Summer 1997
The first spark
The story of Fionn MacCumhaill Dallas GAA begins in the summer of 1997.
Jason Harris was 22 years old and back in Dallas after a year at the
University of North Texas. Many of the original members were already
friends from high school, including Jason Harris, Nicky Hurst, Ulysses Bear,
Darren Williams, Mike Preslopski, Danny Conway, and Chad Cox.
Several of the group worked at or spent time around Yegua Creek Brewing
Company on Henderson Avenue. It became more than a pub. It was a gathering
place, a social base, and eventually the first sponsor of the original club.
Chad Cox helped spark the idea of forming a Gaelic football club. He was
already interested in rugby and spent time around Glencoe Park with the
Dallas Harlequins. At a Harlequins rugby match, Chad met John Courtney, a
former Gaelic football player from Waterville, County Kerry.
John Courtney, pictured during his playing days. A former
Gaelic footballer from Waterville, County Kerry, John helped coach and drill
the original Dallas group in 1997.
Learning the Game
Borrowed lessons and first sessions
John Courtney had played Gaelic football in the United States for Detroit
Padraig Pearse, Shannon Gaels, and Offaly GAA in New York before settling
in the Dallas area. He helped coach and drill the original group at a time
when most of the American-born players were completely new to Gaelic football.
They learned the sport partly by training and partly by watching Gaelic
football matches on the large projection screen at Yegua Creek Brewing Company.
The game was new, fast, physical, and unfamiliar — but the group kept showing up.
Slowly, they recruited enough players to give the idea momentum. Noel O’Sullivan
from Skibbereen, Cork, Lorcan Kilmurry from Loughshinny, Dublin, and Eamon,
a chef at Yegua Creek, joined the group. Brian Geraghty, who later became part
of the current club, also occasionally trained with them.
Around Labor Day Weekend 1997
The road to Denver
The original group eventually made contact with the Denver Gaels and entered
a sevens tournament in Denver, around Labor Day weekend 1997.
Before competing, they needed a name. With Nicky Hurst and Chad Cox helping
drive the decision, they chose Fionn MacCumhaill Dallas GAA.
Yegua Creek Brewing Company provided the kits. The original colours were red
and white. The team drove roughly 12 hours from Dallas to Denver in three cars.
For many, it was their first group road trip outside Texas.
Four teams competed at the tournament: Denver Gaels, Seattle Gaels, Phoenix GAA,
and Dallas Fionn MacCumhaill.
First sponsor
Yegua Creek Brewing Company
Original colours
Red & White
First tournament
Denver, 1997
First known Fionn score
Noel O’Sullivan
First Tournament
Outmatched, but not out of place
The Dallas team was inexperienced and mostly American-born, facing teams with
many Irish-born players who had grown up with the sport. They were outmatched,
but they competed with effort and won respect from the other teams and the crowd.
Noel O’Sullivan scored the first known point for Fionn. The team did not win the
tournament, but they returned to Dallas proud and inspired to keep going.
They had proved something important: Gaelic football could exist in Dallas.
An early Dallas GAA team photo recalling the first generation of players who
helped bring Gaelic football to Dallas.
The First Chapter Fades
Life moves people on
After the Denver tournament, the original club continued training, but life
gradually pulled people in different directions. Noel moved to California,
Lorcan returned to Ireland, Danny moved to Ireland, Eamon disappeared from the
group, Darren and Nicky moved to San Diego, and Chad moved to Virginia.
Chad had been one of the anchors of the original club, and his move was a major
reason the first version of Fionn gradually faded.
But before it faded, something important remained.
The Name Survives
An old website, a crest, and a memory
Before the original club faded, Nicky Hurst had built a Fionn MacCumhaill website
and designed a club crest. In 1997, simply having a website was a meaningful
artifact.
That old website became part of the reason the founders of the present-day club
later resurrected the Fionn MacCumhaill name. Nicky later designed the present-day
Fionn logo.
The first version of the club may not have lasted, but the name did.
Some of the original team in 2016.
Front: Nicky, Jason Harris, Chad Cox. Back: Mike, center right;
Danny Conway, right.
The Name Survived
The first version of the club may not have lasted, but the name did.
Years later, that name would return to the field — carried forward by a new group
determined to build a lasting Gaelic games community in Dallas.
2010 and Beyond
The club returns
Fionn MacCumhaill Dallas GAA was officially established in its current form in 2010.
The club that exists today did not start from nothing. It carried forward a name,
a memory, and a connection to the first known Dallas GAA effort.
In more recent years, many of the original members returned to Dallas or Texas.
Danny, Darren, Nicky, Chad, and Lorcan all returned to Texas or the region in some
form. John Courtney remained around Dallas until recently and was a regular spectator
at current club tournaments before retiring near New Orleans.
Jason Harris and Nicky joined the resurrected Fionn MacCumhaill club when the current
club formed, although both have since hung up the boots. The original group still
takes quiet pride in what the club has become.
The legacy
Real roots. Real people. Real community.
What started as a small, almost accidental idea among friends in 1997 became part
of the foundation for the club that exists today.
A road trip to Denver, a few borrowed lessons, a sponsor pub, a rough first
tournament, and a name preserved on an old website all helped spark something that
would later grow into a major Dallas GAA community.
That is the story Fionn MacCumhaill Dallas GAA carries forward.