Parnells Gaelic Football Club           

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  History 

Parnells GAA Club was formed in late 1951, and they played their first competitive game in London in the spring of 1952. Although they were a hurling and football club after two years Parnells concentrated on the big ball game.

Winning their first title in 1958, the Junior Championship Final, they followed that success up in 1959 by winning the Intermediate Football Championship. After two years of senior football no honours had fallen to the Parnells but their efforts over this period gave much hope for the year to follow.

In 1962, Parnells won their first senior football championship and also recorded a first win in the Tipperary Cup, a memorable year.   Parnells won their first Senior League title in 1965 and in the same year their junior side won the Junior Championship.  This was followed in 1966 by winning the Senior Championship.    In 1968 the junior side did the double, League and Championship. 1969 the Intermediate title was achieved, thus bringing the 1960's to a close with 11 major titles in London competitions.

The 1970's started with a win in the Intermediate League title and in 1971 Parnells defeated Sean Treacys, the reigning champions, in a memorable championship final.   Although Parnells captured both Intermediate League and Championship in 1972 and 1975, the Seniors recaptured the Tipperary Cup for the first time since 1962. It was not until 1979, Parnells dominated the Senior sector of football, ending a reign of six years held by the Kingdom, Parnells went on to win the Championship League, Tipperary and Conway Cups.   They also finished ultimate champions of Britain to complete a memorable season.   Parnells were unlucky to loose by one point to Mayo and Connaught Champions, Garrymore, in the Quarter Final of the All Ireland Club Championship.

The team’s next major success was in 1984 when they won the Centenary Club Championship of Britain, which was on an open draw basis.   Parnells were back to win the Senior Football League in 1986.   1988 saw them capture the Senior Championship and the Jim Conway Cup.   They also won the Club Championship of Britain setting up another tilt at Roscommon’s Clann na nGael.   However the trip over the Shannon ended in failure once more, though the margin was down to three points, the game was played in a fog-shrouded pitch, which didn’t help the London side.   At the end of the decade Parnells had recorded 18 major trophy wins, a truly outstanding achievement.

In the 1990s, Parnells, like all other London Clubs, had to give best to Tir Chonaill Gaels and went into decline during the period 1992 - 2001, only winning the Cannon Stretch Cup.   For Parnells, 1991 was the exception as they went on to win the Senior Championship and League Double and the Club Championship of Britain which gained them entry to the 1991 All Ireland Club Championship Quarter final.   However, the Club is now enjoying a strong revival and on May 25th 2002 Parnells won the Conway Cup.   This achievement has added to an optimistic outlook in the Club .

In recent times, the sad and untimely deaths of some of our club’s best stalwarts - Dick Munnelly (Aug.1998), Tom Duffin (Sept.1999) and the influential Chairman, Martin Diggins (July 2001) have proved to be a great loss to Parnells.    

Senior Ladies Team History.

Parnells Ladies Football was formed in 1988.   They reached the semi-final of the Championship in their first year, when they were beaten by the eventual winners .......................... In 1992 they were runners-up, but with great determination and perseverance they captured the title in 1993, retained it 1994 and 1995.

In 1994 they played Rochfortbridge (Westmeath) in the semi-final of the All-Ireland Club Ladies Championship. The game was played at Parnell Park, London.   It was a close run match with the Parnells girls losing by the narrowest of margins - a single point.

For the the first time they reached the All Ireland 7 a-side semi-final in 1994.   1995 saw Parnells winning the All-Ireland 7 a-side Tournament bringing the Cup back across the water.  This was a tremendous achievement by Parnells, who were the first British based Ladies club team to win an All-Ireland title.   Along the way they defeated the reigning champions, Timahoe (Laois) 4-5 to 3-4.   Also that same year Parnells reached the Final of the All-Ireland Club Championship Final beating Clan na Gael (Roscommon) on the way and met the Champions Ballymacarbry (Waterford) in the Final where they lost, but Parnells were the first British Club to do this.   In 1996 Parnells won the Senior Championship for the fourth year running.   Also Parnells reached the semi-final of the Club Championship which was lost to St. Euans of Donegal by 2 points.   In 1997, 1998 , 1999 , 2000 2001 and
2003 Parnells Won the Senior Championship and Mary Feehan Cup, this was followed by wining a place in the All
Ireland Intermediate Final where they were narrowly defeated by Niobh Aban of Cork .
Parnells Ladies swept the London board in 2004, this was followed in 2005 with winning the Championship and a place in the All Ireland Club
championship Semi Finals.
An early London Ladies Championship in 2006 sees Parnells Ladies once again County Champions with an opportunity to progress to an
All Ireland Final.

Were You There ? 
The account given above is but a brief snapshot of our Club's history.   If you have anything to contribute to our    scrapbook , we would welcome it -  you may have been a player, club officer or supporter;  you may have been
a player , club officer or supporter of an apposing club,  we would welcome any story or account of club           activities that can add to our sense of history .        

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