History of Hurling before the G.A.A.
First heard on KCLR Radio, June 2021
Hurling is an ancient game stretching back into pre-history. The earliest recorded reference to the game is the Battle of Moytura, Cong, Co. Mayo. The Tuatha de Danaan arrived in Ireland and took on the Firbolgs looking for half of Ireland. A four-day battle started on June 11, 1272 AD. At some stage the sides took time out for a game of hurling.The Firbolgs won the game but lost the battle. We have little knowledge as to what kind of game it was except we are told that three times nine Firbolgs took on the same number of Tuatha de Danaan.
Later in mythology we learn that Cúchulainn hurled the ball to shorten the journey to his uncle, Conor Mac Nessa, in Eamain Macha. He came across a crowd of youth hurling and joined in the game, beat the lot of them and scored a goal by carrying the ball through a loop. It appears the goal was a looped stick with the ends stuck in the ground and the goal was scored by running through the loop. Other than that we don’t know how large the field was, how many players were a-side, what kind of a ball was used.
Our next stop is the eighteenth century, which is known as the Golden Age of Hurling, when the game reached an almost professional level. The landlords became the patrons of the game and organised teams from among their tenants to play other landlord teams for substantial wagers.
One of the most extraordinary of these hurlers was Dudley Cosby of Stradbally, Co. Laois. How many attending the Electric Picnic there will realise that an ancestor of the owner in the seventeenth century was described thus:
He danced on the ropes as well as any rope dancer that ever was. He was a fine tennis and five player, a most extraordinary fine hurler and very fond of all these things, and practised them very much when he was young and able.
Lord John Cuffe of Dysart, Co. Kilkenny kept an excellent hurling team, colourfully turned out and took an active part in the ‘great hurlings’ of the mid-18th century. He and other landlords and gentry in Kilkenny and Tipperary, notably Butlers, Smiths, Williams, Campions, Longs and Purcells, patronised the game.
Baron Purcell of Loughmore, Thurles had a team of hurlers. His castle can be seen from the train near Templemore as one travels towards Dublin . There is a field near the castle where games of hurling are reputed to have been played. On one side there is an artificial mound that is believed to have been built to facilitate viewing of the game.
It is difficult to imagine the game that was played at the time. The sides had 21 players, divided into three groups of seven, the culbaire that protected the goal, the phalanx of heavier men, who moved the ball forward, and the whips & flies that gathered the ball and soloed through the goal. It was in many ways similar to the modern game of rugby.
There was no goalkeeper and a goal was scored by carrying the ball through the loop that formed the goal. There was no ground hurling as we know it and no rising of the ball. It could be caught in the hand from the air.. The team that scored the first goal won the game. Often the match was decided by the team that won two of three games.
The Golden Age of Hurling assumes a favourable relationship between landlords and tenants, far removed from the stories we learned at school of life under the penal Laws during the same period. This good relationship came to an end at the end of the 18th century.
There were a number of reasons for the dramatic change. One of these was the European phenomenon of the abandonment of popular culture by the nobility. One authority gives a vivid account of this development:
The nobles were adopting more ‘polished’ manners, a new and more self-conscious style of behaviour, modelled on the courtesy books . . . Noblemen were learning to exercise self-control, to behave with a studied nonchalance, to cultivate a sense of style and to move in a dignified manner as if engaging in a formal dance. . . Noblemen stopped eating in great halls with their retainers and withdrew into separate dining-rooms . . . They stopped wrestling with their peasants, as they used to do in Lombardy, and they stopped killing bulls in public as they used to do in Spain. The noblemen learned to speak and write ‘correctly’ according to formal rules and to avoid technical terms and the dialect words used by craftsmen and peasants.
One can imagine the change in Ireland – a Cosby or a Purcell coming to the conclusion that they were superior persons, and their need to avoid contamination from the ‘people’. Mixing with retainers in a game of hurling was no longer possible. Even riding up and down the field wielding a whip during a game and keeping the yokels in check was no longer the done thing. Placing wagers and sharing the barrell of ale after the game would be completely detrimental to the new image.
