Freemount GAA

It is not certain what year the GAA was established in Freemount, but an athletics meeting took place here in 1887 under the GAA rules, the year the Cork County Board was formed. We know that Mick McAuliffe (grandfather of Con) won hurling medals in the early tournament in Newtown in 1896 defeating Banteer in the semi- final and defeated by Effin in the final. Hurling tended to be centered around the County Cross with families such as the O’ Flynns, Lees and Donegans. Some football was played around O’ Shaughnessy’s Mill at Coolbane, perhaps through the influence of various workers who came to work at the mill. GAA records of the first years of the 20th century are scanty but we do know that a Freemount team played Liscarroll in 1902. Later during the war of independence, Freemount played Mallow in an intermediate hurling game in 1920. There was little GAA activity anywhere from 1920 to 1922 and the club in Freemount appears to have ceased around this time. The North Cork Board was formed in 1924 and the Freemount Club was revived in 1927 with Denis Foley as Chairman and Pake Donegan as secretary. The minutes of the 1932 AGM shows that on Jan 10th the following officers were elected: Hon. President Rev Fr. Doherty C.C. President John D O Connor, Vice President John Broderick Secretary Francis J. Hayes Treasurer Richard Sheehan the committee was made up of Dan Donegan, John Egan, Simon Barry, Jer Kenny, Garret Healy, Ed Donegan, John Larkin and John Crowley. The club seems to have gone out of existence for a number of years and for much of the 1930’s the void was filled by a new team based in Capanagoul called Capp Rovers.