Cortoon Shamrocks ( Irish: ) is a

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

club based in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is a member of the

Galway GAA The Galway County Boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Galway GAA are one of the 32 county boards in Ireland; they are responsible for Gaelic games in County Galway, and for the Galway county teams. Galway is one of the few ...

branch of the

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

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

league and championships and they compete at all levels of Galway football.

History

Cortoon are one of the oldest clubs in the county, and are unique in that they are the second senior football team in the one parish in Galway. Cortoon is a half parish of

Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...

and with Tuam Stars, Cortoon success is hard come by. They achieved Senior status in the early seventies in a team powered by Tommy Joe Gilmore and Mickey Rooney, they reached the semi-final on two occasions, losing to

Caltra Caltra ( or ''Cealtrach na Pailíse'' meaning "burial-ground of the palisade") is a townland and village on the R358 regional road in County Galway, Ireland. As of the 2011 census, the townland of Caltra had a population of 115 people. Histor ...

and Milltown. They then dropped again from senior status twice, but successfully fought to regain senior status. Cortoon is a half-parish of Tuam. 2008 proved to be a memorable year in the history of Cortoon football. In the 2008

Galway Senior Football Championship The Galway Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Gaelic football clubs in Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It ...

, Cortoon started strongly by knocking out

Annaghdown Annaghdown (, ) is a civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. It lies around Annaghdown Bay, an inlet of Lough Corrib. Villages in the civil parish include Corrandulla, Cloonboo, Corrandrum and Annaghdown, a census settlement in the east of th ...

in the first round. Following that, they stunned reigning champions Killererin, winning by a scoreline of 3-09 to 0-07. Taking confidence from such a great performance, Cortoon went on to defeat 2006 All-Ireland Club champions Salthill–Knocknacarra by one point and in the club's third ever county semi final, they beat a highly fancied NUIG team by the same margin. They had reached their first ever Senior Football Final, and played Corofin in the decider. However, experience won through for Corofin as they won by 3 points in a tight contested final, 0-08 to 0-05. Notable players include Derek Savage, former member of the county panel and a key part of Galway's

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and 2001 All-Ireland Football triumphs, and Michael Martin, All-Ireland Minor medal winner with Galway in 2007. Past legends include Tommy Joe Gilmore, voted centre half-back on the Galway "Team Of The Millennium". Also Cathal Mulryan, Paul and Adrian Varley who all won the 2013 u21 All Ireland Final with Galway

Notable players

* Tommy Joe Gilmore (Winner of Six Connacht Senior Football Championships) * Donal O'Neill (Played with Galway 2008–2014) * Derek Savage (Winner of Two All-Ireland Senior Football Championships & Six Connacht Senior Football Championships) * T. J. Gilmore (a member of the set of Galway players who lost three All-Ireland finals in four years)

Honours

Galway Intermediate Football Championship The Galway County Boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Galway GAA are one of the 32 county boards in Ireland; they are responsible for Gaelic games in County Galway, and for the Galway county teams. Galway is one of the few d ...

: 3 (1999, 2003 2020) *

Finalists: (2008) * Galway Senior Football League: 1 (2009) * Galway Senior Football League B: (2011) * John Dunne Cup Winners (2010): * Galway Senior Championship semi-finalists 2015: * Galway Senior Championship semi-finalists 2016: * Galway Intermediate winners 2020:

References

Gaelic football clubs in County Galway Gaelic games clubs in County Galway Sport in Tuam {{Connacht-GAA-club-stub