Football
In 1926, Liam O'Connor, from County Mayo, settled in Lavey. He was instrumental in setting up Knockloughrim Erin's Own GAC. The team wore green and gold jerseys with white collars, like Kerry. He also helped set up the Derry County Board and the Erin's Own GAC Cargin in Toome, County Antrim. O'Connor was also a talented player and played for and captained the Derry Senior side. O'Connor christened the club Erin's Own in memory of his home club in County Mayo, which bore the same title. In 1928 O'Connor emigrated to America for a few years, his departure led to the folding of Knockloughrim Erin's Own. In 1933 under the guidance of Mick Crilly and others the club were officially reorganised as Erin's Own GAC Lavey and the pitch moved to the townland of Gulladuff.
Lavey's first trophy came in 1936 when they won the Dean McGlinchey Cup. Lavey thought they had won their first Derry Senior Football Championship in 1937, when they defeated Newbridge by a point at Magherafelt. However Lavey were stripped of the title under the Foreign Games Rule, when a Lavey player had been reported attending a soccer match. They won the next year's Derry Senior Football Championship, defeating Pearses of Derry City in the final. In 1947 Lavey schoolteacher Master John Fay originally from County Tyrone, managed Derry to their first ever National League success.
In 1977 after a gap of 23 years seen the side win their fourth Derry Senior Football Championship, beating Ballinderry in the final. They also won the Senior League, Derry Reserve Football Championship and Reserve League that year. The current grounds were opened in 1979.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were a glory period for the club. They won the Derry Senior Football Championship four times in six years (1988, 1990, 1992 and 1993). They also won the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship in 1990 and 1992. The club biggest success came on 17 March 1991 when they were crowned All-Ireland Senior Club Football Champions.
Famous quotes containing the word football:
“In football they measure forty-yard sprints. Nobody runs forty yards in basketball. Maybe you run the ninety-four feet of the court; then you stop, not on a dime, but on Miss Liberty’s torch. In football you run over somebody’s face.”
—Donald Hall (b. 1928)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)