Castlemartyr Notes (7th Dec)
- Dec 07,2025
Castlemartyr GAA News
County Draws
This Tuesday sees the annual Cork GAA Convention at SuperValu Pairc UI Chaoimh, with the draws for the 2026 championship season taking place beforehand. As always there will be plenty of interest in the premier intermediate grade which as we know is highly competitive. We will be keeping a close eye as to which three teams will be bracketed with us.
Club Social
Thanks to all who attended our recent club social night at Cliffords' Bar. A big word of congratulations to the respective award winners - Intermediate Hurling - Billy McGann, Junior Hurling - Daire Coughlan and Junior Football - Jack McGann.
Well done to our Clunperson of the Year - Dave Fleming, whose family is steeped in the club and who has given many years of service to the club in so many roles - a well deserved accolade in recognition of Dave's great work on and off the field and his involvement in so many different projects,
Finally, it was great to see an All Star Award sit on Clifford's counter. Ciarán again raised the profile of the club this year across the country and his award was warmly greeted by all in Castlemartyr GAA and the wider community.
Cork will be in action in the Canon O'Brien Cup game against UCC on Sunday 28th December 12 noon.
Long Puck
The Joseph Walsh Memorial Long Puck will be the highlight of the calendar around the holiday period. Arrangements are similar to last year, with both family and adult competitions taking place on Friday 26th from Kilmountain Cross
New Season
The first playing action of the new 2026 year will be football, with a new regional East Cork Under 21 Football League due to start in late January. More details to follow soon.
AGM Time
Our club held their Annual General Meeting at the School Hall recently.
Apart from Joe Stack (senior) being elected as Vice Chairman , there were no changes in officeship with all others returned.
Energetic chairperson Carey Joyce again proved an inspiring leader of the field in 2025 and is now looking forward to a busy third season in the hot seat.
Upcoming major projects included the construction of new meeting rooms/kitchen area (which has already begun in recent weeks) and also the construction of a new gymnasium.
A long debate took place in the future of Kiltha Og and the directive from the County Board sub committee re independent teams. This matter aroused considerable unrest among the majority of those in attendance.
Michael Shanahan, club treasurer gave a comprehensive report on the income and expenditure of 2025, whilst in his secretary's report, the very busy Donagh McCarthy delivered his customary very detailed matters on and off the field.
The following are some extractions from the report, with this section reviewing the playing season.
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U-21 FOOTBALL
Unfortunately, our U-21 season finished as soon as it started. Given the short
time frame and the small number of teams in this year’s competition was to
be a straight knock out competition. This year’s group were once again under
the management of John Cashman. We travelled to Glenville on a bleak
Sunday morning fixture in mid-February against the home side and
Unfortunately, they proved too strong for us as they put in a very impressive
second half performance running out 1-09 to 0-06 winners.
U-21 HURLING
This years hurling competition was to be run in the same format as the football
so given the late start in mid-October it was to be a straight knock out
competition. This year our U-21 Hurlers were under the guidance of manager
Cha O’Neill. Unfortunately we came up against a strong Watergrasshill side
that contained 4 seniors from their adult team so it was always going to be an
uphill battle. However, our lads put in a fantastic performance and stayed with
them right up until the final 10 minutes
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JUNIOR HURLING
Once again our Junior Hurlers were under Dave Fleming and his management
team. Due to some teams pulling out of league competitions we were still
playing in Div. 1 Hurling league despite finishing bottom of our league last year.
However , this level still seemed too much as an ask for us as we lost all 7
league games finishing bottom of the league.
However, we faired a little bit better in Championship. Our campaign opened
with a controversial defeat to Aghada in which they fielded 2-3 Intermediate
hurlers in a B grade Championship match. This was a mistake made by the
County Board so when we appealed this to the County Board they basically
ignored our request for a replay. However, we pushed on and followed this up
with an impressive and comprehensive 14-point victory over St. Catherines and
a hard fought 1-point victory over Castlelyons.
However, we came up against a very strong Dungourney side in Shanagarry
going down by 5 points to the eventual winners of the competition.
JUNIOR D FOOTBALL
Another milestone for the club in football came this year as for the first time in
years we were able to field a 2 nd team in football. This team competed in the
newly formed Junior D Football Championship with Cha O’Neill overseeing his
charges. A walkover from Dungourney was followed by a huge 18 point victory
over Ballinacurra.
JUNIOR A FOOTBALL
We started off our championship campaign with a 5 point victory over Lisgoold
and followed this up with a comfortable 9 point victory over Cloyne. However,
we conceded our semi final spot by playing a very weakened team and lost by
9 points to Youghal. This was to be our undoing as this then put us into a
quarter final against championship favourites Carrig na bhFear. Although we
held a commanding lead over Carrig na bhFear at half time in our quarter final
tie , only scoring 1 point in the 2 nd half meant we went out of the championship
on a scoreline of 1-06 to 3-06 to the eventual winners.
We would like to thank James , Derek and Seanie for their tremendous work
over the last number of years as they step down from their roles. Hopefully we
might be able to look forward to some more success in 2026 if things are in our
favour.
INTERMEDIATE HURLING
Our opening league game saw us welcome former senior side Ballyhea to
Castlemartyr. In heavy underfoot conditions we conceded a last minute point
to end up drawing the game. After a huge win over Ballygarvan in our next
game we travelled to Aghabullogue afterwards and went down by 4 points in a
lacklustre performance.
However, our most damaging defeat was our next game against a poor Eirns
Own side. Conceding easy goals and missing too many points saw us lose the
game by a point, a defeat that was going to see us stuck in this league for
another year. Although we rounded off our campaign by winning our last 5
games, both Ballyhea and Aghabullogue matched our results to finish above us
in the table. We can feel hard done by finishing 3 rd as we were the leagues
highest scorers and boasted the best defence also but missed out due to losing
our head-to-head against Aghabullogue.
Championship saw us drawn into the group of death with former County
finalists Kilworth and Ballinhassig along with a very strong Ballincollig team.
We started off our campaign with a terrible performance against what turned
out to be an average Kilworth side. Played in Youghal on a very blustery night,
the wind seemed to be the biggest factor to beat us on the night as we lost by
3 points. Up against it, we produced our best performance against a strong
Ballinhassig side, becoming the only team to beat them in championship this
year. So, it all came down to our final fixture in a winner take all game against
Ballincollig.
In perfect conditions in Carrigtwohill we were outclassed and outfought by a
very strong Ballincollig side who ended our hurling championships season with a
comprehensive defeat, before winning our relegation play off against Mallow.
