The Carbery Rangers club was founded in the year 1887. The first meeting was held on November 10th 1887 in a house which stood on the site which in now the Celtic Ross Hotel.

As far as the name of the club is concerned, some of the earliest match reports give the name Carbery Rangers or in some cases Rosscarbery Rangers. This title was changed briefly in 1890 to the name Michael Dwyer in response to a request that all clubs should adopt patriotic names. As to why the name Carbery Rangers was chosen in the beginning we just don't know, but it can be assumed that it had connotations of athletic ability, durability, and fearlessness in the Rangers part of the title and the Carbery part obviously came from the title of the local barony. The colours of the club at the beginning would seem to have been green and gold, as a report on a monster meeting held in Ross early in 1888, refers to the members of the newly formed GAA. club being dressed in their "orange & green "uniforms. The present colours of the Carbery Rangers are green, white, & yellow hoops, a design that dates back to the time when the club was reorganised in 1900.

The first match played by the club under G.A.A. rules was on the 4th of December 1887 in a field, which was part of the lands of Downeen Castle. The field was situated a good distance from Ross but it did not deter a huge throng of people from attending the match. Up to 4,000 people are said to have witnessed the game against (O' Briens) Skibbereen, which resulted in a win for the Rangers. The first championship won was the West Cork senior football championship in 1906. The team reached the county final but lost to Fermoy. In the intervening years the club has won the West Cork Junior championship on ten occasions the last coming in 2003 when the county title was added. In addition numerous under age titles have been won from under 12 to under 21. Hurling has been played in the club from time to time and two West Cork junior B titles were captured in 1942 and 1963. In 2004 an underage hurling team was fielded for the first time in several years and the West Cork Championship was won.
      
The club has also been heavily involved in scor since its inception and has won county titles in novelty act, and question time and recitation as well as numerous West Cork titles in solo singing and ballad group and dancing.

Our first Adult County title was in 2003 with the winning of the County Junior Final against Kilnamatyra in Pairc Ui Rinn. From here the team captured the Munster title defeating Annascaul from Kerry. The team eventually lost out to Wolfe Tones of Meath in the All Ireland Final. In 2004 the team contested the County Intermediate Final only to lose narrowly to Nemo Rangers. The club was nominated to represent Cork in the All Ireland series, which led to second All Ireland final appearance and first All Ireland title against Pomeroy Plunketts of Tyrone.  In 2005 the County Intermediate Title was added, elevating Carbery Rangers to Senior Ranks for 2006.

Since the move to the senior ranks, the club has consistently been involved in the later stages of the county championship. Losing three county semi-finals and winning the Kelleher Shield in 2009 and again in 2011, beating Clonakilty and Castlehaven in the finals. In 2010, the club also won the Tadgh Crowley cup beating Nemo Rangers in the final.

16th October 2016 was another historic day for the club. Winning the Cork senior football championship for the 1st time.