Galway GAA

The Galway County Boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae na Gaillimhe) or Galway GAA are one of the 32 GAA county boards in Ireland; they are responsible for Gaelic games in County Galway, and for the Galway inter-county teams.

Unlike the other counties in Ireland, Gaelic games are run by two separate county boards in Galway. Gaelic football is organised by the Galway football board and hurling is organised by the Galway hurling board. This separation has resulted in two different county crests, two different county jerseys and two different team sponsors. The county crests continue to be mixed up and misused by the Irish media, particularly in graphics and captions. The county jerseys were also very different for the 2010 season: the hurlers wore a much darker shade of maroon with white pin stripes and the footballers wore a much lighter shade of maroon. For 2012, the footballers were sponsored by Cancer Care West and the hurlers are sponsored by Supermacs.

Geographically the two games are quite separate in County Galway, with football dominating in Connemara (North and South), the Aran Islands, Inishbofin, North Galway and in the environs of Ballinasloe. Hurling dominates in South Galway and East Galway. The city of Galway has numerous strong teams in both hurling and football. However, there are exceptions to this rule of thumb, with hurling pockets in football areas and vice-versa. Some parishes, such as Monivea/Abbeyknockmoy and Maigh Cuilinn (Moycullen), have fielded senior teams in hurling and football in the same season.