A Derry county board was established in 1888 and paid affiliation fees to the GAA Central Council.

In the early decades (up to the 1930s), the Derry GAA competitions took in a number of clubs from County Donegal and Tyrone.

At various times clubs in South Derry played in the Antrim GAA or Tyrone leagues.

The local Catholic Church's opposition to playing games on Sundays hampered growth in the 1890s, but there was something of a revival in the 1900s, especially in hurling.

After the disruption caused by political conflict in the 1910s and early '20s, the county board was re-established briefly in 1926, and definitively in 1929, since when it has remained in existence.

The management teams for the under-20 and minor hurlers includes Ryan O'Neill, Martin Birt and Kevin Kelly.

The county team won its sixth Ulster SFC in 1993 and advanced to the 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.

[8] Derry was a hotbed of early hurling activity, with the city's St Patrick's club winning the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship in 1902–03; county teams mainly drawn from the city won the 1906 championship by a walkover, and the contested 1909 final.

Derry also won another Ulster Junior (1984) and All-Ireland Junior Championship (1982), with Rory Stevenson still holding a record of his own, as the youngest person ever to play in a Final in Croke Park, that year (1982), playing for Kevin Lynch's Hurling Club Under 14 All-Ireland Féile na nGael winning team.

[citation needed] The 1990s started with Derry claiming back-to-back Ulster Minor titles in 1990 and 1991.

[15] Derry drew with Antrim in the Maguire Cup in 1954, and built on this progress to beat Antrim in that year's Ulster Senior Camogie Championship final by 5–02 to 2-02 - the county's first Ulster Senior Camogie Championship title.

[15] They went on to defeat Mayo and London en route to the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final.

[15] Theresa Halferty, Carrie Rankin, Patsy McCloskey and Pat O'Brien from this team were chosen on the Ulster team for the inaugural Gael Linn Cup inter-provincial series, but the county's appearance in the 1954 All-Ireland decider did little to further the game in Derry.

[26] Notable players include All Star award winners[27] Aisling Diamond and Grainne McGoldrick.

The Camogie All Star Awards were first introduced in 2004[28] and in 2007 Aisling Diamond of Bellaghy became the first winner from Derry.

Books published about Gaelic games in County Londonderry include Oakboys: Derry's Football Dream Come True by Eoghan Corry.