Eire Og (Cork)

Club History 1891 - 1987..

It is now certain that a parish team known as 'Bridevalley' played Iniscarra in the mid-Cork championship at Coachford on Sunday, April 19th, 1891 - so that we can look back on over 100 years of parish hurling. Probably the first parishoner to play for Cork was Willie Fitzgerald. He won a Dr.Croke medal with Cork in 1902 and was the first chairman of the divisional board when it was formed in 1925. Club colours were then blue with red collars and cuffs.

In 1923, the Bridevalley was formed and remained active until 1927. In 1928, Bridevalley and Cloughduv amalgamated to form a senior club called Eire Og and in that same year they won the county senior hurling championship, defeating Mallow in the final at Cork Athletic Grounds before an attendance of 10,000 who paid a total of £332. Mallow had beaten Blackrock and Eire Og beat the Barrs on route to the final.  

In 1936, Cloughduv and Bridevalley disbanded with the latter retaining the name Eire Og and their club colours were red and blue.

Eire Og achieved very little success during the 1940's but thanks to men like John Lyons, Tommy Murphy, John Crean, John Brady, Jimmy Brien, etc. the game was kept alive in Ovens. 

The 1950's saw a great revival. Eire Og juveniles won in 1952 and the minors won in 1953, and these wins were the nucleus for future success. Around this time, they changed to the current club colours - re and yellow. It is not generally known that the present colours were adopted purely by accident. The old jerseys began to disintegrate and funds were low. Fortunately Denis Desmond (Kilcrea) had a draper shop in Mallow. Some team in that area had ordered a set of jerseys but were slow to take them. Denis heard of the Eire Og predicament and sold them the jerseys at half price. They were red and yellow. 

The major breakthrough came in 1960 when Eire Og won the Mid Cork junior hurling title and went on to retain it for the next two years. In 1962 the club won the junior county championship by defeating Carrigtwohill at the Athletic grounds by 3-4 to 2-4.

Eire Og team was: P O'Shea, T O'Sullivan, E. McCarthy, C. Lynch, C. Sheehan, B. O'Brien, F. Brady, J. O'Driscoll, F. Sheehan, D. O'Leary, D. O' Brien, T. Brady, M. Murphy, P. O'Brien and J McGovern. 

The club went into the intermediate grade after that and won the intermediate league in 1963. However, the were beaten by a superb Glen Rovers side in the 1965 county final. They did win the Liam Breathnach cup in 1964, however.

in 1969 the club moved back to junior ranks and won the Mid Cork title in 1971 and 1972 as well as many minor and underage successes. Another Mid Coek title came to the Ovens are in 1977, and the same year they won the county junior championship whan they defeated Erins Own by 2-8 to 1-9 at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

The 1977 county champions from Eire Og were: D. O'Brien, T. Brennan, J. Murphy, L. O' Leary, L. O'Flynn, J. Dineen, J. O'Flynn, D. Desmond, D. O'Flynn, C. Sheehan, M. O'Flynn, C, Malone, D. O'Flynn, M. Malone, J. O'Leary. Sub - B. Murphy.

In 1978, Eire Og won the Muskerry cup in its first year.

Success in the intermediate championship soon followed in 1979 when Eire Og defeated Mallow 7-11 to 5-8 in the final in Pairc Ui Chaoimh in front of 8,000 people. Eire Og team was : D. O'Brien, T. Brennan, J. Murphy, L. O'Leary, L. O'Flynn, J. Dineen, J. O'Flynn, J. O'Leary, D. Desmond, M. O'Flynn, V. Twomey, Dan O'Flynn, C. Malone, M. Malone and M. Kelleher. After a lapse of 51 years Eire Og were back in senior ranks.

In 1980, the senior championship was run on a league basis. Eire Og played Na Piarsaigh, Nemo Rangers, UCC and Bandon to win this section. Eire Og faced the Barrs in the quarter final and wer beaten on a score of 2-10 to 1-11 and according to a Cork Examiner report, "Eire Og responded with admiration to the marvellous attempt to sweep St. Finbarrs out of the reckoning and had the city side back-pedalling for lengthy periods, and a semi final place eluded them only becuase of a failure to offer an adequate deterent to the presence of Jimmy Barry-Murphy at full forward. Jimmy scored two vital goals".