Another reason for the change was that such gatherings for hurlings, as advertised in the newspapers, might be suspected of seditious undertones in the changing political climate of the last years of the century. This had come about as a result of Whiteboy activity and later the United Irishmen and the Rising of 1798. The developments in Wexford and the south-east destroyed the political relationship between landlord and tenant. Another aspect of the events was the great slaughter of thousands of men of hurling age in the south-east. The Act of Union and the Napoleonic wars altered the way of life of many landlords, turning them into absentees and bringing to an end the great days of barony hurling and landlord patronage.
All of these changes and developments left the game of hurling without the leadership and patronage it required. The spread of Sunday Observance was another damper on the game. Gradually the Catholic Church adopted the Sabbatarianism of the Protestant churches and began to frown on games on Sunday as something frivolous and a waste of time. As a result the clergy, who might have taken up the leadership abandoned by the landlords, left the people to fend for themselves.
The Great Famine was another disaster for the national pastimes. The drop in national morale and the destruction of a rural society in many areas, caused a dramatic decline in traditional pastimes. The Kilkenny Young Irelander, J. T. Campion, deplored the passing of the old sports in 1857. Twenty years later A. M. Sullivan, the Home Rule M.P., recalling the effect of the Famine on the ordinary people, wrote:
Their ancient sports and pastimes everywhere disappeared and in many parts . . . have never returned. The outdoor games, the hurling match are seen no more.
Michael Doheny offers other reasons for the decline of the game: ‘first, the introduction of the dance drew down on the hurling the opposition of the priest. In some instances, too, of late, family and faction fights are renewed in hurling, which still more imperatively called for the reprobation of the clergy. And finally, . . . the disinclination of the farmers to allow the hurling on their grazing lands.’
And finally P. F. O’Brien wrote this on the eve of 1884: ‘The most of the hurlers are now beyond the Atlantic wave and the remainder go whistling vacantly around the roads at home. Our schoolboys have permanently settled down to cricket, but our farmers sons no longer interest themselves in the rounding of the boss or the feel of a hockey.’
We have to thank Michael Cusack for recognising the perilous state of the game in the early 1880s and the need to do something about reviving it. It wasn’t by any means extinct and there were places where is continued to be played. The Killimor Rules are testament of its strength in some places. But overall it was declining and unless it was organised and regulated it was in danger of disappearing altogether.
Early Memories of School
First appeared in mooscealta.ie in April 2021.
As far as I know I went to school for the first time in 1942. I was four years old in August of that year and it was only logical that I should get my first introduction a month later when the schools opened after the summer holidays. My sister, Maura, two years older, was already there and my mother was teaching infants, first and second classes in the two-teacher school at Redwood.
Born in Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Co. Tipperary the school was four miles away, whether one turned left outside our gate and went via Redwood or took a left and went via Grange and Ballinacor. The alternative was to go across the fields by which route the journey was about two and a half miles.
My mother had a car but rationing had come in in June 1942 and petrol was available only to people engaged in essential services and even for them the allowance was miserly. And teaching wasn’t regarded as an essential service. My mother would have normally cycled to school but with Maura, and now me, travelling across the fields, she came along to take care of us.
That journey was a very pleasant one in the summer time. It was by a long-established Mass path that stretched from Ballymacegan to Redwood Chapel. It commenced closer to the River Shannon at Paddy Hough’s house over a mile into Wellington’s farm. There were seven children in the Hough family and they used the same path to go to Mass and school. Paddy was a great man to forecast the weather for the day, better than the Radio Eireann Met report. If he carried the coat on the carrier of the bike, it was certain to rain.
We joined the Mass path a couple of hundred yards from our house and it went across seven different fields until it reached the road, where the church and school were located side by side. Along the way we went through gates, across small bridges and climbed over styles. We crossed a small stream in one place in which the water flowed clearly over a gravel bed. It was a favourite stopping place for a cold drink as we made our way home on sunny afternoons. We lay on our bellies and lapped the water like dogs or cattle. Further along the way as we crossed a style from Glennon’s field into Kenny’s, we stepped on a Mass rock. This was a large granite rock, probably a couple of ton weight with a recognisable cross carved on it. It remained there until the 1980s, when Fr. Martin Ryan, P.P. had it removed to a new location beside the altar in the church. The removal was carried out, according to him, to preserve it from the elements and to make it more visible to the congregation.
