My Club: Paul Conroy - St James'

In this week's My Club feature, we hear from Galway football captain Paul Conroy about his club St James'.

Based on the east side of Galway city, St James' was founded in 1994 when the clubs of Mervue and Renmore came together to form one club in an area where the population had grown significantly in the previous few years.

The club caters for the parishes of Renmore, Mervue, Ballybane and Good Shepherd Parish. They play in maroon and green and their senior team is currently managed by Frank Doherty. They were narrowly beaten by Mountbellew/Moylough and Killererin in the 2015 Galway Senior Championship.

Since their foundation 21 years ago, St James' have made impressive strides. The club won three Galway Minor Football Championship titles in the space of four seasons in 2006, 2007 and 2009. An U21 success followed in 2012, but by far the greatest year in the club's short history to date was in 2010.

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That season, St James' won the Galway and Connacht Intermediate titles and went all the way to the All-Ireland Intermediate Club final in Croke Park in early 2011, where they lost after extra-time to Lisnaskea Emmetts. They have played at senior level in Galway since that breakthrough season.

Galway captain Paul Conroy is a major figure at the club, having starred on the minor sides that won county titles in 2006 and 2007. Alongside current Galway footballer Johnny Duane, and Eoin Concannon, who was involved last year, he is part of the first generation of St James' footballers to establish themselves with the Galway senior football team.

For more about the club, visit [www.stjamesgaa.ie](http:// http://stjamesgaa.ie/)

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Q: St James' are based in Galway city - what's the football scene like in the city?

A: We're on the east side of the city. On the west side of the city, people would know Salthill-Knocknacarra more so than our club and there's St Michael's as well, of course. But our club caters for the Renmore/Mervue area, which is essentially the east side of Galway city.

Q: The club was only founded in 1994, so how are getting on, given your relatively fledgling status?

A: Yeah, we were only set up in 1994 but we got up to senior level in Galway back in 2010 and we are going ok at the moment.

Q: What led to the formation of the club back in 1994?

A: It was an area in the city where the population was growing fast at the time, and a few people decided to set up a GAA club. There had originally been two clubs there, Renmore and Mervue, but they came together to form St James'.

Q: What are your early memories of involvement with the club?

A: I grew up in Renmore and grew up fairly close to the pitch. My father brought me down when I was 8 or 9. I played with Renmore when I started and then when the clubs amalgamated it was for St James'. We did well at underage level. We've won a few minor 'A' titles and a couple of U21 Galway titles as well. Then on the back of those successes, we got promoted from the Intermediate grade five years ago so we feel we are on the rise.

St James' players Paul Conroy, right, and Dave O'Connell celebrate victory in the 2011 All-Ireland IFC semi-final

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Q: Were you on those minor sides that won Galway 'A' titles?

A: I was. We won two in a row and then there was another win in 2009 when I was gone, so as a club I think we won three in four years at the top level. Then there was an U21 win as well. A lot of hard work has been done at the club at underage level. There's a lot of good men in the club and we got a bit lucky as well in that a group of talented players came through at the same time. Now that we're senior, we want to catch the likes of Corofin although we know that is very difficult. We're in a good place though and we are making progress.

Q: Are there certain people who have driven the club from the start?

A: Definitely. There was Con Donovan and a man called Michael O'Neill who sadly passed away last year. He put massive work in. He was a Tuam Stars man originally but he put huge work into St James'. Our senior manager now is Frank Doherty, and there's Séamus Burke and Seán Conroy - my father - as well. Those lads have all put in the work and they are a big help to the club. The chairman is Jimmy Newell and he has put in a lot of work as well.

Q: In 2010 you got promoted from the Intermediate ranks and went all the way to the All-Ireland in spring 2011. That was quite a season...

A: Yes, we won Galway and Connacht and ended up losing the All-Ireland Intermediate final to Lisnaskea from Fermanagh after extra-time in Croke Park. That was disappointing but at the same time, it was a big achievement for us. We haven't really looked back since and we have been making steady progress at senior level. We haven't been fighting relegation or anything like that, we've been reaching quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Q: What are the abiding memories of the 2010/2011 season?

A: We beat Spiddal in the Galway Intermediate final and then we played Strokestown of Roscommon in the Connacht final and had an excellent win against them. We played Gneeveguilla from Kerry in the semi-final and then lost the final to Lisnaskea. It's a pity that we didn't finish the job up there but it was good to get to Croke Park with the club and we want to get back there some day.

Q: How have you done in the last few years in the Galway Senior Championship?

A: We haven't reached the final yet but we have been to the semi-finals. We got there two years ago and we lost narrowly to our city rivals Salthill. The year before that we got to the quarter-final. Last year (2014) was disappointing because we only got to the last 16.

Q: Is there a good inter-city rivalry between the clubs in Galway?

A: There is. Salthill and St Michael's are massive rivals for us. It's worth remembering though that regardless of that, everyone in Galway is trying to reach Corofin's levels at the minute. They are a step or two ahead of everyone.

Q: Have you faced them recently?

A: We played them just in the league, so it's hard to read much into that even though we only lost by a couple of points.

Q: What sort of family connection do you have with the club?

A: My father Seán is a selector with the senior team and my sister Áine plays with the Ladies team.

Q: Have there been many Galway representatives from the club over the years?

A: There have been a few. At the moment there is myself and Johnny Duane. Last year we had Eoin Concannon involved and one of the sub goalkeepers was from our club as well. So we have had lads in recently. We were pretty much the first crop from the club to play with Galway, having been on that strong minor team that came through.

Q: What sort of facilities do the club have?

A: We have a good facilities. We just call it Mervue pitch I think! We're looking at making improvements in the next few years as well. We have a fairly big clubhouse and the facilities are very good.

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