FEATURE: The story of St Paul’s Holywood

By Niall Gartland

LIKE many of the best things in life, it all started with a dream.

North Down may not be regarded as a traditional GAA heartland, but that did little to deter a small group of enthusiasts who set about bringing St Paul’s Holywood into existence in 1979.

Under the direction of Donal Graham (Bangor) and Eamonn McElroy (Holywood), a single North Down club evolved, with Newtownards providing the other branch of the fledgling club.

It hasn’t been a storybook rags-to-riches story, but that isn’t really what St Paul’s is about.

Indeed, the early days were characterised by one defeat after another. As for the facilities – they had little option but to share a pitch with the local cricket club.

Fearghal Eastwood, a former club chairperson and secretary, takes up the story. The club has grown in scope and strength (the Junior Championship success of 2020 remains a particular highlight), but scratch beneath the surface and there is the sense that some of the challenges facing the founders remain today. A not particularly sympathetic local council. The traditional NorthSouth Down divide. And a sizable catchment area that, while offering plenty of potential, is not always easily harnessed.

Still, St Paul’s have come a long way from its formative years and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2029. Eastwood, who has roots in Cookstown, County Tyrone, recalls the early days of the club.

“Michael [Monaghan], our current club President, would tell the story that they went so many games without winning a single match. It was basically just a senior team back then although we did have a very good under 16 side win an East Down league in 1989… the first ever silverware for the club.

“In the 1980s we shared a pitch with Holywood Cricket Club. It was a wet ‘oul field, you know.

“Then in the 1990s we had access to Foundation of Sport and Arts monies (Vernons Pools) and we were able to acquire the field, and the cricket club moved down to Sea Park. The boys secured the pitch on a long lease from the Diocese of Down and Connor and basically built a pavilion, changing rooms, showers and a referee’s room. It was all very modest.

“The pitch is called MacNamee Park and is named after Pádraig MacNamee, who was President of the GAA between 1938 and 1943. I can remember he used to come into Holywood primary school to teach Irish.”

The club has grown considerably in the intervening years, not just in numbers but in its reach, with ladies football now an established part of the set-up. But growth brings its own challenges, particularly in an area where people are constantly coming and going.

Eastwood said: “The club serves the parishes of Holywood, Bangor and Newtownards. That’s a huge catchment area geographically.

“We’d have players out of Donaghadee. Young Conor Savage was a cracking player, a nephew of Mickey Harte’s. We’d have players from all over that catchment area and we sometimes get a few hurlers down the peninsula who play a bit of football as well.

“Numerically, we had 148 juvenile members in 2019. In 2020 we got the ladies’ football up and running. We now have 168 boys and 86 girls at juvenile level. So our membership has nearly gone up by 70 per cent.

“Adult membership in those days was 64. We’d now have about 100 men and women. There’d be reserve teams and bits and pieces. Not everybody would play either. We’d have social members, people supporting the club draws and that, you know. But your overall membership would be in and around the 500 mark.”

Retaining those players is another matter. College, work and emigration all take their toll.

“The difficulty we have, like a lot of clubs – and we’re not unique in this respect – is holding on to players.

“Players either, unfortunately, hit minor age and lose a bit of interest, or they go on to college or go working. A lot of our people go to college abroad, and when they come back they don’t play then.

“Because it’s a dispersed part of the country, with a big catchment area, they’re hard to find.

“Unlike maybe in Burren, you could say, ‘Where were you last week? You weren’t training,’ or whatever, in our case you don’t see them walking down the street. The difficulties we have are no different than other clubs in suburban areas.

“People can just bail out and leave on you and you can’t find them. So that’s a problem for us, but we do welcome people in. We do get the odd player who’s not from the area originally.”

There was, Eastwood believes, a particular reason why that talented group finally came together in 2020: Covid. The team was backboned by players from a gifted minor side that had reached the championship semi-final in 2016, and with the pandemic putting the shutters down on most social activities, there was little else to do but play football.

That young group came together, and their day of days arrived with victory over Aughlisnafin in the county final, securing the first senior championship title in St Paul’s history.

“I think it was 2016, we made a Down All-County Minor semi-final. That was the class of underage we had. Burren beat us in the semi-final, by about 10 or 11 points. But for us to get there was a great achievement.

“A lot of the lads drifted away, but then in 2020, during Covid, football was the only show in town. We couldn’t go out, you couldn’t go out with your girlfriends, you couldn’t go out at night, so what we had then was them all coming back to the football pitch.

“A lot of them were back home working from home or whatever. So we had a young team, an average age of only about 23, who came together and won that Junior Championship.

“We beat a really good Aughlisnafin team that night, who had been beaten the previous year in the Junior Championship.

“In fact, in 2020 we won Division Four. There was no promotion that year, so we had to get promoted the next year, which we did. We won the league, we won the Junior Championship and Down put on a Corn na nGael League Cup – we won that too. We won everything at junior level.

