Dripsey GAA ready to celebrate 20 years since being formed 

This Friday night will be another milestone in the proud history of Dripsey GAA.

The Muskerry club will celebrate their 20th anniversary at Lee Valley Golf and Country Club in Ovens.

In March 2005, when Dripsey GAA was formed, they were laughed at by some and the talk by others was that they wouldn’t last five years. They had no pitch, the population was small, it was like trying to climb Mount Everest.

The birth had come after a tough labour and an acrimonious split with Inniscarra under whose banner they had played for more than a century. The lack of loyalty enraged Inniscarra officials and for sure, the hurt still lingers 20 years on. But, for Dripsey, the urge for a separate identity was too pressing.

The intriguing thing was that the impetus came from the players themselves. Six players resigned from Inniscarra and announced their intention to form a new club. Within a month, Dripsey had held a public meeting, convened an executive and set about lobbying the Cork County Board for affiliation.

The notion of Dripsey forming a club hadn't happened overnight. There had been talk of it around that neck of the woods ever since the 1960s.

Initially the Cork County Board ruled that Dripsey could only affiliate at Junior and U21 grades but to nourish and sustain a healthy entity they knew they needed an underage section. After another battle, they won the right to field a minor team but in seeking to transfer 10 players from Inniscarra the dispute went up a notch, almost landing in the High Court before ending in the Disputes' Resolution Authority.

Dripsey lost the case and although they would win a County Junior B football title within eight months of their foundation, they still managed to enter a minor football team in their respective championship.

A few years ago, Dripsey won another battle when they purchased O’Brien’s Field, on the edge of Inniscarra parish and very close to Ballincollig and Éire Óg country, having been tenants for some time.

In their first year as a club, Dripsey won four trophies, but would do much better in the 2008/09 campaign with eleven including the Mid-Cork JAHC crown, Munster JHC trophy and the biggest one of them all, the All-Ireland title.

Since then, there have been searing highs and searing lows, but Dripsey is still alive and kicking. They reached an Intermediate hurling championship final in 2015, but Charleville tore them apart. The slippery slope was beginning to start.

Dripsey are back at the grade where their dreams became a reality. They did reach the Muskerry JAHC decider in 2023, but kingpins Ballinora just had enough.

Dripsey won’t be far away this season when the championship starts. They have gone back to basics with local man Paul Maher the man in charge with Ger Gibbons back for a third stint as coach.

Five years ago, Dripsey did claim county glory when they won the JBFC for a second time. It was during those dark days of covid, but it felt like winning the All-Ireland again for Dripsey. The footballers are also at Junior A level.

While results haven’t been brilliant over the last few years, the club did expect a plateau at some stage after so many years of going in an upward trajectory. They do seem on the up again with a cohort of young players on the scene. 

The future looks secure. Dripsey have gone too far to see it fail now.