RTÉ Gaelic Games Correspondent Marty Morrissey examines rural depopulation and migration in the GAA, visiting Cork city's north side and Midleton in the second of a three-part series.
Talk Cork Hurling and you have to talk Cork city's north side. They are inextricably linked. December 2025 is a long way away from the glory days of the 1940s and 50s when Glen Rovers men Christy Ring and Jack Lynch were winning All-Irelands.
It has been 35 years since another Glen Rovers star, Tomas Mulcahy, captained Cork to the first part of a double that the Cork footballers completed two weeks later. Ring, Lynch and Mulcahy were all northsiders united by hurling. Legends of the game.
Through the generations, the club from Blackpool were one of the the dominant forces in Cork hurling, winning two All-Ireland club titles, three Munsters and 27 Cork county championships. In 2023, after 97 successive years in the top grade, the Glen were relegated to the second tier. It was devastating at the time. But it made people think.
Up the road in Fairhill was Na Piarsaigh, a club founded in 1943 by a group of North Monastery students.
They too had their heroes, like John Gardiner, Tony O’Sullivan and Sean Óg Ó hAilpín. As the great Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh observed, neither Ó hAilpín's Fijian mother, nor his father from Fermanagh, were from "a hurling stronghold". But he was raised in a hurling stronghold, winning two Cork Senior Hurling Championships with Na Piarsaigh, in 1995 and 2004.
Consequently, he became Cork captain for the season ahead, and on 11 September 2005, Ó hAilpín lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup on the steps of the Hogan Stand. It was their 30th All Ireland title and, remarkably, their most recent.
Cork remain the sport's second most successful county but suffered final heartbreak in 2013, 2021, 2024 and again this year against Tipperary. Pain, and embarrassment, over last July's defeat lingers. So what's going on on Leeside? What's happening?
The northside of Cork city is evolving. An ageing population, no new houses being developed, planning permission difficulties and emigration, to Australia, in particular, has meant no movement within the area. But movement has happened externally to nearby places like Glanmire, Midleton, Ballincollig and Carrigtwohill, where housing developments offer opportunities for young couples to settle.
Seven hundred houses being built in Ballyvolane may help Glen Rovers, who are struggling to field some teams at underage level. Their chairman Liam Martin told me "this is a new experience for us".
The multinational dimension of the modern 21st century Ireland means the Glen and other clubs will have to come up with new ideas and ways of attracting people to Gaelic games.
Diarmuid O’Donovan, chair of Glen Rovers underage section, said the GAA is no longer the only show in town and they will have to think outside the box so that boys and girls have a desire to participate in the club, play games and use the facilities.
Na Piarsaigh are in a more critical situation, as the potential for new housing developments on that side of the city, and around Fairhill and surrounding areas, is close to nil. The youth are not there, so new ways of bringing people into the club, such as yoga classes, have to be considered.
It’s not just hurling that has been affected. Gaelic Football on the northside has been in serious trouble for years. Once upon a time, there were three teams participating in the Cork Senior Football Championship. Today there are none.
Michael Moynihan, author and columnist with The Irish Examiner, said that the history and infrastructure are there, but the lack of new houses being built is explains the lack of any senior football team.
However, Cork County Board have initiated the Northside Project Action Plan, backed by €150,000 from the Munster Council, which will target ten clubs, 21 primary schools and eight post-primary schools in an effort to rebuild GAA participation on that side of the city.
As Roy Keane, a proud Cork northsider once said: "Fail to prepare … prepare to fail".
The contrast between the situation on the north side of the city and Midleton in East Cork is staggering.
The new road infrastructure built around the Jack Lynch Tunnel means access to the city, east Cork and onwards to Waterford is much easier, and Midleton has grown from a market town into a significant commuter town.
The population grew 13% to just under 14,000 between 2011 and 2022, but a 55% increase is projected for 2016-2028.
Another 2,500 new houses are expected to be built in that time, and the population is expected to increase by another 10,000 people or so by 2035.
Watch: GAA demographics crisis - 'You must get the kids through the gate'
A population explosion means facilities are required and the club bought 37 acres in recent years to alleviate the problem.
When John Fenton was winning his three All-Ireland medals and captaining Cork to an All-Ireland hurling title in the GAA's centenary year (1984), Midleton had only one playing pitch. Today it has five and is still concerned about how it will cater for the expected growth in numbers.
Essentially, a new town is being constructed between Carrigtwohill and Midleton, and despite both clubs' heroic efforts to facilitate everyone, the formation of a new club may be needed to satisfy demand.
New challenges may change the GAA as we know it quite significantly over the next 20 years.
Read: Depopulation reaching crisis level for GAA in south Kerry
