Cork Senior Football Championship in 2009, 1996, and were runners-up in the 2003 competition. Clonakilty GAA won their first adult hurling county title when they won the Cork Minor B Hurling Championship in 2007. Clonakilty R.F.C. also became a senior rugby club in 2001 and spent 12 years in the All-Ireland League until they were relegated to Division 1 of the Munster Junior League. Clonakilty A.F.C. won the Beamish Cup in 2008 & 1995 and in 2014 featured Australian international, Alex Swift. Students of the Clonakilty "Warrior Tae Kwon Do" club compete in Tae Kwon Do, Kickboxing and Freestyle tournaments and the club has produced 4 World Champions in several martial arts disciplines. Beaches The closest Blue Flag beach is at Inchydoney Island, immediately to the south of the town. Approximately from Clonakilty, and looking out over the Galley Head lighthouse, is Long Strand. This sandy beach is a mile and a half long, and bounded by dunes at Castlefreke (a protected Special Area of Conservation). Duneen Beach is across the bay from the right-hand side of Inchydoney beach. International relations Clonakilty has been twinned with: - Chateaulin, Brittany, France (in 1986) - Waldaschaff, Bavaria, Germany (since 1989) Notable people Born in Clonakilty Peter Callanan, politician and Fianna Fáil senator Michael Collins, was born in Woodfield (now the Michael Collins Birthplace) 5 km west of Clonakilty, and lived in the town for a period. Tadhgo Crowley, footballer and All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning captain (1945) Alfred Elmore, Victorian artist William Harnett, Irish-American artist Máire Ní Shíthe (1868–13 July 1955), Irish language writer and translator Val O'Donovan, entrepreneur and academic Mary Jane O'Donovan Rossa, poet and political activist Louise O'Neill, author Liam Twomey, politician and Fine Gael TD and senator Notable residents Roy Harper, singer-songwriter Eamonn McGrath, author David Mitchell, author Noel Redding, musician Joseph Walsh, politician, Fianna Fáil TD and former Minister for Agriculture See also List of towns and villages in Ireland Market Houses in Ireland Clonakilty (Parliament of Ireland constituency) References Further reading The Battle of the Big Cross / Cath Béal a' Mhuighe Shalaigh, compiled by Tim Crowley & Traolach Ó Donnabháin; Clonakilty, Clonakilty District 1798 Bi-Centenary Commemoration Committee, 1998. Walks of Clonakilty town and country by Damien Enright. Timoleague, Co. Cork: Merlin Press, 2000. . External links Official Web site (Clonakilty town council) Towns and villages in County Cork