History  

St. Martins Club History

A strong hurling tradition has existed in the parish of Muckalee since 1948, when the first hurling club was formed in Coon.  The 1960's were to bring Coon's first appearance in the county finals of 1961 and 1962, eventually making the breakthrough in 1967 when they beat Knocktopher by 5-11 to1-2.  Shortly afterwards in 1970 Muckalee decided to form their own hurling club which was called Muckalee/Ballyfoyle rangers.  Both clubs enjoyed great success during the 1970's with Coon winning the Intermediate Championship in 1973.   Muckalee/Ballyfoyle Rangers went on to challenge Ballyhale Shamrocks for the senior title in 1980 only to lose out in play.

In 1982 it was decided to amalgamate both clubs and so St. Martins was born and would represent Coon, Muckalee and Ballyfoyle.  The 1980's were an unprecedented success for St. Martin's having narrowly lost the county semi-final of 1982 to Ballyhale Shamrocks.  St. Martin's reached the decider in 1984 and won a thrilling final by 1-14 to Ballyhale Shamrocks 1-7.  Not satisfied with the Tom Walsh cup, the club went on to capture the Leinster club championship, and then the All-Ireland club championship of 1985 where they defeated Castlegar, club of the famous Connolly brothers, by 1-13 to 1-20 after a replay.

It wasn't until 1991 that St. Martin's reached the county final again, having lost semi-finals in 1985 and 1987.  In the final of 1991 St. Martin's came up against their old rivals Ballyhale Shamrocks and it was the southerners who captured the title.  The years since then saw a gradual decline in fortunes at senior level and in 1999 St. Martin's were relegated in a play-off to Clara and so found themselves in the intermediate grade.

With a shortage of underage talent coming through a senior level the club decided to create a juvenile section to the club which would be run by it's own committee.  The juvenile club has been a huge success to date and 2002 has seen St. Martin's win its first ever Roinn A School's title.

In 2000 St. Martins were beaten in the Intermediate final by Dunnamaggin.