Club History

Junior Title for Mountheaton in 1927

Formed in 1925 under the name of Mountheaton, the club affiliated with the Offaly County Board and took part in the junior Championship, in which they defeated Eglish in the 1927 junior County Final.

Ballyskenach

While the club remained active until 1940, no further titles came its way and it lapsed for two years until 1942, when the present Ballyskenach club was started, mainly due to the efforts of Peter Campion, Sean Feehan and Joe Dooley, whose father Martin had been one of the original founders in 1925. This time they affiliated in North Tipperary and won the junior title in 1948, defeating Eire Og, Nenagh. It was eleven years before Ballyskenach won another title, defeating Lorrha in the 1959 junior Final.

Tipperary Bye-Law

In 1961, the Tipperary County Board introduced a bye-law, restricting each parish to only one hurling and one football club, and consequently Ballyskenach were refused affiliation. Later that year the Offaly county Board agreed to accept affiliation and the club returned to competition in Offaly. Success came their way in their first year, when they took the junior title of 1961 at the expense of Blackwood Rovers.

Junior Title in 1977

Sixteen years were to pass before Ballyskenach re-captured the junior title in 1977, defeating St. Saran’s in the final, having narrowly lost the final the previous year to Shinrone. Two years later, the club won their first Intermediate title, when they defeated Killoughey in the final. The club spent a brief spell at senior level, but without success.

The present day successes are due in no small way to efforts which were made at Juvenile level since the early 1980s and to the work done at schools level in Dromakeenan and Clonlisk. The first underage title was captured in the U-14C championship of 1983.

Major Minor Success

Having made history in 1990 by winning the minor B title, the club entered the A championship the following year. Some people felt they would be out of their depth, but the players' self-belief proved to be well founded, when they brought home the county minor title in 1991, defeating Ferbane/Belmont in the final. A number of the present senior side were on that history-making team.

In 1994, with Ballyskenach native and former county hurler Paddy Kirwan at the helm, the club swept all before them to take the junior title at the expense of Carrig and Riverstown. A very young side, they exceeded expectations when they went on to win the intermediate title in their first year of participation in 1995. After a difficult debut year in the senior championship, the team progressively improved and reached the county semi-final in 1999, in which they were defeated by St. Rynaghs.

In 2000, they were unfortunate not to make the play off stages, going out to St. Rynaghs in a group play off, despite having beaten them in the first round. (2000 Match Reports). 2001 started off poorly, with numbers depleted through transfers, injuries and temporary absences and the team were unsuccessful in the championship. (2001 Match Reports). However the year took a turn for the better when the club took their first ever senior trophy - the O’Connor Cup - on October 28th, at the expense of Kilcormac/Killoughey, having beaten Drumcullen and Lusmagh en route. 2002 saw Ballyskenagh reach the quarter final, where they succumbed to St. Rynaghs (2002 Match Reports).

2003 was possibly the most exciting year yet in the history of the club, when they reached the Senior County Final for the first time. All-Ireland Champions Birr provided the opposition and they pulled away in the final quarter, dashing hopes of an historic first. (2003 Match Reports)

The club currently field an Intermediate hurling team, having been relegated from the senior ranks in 2007.

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