See & Do - Sports Clubs

GAA

Portumna GAA

Secretary: Fiona O Meara

Marian Park, Portumna, Co Galway, Ireland

Founded: 1884

Serving: Parishes of Portumna, Gortanumera, and Boula

Star Fact: Portumna GAA Club are the leading Galway club to have won the all-Ireland club title (Tommy Moore cup) 4 times (2006,2008,2009,2014).

Ground Capacity: Not used as a venue by Galway County Board

Club Sponsors: Al Hayes Motors

Colours: Saffron & Blue Jersey, Blue shorts with Saffron Stripes, Blue socks with Safron bands

Portumna Camogie

Marian Park, Portumna, Co Galway, Ireland

Golfing

Portumna Golf Club

Ennis Road, Portumna

Portumna Golf Club was founded in 1913 on land directly across the road from the entrance to the present course. In 1934 the move was made to the present location on land rented from the Clanrickard Estate. The new course was designed then by Michael O'Keeffe, B.E. and was opened by Mons. Joyce on June 30th 1935. In 1935 also a new pavilion was constructed mostly of timber supplied free of charge by McAinish & Co. and a new bar and modern toilet facilities were added later.

In 1956 a ninety-nine year lease was secured on the land. In 1971 a new clubhouse was opened and a further thirty acres was added to the lease in 1972 with a view to extending the course to 18 holes. Work on the new course began in the mid eighties and culminated in the official opening of the first eighteen hole course on June 21st 1992.

In 1993 the club availed of an opportunity to purchase the course from Coillte. The eighty-eight acres on the 99 year lease plus 38 other acres were secured for £90,000. In 1997 the existing clubhouse was extended and refurbished to provide modern facilities for a rapidly expanding club membership. Subsequent alterations and addition to the course has resulted in the fine facility that we now enjoy.

Portumna Golf Club is one of the hidden gems of Irish golf. It is a beautiful parkland course that sweeps its way through forest and woodlands close to Lough Derg, the last and largest lake on the River Shannon. Its mature and graceful trees backdrop the full range of seasonal colour to provide a different challenging experience, no matter what time of the year it is played. Laid out over undulating land, Portumna has lots of interesting shots, including a number of elevated tee-box positions.

Portumna Golf Club is ranked in the top 60 courses in Ireland. Portumna is also ranked number 25 in the Golf Digest Volvo Top 30 Ranked Parkland Courses for 2016, the only Club in Co Galway to be mentioned on this list.

Rugby

Portumna Rugby Club

Castle Ave, Portumna, Co Galway, Ireland

President: Mark Scannell

Portumna Rugby Club was only reformed in 2002, a massive 40 years since their last game. The decision was initially conceived late one night when a number of ex-rugby players got talking about the “good old times” in one of the local “watering holes”. What seemed like a good idea then, still seemed like a good idea the next morning and so the process was put in place.

We would consider ourselves a very welcoming club and anyone who wants to get involved in playing, coaches, refereeing or just getting involved in rugby is very welcome, just contact us and we will take it from there.

Soccer

Portumna Soccer Club

Marian Park, Portumna, Co Galway, Ireland

Founded: 2006

Portumna Town Football Club was founded in 2006 in response to a recognised need to provide local children with the option to play soccer.

Over the past nine years the club has grown from strength to strength thanks in no small part to the efforts of a dedicated team of volunteers who have worked tirelessly in fundraising, coaching and the general running of the club. So much so that the club now has over 100 children who, on a weekly basis, are playing underage soccer up to the age of 15 with both boys and girls participating. Children from the age of 6 through to 15 are catered for. A panel of 12 coaches and assistants and 8 committee members (including Child Officer) are involved in the running of the club.

Tennis

Portumna Lawn Tennis Club

St. Joseph’s Road, Portumna

Facilities:

2 all weather courts with floodlights. Clubhouse with kitchen, lounge, changing and toilet facilities. Onsite carparking.

The floodlights operate on a token system. Tokens are available from Finn's shop/service station on St. Brendan's Road. The cost is 3 Euro per token and each token provides 45 minutes of light.

Please read the notice in the clubhouse regarding the use of lights. Enjoy!

