<span class="postTitle">1985 Local Elections Roundup in Cashel</span> Post Advertiser, June 1985, Vol 1 No 2

1985 Local Elections Roundup in Cashel

Post Advertiser, June 1985, Vol 1 No 2

There are twenty candidates contesting the nine seats in the Cashel Urban District Council in the forthcoming Local Elections. Fianna Fail have six candidates, including outgoing Councillors Sean McCarthy, William Mclnerney and Donie Feehan. Fine Gael have four candidates, including out going Councillors Dick Wood and Richard Wood. Labour have two candidates, Mrs. Maureen O'Dongohue and John O'Byrne. Sean Hill is contesting the election for the Workers Party. Michael Browne is going forward for Sinn Fein. There are six Independents including Dinny O'Brien, who was elected in the last election on the Labour ticket and his uncle, Paddy O'Brien, who was elected in the past on the Labour ticket also. Pakie Leahy is travelling for a second time as a socialist candidate. The other Independents are John O'Dwyer, Tom Maher and Milo Fogarty. 

Fianna Fáil 

Ten of the candidates are standing for election for the first time. One of them is Eddie O'Riordan, who is on the FF ticket. Eddie lives in Deerpark and is a married man with two daughters. He was born in the Green as was his wife, the former Mary Ryan. Eddie has been a member of the Cashel Cumann for nearly three years and is a faithful party man. 

Another FF candidate travelling for the first time is Mattie Finnerty. Mattie is a secondary teacher from Tuam and lives in the Green with his wife Rosalie. He's been in Cashel for ten years and has been a member of the local Cumann since he arrived. He's also a member of the Comhairle Ceanntair. Mattie's interests include hurling and he has been largely responsible for the succsses of the C.B.S. over the past number of years. He's also a member of Cashel King Cormac's. Another interest is in the affairs of his own union, the A.S.T.I. He is a former chairman of the Tipperary branch and a member of· the Central Executive Council. Mattie is interested in youth and unemployment and is concerned that the town is often passed over when it comes to job creation. He's hoping to see many Cashel people employed in the building of the new three million Community School in the town. 

The third FF first time runner is Martin Browne. Martin lives in Windmill and is married with a young family of four. His wife is the former Annette O'Connor from the Green. Martin himself was born in Mockler's Hill in the same house as Charles J. Kickham. He came into Cashel in 1973 and has been a member of the local Cumann since. He is also a member of the Comhairle Ceanntair and of the prestigious Dail Ceanntair committee, which was set up to re organise the party in South Tipperary. Martin's interests include horses and cars. A garage owner by occupation, he was a founder member of Tipperary Raceway.

Fine Gael

The Fine Gael party have got two new candidates in the field, John Cahill and Dick Corrigan. John is an out and out Fine Gael man 'indoctrinated in party politics since birth', as he puts it himself. Presently a member of the Cashel branch of the party he belonged to. branches in Dublin and Golden formerly. He is maried to Angela O'Meara from Golden and they have four children. John has a lot of lively ideas. The protection of tourism is his biggest aim. According to him the Rock is not money for the town. He wants to get the tourist traffic down to the town so that visitors will have to walk by local shops. As well, he believes that commercial and public bodies are not properly exploiting Government projects available for employment schemes. Another priority of his is to see a footpath built to the cemetery and Leahy Park. Trained as an accountant John's long term aim is to set up an office in the Green where he was born. At present he is fully occupied developing the Folk Village, which is a logical occupation for a man who was a founder member and secretary of the Cashel Heritage Society. 

Dick Corrigan is a Kildare man, who is relatively new to Cashel, though not to Co. Tipperary because he lived for nine years in Ballytarsna, before moving into the town. A party man all his life he was 'born into Fine Gael in a place where Gerry Sweetman was God'. He was a member of the Boherlahan branch before becoming active in the Cashel branch about a year ago. As a manager with Roadstone Ltd., his big priority is the attraction of industry to the town of Cashel. He is married with three children and is presently managing the Roadstone Plant at Cahir Abbey. 

Labour

New on the Labour ticket is John O'Byrne formerly of the Rock and now living in Oliver Plunkett Park. He is maried to the former Marianne Fogarty of the Green and they have two children. John's father was twenty five years in local politics and John himself has been a member of the Cashel branch of the Labour party since 1963. He is a vice chairman of the Cashel Town Tenants and has worked hard for people who wanted repairs to their houses. Unemployed himself he knows the hardship of that position and he will work hard for the alleviation of the lot of the unemployed. Because there are so many youth unemployed he would like to see more amenities for them. He would like to see work distributed on the basis of merit and to have big families given priority on local ventures. Because he was born ouside the present town boundaries he has no vote and will work to have the town boundary extended. He would like to see a well balanced Council with all sections of the town fairly represented. 

The Workers Party

This is the first time for the Workers Party to run a candidate in Cashel and the party's standard bearer is Sean Hill, a teacher at Ferry house Clonmel. A native of the town Sean spent some years in England and married Angela Luen from Maidstone, Kent, who is of French Dutch Welsh decent. They have five children. 

Sean has the interests of all working people at heart; whether they are white collar or blue collar all who are in the PAYE net. He is also interested in all the workers who are unemployed and will work for a more active creation of jobs in Cashel. In this connection he would like to see a more active roll for the Local Authority, using local resourses for job creation. Already the party has established an Advice Centre in the town to look after the interests of working people. This meets once a week in Holy Family Hall, on Friday evenings from 7.30 to 8.30. This work would be given greater impetus if the party had an elected representative. The Advice Centre helps people on such matters as rent, rates, entitlements, taxation, etc.

Independents

There are a number of Independents standing for the first time. One of the most colourful is Tom Maher of Thurlesbeg. Tom has no previous electoral experience, no party affiliation and no wife. He is a farmer, He has one priority: the youth. He calls them the lonely youth. They are lonely and isolated because of lack of communication between them and public officials and ordinary citizens. He will try to bridge that communications gap by getting more youth in control of local affairs. Otherwise, he believes, there will be alienation and possibly violence between the ages. According to him 'the red tape of bureaucracy has left the majority of youth totally bewildered.' He is convinced that commonsense rather than experience is more important in political matters. Tom is doing a personal canvass rather than relying on political literature.

John O'Dwyer of Dominick Street is disillusioned with Fine Gael and is going as Independent party. He is for the old style Fine' Gael and his heroes are Liam Cosgrove and James Dillon. He believes that the party has left the raising of moral issues like divorce and contraception. According to him there is too much confrontation with the church and he doesn't like the way ministers contradict bishops. John has never been a member of the Cashel branch of the Fine Gael party but he is proud of the tradition within the party that went to Spain in the thirties. His father fought there with General Eoin O'Duffy and the Irish Brigade from November 1936 to June 1937. John is unmarried and unemployed and has been involved in the catering industry. He is doing voluntary work for the Social Services at the moment and has a Social and Scientific education from Kilroy's College. He sees his future in that area. John O'Dwyer is for Local progress for the young and the old and the unemployed. 

Milo Fogarty is a well known figure in the town of Cashel, especially in music circles. Born on Camas Road he lived in Oliver Plunkett Park until recently when he moved across to Spafield Crescent. A married man with seven children Milo is concerned about the erosion of the rights of house occupiers and the recent imposition of local charges. These charges have made life difficult for many young families and his avowed intention is to fight them. He believes that these charges will increase in the future unless something is done about them. 

<span class="postTitle">1920 Local Elections</span> Post Advertiser, May 15, 1985, Vol 1, No 1

1920 Local Elections

Post Advertiser, May 15, 1985, Vol 1, No 1

With the Local Elections around the corner it is of interest to look at the results in Cashel in 1920. The War of Independence was in full sming and elections took place in January of that year. Polling Day was on Thursday, January 14 and 18 councillors were elected to the Cashel Urban Council. The town was divided into three electoral areas, East, North-West and South-West, and to each area were allotted six seats.

Nominations

Nominations closed two weeks beforehand and the following were the candidates. In the East Ward were Patrick Casey, Clerk, of Friar Street for Labour, John Conroy, Labourer, of Main Street for Labour, William Darmody, Farmer, Clonmel Road, Independent Patrick Hogan, Draper's Assistant, Farmer, Friar St., for Sinn Fein, Patrick Looby, Farmer, Friar Street, for Sinn Fein, Richard Looby, Baker,. Canopy Street for Sinn Fein, Thomas Moloney, Labourer, Quirke's Lane for Labour and Christopher O'Connor, Cattle dealer, Bohermore, Independent.

In the North-West ward the following were candidates: John Cahill, Victualler, Bank Place, Independent, John Dunne, Shoemaker, Dublin Road for Labour, Richard Fahie, Tailor, Bank Place, Independent, Francis Kennedy, Baker, Main Street, for Labour, Paul Leamy, Baker, Lower Gate Street for Labour, Joseph Louth, Grocer's Assistant, Main Street for Sinn Fein, Seamus O'Neill, Teacher, Bank Place for Sinn Fein, Francis Phillips, Clerk, Ladyswell Street for Sinn Fein, Joseph Ryan, Corn Merchant, Main Street, Independent, Michael Ryan, Sadleir, Ladyswell Street, Independent. 

The candidates in the South-West Ward· were as followes: Martin Coleman, Labourer, The Green for Labour John Corcoran, Labourer, William Street, Independent, John Downey, Grocer, Main Street for Sinn Fein, Patick English, Farmer ,The Green, Independent. Matthew M. Hanly, farmer, Main Street, Independent, John Hickey, Labourer, Boherclough Street, Independent, John Murphy, Labourer, Boherclough Street for Labour, Stephen Ryan, Bootmaker, Lowergate Street, for Sinn Fein, John Taylor, Labourer, John Street for Labour, Patrick Thornton, Carpenter and Joiner, John Street, for Labour Lawrence J. Walsh, Compositor, Canopy Street for Labour. 

The Elections

Polling passed off without any untoward incident. In fact there was an absence of excitement and the visits to the different stations went on methodically. The polling stations for the East Area were in the Temperance hall, for the North-West Area in the City Hall and for the South West Area in the late Commercial Club premises. (An interesting contrast to the proliferation of polling stations since then for a smaller population!) 

The arrangements were admirably attended to by the Returning Officer, Mr. John O'Leary, the Town Clerk. Great praise was extended to him and his staff for their mastery of the varying complexities of the P.R. system and for arriving at the results in such a thorough fashion. The counting of the votes began on Friday morning and, with the exception of an hour's interval for lunch, contined until 5 o'clock, when the last return was declared. 

Results

The following shows the results of the first count and the order in which they were elected under the Proportional Representation System, the first time for this system of election to be used in Local Elections.

Wast Area (Elected)

Christopher Connors (I) 63; Patrick Casey (L) 45; Patrick Looby (SF) 33; William Darmody (I) 15; John Conroy (L) 10; Patrick Hogan (SF), 22. Not Elected: Richard Looby (SF) 8, Thomas Moloney (L) 5.

North-West Area (Elected)

Francis Phillips (SF) 44; J. P. Ryan (I) 39; Seamus O'Neill (SF) 23; Michael Ryan (I) 18; Paul Leamy (L) 10; John Cahill (I), 25. Not elected: John Dunne (L)13; Richard Fahie (L), 16; Kennedy (L), 16; Joseph Louth (SF), 6. 

South-West Area (Elected) 

John Corcoran , (L), 40; Lawrence J. Walsh (I), 34; Matthew M. Hanly (I), 33; Patrick English (I), 32; John Murphy (L). 9; John Hickey (I), 9; Not elected: John Downey (SF), 5; Stephen Ryan (SF), 5; Patrick Thornton (L), 10; John Taylor (L), 5. 

At the conclusion of the polling a vote of thanks was proposed to. the returning officer and his staff 'for the capable and satisfactory way in which they had accomplished their difficult task. Mr. L. J. Walsh, U.C. proposed the vote of thanks and Mr. John Corcoran U.C. seconded. The Town Clerk briefly replied. 

Analysis

A simple analysis of the results will reveal the over whelming success of the Independents and the poorshowing of Sinn Fein. The Independents got the most votes in the three electoral areas and overall polled 284 votes as against a .combined total of 309 for Labour and Sinn Fein. AIso nine Independents,or fifty percent of those elected, were Independents. The poll topper in the three areas was Independent, Christopher Connors. In i contrast Sinn Fein did poorly, getting only 146 first preference votes and getting only four candidates elected. In fact no Sinn Fein candidate was elected in the South-East Area, where the party got only ten first preference votes. 

Labour performed better, getting 163 first preferance votes and having five candidates elected. The party did poorest in the North-East Area, getting only one candidate elected and polling only 39 first preference votes.

When the nominations closed two weeks before polling day the following, who had been nominated, withdrew their names: Michael dargan, Michael Leamy and patrick Leamy for the North-West Area and William Looby for the East Area. 

<span class="postTitle">Cashel Potter’s Decision to Quit</span> The Post, Cahir, January 21, 1984

Cashel Potter’s Decision to Quit

The Post, Cahir, January 21, 1984

Heading off to the south of France this month is Sarah Ryan of Ladyswell Street, Cashel. Many people will envy her the opportunity to live in such a desirable location because it's to take up residence she intends. However Sarah does not see it as a desirable choice. Instead she is being forced to move from the place she has chosen to work and in which she preferred to live.
Sarah Ryan is a ceramicist, who has been potting away in Ladyswell Street since July 1982. Originally from Rossmore she chose Cashel as the best place to work after quite a lot of travelling in Europe and North America in pursuit of her craft. For the past year and a half she has turned out a very distinctive and personal style of porcelain and stoneware that has won critical recognition.
 

Education

In school she was discouraged from doing art so after her Leaving Certificate Sarah spent two years doing a laboratory technician's course at U.C.G. After that period the artistic 'bug' took possession of her and she decided to pursue an art course at Limerick College of Art. She applied to Tipperary S.R. County Council for a grant but was turned down because the application hadn't been made in the year she did her Leaving Certificate. But, she got over that setback by working during the summer in London and Europe and paying her way through college.
When she finished in Limerick she really had only one choice, teaching, which did not attract her. Instead she went to Europe and spent a good while working and travelling around especially in Denmark, studying what was being done in the various fields. Eventually she decided that ceramics was her forte and she came back to Dublin where she did a year in the National College of Art studying the subject.

Having completed her year she went back to Europe to earn money and to study the practical side of ceramics. This was a very important time for her as she was able to absorb all that was new in the field. She continued this learning progress by going to Canada, the U.S. and Mexico and studying both contemporary and native Indian ceramics there.
 

Cashel

She returned to Ireland in the summer of 1981 and spent a year looking for a suitable premises. She eventually chose Cashel. It was as near as possible her home town. It had a central location and, above all, from the point of view of the artist/craftsperson, it had potential, she thought, as a tourist centre. For these reasons Cashel was the only centre she could choose outside Dublin. There was also an element of urgency in her decision: she had been invited to exhibit at the Tulfarris Gallery, Wicklow in August and needed a proper workplace immediately. She rented a premises in Ladyswell Street at £30 per week.
 

Work

Every single piece of work that Sarah Ryan produces is unique. She never repeats a piece because every one is handmade by a combination of 'coiling' and 'pinching' as distinct from wheel-thrown. These hand-building techniques are very old but are being used more and more in contemporary ceramics as they allow so many possibilities. As the aim is to achieve natural organic forms, mechanical processes such as the wheel or slip-casting are not suitable.

