Youghal GAA
Youghal GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the town of Youghal, in County Cork, Ireland. The club fields both Hurling and Gaelic football teams. The club is a member of Cork GAA and Imokilly divisional board.HistoryEvery story has its origin and so has Cumann Luthcleas Gael Eochaill. In 1891 the men of Youghal formed the Youghal GAA Football club. Spearheaded by W.J.Broderick, John Collins, William Farrell, and Michael Browne as first Secretary, the foundation was laid. Organised Gaelic Football was played in Bill Farrell's Field at Frogmore. The club then transferred to Jimmy Lynch's field up towards the Asylum Cross in 1984, and to Copperalley in 1899. It may be of interest too, to recall, that during those early days handball also flourished, but regretfully declined in the early 1900s, and was revived in the early 1920s, for a long period of time, when the Garda Barracks, at Catherine Street, had a Ball alley. Hurling began its growth in Youghal in the 1940s.The grounds at Copperalley were owned by a Miss Avis Hilda Bennett, and it wasn't until 1934 that the club was accepted as legal tenants in their own right. The rent was the exorbitant fee of 20 pounds per annum and many members were unhappy with this. Negotiations began in 1966 for the outright purchase of the property and negotiations were finally completed in the early '70's and the club carried out substantial work and officially re-opened the field on 16 June 1974. The opening ceremony was performed by the then President of Ireland, Erskine Childers. The next development milestone in the club was on 11 December 1985, when the contract was signed for the purchase of ground, from the Southern Health Board, at Magniers Hill, adjacent to St. Raphaels Hospital. This land was bought for 75,000 pounds collected inside three years. This ground is used daily by our schools and under-age players. The second phase of this development is currently underway, with an investment of almost 1 million pounds in developing a third playing field, the fencing in of the property and the building of a Community Hall.
