Ballinlough (Irish: Baile an Locha, meaning 'town of the lake')[1] is a mainly residential townland and suburb on the southside of Cork city, in Ireland.

[2] Among the earliest written references to the townland and then village of Ballinlough date from 1601 (as "Ballinlogha") in the Calendar to Fiants of reign of Henry VIII,[3] and from 1655 (as "Ballinloghy") in the Down Survey.

[10] With the construction of a new church in 1938,[11] two additional schools in 1944 and 1965,[12][13] and a later community centre, the focal-points of the (now) suburb shifted westward towards the city.

[26] Singer Mary Hegarty[27] and a number of Olympic athletes, including Louise Shanahan and Margaret Cremen, are past pupils of Eglantine Girls National School.

[28] Past pupils of St. Anthony's Boys National School include actors Cillian Murphy and Cillian O'Sullivan,[29][30] rugby players Peter Stringer, Patrick Campbell, Niall Scannell, Rory Scannell, and Billy Scannell,[31] hurlers Shane Kingston, Alan Cadogan, Robbie Cotter, Brian Hayes and Cathal Cormack,[31][32] Gaelic footballers Michéal Aodh Martin, Mark Cronin and Kevin O'Donovan,[31][32] and Olympic rower Ronan Byrne.