A night out with the ‘Barnababes’ sounds like great fun.
The ‘Barnababes’, as you might have guessed, is the moniker given to the St. Barnabas GAC Ladies’ team, who, wisely, adopt the ‘what happens on tour, stays on tour’ motto when on their regular nights out.
It’s not all play and no work, however, as the Ladies’ won the league and championship double in only their second season together in 2012, one of a number of successes for the club in recent years, including the Senior Football Championship in 2011 and the All-Britain Hurling Shield in 2015.
St. Barnabas have been in existence for over 60 years (aside from a mini-hiatus in the 1970s) and are represented in men’s and ladies’ football and men’s hurling, while an under-age programme has also started in recent years.
Clubman Shane McNamara recently got in touch to tell us more about the characters that make up a proud club, including a Mayo man who has appeared on talkSPORT to explain the county’s famous curse and a man nicknamed ‘Bomber’ whose name you shouldn’t really shout loudly at an airport.
Focus on St. Barnabas
Club: St Barnabas GAC Nottingham
Year established: 1947. Although we took a few years off in the 1970s!
Number of members: 60 to 70 active playing members between hurling and men’s and ladies’ football, with a lot more supporters.
Biggest rivals: Geographically, Derby and Leicester are our closest rivals but as we team up for hurling we maintain civil relations. John Mitchel’s from Birmingham have been a thorn in our side for both football and hurling over the last number of seasons.
Biggest representation from a club/county in Ireland: Our first club colours were green and red and although we’ve since moved to maroon and white, there has always been a strong Mayo connection with the club. We have a good mix from all over with Donegal also having a big representation and in recent years we seem to have a big Tyrone contingent.
Most famous ever member: I’ve had to go to the club’s ‘Memory Man’ Pat Barry for this one, but Frankie Kinlough played with the club in the very early days.
Frankie was a Roscommon stalwart on their great team of the 1940s, starring in their 1944 All-Ireland win over Kerry. Liam Fitzgerald from Wicklow was our top performer in the 1980s and our most consistent performer of the last decade has been Nottingham’s Mark Mulhern.
Most memorable moment in the club’s history: Winning the Senior Football Championship in 2011 was a huge achievement. We had been relegated in 2008 and the championship was the culmination of a lot of hard work.
Most eye-catching scoreline in the club’s history: Ladies Football win in 2012 (1-13 to 0-2 against John Mitchels). In only their second season together, the ‘Barnababes’ won the championship and, later in the season, followed with the double by winning the league as well.
Another notable result is our 1-9 to 0-10 win against the defending champions, Wolfe Tones of Liverpool, in the 2015 All-Britain Hurling Shield.
The team had been knocking on the door since they were set up in 2012 and to win with three of our starting defenders having only taken up the sport in the previous three years was a great achievement.
Player who makes the longest commute to training: We cater for people in the surrounding area so it’s not unusual for people to have hour-long drives to training.
A number of years ago, one of our players, Brendan Grufferty, was working in the fish industry and while he was based in Derby, he regularly drove back from Grimsby (about a two-hour drive) to attend training.
Most dedicated club person: Although he’s recently moved back home, Darren McCann from Tyrone was with the club for the last six years and in that time, he played for and coached the senior football team a number of times.
He’s also captained and managed the team and coached the ladies’ Football team to two championships. His wife Una played for the ladies’ team… primarily to spend some time with him!
Player who could have made it big if love/career/drink didn’t get in the way: If Chris O’Hara had stayed in Mayo he could have been a Mayo minor but instead he came to Nottingham.
Mayo’s loss was Nottingham’s gain as he has built up a successful Construction business and also put his talents to other uses, most notably as a guest analyst on Colin Murray’s show on talkSPORT, where he explained the curse on Mayo football (It’s on YouTube).
Indeed it is…
Clip via James O’Hara
As well as playing for the club, Chris managed us to a county title, was club chairman during a period where we quadrupled the number of playing teams and started an under-age team. He’s a great friend to all in Nottingham and further afield and we are lucky to have him involved in our club.
Biggest character: Liam Greaney is probably our biggest character and most well-known personality. He does his best to ensure that all the pubs in Nottingham get an even share of his trade and is particularly generous to the publicans and bookies in Cheltenham.
Nottingham born and bred, he’s a committed club man, playing both football and hurling and keeping the pitch lined.
Loudest in the dressing room: The Whippersnappers, Laura O’Neill and Maeve Keane, get particularly vocal when recruiting for the next night out!
Number of romances that started in the GAA club (feel free to name names): There have been a number of romances, with those that have stood the test of time including Fergal and Mag and Paul and Inez.
Duck to water award – Best new player who had never played GAA before: After a gap of about 20 years, the Ladies team was reformed in 2011. With an arm span that any NBA player would be proud of, Kat Bell found herself in goals and hasn’t looked back since, winning two Warwickshire League and Championship titles.
Most annoying person in the club WhatsApp group: There are plenty of social events and the ladies have some very helpful teammates (Pip, Kat & Nic) who text reminders (usually pictures) of what happened the night before.
Best story involving a club member that’s fit for print: The ‘Barnababes’ have had plenty of nights out and nights away ‘on tour’ but the ladies stand by the line ‘what happens on tour stays on tour’!
The men’s team went on a weekend to Dublin/Wicklow in 2011 and were waiting at the airport for the stragglers, one of whom was Liam Greaney. After showing some good early season promise in front of goal, he had been nicknamed ‘The Bomber’.
When Liam finally arrived, one of our party was so excited that he announced to the whole airport that the ‘The Bomber’ had arrived.
Luckily we all successfully got on the flight to Dublin – that’s probably the only story from that weekend that’s fit for print.
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