O'Raghallaighs CLG was formed on the 13th October 1957 in the C.Y.M.S Hall, Fair Street, Drogheda, following the success of the street league teams in the Boyle O'Reilly/ Hardmans Garden area. It was decided at that meeting that the clubs colour would be green and white in honour of Louth winning the All-Ireland Final against Cork in which both teams had to change colours with Louth wearing Green and White on that successful day. It was decided that underage teams would play under the name Boghaill O'Raghallaighs, the names of Jimmy Carroll, Tommy Kelly, Michael McKeon Snr, Willie Burke among others will always be associated with the clubs foundation.
It wasn't long before success came to the club with Minor Championship success in 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1963,
it was almost 5 in a row but for a single point defeat in the 1962 final. Our first adult success came in 1963
on the back of success at minor level when in 1963 the club won the Junior Championship against O'Connells in
Ardee. It wasn't long before O'Raghallaighs claimed the top prize in Louth with a Senior Championship Final
success in 1965 over a much fancied Newtown Blues side in Drogheda.
A number of senior titles followed
including the Old Gaels Cup and continued in the senior ranks for a few more years to being relegated to
junior football. The Leech’s, Kelly’s, McEntee’s, McKeon’s, Murphy’s & McLoughlin’s will always be remembered
for their success for both club and county. Others who have contributed to the success of the club over the
years from outside of the county are Donegal men Jimmy Gillespe & Joe Reid, Armagh man Eddie McGuigan, Mayo's
Des McGinty, Meath’s Benny Markey & a former County Board Chairman, the recently deceased Paddy Kenny from
Roscommon.
Some of our founder members still active in the clubs day-to-day organisation are Barney McKenna,
Noel Smyth & Mick Coyle and long may they continue. The service given by the late Dick Hall and Gerry Morgan
who gave so much of their and effort to the club and will always be fondly remembered.
Off the field, but still under the GAA umbrella, are our handballer’s who enjoyed success during the 1980's with Joey Maher, Peter McCaughley and Sean Devlin among others claiming success. The club in 2010 claimed its first All-Ireland Title in over 18 years when Sean Devlin tasted victory. The handball numbers in the club are growing and some promising players to look out for in the future are Liam Hanna, Ryan Levins & Ben Devlin.
In football after our golden era of the 1960's a number of lean years followed, the club moved from its base on the Ballymakenny Road into the GAA Grounds in the 1970’s and now the County Grounds has become our home. It wasn’t until 1991 when Josh Carolan managed the club to claim the 1991 Junior Championship when we beat St Mochtas in the final with selector Paul Moore on duty, however it wasn’t long before the club was back in the Junior ranks. We again enjoyed success in the 2001 Junior Championship Final when we defeated Dundalk Young Irelanders under the guidance of Ja Clarke with selector Martin McKenna giving a man of the match performance.
O'Raghallaighs contested their first Intermediate Final in 2005, when Dreadnots prevailed with our current manager Colin Kelly on duty that day for the Clogherhead men. Colin returned to manage the club in 2010 and guided the club to its first Senior Title in almost 20 years with success in the Paddy Shealan Cup final over Glyde Rangers in Collon. We contested our second Intermediate Final and suffered our second defeat to a Dundalk Young Irelands side intent on revenge for the 2001 Junior Final defeat and we also reached the playoffs in the Div 2 league. In 2011, the club has recently captured the Div 2 League Title to return to Div 1 football for 2012, we now contest our third Intermediate Championship Final in seven years and we hope that the club can return to senior status for the 2012 season.
📍 Location: O'Raghallaigh's GAA Grounds, North Road, Drogheda, A92 FDK6
📞 Phone: +353 86 894 9849
📧 Email: oraghallaighsgfc@gmail.com