She describes her work as a synthesis of of many different natural forms and processes. Growing living things are a rich source of ideas – inspiration being drawn especially from the marine and botanical world: e.g. fungi, gourds, shells, seed-pods, buds, fruits, etc. She tries to capture something of the essence rather than direct copying of nature.

There is a lot of emphasis on texture and pattern and natural colour is achieved by mixing various ceramic stains and metal oxides. Red earthenware clay, which can be found in many parts of the country, is not suitable because of the dark colour and the fact that it cannot be high-fired. High-firing (to 1260C) is important because it gives extra strength to the very thin-walled, which also gives greater scope to build on. These clays almost never occur naturally in a workable state, so they have to be refined and blended with materials from other sources to give clay bodies of the required texture, colour, composition, etc. As there is nowhere in Ireland where where this process is carried out they have to be imported from England. The ubiquitous V.A.T. Rate on all raw materials is 38% as it is on all the equipment Sarah uses.
 

Long Hours

To keep the wolf from the door and pay rent, ESB, telephone bills, etc, Sarah was forced to work very long hours. Her normal day has been 9 am to midnight, six/seven days per week. Her only break was when she went away on business.

However, this was something she was quite prepared to accept for the first couple of years until she had become fully organised and more established. When one sets up it is vital to become known and the only way to do this is to sell one's work. Apart from exhibitions, for which she makes some quite large pieces, most of her work has been on a small scale and thus quite low prices so as to advertise as widely as possible. Eventually she would like to have time to make very large, more sculptural pieces. It is necessary to sell as much as possible ex-studio as other outlets have to add a huge mark-up plus 38% V.A.T.
 

Exhibitions

The best way a craftsman or artist can advertise his work is through exhibitions. Although established only a shot time, Sarah's work has already got some recognition. The Ulster Museum bought three pieces at the 'Potters 83' exhibition at Dublin. The Crafts Council of Ireland has also purchased some of her work. At the moment her work is on display at the Caldwell Gallery, Belfast and the Forrester gallery, Bandon. She has been invited to exhibit in other areas.
 

All For Nought

During her period in Cashel, Sarah has succeeded in selling her work and getting recognition for her craft. Why then should she decide to up and go to the South of France?

The answer is simple and sickening. A combination of many things – the huge electricity bill, telephone, postal and transport charges, V.A.T., the unavailability of suitable workplaces, the general inefficiency and unreliability one has to cope with and the decline in the tourist industry, etc., make it very difficult and discouraging for people to establish their own business, especially anything of a creative nature, which doesn't show an instant profit.

For Sarah the last straw was a demand for rates for £245 on her rented premises, which she could not afford to pay at the present time. Anything she managed to save after rent, work and living expenses went to repay people from whom she had borrowed in the spring, and to tide her over the off-peak season.

At the beginning of summer she offered to pay £20 down and so much at intervals if business wasn't as good as anticipated. Due to the bad location in the town and the fact that there wasn't even a proper footpath leading to her studio, she missed out on the majority of tourists. Most of her customers were direct contacts of her own, or potters, artists or collectors themselves, who particularly sought her out. The last of the tourists had gone by the end of September and she had to dip into her savings for the first week's rent in October.

However, the county manager would not relent. He wanted £50 down and £8 per week, which Sarah says she could not pay on top of her £30 rent. He gave her until December 31 to pay up or be summoned. She realised there was no option but to quit and start anew in some more desirable place. She paid £40 and offered the rent in kind but it wasn't acceptable. As she has had to close her studio, she was obliged to return to the I.D.A. the £402 she managed to get a year after she started.
 

Shattered Dream

So, Sarah Ryan of Glenough, Rossmore, a much-travelled girl, is to begin her travels again. But this time, in contrast with her previous peregrinations, it is against her will. Her dream was to make it in her home town and, with that end in view, she shook the dust of many countries off her feet. She has the consolation of knowing that there will be many material benefits from her move. She will be financially much better off in the south of France. She will be able to enjoy the good life. She won't have to do fifteen hours a day to survive. She'll have plenty of customers and they'll be well able to pay. But none of this will compensate for a shattered dream.

<span class="postTitle">Cashel C.B.S. - 1984</span> Tipperary G.A.A. Centenary Yearbook, pp 107-108

Cashel C.B.S. - 1984

Tipperary G.A.A. Centenary Yearbook, pp 107-108

Cashel C.B.S. continues to be one of the strongest bastions of hurling in the county, and even beyond. Its successes during the past year have been impressive by any standard and the strength of the game at the underage levels gives reason to believe that these successes will continue. This past year the school was beaten in the semi-final of the Rice Cup (under 14), by Nenagh C.B.S. and in the under-15 Munster 'B' championship they lost the final to Ard Scoil Ris of Limerick. 

The dream of Cashel C.B.S. has always been to capture the Harty Cup but only in the last few years has this become a viable proposition. This year it seemed within grasp until it was snatched away by the Farranferris goalkeeper in Clogheen on March 9. 

Cashel started their preparation, early in December, under the guidance of John Gleeson and Mattie Finnerty. They played four practice matches, winning all of them including one against St. Kieran's, Kilkenny, the eventual Leinster champions. All was ready for their first outing against Thurles C.B.S. at Boherlahan on February 15. They looked in dire trouble with ten minutes remaining and a five-point deficit but a three-goal blitz by Waiter Carroll, in a period of four minutes, saw them through. 

The team now met Farranferris in the quarter-final, with ten of the team that had made their exit at that stage the previous year. The game was played in Clogheen and the opening ten minutes were tempestuous, as both teams were over-eager, over-aggressive and over-motivated. Three players found themselves on the sideline, two of them from Cashel. This thirteen-man team found themselves three points in arrears at the interval but fought back to be a point ahead with two minutes to go. They were deprived of victory when DJ. Kiely of Farna pointed a sideline puck to level the scores at 0-10 each. 

The replay was a classic Harty Cup tie and was played before a large attendance. Cashel were unlucky early on when a Michael Browne shot hit the crossbar. Just before halftime a defensive blunder let Farna in for a goal and a three-point interval lead. Cashel came back in the second half to level the game but gave away some unnecessary frees to let Farna go five points in front. They brought this back to two and it was then that Waiter O'Carroll raced through to have his blistering shot stopped by Kingston, of Farna fame. The whistle blew soon after to leave Cashel two points behind a scoreline of 1-13 to 1-11. Farranferris went on to win the Harty Cup and the All-Ireland. 

The class of the Cashel players was revealed when two of them, Pat O'Donoghue and WaIter O'Carroll, were selected on the Munster Colleges team for the revived inter-provincial competition. They were the first two Cashel C.B.S. players to receive this honour. Four of the team were picked on the county minor team, the above two plus Philip Ryan and Thomas Leamy. The complete panel was as follows: Pat O'Donoghue, Donal Ryan, Michael Moloney, Michael Perdue and Joseph McGrath of Cashel, Neil Fitzgerald, Phil Shanaghan, Declan Ryan, Dan Quirke, of Clonoulty, Philip Ryan and David Delaney of Boherlahan, Francis Ryan of Golden (capt.) Andrew O'Dwyer, Sean Alley, Seamus Furlong, Seamus O'Dwyer, WaIter O'Carroll, Pat Fitzgerald, Michael Browne, John Doherty, Paul Hennessy, D.J. Butler and Pat O'Farrell of Knockavilla. 

There was some consolation for the school when they retained the Canon Fitzgerald Cup on April 8. If they were unfortunate to lose the Harty Cup they were fortunate to defeat Thurles C.B.S. in this final. Cashel started well and were ahead by 2-5 to 0-8 at the interval, thanks to two splendid goals by corner forward Michael Moloney. The second half was all Thurles and with two minutes remaining they led by 1 -12 to 2-8. But luck was with Cashel as Dan Quirke levelled and substitute, Robert Hanly, goaled before the final whistle to leave them winners by 3-9 to 1-12. 

Cashel had previously won the cup in 1972, 1973, 1976, 1981 and 1983. They drew with Borrisokane in the first round, were level again at the end of the second day and had to play a third time before Cashel emerged winners by 2-6 to 0-9. This victory was achieved as a result of two late goals by Declan Ryan. It took two games to overcome Nenagh C.B.S. in the quarter final. The first day's game was abandoned by referee, Gerry Ring, with fifteen minutes remaining, because of the heated exchanges. Cashel won the replay by 1-12 to 1-6. The semi-final against Tipperary C.B.S. proved to be a stroll into the final, with Cashel winning by 3-12 to 1-1. 

Cashel C.B.S. competed in the Dean Ryan Cup (under 16 1/2 A) for the first time and were beaten in the semi-final by De La Salle of Waterford. On their way they defeated Farranferris and Nenagh C.B.S. The team was on the young side with thirteen eligible again for next year. 

Croke Cup

Cashel captured the Croke Cup (county under-16) for the fifth time' when they defeated Thurles C.B.S. in the final. Previous wins were in 1959, 1962, 1973 and 1980. The path to the final included victories over Roscrea C.B.S., Templemore C.B.S. and Nenagh C.B.S. In the final they had two points to spare over a fancied Thurles C.B.S. team in a scoreline of 3-6 to 3-4. 

And so, Cashel C.B.S. can look back on a splendid year, even if the greatest of all the hurling prizes eluded them. Despite the size of the school, about 270, they have a great depth of talent from under-14 upwards. As well they have a bunch of dedicated mentors in Mattie Finnerty, John Gleeson and Jack Ryan, who can inculate their enthusiasm in the players. Finally, they have a management that gives the game the required backing and a community that follow their fortunes with interest and support. 

<span class="postTitle">Convention Day - Hayes Hotel Thurles, 1984</span> Tipperary G.A.A. Centenary Yearbook, pp 28-29

Convention Day - Hayes Hotel Thurles, 1984

Tipperary G.A.A. Centenary Yearbook, pp 28-29

One of the highlights as well as one of the earliest events of Centenary Year was the County Convention. As was only fitting the historic Hayes's Hotel in Thurles was the venue and the date was a cold and sleety February 5, 1984. It was one of the best attended conventions with almost three hundred delegates present. 

The keynote address was by the President of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Paddy Buggy, who said that 'Tipperary had much to be proud of and much to celebrate in the Centenary Year of the Association'. He called for a united front in everything undertaken in 1984 and for greater co-operation to run a disciplined organisation. 'Think before we speak and see that the G.A.A. rekindles the idealism and energy that saw the infant G.A.A. thrust to life here in Thurles and which will send it into orbit for another great century of community involvement. Let's run an organisation that will be an example to all others and that we will be proud to belong to, proud of its origins, proud of its distinctive Celtic and Irish involvemnent. Keep the G.A.A. a community organisation working well for its people and supporting everything that is for the well-being of its area,' he said. 

Officers

In the only contest of the convention, Liz Howard defeated outgoing Gerry Long by 150 votes to 126 for the office of County P.R.O. The other officers re-appointed were chairman, Michael Frawley, secretary, Tommy Barrett, treasurer, Martin O'Connor, Munster Council delegates, Tim Maher and Michael McCarthy, Central Council representative, John Doyle, development officer, Fr. Pierce Duggan, youth officer, Liam O Donnchú, Oifigeach na Gaeilge, Eamonn de Stafford.

The patron of the Association, Most rev. Dr. Thomas Morris, celebrated Mass at the cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles for the repose of the souls of deceased Gaels of the county before the start of convention. After the mass the members of the county board and representatives of every club in the county assembled in the grounds of St. Patrick's College. They marched to St. Mary's Cemetary behind the Thurles Silver Band and under the banners of the clubs. A wreath was laid on the grave of Tom Semple, the great Thurles and Tipperary hurler, after whom Semple Stadium is called. The wreath was laid by County Board Chairman, Michael Frawley, who gave a short address on Tom Semple. The prayers for the dead were recited by Right Rev. Dean C. Lee, P.P., Cashel. 

After the ceremony the delegates re-assembled and paraded back to Liberty Square where they were officially welcomed outside Hayes' Hotel by Mr. Frank Dwan, Vice-Chairman of Thurles Urban Council, who was deputising for the Chairman and former Tipperary hurler, Mr. John Delahunty, who was not available. The parade through the town was an extremely colourful and comprehensive display of club banners, many of which had been designed and made specially for Centenary Year. As the parade wound its way round the square and the intrepid club members controlled the banners against the gusting wind, their effort went unnoticed by the vast majority of Thurles people and unrecorded by either still or video 

Convention

County Chairman, Michael Frawley, welcomed the delegates to the Convention and they were given a short address by Archbishop Morris. A number of presentations were made. An illuminated scroll was presented to the President of the County Board, Willie O'Dwyer of Boherlahan, who was hale and hearty at ninty-five. In a strong voice he informed the delegates that he attended his first Convention in 1914. Another presentation was made to Tommy Barrett to mark his twenty-first year in office as County Secretary. 

In the course of his address County Chairman, Michael Frawley, told the assembled delegates: 'On our shoulders rests the responsibility of consolidating and strengthening what has been handed down to us. As we prepare to enter the second year of our existence, there still exists the same dire need for loyalty as regards what the Association stands for - sacrifice and input on the part of us all' . 

The Borrisoleigh Problem, about representation on the County Senior Hurling Selection Committee, surfaced in the form of motions from the club. They asked that the county senior hurling champions for this and future years be empowered to nominate the senior hurling selection committee. The motions were ruled out of order by the Chairman. Michael Delaney of Borrisoleigh said that his club had decided to withdraw the motion relating to this year's selectors, as a gesture of goodwill and solidarity and an exercise in closing ranks, but he would like to have Convention consider the motion for future years. His request was not allowed. 

John Doyle, who was re-appointed Central Council representative on the withdrawal of Michael Maguire, called for the closing of ranks behind all the county teams and an end to the constant knocking of our best endeavours. Fr. Pierce Duggan assured Convention that Tipperary would not be found wanting in coping with the practical tasks involved in the staging of the Centenary All-Ireland hurling final. He was returned unopposed as Development Officer. Motions from Clonmel Commercials and Silvermines clubs for an Open Draw for 1984 in football and hurling were defeated. 

Overall then a more formal and ceremonial occasion than the usual Convention. To the delegates conscious of the historic aspect it was an impressive event that revealed an Association in a confident, self-assured and forward-looking state. To those who cast their minds back a hundred years there was the realisation of how far the organisation had come from the small and tentative beginnings at Miss Hayes's Commercial Hotel on November 1,1884. 

<span class="postTitle">The Genius of Tony Reddin</span> Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 1984, pp. 61-63

The Genius of Tony Reddin

Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 1984, pp. 61-63

To write about Tony Reddin is no easy task. Not because his exploits are few­ - they are indeed many- but because of the difficulty of describing adequately the greatness of the man and the multitudes he inspired. I have a friend from Westmeath for whom Tony Reddin was a childhood hero who blazed across the horizon of his young years 

and left an impression that is still indelible thirty years later. He is one of many whom Tony inspired by his goal­-keeping brilliance inside and outside Tipperary and far and wide in the world.

Who was this man who made the name of Lorrha a household word the length and breadth of Ireland? The parish of Lorrha became the kingdom of Tony and to say one was from there was sure to bring the response: "Oh! Tony Reddin's country." But Tony wasn't from Lorrha but was born on the other side of the Shannon in Mullagh, Co. Galway about fifteen miles as the crow flies from the parish of his adop­tion. It was in February 1947 that Tony cycled across the bridge of Portu­ma to start a new chapter in his life. 

