Member's statement: St Brigid's: County Antrim Senior Football Champions
Member's statement by Ms Kate Nicholl on .
- MLA
- Ms Kate Nicholl
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 October 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- St Brigid's: County Antrim Senior Football Champions
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5795354
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On Sunday, St Brigid's won the Antrim Senior Football Championship for the first time in the club's history, beating O'Donovan Rossa at Corrigan Park. I congratulate the team, the committee, the management and every volunteer who made it happen. The win was almost 30 years in the making. There was a great write-up in 'The Irish News' last week that talked about how St Brigid's was set up in 1998 with:
"one whistle, one football, and no cones."
The founders, Conor McSherry, Dermot Dowling, Greg Blaney and the late John Cahill printed flyers that said, "Fun. Friendship. Football", and handed them out to primary schools in the area. On a freezing, foggy morning at Strangford playing fields, over 100 children turned up. Those children are grown, and they included the current captain, Jack Dowling, whose father helped found the club. There is a wider lesson in what St Brigid's did. The club always welcomed everyone in South Belfast, regardless of the sport they played or their background. People from South Belfast and blow-ins have played side by side since the start. I should declare an interest as, two years ago, I watched St Brigid's win the Division 1 title when my husband was still in the squad. He has since retired, thankfully, but I know what the win means to him and to every former player, everyone who has been involved, everyone who has volunteered, everyone who is part of the Brigid's community and especially the next generation, who watched those heroes win the Antrim Championship. The players have sacrificed so much, as have their families. The players have worked hard and, in doing so, have made history. It was a win for South Belfast as a whole. I wish St Brigid's every success as they represent Antrim in Ulster, and I know that all of the South Belfast representatives will be cheering them on.
315 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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