As we went through the last of the fields we could see the Kenny mansion on the right hand side. It was a house of many parts with a lot of valleys linking the parts together. Rumour said it was a damp house. For us it had one great asset, a bamboo grove, from which we cut our fishing rods. It also had a fine garden, where my mother used to get gooseberries and blackcurrants for making jam. The garden also had a glass house where tomatoes were grown, a fruit that generally wasn’t part of the ordinary fare at the time. Victor Kenny and his wife had two daughters, who were good horsewomen. One of them caused a bit of sensation one Sunday morning when she rode past the church in full regalia as the congregation came out of Mass.
Travelling by Ass & Cart
As I grew older I remember racing home after school at 3 o’clock in summertime and never stopping until I got there. In winter time it was a different experience as the fields were wet, cart tracks had to be traversed and overflowing streams walked through. And this was the time before the advent of rubber boots, or Wellingtons as they were known. Our best footwear was untreated leather boots that let in the water and left us with wet feet. I remember Tilly Nevin, a woman who used to work for us, drying out the boots by the fire in the evenings and putting creosote or some blacking liquid on the leather in order to try to seal them.
One winter, it must have been 1947, the fields were so wet as to be impassable. An alternative way of getting us to school had to be found. The cars were still off the road so we borrowed an ass and cart and we – Maura, Marjorie and myself – travelled in style to school for a couple of months! Now, the ass was a disaster. My father would give him a few belts of a stick as we set off in order to frighten him along the way but as soon as we were gone a few hundred yards he forgot about the beating and reverted to his slow pace. We got one bit of relief on this painful journey. If we were lucky that our journey coincided with that of Johnny Nevin at Grange Cross, as he travelled to work at Watters of Ballinacor, we got some relief. Whatever Johnny shouted at the ass, he used take off like the hammers of hell as if the sound of his voice exposed some primeval fear . But, as soon as Johnny left us the ass reverted to his tortoise pace. I remember one evening trying the gee him up on the way home and getting down on the shaft of the car to give him a few kicks in the stomach, and tearing my trousers in the process, but I might as well be kicking a wall. Anyway we eventually got to the school and having let off my two sisters I drove down the road to Jim Sammons house and untackled the ass for the day there. I was allowed to leave the school at 2-45 pm to tackle him and have him ready for the journey home. When I think back I wonder how long did the journey take but I suppose none of us was in a great hurry at that time.
Redwood school had been built in 1939 and it replaced one that had only been built in the 1920s, which itself had replaced an earlier one at Redwood Castle. It was a two-teacher, mixed, school built in the style of so many of them at the time, three big windows in the front of each room, flooding the place with light and air. It was located about 100 metres from Redwood Chapel, which also had equally big windows. Whoever designed and located the school gave little consideration to the popular game in the area, hurling. From the time it opened, the game of hurling was banned because of the fear of breaking windows. The game that was played was called Peg ball, a game I never heard of since. Instead of using hurleys to hit it, the ball was pegged or thrown to one another and the game was played as a hurling game might with goalies, backs and forwards. The ball itself was a makeshift thing made out of cloth and sewn together into a ball-sized object. We had matches every day of great intensity and a final on the last day of term. There was no reward except bragging rights for winning but we always wanted to win. I lost one final and, as the winning captain roared down the field in jubilation after the call to come in, I couldn’t take it, ran after him and tripped him. He got up balling, ran in and told the teacher, and I got four of the best. But, it was worth it! Well: At the time!