A Galway Career

Some people are of the impression that Tony had no pre-1947 hurling existence. This is to miss a chapter of his life that is important. He has many hurling medals in his possession but one that he cherishes and has a special place for is a county juvenile medal he won h Mullagh in 1933. It is the only county medal he won and he is immensely proud of it. He played centrefield. He won a divisional junior medal with Mullagh in the late thirties and found his place on the Galway junior team of 1940. They beat Roscommon in the Connaght final but went down narrowly to Cork 3-3 to 3-1 in the All-Ireland at Limerick. In 1941 he was promoted to senior ranks and played with Galway against Dublin at Roscrea. On that day Lorrha man, Christy Forde, played a blinder in the Dublin goal. IIn the same year Tony made the Connaght Railway Cup team that was trounced by Munster. 

An impressive if not spectacular record. For the next few years he lost interest in the game and doesn't appear again until 1946 when he played full-forward with Galway in the Monagh­an Cup game at London against Tipperary. Tony scored a point and Galway lost by a narrow margin. At the opposite end of the field for Tipperary 

that day was Tony Brennan, who was later to form such a harmonious partnership with Reddin. Later that year we find Tony sub-goalie on the Galway team that went down to Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final at Birr. 

The man who crossed the Shannon the following year has been variously known. Programmes and newspapers have called him Tony or Anthony and Reddan, Reddin and even Redden. Probably, the most common usage has been Tony Reddan. How did a man, who was christened Martin Charles Reddington end up with the name of Tony Reddan? Despite what his birth certificate states the family were always known as Reddins. Tony's father, Mick, was never known as anything except Mick Reddin. Tony had a pet name, 'Thaudy', and when he came to Lorrha people thought it was "Tony" and they began to call him by that name. As Tony himself says: 'Nobody ever asked me what I was called: they just called me "Tony Reddan" and the name stuck'. Tony is known by his birth certificate name on his first passport, got in 1950. On his current one he signs himself 'Tony Reddin', the name by which everybody knows him. And this clarifies the second point: his name is Reddin, nothing else. It's the name of his wife and children. 

First Games in Tipperary

Tony's reputation as a goalkeeper had preceded him and he got his first opportunity to show his prowess when Fr O'Meara went to him in Holy Week and asked him to play on Easter Sunday. St Vincents of Dublin were coming to Rathcabbin to play Lorrha in a chal­lenge game that was to be the beginning of a long friendship between the two clubs. Tony turned up, had a good game and Lorrha were beaten by a point. It is interesting to record that this was his first match in Tipperary, in the quiet backwater of Rathcabbin. His last match for Tipperary was to be in the bustling city of New York in October ten years later. 

Tony won his first medal in Tipperary when Lorrha won a tournament against Kilruane in May of that year. The Lorrha team had just gone senior, having been intermediate for the pre­vious six years. Tony played in the championship, had some fine saves in the first round against Borrisokane and against Roscrea 'brought off some wonderfuI close clearances'. In the semi-final against Borrisileigh, Reddin had a poor game and was taken out to centre-field in the second-half. Lorrha lost and that put an end to activity for that year. 

1948 was a memorable year for Lorrha. After twenty-one years they won the North final and the man who led the revival was none other than Tony Reddin. They beat Borrisokane, Roscrea and Kiladangan on the way to the final. Against Kiladangan Reddin was 'man of the match.' 

However, it was in the North final against Borrisileigh on 22 August at Nenagh that Reddin became famous. With a gale force wind in the first-half Lorrha ran up a lead of 4-3 to 0-4. I n the second-half Borrisileigh had a downpour behind them and they attacked the Lorrha goal with every­thing in their arsenal in an attempt to get back on top. They tried for goals again and again, when points went abegging, and Reddin stopped the ball with mechanical ease and flung it back in their face. Borrisileigh scored twice, early and late in the half, but it wasn't enough. Lorrha had won, scoring 1-1 on top of their half-time tally, and the parish and further afield sung the praises of a new goalkeeping star. Lorrha won the semi-final against Cashel but went down heavily to Holycross in the final. In both games Reddin's contribution was way above that of average men. 

His Genius

Why was Reddin so brilliant? It may be a good place to analyse the quality of his greatness. Many people remember Reddin as a big man going high for the ball, catching it securely and bursting out amid a welter of hurleys, to clear well up the field. It will come as a surprise to learn that Tony is not a big man. He stands 5'9" and, at the height of his career in the early fifties he never weighed more than eleven and a half stone! He was a very fit man. He trained for the position as keenly as another might train for centre-field. Running crosscountry, jumping over hedges and ditches and building up his arms made him the strong player he was. He had the eye of a hawk, some might even say of compensatory quality, for defects in his oral and aural senses. Neighbours have commented on how sharp that eyesight was and is in spotting someone at a distance. He was no mere ball stopper but a player who completed the act by clearing the ball down the field. He was equally good on the right or the left side and this again came from constant practice. He sharpened his reflexes by belting a ball against a rough stone wall from short distances and catching the ball in his hand as it rebounded in different directions. Prob­ably his greatest ability was a sensitive touch allied with the tilting of the hurley's face at an angle which enabled him to kill even the fastest ball dead so that it rolled down the hurley into his hand as if by the genius of a master magician. Finally, Tony used no 'half­door' of a hurley to stop the ball. His was of ordinary size and he had the same stick for most of his hurling career, a heavy, many hooped, ugly-­looking affair. 

Promotion to County

Reddin's proven ability in the cham­pionship won him his place on the county team. His first appearance was at Birr (significantly the last place he played with Galway) against Offaly in the league. He had a fine debut. He played the delayed 1947-48 league final against Cork on 31 October and Tipperary lost but one of the redeeming features of the game was 'the splendid goalkeeping of Reddin'. The report on his next match against Clare stated that 'Reddin has a quick eye, a keen sense of anticipation and he is very lively on his feet'. Tipperary played Limerick on 21 November and we read: "Very soon they (Limerick) got a taste of the excellence of Tony Reddin in our goal. A loose forward picked up a ball fifteen yards out and let fly. Believe it or not Reddin trapped down the ball and cleared it to the left. Not since a historic day in Thurles long ago when Pat Scanlan saved point blank from Tommie Treacy had I seen a save like that'. The last match of the year was against his native Galway and again the reports sang his praises. 'Reddin has certainly captured the popular imagination. His saves are all of a colourful variety. It was not an uncommon thing to see the Lorrha man emerge from a crowded goalmouth to clear well outfield or to stop a point blank shot that seemed to be going all the way for the back of the net'. And, in his column in the 'Tipperary Star' Winter Green wrote: 'In Tony Reddin we have a smashing goalie. On Sunday he lived up to all the nice things I have been writing about him of late. He is coolness personified, has the eye of a hawk and has a hefty clearance'. Opposite him Sean Duggan looked moderate by comparison and Duggan was the best goalie in the game until now! The League final was on 27 February and it was Tony's first outing at Croke Park. It was also the first day that Tony Brennan played in front of him at full-back, the beginning of a great partnership. Tipperary won by two points and Tony won his first medal for Tipperary. The victory ended Tipperary's four years in the hurling wilderness. 

His Achievements

Reddin was to win five more league medals with Tipperary plus two in the American series against New York. He travelled to the U.S. in 1950 and, to play his last match, in October 1957. On both occasions mechanical troubles interrupted their take-off from Shannon. He won three Munster and three All-­Ireland medals. And, they might have been six but for Cork! He was picked for Ireland on five occasions, which was the equivalent of Carroll's All-Stars and won four cups. He won two divisional medals. In the context of the present barren period of Tipperary hurling a veritable treasure trove of achievement. 

Reddin's first championship match with Tipperary was against Cork at Limerick on 29 May 1948. Tony was then thirty years of age and many another sportsman would be retiring. It is interesting to mention that Mick Roche retired at twenty-nine! In Tony's case the most brilliant chapter in his career was just beginning. The game was barely started when Tony was awakened to the realities of Munster championship hurling when Gerry Murphy found the net from a Christy Ring centre. He recovered as did Tip­perary and went on to draw the game. The replay was a month later and 'Winter Green' reported: "It was the roughest and toughest exhibition of unclean hurling that has been seen for many a long day'. It has been referred to as the 'Match of the Bandages', so many were wrapped in white headgear by the end of the game. And, at that end, it was another draw! Extra time had to be played and it was the only time that Tipperary outwitted Cork! Paddy Leahy ushered the Tipperary players into the dressingroom to await the resumption. There they were washed, refreshed, redressed and re­bandaged and returned to the field after twenty minutes reasonably re­freshed men. In contrast the Cork players had remained on the field in the blazing sunshine and were now wilting from exhaustion. One Tipperary man was also wilting: Reddin. He got a knee injury at the end of the first-half and was barely able to walk. He spent the half-time trying to keep the knee from stiffening up. He wanted a substitute to replace him but he was persuaded to resume and had the satisfaction of helping Tipperary to win by a mere two points. In that replay John Doyle made his senior debut for Tipperary and completed the last line of defence which was to be such a solid phalanx for a number of years. 

Some Highlights

It is not the intention of this article to trace the fortunes of Tony over the next seven years but to mention a few of the high points. He remembers the Munster final on 23 July 1950 against Cork at Killarney as the toughest match he ever played. The last ten minutes are vivid in his memory when the game hung in the balance. The overflow crowd of 55,000 had encroached on to the pitch so much that referee, Bill O'Donoghue of Limerick, had to stop the game for ten minutes until the pitch was cleared. No sooner had the game restarted than the encroach­ment resumed around Tony's goal and became so bad that, as he looked left and right, he found himself in the horn of a half moon. Bottles, cans and sods were raining on his goals. Anytime a ball came in he was teased, barracked and even pushed. He remembers in particular one spectator, whom he refers to as 'Black Coat', catching him by the jersey as he ran out to clear a ball. He drew back with his hurley and contacted. He got away from the grip and cleared up the field. Ring appealed to the crowd to relent but they ignored him. He flattened Lynch during one clearance and a little later, as Tony was clearing, Lynch ran at him. At the final moment before contact Tony swerved and saw Lynch crashing into the goalpost. 

Still another time as he was saving a ball a topcoat was thrown at him. He cleared the ball and then began to belt the coat on the ground with his hurley in an attempt to cut it to ribbons He regrets that the instrument wasn't sharp enough for the job and the coat escaped. The final attack on him was to collapse the net from which Tony escaped in the nick of time. Tony had one satisfaction during the whole unruly period. A Cork forward sent in a high ball. It was close to the post. As a result of pressure from the crowd the goalpost had been loosened. Tony swung on the post and in pulling it towards himself made the ball wide. When the final whistle sounded to a Tipperary victory, Tony found himself under the protection of a number of priests. Fr O'Meara gave him a hat and a short coat and covered him up as best he could but he was unable to leave the field until well after the game. As fitting a tribute as there could be to the quality of his play! 

It is at the end of his career that the next match was played, 6 May 1956 at Dublin and the opponents Wexford. Tipperary were leading by 2-10 to 0-2 at half-time with a gale in their backs. Nobody believed Wexford could get back into the game but they did and crashed home five goals in the second-­half, the first from Nicky Rackard within three minutes of resumption. Tony remembers the day only too well. He wasn't in good shape, his back was at him. He didn't have the power or the agility that were usual for him. The newspapers said he was gone. In the 'Tipperary Star', the reporter said: 'Now the sad fact must be faced that Reddin is not as good as he was. ,In his best form he would have saved at least three, if not the whole five, of the shots that beat him on Sunday. He was at fault for two of the goals and the second miss proved disastrous'. A big change from the glowing notices he had been accustomed to! However, everyone did not agree. In the same paper 'Winter Green' was of this opinion: 'Others blame Tony Reddin. True he was beaten five times in the second half but what goalie could have saved any of the five balls which beat him'. Regardless of this defence the selectors believed that Tony had gone over the top and gave expression to that belief when they dropped him for the Monaghan Cup two weeks later in favour of Blackie Keane. The latter had a good game and was chosen for the championship match against Cork. Tipperary lost this>game in which Keane wasn't really tested. 

Indian Summer

However, Tony was not gone. In that Summer of 1956 he played some of the finest hurling of his career and confounded his critics. Toomevara and Borrisileigh in the semi-final and final respectively. The scores in these games are revealing. Against Toomevara it was 5-1 to 1-10 and against Borrisileigh it was 4.-8 to 0-18. Both games were a tribute to Tony's brilliance and they have become part of the folklore of the parish. 

This Indian Summer brilliance was enough to get Reddin back on the Tipperary team. He played in the league against Galway on 14 October but wasn't tested. The only shot that beat him was doubled on overhead from close range. In the next match against Antrim he had a mediocre game and let in one easy shot. He was adequate against Westmeath the following Feb­ruary but was dropped again, in favour of Blackie Keane, for the match against Clare on 31 March. Tipperary won the league in May 1957 with Keane in goal. It was Tony's sixth league medal and won him a trip to New York the follow­ing October. He played one game in the U.S. and this was his last match with Tipperary. In the Munster championship the previous Summer Tony wasn't even a substitute on the Tipperary team that was beaten 5-2 to 1-11. Blackie Keane let in three goals in the first-half and was replaced by Eddie Moloughney at half-time. I n the course of his account on the Tipperary Star the reporter stated: "

How the Tipperary supporters longed on Sunday for a goalkeeper of Tony Reddin's calibre." 

1957 was the last year that Tony appeared in a hurling jersey. He was already a legend. The previous year, after the North final, he had married Maura Smyth of Lelagh, Rathcabbin, and had settled down to live at the Pike, where he farmed a little, con­tinued to make hurleys and provided a hackney service in a car, ARI 791, that was known far and wide. In 1960 he got a job with Bord na Móna and he was with the company until he retired. 

In 1963 the Reddins moved to Banagher and built a house in Cuba Street where they live to this day. I n the early seventies Tony offered his services to the local St Rynagh's club and under his tutelage the club has had tremendous success. Since his involvement began the club has won eight county finals and is a house­hold name in the club championship competition. 

Tony is still a fresh man and has worn his years well. He is an enthusias­tic talker on hurling and can recall with vividness highlights of his career. He is an unassuming man who hasn't been changed by his high place in the pan­theon of great hurlers. Was he the greatest goalkeeper of all time? Without a doubt he towered above all others in his own time and it is difficult to imagine anyone better at any other time. His natural ability allied to his professional preparedness made him unique. It is probably this memory of his own training habits that makes him put coaching first in his priorities for building up a team. But, whether he was the greatest or not doesn't matter. What does matter is the enter­tainment he gave people, the magic he flashed before their eyes as he stopped impossible shots ,and charged like a whirlwind through backs and forwards to send the ball back into enemy territory. We were all immensely proud of Reddin. He put our remote parish firmly on the map of hurling. He helped us to win two divisional finals. He gave us a pride in where we belong. I n the wider arena he was foremost in the long battle with Cork for supremacy in Munster hurling. It is difficult to leave the man because memories keep flashing and they are the most brilliant we have known. 

<span class="postTitle">Tommy Butler</span> County Senior Hurling semi-final progam, Sept. 30th, 1984

Tommy Butler

County Senior Hurling semi-final progam, Sept. 30th, 1984

Surely the best-known Drom Inch man must be Tommy Butler! If for no other reason, he was our sole All-Star in 1978. Or, that he was the only Tipperary man to win the RTE Goal of the Year Award. It may be that the present generation have heard of no other Drom Inch county senior hurling players.

