Justin McCarthy's Speech at the Launch of the History of Cashel King Cormac's 1985-2005
Grants Castle, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, 2006
When Cashel was a Milking Town
The Nationalist, May 12, 2005
The celebration of fifty years of the NFA/IFA at Rockwell College last Friday night brings to mind how the agricultural influence in the town has waned over the period. From a time when the town harboured fair days and the sale of cattle, sheep and pigs in the streets, the export of cattle at Cashel Railway Station, the meandering of cows through the streets, and the line of horses and carts bringing milk to the creamery, Cashel has become a place where the agricultural influence is peripheral and is mainly confined to Cashel Mart and Centenary Co-Op Stores.
Up to about thirty years ago there was a strong agricultural presence in the town, and that was reflected in the number of people milking cows within the town boundaries.
Donal Ryan of the Rock hunted his cows from the soccer field down the Bohereen Glas, across the Dublin Road to Moore Lane for milking.
Jim Joe Ryan kept his cows behind Jenny's shop and there was a butcher's stall and abattoir in the same place.
Jack Maher milked cows where Granny's Kitchen is now located.
Carrolls in Ladyswell kept their cows up Gallows Hill, drove them down the Bohereen Glass across the Dublin Road for milking in Colliers Lane.
Peg and Josephine Maher on the Terrace always kept four or five cows in the Majors field and drove them down to the back of the house for milking.
Jackie Ryan had a cow byre at the top of Bohermore, where Maurice Thompson is living now, and milked his cows there.
Matty and Jimmy Dunne drove the cows in for milking in Canopy Street before it was demolished in 1974.
The Presentation Convent kept a good herd of cows and they were milked where the pavilion in Cashel Community School field was built some time ago.
Pake Roche had a haybarn, where the carpark in Friar Street is today, with entry beside Billy Foley's Pub, and he milked the cows in a house at the corner of Friar Street and Abbey Road. ..,
Rose Kearney milked cows where Wallaces have the car showrooms now, and Foleys had a milking operation on Feehan's Road, where the Council are building houses at the moment.
O'Leary's had their milking parlour where Marcus Fogarty has his joinery works and Katie Phelan used to give them a hand with the milking.
Hanlys on the Green were milking in a big way until not so very long ago and, in the same area, Jimmy and Paddy Darmody used to milk where Christy Kinane has his horse training establishment.
O'Dwyer-Malachys used to drive their cows down the Old Road for milking close to the Green. The children going to the old National School had to contend with the cows. Many people from the town bought their milk there, and it was ladled out in a half-pint measure.
McCluskeys ran Rosebower Creamery until it was taken over by Centenary Co-Op. The street outside, up and down the Cahir Road and over the Green, was filled with all kinds of carts drawn by horses and donkeys, as they waited in line to have their milk taken in.
Meanys drove their cows down Boherclough Street twice a day for milking in Main Street. They had a professional milkmaid in Bridgie Coman, who was noted for her particular headdress, apron and Wellington boots. She almost always had the cigarette in her mouth. She acquired the name 'Maritana', because of the similarity between her headdress and that of some of the characters in the musical.
Carews milked cows in behind what came to be known as Coopers, and Austin Ryan had a milking operation on the Golden Road.
Even the Palace Hotel was into the act. There were cow byres on the right hand side, now converted into residences, as one goes to the entrance ofthe hotel.. Lord Brockett kept some pedigree Ayrshires on the Rock.
Also on Main Street Denis Leamy milked cows at the Back of the Pipe.
One of the most fascinating pieces of information is that ofthe famous 'Judas' bullock! This was a bullock, who used to lead the heifers to the slaughter, and he was trained by the late Charlie Keane. Tom O'Neill owned Mahers butchers, Pat Walsh's today. He had an abattoir beside it, the small room, which is still there today. The cattle for slaughter had to be brought down from All Aileen and the 'Judas' bullock was trained to walk down Ladyswell Street into Main Street followed by the heifers for slaughter, The bullock walked through the abattoir and back up to AlIa Aileen, while the heifers were slaughtered.
It all presents a much different picture of the town to the one we have today. All these cows no longer foul the streets of the town. The cattle that come to Cashel Mart are transported there, and away afterwards, and are hardly noticed except by the buyers and sellers attending the Mart.
Ardfinnan, Senior Football Champions 1962, 1963, 1964
County Senior Football Final program, Cashel, October 30, 2005
Ardfinnan senior footballers were threatening for a couple of years before they made their breakthrough in 1962. Two years beforehand they qualified for the South final, only to be heavily beaten by Clonmel Commercials. In 1961 the sides met again in the final but the result was reversed: Ardfinnan defeated their rivals convincingly by 4-9 to 2-4, to take their first divisional final in twenty-two years. On that occasion they had also beaten Commercials and went on to win the county final against a West selection. They didn't have such success in 1961, losing out to a North combination, St. Flannan's in the final.
The year 1962 was to be the start of a period of unrivalled success in the history of the club. They defeated Burncourt-Clogheen by 1-12 to 1-3 in the south final at Clonmel on September 9. They had a close contest with Galtee Rovers in the county semi-final, which was played at Clonmel on September 16. There was only a point between the sides on a 1-6 to 1-5 scoreline. They won their first county final since 1939 when they beat Thurles Crokes by 4-11 1-6 at Thurles on October 7. Ardfinnan led by 2-8 to 0-4 at the interval, and never looked to be in danger. The game was played before the Oireachtas semi-final between Tipperary and Kilkenny.
The Ardfinnan team lined out as follows: Paddy Quinn, Michael Moore, Tony Finn, Alfie McDermott, John J. Lonergan (Capt), Dick Keating, John Byrne, Patsy Myles, Billy Moloney, Pete Savage, Michael 'Babs' Keating, Stephen McCormack, Patsy Savage, John Keating, Michael Byrne. Referee: Sean Twomey (Arravale Rovers).
In the 1963 championship Ardfinnan had a convincing win over Fethard in the South final, played at Clonmel on September 15. They won by 2-8 to 1-2. They were too good for the North representatives, St. Flannan's in the county semi-final, defeating them by 1-10 to 0-3 at Thurles on October 13. The final was played at Templemore on November 3. Ardfinnan retained their title with 1-9 to 1-2 victory over Templemore. They led by 1-5 to nil at half-time. One unusual aspect of the game was that it featured brothers on opposite sides. Dick Keating played for Ardfinnan, while his brother, Benny, turned out for Templemore. The captain of the victorious Ardfinnan team received not only the O'Dwyer Cup, but a second trophy as well. The previous August the county board were presented with a beautiful and artistic trophy by John Fogarty, President of the Tipperary Association of New York. It was intended by the donors to be an incentive-to the efforts at restoring Tipperary football to previous prominence.
Ardfinnan: Paddy Quinn, Luke Hally, Michael Moore, Alfie McDermott, John J. Lonergan, Dick Keating (capt.), Patsy Myles, Stephen McCormack, Billy Moloney, Pete Savage, John Keating, Michael Byrne, Patsy Savage, Michael 'Babs' Keating, Patrick O'Brien.
Ardfinnan made it three-in-a-row in 1964. They had a close-run contest with Clonmel Commercials at Clonmel on September 20, before winning the South final by 1-11 to 2-7. Ardfinnan defeated Templemore by 1-10 to 0-8 in the county semi-final, played at Thurles on October 25.
The county final was played at the same venue on November 8 and resulted in a convincing win for Ardfinnan. They beat St. Flannan's by 5-10 to 3-3. They were the easiest of winners over a disjointed and disappointing North selection, after leading by 4-5 to 1-1 at the interval.
Ardfinnan: James Moran, John J. Lonergan, Michael Moore, Alfie McDermott, Patsy Ryan, Dick Keating, Michael Byrne, Billy Moloney, Stephen McCormack, Pete Savage (0-4), Michael 'Babs' Keating (2-2), Patrick O'Brien (0-1), Patsy Savage (1-2), John Keating (0-2), Tom Ryan (0-1). Subs: John Ryan and Ed O'Dwyer. Referee: Billy Sweeney (Moyne-Templetuohy)
The club championship was inaugurated in the same year. However, the first matches weren't played until 1965. Ardfinnan had a bye to the Munster semi-final, and played Cooraclare at Kilrush on April 25. The match ended in a draw, 1-7 each, and Ardfinnan had hopes of success in the replay at Clonmel on July 4. However, they gave a disappointing performance and were beaten by 0-10 to 1-4.
Perhaps it reflected the decline in this great team. They failed to qualify for the South final in 1965, and they weren't to return to the county winner's enclosure until 1970.
Other County Final Victories
Ardfinnan won their seventh and last county final in 1974. Significantly, Thurles Sarsfields won their last - until this year - senior hurling championship in the same year. Will the victory of Sarsfields' last Sunday week be a good omen for Ardfinnan?
The 1974 county final was played in Cashel also, and the date was October 20. The county championship was played on an open draw system that year, and Lattin-Cullen, Fethard and Silvermines qualified for the semi-finals with Ardfinnan. The two South teams came through for the final. Ardfinnan led by 1-2 to 0-4 at the interval. Fethard dominated the third quarter, but failed to score, and Ardfinnan took their seventh title by 1-6 to 1-4. They lost to Doonbeg in the Munster Club championship.
Ardfinnan won the first of their seven titles in 1935. The final wasn't actually played until April 5,1936. They beat Fethard in the South final by 1-9 to 2-4 on October 20, and had to wait over five months for the final. This was played at Clonmel and Ardfinnan won easily by 3-5 to 0-1 for Templemore.
Having lost to Clonmel Shamrocks in 1937, Ardfinnan won their second senior title in 1939. They had difficulty getting out of the South, taking three games to defeat Clonmel Commercials by 1-3 to 0-1. The final didn't take place until October 1940, and Ardfinnan defeated a West selection by 1-3 to 1-1. Ardfinnan didn't figure again until the sixties when they won the historic three-in-a-row. The period 1965 and 1973 that followed was one in which the club lost much, much more than they won. In the nineteen finals played during these years Ardfinnan qualified for seven of them but won only one!
The roll of honour shows six defeats. In 1966 they lost by a point to Clonmel Commercials, 2-6 to 1-8. In 1968 they lost by a point to Kilsheelan, 1-11 to 2-7. In 1969 they lost by two goals to Clonmel Commercials, 2-13 to 0-13. Having reversed the result in the 1970 final, they were then to lose three more in a row! In 1971 they were defeated by Commercials, 2-8 to 1-9. They were two points behind Kilsheelan, 1-9 to 1-7, when the final whistle sounded in 1972, and they suffered their heaviest defeat in these years in 1973, when they went under to Loughmore-Castleiney by 2-10 to 0-7.
The one bright Iight during these depressing years was the victory in 1970. The open draw was in operation and the four teams to emerge for the semi-finals were from the South. Commercials defeated Moyle Rovers by 1-10 to 0-7, and Ardfinnan defeated Fethard by 2-12 to 2-7. The final was played at Clonmel on November 8 and resulted in a win for Ardfinnan by 1-11 to 2-2. They took the lead in the third minute and led by 1-8 to 1-0 at the interval, after playing with the wind. The game was marred by unseemly conduct on the sidelines. Referee John Moloney had a difficult task and sent two players to the line in the second half. It was an important victory for Ardfinnan, after losing three-in-a-row.
Corn Ui Shealbhaigh
County Under 21 football final, April 24, 2005
The trophy for the under-21 A county football championship is Corn Úi Shealbhaigh, called after the Shelly family, Templemore. Paddy, who lives in New York, is a member of the very distinguished family, long associated with the development of the town. His ancestors were responsible for bringing the Christian Brothers to Templemore.
Paddy won an All-Ireland junior medal with Tipperary in 1935, playing at centreback. In the photograph of the team in Tipperary's G.A.A. Story 1935-84 Paddy is conspicuous by his height in the back row. The team were beaten by Sligo in the All-Ireland final. (In the same year the minors were beaten by Mayo in the final, and the seniors by Cavan in the semi-final.)
Paddy emigrated to New York at a later stage and was always prominent in the welcoming parties for Tipperary teams that visited the city in the 1950s and 1960s. He used to come home every year and gear his holiday to coincide with Tipperary's progress in the All-Ireland championship.
The cup is a recognition of the Shelly family's contribution to the G.A.A., as it is of Paddy himself.
The first winners of Corn Úi Shealbhaigh were Holycross-Ballycahill in 1999, beating Galtee Rovers by 2-6 to 1-8 at Boherlahan on May 8. Winners since then were Fethard in 2000, 2001 & 2002, Ballina in 2003 and Loughmore-Castleiney in 2004.
When Corn Úi Shealbhaigh was presented to the county board in 1999, it replaced the Quane Cup, which had been presented to the winners since the commencement of the competition.
The Quane Cup was presented by the Arravale Rovers club in recognition of one of the most distinguished G.A.A. families in the town of Tipperary. There were four brothers, Bob, Davy, John and Tom. Bob won two All-Irelands with Tipperary in 1895 and 1900. Tom, who was the youngest, won two All-Irelands with Dublin in 1906 and 1907, may have been a sub on the victorious side in 1908, emigrated later to the U.S., before returning to live in Dublin later in life.
Apparently he brought back a cup with him, which was presented to the Arravale Rovers club. When the under-21 football championship commenced, the club presented the cup to the county board in memory of a very distinguished family. When it was replaced by the Shelly Cup in 1999, it was in a dilapidated state. The last winners of the Quane Cup were Commercials, who defeated Golden-Kilfeacle in the final, played at Cashel on May 4, 1998.
A Great Year for Rosegreen
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2005, p 187
Rosegreen will recall 2004 as one of the greatest years in the history of the club. They achieved something never achieved before when they won their first adult county final. And, it might very well have been a double. The county final success came in junior A football, and the near miss in junior B hurling.
At the commencement of the year the club targeted some football success. They had won divisional honours in 2003 only to be denied a crack at a county title because of Fethard's refusal to accommodate a request for a postponement in the county semi-final. As a result Rosegreen gave a walkover though convinced they were good enough to qualify for a county final.
2004 was the year to make amends. The early part of the divisional football championship was played on a league basis. Rosegreen came through with flying colours, defeating Aherlow by 1-7 to 1-6, Clonoulty-Rossmore by 1-14 to 0-1, Solohead by 2-8 to 1-8, Cappawhite by 1-14 to 0-9, and Rockwell Rovers by 2-14 to 0-9.
This clean sweep got them to the West semi-final in which they had an easy enough victory over Rockwell Rovers, by 0-13 to 1-4. The final against Cappawhite was a different matter, and it took extra time to achieve victory by 1 -12 to 1-9.
Their opponents in the county semifinal were Drom-lnch, and they beat them by 1-9 to 1-4 at Dundrum. This gave them a final meeting with Commercials at Fethard. In this game they led by 0-8 to 0-2 early in the second half, and seemed set for glory. But, it was Commercials who got the bit between the teeth and scored six points without reply during the remaining period. The final score was 0-8 each.
