History of Saint Ita's GAA Club
St Itas -The Beginning
History records show that in 1901 St Itas played under the name of Gortroe in the East Cork Hurling division their opponents were Blackrock. The records do not give scores but it is shown that Blackrock advanced to the next stage of the competition.
The following year 1902 its recorded that Gortroe played against Evergreen in the firsts and against United Nationals in the seconds. The records do not give scores but Gortroe lost out to Evergreen who then advanced to the semi finals against Dungourney. For the records Dungourney were eventual winners.
Because many teams were joining the leagues at this time records become sketchy and its hard to track down actual details.
1951
St Itas captained by the youngest player on the team Jerry Lee beat Cobh in Midleton to win the East Cork Junior B Championship for the clubs first time. The team on that day are as follows
D Motherway, B Smiddy, J Motherway, W Smiddy, J Griffen, P Murphy, L Lyons, M Murphy, J Lee, J Coleman, J Geary, M Smiddy, Jerry Coleman, J Smiddy, T O Neill, W Geary, K Cashman, W Sloane, E Sloane, J Daly. Sadly the records show that in 1954 the club disbanded having played one of their last match in Killeagh at the May Sunday Tournament.
1975
St Itas reached an East Cork final hurling losing out to Bride Rovers 1-8 to 1-5. Three years later in 1978 St Itas reached another final this time losing out to Whites Cross by a margin of 1pt
However success did come in 1980 when for a third time in a few short years St Itas reached another final where they beat Watergrasshill in Carrigtwohillt by a score of 2-9 to 1-3. As in 1951 the youngest player on the 1980 team, Ger Motherway was also captain on that day.The Panel of Players on that occasion were as follows, Eddie O Brien, Tom Geary, Gerard Geary, James Geary, Mick Walsh, Pius Foley, Billy Gleeson, Oliver Loughlin, John Sloane, Ger Coleman, Ger Motherway, Fr Hanley, John Cunningham, Aiden Power, Vincent Motherway, Billy Carrol, Connie Foley, Art Supple, Simon Forrest, Michael Cunningham, Tim Cronin, Mick Barry, Mick Smiddy, Ted O Brien,It is interesting to note that in 1951 Jimmy Geary played centre forward for St Itas when they won and his son Gerry Geary played centre forward in this 1980’s team.
1981 – The New Era
1981 saw St Itas field two teams that year in both Junior A and Junior B. In 1982 St Itas reached another East Cork Junior B Final being beaten by St Catherines which was played in Castlemartyr. This was also the same year that St Itas ran the first of three very successful Local Trade Exhibitions in Gortroe Hall. Senator Katherine Bulbulia deputising for Mr Austin Deasy T.D. Minister for Agriculture, during her opening speech at the Exhibition invited the Irish Craft Council and the IDA to Gortroe, as in her opinion the exhibition was of an exceptionally high standard and deserved the full support of not just the people of East Cork but at national level as the quality and expertise at this first ever exhibition was most gratifying.
1983
The 1983 saw St Itas begin work on their pitch in Pilmore. For many years we did not have our own pitch playing many games in fields kindly given to the Club by local farmers. Times have changed with our fantastic all weather pitch in Pilmore, St Itas can boast one of the few pitches in Ireland that can be used all year round despite inclement weather closing many other pitches down during the winter season.
1988 - 1994
In 1988 St Itas affiliated their first Juvenile U14 team and their first Junior B Football team.
1989 St Itas reached the Junior B League final, which sadly they lost to Cloyne who had won the championship that year.
1992 St Itas Senior Scor Set Dancers became Cork County Champions
1993 St Itas Scor na Paisti confined to primary schools Were crowned Cork County Champions
1994 St Itas Scor na Nog Set Dancers were crowned Cork County Champions
2003 - 2005
2003 & 2004 our U21 Hurling team won the first of two East Cork Finals in their section. The players on this panel are as follows Brendan Barry, Brendan O Leary, Ed Coleman, Eoghan Loughlin, Finbar Foley, John O Leary, Coleman O Brien,Michael O Neill, Mick Daly, Neilus Foley, Paddy Ahern, Alan Loughlin, Sean Supple, Warren Terry, Patrick O Sullivan, John O Brien, David Foley, Paul Motherway, Ed McCarthy
2005 St Itas won an East Cork final in the County B Grade Championship, when on a very wet and windy Sunday St Itas beat Lisgould by a score line of 2-09 to 1-11. St Itas also reached the Junior B League final against Midleton in Midleton’s Clonmult Memorial Park which they won by a scorline of 3-14 to 1-5 on Sunday 13th Nov, this was the last game of the Year for St Ita’s who had been training since Feb.
2007 - County Champions
2007 St Itas Win the Cork County Junior B title for the first time in the clubs history. Having won out the East Cork section and adding another East Cork trophy to the cabinet St Itas went on to represent Imokilly and East Cork in the County Section winning out in a replay against Castlemagner from the Duhallow division. The game was played under lights in Pairc Ui Rinn on 13th Sept 2007. St Itas now enter the Munster section representing Cork. St Itas reached the Munster Final after beating Clare county champions and Kerry County Champions on the way but sadly on Sunday the 10th Feb in 2008 Tipperary County Champion Ballingarry beat St Itas in the Munster Final by a scoreline of 12 pts to 2-12.
Modern Day Squad
​
The current squad has many rising stars, most notably Seamus Harnedy playing with the Cork Senior team. Also, Darragh O Brien has played for Cork at underage level, Several players have played for Imokilly including Eoghan Loughlin, Sean Supple, Darragh O Brien, also Ciaran O' Brien has played with the Cork Intermediate team.