Perhaps people have forgotten about a great predecessor of Tommy's, Seamus Bannon, who won senior All-Irelands in 1949, 1950 and 1951. Another great Drom Inch man was Mick Kennedy, who starred on the great Limerick team of the thirties. In the same decade Phil Farrell was on the Dublin winning team of 1938 and, in the previous decade, Tom Barry of Dovea won two All-Irelands, also with Dublin, in 1924 and 1927. Coming nearer to the present Tommy's brother, Eamon, captained the county intermediate team to victory in the 1971 All-Ireland. On the same team was another brother, Seamus, and two clubmates, Oliver Quinn and Jim Carey. On today's team for the replay of the quarter-final is Pat Looby, who has the distinction of winning a minor All-Ireland in 1976 and an under-21 in 1979. In all not a bad record for a parish of eleven hundred people.

Family

It coul be said that the Butler name is synonymous with Drom Inch. With six boys in the family, and they all hurling, it was bound to be so. All six brothers were on when the club won their first senior mid-final in 1974. (The date was September 9 and, coincidentally, they won their second on September 9, 1984.) That was a great victory for the club but Tommy remembers a victory over Borrisoleigh the previous year with even greater delight. They had been beaten by Thurles Sarsfields in the mid-final and went out the following Sunday against Borrisoleigh in the county championship without much hope. At half-time they had even less hope and it continued so into the second half when Drom Inch were twelve points down. Then things began to change as they started to score goals and they continued scoring to the consternation of Borrisoleigh to go home winners by a goal. Bonfires were lit in the parish that night in celebration of this victory over the neighbouring giants. It didn't matter, as Tommy said, that they had won nothing at all. Instead they had achieved the impossible.

School

Tommy went to school to Templemore C.B.S. And the high point of his hurling career there was to win three competitions, the Croke and Kinane Cups and Corn Phádraig, in 1968. He was captain of one of the teams. The next year he did the Leaving Certificate. 'That was the year the papers were stolen and we had to repeat the examination.' He went to work in Drombane Creamery soon after and has been there since. An Inch man, he is married with two children and lives near the Ragg.

He doesn't like admitting it but he got fourteen trials for the county minors in 1969 and failed to make the team! He remembers counting up the number for his father. However, it may have been the selectors were at fault because he proved his mettle the following year by making the under-21 team and he retained his position in 1971 and 1972. These weren't the most successful years but he did win a Munster medal in 1972 only to be beaten by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final at Nenagh.

County Seniors

Tommy's career on the county senior team stretches from 1974, when he came on against Limerick in the last match of the league, to 1980. They weren't the best of years to be on the Tipperary senior team. He missed a League medal in 1975, when Galway defeated them in the final at Limerick. He won one eventually four years later, when Tipperary reversed the 1975 result. In between there wasn't much to shout about in the line of victories. There was a Railway Cup medal in 1978 at wing-forward and an All-Star Award at number 11. Probably his greatest display was in the Munster championship of 1976, when he got the better of John Horgan, until the latter was taken off.

A Club Man

Tommy is, above all, a Drom Inch man with a long number of years of service to the club: he first played senior with them in 1966! He came in as a replacement goalkeeper against Thurles Sarsfields that year. He believes that the present team has something that previous teams hadn't, a faith in themselves. He is unreserved in attributing this to their trainer, Brother Daithi Fitzgerald, a Doon man teaching in Thurles C.B.S. Allied to that is a commitment that gives an hundred percent turnout for training. Br. Fitzgerald has been with them since May and has changed their traditional training to concentrating on man-to-man combat for ball possession. Everything in training revolves around these tussles for the ball. Another inspiration has been their new curate, Fr. Ryan from Newport, who played a couple of games until injured earlier this year. He is full of enthusiasm and has inculcated it in the team.

Success

Success hasn't been confined to the seniors this year. In minor and under-21 hurling and in junior football the club is also having a successful run. Though the parish is small it has two playing pitches. One is near the Ragg and it's in the hands of the club since the thirties, but has never been developed: 'I suppose we've always been hoping to get one nearer the cross.' This is the field the seniors train in. There's another field in Drom and more underage games are played there.

Tommy is quietly confident that Drom Inch will win today's replay. 'We played way below our best in the drawn game and were still too close to the exertions required to win the Mid the previous Sunday.' In that Mid final Tommy was the hero and he was again the toast of the parish with his equalising point against Éire Óg last Sunday. There is no doubt that his contribution with be crucial to today's outcome. 

<span class="postTitle">Hurling in the Eighteenth Century</span> County S.H. Quarter-Final Program, Cashel, Sept. 16, 1984

Hurling in the Eighteenth Century

County S.H. Quarter-Final Program, Cashel, Sept. 16, 1984

Looking through the records of some hurling matches in the eighteenth century, we find that hurling in Ulster is not a modem sport. Two centuries ago Antrim had hurlers. It is recorded that in the severe winter of 1740 there was a hurling match on the ice on Lough Neagh. 

We find, however, that about this period the game was more extensively played outside of Ulster. Records exist of strenuous contests like the "grand match of hurling in May 1748, on Crumlin Commons between the Provinces of Leinster and Munster, in which the former came off victorious. Munster unsatisfied with the result sought a replay, and about a week later they met on the same grounds. Keen on winning Munster picked "a chosen set" but "their utmost efforts were all to no purpose, for Leinster after about an hour's struggle, gained a complete victory." Not yet satisfied, Munster asked a further trial, and "the greatest match of hurling ever played in this Kingdom" was promised, but after the necessary preparations were made, "Munster thought it proper to decline the combat." 

Hats Were Lost

In September, 1775, there was a match between Co. Tipperary and the Lower Ormond "band of hurlers" on the Commons of Ballingarry, near Borrisokane, when after an hour and fifteen minutes trial, the "invincible Lower Ormonians, according to their usual methods, put out a fair and undisputed goaL" It was computed that there were 10,000 spectators at this match "who quietly separated in the evening without the least accident or irregularity, except a few hats that were lost in the huzzaing." 

In September, 1755, there was a hurling match at Lyons, Co. Kildare, between the gentlemen of Kildare and Dublin, at which the Marquess of Hartington (then Lord Lieutenant) and "a most brilliant appearance of nobility and gentry were present. Yes, the Gentry played the game of hurling then, for it is recorded that in a match about this period between the Counties of Kilkenny and Tipperary the teams were mainly composed of "gentry of the highest respectability from both Counties." 

Horsemen as Stewards

"In honour of their illustrious country, and to encourage reward and honour, bravery and hardihood from whatever part of Ireland they might come." a hurling match was played in July, 1814, on Kensington Commons, London, by some gentlemen of Ireland, the teams (18 a side) being named St. Giles and Wapping. The Duke of Wellington and staff formed portion of 20.000 interested spectators. Gentlemen on horseback acted as stewards, and the dexterity of the players amazed the onlookers. The match was for 200 guineas, and the result was a draw. 

In July, 1792, a cricket match, held in the Phoenix Park, was described as a form of 

Irish hurling, but the latter ''was much more strenuous." It was not safe to be a spectator at these strenuous matches, for in September, 1756 a woman got her eye knocked out at Crumlin, and another got her leg broken. Nor was it advisable to interfere between players, for at a match at Glounanere, near Cashel, in 1774, James Raighelly (was he the referee?) in attempting to make peace between two players, was killed with a stroke of a hurley. 

Phoenix Park 'Scenes'

In July, 1779, complaints were made "that a mob of people assemble on Sundays in the Phoenix Park, adjoining the residence of Mr. Gardiner, High Sheriff, to play football and hurling matches, and most horrid profanement of drunkenness, riot, and fighting are practised, and these Sabbath breakers are permitted to remain unmolested in defiance of the law, divine and human." 

A century and a half has passed since these complaints were made, and the conduct of the game has greatly altered, but if some of those spirits could return to life and hear the "huzzaing" on an All-Ireland Final day at Croke Park, they would conclude that during their long retirement those "wild Irish" had become even more enthusiastic over their national game. 

<span class="postTitle">Phil Shanahan - Toomevara</span> County S.H. Quarter-Final Program, Cashel, Sept. 16, 1984

Phil Shanahan - Toomevara

County S.H. Quarter-Final Program, Cashel, Sept. 16, 1984

When one mentions Phil Shanahan one is talking about one of the great centrefield players that the county has produced down the years. He holds his place in the company of other names who have made that part of the field their own, players of the calibre of Tommy Treacy, Jimmy Cooney, Theo English and Mick Roche. Phil was a fine centrefield player, a real Toomevara Greyhound, who could stay going all day, a man with a tremendous workrate. A powerful man, he could hold his own with the best and he was always in tip top shape. He played at a time when centrefield play was much more vital in the scheme of hurling things than it is today.

He was centrefield on the three-in-a-row teams of 1949, 1950 and 1951, alongside different partners in each year, Sean Kenny, Seamus Bannon and fellow-Toomevara player, John Hough. He was one of eight players who played in the same position for the three championships.

Born in the parish of Toomevara in January 1928, Phil showed early promise making his debut at senior level with his club in the 1945 championship, while still only seventeen years of age. Toomevara were back in senior ranks for the first time since 1938, when they failed to field a team in the first round of the senior championship. In 1946 Phil won his first divisional medal when Toomevara defeated Roscrea in the North final, their first victory since 1931.

He made his county debut with the minors in 1946. In the Munster final against Cork he collected a mis-hit seventy-yard free near the end of the game to score the winning goal and win the match by a point. Galway were well-beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final but the final was lost to Dublin in the infamous Billy O’Brien goalmouth incident. In the last few minutes the Dublin forwards succeeded in getting the ball over the goal line for a goal, which was only awarded after a three-minute consultation between the referee, M. J. Flaherty of Galway, and the umpires. Both the umpires claimed that the goalie, Billy O’Brien of Nenagh, had been fouled before the goal was scored but the referee didn’t see the foul and allowed the goal. Dublin won by 1-6 to 0-7.

Phil’s first entry into senior ranks was to be selected on the 1948/49 National League team at. Tipperary qualified for the final against Cork at Thurles in February. They won by two points and Phil had a good game at centrefield, partnered by Pat Stakelum. It was Tipperary’s first victory in the competition since 1928 and a great boost for the championship.

Tipperary were drawn against the same opposition in the first round of the championship and it took them two-and-a-half hours to achieve victory. It was the start of three glorious years during which Phil played a pivotal role at centrefield. As well as winning three Munster finals and three All-Irelands he also won two more National League medals, in 1950 and 1952 respectively. Another medal was to be won in 1957. As well as the medals, there were two trips to the U.S., in 1950 and again in 1957.

Other achievements from this period include an Oireachtas medal in 1949 and successive Monaghan Cup medals between 1949-1953. Thomond Feis medals were won in 1949 and 1951. He was on the successful Ireland teams in the Representative Games series in 1952 and 1953, winning the Sports Star of the Week award in 1952 for his display on Joe Salmon of Galway. Four Railway Cup medals were won in 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953. He was long puck champion of Ireland in 1951.

Early in 1950 Phil left his father’s farm to work in Johnson Mooney and O’Brien bakery in Dublin and play hurling with the Young Irelands club. He continued playing for Tipperary until 1953, moving to centreforward in the latter year. He played for Dublin in 1954 and 1955, partnering Norman Allen in the former and Con Murphy in the latter year at centrefield. Dublin were beaten by Wexford in the 1954 Leinster final and by Kilkenny in the 1955 Leinster semi-final. 

In 1956 he changed jobs and joined Esso (Ireland) Ltd. and started working at Clonmel. He started playing for Toomevara and Tipperary once again. He won his fourth National League medal in 1957 and got his second trip to the U.S. in October. In the meantime Tipperary lost the Munster championship semi-final, defeated 5-2 to 1-11 in one of the most tantalising defeats ever suffered by the county. It was a game that Tipperary should have won and it was lost through a combination of adverse circumstances together with a share of ill-luck.

Phil retired from inter-county hurling after returning from the league trip to the U.S. Then began a very fruitful period of his career with Toomevara. He played in seven consecutive North finals from 1957-63, winning four and losing in 1957, 1959 and 1963. He captained the team in 1958. There were three county final appearances, with defeats in 1958 and 1961, and a great victory over Thurles Sarsfields in 1960, a victory that prevented the Thurles club winning six in a row.

Phil eventually retired from club hurling in 1966 after a career of over twenty years. He turned his attention to training and coaching. His training career began with Portlaoise, where he helped the club to five senior football titles between 1966 and 1971. He attained a coaching certificate in hurling in 1977. When he retired from Esso in 1982 he trained and coached Killenaule to win three South Tipperary intermediate championships in hurling, in 1983, 1985 and 1986.

Married to Joan Power in 1958 and with a family of three sons, Phil Shanahan has contributed enormously to the G.A.A. at club and county level. He believes passionately in the game of hurling and has put that belief into practice through his coaching and training. He is very articulate on the G.A.A. and can speak at length of his playing days and the great players he met. He was always professional in his approach to the game and his dedication to training and preparation made him a man before his time. The Tipperary county board couldn’t afford county training before the 1949 league final and the players had to train themselves. Phil recalls: ‘I used to get up at seven o’clock in the morning and run and sprint in our field at the back of the house in order to achieve the required standard of fitness to beat this great Cork team.’ Such dedication is remarkable and was reflected in the many great performances he gave for his club and his county.

<span class="postTitle">Lorrha's Six Senior Hurling Titles</span> North Division S.H. Final Program, Aug. 19, 1984

Lorrha's Six Senior Hurling Titles

North Division S.H. Final Program, Aug. 19, 1984

Lorrha succeeded in winning the North Tipperary Senior hurling championship on six occasions, 1905, 1914, 1924, 1948, 1956 and 1966. 

The club's first participation in the county championship was in 1889. The club first played in the North championship in 1903. They achieved their first success in 1905 when they defeated De Wets 3-5 to 2-1.

From start to finish Lorrha held the lead, their opponents not heing able to equalise at any point of the game, and the conclusion was received with amazement, by De Wets more than anybody else. On their way to the final Lorrha accounted for Toomevara, Youghalarra and Templederry. The final was played at Terryglass on April 8, 1906. De Wets had won the North fimal since it began and were quite confident of victory. The Lorrha team, according to a contemporary photograph, was as follows: Jack Burke, Dick Gardiner, Jack Carroll, Paddy 0' Meara, Pat O'Meara, Jim Hogan, Major Sammon, Michael O'Donoghue, Paddy Hogan, Tom O'Donoghue, Bill Bollard, John Lambe, Joe Sammon, Pat Sammon, T. F. O'Meara. (capt.) , Jim O'Meara, John Quirke. 

Lorrha didn't affiliate any team in the senior championsnip for the three years prior to 1914. The club got a bye into the second round of that year's championship and played Borrisokane in the semi-final. The match was played at Terryglass on October 11 and seldom have spectators seen such a brilliant display of the caman. The result was 2-2 to 0-2 in favour of Lorrha. The North final was played at Ardcroney on November 22 and Lorrha's opponents were Templederry. There was a fine crowd but the game did not live up to expectations. At half-time Lorrha were ahead by 2-2 to nil and went on to win by 4-2 to 1-0. In winning this championship Lorrha interrupted Toomevara's sequence of victories just as they had done with De Wets in 1905. The winning team was: M. O'Donoghue (capt.), F.X. Cronin, Tom Duffy, John Lambe, Pat O'Meara, T. F. O'Meara, J. J. Madden, Con Sherlock, Mick Needham, Tim Sullivan, Jack Carroll, Joe Carroll, Tom Burke, William Harding, Jack Dillon. There are also claims for the inclusion of Johnny Gaynor in the team. 