The replay was at the same venue on December 4. On this occasion Rosegreen made no mistake and won by 1-9 to 0-8, thanks to a wonderful performance by all the players, but particularly to two outstanding saves by goalkeeper, John O'Grady.
The winning team was as follows: John O'Grady , T. J. Phelan, Robert O' Brien, Vinny Downey, Aidan Lonergan, Ryan Hennessy, Mark Harnett, James Walsh, Ger Looby, John Walsh, Joe Hennessy, Liam Sherlock, Trevor Downey, Eddie Walsh, Tom Shelly.
Subs: Fintan Ryan, David Quirke , David Brennan, Michael Corcoran, Frank Culleton, John Hennessy, Thomas Manton, Eoin McGrath, Steven O' Brien, Pakie Hallissey, Tony Corcoran.
The junior B hurling side didn't have as smooth a passage to the county final. In the league section of the divisional champion ship they drew with Solohead, 1-10 each in the first round, defeated Sean Treacy's by 1-14 to 1-11, and Golden-Kilfeacle by 2-13 to 1-4, lost to Eire Og by 5-12 to 3-5, and got a walkover from Arravale Rovers.
In the semi-final they drew with Eire Og, 0-11 to 2-5, but reversed the league result in the replay, winning by 2-16 to- 3-9. They had a convincing win over Sean Treacy's in the final, winning by 4- 14 to 3-9.
Rosegreen began to be noticed outside the club when they defeated Dromlnch by 2-11 to 0-13 in the county semifinal at Drombane. They scored a goal and a point in the last minute to win by four points. However, they failed at the last hurdle in the final , which was played at Templemore on November 28. The concession of five goals was more than the team could bear and they lost to Kilruane MacDonaghs by 1-7.
The team was as follows: Fintan Ryan, David Quirke, Liam Manton, Robert O'Brien, Aidan Lonergan, Michael Corcoran, Daniel Ryan, Ger Looby, Liam Sherlock, John O'Grady, Pakie Hallissey, Eddie Walsh, Cormac Ryan, Thomas Manton, Tom Shelly.
Subs: T. J. Phelan, Timmy Mo1oney, Frank Culleton, David Brennan, Steven O'Brien, Vinny Downey, Trevor Downey, Tony Corcoran.
As welI as the members of the two panels - and there was quite a cross-over of players between the two – there were others who contributed to the success of the club. Pride of place has to go to Pakie Hallissey who as coach imposed a discipline on the players and got the commitment and dedication to training required to bring success. Also important were the selectors Pat Cormack, Michael Fanning and John Walsh.
One has also to include the other back-up people in the club. For four players, the county final win was the culmination of many years of endeavour. Liam Sherlock, Michael Corcoran, Tom Shelly and John O'Grady played on the successful minor B team that achieved county success as far back as 1991. The thirteen years wait for a second county title was worth every minute of it.
The history books will include the name of Rosegreen as county junior A football champions of 2004. The bare syayistic will never be able to represent what a huge achievement it was for a small club, and what wonderful satisfaction and unbounded joy the victory gave to the players and everyone associated with it.
Cashel King Cormac’s 1953 County Champions: A Major Breakthrough
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2005, p 69
Cashel King Cormac's victory in the 1953 county junior hurling final was a major breakthrough for the club. It was the first victory at that level, and it came as a surprise to many.
No Cashel team had won county honours in hurling or football before that year. The nearest a team from the parish came to winning was in 1910. In that year Racecourse won the county senior hurling final, but they had the match taken off them in an objection.
After the match the Racecourse captain, Dan Delaney, was interviewed and said: 'We went in to win. We are proud to be champions of Tipperary and to bring honours to Cashel.'
Toomevara objected, and Racecourse counter-objected. The matter was heard at a county board meeting on March 19. Both sides agreed to a replay, and this was fixed for Thurles on April 16. Racecourse decisively defeated Toomevara in the replay by 5-2 to 0-3.
Toomevara objected to the constitution of the Racecourse team. The objection claimed that certain players had lined out with other affiliated teams in the 1910 championship. One of these was Johnny Leahy. Racecourse denied the allegation but the chairman, Tom Kerwick, upheld it and awarded the match to Toomevara.
The verdict didn't go down well in Cashel. The correspondent of the 'Tipperary Star' commented: 'On the last occasion Racecourse won by fourteen points. In the face of this Toomevara will hardly claim to be the champion team of Tipperary. Such a claim would be preposterous, and medals for 'paper champions' would be ridiculous.' But 'paper champions' or not, Toomevara are listed as the county senior hurling champions for 1910.
The 1953 Cashel King Cormacs County Junior Hurling Champions, pictured in the old G.A.A. grounds in Tipperary Town prior to their championship game with Solohead.
Front L/R. Mick Coady, Jim Ryan, Johnny Murphy, John Murphy, John Eakins, Mickey Murphy, Denis Hickey, Michael Gayson, Paddy O'Brien, Matty Gayson, Jim Devitt. Back L/R. Tom Devitt, Ger Ryan, Peter Looby, Christy Stack, Steedy Morrissey, Billy Hickey, Tom Twomey, Michael Davern, Monto Carrie, Dick lvors, Tommy Joy, Edger Morrissey, Michael Ryan, Tommy Prendergast.
THE THIRTIES
Cashel King Cormacs had a great run of victories in the thirties. The club won a West junior title in 1933, and senior in 1934, 1936, 1937, 1939 and 1940. They reached the county final in 1937, 1939 and 1940, losing all three of them. Their opponents in 1937 were Moycarkey- Borris and the match was played at Thurles on September 19. It was described as the best county final for
eight years, with Cashel putting up a tremendous bid for the title. Michael Burke was the star and Tommy Parsons scored four goals, but Moycarkey still won by 7-6 to 6-2.
In 1939 Cashel came up against Thurles Sarsfields in the final, having beaten Rescrea in the semifinal. The game was played at Boherlahan on October 8, and again Cashel fell at the final hurdle despite putting up a better than expected performance. The final score was 5-3 to 2-4, and Cashel players, who were prominent, included Michael Burke, Stedie Morrisey, Florrie McCarty, Jim Barrett, Paddy Maher, and Geoff O'Shea.
Moycarkey Borris were once again Cashel’s opponents in the 1940 final, which was played at Thurles on October 13. One report had this to say: "The game was proof once again – if proof is needed – that the town team is at a big disadvantage when it faces fifteen tillers of the soil. Ball manipulation, quick striking and nippy playing, beautiful things in themselves, fail, more often than not, before rugged, sturdy style which has allied to it skill and field craft. One felt on Sunday that all the time the dice were loaded against Cashel, that Moycarkey’s natural advantage in weight and strength would prove Castle's undoing. And so it was.” Cashel were behind 4-7 to 4-2 at the end. The team was: D. Boland, M. McCarthy, F. McCarty, P. Holmes, S. Morrisey, P. Maher, D. Ryan, M. Burke, G. O'Shea, J. Barrett, M. Ryan, W. Moynihan, E. Morrisey, M. Murphy, J. Maher.
Cashel seniors won the West twice during the 40s, 1945 and 1948. In the earlier year they lost by 5-7 3-3 to Roscrea in the county semifinal at Thurles on October 21. In the latter year they lost to Lorrha, 2-4 to 2-3 in the county semifinal at the same venue on December 19. Cashel got a £10 training grant from the West board for this game.
OTHER GRADES
The junior team, which won the West in 1933, left the county semifinal to Bawnmore. Abbey Rangers, a team from the parish came into existence in 1941, and lasted until 1949, won the divisional number 1 junior championship in 1945, but did not advance in the county championship, which wasn't played, as it had been suspended for some of the war years.
Cashel minor teams enjoyed divisional success in 1931, 1940, 1949, and 1952. In 1931 and 1940 divisional teams went forward to the County championship. In 1949 there was no inter- divisional championship. There is no record of advancement beyond the divisional state in 1952.
By 1953, therefore, Cashel had failed to win a county final in any grade, with the exception of 1910, when a county senior hurling title was taking off Racecourse after winning it twice! There was no reason to believe in the beginning of the year that 1953 was going to change anything. And yet did, in a dramatic way.
The County Senior Hurling Championship (2004)
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2005, pp 51-53
Toomevara reaffirmed their status as the dominant force in Tipperary hurling, when they captured their ninth county senior title since 1992 with a deserved six-point victory over the combination of Golden-Kilfeacle and Eire Og, Anacarty at Thurles on October 10. Even though the game wasn't as one-sided as many of the pundits predicted, with the sides level at half-time, there was never any doubt about the final outcome.
Paddy O'Brien receives the Dan Breen Cup from County Board Chairman Donie Shanahan. On the left is Aoife Campion, representing the sponsors Cidona.
There was a new kind of county championship for 2004. For the past number of years attempts have been made to give players more guaranteed games, and a format was devised this year of having a league-championship.
The county Games Development Committee devised a structure, which divided the teams into an A and a B section, with greater privileges for the A teams. This caused a furore among the B teams, sent them into a huddle, and they came up with their own version of a league- championship, which eventually got county board sanction.
The system devised was one of six groups, five containing four teams, and the sixth having five. They played off on a league basis with the top team in each group going forward to meet the winners of the divisional championships. Since this system produced ten teams, two too many for quarter finals, a scheme had to be devised to eliminate two of them. This was done by allowing the team that headed the five-team group into the quarter-finals, plus one of the other five, drawn from the hat.
Before the championship came to be played in May, there was a separate county league of three divisions of eight teams each. (The twenty-fifth senior team in the county, Cashel King Cormac's, declined to participate.) Each group was divided into two sections, giving each team at least three games.
The top two teams played off for the winner . The divisions were called the Premier, Division 2 and Division 3, and there was a trophy for every winner.
Nenagh Eire Og won the Johnny Ryan Cup for the Premier Division, Borrisoleigh the Jim Devitt Cup for winning Division 2 and Drom Inch got the Canon Fogarty Cup for winning Division 3.
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
The league championship commenced in May, with regular games Sunday after Sunday. It ran reasonably smoothly and by early June had produced winners, through score difference where there were ties on points. Mullinahone came through in the five-team group, and the other winners were Holycross-B llycahill, Toomevara, Moneygall, Drom Inch and Thurles Sarsfields. Holycross-Ballycahill drew the long straw and became the second team to go straight into the quarter-finals. In the draw for the playoffs between the remaining four teams, Toomevara drew Moneygall, and Drom Inch drew Thurles Sarsfields. In the subsequent games Toomevara proved
too strong from Moneygall, winning by 1-1 7 to 1-12 at Cloughjordan on August 29, and an unfancied Drom Inch ousted Thurles Sarsfields by 1-22 to 0-21 at Templemore on the same day, to qualify for the remaining places in the county quarter-finals.
There was only one hitch in the smooth running of the league. Thurles Sarsfields were deprived of the chance of heading their group with the decision of Newport to withdraw from the league before they played Sarsfields. As a result Portroe, another team in the group, had the better score difference. Sarsfields objected on the grounds that the failure of Newport to play deprived them of the chance of improving their score difference, and appealed to Munster Council. The council upheld the appeal but referred it back to county board for resolution. The board decided on a play-off between the teams, which Sarsfields won .
DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Three of the divisional championships were played on August 22. First off the mark was the North division at Nenagh in the afternoon. In poor weather conditions Roscrea overcame the odds when they beat hot favourites, Borrisoleigh, by the slenderest of margins on a scoreline of
0-13 to 1-9. It was their first victory in twenty-four years.
That evening in the West final at Dundrum, there was another surprise. The combined forces of Golden Kilfeacle and Eire Og, Anacarty, who had performed so poorly in their first round match, overcame favourites, Clonoulty-Rossmore, in an engrossing second-half, with a point from a Conor O' Brien free, well into added time. The final score was 2-12 to 1-14.
On the same evening at Kilsheelan there was no surprise in the South final. Mullinahone confirmed their status as favourites, when the defeated Killenaule by 2-12 to 0-9, to take their third successive tit le in atrocious weather conditions .
The Mid final, played a week later at the Ragg, ended in a draw when Ger Flanagan pointed a controversial 65, three minutes into injury time to give Boherlahan-Dualla a draw with 1-10 to 0- 13 for Loughmore-Castleiney. Loughmore-Castleiney made no mistake in the replay at Semple Stadium on September 5. Much was expected of this game, but Loughmore Castleiney hit the ground running, were nine points up in ten minutes, 2-8 to 0- 6 in front at the interval, and convincing winners by 3-19 to 2-7.
COUNTY QUARTER-FINALS
Because Mullinahone were league winners, as well as divisional champions, they had no quarter-final opponents, and received a bye into the semi-final. Two of the quarter-finals were played on September 5. At Cashel the Combo, as they were now better known than Golden-Eire Og , continued to surprise when they defeated Drom Inch by 1-15 to 1-14. They led by 1-9 to 1-5 at the interval, but it took an injury- time point by David Fogarty from a fifty yard free to give them their one point victory.
On the same day at Templemore, Roscrea ousted Holycross-Ballycahill with a convincing 1-18 to 0-13 victory. The winners held a four-point advantage, 1-9 to 0-8, at the interval.
The third quarter-final was played at Templemore on Tuesday, September 21. (The choice of date was to give the winners five days before the semi-final.) A fine crowd turned up for this eagerly awaited clash, but it turned out to be a tough, dour encounter rather than a classic contest. Although they had the breeze in their favour in the first half, Loughmore-Castleiney led by only three points, 0-8 to 0-5, at the interval. They continued to hold their own for the early part of the second half, but then Toomevara took over and Loughmore went for fifteen minutes without scoring. At the end of this period Toomevara were three points in front, and they held on to win by 1-12 to 0-13.
THE SEMI-FINALS
The semi-finals were played at Semple Stadium on All- Ireland football Sunday, with a midday start. In the first of these the Combo continued to excite their supporters. They won comfortably even though there were only three points between them and Roscrea at the finish. Two late goals put a gloss on the North champions' performance. The Combo led by 2-9 to 0-5 at the interval, and were in front by 2-17 to 4-8 at the final whistle, the two goals coming from
veteran, John Quinn.
Toomevara proved too good for a disappointing Mullinahone, who seemed to lack a competitive edge. The game was really wrapped up with two goals from Toomevara, by Francis Devanney and Willie Ryan, on each side of half-time. The first of these gave the winners a 1-13 to 0-6 interval lead, and the second put them thirteen points ahead of the South champions. The latter brought the difference back to five points during the second half, but that was as good as they did and finished 2-19 to 2-14 adrift.
FINAL
And so to the final, and the unlikely meeting of regular champions, Toomevara, and the team that were a hundred to one shot after their first round defeat. The Greyhounds were the hottest of favourites and few gave any chance to the Combo, in spite of the fact that they lived up to their West title showing by taking the scalps of Drom Inch and Roscrea on their way to the final.
