St Itas -The Begining

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. We will however give you the details that are recorded and let folklore provide you with the rest. No doubt as this website grows we will include all relevant information in here.

In the photo gallery we have actual photos from different times so we are aware that St Itas had a hurling team going during these times.

In 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. Its interesting to note that one player Art Supple linked both teams having played in 1954 and also in the 1980's team.

St Itas -Reformed 1971

In 1971 St Itas was reformed and at its first meeting the following were elected as officers.
Tom Geary - Chairman
Frank Motherway - Secretary
Johnny Foley - Treasurer
Owen Birmingham - President
Willie Sloane - Delegate to the East Cork Board
John Cunningham -Team Captain

Throughout the clubs history there are certain players and events we should not miss out or forget. Here we should mention Willie Sloane who was one of the driving forces in getting the club started again in 1971 up until his death in 1980 at the age of 65. He started his hurling with St Itas but transferred to Carrigtwohill Senior team in the 1930's. During this time he also played on the Cork Senior team. In 1946 he moved back to St Itas and was on the winning team in 1951. During his time with St Itas, Willie was also a prominent selector for the Imokilly team for a number of years.

In 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 followsEddie O Brien, Tom Geary, Gerard Geary, James Geary, Mick Walsh, Pius Foley, Billy Gleeson, Oliver Loughlin, John Sloane, Ger Coleman, Ger Motherway, Fr Hanley, JohnCunningham, 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 center forward for St Itas when they won and his son Gerry Geary played centre forward in this 1980's team.

St Itas - 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.

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.

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
Coach on all these set teams was Jim Griffin from Pilmore who has spent many years teaching set dancing in the local village hall. The team members who went on to represent Cork and St Itas in the Munster's were as follows Michelle McCarthy, Mandy Foley, Mellisa Daly, Kim Boylan, Kieran Keohane,
Luke O Brien, Ian Geary and Shane O Mahony

St Itas -The Present Team

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. Well done to all

2006 Looking back on the year that was Itas didnt do to badly they managed to reach four finals sadly not winning any of them in both hurling and football. Our hurlers made it to the East Cork Final of the County and also to the East Cork Championship Final losing both games, Our under 21's also made it to a final but again failed to collect any silverware here. Our footballers against all odds made it to a league final, the first in the clubs history for football. At underage level we did quite well with our Minors Killeagh /Itas winning out the County Division A title as well as the east cork section. I have to say its hard to sit here and write of so many finals and nothing to show for it but its not that long ago that St Itas were not even making finals or knock out stages of competitions. It shows a change in fortune and the mindset when we expect to win something after a years hurling and football .

St Itas -Cork 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.