“But we lost the spine of that team. A couple of lads moved to London, playing with good clubs in London. That was just unfortunate, but you try and regroup.

“We spent three or four years in Intermediate and then were relegated last year. So we’re in the Junior this year and on Monday we play Kilclief in the championship semi-final. We competed well by and large in Intermediate, and in our first year we got to the quarter-finals, where we were beaten by Annaclone, they’re a tough team.”

As for the Ladies wing of the club, it’s a case of small but steady steps. Underage is the focus for now, and the hope is that their efforts bear fruit further down the line at senior level.

“For ladies’ football, we have U14 and U16 teams this year. We won an U14 Down league this year, our girls, which was a great achievement for them.

“It’s been difficult to field a senior ladies’ team, so we’re growing our U14 and U16 teams and hoping they stick at it.

“The girls are great. And do you know, the other thing I would say about women in general around the club is they’re a great hand for raising money – fundraisers, supporting club events, getting the men to put their hands in their pockets, getting the men out to do a bit of work!

“I’d be a big supporter of women being front and centre of the club, helping.”

The club’s facilities sit alongside those of Holywood Rugby Football Club, and the relationship between the two organisations is a particularly good one. The clubs share facilities when needed, and several people are members of both.

Eastwood spent six years as club secretary and a further four as chairman, working alongside a succession of volunteers to keep the club moving forward.

“I was secretary for six years and I was chairman for four, with a pal of mine, Paul Collins from Bangor, who’s a great fella.

“Our current secretary is Pádraig Laverty out of Cargin,, and Gavin Halpin, who’s originally from Letterkenny, is our chairperson. Antoinette our treasurer is a Roscommon girl originally. We’re lucky to have them.

“Unfortunately, I have to say, we’re the only Gaelic pitch in North Down. You wouldn’t get a pile of help from the council.”

“We get on very well with the rugby club, Holywood Rugby Football Club.

“They have a nice wee bar, we don’t. We’ve a wee coffee hut which we put up during Covid though and it’s been great.”

The rugby club, by contrast, has a more substantial social set-up, while St Paul’s regularly makes use of its social club after matches.

“At the rugby club, they’ve got a nice wee pavilion. They’ve got a bit of a gym, which we have used too.

“We would use their social club regularly, after matches. There are several members of both clubs. I’d be one of them. I’m a member out of goodwill. Their membership is £50 and there’s a great pint of Guinness.

“Colin the secretary is a real community man, very accommodating. Gerry the barman is a great fella and any time we want to use the facilities, it’s never a problem.”

That relationship has become particularly useful during the summer months, when St Paul’s pitch comes under increased pressure.

“It’s a reciprocal arrangement. We had the rugby club use our changing facilities last year when their own were under refurbishment.”

They are also currently pursuing a planning application in conjunction with the rugby club that would provide another pitch and ease some of the pressure on its existing facilities. The application relates to two acres of currently derelict land on the existing site.

“Our pitch would get a bit overused in the summer and we can use the rugby pitch. That’s what you do – you help each other out.

“We’re three years now into trying to get planning permission for a 3G pitch that would cater for us over the summer and the Rugby club over the winter.

“The project is very important to us and, come hell or high water, we’re going to make it happen.”

Their partnership with the local rugby club is a practical arrangement that perhaps sums up St Paul’s better than anything else – making the most of what they have and working with those around them.

“I would say to you, it’s easier to run a Gaelic club in rural areas in Tyrone and Armagh for example than it would be in Holywood.

“We’re up north, we’re a bit detached, and we do row our own boat. We don’t get a lot of help.

“It’s not a hardship thing, but you just run your own club and you’re proud of what you have.

“We get people that come up from, you know, maybe Attical or Ballymartin or An Riocht, and they’d say, ‘Jaysus, it’s a long way up here.’ From there it might be an hour and 20, an hour and 25, because the roads aren’t great.

“I’d say, ‘Aye, it is a bit of a journey – we do it every other week!’ With juveniles you’re on the road every week, so you know, you are a bit remote, but you keep the thing going because everyone loves it and it’s the right thing to do. We’re all in it together and it’s a bit of craic.

“The kids love it. There’s nothing like getting a good away win from home – the craic coming home is brilliant.”

In summing up, Eastwood said: “The lines are a wee bit vague, a wee bit blurred. It’s not like a townland or parish, we’re a bit different in that respect but we’re as passionate as anyone.”

“Winning the Junior Championship was a great thing for us, a great thing for the fellas who founded the club. It’s like the spoils of their toils. I’d love to think we could do it again.”

STARS OF THE FUTURE..U10 footballers from St Paul’s who starred in last weekend’s blitz in Bryansford.

THE BIGGEST DAY…St Paul’s won the Down Junior Championship in 2020.

TALENT….The U14 boys from St Paul’s won the Championship Shield Final last weekend.