Ten years later Lorrha won their next senior championship. This time their opponents in the final were Nenagh. They defeated Ballymackey and Cloughjordan in earlier rounds and had a convincing win of 7-3 to 0-3 in the final at Terryglass on September 25. Jim (the Private) O'Meara played for Nenagh that day and his brother, Bill, played for Lorrha. No Lorrha lineout was given with the report of the game but the probable team is as follow: Paddy Gaynor, Johnny Gaynor, Mick O'Meara, Dinny O'Meara, Bill O'Meara, Tom Burke, Bob Young, Jack Kennedy, Mick Cronin, Paddy Hogan, Dan O'Donoghue, Willie Carroll, Nick Forde, Con Sherlock, and Tom Duffy. 

Twenty-four years were to elapse before Lorrha were to capture the senior title again. The final was played at Nenagh on August 22 before a crowd of 8,000 people in appalling weather. Their opponents were Borrisoleigh and Lorrha won by 5-4 to 2-4 on a day when Tony Reddin had an outstanding game. On their path to the final Lorrha defeated Borrisokane, Roscrea and Kiladangan. The lineout was as follows: Tony Reddin, Paddy O'Sullivan, Dan O'Donoghue, Michael O'Meara (Lisballyard), Tom Lambe, Mick Brophy, Jim O'Meara, Eugene O'Meara, Paddy Guinan, Mick O'Meara (Blakefield), Tommy Ryan, Dan O'Meara( capt.), Brendan O'Donoghue, Michael O'Meara (Roughan), Billy Hogan. 

Lorrha won their fifth title in 1956 when they defeated Borrisoleigh at Nenagh on September 9 by 4-8 to 0-18. The score itself tells a tale of the loser's respect for Tony Reddin's goalkeeping ability. Lorrha lost the first round against Kilruane when they were defeated 1-14 to 1-2 at Borrisokane on May 13. Entering the loser's group they accounted for Moneygall and Toomevara on their way to the final against Borrisoleigh. The team for the final was: Tony Reddin, Seamus King, Paul Slevin, Billy Hogan, Johnny Larkin, Davy O'Sullivan, Paddy O'Meara, Hubie Hogan, Phil McIntyre, Eugene 0'Meara, Mick Brophy (capt.), Sean O'Meara, Paddy Madden, Paddy Guinan, John Moloney. 

Lorrha's last senior title was in 1966 when they defeated Toomevara by the minimum of margins, 3-11 to 2-13, on August 28. Toomevara led by 2-7 to 1-5 at half-time. This was the first time the Frank McGrath cup was won by Lorrha. They had an interesting path to the final that year. They beat St. Flannan's, a combination of Kildangan and Shannon Rovers, in the first round. They took three matches to defeat Eire Óg, before overcoming Kilruane MacDonaghs in the semi-final. The Lorrha divisional champions, that year were: Gerry Moylan, Michael Liffey, Paddy O'Meara, Seamus O'Meara, Liam King, Sean O'Meara, Michael Gleeson, Wilsy Morris, Jim Lane, Noel Lane, Jim Ryan, Peter Hogan, Paddy Madden, Michael Doyle, Michael 0' Meara.

<span class="postTitle">Tony Reddin</span> North Division S.H. Final Program, Aug. 19, 1984

Tony Reddin

North Division S.H. Final Program, Aug. 19, 1984

In a fine nostalgic piece in the 1981 Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook, Seamus Leahy recalls a visit from his uncle Paddy and Jimmy Maher after Lorrha's defeat by Holycross in the 1948 county final. He produced an autograph- book and his uncle Paddy wrote: 'Sensation: Holycross won county championship 1948. Tipp will win All-Ireland championship 1949. Signed: P. Leahy.' Then he handed the book to Jimmy Maher, who wrote: 'Jim Maher, Boherlahan.'

'Identify yourself!, urged Paddy. 'Jim Maher, Boherlahan could be anyone. Write 'Tipp goalie.' 

'Not after today,' said Jimmy, sadly but signing, just the same. 'Didn't you see your man, Reddin, today? He's your goalie now.' 

Jimmy was right. After eight years as Tipperary's senior goalkeeper he was to give way to this 'unknown' who had shown unusual ability during the North championship.. There hadn't been many players from that remote northern parish who had achieved county status but Tony Reddin was to he an outstanding representative for the next nine years. 

Lorrha had qualified for that county final game against Holycross when they defeated Cashel in the semi-final at Thurles on September 19. On that day Tipperary lost to Cork by 6-10 to 1-7 in the Thomond Tournament. Paddy Fleming of Carrick was on goal. In the previous summer they had gone down to Limerick in the championship by 8-4 to 6-4. According to one report of the game: 'Maher did not. bring off his usual spectacular saves'. There was obviously.a place for a new goalie and Reddin seemed to be the obvious choice for the position. 

He was picked for the first league game against Offaly at Birr on October 24 and had a fine game on goal when Tipperary won by 7-6 to 1-2. The next match was the 1948 league final, which should have been played the. previous spring. Cork won by 3-3 to 1-2 despite ,the 'splendid goalkeeping of Reddin'. Tipperary had three more league games before the final at Thurles on February 27, 1949 when they reversed the. previous October verdict and defeated Cork by 3-5 to 3-2 on a day that Reddin saved brilliantly between the sticks. It was Tipperary's first major victory since 1945 and they had scored 22 goals 31 points and conceded 8 goals and 18 points in the series of games.

Tony did not appear full-blown on the hurling scene in 1948 but had a long apprenticeship to the game which began when he won his only county final medal, -a juvenile wi th Mullagh in 1933. Later he played with Galway juniors and seniors and with the Connaght Railway Cup team. In fact he played full-forward with Galway against Tipperary in the Monaghan Cup game in London in 1946, the year before he came to Lorrha. He also won a Connaght junior hurling medal in 1940.

However, it wasn't until he. crossed the Shannon that his true potential was realised. Probably the man who most helped him to realise that potential was Fr. O'Meara, who arrived in the parish not long before Tony. He first met Tony at Ned Wells' of Derrylahan and established an important rapport with him. Tony was then timid and shy and a little unsure of himself and Fr. O'Meara nurtured and developed his confidence. His influence on Tony was such that he travelled with him regularly to matches and acted in a supportive role as Tony found his feet. lt was Fr. O' Meara who covered Tony in a clerical hat and short coat in order to protect him from disappointed Cork supporters after the Munster final at Killarney in July 1950. 

Tony's innate genius blossomed under this protection. Tipperary played seventeen major games in 1949 with Reddin between the posts. Six of the games were championship, three were league and the remainder were major tournaments. One game. was drawn and the remainder. won and the· total score was 68 goals 167 points for Tipperary and 31, goals 90 points against. During the course of his entire career with the county he played approximately one hundred major games and was. on the winning side eighty-seven times. Whereas this success rate was a tribute to the standard of Tipperary hurling during the period, it was also in no small way due to the brilliance of the man between the posts. 

Another interesting aspect of Tony's career in hurling was the regularity with which he turned out. From the first game he played with the county in October 1948 until he was dropped for the Monaghan Cup after the league defeat in May 1956, I can find only one match, a league game against Limerick at Kilmallock on Fehruary 6, 1955, when he didn't turn out. Having lost his place for the 1956 championship he showed a final flash of brilliance in the county championship of that summer. He was recalled for the league campaign and played three matches, the last of which was in February 1957. He won a league medal that year as a sub, when Tipperary defeated Kilkenny, and played his last game with the county, when Tipperary travelled to New York the following October. 

Reddin's last appearance with Lorrha was in 1958 when the team lost to Roscrea in the championship. One report on the game stated that 'Tony Reddin showed he was by no means a has-been goalkeeper'. He played his first game for his adopted club on Easter Sunday 1947 against St. Vincent's. A month later he won his first tournament, for suit-lengths, at Portumna. It was a seven-a-side competition and Lorrha defeated Kilruane by nine points to one. Eugene O'Meara scored eight of the points and Tony got the other from a goal clearance. On the same day Reddin won the long puck competition with a drive of 106 yards. During his time with the Lorrha team he failed to turn out on only one occasion. That was in a tournament at Borrisokane in June 1951 against Ahane, who included Mick Mackey and Sean Herbert in their lineout that day. During his twelve years with Lorrha Reddin won North championship medals in 1948 and 1956. 

Tony Reddin's list of achievements is impressive by any standards. As well as winning three All-lrelands, six National League, two Brendan Cup medals and one Oireachtas, he also won six Railway Cup medals and four 'Ireland team' cups. He travelled to London on nine occasions and played on the winning Monaghan Cup team on eight occasions. His ninth visit was as a sunstitute in 1957 when Tipperary were heaten. He won one Oireachtas medal.

There is nobady to deny that he was one of the greats of hurling history. He was great in the days when a goalkeeper's fate was to be bundled into the back of the net if the backs gave the forwards sufficient leaway. Tony's greatest asset was, to stop the hall dead so that it rolled down to his chest or his feet. He would leave the ball on the ground until the last moment and then, with the forwards rushing in, he would take it, sidestep them and have loads of space to clear. He claimed to know which side of the goal a ball would come by watching which foot a forward was on when he hit the ball. Whatever the reason for his greatness his stopping prowess was the bane of forwards and a joy to supporters for many a year. 

<span class="postTitle">Hurling in the Eighteenth Century</span> National Hurling League program, Tipperary v Antrim, Cashel, February 12, 1984

Hurling in the Eighteenth Century

National Hurling League program, Tipperary v Antrim, Cashel, February 12, 1984

Looking through the records of some hurling matches of the eighteenth century, we find that hurling in Ulster is not a modern sport. Two centuries ago Antrim had hurlers. It is recorded that in the severe winter of 1740 there was a hurling match in the ice on Lough Neagh.

We find, however, that about this period the game was more extensively played outside of Ulster. Records exist of strenuous contests like the "grand match of hurling in May 1748, on Crumlin Commons between the Provinces of Leinster and Munster', in which the former came off victorious. Munster unsatisfied with the result sought a replay, and about a week later they met on the same grounds. Keen on winning Munster picked "a chosen set" but "their utmost efforts were all to no purpose, for Leinster after about an hour's struggle, gained a complete victory." Not yet satisfied, Munster asked a further trial, and "the greatest match of hurling ever played in this Kingdom" was promised, but after the necessary preparations were made, "Munster thought it proper to decline the combat."

In September, 1775, there was a match between Co. Tipperary and the Lower Ormond "band of hurlers" on the Commons of Ballingarry, near Borrisokane, when after an hour and fifteen minutes. trial the "invincible Lower Ormondians, according to their usual methods, put out a fair and undisputed goal." It was computed that there were 10,000 spectators at this match "who quietly separated in the evening without the least accident or irregularity, except a few hats that were lost in the huzzaing."

In September, 1755, there was a hurling match at Lyons, Co. Kildare, between the gentlemen of Kildare and Dublin, at which the Marquess of Hartington (then Lord Lieutenant) and "a most brilliant appearance of nobility and gentry were present'. Yes, the Gentry played the game of hurling then, for it is recorded that in a match about this period between the Counties of Kilkenny and Tipperary the teams were mainly composed of "gentry of the highest respectability from both Counties."

"In honour of their illustrious country, and to encourage reward and honour, bravery and hardihood from whatever part of Ireland they might come." a hurling match was played in July, 1814, on Kensington Commons, London, by some gentlemen of Ireland, the teams (18 a side) being named St. Giles and Wapping. The Duke of Wellington and staff formed portion of 20.000 interested spectators. Gentlemen on horseback acted as stewards, and the dexterity of the players amazed the onlookers. The match was for 200 guineas, and the result was a draw.

In July, 1792, a cricket match, held in the Phoenix Park, was described as a form of I rish hurling, but the latter "was much more strenuous." It was not safe to be a spectator at these strenuous matches, for in September, 1756 a woman got her eye knocked out at Crumlin, and another got her leg broken. Nor was it advisable to interfere between players, for at a match at Glounanere, near Cashel, in 1774, James Raighelly (was he the referee?) in attempting to make peace between two players, was killed with a stroke of a hurley.

In July, 1779, complaints were made "that a mob of people assemble on Sundays in the Phoenix Park, adjoining the residence of Mr. Gardiner, High Sheriff, to play football and hurling matches, and most horrid profanement of drunkenness, riot, and fighting are practised, and these Sabbath breakers are permitted to remain unmolested in defiance of the law, divine and human:'

A century and a half has passed since these complaints were made, and the conduct of the game has greatly altered, but if some of those spirits could return to life and hear the "huzzaing" on an All-Ireland Final day at Croke Park, they would conclude that during their long retirement those "wild Irish" had become even more enthusiastic over their national game. 

<span class="postTitle">The County Senior Hurling Championship (1984)</span> Centenary Year Book pp. 35-37

The County Senior Hurling Championship (1984)

Centenary Year Book pp. 35-37

The county quarter-finals saw the teams from the north play the west and those from the mid against the south. The north representatives were Lorrha and Eire Og. Lorrha had defeated Eire Og to win their first divisional final since 1966. The west representatives were Cappawhite, who had won the west for the second year in a row and had done so impressively under the watchful eye of Theo English, and Eire Og, the winners of the Crasco Cup. Both teams had defeated Kickhams in the finals. 

In the mid Drom-Inch had created something of a sensation in beating Moycarkey-Borris in a replay of the divisional final. The south sent out the same teams as in 1983, Carrick Swan, who had won the title for the second year in a row, and Eire Og, a combination of Killenaule and Mullinahone, under the tutelage of Phil Shanahan.

The north-west encounters took place at Templemore on September 9 in stormy and wet conditions. Lorrha played Eire Og in the first game and faced the wind in the first half. Wasted chances by Eire Og and good goalkeeping by Lorrha's Ken Hogan, ensured that Eire Og had only a 0-6 to 0-3 lead at the interval. Lorrha took over after the interval and within fifteen minutes they put paid to Annacarty's challenge. They eventually won by 3-11 to 0-7, Eire Og's only point coming eleven minutes after the interval.

Conditions were appalling for the second game. Cappawhite were against the wind in the first half but led by two points at the interval. Their good performance was mainly due to the mobility of their centrefield pair, Mike McDermott and Deasun Hennessey, and the flair of their half-forward line.  Eire Og on the other hand had too many weak links exposed and their younger players were not suited to the heavy going.  In the second half they could only manage 1-1 against a rampant Cappawhite team who went on to win by 5-6 to 1-6.  

The mid-south clashes took place at Cashel on September 16. Moycarkey Borris recorded an easy victory over Carrick-Swan, who never captured the form that brought them the south title.
The loss of Sean Fitzpatrick at centre forward was a major blow to their challenge. 

The second game, between Drom-Inch and Eire Og, ended in a draw 3-10 to 2-13. Tommy Butler scored the equalising point for Dram-Inch, from a sixty five metre free, in the last minute. The game was made exciting by the closeness of the exchanges and the tension all through. Drom-Inch had gone into the game as favourites but they never reproduced the form which had brought them the mid title the previous Sunday. 

In the replay two weeks later Drom-lnch had the upperhand, chiefly due to two goals which they scored, one four minutes before the interval and the second two minutes after the resumption. The mid champions were much improved and they finished much sharper and took their chances in the last quarter. However, their margin of success did not due justice to the efforts of Eire Og, who had to turn out without their top defender, Joe O'Dwyer, who had injured his collarbone in the drawn game. The final result read 2-12 to 0-11.