All the doomsday scenario of the pundits seemed to be justified when the Combo found themselves in arrears of seven points after eight minutes, after the concession of two goals. But, they fought back in heroic fashion to draw level with Toomevara, 2-5 to 1-8 at half-time. However, they were hit by another body blow within thirty seconds of the resumption, when captain, man of the match , and leading scorer, Paddy O'Brien, had the ball in their net. For the remainder of the game The Toomevara men were dominant , confining the Combo to four points and a consolation goal in the third minute of injury time. The final score was 4-12 to 2-12 in favour of a team that were winning a sixth county crown in seven seasons. For the Combo there was only the memory of the fighting first half, and the consolation that they hadn't been disgraced.
Toomevara Manager Sean Hehir congratulates Justin Cottrell after County Final win.
Eoin Brislane Toomevara examines his options in the Cidona Senior Hurling Final
The winning team were as follows: Justin Cottrell, John Boland , Tony Delaney, Philip Shanahan, Terry Dunne, Benny Dunne (0-1 ), David Young, Padraig Hackett, Eoin Brislane (1-2), Ken Dunne (0-2), Francis Devanney (0-1 ), Tommy Dunne (1-2), Michael Bevans (0- 1 ), Paddy O'Brien (capt.), (2-3), Willie Ryan, Subs: Byron Duff for A. Shanahan, Barry Dunne for Terry Dunne, Denis Kelly for Ryan, Kevin Cummins for Bevans, Andrew Ryan for Hackett, James McGrath, David Kennedy, Brian McCormack, John Delaney,. Paddy Tuohy, Tomas O’Meara, John Kinirons, Stephen O’Meara.
Referee: Willie Clohessy (Drom Inch)
Selectors: Sean Hehir (Manager ), Bartie Sherlock (Coach), Matt O'Meara, Sean Maxwell, Ned Murphy (Physio), John Tuohy (First Aid).
Attendance: 8,300.
RESULTS AT A GLANCE
COUNTY FINAL
October 10, Semple Stadium
Toomevara 4-12, Golden-Eire Og 2-12
Referee: Willie Clohessy (Drom Inch)
SEMI-FINALS
September 26,Semple Stadium
Golden-Eire 6g: 2-17, Roscrea 4-8
Referee: Seamus Roche (Kilsheelan)
Toomevara 2-19, Mullinahone 2-14
Referee: John Ryan (Cashel)
QUARTER-FINALS
September 21, Templemore:
Toomevara 1-12,
Loughmore-Castleiney 0-13
Referee: Willie Barrett (Ardfinnan)
September 5, Templemore:
Roscrea 1-18,
Holycross-Ballycahill 0-13
Referee: Richie Barry (Cappawhite)
September 5, Cashel:
Golden-Eire 6g 1-15, Drom Inch 1-14
Referee: Noel Cosgrove (Marlfield )
(Because Mullinahone were league and championship winners, they got a bye to the semi-final.)
The final of the relegation section was played at Nenagh on October 3, with John Ryan (Boherlahan) as referee. The result was Kilruane MacDonaghs 0-13 Newport 7-6.
The intermediate final was won by Kildangan, who defeated Moycarkey-Borris in the final. Kildangan will play in senior ranks in 2005.)
Recent G.A.A. Publications (2004)
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2005, p 193
This column has been flagging the immediate publication of the Galtee Rovers G.A.A. Story for some years now. It has had the longest gestation period of any book I know, but I believe I can now give you the expected date of arrival, 2006! That is according to author, Seamus McCarthy, and fellow Galtee Rovers man, John Moloney. That year will see the publication of the book plus the official opening of the new reconstructed G.A.A. field in the parish.
There wasn't much of in the line of local publications during the year. I should like to draw attention to a number of books that will have a wider interest.
Croke Park -A History
by Tim Carey, a former curator of the G.A.A. Museum at headquarters, is a book of outstanding pictures and a fine evocative cover. Published by the Collins Press in large format, it runs to 200 pages and retails for €30.
One of the earliest photographs is of the Arravale Rovers football team in the Dr. Croke Cup football final, Jones's Road, on June 13th, 1897. It is taken from a contemporary supplement to the 'Gaelic News' , and is of outstanding quality. It is captioned as 'the earliest known team photograph from Jones's Road.'
There's an interesting juxtaposition of photographs on pages 44 and 45. In the first Eamon de Valera is throwing in a football at the start of a match there in April 1919, and in the second Michael Collins is doing the honours with a sliotar.
The book contains a detailed account of Bloody Sunday with a full-page photo of Michael Hogan of Grangernockler.
There is good coverage of the Tailteann Garnes in 1924, which, we are told , were followed by a Rodeo.
There is much, much more, and the many pictures and the text are interspersed by memories of great players, who played there. Interestingly the first game that D. J. Carey played in Croke Park was in football for Kilkenny Schools under-12 team in 1982.
Finally, the history tells us about the record crowd of 90,556 at the Offaly Down All -Ireland football final in 1961. The gates closed at 1-45, locking out between 25,000 and 30,000 more trying to get in. Mind boggling!
From Dun Sion to Croke Park
Micheal O Muircheartaigh's autobiography, 'From Dun Sion to Croke Park' tells of his progress from his Kerry birthplace to his established place in Irish broadcasting. Published by Penguin Ireland, the book contains 257 pages and retails for €22.99.
One day in 1949, Micheal took part in a competition at Croke Park for an Irish-language commentator's job. He was just eighteen and had never seen a hurling match in his life, but he got the job, and the rest is broadcasting history.
He tells us that he set out to be him self in the interview, rather than ape existing broadcasters, and it worked .
He learned about hurling and came to admire the majestic technique of Christy Ring. He also writes about his love of greyhounds and golf, and the pictures include one of him in Augusta.
The book is as easy to read, as Micheal is to listen to, and is dedicated to the memory of Cormac McAnallen, the young Tyrone footballer, who died in March 2004.
I Crossed the Line - The Liam Dunne Story
Probably the most exciting book on a G.A.A. theme is 'I Crossed the Line - The Liam Dunne Story' with Damian Lawlor. Damian is the G.A.A. correspondent for the ‘Daily 'Star', and a
native of Kilruane MacDonaghs.
The book is a page turner from chapter 1: ' It's a story that needs to be told. I want to give you a look beyond the tunnell, an insight into what 16 turbulent years as an inter-county hurler were like, how you can isolate those close to you and instead build a life to revolve around sport. The game has thrown everything at me, good, bad and ugly.
Most of it has been my own doing too. But not all of it. It's time to get some stuff off my chest.'
And that's exactly what Liam Dunne has done . He goes through his hurling life, faces up to his indulgence in alcohol, to his three successive sendings-off in championship hurling , his descent into hell and his redemption. The story is a great one, greatly helped by the writing skills of Damian Lawlor. The book, published by Sliabh Ban Publications, retails for €14.99
Cashel King Cormac's - County Junior Hurling Champions 1953
A much different kind of pub lication is a sixteen-page booklet entitled 'Cashel King Cormac's - County Junior Hurling Champions 1953', produced by the club in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of that historic occasion, that saw the club win its first county title. Apart from presenting a history of the games and the people that played them in that year, the book also includes some pictures taken at the presentation of medals in the old Town Hall. These add enormously to the value of the publication. It is available from the club for €5.
As welI as the above mentioned there are a number of other publications worth recording. Match programmes for division and county senior finals, as well as the county intermediate final, are well wort h keeping. Also divisional and county convention reports amass between their covers an amazing amount of relevant material. This year's county senior hurling final program included a four-page spread on the Thurles Sarsfields team that won the 197 4 county final.
Tommy Prendergast (1916-2005)
Oration at his graveside in Dangan Cemetery, Feb 1 2005
Members of the Prendergast family, friends and neighbours of Tommy, ladies and gentleman. We are gathered here today to say our farewells to Tommy Prendergast, who made his mark on life over 89 years.
Born not so far from here in the ancient townsland of Killeenasteena, in the historic year of 1916, he remained a countryman all his life, even if he lived in the City of the Kings for most of it The other place, with which he was long associated, was another townsland, Shanballyduff, one of the most historic old farmyards in County Tipperary. It is only fitting then that we should lay him to rest in this country graveyard.
As we gather this morning to pay our last respects, we think of the influences that may have formed him. They include his parents and ten siblings, his teachers, particularly Tom Keegan, in Templenoe National School. They must also include Tom Semple of Thurles Blues fame, who was born close by, and the famous Ryans of the Racecourse, who were colossal figures in the world of sport. Finally there was the towering figure of E. D. Ryan of Tubberadora fame, with whom Tommy worked in the drapery business for all of thirty-five years.
Tom Keegan recognised the brightness in Tommy and wanted him to go to secondary school, but times were poor in 1932 and work was more important However, Tommy got the chance of further education later, and took it. After starting his apprenticeship with E. D. Ryan in 1934, he enrolled in the first evening class in the new Technical School in Hogan Square, studying shorthand, typing, Irish, English and History. When he completed that course he went on to study carpentry, spending almost a decade in all advancing his education.
Tommy became an important influence in Cashel King Cormac's soon after the end of the Second World War. The club was in need of a secretary at the time and Tommy seemed the obvious choice. As the chairman of the time, Fr. English, put it: 'If we have no secretary, we can have no club.' Never a hurler of note, Tommy's love of gaelic games was fostered by reading the reports of games in the 'Nationalist', and that interest burgeoned after commencing work for E.D. Ryan.
There was another good reason why Tommy was the man for the job. The club was deep in debt and Tommy had the kind of business acumen that might get in out of trouble. In fact he inherited a debt of nearly £3,000. He set about reducing it through regular '25' drives and holding occasional dances, especially on St Patrick's Day and Easter Sunday in the old City Hall. His efforts succeeded and the debt was cleared.
Tommy was the man for the hard road. When one compares the financial resources of clubs in the early fifties with a half-century later, there is a world of difference. These were difficult days and to Tommy we must pay thanks for keeping the ship afloat in these tough times. One hears stories of him putting his hand in his pocket to pay for sliotars, when the club couldn't afford them. He brought the club through this difficult time and set it on the road to its later prosperity. On this occasion, on behalf of Cashel King Cor mac's. I want to thank him.
He was to remain as secretary or treasurer, and sometimes both, over a period of twenty years. Even though these years are regarded as a low point in the history of the club, when it went for seventeen years without winning a divisional senior title, there were high points. The greatest was in 1954 when the first county adult title was won, the 1953 county junior hurling championship. The other was the purchase and development of Leahy Park. With both of these Tommy was intimately connected. Not only was he secretary in 1953, he was also a selector on the team. The club were delighted to include him in the fiftieth anniversary celebrations for the team at Bru Boru last September.
When he ceased to be an officer of the club, Tommy retained a huge interest in the fortunes of Cashel King Cormac's, attending matches and supporting the club in any way he could.
His other great interest was local history and he was proud of the historic farm he inherited from relations in Shanballyduff. He took me around it on one occasion and recorded on tape the historic associations of the place. He liked tracing the history of people and places, and he had a large amount of lore about Cashel over a long period of time. While he never lived in Shanballyduff, I always felt it was a kind of spiritual home, with the farming that he loved and the historic ruins that he cherished.
Today we say goodbye to a man, who played a major role in the history of the King Cormacs Club. We were proud to walk beside the funeral cortege through the streets of Cashel last night and to see the club colours fluttering in the breeze as his coffin was borne to the church. Today we are gathered to pay our last respects to him in this ancient graveyard. To his wife, Mairead, his four sons and three daughters, we express our sincerest sympathy.
Ar dheis De go raibh an ainm dilis.
Post Cashel By-Pass, Peace Reigns
The Tipperary Star, 23rd October, 2004
Cashel has settled down to the peace and quiet of the post by-pass period. The final piece of the new rorld system, the link road between the N8 and the N74, was opened on Friday evening. The construction of this road is rather puzzling because nobody has informed us what traffic it is relieving. Golden traffic to Clonmel will probably travel via New Inn. Whatever traffic travels from Clonmel to Golden may take it, though it may find the journey through the town to be quicker.
There is also a certain confusion about access to the town from the Clonmel Road. The demands of the town have been half met. There is access to the bypass towards Dublin at the Clonmel road round about, as there is off the by-pass at the same point. What the by-pass does not allow is access at that point, to and from Cork. To get to Cork from Clonmel drivers have to come into the town and travel out to the Cahir roundabout.
The National Roads Authority have produced a colorful brochure giving the statistics on the construction of the bypass. It contains some powerful aerial images of the new road. One from the GortMakellis roundabout shows Ballykelly Castle and the elegant contour of the dual carriageway as it sweeps up the incline to the first bridge.
The deepest cut in a hill along the whole route was made on this stretch where a 27 m cut in the hill had to be made. The removal of the cut provided much of the 735,000 cubic meters of excavated material used in the building of the bypass. More material was excavated from the cut in the 2 km link road between the N8 and the N74.
Other interesting statistics on the project include the information that 2.1 km of regional and local roads were realigned. Anyone familiar with this realignment would be aware of the excellent improvement in the approaches to the new bridge on the Furry Hill road to Dualla. One moves from the narrowest of roads to a fine wide tarmacadam slip with full road markings and cats eyes. To a person arriving to it for the first time it appears like a mirage.
As well as that bridge there are two others, over the Dualla road and at the Clonmel intersection. There is also an under bridge on link road that crosses the Windmill Road. There is also a cattle underpass.
As whether the excavated materials, close to half million cubic meters of deposited materials were used, and 74,000 tons of crushed rock subbase. There are 21 km of road side timber fencing, 6700 meters of concrete median barrier, and 145,200 tons of bituminous macadem surfacing.
The median barrier is a fine piece of construction. Installed by J. and D. Burke Ltd., it follows the contour of the road with precision. It contains two embedded steel robes that are capable of resisting a major impact and ensure that it is highly unlikely that any vehicle with cross into traffic on the other carriageway.
One of the fascinating aspects of such developments is that there are no longer opened until the last piece of the construction is completed. So much so that Grangemore Landscaping Ltd., who had the contract for the landscaping of the development, have the grass growing on the sides, and the trees planted.
The contract was awarded to Roadbridge Ltd., Limerick in April 2003. It commenced on May 5th, 2003, with an allocated program time of 24 months. It was opened on October 11th, 2004, almost 7 months ahead of schedule.
The project was the first major construction in South Tipperary to be undertaken using the "Design and Build" contract format. The vast number of people in Cashel and surrounding area are delighted with the result.
In common with the procurement of major road projects, South Tipperary County Council and the National Roads Authority commissioned Orla de Bri to produce a public art sculpture symbolic of the area. The artist has developed a feature comprised of five, six meter tall bronze male figures with mirrored faces. These figures are representative of the High Kings of Munster. Each figure is wearing a stylized crown. These crowns are highlighted in gold leaf.
