Despite being a small rural community, Moygownagh was one of the fourteen GAA clubs who founded Mayo GAA in 1888, with the first championship fixtures including Moygownagh E D Grays verses Killala Meaghers, scheduled for Sunday, 22 April 1888, at Killala (unfortunately the result was not published!). Gaelic games featured at the annual Moygownagh sports held on the grounds of Belville house, provided by the local Orme landlords, first recorded in 1895 and run under GAA rules by 1910. In time, this field would become the site of the present football pitch. The first recorded GAA match held in the parish was a football tournament on 20 July 1903, no doubt influenced by parish priest Fr. Michael Smyth - a brother of PG Smyth, the first president of Mayo GAA and co-founder of the Western People.

The early development of Mayo GAA was difficult and by the 1908-9 season, Moygownagh was one of only ten senior football teams still affiliated with the Mayo GAA County Board, with only sixteen teams affiliated for that season overall - and all bar five in North Mayo. During decades of resurgences and lapses, mainly driven by the ebb and flow of rural emigration, parish footballers often played with nearby clubs most notably; Paddy Finnerty who played county Senior, Minor and Junior football, Sean Finnerty was a Mayo county Minor and Pat Finnerty played Senior football for Donegal.

The present club grounds and facilities were developed by the parish through the superb work of local volunteers. St Cormac’s GAA club was officially formed in 1979, with the purchase of ‘Cawleys Field’, where the sports were formerly held. After tremendous community effort, the present pitch and stand were officially opened in 1982, as the Fr Michael Gilroy Memorial Park and the club has been a very active social outlet for both young and old since. In 1987, with further local effort, the Community Centre and dressing rooms were built. The facilities have further developed over the years, with a very successful CE Scheme, community offices, stage and hall, the Learning Centre, (formerly home to 'The Women of The North West') and Daria's pre-school Daycare.

Moygownagh excelled in Scór competitions for many years with several junior and senior county awards and all-Ireland appearances, most notably for the acclaimed novelty act, ‘The Moygownagh Man’, written by the late (and sadly missed) Pat Dowling and preformed in the National Concert Hall. The club also had success with set dancing, solo-singing and Fergal O’Murchú singing his way to three consecutive All-Ireland tittles in the early nineties - a feat never repeated nationally.

The Moygownagh Camoige team won the county senior championship in 1984. The senior footballers had their best year in 1986 when they won almost every cup available to them. The club took their first ever North Mayo Junior title in that year, in a replay against Crossmolina, 0-8 to 0-5. That team featured both Anthony 'Larry' Finnerty and Pat Holmes - both of whom would grace the field in All-Ireland finals wearing the green and red of Mayo. The next generation of footballers won the second North Mayo Junior title against Ballycastle in 1994, winning 0-7 to 0-6 in a very stormy Ballina. After a long gap, on 21 October 2017, Moygownagh Juniors won the club’s first senior county football championship, winning the Junior 'C' County Cup in (a very stormy!) Centre of Excellence in Bekan, defeating Kilmaine 1-7 to 1-5. 

On the 29 October 2022 at MacHale Park, Castlebar, Moygownagh played Achill in the county final of the Junior B Championship, managed by David Finnerty with Gary Carey and JD McDonnell. Unfortunately Achill proved too strong on the day on a scoreline of 2-12 to 1-6.

Moygownagh GAA membership caters for five year memberships, families, adults and players. Register here.