History of Gaelic Games in Cambridge
While our club has been more active in recent times it should be noted that GAA and Cambridge University are connected right back to the Association's earliest days. Charles Stewart Parnell, the famous Irish politician and patron of the GAA, did his undergraduate studies at Magdalene College in the 1860's.
In 1967 P.W. Kerry Kehoe (Emma, 1966) instigated the first Gaelic Football club in the university. The team played at least three Varsity matches against Oxford - in 1968-70 - and a number of challenges. The first match was won, 2-5 to 2-4, and the second lost, 1-10 to 2-6, the third's result is unknown. However when Kehoe left Cambridge in 1969 the club soon fell into disrepair unfortunately.
This older version of CUGAC was not known of until recently. Many thanks to Kerry Kehoe and Denis Weaire for filling us in on the details.
In the 1970-80's a non-university Gaelic Football club was founded in Cambridge by Jim Edmonds. Cambridge Harps played in Hertfordshire and even won the Junior Championship in their first year of formation.
Players at the time also included Johnny Cafferkey (who actually played on the 1960's team too - see above), Tony Masterson and John McGreal - all of whom still live in Cambridge.
In that time there was as many as 18 football clubs and 14 hurling clubs registered with Hertfordshire and the area would seem to have been a very vibrant area for GAA. However with the drop off in Irish immigration hitting these teams many clubs failed in the late 80's - including Cambridge Harps.
The University club was reformed in 1995 by Declan Garvey from Armagh and Ciaran McMullan, Magherafelt, Co. Derry and the club played its first Varsity match of a new era in the following Spring - a draw.
Since 1995 the football team has gone on to compete in the Southern section of the British Universities league and in the BUSA Championships proper. We have of course enjoyed several varsity victories against the dark blues of Oxford. Varsity matches have been played in Cambridge, Oxford and London though rumour has it that Adrian Harrington lead a team which clandestinely erected posts the morning of a match on Parker's Piece.
In 2005 the first Ladies' Football team was first organised by Aveen Kelly from Lurgan in Armagh. While Westmeathman Maurice Fallon started Hurling in the University in 2006 - admittedly following the challenge of the Oxford Hurling team which had been formed the previous year. The first Varsity Hurling and Camogie matches were played in April 2006 in Oxford. Cambridge lost the stick games badly in the first year but in 2007 the Varsity Hurling match was won while the Camogie was drawn.
In 2006 with the University club doing very well PhD students Fallon and John Regan sought to play Gaelic Football in the summer. On this high Cambridge Parnells Gaelic Football Club was formed and affiliated with Hertfordshire County Board. In April of that year a pitch was gained on City Council land on Coldham's Common and posts were erected permanently - by the team themselves much to the annoyance of the County Council! The Parnells club - while weak initially due to small playing numbers has gained strength from a strong bond between the teams and some overlapping players. In fact during the winter matches are regularly played between the two sides. Click here to visit the Cambridge Parnells Website. In the Parnell's second season they lost just a couple of games: Winning the Hertfordshire SFC, SFL and Cahill & Hurley Cup on the way to the semi-final of the British Championship.