placenamesCaherlustraun
Cathair Loistreáin
Known locally as Caherlistrane, this Galway village has a football history reaching back to the first years of the GAA and a church with an unexpected architectural detail.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Cathair Loistreáin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Caherlustraun · English · main form
- Caherlistrane · English · main form
Place & story
The first football meetings
Local football preceded formal GAA affiliation. Michael J. Hughes’s parish history, reproduced by the club, records a Caherlistrane team at a Corrandulla tournament in 1887, captained by John McHugh. Its match against Annaghdown ended without a score after an hour. At the club meeting on 18 March 1888, William Burke became president and McHugh secretary. Burke also held office in the Irish National League, linking the early sporting organisation with local nationalist activity. [2]
Choosing a name
A meeting on 29 December 1889 debated replacing the club’s name, O’Byrnes, with St Patrick’s. Supporters invoked the parish name Donaghpatrick and its association with the saint; opponents resisted the change. A vote settled the issue by 36 to 28. Hughes also records the team winning the 1890 county final against Mountbellew at Tuam, a significant early success for the parish club. [2]
A Gothic church with a classical porch
The Catholic Church of Mary Immaculate and Saint Joseph, in adjoining Carheenard, dates from around 1870. Its limestone walls, pointed windows and timber scissors-truss roof belong to the Gothic Revival, but the entrance porch has paired classical pilasters more suggestive of a country house. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage considers the porch apparently salvaged from elsewhere, without identifying its original building. Outside stands an ornamental iron bell frame with a bell made by Byrne of Dublin and dated 1918. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Galway
- Barony
- Clare
- Civil parish
- Donaghpatrick
- Within
- Caherlustraun
- Coordinates
- 53.48662, -9.02452 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413456 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Caherlustraun. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The Early years of Caherlistrane G.A.A., from Caherlistrane G.A.A. and 150 Years of Parish Life · Michael J. Hughes / Caherlistrane GAA
- Catholic Church of Mary Immaculate and Saint Joseph, NIAH 30404205 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-01-11. How this page was prepared.