Cappamore is a small town in the barony of Owneybeg, northeast County Limerick

County Limerick

It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...

 in the midwest of Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly is a Roman Catholic archdiocese in mid-western Ireland. The diocese is in the secular province of Munster. The Diocese of Cashel was established in 1111 by the Synod of Rathbreasail and promoted to the status of a Metropolitan Province in 1152 by the...

.

Location and facilities

It is situated on the R505

R505 road

The R505 road is a regional road in Ireland which runs east-west from Cashel, County Tipperary to the N24 southeast of Limerick City. En route it passes through Dundrum, Cappawhite and Doon and Cappamore in County Limerick.The road is long.-References:...

 regional road

Regional road

A regional road in Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route , but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three digit route numbers, prefixed by "R" A regional road in Ireland is a...

 near the Slieve Felim Mountains and is approximately 20 minutes driving time from Limerick

Limerick

Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...

 city. It has a rich agricultural hinterland in which the dairy industry is prominent. The town has several pubs and grocery shops. Other services include a dry cleaners, bookmakers shop and a veterinary clinic.

The town hosts an annual Agricultural Show that attracts a large number of visitors in August each year. Tourist accommodation is available at Dairy Guesthouse and Activity Centre on the Dromkeen side of Cappamore.

Schools

There are three primary schools in Cappamore: Bilboa National School, Tineteriffe National School, and Scoil Chaitríona. There is one second level school, St. Michael's Community College.

History

The famine years hit the area particularly badly, with the parish of Cappamore losing half of its population.

Sport

The sport of hurling

Hurling

Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...

 is probably the most popular in Cappamore but Gaelic football

Gaelic football

Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...

, athletics

Athletics (track and field)

Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

 (Bilboa AC) and soccer (Cappamore Celtic FC) have grown in popularity in recent years, along with ladies soccer now growing under Bilboa Ladies Soccer Team.

People

Cappamore is also home to Rosemary Ryan, Olympic distance runner and competitor in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and to John Hayes

John Hayes (rugby player)

John Hayes is an Irish rugby union player, who plays in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup for Munster. Having spent his underage career playing with the local Cappamore GAA club, he was 18 when he started playing rugby. It was his size which enabled him to overcome his late start to the sport...

, Irish and Munster rugby

Munster Rugby

Munster Rugby is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Munster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup.The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union Munster Branch which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU, and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish...

 player, who also plays his club rugby with local club Bruff.

Cappamore is the home town the film maker David Gleeson

David Gleeson

David Gleeson is an Irish film director and writer.- Gleeson :Gleeson is third generation cinema. His grandfather opened up a theater in the early forties and his father carried on in the same business, opening up several more screens across the south west of Ireland...

 who wrote and directed the feature films Cowboys & Angels and The Front Line.

Cappamore was also at one time home to author and playwright Tom O'Brien. Tom has published several books including Confessions of an Altar Boy and Confessions of a Corner Boy. He has also staged many plays around Ireland and England.
Cappamore have won the Limerick County senior Hurling Championship on 5 occasions 1904 1954 1956 1958 and 1964. Rugby International John Hayes won a County Under 21 football medal with Cappamore in 1995

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland