All GAA clubs incorporate in their title the name of an Irish Saint or the name of an Irish patriot. In our own County we have our neighbours, Dungiven, who are registered under the name St. Canice's, while we have numoureous examples of clubs who have adopted the names of Irish patriots e.g. Wolfe Tone's Ballaghy, and Sean O'Leary's Newbridge. Many clubs are registered under the name of John Mitchel's, two of which are John Mitchel's, Newry, and John Mitchel's, Tralee. Even in North Derry we share the name with our near neighbours Glenullen.

John Mitchel was born at the Manse, Camnish, near Dungiven about 12 miles from Claudy in 1815. He was the son of the local Presbyterian clergyman, the Reverend John Mitchel, and his wife Mary Haslett, a member of an old established Co. Derry family. Even to this day the name Haslett is a fairly common name in the North Derry area. When young Mitchel was 8 years old the family moved to Newry, Co Down and John Mitchel received his early education at Doctor David Henderson's private school there.

In 1831 the 16 year old progressed to Trinity College, Dublin and started studies to become a solicitor. After he qualified he began his practice in Newry and Banbridge where he remained until his fathers death in 1843.

In the early 1840's the Irish political scene was dominated by Daniel O'Connell who had built up a massive movement demanding repeal of the Act of Union. He wanted Ireland to have its own Parliament rather than to have 100 M.P's to represent it at West minister. John Mitchel first came to prominence in Irish political life through the columns of a newspaper "The Nation" which had been founded to support O'Connells Repeal movement. At this time many Protestants joined the Repeal movement and Mitchel and Smith O'Brien were not lone voices on the Protestant side. They were, in fact, carrying on a tradition of Ulster Protestant republicanism which earlier produced tow notable leaders, Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken, of 1978 fame.

Within a short time O'Connell's peaceful campaign was discredited when one of his monster meetings to be held at Clontarf was banned by the British Government and O'Connell himself imprisoned. Now Mitchel and his friends including Smith O'Brien and Gavan Duffy formed a new party, Eire Og (young Irelanders) and this party was prepared to go much further than O'Connell to achieve their political ends. They wanted an Irish Republic and did not rule out physical force as a means to an end.

The young Irelander's plan for a military uprising were over shadowed in the years 1845-47 by the great famine in which close to 1 million Irish people died of hunger. Mitchel himself was arrested and charged with making seditious speeches and writing newspaper articles and was sentenced to 14 years transportation to Van Diemen's land (modern Australia). The young Irelanders rebellion of 1848 was a fiasco.

After an 11 months voyage Mitchel landed in Australia. Within 2 years he was joined by his wife and family and with the help of American friends soon escaped to America. He became a newspaper proprietor there and wrote a number of books on Ireland and published his famous jail journal. It was somewhat surprising that in this period of his life in America, Mitchel seems to have abandoned the high principles and ideals of Republicanism which had once inspired and characterised his work in Ireland. He seems to have been curiously out of sympathy with the aspirations of the American Negro for basic liberty. He returned to Ireland in 1875 and was actually elected an M.P but died the following month. He was buried in the family burying place in High Street, Newry.