The shields they carry tell the artistic story of the area. One carries a depiction of the Rock of Cashel and another, a cathedral spire. These features of the sculptures are also highlighted in gold leaf in contrast to dark patina. The faces are made of mirror finish stainless steel. Conceptually, this gives the idea of seeing ourselves in the faces of our ancestors.
The piece is visually strong and dominant as were the High Kings of Munster. Just as they guarded the path to the south in the past, this five piece sculpture symbolically guards the main highway to the South now.
Cashel King Cormac's County Junior Hurling Champions 1953
Golden Jubilee Celebrations, Bru Boru, Sept 14, 2004
Link to Booklet here
Recent G.A.A. Publications (2003)
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2004, pp 51-53
The number of G.A.A. publications for review in this article is small in comparison with other years, but they make up in quality what they lack in quantity. Pride of place must go to 'Kickhams: Gaelic Games in Knockavilla and Donaskeigh' by J.J. Kennedy, P.R.O. of the West division since 1982 and contributor of a G.A.A. commentary column to the Nationalist, under the penname "Westside" for a good number of years.
The history of Gaelic games in the parish of KnockaviIla and Donaskeigh is a high quality work of over 400 pages. One of the many things in the book that caught my attention is to be found under the heading of 1935. The big story in that year was one of unity at last, as the existing teams of Knockavilla, Donaskeigh and Dundrum coalesced into the one club that would represent the entire parish for the future.
And what was that club called! Yes, you've guessed: Kickhams! Not Knockavilla Kickhams, or Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams, but Kickhams. I have been preaching this for some time, but newspapers, program makers and a varied assortment of people have been calling the club by other names for many years. So, maybe people will start calling the club by the right name now that the authority on the history of the club has spoken.
According to the author, the famous meeting that heralded the arrival of Kickhams is said to have taken place in the newly built chaplain's house at the Convent Cross, an appropriate place within striking distance of Dundrum, Knockavilla and Donaskeigh.
The event wasn't reported and no minutes of the meeting remain in existence, but, according to the author, anecdotal evidence suggests that the list of those who attended included, Sean O'Dwyer, later West chairman, Jerry O'Dwyer, later West secretary, Willie O'Dwyer, Mick Ryan (B), Gerard O'Dwyer (Managh), Paddy Cleary, Con McCarthy, Paddy Morrissey. An impressive line-up indeed.
As the three teams that coalesced in 1935 indicates, there was a G.A.A. life in the parish before that date. The book contains two chapters, which cover the history of the games in Knockavilla Donaskeigh, from the foundation of the G.A.A. up to 1930, when the West board was formed. The interesting thing is that the first chapter is called. "The Time of the Football", and it reflects the fact that football was the first game of the parish in the early days of the G.A.A., an era that subsequently became known in the parish as the time of the football. So, as the author points out, when the Kickham club was promoted to senior football for the first time ever in 1997 following the county intermediate win in 1996 it was in fact returning to its roots. The first official championship won by any team from the parish was a Mid junior football title, won
by Dundrum in 1927.
At the launch of the Kickhams Club History, left to right: Tom Hayes (Secretary), Seamus O'Dwyer (Chairman), Peter Quinn (who launched the book), J.J. Kennedy (author), Donal Shanahan (County Chairman), Sean Fogarty (Vice Chairman, Munster Council) and James O'Donnell (West Board Chairman)
In the course of time Kickhams became a hurling club predominantly and had a most successful period between the midforties and 1960. During this period twelve divisional championships were won and, on the night of the launch – and what a great night it was with the hugely impressive past-president of Cumann Luthchleas Gael, Peter Quinn, doing the honours - the players who brought such honour to the club during that period were honoured.
Pride of place in the distinguished company went to John Farrell, Co. Chairman; Sean Fogarty, the only player to win all twelve, plus five divisional minor titles in the preceding years.
Following that golden age the club declined and, even though juvenile success started to come in the eighties, it took a long time to be translated into senior success. This happened in 1997, when the club captured their first senior divisional championship in the space of thirty- seven years.
All of this is recorded by J. J. Kennedy in this book. The publication must be a model for all other writers of club histories. It is comprehensive and concise, containing all the information required without long-winded or boring accounts of matches long gone. J.J. has incorporated short excerpts from contemporary newspaper accounts to add flavour to his narrative. The appendices include a list of all divisional winning teams plus the club's roll of honour. If a fault is to be found in this excellent publication it might be the shortage of pictures. There is a good scattering of them through the text but in a visual age more would have been desirable. I can understand that the author was constrained by those at his disposal, especially in the earlier part of the book.
Overall, though, J. J. Kennedy has done his club an enormous service. He has produced a work of quality that is a delight to read, even for one from outside the parish. He has brought to the work a thorough knowledge of Gaelic games in the area plus a wonderful facility with language, which has allowed him to give us a most readable account of the history of the games in the parish of Knockavilla and Donaskeigh. The book is w rth much more than the €20 asking price.
Celtic Times
The publication of a facsimile edition of Celtic Times, Michael Cusack's Gaelic Games Newspaper, by the Clasp Press, Ennis in conjunction with Comhairle na Mumhan , CLG, is an historical event.
Cusack published the paper during 1887 and it was revolutionary at the period, devoted as it was to sport. It was mostly produced by Cusack himself, with reports of athletic events and G.A.A. matches fed from a wide range of correspondents around the country . Events in County Tipperary are well covered in the paper, and in great detail as well. Cusack also used to paper to pronounce on whatever was bugging him at the time in the sporting area. Remember, he had severed his link s with officialdom in the G.A.A. at this stage, but he used the paper to support
and encourage the playing of Ireland's native pastimes and athletics. At any rate the paper was " lost". For years it was believed that no copy of the paper existed. In 1969, Clare man, Brendan
MacLua, who founded the " Irish Post", in London in that year, was given a file of Celtic Times, by Tommy Moore, a legendary G.A.A. figure, who ran a pub in Cathedral Street, Dublin. MacLua took the file to London and forgot, about it as he got his new paper off the ground. Years later he told a few people about it and Marcus de Burca used it when writing the biography of Cusack, which appeared in 1989. When the National Library heard of the file they asked MacLua to donate it. So also did the Clare County Library. Eventually MacLua donated it to Cusack's, and his own, native county with a microfilm copy going to the National Library.
How Tommy Moore got the only surviving copy of the paper remains a mystery. It appears it may have been the publisher's own copy, as the file is bound and hard-covered. Whereas it will remain a mystery for some time to come, it is now possible for anyone to have a hard-bound copy of the file. What Clasp Press have done is to produce an extraordinary fine facsimile with the front cover carrying the masthead of the Celtic Times, plus the familiar picture of the bearded Cusack.
The facsimile includes numbers 8-53 of the paper, running from February-December 1887. It is missing the first seven numbers and the final two. The paper disappeared in mid-January 1888, simply because it was no longer able to pay its way. Cusack himself admitted that the circulation had fallen from 20,000 a week in May to 10,000 in December.
The paper sold for 1d for the benefit of the younger there were 240 of them in a pound. If you wish to purchase the 42 issues in this facsimile they will cost you €75. Dear indeed, but for an insight into the mind of Cusack, as welI as information on the progress of the G.A.A. in the year 1887, as well as a wonderful historical curiosity , welI w rth the expenditure.
All About Hurling
On a totally different scale is a 32 page publication from O'Brien Press entitled simply All About Hurling. Written by Irene Barber, and supported by Cumann na mBunscoil, it's a delightful publication for primary school students. The table of contents gives us the flavour:
1) the history of hurling,
2) the hurley,
3) the sliotar,
4) the Gaelic Athletic Association,
5) the trophies,
6) Croke Park,
7) camogie,
8) Mick Mackey,
9) Christy Ring,
10) D. J. Carey, etc.
in all twenty-three chapters, imaginatively illustrated.
A lovely contrast may be seen in two chapters entitled: Then, Now, showing the changes that have taken place in the games over the years. For sale: €7.95.
A quick look at three programmes that appeared during the year. The first has to be the county hurling final program, which contained a 12-page insert on the celebrations for the 1958-65 All-Ireland players. This was a wonderful production which was collated by county P.R.O. Ed Donnelly. Sadly, not enough copies of the program were produced. Four thousand were printed on the expectation of a crowd of 8,000 but over 10,000 turned up. Some people were left short.
Tipperary Institute hosted the Fitzgibbon and Ryan finals this year, and, incidentally, won the Ryan. They produced a bumper program for the event, and some are still available from the college for €3.
Liam Hogan and Ed Don nelly produced an all-colour program for the Kilruane MacDonaghs-Burgess county intermediate final, and the junior hurling A final replay between Burgess and Fennellys on the weekend of November 22/23. A beautiful production, and a credit to the Nenagh Guardian, who did the print work , it will become a trophy for the Kilruane MacDonaghs, as it saw them return to senior ranks, as well as for the Fennellys, who achieved a rare victory at this level.
Too late for review the 'History of Camogie in Tipperary' by Martin Bourke and Seamus J. King was launched by Meadhbh Stokes, the first player to captain a Tipperary senior camogie team to All- Ireland honours, at the Templemore Arms on December 3.
Containing almost 700 pages and over 300 photographs, the book traces the history of camogie in the county from the foundation of An Cumann Camoguideachta in 1904 to the end of 2003. It deals particularly with the history from 1932 onwards, when the first county championship was played.
As well as giving a detailed account of the story of the game, the book also includes an extensive statistical section devoted to results, winning teams etc. There are also chapters on the game in primary and secondary schools, profiles of clubs, poems and ballads, obituaries.
Selling for €25 it should prove excellent value and be a handy present for Christmas. It is the second county history to be produced - Cork published theirs in 2000 - and just in time for the Centenary of the Camogie Association in 2004.
Launch of History of Camogie: Front row (from left): Maeve Stokes, Marion Graham, Miriam O'Callaghan, President Camogie Association, Mairin Ni Chearnaigh, Munster President; Anne Newe, Tipperary Leader. Back row (from left): Sean Fogarty, Vice-Chairman Munster Council; Donal Shanahan, Co. Chairman, G.A.A. , Seamus King and Martin Bourke, authors, Stephen Fitzgerald, Chairman, Camogie Board.
Senior Hurling Championship 2003
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2004, pp 21-25
There was much speculation leading up to the county senior hurling final on October 12, the earliest date for the final to be played since 1994. Would the worm turn for Thurles Sarsfields and bring them their first victory at this level since 1974, also the last year they defeated Toomevara in the senior hurling championship, or would the Greyhounds, stung by their one point defeat by Mullinahone in the 2002 semi-final, which deprived them of a chance of five-in-a -row, bounce back?
The sides followed impressive paths to the final. The North representatives came through unscathed with an impressive tally of twelve goals and ninety-six points to their credit. They did have two close encounters, surviving by the minimum of margins in their early round clashes against Templederry and Borrisoleigh. They found their rhythm after that and scored impressive victories, conceding only three goals and seventy five points in their six games.
At first sight Thurles Sarsfields' path was even more impressive. They scored fifteen goals and ninety-three points along the way. It wasn't plain sailing, however. They lost to Loughmore-Castleiney by four points in the Mid final, and they conceded ten goals and eighty-five points in their six games. In fact, after their defeat at the hands of the Mid champions, they weren't expected to be in the finalshake-up, but an impressive victory over Mullinahone in the county quarterfinal silenced their critics.
QUALIFIERS AND RELEGATION
It was the second year of the new championship format, with a series of qualifiers for defeated divisional semifinalists, and relegation for first-round losers. The South were not involved in the latter, having only four teams, the minimum regarded as necessary for divisional viability. In the other divisions, the North supplied five teams, the Mid four, and Clonoulty-Rossmore from the West, for the relegation pot. After two preliminary rounds, four semi-finals and two finals, Silvermines and Moycarkey-Borris lost out to Portroe and Clonoulty-Rossmore respectively, and will play intermediate hurling next year.
This year's intermediate champions will be promoted to senior ranks, thus reducing the number of senior teams to twenty-five. The final game between Clonoulty Rossmore and Moycarkey-Borris at Holycross was one of the games of the year, attracting a bumper crowd. It provided an outstanding performance from veteran, Declan Ryan, who was mostly responsible for his side's survival in senior ranks. One of his admirers said after the match: 'They should erect a monument to him.'
QUALIFIERS, ROUND 1
In this round the eight divisional semi-final losers played off to provide four teams to play the losers of the divisional finals. The result was even enough with one team from each division,
Killenaule, Cappawhite, Boherlahan- Dualla and Moneygall, coming through.
Meanwhile the divisional finals were played, which didn't impinge too much on the progress of the county championship.
In the Mid an early Loughmore Castleiney blast floored Thurles Sarsfields, giving the winners their ninth title since their first in 1983. Played at Templemore on August 24, the final score was 3-14 to 2-13. In the South Mullinahone defeated Ballingarry by 3-14 to 1-10 in a stormy final, which erupted into ugly scenes early in the second half. Played at Clonmel on August 31, the winners led by 2-6 to 0-7 at the interval and sent out a clear signal that they were on course for a county double.
Toomevara did sufficient to win the North final at Cloughjordan on September 7, defeating a defence-frail Nenagh Eire Og by 3-12 to 0-16 on a day of persistent rain. On the same day at Sean Treacy Park, Tipperary, it took a pointed free by Galtee Rovers' Pa Morrissey, deep into added time, to keep their hopes of a first title alive against Kickhams. The latter made a great revival in the second half. Behind by 0-7 to 0-2 at the interval, and having Vincent Kelly sent off early in the second half, their chances looked slim, but they put together a great performance after that, and almost snatched victory. The replay was held at Golden the following week and the men from Bansha reversed the pattern of the drawn game. Behind by 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval, they produced a second-half display that left Kickhams floundering. In the end they thoroughly deserved their 2-15 to 1-11 victory and their first senior hurling title.
QUALIFIERS - ROUND 2
In this round the first-round winners were pitted against the divisional runners- up. The four winners were Moneygall, Thurles Sarsfields, Kickhams and Nenagh Eire Og. Ballingarry were the only divisional runner-up to be beaten, losing out badly to Moneygall. In the local derby between Kickhams and Boherlahan, the West men came through.
QUARTER FINALS
The field had narrowed to eight teams by this stage, and the results brought two surprises. Moneygall came through against Mid champions, Loughmore Castleiney, having two points to spare on a scoreline of 1-13 to 1-11. Thurles Sarsfields surprised many with their defeat of Mullinahone, who were being set up as likely opponents for Toomevara in the final. The latter sent out a clear signal of their intentions in their defeat of Kickhams.