Description
The rooms were big and airy, looking out onto sunny days. But they could be cold in the winter. The only heating was a small fire grate in one corner, near which was the teacher’s desk. We all had to bring sods of turf to school to keep the fire going. On really cold mornings the teacher would bring up three or four of the children at a time and have them warm their hands in the front of the fire even though it was small and gave out little heat. There was no electricity in the school so it wasn’t possible to plug an electric fire into a power supply. There were cloakrooms for coats etc but the toilets, which were dry closets, were down the yard, There was no such thing as toilet paper and the closets were shovelled out during the summer. My sister recalls that at a certain time of the year the closets crawled with worms and she was scared they would climb up to greet her as she completed her toilet actions. The girls’ cloakrooms, toilets and yard were separate and the boys and girls had no contact with each other outside of the classroom
The school yard was concreted but the builders must have skimped on the cement because already it had cracked and ravelled and was covered in small stones and bits of concrete, quite dangerous of you fell on it. At the bottom of the yard was an open shed, which provided the minimum protection from rain or shelter from cold.
It was in this shed that I had my first real fight during my later years. I can’t remember what started it but I remember standing up and facing my opponent quite confident of putting him away. However, before I was well into position I got the belt of a fist on each side of the face and was flummoxed. I pulled back but was egged on by the boys and rushed in for revenge. As I did I got two more smackers, one on each side of the face again, which put an end to my enthusiasm and I conceded defeat with a bruised face and a greatly injured ego.
Teachers
Corporal punishment was the accepted form of punishment. I got no special treatment from my mother. I often thought that she was more severe on me than the other children. Perhaps it was for my good but I believe that she had a fear she might be accused of being partial to her own and was stricter with us.
Later, when I got to third class I went to the next room to a Miss Margaret McCormack, who came from County Roscommon. She was unmarried and lived nearby with her sister, Agnes, also unmarried. Miss McCormack was always in poor health and missed many days through illness. In fact she had to retire early because she had used up all her sick days. She suffered from a severe case of bronchitis, She used to come to school all wrapped up, particularly in winter. One of her usual protections against the cold was a sheet of brown paper covering her chest inside her coat. She was always coughing and sometimes went into spasms in trying to get up phlegm, which she collected into rags rather than dainty hankies.. And, of course she was always cross as a result. Her one good point was the lovely cocoa she made for us at lunchtime during winter.
We had substitute teachers regularly and one of the most frequent was a Miss Quinn from County Down. Her IrIsh was very poor and the classes suffered as a result. We all had to do the Primary Certificate at the end of sixth class, when we were examined in Irish, English and Maths. I recall getting the full 200 marks in Maths but only 80 in Irish. When I went to St. Flannan’s College, Ennis for secondary school, I was at a disadvantage as many of the classes were taught in Irish.
At the time few children went to secondary school.. Many of those who did went boarding as I did to St. Flannan’s, which was the Diocesan College for Killaloe, the diocese we were in. The girls went to convent boarding schools. My sister, Maura, went to the Sisters of Mercy in Loughrea. There was no day-secondary school nearby. There were Vocational Schools in Portumna, Birr and Borrisokane and some children went to these.
Was I happy at Primary School? I don’t really remember. I think most of us put up with the experience as part of growing up like working on the farm or doing chores around the house. There was little change in the yearly routine. I remember we all got injections at some stage. We were prepared for First Communion and Confirmation. For the latter we were confirmed by Dr. Fogarty, the oldest bishop ever in the Irish Episcopate at 51 years, who made this confirmation in the parish his final one as a bishop because of his friendship with Canon Molony, P.P. Confirmation was a big occasion, taking place every three years, and it stretched over two days. On day one the candidates were examined in their catechism by the Bishop, if you were one of the bright ones, and by the Diocesan Examiner if you were less so. It was an expensive time for the parents, especially of girls, who had to have two outfits, a coat and hat for the examination and a white dress and veil for the confirmation. During Lent we went up to the Church every day for the Stations of the Cross. At another time we were screened for T.B. A photographer came for a day and took all our photographs. Most of us got trained to be altar boys to serve Mass at 9.30 am on Sundays in the church nearby. And the priest used to visit us once a week and check our catechism. These were little changes in a fixed , unchanging, school routine.
About One Minute to get Rid of the G.A.A. Ban 50 Years Ago!
