The Hurling club was founded in the 1950s, by a group of young men from the Tooreen area who were working in Ballyhaunis during that period of time as apprentices to various trades and who were travelling together daily on bicycles in to the town, and back home again in the evening. Among them were John Spellman, Roddy Boyle, Jimmy Caulfield, Michael Henry, Jack Cunniffe and Chris Tuohy.
There were lots of discussions and arguments and of course great craic, all in good humour to shorten their journey home in the evening. Every evening Michael Henry would bring up the subject of having a hurling club in Tooreen, explaining that it was the oldest and fastest ball game in the world and wouldn’t be great if there was a club in our own village and it would get all of our youth involved in a great sport. Eventually Michael converted the group to give it a try. It just might work and bring a bit of life around the place, anyway they had nothing better to do at the weekends so why not try something new?
They got a hurling ball and some sticks but they were a bit disappointed with the ball, it was very hard and didnt go far when it was hit, not like a rubber ball or tennis ball at all. But they persevered and made sticks from small branches of ash trees, which lasted them a while. It was decided if they were to get anywhere at all they would have to be properly organised.
The first meeting of Tooreen Hurling Club was called and held in St Mary’s Hall Tooreen on Tuesday Night April 23rd 1957.
There was a very good attendance at the meeting, which was a pleasant surprise to them all on the night, they were mostly youngsters but that’s what it was all about. Father James Horan C.C. attended the meeting and they were delighted that he made the effort to be there. The following Officers were elected on that first night: -
The following were among those who attended the first meeting, Tony Henry, Vincent Tuohy, Joe Leonard, John Spellman, Tom Robinson, David Spellman, Jack Cunniffe, John Robinson, John Kilkenny, Sean Tighe, Terence Nolan, Paddy Robinson, Sean Henry, Michael Nolan, John Robinson, Kevin Henry, Tom Healy, and Eamon Mulrennan.
Membership fee was one shilling and of course like all new organisations fundraising became their first priority. They were lucky to have a field to play and practice in – Michael Tuohy’s Turlough field. An order had to be placed for hurleys and hurling balls as well. So the foundations of the club were laid and the team spirit and dedication of all the club members especially during their first few months and years of its existence ensured its ongoing success.
After some very serious training had taken place, it was decided that they should organise a match against another team to test their mettle. This was arranged with a match against a team from Ballina to be played in Swinford. There was a problem of transporting the team to Swinford for the game and this was overcome with the help of Chris Freyne and Pat McNicholas who got them all there in time for the game.
To the great surprise of all from Tooreen, they beat the Ballina team by 6-13 to 1-3! This of course gave the Tooreen lads a great lift and hurling became the greatest thing that ever came Tooreen.
Seven or eight weeks later they played in the Mayo County minor final against Ballina and won very easily, which was a further boost to their morale.
Further history of the Club, their successes and sometimes defeats, mostly due to emigration is recorded in the Silver Anniversary Magazine in 1982 and the Golden Anniversary Magazine in 1997.
They now have provided for themselves a full size pitch where they can play county or inter-county matches against any team at their home pitch in Tooreen. This has been established wholly through their own dedicated efforts to keep hurling and camogie alive in Tooreen.
The Club continues to gain further strength being able to field minor, junior & senior teams as well as a newly formed camogie team Ná Brideoige, who have done very well and brought further honour and great pride to the village of Tooreen. All of this of course is of enormous benefit to the youth, both boys and girls in Tooreen and the surrounding areas and may it continue long into the future years.