In 1981 Eire Og, the only club representing Mid-Cork in senior hurling,  won a great first round match against Avondhu, but were later narrowly beaten by Youghal. However, their second string won the B hurling championship. Eire Og were due to play Ballincolling in the final of the Muskerry Cup, but due to pressure of matches, this game was not played.

1982 saw saw Eire Og being beaten by the narrowest of margins by Carrigdhoun in the first round of the championship. Howerver they won the Mid Cork under 12 hurling championship for the first time and also won the U16B football championship..

In 1983 Eire Og decided to seek regrading to Intermediate ranks, but here again could be considered unlucky to have been defeated by Ballinhassig by 1 point in the semi final of the championship. Neutral observers would have considered that a draw would have been a fairer result. In 1984, Eire Og lost to Bandon in the first round of the Intermediate championship and also lost to Blarney in the junior championship.

However, in 1985, in true Eire Og spirit, they came back on top form again winning both the Intermediate Championship by beating Blackrock in a fantastic display of hurling in Riverstown and also the Intermediate League by beating Inniscarra after a replay. The successful 1985 team were: D. O'Brien, J. Dineen, B. O'Leary, L. O'Leary, K. Murray, P. O'Flynn, J. Murphy, J. O'Flynn, D. Desmond, D. O'Flynn, J. O'Leary, D. McCarthy, M. Kelleher, M. O'Flynn, M. Malone (captain). Subs - Denis O'Flynn, K. Murphy, B. Webster, D. Lyons, C. Malone, R. Regan, A. O'Connor.

Unfortunately in 1986 an injury hit Eire Og were beaten by Tracton in Ballinhassig.

Eire Og hurlers who have won an All Ireland medal with their county include Jimmy Barry Murphy, Colm Sheehan (Senior 1966), Mick Malone (Senior 1976, 1977 and the only player to hold four All Ireland U21 hurling medals), Mattie Murphy, Finbarr Sheehan, and Derry O' Brien (Intermediate 1966).

Eire Og has traditionally been mainly associated with hurling but in recent years football has made huge progress in the club.

In 1961, Eire Og made their first braekthrough in football, winning the Mid-Cork Junior B title. They regained the title again in 1968 when they Blarney in the final which was played in Coachford. In 1972, they beat Ballyvourney in the Junior A semi final, but lost to Ballincollig in the final on a scoreline of 1-7 to 2-3.

In 1973, Eire Og were defeated by Ballyvourney, who won the junior county title that year. In the same year, Eire Og won their first junior football league. Interest in football was now serious.

On a wet cold day in 1976, Eire Og football had its greatest moment when their greater experience was one of the deciding factors in helping them to win their first ever Mid-Cork Junior A title, on a scoreline of 1-13 to Donoughmore's 2-1. Team : C. Malone, T. Brennan, J. Murphy, B. Webster, J. O'Flynn, D. Murphy, J. Dineen, .McSweeney, D. O'Brien, D' O'Flynn, S. O'Callaghan, M. Kelleher, J. O'Sullivan, M. Malone, J. O' Leary. Sub - D. Desmond for M. Kelleher.

Cloyne put a stop the Eire Og's county title aspirations defeating them in a game played in the park by 1-9 to 2-4.

Hurling seemed to dominate in 1977, but Eire Og reached the Junior A final in 1983 where Donoughmore gained revenge for their defeat in 1976.

A keen interest in football at underage level developed in Eire Og in the early '80s. In 1982, '83 and '84 the reached the U21 mid-Cork finals. The winning of one of these titles would have been a grate achievement for the club and a help to improve the interest and get more recognition for football in the club.

Eire Og played in many fields down through the years. The original pitch was Harry Reids field across the railway in Kilumney. The charge wasrather nominal than real. Later a field was given by John Prior, across the road from his pub, which he named the 'Bridevalley Bar'.. That field is now owned by John A. Wood.They then moved to Billy Murphys fied (near Ovens church), where they remained for many years before moving to the present location. Training frequently occurred on various lands throughout the parish - John Sheehans of Ballineadig and Timmy Lanes of Kilcrea were surely the breeding ground for future stars. It was no trouble on summer evenings to pick two teams, and much sweat and blood flowed flowed in these games! These facilities were indeed the reason why the weight of Eire Og players were from Farran for many years.

In 1978, Eire Og purchased its present grounds. A senior and junior field was immediately developed. Four dressing rooms, showers and a referees room were erected.

In 1986 work commenced on the development & financing of the club pavillion.