Origins:

Portumna Lawn Tennis Club can be dated back as far as 1880, and in that year six grass courts were established in Portumna. The courts existed to the right of the Church of Ireland in what is now the car park of the Shannon Oaks Hotel. The Rector at the time was instrumental in securing the land for the provision of a club in Portumna.

The Tennis club facility also included a wall-ball and a clubhouse where senior citizens would go regularly to socialise and play cards, bridge mainly. The wall ball was made of timber with no sides and this facility allowed patrons to practise their shots while waiting for a game.

In 1913 a British vessel was commissioned to carry out a hydrological survey on Lough Derg; the vessel was known as the “Chanqsha” vessel. The crew was skippered by a man called Tommy Suggat. Tommy Suggat was captain of that vessel and spent much of his spare time as did the crew playing the game at the club in Portumna. The crew was ordered back to Britain in 1914, when world war one broke out. They donated a cup to the club called the Chanqsha cup which was made out of sterling silver. There was also a cup donated for the ladies but there was no name given to this cup. Unfortunately both cups were never returned after the last tournaments prior to 1960 and the location of these cups is unknown.

Decline and Renewal:

In the 1920's the club was again beginning to falter. Many locals of Portumna did not want to see the tennis club faltering so the chairman of the club in 1923 was Mr. Moran who embarked on a campaign to entice more members to join and maintain membership of Portumna Lawn Tennis Club. The O’Kelly family was instrumental in getting catholic families to join the club and membership of the club increased and an offshoot of table tennis came from this. The members used to have table tennis competitions in an upstairs room at Portumna Workhouse during the winter. It is interesting to note that an outdoor court also existed in the grounds of the Workhouse.

The courts were kept in good condition and were taken care of by a man named Joe Coniry. Joe had made a bargain with the club that he would take care of the courts if his donkey was allowed to graze on the courts during the winter months. When there were enough members in the club, a committee was formed. When new members wanted to join the club, the committee would vote by placing white beads if they were in favour and black beads if they weren't in favour into a jar.

This was a practice used by the free masons also and the term "black balled" was used when someone was excluded using this process of voting. The black beads and the white beads were counted and if the black beads outnumbered the white beads, then the prospective member could be excluded from joining the club. The Club organised competitive tennis matches against clubs in Nenagh, Birr, Athenry and BallinasIoe.

It was common at the time that the ladies of the town baked delicious strawberry cakes that were consumed in the pavilion and these events became very important socially for quite a number of years. These events added another dimension to the social life of the club.

Members of Portumna Lawn Tennis Club were also instrumental in starting Portumna Players. In the mid- forties a meeting was held to raise funds for a Table Tennis Club, it was proposed to stage a play to raise funds.

The last Chanqsha Tennis Tournament took place in St. Mary's (1960) and the competition was won by Sean O' Dwyer but the cup was never presented because at some stage it had not been returned to the club. There is no known account of the equivalent cup for the ladies.

Recent Years:

In 1967 a number of entrepreneurial minded business men embarked on a very ambitious project. This was the provision of a hotel, ‘The Westpark Hotel’, to provide for the needs of the thriving local tourist industry. A site was secured but there was a problem with the lack of car park facilities adjacent to the hotel itself. Rev. Fr. Solan, who was curate at the time in the parish of Portumna, negotiated with the Tennis Club to give up their facility on the west side of the hotel and they would get three hard courts further out St. Joseph's Road. The Tennis Club agreed to this and they gave up six grass courts and their pavilion and agreed a hundred year lease with Town Development and the Hotel at that particular time. The Hotel provided the three courts and the Pavilion was built by the club itself. The indenture was made on the 26th of November, 1969, between Portumna Hotels Limited and the Portumna District and Development Company.

The Present:

The future is continuous with the past and a major effort is being made to restore the facility at St. Joseph’s Road and provide tennis in Portumna yet again. This is an extremely worthwhile enterprise which offers to the youth of Portumna an added facility which will enhance not just sporting skills but also promote healthy activities in an era more and more concerned with healthy lifestyles. The committee has undertaken this initiative with the Portumna and District Development Company so that exercise, teamwork, skills development and social activity can be the hallmark of the club going forward just as it was in the past.