Crossabeg Ballymurn GAA Club - Current Club

Current Club

As the clubs entered the 1960s a number of people led by Michael Sinnott and Cauley Gordan decided it was time to unite under one club to serve the area and so in 1966 the present day Crossabeg Ballymurn came into being.

The new club entered a team in the junior championship but it took a number of years to gain any semblance of success.

In the early 1970s championship success was halted by St Fintains in the Wexford District final for three years in a row . In 1972 a first Wexford district junior hurling title was won when they beat St Fintans in the final. The club went on to contest its first county final that year losing out to Cloughbawn in the final.

Despite the loss the ambition of the club was aroused and in the following year a restructuring of hurling in the county saw the club opting to go up to the Intermediate grade which would lead to a 15 year quest filled with heartache and disappointment as the club sought to win its first adult title as a one parish club.

They contested the 1974 intermediate final losing on a replay to Gorey. They were beaten semi finalists in 1976, and were beaten in the final of 1977 by a rising St Martins side. For the next ten years the club was always listed as one of the seasons fancied sides but the breakthrough never came.

In the meantime at underage level the club lost the 1973 minor hurling final to Rathnure / Duffry Rovers when teamed up with neighbours Oylegate. Two years later they won the U21 hurling title when joined with the Shelmaliers beating Gorey in the final. In 1980 they united with Oylegate to win the Minor B hurling beating ferns in the final and again won the U21 hurling in 1982 beating a star studded Rathnure / Cushinstown in the final.The club went it alone in 1986 and captured the U21B hurling title. The underage teams of the early 80's contained the players who would carry the club forward into the 1990s.

The tale of woe in adult finals continued in 1984 when Gorey beat the junior B hurlers in the final. In 1985 it was the junior B footballers who beat Castletown in the final to record a first adult success in football after all the effort to win a hurling title. However as in the previous century the win signaled a change of fortune. The Intermediate hurlers contested a first final in ten years when they lost the 1987 final to near neighbours Glynn / Barntown. The club was back the following year to beat Shamrocks in the final and to record a first adult hurling success in the parish for fifty eight years. This victory also saw the parish return to the top senior grade of Wexford hurling.

The club more than held its own at senior level and in 1994 narrowly lost the senior semi final to Oulart/ Ballagh who went on to record their own first senior win. At underage level in 1994 the club contested its first premier minor hurling final as a single club losing out to Rathnure. In 1995 the junior B hurlers won the final at the third attempt beating the Rapparees in the final having lost the 1989 final to Bannow / Ballymitty. This was the high tide mark of the club as each year that followed saw a gradual slippage until in 2000 the club was relegated from senior ranks. Worse was to follow when in 2003 saw the team relegated to junior ranks for the first time in thirty years.

The years since 2003 has seen the club founder in the junior ranks, and has been a traumatic time for all involved as every one adjusted to their new status. Out of recent disappointment has come a renewed focus and determination to climb the hurling ladder once again however long it takes. The club reached the junior hurling final of 2006 where they lost by a point to Our Lady's Island . Six members of the 2000 U12 hurling winning team were members of the 2006 junior hurling panel. In 2008 the club were knocked out of the junior championship but went on to claim the junior shield when beating Geraldine O'Hanrahans, their first adult cup in thirteen years.