The annual convention of The County Mayo G.A.A.was held at the Moy Hotel, Ballina on Tuesday 29th September 1889. Twenty two delegates representing 12 out of 18 clubs that were affiliated were present of which Messrs. Stanley and Mr. McNamara of Ballycastle Emmets took part.Although Ballycastle GAA was formed as early as this the old team is remembered as the '98's. One game in which the '98's played in and which is still talked of is when they travelled by currach to Belderrig to play their neighbours and as the story goes Ballycastle were shown great hospitality and did not return until the next day, other accounts say it was at least 2 days before they landed back in town.The Ballycastle team that day were P.Gilroy(Capt),P.Winters,J.Langan,J.McDonnell,P.Winters,N.Madden,M.Langan,T.Madden,P.O'Connor,M.Connor, and M.McDonnell. An account in the Western People, March 19th 1898 gives a scoreline of Ballycastle 2-5 Kilfian 0-0, the match having being played in a field provided by George Ormsby.

There is little or no account of Ballycastle in the following years until 1915 when the club was reorganised by Rev. Fr. T.Browne, P.McDonnell N.T., J.Slattery, A.Forde, F.Dolan, N.T. and P.McLean. In 1916 the club won The County Junior Championship for the first time by beating Westport by 2 points. The winning team was as follows- J.Doherty, J.McHale, A.McHugh, J,O'Hara, P.Kelly, M.Doherty, T.Doherty, M.J.Barrett, P.McLean, M.Doherty, F.Dolan, M.Doherty, T.Kneafsey, D.Barrett and J.Corcoran.In 1917 9 Ballycastle men along with 6 from Lacken who were senior champions that year challenged the county team and bet them. Controversy surrounded the 1920 SeniorCounty Final when it was awarded to Ballina.Ballycastle withdrew following a decision taken by the club at a special meeting held on August 10th 1920. The final which was played on August 5th had ended 10 minutes from full time, following an assault on a Ballycastle player and the refusal of the referee to send off the offending player. In 1928 Ballycastle lost the county junior semi-final to Ballaghadareen by 1-5 to 0-0.

In 1932 Ballycastle made it to the Junior County Final where they played out a draw with Kiltimagh, 1-5 each. The final was replayed in January 1933 with Kiltimagh winning it. Some accounts give this match as the intermediate final of 1933, although other accounts have Ballycastle contesting the intermediate championship later in 1933. This was also the year that Ballycastle's Tom Grier captained Mayo to their 1st Junior All Ireland title.The 1935 Intermediate Championship was never finished, Newport had beaten Ballycastle but objections and counter-objections were lodged. However Ballycastle did win the Intermediate Final in 1936 when they beat Westport in the final.This completed the double with the Seniors beating Castlebar by 4-4 to 1-1.The County Senior Championship team that year was- J.Winters, F.Doherty, M.McLean, J.Tighe, D.McNamara, M.Langan, M.Grier, T.Grier(Capt), T.McNamara, P.Tighe, J.Grier, J.Tighe, M.Winters, M.Golden, J.Browne, J.Munnelly, T.Golden, C.Callaghan.Tom Grier was on the Mayo teamthat year when they won their 1st Senior All Ireland. Ballycastle defended their title in 1937 when they outscored Westport by 2-11 to 0-2.The 3 in a row was within reach but Ballycastle eventually lost the 1938 final to Ballina by 4-3 to 4-2. But the team bounced back to beat Castlebar in the final in 1939 by 2-3 to 0-8. The winning team that day was as follows- F.Doherty, M.McLean, M.Grier, R.Winters, M.Langan, J.McDonnell, T.McNamara, J.Munnelly, T.Grier, T.Golden, V.Browne, T.Langan, J.Burke, J.Browne, M.Winters.

1942 saw relations between the North Mayo Board and The Mayo County Board sour. Ballina had some issue over medals from the previous year. The North Board took a decision not to cooperate with the parent body until itchanged its attitude to The North Board. This had repercussions later in the year with only Catlebar, Ballina and Ballycastle contesting the Senior Championship. Ballycastle and Castlebar were given clear paths to the final which was to be played on August 30th. Ballycastle refused to play until the dispute with Ballina was resolved. The county borad threw Ballycastle out and declared Castlebar the Champions. Ballycastle were back in the final in 1943 having bet Kiltimagh by 1-9 to 0-3 in the semi-final. However they lost the final to Ballina by 0-7 to 1-2. Success within the club was absent after this however Tom Langan featured on the All Ireland teams of '50 and'51. The following years were lean and in the '60's Ballycastle players played with Kiltane and then with Lacken until Lacken formed their own club and Ballycastle followed suit in 1970. Amalgamation was an issue for the club back then.

During the '70's Ballycastle competed with Lacken, Kiltane and Belmullet losing out narrowly, while these clubs went on to senior level. 1981 was the year that Ballycastle won the North Junior Final but were unlucky to lose the county final to Parke. The exclusive Cup and Winter League was also won during the'80's and titles were won and u-12, u-14, u-16, u-18. Ballycastle had great battles with Kilcommon(Glenamoy) at the end of the '80's and were unlucky to lose these finals. But they were back in 1993 when they beat Kilalla by by a point to win the North title but again were unlucky in the final when they lost to a Kilmeena side in a replay.The North final was lost in 1994 to Moygownagh, however the u-21's won the clubs first title at that grade the same year. The juniors also won The North 'B' title and the Exclusive Cup. 1995 saw the minor team win the north mayo title and the county league title, the one and only county title acheived at underage.the minors repeated their success in 1996 with another north mayo title. 1996 saw another final loss to Lacken in extra time. With the younger players coming through from the Ballycastle won the Tom Langan tournament in 1997 for the second time. A few years later Ballycastle won North 'B' again in 1999 with a late late dramatic finale, Colm Kenny scoring 2 goals in the last 5 minutes after the referee got injured. 2002 saw the team win the North Mayo title for the third time since the club was reformed after a replay with Lacken. But defeat was again the result in the Semi-final against Aghamore. Players have come and gone over the years with every team but with a young team Ballycastle managed to win Comórtas Peil na Gaeltachta in 2009 and represented Mayo at the All Ireland Finals in Rosmuc. 2009 saw the team gain promotion to Div 1D of the senior league.

Apart from the minor league title in 1995 and the recent Gaeltacht Tournament success, county titles have eluded the club since 1939. But it must be remembered that only 6 other clubs in the county, Ballina, Castlebar,Knockmore,Crossmolina,Garrymore and Claremorris have more Mayo SeniorChampionship titles than Ballycastle. The club also stands out amongst all the other clubs in the country bar a handful with the great Tom Langan being selected on The Team of the Millennium.

Hopefully more titles will be added to past achievements. We also hope to add to the history of the club with different match reports over the years as well as various material will feature on the archive page.
The club also wishes to compile a list of all Ballycastle players to have worn the red and green of the county team at any level. Anybody that knows of names for this list should contact the club with the names at: secretary.ballycastle.mayo@gaa.ie