The
Present Club
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The present Club was formed in 1971 by
J. F. Smith. Stanley Lowe, who had been the last captain in 1958,
became President and the new club assumed the name of its
predecessor. For many years the Club lead a peripatetic existence
playing home matches in the grounds of the University, on university soccer
pitches and local rugby football grounds. For a few seasons games were
played in the grounds of the Grammar School whose buildings then housed two
departments of the rapidly expanding university. Wickets were extremely crude
for the first few year then a Recticel mat, which is still used for indoor
practice sessions, was laid on a sand or unprepared earth base. This served
for many year until it was replaced by a permanent Notts artificial wicket. |
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For many years the Club played mostly
friendly matches. The only competitive games were cup competitions. In 1974
they reached the Irish Junior Cup final and subsequentlyreached the finals of
five cup competitions organized by the Midland Cricket Association
without winning any of them. Since 1987 the Club has been a member of
the Munster Cricket Union whose competitions now provide most of the Club's
fixtures. In 1987 and 1989 the Club won the Munster Junior League, doing the
double in 1989 when the Munster Junior Cup was also won. There was also a
fitting success in the 25th Anniversary year, 1996, when the Junior Cup was
won for the second time, during the last over of the game. In
1999 the club won the Munster Senior Shield competition. |
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In 1983 the Club purchased a three
acre site outside the city at Lydican, near Oranmore. The ground, which was
formerly used for growing cabbages, was leveled, grassed and a rough square
laid in the middle of which the artificial wicket was re-located. The
original artificial wicket was replaced in 1996 thanks to generous
sponsorship by CSI International. While it is an aspiration of the Club
to have a grass wicket, it has generally been considered impractical in the
west of Ireland due to the wet climate and the amount of attention such a
wicket would require. |
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Once the ground had been purchased the
Club struggled for many years to meet the costs of repayments.; In 1994 the
financial burden became so great that the Club almost folded. However a
final determined fund raising effort with generous sponsorship from many
individuals, cricket clubs, businesses and banks finally saw the Club reach
the required target, settle the loan and become the proud owner of its own
ground, the first cricket club in Ireland to do so for many, many years. |
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In 1996 the Club celebrated its 25th
anniversary with a series of gala events including visits from various
representative sides and culminating in a replay of the Clubs fist match
against Limerick CC with the several of the original participants involved. |
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The Club is currently embarking on a
development programme to improved the changing facilities at the ground. This
is being carried out in a phased manner as there is a strong wish that the
Club should never have to carry the burden of prolonged load repayments. It
is hoped to complete development within the next two years. |
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Any cricket in the west of Ireland
involves a considerable amount of travelling. Until 1998 the nearest clubs
were in Limerick and Athlone, both over 60 miles from Galway. Despite
the time commitment and travel involved most fixtures are fulfilled, both
home and away, and we are extremely grateful to those teams who take the time
and trouble to visit Galway for a game of cricket. Without their
support cricket in the west of Ireland could have ceased many years ago. The
Club is still interested in playing friendly matches and in 1999 welcomed two
international touring sides, Chetna CC from India and Crusaders from
Melbourne, Australia. |
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Anyone interested in joining Co.
Galway Cricket Club should contact the Treasurer |
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