SEMI-FINALS

The county semi-final draw pitted Moycarkey-Borris against Cappawhite and Lorrha against Drom-lnch. The first of the two games was played at Cashel on September 30, in conjunction with the replayed quarter-final game. The result was another draw when Moycarkey scored two points in the final minutes to give them 2-10 against Cappawhite's 1-13. The game will be remembered for some brilliant points by Austin Buckley for Cappawite in the first half. Moycarkey were lucky to be only two points, 0-9 to I - 4, behind at the interval. John Flanagan, got a goal in the twenty-fifth minute and showed that all he needed was the smallest of space and the shortest of time. During the second half the sides were locked together with Moycarkey just slightly ahead when Cappawhite got a goal, from a goalkeeping error by Moycarkey 's Doran, and left them two points ahead with only minutes to go. In that final period Moycarke y scored twice, drawing on all their reserves of experience, to snatch a draw.

REPLAY

The replay took place in Nenagh, in conjunction with the other semi-final, on October 7. Moycarkey-Borris put in a storming performance to win by 3-14 to 2- 12. Without doubt it was Moycarkey's best performance of the year. They were sharp and keen and far more aggressive than in previous encounters. The decisive period of this game began in the end of the first quarter , when Cappa white were ahead by 0-4 to 0-1. In a five-minute period Moycarkey scored three goals and they never subsequently relinquished their lead, despite the best efforts of the west champions. Moycarkey hovered between a one and four point advantage throughout the third quarter but only a goal separated them with six minutes to play. Cappawhite threw everything into those final minutes but they failed to get the goal they so badly needed and it was Moycarkey who got the insurance points that gave them five-point victory.

In the second semi- final the result hung in the balance until ten minutes from the end. Lorrha had the breeze in the first half and, despite plenty of possession their forward s failed to take the chances. At half-time the score stood at 0-6 to 0-4 in their favour. During the first twenty minutes of the second half each side could only manage a point and the Lorrha backs were under heavy pressure. Then in the nineteenth minute Tommy Butler got possession on the Lorrha 20 metre line and seemed certain of a goal. However, he was blocked, the ball was cleared up the field, Ciaran Hough got possession and raced for goal. His shot was blocked and eventually finished to the net by Aidan McIntyre. This score gave Lorrha the upper hand and they eventually won by 2-7 to 0-6.

COUNTY FINAL

All was in expectation for the county final at Thurles on October 14, with Moycarkey-Borris favourites and heading for their sixteenth title and Lorrha heading for their first. Lorrha had suffered a number of injuries in their semifinal clash with Drom-Inch and looked for a postponement. A special sitting of the county board on Tuesday night turned down their request. Lorrha considered the refusal and decided there was no way they could play the county final on the date fixed. The club, therefore, informed the county secretary on Thursday night of their inability to field a team and their withdrawal from the final. The county board met the following Monday night and refixed the game for October 21. Both teams agreed with the decision.

Moycarkey-Borris were firm favourites going into the game but they got a shock in the first twenty minutes when Lorrha put on a magnificent performance against the wind and led by 0-6 to 0-2. Moycarkey gradually found their rhythm and came back into the game before the interval with two points to leave the half-time score 0-6 to 0-4 in Lorrha 's favour. 

By the end of the third quarter Lorrha were three points ahead with neither side being able to establish superiority. Then Moycarkey struck a blow from which Lorrha never recovered: they scored two goals in the space of four minutes to take the lead and they went on to win by 2-8 to 0-9. In the end they were the fitter team and worthy champions for the Centenary Year. For Lorrha there was the unsatisfactory consolation of a good display and the memories of chances that were and goals that might have been. 

The centenary champions were: T. Doran, J. Hackett, W. Ryan, T. Mullens, E. Darmody, J. Bergin (Capt), J. Leahy, L. Bergin and L. Dempsey, T. Cullagh, J. McCormack, D. Fogarty, N. Slattery, D. Quigley, J. Flanagan.
Subs: R. Hayes, for J. Leahy, J. Flanagan for J. Hackett. 

The defeated Lorrha team was as follows: K. Hogan, M. Young, M. Brophy, P. Kennedy, E. Sherlock, J. McIntyre, E. Maher, P. Kelly, B. Mannion, J. Kennedy, J. O'Sullivan, C. Hough (Capt), A. McIntyre, J. Shelly, W. Fogarty. 
Subs: C. McIntyre for Maher, D. O'Donoghue for A . McIntyre.

RESULTS IN BRIEF

DIVISIONAL FINALS: 

North -   Lorrha 4-11, Eire Og (Nenagh) 3-9.
South - Carrick Swan 2-8 Eire 0g (Killenaule/Mullinahone) 0-13.
Mid - Drom-Inch 0-13. Moycarkey- Borris 2-7.  Replay: Drom-Inch 1-9, Moycarkey Borrls 1-8.
West - Cappawhite 2-18, Kickhams 3-7.
Crosco Cup - Eire og (Annacarty) 0-11, Kickhams 0-9.

COUNTY QUARTER FINALS:

Lorrha 3-11, Eire Og (Annacarty) 0-7.
Cappawhite 5-6, Eire Og (Nenagh) 1-6.
Drom-Inch 3-10, Eire Og (Killenaule Mullnahone) 2-13.  Replay: Drom-Inch 2-12, Eire Og
(Killenaule-Mullinahone) 0-11.
Moycaikey-Borris 1-15, Carrick Swan 3-1

COUNTY SEMI-FINALS:

Moycarkey-Borrls 2-10, Cappawhite 1-13.  Replay: Moycarkey-Borris 3-14, Cappawhite 2-12.
Lorrha 2-7, Drom-lnch 0-6.

COUNTY FINAL:

Moycarkey-Borris 2-8, Lorrha 0-9.

<span class="postTitle">A Tipperary-Antrim Encounter</span> National Hurling League program, Tipperary v Antrim, Cashel, February 12, 1984

A Tipperary-Antrim Encounter

National Hurling League program, Tipperary v Antrim, Cashel, February 12, 1984

On Saturday, December 1, 1928, the first Tipperary team ever travelled to Belfast to play Antrim in the All-Ireland junior hurling semi-final. Tipperary had qualified for this game by earlier victories over Limerick and Waterford in the Munster final. On their way to the semi-final Antrim had a walkover from Cavan and victories over Donegal and Down.

The Tipperary team left Thurles railway station at 9 o'clock on Saturday morning and travelled to Dublin where they had a break for lunch before continuing the journey to Belfast. On arrival at their destination they checked into their hotel and had a meal. No sooner was the latter over than they headed downtown to see what this 'notorious' city was like. As they wandered around looking at the sights some of the lads spotted a policeman who they recognised as a Black and Tan from earlier days in County Tipperary. He had been stationed at Sheverie, near Upperchurch during the 'Troubles'. They became friends and he invited them to his Orange Lodge club where 'a decent attempt was made to set them drunk'. The wag with the team said the attempt failed because there wasn't sufficient whiskey in the Lodge!

The encounter doesn't seem to have had any bad repercussions, The following morning the team were taken for a three hour sight-seeing to the Glens of Antrim. The match was played at Corrigan Park in the afternoon and Antrim gave the visitors a good match. There was only a point between the teams at half-time on a score of 2-1 to 1-3 in favour of Tippeary. The latter added three goals in the second half and then Antrim came with a great rally that was better than the final score of 5-1 to 2-3 would give them credit for.

The teams were: Tipperary - A. Foley (Capt.), W. Matthews, P. Guiry, R. Dwan, P. O'Keeffe, E. Walsh, M. Wright, D. Walsh J. Maher, J. Lowry, J. Heeney, J. Maher, J. Stapleton, T. Smith.
Antrim- J. Hunter, G. McDermott, P. Butler, D. Armstrong, J. McKeown, H. Reid, A. Thornbury, J. McNally, W. Mulvenna, F H. Hill, J. Tuohy, P. Cunning, J. McGarry.

The happiest feature of the Tipperary team's visit was the enjoyable Ceili held in the evening in St. Mary's Hall. The visitors, headed Johnny Leahy, received a tremendous reception from the Gaels of Belfast. A thoroughly Irish-Ireland atmosphere surrounded the function, which was most successful and enjoyable for the merry throng. Many of the visitors were fresh to the North and pre-conceived ideas of their possible reception were happily shattered. They left, after an entertainment in which they were made at home, to carry back the tale of the strength of the Gaelic spirit in the North. They departed for home on Monday morning. In the All-Ireland final at Dungarvan at a later date Tipperary lost to Kilkenny by two points. 

<span class="postTitle">Tom Duffy of Lorrha</span> County S.H. Final Program, Thurles, Oct. 14, 1984

Tom Duffy of Lorrha

County S.H. Final Program, Thurles, Oct. 14, 1984

Cheering on Lorrha last Sunday, in the county semi-final at Nenagh, was Tom Duffy. He followed the play and gave the players plenty of support and much advice as Lorrha's fortunes rose and fell. In the end when the North men had beaten Drom-Inch he was delighted and full of comment. Today, when Lorrha take the field against Moycarkey­Borris in the final, he will be there to cheer them on to victory with as much enthusiasm as any man from the parish. 

It's a safe bet that Tom will be the oldest man in Thurles today. He's on the verge of ninety years and, if the flesh has failed and a walking aid has become a must, the spirit remains un­dimmed. This spirit was seen in his attendance at the launching of the club history at Redwood Castle earlier this year: Tom had to be manhandled up four flights of stairs to the Great Hall but he endured the discomfort to be present. 

Record 

Lorrha have won seven divisional senior hurling championships to date and Tom has the unique distinction of having attended all of them. When it is realised that the time span covered is from 1905 to 1984 the extent of his longevity becomes apparent! He shouldn't have gone to the 1905 final, played against the famous De Wets at Terryglass on April 8, 1906, because he was too young. But he hid up the road from the house and was smuggled aboard the brake that was carrying the team from Rathcabbin. Later he was present at the priests' house in the village when the photograph of the team was taken. 

It's his wife, Emily, who has the better memories of the 1914 championship. Her brother, Bill Harding, was on the team and she remembers the semi-final against Borrisokane, also at Terryglass: 'I travelled in a horse and sidecar with my father. There were a lot of flags and banners and a band played the Borrisokane team on the field. Breege O'Meara­ - she was Lack's sister- she was with me and as the band passed us, she shouted at them: 'You'll play them in but you won't play them out'." And they didn't. Lorrha won and went on to defeat Templederry in the final and give Tom his first North medal. The team didn't play very well and one report had this to say: 'Lorrha played a much better game against Borrisokane but probably since then the players suffered from swelled heads and failed to attend practices." 

Tom won his second medal in 1924 when Lorrha defeated Nenagh in the final. Again, the team travelled by brake. Willie Egan in Birr provided it and it carried twenty-four passengers and was pulled by two horses. Tom remembers someone playing a melodeon and they had a good sing-song. They carried their own sandwiches and had a feed after the game. Nenagh weren't much good and Lorrha won by 7 -3 to 0-3. 

County Finals 

Another memory from those times was a tournament in Shinrone. Lorrha had a shortage of hurleys and when Tom had three broken there was none left. He got a lath off a timber rail, paired the handle with a penknife and, in his words, played as good a game as he ever did. 

Lorrha never won a county final but Tom won three in his time! This might appear strange but there's a simple enough explanation. Toomevara won the north championship in 1923. On their way to victory they had a very difficult time overcoming Lorrha in the semi­final. It was a game in which Tom had an outstanding performance. Later, when Toomevara picked their selection for the county semi-final Tom was included and won a county medal when the team defeated the south selection. 

He won another county medal when Mountshannon defeated Newmarker-on­Fergus in the Clare championship at O'Callaghan's Mills. He's rather vague about the date and he didn't get a medal. He was invited to play by McNamara, who had a pub in Mountshannon. He travelled by motorcar, driven by Bill Smith of Connaght Street in Birr. Nicky Forde also travelled. After the victory they returned to Mountshannon and 'I was barman in McNamaras until six o'clock in the morning'. 

Tom's third medal came from Co. Galway and was won with Tynagh. Ignatius Harney was the contact man. Before the game they were pucking about and Tom was striking very impressively. Harney rushed in and said to him: 'Stop Tom, they'll notice you'. There was an interesting sequel to this game. Tom, alias Joe Hynes, an egg-buyer for the Clanrickarde estate, was picked to play for Galway. He was referred to in despatches as the 'Hen­man for Clanrickarde' and word was sent back to the selectors that 'The hen man is gone away'. 

Ah! them were the days! And surely the memories will come flooding back today as Tom looks out on the blue and white. The scene will be changed by the comforts of modern developments. But the spirit and enthusiasm for the game will be the same that took Tom over fence and style, by brake and bicycle to places familiar and unfamiliar down all those years.

<span class="postTitle">The Lorrha and Dorrha (Davin) Club - A Brief History</span> County S.H. Final Program, Thurles, Oct. 14, 1984

The Lorrha and Dorrha (Davin) Club - A Brief History

County S.H. Final Program, Thurles, Oct. 14, 1984

Not many people know that the Lorrha and Dorrha (Davin) Club is the full title of what is more generally known as the Lorrha G.A.A. Club. Lorrha is included in a list of thirty-four clubs founded in County Tipperary in 1885. There is no record of the foundation meeting or of the people who founded it. Within a short time there were a number of teams in the parish and during 1886, a meeting was held to decide which team should represent the parish. There was a chance of a split and Frank Maloney and J. K. Bracken visited the parish on two occasions to sort matters out. It was decided to amalgamate the clubs and to call the parish club, the Lorrha and Dorrha (Davin) Club. Mr G. O'Brien and Rev. R. Kennedy of the parish are recorded as having attended the meeting. 

There were two Lorrha players, Messrs P. Meara, Snr and P. Meara Jnr, on the North Tipperary team that played South Galway, for nothing less than the "Championship of Ireland", in Dublin, on February 9th, 1886. Lorrha played in the county championship for the first time in 1889 and defeated Hollyford in a most exciting contest at Wakefield, Templederry, On the victorious team were Paddy "The Champion" O'Meara, Tom Carroll of Newtown, Dan Carroll and Dan Donoghue. During the nineties, football was organised and there are reports of games in which Carrigahorig figured prominently. In 1889, there was a big dispute in the correspondence columns of the "Nenagh News" as to whether the Lorrha or the Toomevara clubs produced the better hurlers. 

When the North Board was formed in 1900, Lorrha were one of seven senior hurling teams to affiliate for the first championship in 1901 and they made their first breakthrough when they won the North championship in 1905. There is a record from these years, which was kept by the club treasurer, Tommy O'Meara, and shows the total income of the club in 1902 as £6. 8s. 2d. There were about seventy paid-up members, at one shilling each, and they included one woman, Miss M. Nevin. The hire of brakes for team transport was one of the biggest items of expenditure. 

Lorrha's next championship victory came in 1914 and the team included Tom Duffy, who is still alive and touching ninety years of age. The first Lorrha man to win an All-Ireland was Felix Cronin, who played with the victorious county junior hurling team in that year. The club won another championship in 1924 when they defeated an understrength Nenagh team by 7-3 to 0-3. Jim "The Private" O'Meara played with Nenagh that day and his brother Bill, played for Lorrha. Two other players on the team were Tom Duffy and Mick Cronin. Both were to win All-Ireland senior hurling medals with the county in 1925 and travel to the U.S. on the American tours of 1926 and 1931. Another All-Ireland medal winner from that period was Hugh Burke, who won with Dublin in 1917. 