SEMI-FINALS
Three North teams, plus Thurles Sarsfields, made up the semi-final pairings at Semple Stadium on Saturday, September 27. The Toomevara-Moneygall clash was a close one until the final ten minutes, when an Eoin Brislane goal for Toomevara put some distance between the sides. Toomevara led by 1-8 to 0-9 at the interval, the goal coming from Ken Dunne just before the break, when he raced through from forty yards and sent an unstoppable shot past Sean McCormack in the Moneygall goals. At times during the game it looked as if Toomevara would pull away, but Moneygall kept coming back, and it was only in the final ten minutes that the winners eventually put light between them and their dogged opponents. It was Toomevara's 13th county semi-final since 1989, and their ninth victory.
In the second semi-final Thurles Sarsfields had to survive a late Nenagh Eire Og rally. Sarsfields started off lively and were ahead by 1-4 to 0-1 after eight minutes. Nenagh came into the game, helped by Michael Cleary's accurate free-taking, and the score was 1-11 to 0-9 in favour of Sarsfields at the interval.
Nenagh's best patch was after the resumption and by the fortieth minute they had taken the lead, 0-15 to 1-11, for the first time. The game remained level until the final quarter when Sarsfields gradually pulled ahead with a substantial lead. However, there was a final kick in Nenagh and, in the closing minutes, they scored two goals to leave only two points between the sides on a scoreline of 3-17 to 2-18.
Nenagh Eire Og team - North finalists and County semi-finalists. Back row left to right: John Flannery, Richie Flannery, Noel Moloney, Michael Hackett, Eddie Tucker, Declan O'Meara, Hugh Moloney, John Slattery. Seated: Michael Cleary, Brian Darcy, Kevin Tucker, Michael McNamara , Robbie Tomlinson, Eoin Fitzgibbon, John Kennedy.
THE FINAL
And so to Semple Stadium two weeks and a day later for the final, played in unprecedented dry conditions. Toomevara were the bookie's favourites but there was a sneaking hope that Sarsfields wouldn't lose out for the fourth year in a row. There was a parallel with the 1960 final, when Sarsfields, after winning five in a row, were dethroned by Toomevara. Was it possible that Sarsfields might do the dethroning on this occasion?
The story of the game is easily told. Toomevara came on to the field like a team inspired. They showed hunger, pace, combination and determination in contrast to a Sarsfields outfit that was strangely lethargic. Their new look side, which should have exuded the confidence gained at minor and under-21 level, was inexplicably subdued.
Toomevara commanded the field, led by 2-10 to 0-5 at the interval and, with five minutes of normal time remaining, had nine points to spare, 3-17 to 1-14. Only at this stage did Sarsfields erupt with an effort worthy of a county final. In the final minutes they scored 2-2 to 0-2, and nearly created a huge shock. The final score was 3-19 to 3-16 in favour of Toom.
Action from the County Senior final - Ger "Redser" O'Grady (Thurles Sarsfields), Tony Delaney (Toomevara), Johnny Enright (Thurles Sarsfields), and Eoin Brislane (Toomevara).
In the aftermath there were many questions to be asked, even if few were answered. Did Toom take their collective foot off the pedal when they enjoyed a nine point lead? Was Sarsfields' last eight minutes their 'true' form , or was it allowed by Toom's relaxation? What would have happened had Redser's 20 metre free not whizzed wide of the post? What had Sarsfields not conceded an easy, early goal? The answers don't really matter because they won't change the result.
Toomevara are champions for the fifth time in six years and they possess a team of enormous talent. Their achievement now has to be an All –Ireland club championship, otherwise they will never be regarded as a great team. The only consolation for Thurles Sarsfields has to be their final ten minutes. In that period they revealed what they are capable of doing, and they have the consolation of knowing that they almost snatched a draw from a team that appeared to have all the answers. However, they will have also to face up to the question of why they played so poorly for so long in their most important encounter of the year.
The Dunnes from Toomevara celebrate the County Final win, from left: Ken (with man of the match award), Benny, Terry, Barry and Tommy.
TEAMS
Toomevara - Justin Cottrell , Benny Dunne , George Frend, Philip Shanahan, Brian Duff, Tony Delaney , David Young, Terry Dunne (0-3), Ken Dunne (0-6), Paddy O'Brien {1-1 ), Eoin Brislane (0-3), John O'Brien (0-2), Michael Bevans (capt.), Thomas Dunne (1-0), Willie Ryan (0-1).
Sub: John Boland for Duff.
Other subs: Tomas O'Meara, Francis Devaney , Padraig Hackett, John Kinnirons, Kevin Cummins, Barry Dunne, Denis Kelly , Andrew Ryan, David Kennedy, Tommy Carroll, Ken Hall, Brian McGrath Ronan Tynan, Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Patrick Tuohy.
Thurles Sarsfields - Patrick McCormack, Brian O'Grady, Tommy Maher (capt.), Tony Connolly, Brendan O'Sullivan , Stephen Mason, Lee Shanahan, Eddie Enright (0-1), Wayne Cully (0-3), Johnny Enright (0-6), Ger O'Grady (0-2), Tony Ruth (0-3), Lar Corbett (2-1), Eoin Costello, Shane Ryan.
Subs: Brendan Carroll for Mason, Seamus O'Shea for Connolly , Richie Ruth (1-0) for Ryan, Eamon Walshe for Costello.
Other subs: Ciaran Carroll , Tommy Collins, John Connors , Barry Dwyer, Aidan Dundon, John Lillis, Jamie Murphy, David O'Dwyer, Matthew O'Dowd, Gerry Spain, Conor Stapleton, Eamon Tuohy.
Referee : Seamus Roche (Kilsheelan).
2003 RESULTS AT A GLANCE
CREDIT UNIONS TIPPERARY COUNTY SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
DAN BREEN CUP
Round 1 [Eight defeated Divisional semi-finalists]
Killenaule 0-18 Cashel 0-13 Fethard 31/8/03 Ref. W. Clohessy (Drom-lnch)
Cappawhite 5-16 Carrick Swans 1-8 Clonmel 6/9/03 Ref. J. Ryan (Cashel K.C.)
Boherlahan 4-18 Newport 0-10 Dolla 7/9/03 Ref. W. Barrett (Ardfinnan)
Moneygall 1-15 Upperchurch/D 0-12 Templemore 7/9/03 Ref. R. Barry (Cappawhite)
Round 2 [Divisional runners-up v Round 1 winners]
Moneygall 4-12 Ballingarry 0-8 Templemore 13/9/03 Ref. J. Ryan (Cashel)
Th. Sarsfields 3-12 Killenaule 1-14 Boherlahan 14/9/03 Ref. J. McDonnell (Roscrea)
Kickhams 3-9 Boherlahan 2-10 Cashel 14/9/03 Ref. J. Sweeney (Thurles)
Nenagh E. Og 6-15 Cappawhite 0-10 Newport 14/9/03 Ref. W. Clohessy (Drom-lnch )
Quarter-finals [Divisional winners v Round 2 winners]
Moneygall 1-13 Loughmore C 1-11 Templemore 20/9/03 Ref. R. Barry (Cappawhite)
Nenagh E. Og 2-15 Galtee Rovers 2-10 Templemore 20/9/03 Ref. J. Ryan [Boherlahan]
Th. Sarsfields 2-19 Mullinahone 2-11 Cashel 20/9/03 Ref. J. McDonnell (Roscrea)
Toomevara 2-21 Kickhams 1-11 Templemore 21/9/03 Ref. S. Roche (Kilsheelan)
Semi-finals
Toomevara 2-19 Moneygall 0-16 S. Stadium 27/9/03 Ref. W. Clohessy (Drom-lnch)
Thurles Sarsfields 3-17 Nenagh E.Og 2-18 S. Stadium 27/9/03 Ref. N. Cosgrove (Marlfield )
Final
Toomevara 3-19 Thurles Sarsfields 3-16 S. Stadium 12/10/03 Ref. S Roche (Kilsheelan)
SENIOR HURLING RELEGATION
Preliminary Round
Drom/lnch 1-15 Borrisoleigh 2-11 Templemore 25/08/03 Ref. W. Barrett (Ardfinnan)
Roscrea 0-21 Silvermines 0-13 Toomevara 27/08/03 Ref. M Cahill (Kilruane MacD)
Round 1 [Semi-finals]
[1] Borrisoleigh 0-21 Silvermines 0-9 Nenagh 04/09/03 Ref. J. Sweeney (Thurles)
[2] J.K. Brackens 1-14 Portroe 2-7 Dolla 24/08/03 Ref. E. Browne (Kickhams)
[1] Holycross 1-16 Moycarkey 1-14 Boherlahan 25/08/03 Ref. R. Barry (Cappawh ite)
[2] Templederry 2-15 Clonoulty 2-11 Borrisoleigh 30/08/03 Ref. D. Curtis (Thurles)
Finals
[1] Portroe 5-17 Silvermines 6-11 Nenagh 10/09/03 Ref. J. Ryan [Boherlahan]
[2] Clonoulty/R 1-15 Moycarkey/B 1-13 Holycross 21/09/03 Ref. W. Barrett (Ardf innan )
SENIOR HURLING LEAGUE FINALS
Premier Division
Toomevara 0-23 Thurles Sarsfields 0-13 Templemore 28/06/03 W.Barrett (Ardfinnan)
Division 1
MoneygalI 2-12 Borrisoleigh 1-14 Templemore 08/06/03 N. Cosgrave (Marfield)
Division 2
Portroe 3-14 Boherlahan/Dualla 1-12 Dolla 15/06/03 R.Barry (Cappawhite)
Division 3
Templederry 1-14 Drom-lnch 1-11 Borrisoleigh 06/09/03 A. Moloney (Cahir)
Intermediate Hurling League
Gortnahoe/Glengoole 3-12 Moyne-Templetuohy 0-17 Morris Park 04/09/03 P. Shelly (Killenaule)
Michael 'Dasher' Murphy (1914-2004)
Oration at his graveside in Saint Cormac's Cemetery, Cashel, October 13, 2004
Members of the Murphy family, relations, neighbours and friends of the Dasher, we are gathered here today to say farewell to a man, who made his mark on the life of the town and parish of Cashel
It's stated in the Bible that man's span is three score years and ten, but the Dasher went well beyond that, and reached the fine old age of four score years and ten, becoming during that time not only the father of a family, but a grandfather and great-grandfather as well.
So, while it's a time of sadness to experience his passing, particularly for Johnny, Michael, Lissie and Mary, and for his children and grandchildren, it is also a time for celebration, the celebration of a life that was lived to the full, and that left memories for family and friends to cherish in future years.
Mickey Murphy's life was for many years associated with Cashel King Cormac's, a club and a team to which he gave extraordinary service over twenty-five years. That career commenced in success with a West minor hurling medal in 1931, and concluded with a county junior hurling medal in 1954.
Interestingly the minor medal wasn't presented to him until November of last year, when he received it at a function in Bru Boru. The last medal he won, the greatest success experienced by the club until the county senior success in 1991, was recalled in a commemorative event at the same venue, as late as September 14. Unfortunately Mickey was unable to be there in person, as illness had confined him to his bed, but the club chairman, Ger Slattery, and secretary, Mattie Finnerty, called to his house and made the presentation. Those of us who were present that night recall a man, who was in outstanding form, mentally alert, and full of chat and memories.
Since then he went downhill as if he was happy that his achievements had been recognised, and that his place in the history of Gaelic games in this town and parishwas secure.
Between 1931 and 1954 Mickey graced the hurling fields of Tipperary, and further afield, with skill and energy, above all with dash. The sobriquet, 'the Dasher', he earned from the way he used to dash out from his position in the backs to clear the ball.
And, we can see him in our minds eye dashing out with the ball on numerous occasions, to win a divisional junior medal in 1933, and senior medals in 1934, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1945, 1948, during that wonderful period in the club's history.
During that period he played also in three county finals, none, alas, successful.
For a time during the thirties Mickey was also in the sights of the county selectors and played on a number of occasions in league and tournament games. He never commanded a permanent place, according to the late Jim Devitt, because he was unfortunate to be there at a time when there was a lot of talent competing for his position at wingback.
It was left to his son, Johnny, to achieve inter-county distinction, firstly with the Tipperary minors in 1952, 1953 and 1954, and later for many years with New York. Mickey was immensely proud of his son's achievements. Mickey also achieved fame across the water, when he emigrated to England for three years in the forties, winning an All-English championship with Lancashire.
Hurling meant a huge amount to the Dasher. He once said to me: 'Hurling was my whole life. When I came back from work I went to the field before I had my tea. On the Sunday morning of a match you'd be as proud as a peacock getting ready to go off and hurl. You'd cry if you weren't picked to play.'
Because of that love, Mickey gave a great part of his life to the game. The Cashel King Cormac's club recognised his contribution when they made him a Life President in the early nineties. We recognise him as one of our greatest players. His achievements have been overshadowed by the great successes of the club in the nineties, and the many fine players that wore the jersey proudly, but they will never be forgotten.
The fine turnout of the club members for the guard of honour last night, the presence of so many today, is testament to the esteem with which the Dasher was held. In any Team of the Century, in any Team of the Millennium, that this club will ever pick, Mickey Murphy will be an automatic choice. This town was by-passed on Monday but the Dasher will never be by-passed in the memories of the Cashel King Cormac's Club.
As president of this fine club, I am privileged to have been asked, on behalf of the Cashel King Cormac's, to pay respects to this man of four score years and ten, who brought such honour to the club over a wide span of years. It is fitting that he is laid to rest within view of the famous Rock and of the town he loved so well, and beside the field where the game he loved continues to be played, and the clash of the ash can be heard.
Last year, on a Sunday in November, Mickey Murphy was made a member of Cumann na Sean Ghael. Just a month ago he was honoured on the fiftieth anniversary of his county final victory. Today, he becomes a member of Cumann na Sean-Iomainaithe ar Neamh and my wish is that he will continue to enjoy the game in the green fields of heaven.
Ar dheis De go raibh a ainm.
Address by Seamus J. King at Lorrha on Saturday, May, 2, 2015 on the occasion of the Civic Welcome to mark the visit of Cr. Wayne Sanford, President of the Shire of Collie, Western Australia.
Cathaoirleach of Nenagh Municipal District, Councillor Fiona Bonfield, Chairperson of Lorrha Development Association, Rose Mannion, Distinguished Visitor, Councillor Wayne Sanford, President of the Shire of Collie, Western Australia, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is an honour for me to be asked to address you on the occasion of the visit of our distinguished visitor from Collie, the place where our most famous and honoured emigrant, Martin O'Meara, first went to work as a sleeper-layer on the new railway line from Perth to Collie, following his arrival at Freemantle in 1913.
When I looked up the internet recently to acquaint myself with Collie, I discovered that it was once referred to as a 'dirty mining town' but on April 8, 2006 it won the Australian Tidy Towns Competition from finalists from six States and the Northern Territory. Collie was named the top Tidy Town because of the commitment of the community to recycling, waste management, beautification and community works. I mention this by the way because I know of the efforts of the Lorrha Development Association and other groups in this parish to make their place a tidy and more attractive place to live.
