If hurling in 35 degree heat sounds like fun, then Garryowen GAC is the club for you.
As the hotbed of Australian Rules Football, it’s no surprise that Melbourne is one of the biggest GAA strongholds in the southern hemisphere.
Take a trip out to Gaelic Park on any given Sunday and you’ll get a taste of how the GAA is thriving in Australia’s second biggest city, a city where Garryowen GAC are the second biggest GAA club.
Garryowen celebrate their 60th anniversary this year and with over 100 members and three teams covering men’s and ladies’ football and men’s hurling, the club is as strong as it’s ever been.
Club PRO John Heneghan tells us that Garryowen have won the 9s hurling tournament for the last two years in a row and that both the men’s and ladies’ football teams are eyeing a tilt at Championship success in 2016.
That success will no doubt be plotted over “a sausage and sizzle and a cheeky can of VB” after training on a Wednesday night, where you’ll find 30 ladies’ footballers, 20 men’s footballers and 20 hurlers on a busy night.
Speaking to JOE lately, John told us a bit about the type of characters you can expect to find at Garryowen GAC, where romance amongst club members has become quite common over the years.
Focus on Garryowen GAC
Club: Garryowen GAC Melbourne
Year established: 1956. This year is our 60th anniversary
Number of members: 103
Biggest rivals: Sinn Féin GAC, Melbourne
Biggest representation from a club/county in Ireland: A lot of the players on the three teams hail from the People’s Republic of Cork but they are usually outclassed by their team-mates from Waterford and Kerry.
Most famous ever member: The most famous member of the club is undoubtedly Fergus Murphy, originally from Erin’s Own in County Cork. “Gusky” once scored 3-3 off Diarmuid O’Sullivan before he decided to move to Melbourne and lead the attack for Garryowen.
He’s 33 now, but still running around like a 14-year old.
Most memorable moment in the club’s history: One of the most memorable moments in the club’s history was the establishment of the Garryowen 9s hurling & football tournament last year.
We had 21 teams compete in hurling, camogie, ladies’ and men’s football in our first year and this year, that jumped to 29. Garryowen have won the hurling in both years too, which was the cherry on the pie.
Most eye-catching scoreline in the club’s history: Garryowen 9s hurling Final of 2015: Garryowen 0-04 Shamrocks 0-03. This was each team’s fourth game that day and the 35 degree heat took its toll on everyone.
Most guys could barely move but Garryowen scored the winner in the last minute to win by a point.
Player who makes the longest commute to training: This has to be our co-sponsor and committee member Danny Toohy. Danny drives about 60 kilometres on his Harley Davidson to make sure all members pay their membership and to throw some shrimp on the barbie.
Most dedicated club person: Louise Devey from Rochestown in Cork city is without doubt the most dedicated club person. Louise is the Vice President of the club and the main driving force behind the ladies’ football team.
She is also the main driving force behind the ladies’ football teams’ social scene and even started a relationship with David Hennessy just to get him to manage their team.
Player who could have made it big if love/career/drink didn’t get in the way: There is no doubt Ronan Costello would be playing midfield for the Galway hurlers had it not been for the drink.
Ronan is a nephew of the famous Connolly brothers from Castlegar and on his day will pop five points from play… handy. Unfortunately, Ronan did his cruciate last year and now spends his time managing the hurling team and stuck in the 5th Provence bar in St. Kilda (our other co-sponsor).
Biggest character: The biggest character in the Garryowen club is Eanna Torpey, without a doubt.
There isn’t a man, woman or child who hasn’t got a “burning” off Eanna in the pub or down at Gaelic Park on a Sunday. He is your classic, old-school, centre-forward.
He has serious skill and power and absolutely hates any kind of physical training. If you didn’t know, he has a minor and senior county medal with his club Tulla in Clare and scored two points with a broken hand in the county final.
He will always be found in the warm-down pulling the quad muscle with a fag in his mouth.
Loudest in the dressing room: The loudest in the Garryowen dressing room (I’m told, because I am not allowed into the ladies’ dressing room) is Ailish Cornyn.
Apparently she gave a motivational speech in Sydney last year in the Gosford tournament that motivated the team so much, they decided to have celebratory cans of Magners before the first game.
Number of romances that started in the GAA club (feel free to name names): Oh there are a lot of club romances. If you are looking for love, you should join Garryowen.
Louise and David Hennessy, Jenny and Mick, Barbara & Danny, CC and himself, Alan Sheehan and himself, just to mention a handful.
Duck to water award – Best new player who had never played GAA before: Jackson Johnson, otherwise known as “Jacko”, is an out and out Aussie with an Irish grandfather and when he was 16, “Gusky” started to teach him how to play hurling.
Jacko now plays for Na Fianna in Brisbane, but he is serious off the left and right and scored the point of the tournament at the 7s last year.
Most annoying person in the club WhatsApp group: Alan Sheehan. He is always trying to convert hurlers into footballers by offering lads jobs and a few vodkas in the 5th.
Best story involving a club member that’s fit for print: Johnny Geary is a talented left half-back and he was all set to represent Victoria in the State Games last year. He was flying in training and three weeks before the tournament he pulled out saying that he had to work or some stupid excuse like that.
We all thought that was fair enough. We arrived back from New Zealand to be greeted by the biggest smile on Johnny Geary’s face that any of us have ever seen. We’ll leave it at that.
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