There's a long break to the next senior championship win in 1948, when the great hero of the hour was Tony Reddin. During the thirties there was little success recorded. The period saw the growth of junior teams like Redwood, and the regrading of Lorrha to intermediate status. The greatest hurler of the period was Christy Forde, who played in goals for Dublin in three All-Ireland and three National League finals. He won one All-Ireland and one League medal. The period culminated in Lorrha's first county championship victory, when they defeated Moycarkey in the 1946 final by 4-4 to 3-3. The match was played at Gaile, on November 22nd, 1947. Admission was one shilling and the sideline was sixpence extra. This team was the basis of the victorious 1948 team. 

The fifties saw another senior championship victory, in 1956, but the high-point of the decade must surely be the success of the juveniles, who won three divisional and two county championships between 1956 and 1958. These players formed the core of the teams of the sixties and saw the club win four divisionc al championships in 1966, in senior, junior and u/21 hurling and in junior football. The junior hurlers also won a championship in 1961 and the footballers were to go one better in 1971 and win the county final.

The u/21 team which won the divisional championship, in 1965, went on to win county honours the following year. Noel Lane and Michael O'Meara figured prominently on the county u/21 team that won the inaugural All-Ireland in that grade in 1964. There was a great lot of hurling talent in the parish during this period and it may not have got the success it deserved. 

The seventies saw two Lorrha men, Liam King and Noel Lane, contribute to the county's last senior hurling championship win. The seventies were marked by many near misses. A number of players achieved county status and won All-Ireland honours: Seamus Kennedy in minor in 1976, Brian Mannion in u/21 in 1979, Joe Kennedy in 1980, John Mclntyre in 1981 and Ken Hogan in minor 1981. At present this talent is coming into its own in the shape of a senior team that is attempting to prove today that it is the best in the county. 

One of the present team, Michael Brophy, whose father before him gave sterling service to the parish, won a National League medal with the county in 1979. Another Lorrha man, Mick Cronin, was on the team that won the first National League for Tipperary in 1927. In between Tony Reddin won six finals, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955 and 1957. Sharing that success with him in 1950 was his clubmate Billy Hogan and another Lorrha man, Sean O'Meara, was on the successful 1957 team. 

Finally, a short account of the history of Lorrha club would be incomplete without a mention of Hubie Hogan, who was North chairman for seven years and never missed a meeting and went on to guide the affairs of the county from 1976 to 1979. He was associated with G.A.A. affairs in the parish for over forty years. 

<span class="postTitle">Dr John Lanigan</span> Post Advertiser, 1985, Vol. 1 No. 16

Dr John Lanigan

Post Advertiser, 1985, Vol. 1 No. 16

Fr. Christy O'Dwyer's otherwise excellent Outline History of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly for schools contains one glaring omission - there is no mention of Dr. John Lanigan, the famous ecclesiastical historian from Cashel who lived between 1758 and 1828. 

He was born in the Moor Lane-Chapel Lane area of Cashel, where his father Thomas Lanigan, who had been evicted from his mother's farm near Dundrum by the notorious landlord, Sir Thomas Maude, reared sixteen children. Of the four girls in the family, Catherine, was considered the belle of Cashel and Ann, Mrs. Ann Kennedy, died in. Clonmel on October 30, 1860. The mother of this large family was Mary Anne Dorkan from Beakstown, Holycross, She was a very superior woman whose mind was as original as her appearance was beautiful. 

Thomas Lanigan had as a boy intended to be a priest but family circumstances prevented. it. However, with that intention he had received a tolerably good classical education. After arriving in Cashel, therefore, he started a school and instructed son, John, in the rudiments of general knowledge. Later, in order thoroughly to cultivate his son's high talents, he placed him under the care of Rev. Patrick Hare, a Protestant clergyman who for many years kept an academy of considerable repute in John St.,Cashel.

The Hare Academy

Hare of O'Hehir was a most interesting character. From Corofin, Co. Clare he went to Trinity College where he obtained college honours and distinctions. He finally became,a clergyman, having converted to Protestantism. He became Vicar-General of the Diocese of Cashel under Archbishop Agar but threw up the office under his successor and started a school. 

There is an anecdote about Lanigan from his time at the Hare Academy. Mrs. Hare had a son and the Reverend was so delighted he brought the squalling babe into the classroom. 'I have to introduce you to a new scholar,' he said, 'but I am sorry to say he has not as yet got a name. '

'Call the young Hare, Leveret,' exclaimed Lanigan with a flash of impulsive humour that occasionally characterised him in later life. Hare was awed and the boys amused and for some time after he enjoyed the name of Leveret Lanigan. 

From what we read Lanigan possessed a solidity of intellect and, a steadiness in the pursuit of excellence as a student. He used to read books at night by the light of the moon which, probably accounts for the fact that in later life he was nearly blind. But, we also hear that he learned to dance the Irish reel 

Journey to Rome 

He decided to become a priest and in 1776 he went to Rome with letters of introduction from the Most Rev. Dr. James Butler, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly. He sailed from Cork and befriended a passenger on the journey. They got on well and Lanigan revealed the purpose of his journey. He was informed that, his friend was also going, to Calais. They stayed in the same hotel near St. Pauls and in the same roam. When Lanigan woke in the morning he, found his 'friend' gone and the hour of sailing past. He was informed by the waiter that.he had to pay the bill. He put his hand in his pocket to discover his money was taken during the night. In great distress he, cntacted ,the Administrator of the diocese, who came to the hotel and befriended Lanigan. He paid the bill and brought him to his house, where he remained 'until a remittance came from home. 

Interestingly the vessel on which· his 'friend' had gone was wrecked. soon after sailing. The administrator put Lanigan in touch with a party of priests on their way to Rome and finally he arrived at his destination. 

He started his studies at the Irish College and his progress in theological and philosophical studies was brilliant and rapid. One Bishop Black said of his stay in the College - I can say with certainty that his talents and extraordinary acquirements as welI as his amiable, natural disposion gained for him the love and admiration of all who knew him. By a special dispensation he was ordained to the priesthood before the canonical age.

Recognition

The extraordinary. reputation for learning and ability he had acquired brought him, soon after his ordination, the Professorship in Hebrew, Eccclesiastical History and Divinity at the University of Paris. In 1794, in recognition of his character, writings, and learning he was granted a doctorate by the University of Sacred Theology and Canonical Jurisprudence. On one occasion the Emperor, Joseph II attended a Latin oration by Lanigan, which was received with unbounded applause. The Emperor remarked that so young and so enlightened a professor reflected new lustre on the Irish nation and reminded him of the ancient literary glory of that people. A sign of his fame was that he received the freedom of the city during his stay in Paris. 

Lanigans sojourn in Paris came to an end after nine years with the dispersal of the university which followed the arrival of Napoleon in the city in 1796. Lanigan fled to Ireland, leaving behind many valuable books. Plundered and penniless, haggard and hungry he arrived in Cork to a cold reception from the Bishop of Cork, who suspected him of Jansenism. That suspicion was to prevent him from getting the Professorship of Sacred Scripture and Hebrew at the new Seminary of Maynooth. 

Unable to get a parish in the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly he proceeded to Dublin where he became attached to the old Francis St. Chapel. Here his rooms were searched by Major Sirr in 1798. Through the influence of General Vallancey,  whom he had  known in Italy and who had been sent to Ireland as an architect and engineer to erect fortifications around the coast, Lanigan got a job  as an assistant librarian in the Royal Dublin Society. First appointed for three months he was to stay for 20 years. His  job involved the translation of speciaist papers from other languages into English.  His pay was thirty shillings a week and this was raised to three pounds in 1808 when he was appointed  librarian. 

Church History

This job was a blessing in disguise and gave Dr. Lanigan the time to write and to engage in the controvercies of the period. The latter he did with relish and the former with erudition. His greatest work is undoubtedly the Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, published in 1822 in four volumes. This is a work of immense scholarship which Rev. J. Brennan claimed to have placed the ecclesiastical antiquities of Ireland on a solid and imperishable basis. But, it is impossible to do justice to a man  of the stature of Dr. John Lanigan in this short letter.  

Among his other claims to fame was his belief in a pagan origin for the Round Towers of Ireland. He was an ecumenist before the word was thought of. In one place he wrote: '..and were I ambitious of having my tomb distinguished by any peculiar epitaph, I should prefer' Here lies an advocate for the union of Christians. He took a lively interest in the Gaelic Society of Dublin, established in 1808, not only for the investigation and revival of ancient Irish literature, but also for the development of the history and literature of this island. 

As well as intellectual and spiritual  delights Dr. Lanigan was also fond of the pleasures of the table. He was a rigid observer of the fasts and abstinences from flesh meats on fast days. He loved fish.  One account has this to say of his love of  the finny tribe - 'I knew Lanigan in later  life - a great wall-faced, overgrown mass of antiquarian erudition, who moved on his course as if he had fins. I saw him eat more fish on a Friday in Lent than probably any other Christian could  devour during the whole. seven weeks. Cod, eels, haddock, sole  - all were masked on his plate with mustard,  vinegar, red - very red pepper, catsup, oil and soy, and this he  seemed to get through at the rate of a hundred weight an hour, if he could have held out. Daniel Maclise celebrated etching of old Fr. Prout, devouring the endless succession  of fish dishes in Lent, might well pass, for a portrait of Lanigan.  

Insanity 

Premonitions of insanity in Dr. Lanigan appeared first in 1813 and though he recovered somewhat as a result of a three-month stay with his sister in Cashel the softening of the brain continued and he ultimately became a permanent patient at Dr. Harty's asylum at Finglas. The Rev. P.J. O'Hanlon gives a very sad picture of this great man during this period. Calling on him one day Dr. Lanigan said to him - 'I know not what I had for breakfast and except that I feel no craving, I do not even know what I have breakfasted. I, who could formerly grasp any course of study, how obstruse soever, cannot now apply my mind to a recollection of the simplist event of yesterday: I know that I am now speaking.to you but in ten minutes, after you have left the house, 1 shall have no remembrance of our conversation or of you. 

And so this man of many talents and undoubted genius passed away on July7, 1828. He had been so long out of the world that even his friends seemed to forget him. He got no obituary notices. Two days later he was buried and for 33 years not even a headstone marked his grave. He was buried in the old churchyard of Finglas. Not until 1861 as a result of a national collection was a monument erected over his grave. A twelve foot high cross in Tullamore imestone designed by Petrie, rescued Dr. Lanigan from obscurity. 

I hope that this information will rescue him from the obscurity that Fr. O'Dwyer's account would commit him. Otherwise a grave injustice would have been done to a man who used to style himself Joannes Lanigan, Hibernus Cassiliensis.

<span class="postTitle">A Tipperary Stalwart - Michael F. Cronin</span> Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 1983, pp 44-45

A Tipperary Stalwart - Michael F. Cronin

Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 1983, pp 44-45

One of the stalwarts of the Tipperary All-Ireland Hurling team of 1930 was Mick Cronin of Lorrha, who died on 11 January, 1982 after a short illness. He was eighty years of age having been born in Lorrha on 26 September 1982. Seventeen years previously his father, Felix, had come to the parish as a National Teacher, all the way from Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry, where his parents had the Post Office. Three years after arriving at Lorrha Felix married a girl called Mary Dalv from Kenmare and they had ten children, eight boys and two girls. Mick was the seventh son. One of his brothers, Felix, became a Major General in the Irish Army. Another brother, Tom, lost his life in a shooting accident while out fowling. Two other brothers made their names on the hurling field: Gerard hurled for Clare and played against Mick;. Phil played for Dublin.

Mick was educated in his father's school and went to secondary at De La Salle, Waterford. After completing the secondary course he transferred to the Teacher Training College. He got a fine gold medal in recognition of his position as De La Salle Hurling Team Captain, 1922. (Incidentally, Rody Nealon holds a similar medal for occupying the same position four years previously). On completing his teacher training he got a job at Lorrha and succeeded his father, almost immediately, as Principal. This was a controversial appointment as the practise was for a teacher to need five years teaching experience before he could become Principal. At any rate the Manager ignored the controversy, claiming that Mick was the best man for the job. The result was that when Mick Cronin retired in 1969 he must have been the longest serving National School Principal in the country. Later, he studied for his B.A. by driving to Galway after work with, among others, Jack O'Donovan of Toomevara. He was conferred in 1932 and received his Higher Diploma in Education the following year. He received an M.A. in 1935. He was also a fluent Irish speaker.

Hurling Career

Mick Cronin doesn't seem to have hit the headlines in hurling until 1926. After the disruptions of the War of Independence a reorganisation meeting was called in Nenagh in March 1922 and he was in attendance. He appears on the Lorrha team in 1923, captained by Tom Duffy, and they give the 'Greyhounds' an annoying hour before being defeated by a goal. The following year Lorrha won the North final by a large margin over Neangh but Cronin's name does not appear nor on the North selection that took part in the Divisional Championship that year. Similarly, in 1925, his name does not appear on either the Tipperary Junior or Senior teams. His name appears on the selection for the All-Ireland Junior Hurling semifinal at New Ross on 12 December 1926. When the team arrived for the match the previous day they were given a civic reception and, after beating Wexford 5-3 to 1-1- they were entertained to dinner on Sunday evening when the guest speaker was Alderman Corish, T.D. Tipperary played Galway in the final at Thurles the following March. The selectors met the previous month to select the team and, among other things, heard the Rev. Chairman draw attention "to the rule which prohibited betting on the field and it was decided with the cooperation of the civic guards to take drastic action against offenders". Because of the similarity of colours Tipperary changed jerseys for the match, which they won 6-2 to 2-3. Galway supporters for the game came by motor-buses which were a novelty in Thurles at the time.

League Winner

In the following year Mick Cronin graduated to the senior ranks and we read of him playing in the League campaign. (The League began the previous year and it was played over the year with the first games in Spring and the remainder after the championship was completed. There was no knockout section like there is today). Tipperary beat Kilkenny, Limerick, Cork and Clare in the opening rounds. In June we read about Cronin travelling to London with Tipperary to play Cork. In the same month, in the first round of the County League, Lorrha beat De Wets by 13 points to 5 and the mainstays of the victors are Tom Duffy and Mick Cronin.

This run of successes came to a halt in the first round of the championship when Tipperary went down to Limerick, 3-4 to 3-1. Cronin played centre-forward. Tipperary won the League that year by beating Offaly and drawing with Dublin, who were also in the running and were All-Ireland champions. This match was regarded as the 'final' even though Tipperary still had to play Galway and Laoise. The match against Dublin on 16 October created great excitement. In a preview to the game the 'Tipperary Star' had the following to say about Cronin: 'M. F. Cronin, Lorrha: plays on the 40 yard mark, a position which he filled with credit in all National League and other games during the past season. A fast and accurate striker he is always safe for a record when in possession'.

A week after the game with Dublin, Lorrha had a great victory over Roscrea in the North Championship, 7-2 to 2-3. According to the report: 'Cronin got down to play a good game (second half) and his continuous appearances from nowhere saw him score goal after goal for Lorrha'. In that year 1927 Mick Cronin also won a Great Southern Railway Cup medal with Munster.
In 1928 Tipperary won the first round of the championship against Limerick, getting four goals 'in a dash' in the second-half. Mick Cronin got Tipperary's final goal which gave them a victory of two points. In a poor display in the second round at Thurles they were beaten by Clare. In the following year Tipperary reversed the verdict in the first round against Clare but went down to Cork at Cork in the semi-final. According to "Carbery": 'The hurling was fierce but not foul, a struggle without poisoned gas. Men crashed into one another. One, two, three, four men went down in sequence. Virile manhood was manifested in all its power and glory. Willie Gleeson, the referee, knew his men well and let them flake away. . . . ' Some of the greatest tussles then and again were between Mick Cronin and Jim Regan, (also recently deceased, R.I.P.)

