Antrim club champions Naomh Éanna are a club steeped in history and tragedy.
They have experienced the worst of the troubles, but through it all kept driving forward, growing their club and spreading their love of Gaelic games and culture.
Over the years there were many difficult times for all involved, the club itself has been subjected to a catalogue of attacks, a combination of bombings, shootings and arson attacks.
Five members of their club were killed by loyalist paramilitaries. Liam Canning, Colin Lundy, club president Sean Fox, football team manager Gerry Devlin and Gerard Lawlor who was playing midfield for the club at only nineteen.
"The people that were trying to do that to us, they were trying to break us," Declan Steele, Naomh Éanna Director of Football told RTÉ's Gaelic Games Correspondent Marty Morrissey.
#teamworkmakesthedreamwork https://t.co/QGmXq2KXnY pic.twitter.com/wCkD7yIhwY
— Naomh Éanna CLG (@NaomhEannaCLG) February 8, 2019
"They were trying to stop us from promoting our Gaelic games and culture, it didn’t do that, in fact it only galvanized us, it made us stronger."
On Saturday, they will be under the spotlight once more but this time it will be for all the right reasons, they will contest the All-Ireland Intermediate club football final against Kilcummin of Kerry.
"When you are playing football as a child and thinking of an All-Ireland final, a Kerry team would spring to mind," says James McAuley, Naomh Éanna club captain.
"Maybe it is a bit of romanticism that way but it’s just another team on the other side of the pitch, they are there to be beaten and that’s what we are going to do hopefully."
When the Naomh Éanna players run out on to the hallowed turf of Croke Park they will take another giant step into a bright future but they will never forget the past that shaped who they are today.
Naomh Éanna have a fascinating but heartbreaking past intertwined with the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Marty Morrissey has paid them a visit ahead of the All-Ireland intermediate club football final pic.twitter.com/U122DhIftP
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) February 8, 2019