From small beginnings on a small farm of twelve acres in Lissernane, where economic prospects were meagre, Martin O'Meara performed heroic acts in World War 1 and won a Victoria Cross 'for most conspicuous bravery'. One of a family of eleven children, seven of whom lived, Martin was the second-last to be born. He left the bosom of his family, the security of his friends and the comforts of his own place to travel into the unknown, first to Liyerpool and then to Freemantle, Western Australia, where he made his way in an unknown land, 10,000 miles from his own place.
On that journey to Australia he showed some of his steely quality when he worked his passage as a stoker of the ships's furnaces for the three-month passage. 'The hardest task in my life,' he was to say later, 'was shovelling coal to the boilers on that three months' voyage'
It appears he landed in Australia in 1913 and got ajob soon after as a sleeper-layer on a new railway line through the bush at Collie, east of Perth.
We don't have much of a profile of the man. According to an account given in a newspaper after he was proposed for a Victoria Cross, he appeared to have been 'a somewhat lonely Irishman battling his way in a new land. His friends and associates were, seemingly, few and far between, but these with whom he became intimate regarded his as a sterling friend and a man of worth.' The profile further states he was a strict teetotaller and staunch Roman Catholic. 'He is seemingly a man who seeks friends but is most discriminate in their selection. He is a fine stamp physically hardened by work in the open and weighs in the vicinity of 12 or 13 stone.'
Why he decided to enlist in the Australian army and enter training camp in August 1915, we don't know. Was it out of a sense of loyalty to his adopted country or was it the same spirit of adventure that took him to Liverpool initially and finally to Perth? We don't know. We get some inkling from some words he spoke when he rturned to Ireland for a brief visit in October 1916. He said he entered the war with the belief that it was his duty to answer the call to assist the Allies in their great struggle and any distinction he had won, it was won in the discharge of his duty to his country.
What we do know is that he committed himself to the training required to become the best of soldiers. His journey to the battlefield took him to Egypt for training with his unit the 16th Battallion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIL) and then to France. Life in Egypt was fairly pleasant. One soldier wrote to his mother: 'I am a different man now that I have lost all superfluous flesh and am as hard as nails and as brown as a well-done peanut.' We can imagine Martin at a peak of physical fitness as he embarked for France.
Having landed at Marseilles the soldiers went by train to the Front, a journey that lasted nearly sixty hours, broken up by a number of stops along the way. At these stops they were greeted by a very friendly French population who showered them with food and drink. We have no account of how Martin responded to the adulation but the good times would soon cease and he had to face the horrors of war.
As soon as the 16th Battalion arrived at the Front to join the British Expeditionary Force, they began to prepare for combat as preparations were already in hand for the Somme offensive. The intent behind this was to break through German lines and, by involving the Germans, help the French army under strong attack at Verdun. Commander-in-Chief, Haig, believed he had the secret of a successful allied attack. He hoped that by bombarding the German lines for a week beforehand with heavy artillery the Allied force would destroy all the defensive fortifications of the enemy. Then it would be a simple matter of the soldiers coming out of their trenches and crossing 'No Man's Land' to mop up any of the enemy still alive.
In fact the artillery shells had no effect on the German concrete bunkers and the barbed wire just blew up in the air and came down a more entangled mess than before. As the Allied soldiers advanced in straight lines across 'No Man's Land' they were mercilessly raked with machine gun fire. Twenty-thousand men were killed and forty thousand taken prisoner on the first day. Until November, when the suicidal attacks were called off, the allies persisted in trying to achieve the impossible.
The action around Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in which Martin O'Meara was involved, was part of these suicide missions. He was lucky to survive. A suicide mission is the only way to describe the activity in the area during the period of August 9-12, 1916. During these four days of heavy fighting Martin O'Meara, a stretcher bearer, repeatedly went out and brought in wounded from no-man's land despite intense artillery and machine-gun fire. He was busy during the whole series of operations, especially in the critical barrage and counterattack period. Four times he carried water and supplies forward under bursting shells and then returned carrying wounded. On one occasion he volunteered to carry ammunition and bombs to a portion of trench which was receiving heavy shelling.
He was wounded on August 12th, 1916, just after performing the above-mentioned acts. However, he remained on duty and wasn't admitted to the 12th Field Ambulance until the following day. He was diagnosed with a gun shot wound to the abdomen and shipped back to hospital in England.
As a result of his heroic actions he was recommended for the Victoria Cross on August 16. The recommendation stated: 'For most conspicuous bravery. During four days of very heavy fighting he repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers and men from 'No-Man's Land' under intense artillery and machine gun fire. He also volunteered and carried up ammunition and bombs through a heavy barrage to a portion of the trenches, which was being heavily shelled at the time. He showed throughout an utter contempt of danger and undoubtedly saved many lives.' He was awarded the Victoria Cross the following month.
What inspired Martin O'Meara to such endeavour, to such conspicuous bravery, to absolute disdain for danger? We do know that his fearless courage was fuelled by a deep religious faith. All who knew him testify to the important part religion played in his life. When he left for Australia his mother gave him a rosary beads which he carried at all times during the war. He said afterwards that 'twas the rosary that saved my life.' He had absolute faith in the protective power of faith. At Mouquet Farm, prior to going out to bring in the wounded he said a decade of the Rosary and this imbued him with the belief that he was going to return alive. He didn't see the danger fear the shells or flinch from the gunfire as he went about his business as a stretcher bearer and he always returned to base alive, even if he received the occasional wounds. He was also inspired by the love of his fellow man, the camaraderie of the group. He may not have made many friends but those he did, he was prepared to die for them.
Martin O'Meara was presented with his Victoria Cross by King George in London on July 21, 1917. There are a few seconds of film footage which recorded this momentous event for the humble son ofLorrha. He had scaled the heights through personal effort and unnatural courage.
His achievements were recognised in Australia where his former employer described him as being generous to a fault and that no obstacle caused him to sidetrack and that he possessed an exceptionally powerful physique: 'It is not hard to picture him rushing out into 'No Man's Land' and returning with a man under each arm' the employer added. The West Australian parliament 'moved congratulations' to him on his award. The
people of Collie sent him a congratulatory cable.
He was also honoured in Ireland. The North Tipperary County Committee of Agriculture stated at their monthly meeting that they wished 'to express to Martin O'Meara, V.C. our great admiration of his bravery and to congratulate him on gaining the V.C., the highest honour that can be offered to any soldier. We, as Tipperarymen, are proud of him and hope soon to give him a suitable welcome and show our appreciation of the honour he has won. We hope that he will soon be recovered enough to return to his native country.'
Martin O'Meara eventually got back to Lorrha on a fortnighht's leave in October 1916. One account descibes his return: 'The modesty of the man is to be seen in the mode of his homecoming. His family expected him but did not know the exact date of his arrival. He got off the train at Birr Station and walked home - about five miles - in the darkness, along the disused Birr and Portumna railway line which passes close to his home. No one recognised him at the station or along the way. He opened the door and walked in, surprising his brother and sister inside. At the end of his leave he returned almost as quietly as he had come.'
A formal homecoming was arranged for Lorrha on November 24 to present him with a gold watch. But it was like Hamlet without the prince: O'Meara had already returned to London, where he immediately volunteered again for active service. He rejoined his battalion in December, was injured soon after, He was injured again in April 191 7 and was wounded a third time in August after which he was moved to Bath War Hospital.
He was given furlough in October 1917 and returned to Lorrha for a couple of weeks. His reception was very different to what he had experienced a year previously. The political climate had changed in Ireland during 1917. The prisoners from the Easter Rising, who had been spat upon in the streets of Dublin as they were led off to internment in Wales in 1916, returned as heroes at Christmas. All had changed and people like O'Meara, who had been lauded for their courage and bravery, were now looked at askance in the new nationalism.
There was a second factor. O'Meara was beginning to show some of the signs of insanity which was eventually to rule his life. His behaviour appeared strange to the locals. He insisted on wearing the AIF uniform and the famous slouch hat. Instead of generating admiration for O'Meara and his exploits, the locals came to regard him as an oddity and an outsider. He attended a number of threshings but usually found himself on the outside, without much rapport with his neighbours and a curiosity to his friends. Eventually he got the message that he wasn't part of the community anymore and returned to his battalion earlier than intended. There is anecdotal evidence that on the evening he departed he stood to attention on the sandpits near his house, waved his hat all around for he knew he would never see his native place again.
He rejoined his battalion in France in January 1918. He was promoted Sergeant in August and received a British War Medal and a Victory Medal. He returned to Australia in September and disembarked there in November.
A month later he was diagnosed as 'suffering from Delusional Insanity, with hallucinations of hearing and sight, is extremely homicidal and suicidal and requires to be kept in restraint. He is not hopeful of his recovery in the near future.'
He was admitted to Claremont Mental Hospital as an insane patient on January 3, 1919. He was discharged from the army on November 30 of the same year and died on December 20, 1935. His funeral, which was officiated at by Fr. John Fahey, Clonoulty, received prominence in the Australian newspapers and his name has never been forgotten in that country. There is a photograph in my book from the West Australian newspaper of April 29th, 2010 showing a picture of Martin O'Meara being carried in a parade of other VC winners on ANZAC Day.
Martin O'Meara's extraordinary courage and superhuman exploits were not only forgotten but frowned upon, even derided in the political atmosphere of post-1916 Ireland. It has taken close to a century for his greatness to be recognised in Ireland and for his admirable personal qualities to be given the recognition they deserve. The erection of this memorial to him in the village of Lorrha was the first step to undoing the major failure to recognise that great courage and superhuman endeavour deserve to be applauded and honoured. Today's events, which are graced by the presence of our distinguished visitor, President Wayne Sanford, is a further step along the road to full recognition of the extraordinary narrative of the life of Martin O'Meara, V.C., Lissernane, Lorrha, who has made us all proud to be natives of this place.
Thank you for your attention.
Rockwell College 1917-1918
Rockwell College Annual 2003-2004, pp 159-162
Probably the most momentous event in the College during the academic year 1917-1918 was the decision to abandon rugby and cricket in favour of Gaelic games. The decision was taken in the aftermath of winning the Munster Senior Cup in 1917 when Rockwell defeated Christian Brothers College, Cork by two tries to nil in Cork on March 10th. One of the final sentences in a report of the match ran as follows: "From the scrum at the '25 mark Mike Ryan, emulating the doughty deeds of the Mike of international fame burst over the line 'festooned with Christians'." Following that game, eight Rockwell players were selected to represent Munster against Leinster.
The announcement of the decision does not appear in the College Journal until October 24th and then only as a comment on the first part of the entry relating to Rockwell travelling to Fermoy for their first Gaelic match. The entry reads: "A notable change has been introduced this year. Foreign games (Rugby and Cricket) are replaced by Irish Gaelic and Hurling. Gaelic will be played until Christmas, then hurling from Christmas to Summer." Nothing else! No reference to a debate on the decision or how the journalist felt about the matter. The decision is generally credited to the President of the College at that time, Fr. John (Johnny) Byrne, who was nationalist in outlook and who was carried along by the nationalist fervour of the 1916 Rising. He was appointed President of the College and Superior of the Community in August 1916. He may have been respondmg to pressure from outside. E. D. Ryan of Cashel had proposed a motion at the 1917 County Tipperary G. A. A. convention calling "upon colleges and secondary schools within our county to give our national pastimes a foremost place in their games." As a result of this motion there was a Schools and Colleges meeting at Limerick Junction on June 2nd. This meeting was called to discuss the position of Gaelic games in the schools and the organisation of competitions for a football cup put up by the Munster Council. Later, Dr. Harty, the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, put up a cup for a Provincial hurling competition. It was agreed that the Committee governing the competitions have one member per county and that the chairman have a casting vote. The age limit for the competitors should be 19 years on June 1st each year.
According to the report, it is not clear if Rockwell had a representative at the meeting, but it is obvious that the College went along with the decision. One of the schools' representatives at the meeting hoped that the foreign games rule would not be implemented too strictly. It would appear that Rockwell fully approved of the decision on foreign games because it seems clear from the decision reported in the Community Journal for October 24th, only Gaelic and hurling were allowed in the school. This may have come about after a further meeting of the Schools and Colleges representatives held in September to organise the competitions for the school year. At that meeting it was also agreed to reduce the age limit from 19 to 18 on January 1st 1918.
Immediate Success
Rockwell enjoyed immediate success in the competitions. They put in some preparation through a series of challenge games against St. Colman's Fermoy, University College Cork and St. Brendan's, Killarney. The first round was against St. Brendan's at Kilmallock on November 28th. The Journal reports: "The result, eagerly awaited, was in the nature of a surprise. No one expected Rockwell on its first appearance in Gaelic competitions to do so well. Result: Rockwell 2-5, Killarney 0-3." The final against St. Colman's was played at Kilmallock on December 15th. Rockwell won by 1-7 to 1-0. According to the Journal entry for December 15th:
"Rockwell thus won the Gaelic Football Cup the first year of their appearance in this competition - a truly great performance." And for December 16th, the entry reads: "After breakfast today Fr. Superior received the Cup from the Captain of the team in the study hall and spoke for some time announcing that he would accord three days to be added to the holidays on account of the victory. The strange anomaly of Gaelic and rugby cups standing side by side on the parlour table today may be remarked. Rockwell need have no regrets now in parting with the rugby cup without entering in for its competition this year - it is more than replaced."
Harty Cup
In January the draws were made for the Harty Cup competition and Rockwell got a bye into the second round. They beat Roscrea by 3-3 to 3-1 on March 25th at Limerick. The final of the competition was a calendar month later and their opponents were Christian Brothers College Cork, the school they had defeated in the rugby cup the previous year. According to the Journal, "The team left for Thurles at half past eleven o'clock. Nearly all the Fathers travelled together with the prizewinners of last year's Intermediate exams. Appended is an account and result of the match: Rockwell 5-5, Christians 3-1." The "appended" account includes the information that the ball was thrown in by Dr. Harty and that the match was vigorously and energetically fought out. At the conclusion of the game, Dr. Harty presented the cup to the winning captain and distributed the medals to the winning team. He stated that "Hurling was one of the most manly, most ancient and most graceful games that the world knows. It was Irish and helped to foster an Irish and a manly spirit - the spirit that was so essential today. It was a game associated with their country's history and could be traced back to the dawn of Ireland's story. There should be no Irish boy but should be proud of this magnificent and Irish game of hurling."
The winning team was given: J. Daly, M. Collins, E. o'Donnell, M. Fox, K. Egan, J. Quinn (Captain), M. Quinn, P. Power, W. Heron, W. McCarthy, T Ryan, T. Lynch, T O'Connor, J. Maher, W. Ryan. T Kerwick refereed.
The Journal continues: "Rockwell thus secured the two cups for Gaelic football and hurling on the first appearance in Gaelic circles, and the first year the cups were put up for competition. The team arrived home at 7.15 p.m. having paraded through Cashel on their way back."