All-Ireland

1930 was the highpoint of Mick Cronin's hurling career when he won an All-Ireland medal. While his Junior Hurling All-Ireland medal was won on 13 March the first round of the championship in 1930 was on 13 July against Waterford at Dungarvan. Tipperary lead at halftime and early in the second half a scuffle took place between the two captains and referee, Sean Og Murphy, sent both off. The Waterford captain refused to go and the crowd invaded the pitch. After order was restored the game was about to restart when Waterford suddenly left the field. According to the report on the game 'Cronin was also in fine fettle and, up to the time when he was forced, through an injury, to retire, was responsible for much of Tipperary's lead'. Tipperary were awarded the game.

Clare were favourites for the Munster final, having disposed of Cork but Tipperary were triumphant by 6-4 to 2-8 on a day that Cronin had a particularly fine game especially in the second half. It was a victory for 'the old dash of Tipperary'. In the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway at Birr there was a continuous downpour. Tipperary won well and Cronin, who had a good game throughout, 'scored a beautiful goal from an awkward angle'.

The final was against Dublin with John Joe Callanan captain. Before 22,000 people 'it was a fiercely contested struggle, grim and determined hurling rather than brilliant or classic'. "The forward line had a stiff proposition to tackle. Kennedy, Callanan and Cronin were well marked and the result was that a considerable number of their efforts went wide." Tipperary won 2-7 to 1-3. There was great and widespread jubilation. The team got an invitation to visit the United States. Cashel poet, Francis Phillips, composed a poem for the occasion, the last stanza of which went;

Some thought that Knocknagow was gone
And ashen handles stout and strong,
That brawn and bone lived but in song,
Like tales of Ghost and Fairy.
'Me Sowl' we're there like Slievenamon,
'Magnificent Tipperary'.

Contemporary Portrait

The Tipperary team eventually went to the U.S. on 8 September, 1931. Mick Cronin played in the League games at the end of 1930 and the beginning of 1931. We find him playing with the National University selection against the All-Ireland champions in April 1931. He played in a tournament in London in May and had 'a rattling good game' against Cork in the League on 31 May. He won the first round of the championship against Limerick. Early in June he won a Thomond Feis medal against Cork. (This was his third medal in this competition, the other two having been won in 1927 and 1930). Before the semi-final of the championship against Cork on 26 July, the following portrait of Cronin appeared in the Tipperary Star'. It gives a good picture of the man at his prime.

'Michael is the son of a Kerryman and a cousin of Jerry Beckett, Cork, the famous sprinter. Michael first made his appearance on the 1926 Junior All-Ireland team and since then his head of bushy black hair has been conspicuous in all Tipperary's outings. He played with the inter-provincial team in 1927. Michael's position is centre-forward behind Kennedy. He is noted as a tough hurler and has probably broken more enemy hurleys than any other man on the Tipperary team'.
 

Sadly for Michael Tipperary were beaten 3-5 to 2-3 before a record crowd. Mick Cronin was one of the panel of twenty players, Captain Johnny Leahy, County Chairman, Fr Meagher and Diocesan Examiner Fr Lee, who made up the Tipperary party for the U.S. Tour, which was to last almost nine weeks. All efforts to secure permission from the Department of Education to travel failed but he went anyway. Thirty-five thousand people saw the first game in New York and, for the second, before twenty thousand 'On the Irish (sic) forward line Cronin and Callanan were well in the spotlight'. At Chicago 'Michael Cronin had the scoring honours for the visitors registering two goals'. And in the final game at New York 'Leahy, Treacy, Kennedy and Cronin were dominant'. Mick Cronin continued to play for Tipperary until 1935, with the exception of 1932 when Toomevara had the selection and picked eleven of their own team, excluding Cronin among others. In 1933 Tipperary were beaten by Waterford in the championship and by Cork in 1934. He continued to play for Lorrha until 1938.

Handballer

He was also an outstanding handballer. In fact all the eight boys of the Cronins were keen exponents of the game. They had fierce contests at the local alley before large crowds. There is mention of his name at a meeting held during the second half of 1921 to revive and reorganise handball in North Tipperary. Rody Nealon told me that whenever he met Cronin at Nenagh it was always to the alley they went where they spent hours at play.

Mick was also a delegate from Lorrha for many years in the twenties and thirties to Divisional and County Conventions. In 1932 he was appointed a delegate to the All-Ireland Congress. In the voting at the County Convention he got the sixth highest vote and was elected. At the North Convention in 1930 he was appointed a referee though I'm not sure if he used this new qualification too often.

Many times he was requested to become a selector in his club but all requests were in vain. He went to matches, formed his opinions and recognised what talent was available and was always willing to share his point of view if he were asked for it.

After his playing days were over he continued to attend matches. But as time went on his attendances were fewer, not because of any declining interest but because of his new interest in politics. He was one of the early members of Clann na Poblachta and fought two elections on their behalf. He did very well in 1948 coming close to election an, less well in 1954. He was first elected t, the County Council in September 1951 and remained a member until 1967. He was well got by all who knew him in politics and was noted for his loyalty. He was a member of the Library Committe and the Vocational Education Committee. His family- he married Madge Hoctor of Sharragh in 1938 and had three children, Clare, Felix and Mairead, who was tragically drowned in 1954- relate how avid a reader he was and how he enjoyed his membership of the Library Committee. He was a great racing enthusiast with a day at the races his idea of relaxation.

Outspoken

Mick Cronin was a man we all looked up to. He was an outspoken man who feared neither friend or foe. He was also a well-informed man whose opinion was respected not only on the subject of hurling but on a wide variety of subjects. Two incidents are related of his outspokenness on the American Tour. One related to Fr Lee, who was inclined to upbraid the players occasionally about their behaviour in public places. He was taken to task by Mick Cronin. On another occasion a cup, won in Chicago was presented to Phil Cahill because it had been sponsored by his brother. When the team got back to their hotel Cronin called them together and had the cup presented to the rightful man. He was a very strong hurler who gave his all to to the game. Whenever Lorrha were in trouble with G.A.A. officialdom or had an objection to make Mick Cronin was called in to present their case. We were all aware that it would be presented well because he was a very able man. We all believed, and rightly, that he could hold his own with anyone and that, if anything was to be gained, he would get it. May he rest in peace.

<span class="postTitle">Bill Ryan Laha</span> County Senior Hurling Final Program, Cashel, Oct. 30, 1983

Bill Ryan Laha

County Senior Hurling Final Program
Cashel, Oct. 30, 1983

There are only two players left from the last team to win an All-Ireland football final for Tipperary They are Mick Tobin of Grangemockler and Bill Ryan of Laha. Bill is now eighty-nine years and lost his wife only recently. He played right-back most of his life on the team with the exception of one occasion against Sligo in an All-Ireland semi-final when he played centrefield. On the same day the Tipperary hurlers were beaten by Kilkenny. It was the 1922 championship played in 1923.

Bill was on the Tipperary team for twelve or thirteen years and won three Munster football medals! The other two were in 1918 when Wexford beat them in the final and 1920 when they went ahead to win their last All-Ireland football championship.

His first success was with Castleiney when he won a senior football medal in 1914 when they were combined with Templetuohy. The combination beat Nenagh Institute in the final at Thurles. There were only two drinking on the team. Bill recalls they were taken in to John Maher's after the match by some Gael and there were only two alcoholic drinks in the round. They were beaten in the county final in 1915. They didn't have the full team as some were injured and one of the players had a death in the family. They broke up with Templetuohy after that. A few went with Templemore. In 1925 they beat Fethard in the final at Carrick-On-Suir. Three years later they won the Mid but were beaten by Fethard in the final.

Bill remembers the Munster championship of 1918. Tipperary beat Cork and Waterford and met Kerry in the Munster final in the Cork Athletic Grounds. The result was 1-1 to 0-1 in favour of Tipperary. They beat Mayo by a point in the semi-final and trained at Dungarvan for the final, which wasn't played until February 1919. They spent two weeks in collective training. For the final they were missing three forwards, including Bill Barrett of the Commons, an uncle of Tommy's, because of flu. They got three fifties in the second half and failed to score. At full-time they were a point behind, five to four in favour of Wexford, who made it four-in-a-row on that day. Bill remembers that his Wexford opponent that day, Reynolds, was one of the most elusive players he ever came across.

Tipperary were beaten by Kerry in the 1919 Munster final but they reversed the result in 1920. They overcame Mayo by five points in the semi-final. The All-Ireland against Dublin was played in June 1922. The team trained in Mullinahone, staying in houses for the fortnight. Those from around the area went home at night. Every day there was a regimen of football, running and sprints. There was no compensation for being away from the farm. The final result was 1-6 to 1-2 in favour of Tipperary.

Bill has vivid memories of 'Bloody Sunday' in Novenber 1920. The occasion was a challenge match between Dublin and Tipperary to raise funds for the I.R.A. The team went up on Saturday evening. Bill got the train at Templemore. There were fourteen English soldiers on the train and there was nearly an incident between them and the players on the train. When the train arrived at Kingsbridge there was a large military presence and Bill and his fellow-players expected to be arrested on some pretext. Instead the soldiers were arrested. Seemingly, they had done some damage at the station at Templemore before leaving and the station-master had wired Dublin.

The players stayed at Barry's Hotel. When the team lined out on the Sunday, Mick Hogan was playing behind Bill. They had a discussion about changing positions because the Dublin corner-forward, Frank Burke, was a great forward and a bit of a handful for Hogan. However, they didn't change. Tipperary were defending the Canal End and the game was on about twelve minutes when the attack came. The soldiers came in at the Canal End and there was pandemonium when the firing started. The field also was surrounded because Bill made two attempts to get away and was turned back by the military on both occasions. Eventually, somebody gave him a coat and he made his way back to the hotel where the team had togged out. There was no score at the time of the military incursion and the match was replayed for a set of medals the following year and Tipperary won. Two other members of that team were shot later: Jackie Brett went with the column and was shot and Jim Egan got shot in the Civil War.

Bill was not a big man. In fact he was only 5' 8" and weighed only 11-8 at peak fitness. He relied on speed, which he had in abundance, and high fielding to make up for his physical limitations. The two best footballers he ever saw were Tommy Murphy of Laois and Larry Stanley of Kildare. Bill's I ife wasn't all football. He started hurling with the Clonmore junior team. Later he played with Templetuohy juniors and won a Mid final with them in 1923. He won another medal with Castleiney juniors in 1925 on a team that included, Martin Whelan of Toomevara, who was working on the Council in the area at the time. The team had to go senior as a result of this victory and Bill won a Mid senior medal with them in 1928. He stopped playing in 1932 when his knee went and became a club officer. Himself and Jim Ryan of Loughmore carried the team along for many years after that. Bill is eighty-nine years of age to-day and is still remarkably fit and lively. He's looking forward to a Loughmore-Castleiney victory today with as much enthusiasm as he did to his own great victory in the Mid Senior final in 1928.

<span class="postTitle">Sean Kenny</span> County Senior Hurling Final program, September 30, 1983

Sean Kenny

County Senior Hurling Final program, September 30, 1983

Some commentators would centre the golden age of Borrisileigh hurling around 1950. This was the time of the Kennys, Sean, Paddy and Phil, the Ryans, Eddie and Timmy, Jimmy Finn and that grand old man himself, Philly Ryan. The latter has the distinction of winning two All-Ireland medals with a gap of fourteen years between them, 1937 and 1951. Borrisileigh made a major contribution to the three All-Irelands in a row that Tipperary won in 1949, 1950 and 1951. In the first year Sean Kenny was the sole representative on the team, with Paddy a substitute. The following year the club had four representatives in Sean and Paddy Kenny, Jimmy Finn and Eddie Ryan. Sean was also captain. In 1951 Jimmy Finn was captain as Sean was unable to play because of cartlidge trouble. He came in as a substitute during the game. Also on the team was his brother Paddy, and Eddie and Timmy Ryan. 

Sean Kenny had the unique distinction of winning a Dean Ryan and Harty Cup medal in the same year. That was in 1941 and the team was Thurles CBS. Nearly forty years later two more Borrisileigh youths, Michael and Bobby Ryan, won Harty Cup medals with Templemore C.B.S. Sean was captain of the Tipperary minor team that went out to Cork in the Munster final, played in October of that year because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic. As well as winning two All-Ireland medals Sean won two interprovincials. In 1949 he partnered Vin Baston at centrefield and he captained the team the following year. He also won one Oireachtas and three National League medals. 

He was captain of the Tipperary team that went to the States in 1950. At the same time the team arrived in New York there also arrived another Sean Kenny, who was very much in the news at that time: he had successfully completed the crossing of the Atlantic with three comrades in a small boat called the Ituna. The two Seans stayed at the Henry Hudson 'Hotel in New York and they normally sat at the same table for meals. A hurling captain was regarded with much more importance in the U.S. than in Ireland with the result that Sean of Borrisileigh was in nearly as great demand as Sean of the Ituna. When they were paged during meals they had to decide which of the Sean Kennys was sought and they invariably made the wrong decision. 

The team got a marvellous offer from Schaefer's Beer while they were in the city. The company wanted to promote their beer and were interested in using the Tipperary team in an advertisement. The proposal was that the full Tipperary team would stand holding bottles of Schaefer's Beer and over the photograph would be the slogan: 'This is how the Tipperary team train'. In return for obliging the company, each player would receive one hundred dollars. Naturally, the team were mad for the idea as it was a fine lot of money at the time. Team mentors Phil Purcell and Paddy Leahy said it couldn't be done without consulting the county board They said they would have to ring and whether they did or didn't the idea was knocked on the head and the players went without the hundred dollars each. Whereas the team travelled to the U.S. by plane they returned by boat, the S.S. Washington. This was her last trip, not, by the way, because of any kind of untoward behaviour on the part of any of the players. 

Borrisileigh won three county finals in these years,1949, 1950 and 1953. One of the greatest championship matches ever played in County Tipperary was that between Borrisileigh and Boherlahan in 1949. Borrisileigh beat the county champions, Holycross, in the first round, thus reversing the result of 1948 when the two teams had also met. In the match against Boherlahan the latter were leading by 2-1 to 0-1 with about ten minutes to go to half-time. Borrisileigh got a free from about thirty yards out and Sean and Paddy went to take it. They pretended to be fighting and after sufficient altercation Paddy strode away in seeming high dudgeon. Sean also seemed angry when he took the free and belted it against the ground as if in disgust. Paddy was about fourteen yards away and ran in, collected the ball on the hop, and lashed it into the net. The goal made an awful difference at that point of the game and Borrisileigh went on to win. 

Because of his knee injury Sean finished hurling at the early age of twenty seven. His usual position was centrefield or centreforward. He wasn't a big man, measuring about five feet nine inches and weighing about twelve and a half stone. The greatest men he came across on the hurling field were Jimmy Finn and Bobby Rackard. 

He married in 1951 and they had four children, three boys and a girl. Two of the boys played with Borrisileigh and Brendan played minor, under-21 and senior for the county as well. His wife died in 1959 from heart disease and Sean married Dr. Joan Power in 1972. He was a selector for a number of years of the Borrisileigh team and was selector-manager of the club team that won the All-Ireland 7 - aside on two occasions. A few years ago he took up golf and at the present time he has the honourable title of Lord Mayor of Borrisileigh.