The club is named after Watty (Walter) Graham, who was a resident of Maghera in the 18th century. He was an educated Presbyterian who became an Elder of his church. Frustrated at the many restrictions on his liberty, he joined the United Irishmen. At the time of the 1798 rebellion he was captured and subsequently hanged in Maghera.[1]
Camogie
Glen fields Camogie teams at U12, U14, U16, Minor and Senior levels. The senior team competes in the Credit Union Derry Premier League.
Ladies' football
Glen Ladies' football club was formed in 1995.[2] The club has won the Derry Senior Ladies' Football Championship 19 times and the Ulster Intermediate championship three times.[3]
Watty Graham Park
The club's home ground is Watty Graham Park. It was opened in 1982 by then GAA President Paddy Buggy.[4] The first game was an over-35s game, which was followed by an inter-county match between Derry and Armagh.[4]Celtic Park in Derry City is officially recognised as Derry's main county ground,[5] but Watty Graham Park has hosted a number of National League and Dr McKenna Cup games. Watty Graham Park currently has a capacity of six thousand.[4]
History
The Watty Graham club evolved from the Pearse's club formed around 1933, when Fr Anthony Doherty, amongst others, arranged a South Derry league. The club reached the 1944 South Derry final and a few of their players represented Derry.[6]
After the folding of the Pearse's club, Watty Graham's GAC, Glen, was officially formed in 1948. In the early 1950s, it competed in a number of South Derry Finals and in 1953 they defeated St John's, Mullan (a townland of Ballinderry), to win the South Derry Junior Championship. They won the same title six years later defeating The Loup in the final. 1959 also saw their first all county success defeating Faughanvale in the final.
In 1964, they won the South Derry Junior and Derry Junior Football Championship by beating Littlebridge (part of the modern day Ógra Colmcille club) and Sarfield's respectively.[6] The side repeated this feat in 1966 by beating The Loup in the South Derry Junior final before going on to win the Derry Junior final. The 1970s proved a barren decade for Watty Graham's and they have little apart from a McGlinchey Cup success in 1974 to show for it.[6] Glen opened a new social club in Maghera in April 1976.
In 1985, Watty Graham's won the All-Ireland Óg Sport title. They competed in county, provincial and All Ireland phases to come out winners. Two years later they won the Derry Minor Football Championship with a success over Ballinascreen. The same year Glen won the Larkin Cup and also the Senior Division 1 League. The side added another Larkin Cup in 1995. Glen won their fourth and fifth Junior Championship in 2004 and 2005, the competitions this time won by the Glen Thirds team. This same Thirds team went on to win three in a row by winning the Thirds Championship in 2006.
After a prolonged period of dominance in underage football, Glen won their fourth successive Ulster Minor Championship on 1 January 2015.
Note 1: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.
Note 2: Most of the Ladies' honours are only updated as far as 2002. Please add any other honours you know of.
