Saturday afternoon next is a big day for the
Sliabh gCua/Saint Mary’s Club in the Parish of Touraneena.
While the club last appeared in a County
Final in 2011 when they beat Mount Sion to win the Junior Football Championship
in their first final in 20 years after they beat Newtown to win the 1991
Intermediate Football Championship 0-6 to 0-5 at a very wet Fraher Field, its
twenty six years since a hurling team wearing the clubs colours contested a
hurling county final after they beat Ballydurn in the 1989 Junior County Final
at Walsh Park.
Late in 1969, a letter was forwarded to the then Curate of the parish of
Touraneena and The Nire, Fr Brendan Crowley. In the letter from Gerry Cullinan
as well as brothers Tom and Ned Power who were all based in Dublin at the time,
attention was drawn to the fact that there was a growing interest in forming a
football club in Touraneena and he was asked to announce at mass that coming
Sunday that a meeting would take place the following Tuesday with a view of
forming a club.
A club was formed, using different names in both hurling and football. The
name St. Mary's is used as the name for its hurling teams, while its football
teams still go under the name of Sliabh gCua.
The club for its first fourteen years wore yellow and maroon shirts in both
hurling and football, but in the G.A.A. Centenary year (1884) when a football
game between then present and past players and one team wore green and white
shirts, the club has worn green and white in football games.
Having a G.A.A. Club in the Touraneena area was nothing new. Down the years
a number of different clubs were formed in the area but most were short lived
and went out of existence as quickly as they were formed. The first recorded
club in the area was in 1927.
In 1936 Sliabh gCua won the Junior Football County final, beating Fenor in
the final after a replay. Twelve months previous, Sliabh gCua were beaten in
the county final by the now defunct St Stephen’s Club.
In times when there was no club in Touraneena, it did not deter local men
form playing hurling and football, often lining out in the colours of another neighbouring parish.
In the 1950s a number of players travelled to the Ring Club where they were
part of a side that won a minor football county final including the late Fr.
Jim Kiely O.S.A.
When a club was based in the Touraneena area the opposite happened as well,
as players from local parishes who did not have a club in the area they played
came to Touraneena to play.
In the 50’s right through to the 80’s the club also at different times had
a Camogie Club, and when there was years there was no Camogie Club in
Touraneena, some from the area played with Kilbrien. In the late 80’s and early
90’s there was also a Ladies Football Club in the area, but since the mid 90’s
those interested in Ladies Football from the area played with Na Déise who down
the years have drawn players from Touraneena, Modeligo, Affane and Cappoquin.
Even after the formation of the present Sliabh gCua/St Mary’s Club, enough
players were not available to participate in the underage competition which
began to be organised from the late 1960s and as a result they travelled to play with
Fourmilewater, who with a number of Touraneena players in their colours won a minor hurling county final in 1973.
The parish for a number of years in the late 70’s and into the early 80’s
were able to field underage teams on their own, but from the mid 1980’s when
both Sliabh gCua/Saint Mary’s and Modeligo found it harder each year to field a
teams there was a coming together for underage purposes under the Naomh Brid
name.
In the mid 00’s Naomh Brid again found themselves to play field teams at
different times and decided to come together with the Saint Patrick’s Club from
Kilbrien/Colligan/Kilgobinet to field teams and to play as much as possible in
the ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades rather than to play on their own, sometimes conceding
games in the lower grades.
The present Sliabh gCua/St Mary’s G.A.A. Club first competed in the various
championships from 1970 and since then has won its fair share of championships
in both hurling and football.
The first twenty or so years of the clubs history saw plenty of silverware
make its way to the area between the Knockmealdown and Comeragh Mountains. The
first title came in 1972 when the western Junior Football Championship was captured,
but the locals had to give second best to Tramore in the County Final.
The period between 1978 and 1983 proved to be a glorious period for the
club.
Saint Mary’s beat Ardmore in the 1978 Western Junior Hurling Final and went
on to beat Rathgormack in the County decider. In Junior football Sliabh gCua
reached the western final but were beaten by Ballinameela.
1979 proved to be an even better year. In Junior Football Sliabh gCua
managed to capture the Junior Football championship in the west but had to give
second best to Fenor by a small margin in the county final. In Intermediate
Hurling Saint Mary’s beat neighbours Fourmilewater in the
Intermediate Western final winning by four points but in the county final went
under to the same opposition by seven points.