And the entry for April 26th reads: "After breakfast the boys, according to custom, took the cup around the lake. At the parlour door, the captain presented the cup to Fr. Superior. He spoke for some time in Irish, then in English, and then gave the boys a whole day (i.e., free day)."
The report for Pentecost Sunday, May19th relates: "During the afternoon Mr. Keogh took photographs of teams etc." The Harty team photograph exists, but the football team does not and neither does the line out of the latter, unfortunately.
Arrest And Imprisonment
There is an interesting piece of information in the entry for October 15th: "When Mr. O'Neill was about to leave Cashel en route for class, the police arrested him under the D.O.R.A. regulations."
To understand the significance, one has to go back to the entry in the Journal for May 4th 1916, a week and a half after the Rising on Easter Monday: "Mr. O'Neill-lay master - arrested at 7 a.m." he was released at some later stage because he appears in the list of professors in September and continued teaching in the College. He was known for his nationalistic outlook and was a member of Sinn Fein. His arrest at this time was part of the Dublin Castle authorities' clampdown on Sinn Fein members following the party's victories in the by-elections. One of these arrests was that of Thomas Ashe who died as a result of force-feeding while on hunger strike. His funeral on September 30th 1917 was the occasion of a massive public demonstration.
Mr. O'Neill also went on hunger strike and the Journal entry for November 16th reads: "Today's paper contained the news that Professor O'Neill of Rockwell had been released after a hunger strike in prison. He was one of a batch of Sinn Fein prisoners." The next entry concerning him occurs on November 16th: "Mr. O'Neill resumed his work today. The boys gave him a hearty ovation on his re-appearance."
We hear about Mr. O'Neill's political fate again on March 1st when the Journal reports that he was again arrested as he was leaving Cashel for Rockwell. There is no further news of him for the year.
From other sources we learn that Mr. J. O'Neill, as he is referred to in the Journal was more commonly known later as Seamus O'Neill. Born in Dungarvan in 1892, the family moved to Clonmel in 1899 where Seamus received his schooling. He trained as a teacher at De La Salle Teacher Training College, Waterford, and got his first job at Rockwell College. Later he served time in Frongoch, Durham and other places. After his release, he returned to Rockwell where was greeted with a two by four inch card, which read: "We no longer have a job for you"! After that he got part-time work in the High School, Clonmel and in Ring College.
He took no part in the Civil War and when the Garda Siochana came into existence in 1923, he joined the first week. He made a rapid rise through the ranks going from Guard to Sergeant to Superintendent in the course of a single week! He remained a Superintendent until he retired in Galway in 1957, apparently having fallen foul of the Garda Commissioner, Eoin O'Duffy. He married three times, had five sons and died in January 1974. He is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery in Dublin.
More Mundane Matters
After these two major items of interest, the year's entries are on the short side, covering fewer pages than normal. The College re-opened on September 10th, with about one hundred boys, fifty of them new. The new Dean of Discipline was Fr. (later Bishop) Bartholomew Wilson back from service as chaplain at the Fronts, where he had been for two years, having been decorated with the Military Medal." The following March, Fr. Daniel Leen takes over the position, after Fr. Wilson becomes ill. There are two lay professors, Mr. Ryan and Mr. J. O'Neill. Rev. Messrs Finn, Egan and White were the new Prefects.
The Intermediate results were notified on September 17th. Rockwell did not do well. There was no exhibition - nine prizes - four in Senior including medal for trigonometry one prize in Middle, four in Junior. The School Retreat commenced on the evening of September 26th and continued until the 30th. The Retreat Master was Fr. M. Ryan (Fr. Francis O.E) a past student of Rockwell. A free day followed the retreat.
It is interesting to read what the boys did on free days. On the day just mentioned, they went for a walk to Cashel. On the day the Intermediate results were announced, they went to Ballycarron on a walk. There was a soiree in the evening. There was another soiree organised by Fr. Muller on December 8th.
There was a change in the regulations on October 9th. As there was a danger of Carbide shortage, the change was made. "Class begins at 9.30 instead of 9. From 9.00 to 9.30, there is a half-hour study. Boys go to bed at 9.30 p.m. instead of 10.00 pm. This regulation takes off a half-hour of gas expenditure."
The Christmas examinations commenced on December 9th and continued until the 19th. The last exam was Arithmetic from 9.00 to 10,30 a.m. During the afternoon, the boys prepared to go home. The results were read out at 5 p.m. "Twelve boys have been kept back for a day on account of unsatisfactory work during the term, and bad results at exams."
Farming Matters
Farming concerns also make their way into the pages of the Journal. We learn on October 9th that 'the new tractor was used today to do the threshing. It was quite a success." Later, on November 15th, we are informed that "An under-steward came today to take charge of the farmyard (poultry, pigs, milch cows etc.) He replaces Brother Canice who has got charge of the Brothers'Refectory."
There were a number of deaths during the year. On November 19th, we are told that Nurse Armstrong had fallen seriously ill and a Nurse Kelly came to replace her. Nurse Armstrong died on December 3rd. "Her death was deplored by all. She had been most efficient, kind and good in her role of nurse here for three years." She was buried on December 5th in the Community Cemetery. Her brother and her two sisters were present at the funeral. "Wreaths were given by the lay-professors and the boys." Brother Edmond died on March 6th "after a long suffering illness." Two days later Brother Tobias died.
End of the Year
The end of the year comes around fast. At the end of April and the beginning of May, we read that Inspectors Ensor and Nicholls came to inspect the Intermediate class. The College exams commenced as early as May 10th and it appears that class resumed when they were over, until the non-Intermediate students departed for the summer on June 13th. The Intermediate exams commenced the day before and continued until June 18th. The students went home on the 19th, with twenty-two remaining behind for the Matriculation exam. The Fathers' Retreat took place from June 23rd to June 30th, followed by the usual dispersal of the Fathers. There are only two entries for August. The first states that only some four Fathers were present during the greater part of the month. The second reads as follows: "Announcement made at Strangers' Mass that there are to be no public Masses henceforth before 8.30 a.m. on Sundays. This had been made necessary by the disorder occasioned through outsiders coming up into the front benches during the Fathers' meditation. Some have been even up in the Organ loft."
Carl Cregan (1946 - 2003)
The Nationalist, January 31, 2003
Carl Cregan, who died in St, Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny on January 24, 2003 was secretary of the Cashet King Cormac’s for three years, 1983-85. During these years he proved himself a most efficient officer. A man of great integrity and honesty, the affairs of the club were in excellent hands during his years in office.
Born in Tipperary Town in 1946, where his father was a Dairy Inspector, and from a very distinguished Limerick hurling family, Carl followed the fortunes of the green and white with passion and enthusiasm. He was willing to argue about their merits and defend them against the most fanatical of Tipperary supporters. But it was all done in a nice way, in line with his innate decency and good heart and, when Limerick were beaten, there was no greater supporter of the Blue and Gold.
His family had moved to Kilkenny in 1958 and Carl was educated in St. Kieran’s College. Afterwards he did hotel management at Shannon, where a contemporary was Liam Griffin. His job in the hotel industry took him to Galway, where he played club hurling, and later to Wales, where he spent a number of years. He came to Cashel in 1979 to manage his brother’s pub.
The pub soon became a Mecca for Cashel King Cormac’s supporters, not only because of the talk of hurling and football but also because Carl filled the greatest pint of Guinness it was possible to get. A perfectionist in everything he did, Carl filled the perfect pint! It had to be waited for and Carl was infinitely patient in waiting for it to settle before it was served. And, before he did that, he carved the most perfect shamrock on its head!
Carl was well-informed and was constantly improving his knowledge. Much of his spare time was spent in reading. He was informed on many matters other than sport and this knowledge was revealed in the quizzes he enjoyed so much.
He remained in Cashel until 1988, when the pub was sold. After that he moved back to Kilkenny, where he worked in Brennan’s Bar in Friary Street. He retained his interest in the fortunes of Cashel King Cormac’s
Carl’s passing is deeply regretted by his brothers Richard and Michael, and sisters Mary, Elsie, Noreen, Maeve and Cora. It is also regretted by the members of the Cashel King Cormac’s and especially by those of us who were close to him when a member of the club. A guard of honour was provided by the members on both days of the funeral and the coffin was draped in the club colours. He was buried in St. Kieran’s Cemetery, Kilkenny after midday Mass on Sunday, January 27. May he rest in peace.
Patrick Kavanagh and the G.A.A.
Munster Intermediate Hurling Final program at Cashel, July 16, 2003
'Go on, our Mickey. Gut yer man. Bog him.'
A football match is in progress in my imagination, and I must admit that I am not a spectator but in there, ploughing all around me, making myself famous in the parish as the man that never 'cowed'. even at the risk of a broken neck.
'Aw Kavanagh, the dhirty eejet.'
'Ho could he be an eejet and him a poet?' one of our supporters replied, and my traducer had no comeback.
The battle raged up and down the raging field.
The team we were playing were a disgusting class of a team, who used every form of psychological warfare. For instance, when one of them was knocked down he rolled on the ground and bawled like a bull a-gelding.
Then there was the time I pulled the ball over the goal-line and a most useless non-playing member of the opposing team kicked it back into play. We argued and there was a normal row. The referee came up and interviewed the non-playing member of the opposition and the man replied: 'I never even saw the ball. Do you think I'd tell a lie and me at Holy Communion this morning?'
What could we say to that?
Of course we had our own methods. We never finished a game if towards the end we were a-batin. We always found an excuse to rise a row and get the field invaded.
Ah, them were the times.
For one year I was virtual dictator of that team, being captain of the team, and secretary and treasurer of the club. There was no means of checking up on my cash, which gave rise to a lot of ill founded suspicion. I remember I kept the money in an attache case under my bed. It is possible that every so often I visited it for the price of a packet of cigarettes, but nothing serious.·
I once went as the club representative to the county board. We had to defend ourselves from a protest against us being awarded a certain game, on the grounds that the list of players wasn't on watermarked Irish paper.
I pointed out that the list was written on the inside of a large Player packet and that Player packets were made in Ireland. This did not impress. Nothing I said impressed, as I hadn't the cliches off.
It took a good deal of conspiring to depose me from my dictatorial post. Members of the team met in secret groups to know what could be done, but as soon as I got wind of the conspiracy I fired every man of them.
In the end they got rid of me, but it was a job.
The man responsible for my deposition was a huge fellow, a blacksmith, a sort of Hindenburg, whose word carried weight. He was a great master of the cliche, but sometimes he broke into originality, as the time we were going for the county final and he wouldn't let us touch a ball for a week previous as he wanted us to be 'ball hungry'.
Ball hungry as we may have been, we lost the match, and I was blamed, for I was 'in the sticks' and let the ball roll through my legs.
The crowd roared in anguish. 'Go home and put an apron on you'. And various other unfriendly remarks were made such as 'Me oul mother would make a better goalie.'
Somebody has said that no man can adequately describe Irish life who ignores the Gaelic Athletic Association, which is true in a way, for football runs women a hard race as a topic of conversation.
The popular newspaper has driven out the football ballad, which at one time gave fairly literal accounts of famous matches:
At half-past two the whistle blew
And the ball it was thrown in,
The hare Murphy saved it and
He kicked it with the wind!
Then there was a ballad singer who used to sing 'The catching and the kicking was mar-veel-e-us for to see.'
After the ballad came the local paper where we were all Trojans in defence and wizards in attack. I once got a lot of kudos from a report which described me as 'incisive around goal'. No one knew the meaning of the word, incisive, but it sounded good.
Recent Publications (2002)
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2003, pp 62-64
There hasn't been a great amount on the club front. Bridget Delaney's The Burgess Story: A GAA History, was mentioned last year but came too late for review. It's a massive tome of over seven hundred pages and is lavishly illustrated, especially in the later period.
Some would say rather too much for a club that isn't far up the ladder of precedence in the county, but that is to forget the role of the GAA in small parishes like Burgess. The GAA is more than a sporting organisation. It is firmly rooted in the life of the parish, giving expression to a people who would otherwise lack it. It touches everyone in the parish.
Seamus O'Riain who launched the GAA history 'The Burgess Story' with author Bridget Delaney at Kilcolman GAA Complex, home of Burgess GAA Club, on November 22nd, 2001
Bridget Delaney recognises this in her book. As Gerry Slevin states it in his introduction: "Bridget realises the link there is between the parish and the GAA and the end product of her mammoth work provides us with an in-depth look at the life of her native parish, the GAA's influence on it and, in turn, the response of the parish to the way in which the GAA influence has seeped through it".
As well as a writer, Bridget Delaney is a photographer and this is another strength of the book. In the opening chapter which gives an account of the history of the parish, she includes photographs of views and scenes, holy wells and graveyards, churches and historic remains in the parish. This visual account of what is to be found in the parish of Burgess brings the place to life in a way that the written word could not. The pictures continue all through the book.
The book is a credit to the author, who was a worthy recipient of a McNamee Award earlier in the year for the best club history. She was very lucky with her printers, The Nenagh Guardian, who did an excellent job on the history. The book is a great record of the games that have been the sporting life of the people of Burgess for well over one hundred years. It's a great tribute to the commitment and workrate of Bridget Delaney, and the club are greatly indebted to her for a monumental achievement. (Available from the club at €20 plus
postage).
If you want to buy the GAA history of the Moyne-Templetuohy club it's going to cost you €130, and the price does not include two tickets for next year's All-Ireland! The reason for the hefty price is that the history is part of a wider publication, Moyne-Templetuohy -A Life of its Own
- The Story of a Tipperary Parish, which was launched at the end of October.
Stretching to three volumes, about 1600 A4 size pages, at least one million words and over 2000 illustrations, the work is a mammoth production, the fruits of ten years of persistence and commitment from a dedicated history committee. It's a credit to the people involved and to the parish.
Included in volume three of the work is a chapter entitled The Century of Sport by Willie Butler. The format of the chapter is informed by the sentiments expressed in the opening paragraph:
"Long before the Gaelic revival began in the last two decades of the 19th century, the parish of Mayne and Templetuohy enjoyed a great diversity of sporting activity. Not all the sports that were played would have found favour with the founding fathers of the GM Archbishop Croke had deplored the 'putting on, with England's stuffs and broadcloths, her masher habits and such effeminate follies as she may recommend.' Such 'effeminate follies' as tennis, hockey and cricket existed side by side with the national pastimes of hurling, football and athletics in the parish and centred largely on the Big House at Longorchard.
Indeed the clash of civilisations that was in progress nationally appears to have been remote from the sporting life of Moyne and Templetuohy. The Power Lalors made no distinction between specifically 'English' pastimes and the native pastimes of hurling and athletics which, according to leaders of the Gaelic revival, were to be part of the process of de-anglicising Ireland".
