Great year for Na Fianna San Francisco
September 27, 2013

Na Fianna celebrate
Na Fianna San Francisco hurling club was founded in 1987. Twenty people attended the inaugural meeting and prominent among these were Laois men Mike Darcy and the late Ray Shearan, as well as Jim Fogarty a former All-Ireland medalist with Tipperary .Tony McCarthy from Cork City arrived later that year and assumed the role of team manager , black and amber were chosen as the club colours and they hit the ground running by winning the Western Division title in 1988 and again in 89 which was to lay the foundation for what lay ahead. After losing a North American final to Harry Bolands the hunger was still there and went on to win consecutive North American titles in 1990 and '91.
The late 80's and early 90's saw a lot of emigration from Ireland and fed Na Fianna desire to become a driving force on the west coast Hurling circuit. Na Fianna was still competing strongly on the west coast but a 3rd North American title would elude them for 20 years.
After winning the Ray Shearan/St Patrick's day cup for 9 years straight from 2004 in San Francisco - a cup which was contested between Na Fianna and Naomh Padraig and a club from nearby San Jose -this was laying the foundation for a strong home base group . In 2006 after lifting the Western Junior title Na Fianna headed for Philadelphia where they won the club's first North American Junior title.
In 2008 Na Fianna travelled to Boston with 2 teams to compete at both senior and junior and narrowly lost the Senior title to a very strong Chicago Limerick on a 4-14 -3-13 scoreline. In 2009 Na Fianna travelled to Boston this time losing in the semi final by the narrowest of margins. These narrow defeats were going to be a driving force for the club and in 2011 after a 20 year wait Na Fianna went through the western Championship and defeated defending national champions Naomh Padraig by 3 games to 1 ( The San Francisco Senior Hurling Championship is played as a best of 5 series). The 2011 National Championships were hosted by San Francisco and Na Fianna were drawn against arch rivals Naomh Padraig in the semi-final .Once again Naomh Padraigh had no answer to this Na Fianna team who beat them by 11 points and was clearly on its way to its first Title in 20 years. Amid great scenes of jubilation Na Fianna ended the drought in style defeating Boston Galway by a score of 3-14 -1-06
In 2012 Na Fianna once again retained the western Senior title and went onto Philadelphia to successfully defend their national title, this time defeating Wexford Boston on a score of 4-19 to 5-08.
To win just once had long been an anthem for the boys in the black and amber and now, all of a sudden, they were bidding to become the first club in the 55 year history of the competition to record a 3 in a Row. 2013 once again saw Na Fianna as the team to beat Naomh Padraig would strongly like to halt this after bringging an influx of talent from Ireland the scene was set for a great summer championship on the western coast. Going into game 1 Na Fianna would have been slight underdogs but the heart of the black and amber shone through and they came out the right side of a titanic struggle by 3-15 to 2-14. Game 2 was to swing the other way and resulted in a decisive win for Naomh Padriag. With the series delicately poised Na Fianna showed the mettle of champions by winning a tense game 3 by 6 points and went on the clinch their 3rd straight Western Division title in game four by 8 points. With the chance of making US GAA history Na Fianna were very focused heading to Cleveland for the National Championships. First up were familiar foes Harry Bolands from Chicago which is the oldest and most decorated hurling club in America. In a game that was closely contested for the most part Na Fianna scored two goals in the last ten minutes to win going away on a scoreline of 2-22 1-13. The final will pair them against the Tipperary club from Boston who had emphatically denied Na Fianna's first bid for a 3 in a Row in the 1992 final. The lads led from start to finish and ran out convincing winners on a scoreline of 0-25 -1-09.
Na Fianna lost four players from its Western Division Championship team before the North American Finals due to injury, work commitments and exams and these were Charles Gilmore (Ballinascreen, Derry), Shane Sexton
(Donoughmore, Cork), Joey Holden (Ballyhale Shamrocks, Kilkenny) and Darragh Glynn (Athenry, Galway) and the successful panel - with home-based players in bold print -at Cleveland was :
Adrian Power (Ballyduff, Waterford) , James Walsh (Captain) (Ballyhale Shamrocks, Kilkenny), Denis O' Callaghan (Glen Rovers, Cork), Podge Butler (Fr.O'Neills, Cork), Ger Mahon (Kinvara, Galway), George Wheelock (Enniscorthy Shamrocks, Wexford), Paddy Conneely (Kildalkey, Meath), Sean McGuigan (Ballinascreen, Derry), Jody Brennan (Upperchurch/Drombane, Tipperary), Noel Kirby (Kildalkey, Meath), Sean Dowds (Dunloy, Antrim), Eamonn Brennan (Tullaroan, Kilkenny), Shane Nolan (Crotta O'Neills, Kerry), Aidan Moylan (Kinvara, Galway), Dan Barrett (Glen Rovers, Cork), Conor McNamara (Eire Og Ennis, Clare), Stephen Barron (Clashmore, Waterford) and Shane Gorey (Draingean, Tipperary)
History is made, the 3 in a row is complete and the roar for four is gathering momentum.
Na Fianna is now the most successful club on the west coast and arguably the strongest club of this modern era in North America.
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