Chairman's Address

A Chara, Welcome to the Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa Gaelic Athletic Club web site. With the age of technology upon us, and with the computer skills of our PRO Phelim Devlin with help from Sean Paul Wylie and Kieran Quinn, you can now press a button and find out what is happening at your beloved club. I have great pleasure in welcoming our friends and supporters all over the world in places like USA, Canada, Australia, UK and also nearer to home in Ardboe, Tyrone, and the rest of Ireland. As you will see from our pages you will be able to participate in our club lotto as well as purchasing our club kit. All club results will be published each week so I wish all of you who log on the very best of luck.

The Area

Ardboe is a unique, mysterious and hauntingly beautiful part of Ireland, a triving community on the shores of the great Lough Neagh. What makes Ardboe more distinctive is the passion for Gaelic games in the area, many locals would describe Gaelic football as a way of life, a religion, and in the climax of the football season it is what is on the lips of everyone in the Parish. This web site was designed to bring Gaels throughout the world in touch with our club and enable emigrants and local people whom in the past or currently support or play for our club to be in touch with what is happening on a weekly basis. This introduction briefly describes the main aspects of Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa Gaelic Athletic club.

Club Location

Ardboe is situated on the western shores of Lough Neagh in County Tyrone in the north of Ireland. It is ten miles from Cookstown and similar distances from the towns of Magherafelt and Dungannon. It is a relatively small village, like all villages along the Lough shore, and it is this which leads to the close knit community which exists here.

Club Premises

Ardboe's current premises are situated on the Kilmascally Road. The playing field was opened in 1971 after years of hard work and for the first time Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa's realised a long cherished dream of having a permanent home which was ranked along with the top grounds in the County. The building of the pavilion that was completed in 1983 further enhanced the park. It consists of four changing rooms, a committee room, a kitchen and a large function hall. Renovations and development are continuous around the premises and the perimeter fence and goal nets were replaced in 1997 and a new stand and terracing was constructed in 1998. As the new millennium dawns the next stage of development was completed with major renovations of the pavilion and the resurfacing of the car park. It is this continuous hard work and commitment from the people associated with the club that has left Michael Coney Park one of the premier grounds in Tyrone at present.

Club Name

Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa is titled after the Irish Patriot Jeramiah O'Donovan Rossa. Jeramiah was born in September 1831 at Rosscarbery, County Cork and at the youthful age of twenty five set up the Phoenix Society which in 1858 amalgamated into the Irish Republican Brotherhood. It was this which lead to his first imprisonment at the hands of the English in Cork Prison. After serving his eight month sentence he married and in 1862 took over the running of the Fenian weekly newspaper, 'The Irish People'. In 1865 his offices were raided and Rossa and his workers were jailed for six years for challenging the right of British rule in Ireland. On his Release Jeramiah, banished from his own country for life, spent the rest of his days in New York, where he expressed a wish to be buried in Ireland before his death on the 29th June, 1915 but he was buried in St. Peters Cemetery on Staten Island. Rossa's body was exhumed, when his wish to be returned to his homeland was realised on the 1st August, 1915. The Funeral of O'Donovan Rossa to Glasnevin Cemetery was one of the greatest manifestations of national resurgence witnessed in recent times. All Ireland seemed to be present, listening to Pearse extolling the merits of a man who would have his country "not free merely but Gaelic as well, not Gaelic merely but free as well," and many who listened as the future leader of the Easter Rising declared that while Ireland held the graves of her Fenian dead, Ireland unfree would never be at peace, pledged themselves there and then to the task of achieving Rossa's unfulfilled objections.

Club Crest

The club crest is focused around the most famous monument in the Parish, 'The Old Celtic Cross of Ardboe' which is dominant in the centre of the crest. The 18ft. high cross is Ulster's finest carved cross and dates back to the ninth century. Ard Bó, which is Ardboe in Irish is at the top of the crest with the 'A' in a Celtic design while Tír Eoghain, Irish for Tyrone is at the base of the Crest. The hand represents the red hand of Tyrone and the symbol of the 'dR' inside a circle is an acronym for the club name, 'O'Donovan Rossa'.

Playing Kit

The playing gear donned by the Ardboe players is a distinct orange and blue colour. The seniors and youth teams wear jerseys that are predominantly orange with blue trimmings while the reserves sport a mainly blue jersey with orange trimmings. All teams wear the same shorts that are blue with orange trimmings.

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