Ballyporeen GAA is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club located in the parish of

Ballyporeen Ballyporeen (Irish: ''Béal Átha Póirín'') is a village in County Tipperary, Ireland. The 2016 census recorded a village population of 318. Location It lies in the Galtee-Vee Valley with the Galtee Mountains to the north and the Knockmealdo ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The club plays

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

at Senior level as part of the South division of

Tipperary GAA The Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae Thiobraid Árann) or Tipperary GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in Cou ...

. The

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

section of the club has also had considerable success. The club fields Minor, Under-21 and Senior football teams. At juvenile level the Ballyporeen club also takes in footballers from, and provides hurlers for, the

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

club in the neighbouring

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

Skeheenarinky Skeheenarinky () is a townland in south-west County Tipperary, Ireland. It is a dispersed settlement with a focal point at Skeheenarinky Cross where a school is located. Location Situated between the foothills of the Galtee Mountains and the lo ...

, part of the same parish.

History

The club was founded in 1887, just three years after the formation of the GAA. Historically the club has played under various names including Templetenny Rangers, Western Rangers and the Brian Borus, a team made up of members from Ballyporeen and Clogheen. Currently (2016) the team is closely linked with the hurling club in

. Their common home ground is in Ballyporeen where there is access to modern dressing rooms and floodlighting. Ballyporeen's most notable victories at county level to date were in 1992 and 2013, when it secured the Intermediate titles. The club advanced to the county's Senior championship, and retained that rank in a relegation play-off in October 2015. Ballyporeen took part in the fourth series of the reality television show,

Celebrity Bainisteoir ''Celebrity Bainisteoir'' was a prime-time reality programme created by Fiona Looney and first broadcast in 2008 by RTÉ. It involved a number of celebrities competing against each other as a Gaelic football team coach. The title derived from th ...

, which was broadcast in Autumn 2011. Model

Gillian Quinn Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player he was a striker who played top flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City and ...

was the club's celebrity mentor. After losing the "swim off" against the

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medie ...

club

Killeshin Killeshin () is a village in County Laois, Ireland on the R430 regional road. Killeshin is a small rural community situated five kilometres west of Carlow town and overlooks the picturesque Barrow Valley. The church at the foot of the Killeshi ...

, the latter got home advantage and went on to eliminate Ballyporeen in the first round.

Honours

Tipperary Intermediate Football Championship The Tipperary Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised since 1974 by the Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the second-tier Gaelic football clubs in County Tipperary in I ...

(2) ** 1992, 2013 *Tipperary Junior 'A' Football Championship (1) **1987 *Tipperary U21 'B' Football Championship (2) ** 1990, 2011 *South Tipperary Intermediate Football Championship (4) **1988, 1992, 2007, 2013 *Tipperary U21 'C' Football Championship (1) ** 2001 *Tipperary Minor 'B' Football Championship (1) ** 1986 (as Brian Boru's), 2011 *Tipperary Minor 'C' Football Championship (1) ** 2006 *South Tipperary Junior 'A' Football Championship (5) ** 1928, 1969, 1970, 1985, 1987 *South Tipperary Junior 'B' Football Championship (4) ** 1991, 1994, 2002, 2004 *South Tipperary U21 'B' Football Championship (4) ** 1990, 1997, 2004, 2011 *South Tipperary U21 'C' Football Championship (1) ** 2001 *South Tipperary Minor 'A' Football Championship (1) ** 1966 *South Tipperary Minor 'C' Football Championship (2) ** 2005, 2006

Notable players

The following Ballyporeen clubmen have played at county Senior level in at least two seasons: *

Conor Sweeney Conor Sweeney (born 29 March 1990) is a Gaelic football player who plays at inter-county level for Tipperary, and plays his club football for Ballyporeen in South Tipperary. He also plays club hurling for Skeheenarinky. Career Sweeney playe ...

Tipperary Minor footballer 2007, Minor captain 2008, U-21 panel 2009–11, Senior panel 2010–16, Munster SFC winning captain 2020 captained county IFC winning team 2013 *John O'Callaghan, Minor All-Ireland winning captain with Tipperary 2011, Senior panel 2011-12 *Eoin Kearney, Tipperary Senior panel 2008, 2010 *Tom Macken, Tipperary Senior panel 1989, 1991–96 *Eamon Maher, Tipperary Senior panel 1989, 1990, 1994 *Patsy Condon, Tipperary Senior panel 1969, 1971

Handball

Ballyporeen's first handball court was built in 1908 and the club was formed the following year, in its history producing 21 All-Ireland Champions and numerous County and Provincial Champions. Con "Shine" Moloney (1906-1963) and Paddy Ormonde brought the first Senior All Ireland Hardball Doubles Handball Championship to Ballyporeen in 1929, and again in 1931.Murphy,Sean (ed.) ''1884-1984 A History of Handball in Munster'' Munster Handball Council; Pallaskenny (1984), p179 In 1930 Tommy Moloney (1908-1943) and Ned O'Gorman won the All Ireland Junior Hardball Doubles Handball Championship for Ballyporeen. Eddie Corbett from Ballyporeen has won the United Sports Panel Award for Handball in 1987, 1993 and 1994 and shared it with John O'Donoghue in 1990 and 1991. Today Ballyporeen Handball & Racquetball Club has one glass backwalled 40 X 20 court and one 60 X 30 court.

Ballyporeen Handball Titles

World Champions *Eddie Corbett - World doubles champion, 40/20 open 1994. *Billy McCarthy - World doubles champion, 40/20 masters 'B' 1994. *Pat Ryan - World singles champion, 40/20 golden masters 'B' 2012. *Jason English - World doubles champion, 40/20, 15 & Under 2012. United States Champion *Eddie Corbett- USHA singles champion, 40/20 open 1993. All Ireland Champions *Paddy Ormonde, Con "Shine" Maloney, Ned O'Gorman, Tommy Maloney, Paddy Hickey, Tom Breedy, Dermot Wall, Paddy Macken, Jimmy Walsh, Billy McCarthy, Michael Kennelly, Eddie Corbett, Joe English, Pat Ryan, Frank O'Brien, Michael Meaney, John Corbett, Aidan Supple, Paddy Supple, Michael John Meaney, Darragh Lyons, Anthony Crotty, Jason Cahill, Jason English, Ceallach Hennessy, Micky Maher, Tiernan O'Brien, Adrian English, John Ryan, Jack Coughlan, Adam English, Darragh Flynn, Riann Hennessy, Aidan O'Donovan and Christy English.

References

External links

*
GAA Info SiteTipperary GAA site
{{Tipperary GAA clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Tipperary