1980 again saw Sliabh gCua win the Western Junior Football Final where for
the second year in a row beat Stradbally in the final but went under to
Roanmore in the county final. In Intermediate hurling Saint Mary’s beat
Dungarvan 2-16 to 3-10 in the county final.
Twelve months on, Sliabh gCua were again in the Junior Football Western
Final and for the third year in a row beat Stradbally in the decider and made
it third time lucky in a delayed County Final (Played in 1982) beat Tramore
1-10 to 0-4. In 1983, Saint Mary’s reached the Western Intermediate Hurling
Final where they beat Tallow in the final at Cappoquin and went on to beat
Ballygunner 2-7 to 1-9 in the County Final at Walsh Park.
During that time 1982 proved to be a mementoes year in the clubs history as
it played both Senior Hurling and Senior Football, which is no mean achievement
for a rural club of its size and with the resources available to it, also
taking into account that the Modeligo, Colligan, Fourmilewater/Nire and
Newcastle club in Co Tipperary are bordering it.
After the 1983 win against Ballygunner the Sliabh gCua/St Mary’s had a
number of years, not reaching any divisional or county finals until 1986
when they were beaten in the Intermediate Football Western Final against The
Brickeys. Twelve months on it was the same story in the same competition when
they went under to Shamrock’s in the Western Final. 1988 however proved to a
bit better when they won the Western Final in Intermediate Football was
captured but Gaultier proved to be too strong in the County Final.
1989 proved to be the club's best ever year. Sliabh gCua beat Affane to win
the Western Intermediate Football Championship for the second year running and
went on to beat Portlaw in the County Final. In Junior Hurling, Saint Mary’s
beat Ballinameela to win the Junior Hurling Western Final and then beat
Ballydurn in the County Final. These wins helped secure the title Club of the
Year in the county for the Sliabh gCua/St Mary’s Club at the end of 1989.
In 1990, Sliabh gCua were relegated from the Senior Football ranks after
just one year, but did prove to be strong enough to retain their status in the
Intermediate Hurling ranks. However not all was lost, as Sliabh gCua assisted
by Modeligo won the County Under 21 ‘B’ Football Final beating Erin’s Own at
Kill.
1991 saw Sliabh gCua prove to be too strong for all in the west in the Intermediate
football Championship and it came as no surprise that they marched all the way
to the county final where on a desperate day for anyone to play any outdoor
sport, they beat Newtown to go back up to the Senior Ranks.
Since 1991, the Sliabh gCua/St Mary’s Club had little to cheer about, but
success did come the way of the club along the way.
In Football, the club retained its senior status for a number of years in
the mid-1990s but was eventually relegated to the intermediate ranks once
again. In Hurling St Mary’s had a number of good years in the mid-1990s in the
Intermediate hurling ranks, but lost the chance of contesting the latter stages
of the championship on a number of years, late in the year and at times
controversially.
The club retained its place in both the intermediate hurling and football
championships until 2007 when Saint Mary’s were relegated from the hurling championship.
In 2008 the Western Junior Hurling Final was reached but Saint Mary’s had
to give way to a younger Modeligo team.
In 2009, Sliabh gCua were relegated from the Intermediate football
Championship. Two years later, Sliabh gCua beat Old Parish to lift the Western
Junior Football Championship with a team containing a nice mix of youth and experience
and then went on to beat Mount Sion to win the County Final. They went back
playing Intermediate in 2012 but were relegated again in 2015, loosing a relegation
play off to Dungarvan.
Like many other clubs in recent times emigration as robbed the club of some
of its younger players in recent years that have had to move away in the search
of employment.
However not all is lost as another group of young players are starting to
come through, thanks mainly so some fantastic work put in at underage level.
If these players can be brought on and retained locally, then the glory
days of the late 70’s and early 80’s might return to the area in the not to
distant future, maybe starting this coming weekend.
County Honours
Waterford Intermediate Hurling
Championships: (2) 1980 & 1983
Waterford Intermediate Football
Championships: (2) 1989 & 1991
Waterford Junior Hurling Championships: (2) 1978 & 1989
West Waterford Junior
Football Championships: (6) 1936, 1972, 1979,
1980, 1981 & 2011
Waterford Junior Football
Championships: (3) 1936, 1981, 2011
Waterford GAA Club of the Years: (1) 1989,
Waterford GAA Special
Achievement Awards: (1) 2011,
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