Castleconnor GAA Club

The club came into existence in 1948. Before that the players from the parish played with neighbouring clubs. In 1948 Michael Mulderrig, N.T., a native of Ballina came to reside in the parish and created a new interest in football. Michael had played senior inter county football for Mayo for over a decade. In 1949, the Mulderrigs transferred back to Ballina and although the club survived another year, interest waned and the club did also. In those days there was no pitch in the parish and the games were played in ‘Jones’ and ‘Langan’s’ field at Attychree. In 1955, the club was reformed by Tom McMenamin and Liam Boland and competed in minor and junior grades. Although the club was unsuccessful, Christy Barrins gained recognition on the Sligo minor team in 1957. In those years, emigration took a heavy toll on the club resources and in 1959 when 16 of the panel had emigrated, the club could no longer continue, and ceased to exist once more. The club was reformed in 1969 and continues in existence to this present day. The first success the club ever enjoyed was winning the West Divisional minor championship in 1972. Included in that team was Gerry Barrins, who later captained the Mayo Vocational Schools team to All-Ireland Championship and Jimmy Cullen who played at minor grade for Sligo for four years. 1980 was the first big breakthrough, winning the county junior championship under the captaincy of Mick Mahoney. In 1981 and 1982 the club lost the intermediate championship finals. The current pitch at Corballa (St. Brendan’s) was purchased in 1980 and officially opened in 1983. The club has been competing at senior level since winning the Intermediate championship and league in 1998. Prior to that victory the club were up and down to senior level in the ‘90’s.

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Ladies GAA

The ladies structure came into operation in the mid 90’s under the direction of Frank Kelly and Austin Clarke. The first notable achievement was the Junior county championship in 1998. Tom Judge and Michael Cawley deserve tremendous praise for carrying the mantle of managing all the teams. This year some new faces have been added to the management structures.

Achievements

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Castleconnor players who played in the All-Ireland Senior Championship

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Castleconnor Community Games

Click here to see some pictures

In March 1988 an inaugural meeting was held in Castleconnor Community Centre with a view to setting up a Community Games committee in the parish. (Prior to 1988 all involvement by athletics from Castleconnor in Community games was through participation in the games in the neighbouring parish of Enniscrone) . The meeting was attended by several officers from County Sligo Community Games Executive committee. Before the end of the meeting a local committee was elected to run the games in the parish. Subsequently in 1988, Castleconnor began competing in a wide range of individual and team events as a new affiliated area in county Sligo .

Down through the years Castleconnor have been represented at county level in several team events including Basketball, Gaelic football, Table tennis, Chess, Rounders, Soccer, Camogie, Pitch & Putt and Badminton. Participation has also been very high in a wide range of individual Athletic events as well as Art and swimming. Castleconnor have consistently been very successful at county level with competitors taking home several medals in individual and team events. The area has represented Sligo at the national finals in Mosney on several occasions.

Click Here For Our Results and Achievements

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