Gortletteragh - 50 years at senior level
December 14, 2015
A Gortletteragh Senior Team from 1965. Front l/r: Jack Colreavy, Jimmy Canning, Frank Sorohan, Hugh Colreavy, Noel McGarry, Mel Sorohan, Mick Colreavy, Louie Duignan, & Fr Matt Grier. Back l/r: Joe Canning, Michael McGarry, JJ Colreavy, Tony Colreavy, Peader Reynolds, Fr Tom Colreavy, Joe Sorohan, JJ O' Rourke, Charlie Shanley & Eddie McCartin.
Now that 2015 is drawing to a close, players and members of all Leitrim GAA clubs will be reflecting on their efforts of the past year and looking forward with anticipation to 2016.
One of the clubs who could be wondering most, what might have been, is Gortletteragh, as their senior team was narrowly beaten in the championship semi-final by eventual champions Mohill in a game they could and maybe should have won. A little known fact is that Gortletteragh this year celebrated their 50th year since the club turned senior in 1965. The club was formed in 1889 and spent a lot of years bouncing between junior and senior ranks in the early years.
In 1965 having spent a number of years at junior level, a proposal was made at the AGM that the club should move up to senior level This was an option each club had then, before relegation and promotion came into play in later years. With men like Chairman Charlie Reynolds, Secretary J.J. O'Rourke, Treasurer Eddie McCartin and Team Captain Joe Sorohan in charge, it was no surprise that the step up to senior ranks was made because these men of vision didn't settle for second best in anything they were involved in.
Around the same time, after years of changing from one playing field to another all around the parish, the club purchased land on which the current club grounds now stand. This meant the club was moving forward on every front and momentum increased when Cloone and Annaduff were defeated in the first two senior league games. Even though they lost the next game to Ballinamore, hopes were high that they would hold their own in the upcoming championship.
First up was Aughavas in Cloone Grange on 4th July and the newcomers to senior championship confounded all the doubters with a historic victory of 1-7 to 0-9. Next up was the semi-final in Carrick on August 1st versus Ballinamore and once again Gortletteragh overturned the odds winning by 2-6 to 1-8. Unbelievably they reached the county final at their first attempt. It was appropriate that the club's first ever carnival to raise funds for the new park was held between August 1st and August 10th as everyone in the parish looked forward to the county final.
Players trained hard for the big day at Johnston's Bridge under the watchful eyes of trainer John Joe McGarry and selectors Fr J.P. Masterson, Charlie Reynolds, John Ward, Eddie McCartin and Tom Reilly. Finally the big day arrived but alas the superior craft, knowhow and experience of the opposition Melvin Gaels proved too great for Gortletteragh who were overawed by the occasion and failed to produce the form of previous rounds.
The final score was 0-12 to 0-1 but that should not take from what was an amazing year for the team in green and gold. The team on the day was: Charlie Shanley, Mick Colreavy, Tommy Shanley, Tom Reynolds, Mel Sorohan, Tom Colreavy, Michael McGarry, J.J. Colreavy, Joe Sorohan, Frank Sorohan, Noel McFarry, Joe Canning, Tony Colreavy, Peadar Reynolds, Hugh Colreavy. Subs: Matt Grier, Tommy Grier, Jimmy Canning, J.J. O'Rourke, Eamon O'Neill, Sean Lennon.
That year launched the club onto a new level and five years later the club went all the way when they beat Aughavas in the senior final. By this time the club had its own pitch and dressing rooms and in doing so became the first GAA club in Leitrim to own their own grounds. In the early seventies a Community Centre was built beside the club grounds. The efforts of these great men inspired a new generation of players who came together to form the most successful team in the clubs history when they won 3 senior championships in 1981, 1985 and 1987. Since then there have been plenty of ups and downs but now 50 years later the club is hopefully moving upwards again. In the past two years they have been beaten by small margins in the quarter and semi- finals of the Senior Championship by the eventual winners. They purchased more land adjoining their existing club grounds on which they hope to develop another pitch to facilitate the many adult and underage male and female teams who represent the club.
Any success that the club has achieved recently or over the past 50 years is due in no small way to the seeds sown by the club officers, players and club members of 1965 who had the foresight and vision to dream of greater things for the club and then more importantly make those dreams a reality.
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