The chapter is a lengthy one, one hundred and thirty-two pages, and the history of the GAA is interspersed with other sporting activities, particularly athletics and coursing. Athletics flourished in the parish and an advertisement that appeared in the Tipperary Star in the nineteen-twenties includes a verse, which reflects their place in the parish:
Though Matt the Thrasher's with the blest
And Knocknagow is gone,
But with the gallant men of Tipp
His sport lingers on;
The manly games your fathers loved,
The sprint, the lofty bound,
Come live again, its glory past
At Mayne 's Athletic Ground.
The tradition continues with Aisling Maher taking a bronze medal in 2001 in the European Games Special Olympics. Tom Carroll of Moyneard played with Thurles in the first All-Ireland. Jack Quinn and his brother, Michael, were on the Rockwell College team that won the first Harty Cup final in 1918. Tom Butler captained Thurles CBS to victory in the 1950 Harty Cup final.
The club was occasionally in trouble with the Mid and County boards. In the early 1950s both the footballers and the hurlers got into trouble for actions on the field of play. The author quotes from a Tipperary Star reporter: "As an exhibition of hurling this game was a thing of 'shreds and patches' devoid of any vestige of merit ".
The great county senior hurling final triumph of 1971 gets comprehensive coverage and the account includes the song that was composed in honour of the famous victory: "Then hurrah for Moyne and 'Tuohy/ Our great hurlers one and all".
There were also a number of controversies that tended to drag on. The 'Michael Coen' affair about his eligibility to play with Borrisileigh, and the controversy following the amalgamation
of the hurling and football clubs in 1991, dragged on for years.
Willie Butler deals with them all in an impartial manner. In fact his account is eminently readable with the introduction of appropriate quotations from contemporary accounts, which add to the flavour of the work.
Probably the best book of the year, and the best hurling book for a long time, is Hooked by Justin McCarthy, which was published by Gill and Macmillan and launched at Cork in April. Written in conjunction with Kieran Shannon, it runs to 246 pages and retails for €14.95.
It is an engrossing autobiography of a man, who is steeped in hurling and has a rich tapestry of hurl ng experience to draw on, not only in club and in county, but outside Cork as well. Passionately committed to the game and immensely well informed on hurling in all its aspects, it's a wonderful production.
What gives the book its particular attraction is the personal story that is told through its pages with a directness and a total absence of false modesty or any kind of coyness. The whole story is informed with a passion and self belief that in others might appear a case of hubris but in McCarthy 's case, is substantiated by his record. McCarthy is an original thinker on the game. One commentator has described the book thus: " It is a life of achievement and vaulting ambition, of conflicts and controversies and a relationship with the game which borrows something from passion, something from fanaticism. In hurling McCarthy has been all things and it has been all things to him".
What gives zest to the pages is the account of McCarthy's fraught relationship with the Cork county board and its most influential figure, Frank Murphy. Over the years McCarthy has been disliked and distrusted by the establishment in Cork. He was an independent thinker, who was not afraid to speak his mind.
The book reads wonderfully well, Shannon 's ghost writing perfectly matching the outpourings of McCarthy's memory, and is divided into thirty chapters, each of which reads as an entity in itself but also contributes to the overall effect of a wonderful book.
A splendid book is Munster Hurling Legends by Eamonn Sweeney. Published by the O' Brien Press for €20, this book has to be a winner. Covering seven decades of the greatest teams, players and games in Munster since the thirties, it have excellent evocative pictures, which capture an era of hurling life in the province that seems a long time past. The book would live for the pictures alone. The very first one of the spectators at the 1934 Munster semi-final at Thurles, a predominantly male body with heads covered in hats, caps, handkerchiefs and newspapers, and not a flag in sight, is totally removed from today's crowd. The book is divided into ten chapters with each chapter highlighted by the greatest player from that period, Mick Mackey, Jack Lynch, John Doyle, Christy Ring, etc. The author writes on the GAA for the Cork Examiner and is a broadcaster also.
A number of other books of national interest have hit the shelves for the Christmas market. Many readers may have listened to the RTE radio series, Hurling's Top 20, by Colm Keane, who is a senior producer with the station. Inevitably a book to go with the series has been published, in this case by Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh. The book contains profiles of twenty hurlers from Jack Lynch to DJ Carey told through conversations with the players, with linking passages. The highlights of the player's career and an account of his achievements are included. The profiles run to about ten pages each and are written in a lively manner.
Tipperary get a good number of entries, with profiles of Tony Reddin, John Doyle, Jimmy Doyle and Nicky English. Cork also get four in Jack Lynch, Christy Ring, Ray Cummins and Jimmy Barry-Murphy. Kilkenn y have three, Eddie Keher, Noel Skehan and DJ Carey, Wexford two, Billy Rackard and Tony Doran, Waterford two, John Keane and Tom Cheasty, Offaly two, Joe Dooley and Brian Whelahan, and Limerick, Clare and Galway have one each, Mick Mackey, Jimmy Smyth and Joe Cooney, respectively.
The author admits there are no definitive measuring devices for establishing the credentials of legendary hurling stars. He goes on to outline some simple measures for establishing greatness in sport: "exceptional skills, ability to take control and to influence the outcome of events, strength on the playing field, unselfishness, longevity in the game and concern for fellow players all form part of the test". Ultimately, however, he admits that the selection he has made is a subjective one even if it has been informed by hundreds of conversations with former and current players. (The book costs €12.99).
Brendan Fullam has been writing interesting hurling books for quite some time and his current one is called Captains of the Ash, which was launched in the Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny on November 11. Published by Merlin-Wolfhound Press it retails for €15.
The book, which covers 320 pages includes profiles of seventy-seven personalities, including six from the field of camogie, every one of whom was the captain of a team, mostly of All Ireland teams. Not every All-Ireland winning captain has been included as some have already been cove red in earlier books by Fullam.
The breakdown by county is as follows: Kilkenny have fourteen, including Andy Comerford; Tipperary have thirteen , going back as far as Jim Stapleton: in fact the back dust cover of the book has a fine photograph of Michael Murphy, the 1964 captain, leading out his men against Clare in the 1964 Munster championship; Cork also have thirteen, Limerick eight, Wexford 7, Dublin 5, Waterford, Galway, Offaly and Clare three each, Antrim two , and London and Kerry one each. As well as text the book includes over eighty photograph s. Anyone who is familiar with the quality of Fullam's work will put this book in the 'must buy' category.
Tom Morrisson has written widely on GAA matters, particularly relating to Cork, but has now produced a work that will fill a glaring gap on most GAA shelves. He has produced a history of
the National Leagues in hurling and football , 1926-2002, and every Gael will thank him for his research and his effort. Stretching to 416 pages and published by the Collins Press, Cork in flexi paperback, the book retails at the very reasonable price of €17.95.
In 1926 Cork hurlers and Laois footballers won the first ever national league titles. Since then all thirty-two counties, plus New York, have played in either a league semi-final or final. Starting with the first finals the book gives an account of over 180 games, the line-out of the finalists and, where possible, a photograph of the winning team. This latter point is a tremendous strength of the book and a tribute to the research of the author. Where the photograph of the winning team was not available, the author uses a photograph of the county panel from the year.
The format of the book is good, divided into chapters according to decades. Each final is given two pages which includes an account of the game, the line-outs of the finalists and the photograph of the winning side.
In the early days the league had no final with the top of the table at the end of the series being declared the winner. Tipperary's first league win was in 1927 - they weren't to win again until 1949 - and the team that drew with Dublin at Thurles in their final game was as follows:
Tom Butler, Stephen Moloney, John Leahy, Mick Ryan, Billy Small, JJ Hayes, Phil Purcell, Mick Darcy, Phil Cahill , Pat O'Dwyer, Martin Kennedy, Tommy Treacy, Pat Leahy, John Joe Callanan,
Mick Cronin.
The book concludes with the roll of honour in both leagues. Kerry lead with sixteen victories in football , followed by Mayo with eleven. Interestingly New York have three finals to their credit, 1950, 1964, 1967. In all sixteen, including New York, counties have won football titles. Tipperary head the table in hurling with eighteen victories, followed by Cork with fourteen. Ten counties have won hurling titles. Tipperary's John Doyle, with eleven medals, is the holder of the greatest number of individual titles.
An unusual publication is a short memoir by Alf MacLochlainn entitled From Tipperary to Joseph's Prairie: the story of Joseph Ryan, the Seventh Man in Hayes's Hotel. Containing twenty-four pages it is a limited edition of 150 copies and sells at €5. It is available at Eason's in Clonmel and Lar na Pairce.
Not associated much with the GAA after its foundation in 1884, Ryan was a man of two lives: "One of these lives was that of a young professional man, with a practice in Tipperary and vicinity, married and raising a family there; the other is that of a voluble, articulate, life and-
soul of the party in a small town on the Canadian frontier".
His grand-daughter is married to the author of this memoir. Ryan was born at Carrick-on-Suir in 1857 and died at Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada in 1918.
John Scally, who wrote Raising the Banner, has a new publication. Sporting Foot and Mouth is a book of sporting quotes, many of them from the world of the GAA. Published by Blackwater Press, it sells for €12.99.
It contains some funny quotes from commentaries from Micheal O Muircheartaigh, including the one about Pat Fox and the dog. Some of the quotes are apocryphal but that makes the book all the better.
It's about time somebody wrote about Sean Boylan. The Boylan Years: One Man, One Team, Twenty Years is edited by Liam Hayes and looks at the career of Boylan as Meath football manager. It is based on interviews with over fifty players spanning Boylan's long-running tenure. Boylan won more than any other contemporary manager except Mick O'Dwyer. His haul includes four All lrelands, three NFL and eight Leinster titles. He was named Manager of the Year in 1999. The book is published by Carr and Hayes, the publishing firm of Liam Hayes and Tommy Carr, and sells for €25.99.
My final book would probably not be used for bedside reading, unless, of course, one were suffering from insomnia. Strategic Review: Enhancing Community Identity, published by Costar Association with no price attached, runs to 264 pages. It is the result of a detailed analysis of the present stage of the GAA and a series of recommendations on how it should face the future. As this is being written the 'Strategic Review' is being discussed and debated in GAA circles up and down the country, and the debate culminated on the weekend of October 25/26. Unfortunately for the future of the organisation virtually every recommendation of substance was thrown out, referred to the implementation committee or just wearily withdrawn by the advocates, who included three of the last four presidents of the Association, Peter Quinn, Joe McDonagh and in incumbent, Sean McCague.
Sounding Off
Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook 2003, p 51
I suppose the year will be remembered for the way Cork GAA officials got away with it. It can be put no other way: Cork senior football management introduced six substitutes in the replayed Munster final and Munster Council let them away with it.
Five months earlier, in a drawn league game against Sligo, Kildare mistakenly introduced a substitute having used their permitted quota of twenty players, including a set of blood substitutes, just as Cork did against Tipperary on July 21.
When Kildare came to defend themselves before the General Activities Committee they claimed that a punishment for using more than the permitted twenty players only applied when a team exceeded the number of ordinary substitutions. GAC disagreed stating it applied to the total number of substitutions, and Kildare were forced to forfeit a league point.
When Cork came to defend themselves at the Munster CounciI meeting on the Wednesday following the replay they used the same defence as Kildare. They admitted they introduced six subs, John Miskella, Michael Cronin , Colin Crowley, Alan Quirke, Diarmuid O'Sullivan and Noel
O'Donovan, but that the first five were ordinary substitution s while the last, Noel O'Donovan, was a blood substitute. The Cork representatives claimed they hadn't broken the rule on substitutions because they hadn't exceeded the number of ordinary substitutions. And, they got away with it and didn't forfeit the game, as the Munster Council said that they found no penalty specified under rule for inadvertently breaching the blood substitute rule.
It was a case of different interpretations of the rule and one would have thought that that of the senior body's, the GAC, ought to have been the definitive one.
Admittedly there was the other matter of Tipperary's stance at the Munster Council hearing: the county was against being awarded the title, having been trounced by nineteen points, and didn't want Cork to forfeit the title which, according to the rule, they should have.
However that may be, the rule had been broken and some punishment should have been imposed. Even if Tipperary hadn't wanted to accept the winners medals or trophy, that didn't mean that Cork should have got them. The title could have been left vacant. Tipperary could have quaIified for the All-Ir eland quarter-finals while Cork could have played Mayo in the fourth round qualifier. Justice would have been done.
Since then the GAC have issued a directive that their interpretation is the correct one and that the Munster Council decision was wrong. Still, until the rule is tightened up it will remain open to the interpretation of Cork CAA officials. In that event, allowing blood substitutions outside the allotted five substitutions, the flood gates could be opened, allowing teams to introduce as many blood substitutions as they wished. It would be very easy to fake such substitutions in order to get fresh legs on the the field at critical moments. Instead of calling on players to
lie down , as was done in the days before the number of substitutions was limited, they wouId be ca led upon to scratch themselves and start bleeding!
Another example of the what the correct interpretation of the rule is was shown in the suspension of Na Fianna, the reigning Dublin football champions, in October. In their quarter-final clash with Raheny on October 26, they used six substitutes, five regulars and a sixth player, Gerry Gray, as a blood replacement for Stephen McGlinchey.
The GAC of the Dublin County Board, after examining the referee's report, disqualified Na Fianna from this year's championship because the penalty for such an offence is automatic forfeiture of the game.
The whole incident confirms the public perception of the absolutely masterfuI cunning of Cork CAA officials , when it comes to the interpretation of the GAA rule book. One recalls the survival of Diarmuid O'Sullivan in June 2000 after having apparently struck Limerick's Brian Begley off the ball in the Munster hurling semi-final. The other case the same year was in the All-Ireland minor football semi-final against Derry. Kieran Murphy of Cork was yellow carded twice without receiving the mandatory red. Cork won by a point. In their defence, Cork claimed the referee had initially carded Murphy for his first offence, before reassessing it back to a tick. Their version of events prevailed at the subsequent hearing.
I suppose it could be said Cork have a lot of experience. The three only substitution rule was introduced in the mid- fifties but took some time to be effective. In the Munster semi-final against Cork at Limerick on June 22, 1958, Cork introduced five substitutes. They were: J. Twomey for E. Goulding , E. Goulding for P. Fitzgerald, W. Barry for J. Lyons, J. Lyons for W. Barry, W. Barry for J. Lyons. A bit of chopping and changing alright, but five substitutions
nonetheless.
There was much speculation at the time as to what the position would have been if Tipperary had lost (As it was they won by two points). Would an objection have been upheld? Apparently it wouldn 't have been as no penalty had been laid down for the breaking of the new substitution rule.
At the time the Tipperary representatives were encouraged to raise the matter at the Munster CounciI. It was stated that if teams were allowed to do what Cork did in the Munster semi-fina l then the position as regards substitutes would be worse than previously, when players were able to come off for a breather and go back on again.
Things never really change!