Sporting Clubs

NAOMH EOIN G.A.A. CLUB

Myshall is home to Naomh Eoin G.A.A. Club. Since its formation the club has won more county senior hurling championships than any other club, with 18 Titles.

They are also the only Carlow team to have won a senior hurling and football double, in 1986.


 

MÍSEAL JUVENILE CLUB

The assembly at the Naomh Eoin G.A.A. Dinner Dance of 1974 heard a passionate plea from the then Parish Priest Fr. Hayden for help with juveniles in the area. The response to this plea saw the beginning of Míseal Juvenile Club as we know it today. Of course juveniles were participating in competitions from as far back as October 1934 and had contests going between different schools. There are some records of juvenile games that took place in the fifties and sixties but the newspaper headlines at the time were devastating “Myshall Crushed” being just one example. A new curate in the area Fr O’ Shea (now Parish Priest), had the attitude that they should “keep playing at any rate in a sporting manner and enjoy themselves for they would become the men of tomorrow”.


 

MYSHALL CAMOGIE CLUB

Myshall Camogie Club was reformed in 1977 after a lapse of over 30 years. Eamon Quirke and Ger Foley were the trainers that year. One of the first matches they played was a practice match vs. Carlow Town winning on a score line of 6-2 to 2-0.

The club won their first Senior County Championship in 1979 beating Carlow Town in the final. The club went on to win the County Final in 1980 and 1981 and for the first time in history the club reached for the first time the Leinster Club final being defeated by Camross in Mountrath by a single point. The following year in 1982 the girls came back strong and again reached the Leinster final this time having a famous victory over St. Anne's from Louth.


 

NAOMH EOIN LADIES FOOTBALL CLUB

Naomh Eoin Ladies Football Club is quite a new club in Myshall - only formed in October 2004, however already with much success. In its first year 2004/05 the ladies of Myshall entered the 7-a-side Junior League, which they won, the 11-a-side league that they also won and also reached the final of the Junior Championship. They were very unlucky not to win in 2007. A tremendous achievement for a club in its first year.


 

ST. FINIAN'S ATHLETIC CLUB & COMMUNITY GAMES

Efforts were made over the years to have a Community Games committee established in the parish and Fr. Hayden was forefront in calling meetings etc. as he believed in promoting any kind of positive activity for youth.

As the roll of honour indicates we have had tremendous success, for a small rural area in Mosney, and the memories of all who have gone must surely be great.


 

MILLTOWN UNITED

The Club was formed in August 2005. In our first season we had three teams, U-12, U-14 and U-16. We received great sponsorship, which allowed us to get three sets of jerseys and goalposts and nets. We played our home games in the Lawn beside the hall, which was the best pitch in the county.


 

MYSHALL DRUMPHEA SPORTS COUNCIL LTD.

Established in 2000 to manage and take control of ‘The Ranch’ sports-field on behalf of the community of Myshall Drumphea. The Sports Council has a committee of over twenty members who represent the various sports clubs and organisations in the Parish who are entitled to use the ‘Ranch’. Members come from St. Finian's AC & Myshall Community Games, Naomh Eoin GAA, Míseal Juvenile GAA, Myshall Camogie, Myshall Ladies Football Club, Myshall Gun Club, Blackstairs Vintage Society, Myshall Soccer Club, Garryhill Handball Club, and Myshall Equestrian Club. Membership is also open to any new sports clubs or recreational organisations that may start up in the area in the future provided that they meet the criteria of the Sports Council.


 

MYSHALL SPORTSMAN'S CLUB

Myshall Sportsman's Club (Gun Club) can trace its origins back to the early 1960's when the National Association of Regional Game Councils was founded. The first meeting of the Carlow Branch was held in the Royal Hotel Carlow in 1961. Fr. Burke, C.C. Myshall was elected its first chairman, leading the way for Myshall sportsmen to play an active and responsible role in game and gun maintenance and control.


 

CYCLING

The people of Myshall have been involved in many charitable events over the years raising money for charities both at home and abroad. Each year money is raised for such charities as Sacred Heart Home Carlow, Multiple Sclerosis, Cheshire Homes, Tullow, BEAM, Bagenalstown etc. and of course when tragedy strikes e.g. with the tsunami in Asia in 2004 people are very generous. One of the greatest events to raise money for charity took place last year 2006 when over €70,000 was raised from a Sponsored Cycle in aid of Cancer Care and Research. It all occurred because of one man, John Maher, who had been diagnosed with the dreaded disease but rather than sit back and wait for fate to play out its role he, with some of his close friends, mobilised the entire community to participate in some way in the cycle.


 

MYSHALL GOLFING SOCIETY

Myshall Golf Club was founded on the 29th Sept. 2003. The club was founded as a result of the enjoyment gained from participating in Míseal’s Juvenile Club Par 3 Golf Classic. It was formed so members could enjoy themselves through an outdoor activity. The first Officers were: Chairperson: Pat Nolan, Vice Chair: Hall Kavanagh, Secretary: Alan Mullins, Vice-Sec: Mick Redmond, Joint Treasurers: Luke Tracey and James Hogan. The first outing took place on the October Bank Holiday Monday 27th 2003 to New Ross Golf Club. There were 28 people who played on the day and the winner was Jerry Tobin, with Mick Mullins 2nd and Patrick Nolan 3rd. Pat Nolan had the longest drive and Diarmuid O’Donovan won the nearest to the pin. By the end of the year 2003 the membership was forty seven. Since then the Society has travelled to many Golf Clubs in the South East and an Annual weekend trip takes place. Registration takes place once a year and is open to everyone.
 

GARRYHILL HANDBALL CLUB

Garryhill Handball Club is celebrating eighty-five years in existence in 2009 but handball was played in the Parish prior to the building of a court in the Garryhill area. In fact handball was played extensively in a court built of stone and timber at the Hill Road, Myshall on the site presently occupied by the Doyle family, in the early 1900’s. Garryhill Handball Club (then known as Drumphea) was founded in the year 1924 by the then Curate in the Parish, Rev. Thomas Prendergast. In its infancy the playing facilities consisted of an open three walled court which had been built on a piece of waste ground formerly occupied by a tailor named Paddy Neill and part of the Neill dwelling was later used to form a gallery when the court was extended and a back wall erected to make a four walled court.


 

SPORTING LEGEND: DANOLI

When Dan O’Neill and Tom Foley went to Goffs to buy a mare and came home with a gelding, who from Myshall could have ever guessed the fun and big racing days that lay ahead. Dan called the horse Danoli after himself and daughter Olivia who persuaded him buy to a horse. Dan O’Neill from Hollybrook, Myshall was the registered owner of Danoli but it was like he was only spokesperson for Myshall as every time he ran Danoli had a fan club all of his own as the people of Myshall really got behind and supported the People's Champion as he was to become known. The parish of Myshall was on the world racing stage.