About Us

The current White’s Cross GAA club was formed in late 1957 with the club entering the East Cork league & championship and tournaments from 1958 onwards. Gaelic past-times, however, existed in the area dating back a long time prior to this. The Gaelic poet Seán ‘na Ráithíneach‘ O Murchadha (who spent time in working in Ballyphillip House) reported on a hurling games across the district in the 1740’s.

This was an era prior to the formation of clubs as we know them. Hurling games were sponsored by estate owners. From the period following the Act of Union (1801) to the great famine (1846-49), political tension saw landowners withdraw their support and the game of hurling had declined around the country save for a few areas where it survived – the area around Cork City was one such place. There is at least one record of a local curate who documented games being played in this area in the 1830’s.

When the Gaelic Athletic Association was formed in November 1884, it was not long after activity commenced in the parish. One of the the first ever Gaelic Football matches to be played in Cork under GAA rules was an exhibition match with a team named Glanmire playing against Fethard of Tipperary in July 1886 in Cork Park. Though sharing the name of the current club based in Riverstown/Sallybrook, Upper Glanmire had a big influence in the fact that the side would have met and trained in Upper Glanmire and were captained by Dan O’Neill of Piercetown who was one of several other players from the locality playing in that era.

A Glanmire based team (name had changed from Glanmire to Charles Underwood O’Connells) lasted until the early 1890’s prior to the formation of the Sarsfields club which continues to thrive today and serves the Lower Glanmire parish. When a degree of peace or normality was restored following the Civil War and War of Independence, an East Cork league was restarted in 1923. This is when a clear antecedent for the current club formed. A team called Upper Glanmire competed in this league from the beginning. Various teams called Upper Glanmire, St Michaels and, indeed, the first side named White’s Cross competed for approximately 15 years. They were particularly bouyant in the early 1930s.

1930’s Ireland though was blighted with emigration. These sides had all folded by 1938 and for 20 years there were no teams in the area. Younger players from Upper Glanmire school went and played underage with Sarsfields. Following some success there in the 1950’s a number of these players were part of a very young committee that met to form the current White’s Cross club in 1957.  The new club started to compete in 1958 as a hurling-only club. A then prestigous, tournament was won in the opening year and a championship final was reached the following year. 1964 saw the club win its first ever official competition; the extremely competitive East Cork Junior A Hurling league.

A barren spell followed for a decade with little success. A strong football side emerged in the 1970’s as football in the East Cork region started it’s own meteoric rise. They reached four football finals in the decade which lead to them wining their first ever championship; the 1977 East Cork Under 21 B Football.

In 1982, they won their first ever hurling championship. A fallow period followed before a young team emerged which saw the club enter it’s most successful period heretofore. From 1990 to 1994 championships, leagues and cup competitions were won in both codes. They also reached their first ever county final which saw an injury depleted side lose out to Castlelyons.

At the turn of the millennium, following an EGM, the club decided to expand its amalgamation with Whitechurch from underage to adult level. White’s Cross played football under this arrangement while players transferred to play hurling with Whitechurch. This was immediately successful with White’s Cross winning trophies almost every year of the amalgamation. The club won 4 Junior A championships, 4 Junior A Leagues and a record 10 McSwiney Cups in succession. Their players also were part of Junior B hurling championship and Craobh Rua Cup winning-sides during this period.

White’s Cross formed its own juvenile club in 2011 while hurling returned to the club in 2012. There was success for both our underage and adult teams over the following years. This success culminated in 2018 which turned out to be the most momentous year for our club. Following a 2017 final defeat, the club won it’s first ever County Championship in July of that year beating O’Donovan Rossa in the final of B hurling championship. The same year saw their under 12s, 14s and 16s all winning their respective football championships with the latter two reaching county finals also.

The club now competes at Junior A level in both hurling and football. They have a thriving underage section for boys and girls and dynamic committees that are determined to advance the fortunes of the club on and off the field going forward.