County: Cork Grounds: Páirc Mhichíl Naofa | Colours: Yellow and Green Founded 1951 | |
St. Michaels G.F.C. is a Gaelic football club in Cork City, Ireland. The club was formed in 1951 after a discourse in the Leaping Salmon bar in Blackrock near Cork. At that time some of the Blackrock hurlers played football with different city teams and it was thought a good idea to enter a football team from Blackrock, thus keeping the players together. A formal meeting was held and St Michael's Gaelic Football Club was born.
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History
St. Michael's first match was against Crosshaven and were captained by Jimmy Furlong. The club's first success was in 1956 when St Michael's took their first Cork Junior Football Championship title and as there was no Intermediate Championship or League the club took the decision to go Senior in 1957. The club failed to win a Senior County Title in 1976, 1977, and 1978, but these years saw them in finals against St. Finbarr's and Nemo Rangers. The club did take honours with two Kelleher Shield Titles. Eventually the decision was made to drop down to Intermediate level in the hope the club would once more rise to Senior status.
1964 and 1965 saw the first honours to the younger members of the club with Minor titles in the county championships and the greatest achievement in this level came in 1974 when the club won city and county league and championships.
1998 was the year the club bounced back with the Cork Intermediate Football Championship after a long tough campaign they reached the final to beat the Barrs thus adding to their 1969 success and gaining a second Intermediate title to restore the club to the Senior ranks.
St. Michael's underage section begun as far back in the 1960s and was spearheaded at that time by Eamonn O'Donoghue with assistance from Chairman of this age group Bernard Hurley. Also involved at this time was Aidan McAuliffe.
The fruits of these coaching sessions can be seen in the 5 in a row Féile victories since 2002, culminating in All-Ireland success this year and the U16 County Championship won in 2005 also.