They had a couple of top players with Cork when I was playing back then.
Heard they are on the verge of going and heard that their Cork minor footballer earlier this year has already transferred to Mallow recently.
It’s a shame to see any club go. An amalgamation is only possible if the clubs involved are reasonably equal or if not equal the junior partner is realistic about what they have to offer and should benefit from the amalgamation.
It is a shame to see Doneraile go the way they are going. Strong rumours now that they will have no team next year, by all accounts. A lot of their current team are opting out supposedly. Not sure if this is true but only speculation. But the club has been declining over the last 8 or 9 years so this is no shock.
Their decline is due to poor committees in the club over the last 10 or 15 years. Yes, there are one or two members doing trajan work to keep the show going but they need support and they need strong individuals in there to start the club from scratch and show leadership to get it out of the rut it is currently in.
It is widely known that the culture in the club is broken. There is an acceptance of mediocrity. Poor standards, no ambition, poor numbers training, poor attitude and poor discipline. This has led to the rot and I would imagine it is going to be a long road back for the club. Always strong at juvenile level and now they hardly have juvenile teams.
There has been talks of amalgamations for the last few years but no club has yet agreed to an amalgamation. That dying pride has to go out the window and getting competitive teams out on a pitch every week at both underage and adult level needs to be a priority.
It is a pity to see Doneraile go this way, a brilliant football team in the 80s and 90s and an excellent hurling team in the 00s and early 10s, with many representatives on Cork underage teams over the years. Castletownroche and Shanballymore are two proud GAA clubs who were both senior hurling clubs in the 1950s and 1960s, and have been very strong at junior level in the 90s and 00s, but numbers have been an issue there and are now feeling the pinch as their conveyor belt has dried up. You would say Shanballymore are the strongest of the three teams currently with some players playing and winning with St. Dominics (underage amalgamation with Glanworth). Ballyclough and Grange are two other clubs struggling, as mentioned above.
It will be an interesting winter in the committee rooms.
