grade in 1999 and they were back to playing junior A by 2007. At underage level, they have won several county titles, including the County Under-14 A Football title in 2013.[citation needed] At adult level, they field a Junior A hurling team in the City Championship but no football team, who are catered for by sister club Ballinacurra Gaels at Junior B level.[citation needed]
Grounds
[edit]Old Christians have been playing at various locations around the Rathbane area since their foundation in 1962. They bought a side in Rathbane off of the City Council in the early 2000s and now have two full sized pitches along with a clubhouse containing a sports hall and gym and dressing rooms.