Our History
The GAA in the Passage area is deeply rooted practically since the foundation of the association. There have been records of games being played in the late 19th and early 20th centuries at field days in Geneva Barracks, Parkswood and Faithlegg. The first official club was reformed in 1933 and it lasted until 1950 with a few interuptions in between. The present club was reformed in 1960 and has been in existence ever since, catering for Passage, Crooke, Faithlegg, Cheekpoint, Woodstown, Killea, Dunmore East and Ballymacaw in every age group up to senior.
Passage has its own grounds in Crooke since the early 80's and we strive to constantly improve our facilities, including adding a state of the art floodlight Hurling Alley with all weather surface, two playing pitches (1 Adult, 1 Juvenile) and gym in recent years.
The proudest moment to date for the hurling club came in 2013 when we captured our first County Senior Hurling title beating near neighbours Ballygunner in a tense finish which saw us score 2-4 in 7 minutes to come out on top 3-16 to 3-13. The club has contested four other senior finals in 1993, 1994, 1997 and 2016.
County titles have also been won at Intermediate grade (1988, 2007) , Junior (1937, 1998, 2007), Under 21B (1988, 1995) and Minor B (1986, 1994, 2008 and 2012). In 2019, Passage became the first Waterford club to win the newly introduced U19 age grade after defeating St. Olivers 2-15 to 1-9 in the 'B' Final. County under age titles have also been won at various age groups including a 15A County title in 2018.
All Ireland Medals in Passage
At intercounty level, Waterford have not won too many All Ireland Hurling titles but when they have won, players from Passage have figured on five of the winning squads.
First up was Paddy Donnelly who captained the Waterford minor team to success in 1929. At junior level Paddy Donnelly again was on the winning team in 1934. Arguably the the finest hurler Passage ever produced, Vin Baston was on the Waterford team that won the County's first ever Senior All Ireland in 1948. In the 1992 U21 All Ireland win four members of Passage were on the side - Ray Barry, Anthony Fitzgerald, James Connors and Seamus Keating (jnr). In 2013, Sean Hogan was a member of the victorious All Ireland winning U21 team also.
The Club has two All Stars to date, former Waterford star Eoin Kelly in 2002 and 2008 and current Waterford senior Hurling Captain Noel Connors in 2010, 2015 and 2017. Sean Cullinane also received an All Star nomination in 1998.
Passage Hurling Club has made a major impact on the social life of the area and is testament to the men and women down through the years who in many capacities worked tirelessly for the club and also those that have supported the club financially or otherwise.