First Published April 2021
‘The Ban passed away at 11.45 am in the Whitla Hall, Queen’s University, Belfast yesterday. Only one voice, that of one of the oldest delegates, Mr. Lar Brady of Laois, was raised in protest after the president, Mr. Pat Fanning, formally declared that Rule 27 had been deleted from the G.A.A. Rule Book.”
So reported Raymond Smith on the front page of the Irish Independent on Monday, April 12, 1971. He went on to add that ‘A show of hands was not taken as representatives of 30 of the 32 counties, at their county conventions, already had indicated clearly that they wanted the rule to go and, as Mr. Fanning said, he did not believe there was any need for discussion. The process took about one minute. Far from the electric and explosive atmosphere that some outside G.A.A. circles had anticipated, the Ban died quietly and with dignity.’
As well as Rule 27, which was abolished on the proposition of Con Shortt of Armagh and seconded by Tom Woulfe, Dublin (who for many years had advocated the abolition of the rule), went Rule 28, vigilance committees, and Rule 29, which prevented G.A.A. clubs including foreign dances at social functions. Rule 26, which prevented members of the British forces and police from being members of the G.A.A., also on the clár remained. The motion calling for its abolition wasn’t even moved, perhaps because of the escalating trouble in Northern Ireland at the time.
Tipperary in Agreement
At the Tipperary county convention at Thurles on January 31 under the chairmanship of Seamus Ó Riain, the delegates decided to abolish the Ban. John O’Grady (Moycarkey-Borris), who for many years had called for its abolition, proposed the abolition of Rule 27, which debarred G.A.A. members from playing or attending soccer, rugby, hockey or cricket games, and Rule 28, which set up vigilance committees to enforce Rule 27. The motion was seconded by S. O’Dwyer of Thurles Fennellys. There was little debate and only two opposition speakers, and a show of hands revealed a majority of 134 to 57 in favour of abolition. The abolition of Rule 29, which forbade G.A.A. clubs from running non-Irish dances, was proposed by Michael Ryan of Arravale Rovers and passed by a large majority. Another motion from Arravale Rovers to abolish Rule 26, which debarred members of the British forces from membership of the G.A.A., was withdrawn.
Delegates representing the county at congress in Belfast on the weekend of 10-11 April were as follows: county chairman, Seamus Ó Riain, and county secretary, Tomás Ó Baróid,
North division, Hubie Hogan & Martin O’Connor, South division, Phil O’Shea & Jimmy Collins, Mid division, John O’Grady & Michael Small, West division, Michael Maguire & Jimmy Hennessy. While most of them travelled to Belfast by car or train, the North delegates flew from Shannon Airport to Belfast. Jimmy Collins drove to Dublin and took the train from there. He recalls getting up early the first morning and going for a walk down Sandy Row, without incident! He remembers a great concert on Saturday night, which included the Chieftains.
Abolished with Ease
The ease with which the Ban was abolished at the congress came as a major surprise to most people but the public attitude towards it had changed dramatically in the three years since it last appeared on the congress clár in 1968. It was defeated by 220 votes to 80 on that occasion but, though it wasn’t realised at the time, it was the beginning of the end for the Ban. The congress did make a gesture to those who wanted its removal by setting up a committee to examine it but since the members were chosen from the pro-Ban central committee, it was regarded with a certain scepticism. Former secretary of Down County Board, Maurice Hayes, commented that the composition of the committee was ‘rather like the Unionist Party appointing a committee of ex-Grand Masters to discuss the validity of the Orange order.’ During the years leading up to 1971 in spite of some strong defence of the Ban, the general trend was for its abolition. The committee set up to examine the Ban reported in November 1970 and agreed that the Ban should stay, that ‘it was an outward sign of the association’s exclusively and national motivation’ and that it should be retained for practical and idealistic reasons: ‘If Rule 27 were removed this would weaken the idealistic motive which inspires so many people to give voluntary service to the G.A.A. By its demand for exclusive allegiance to a National course, the G.A.A. claims an attribute that no mere sporting organisation can claim. This puts its games above other sports – games with a mission – and it would be foolish to allow that patriotic motive to be reduced.’
However, fewer G.A.A. followers were willing to subscribe to such lofty ideals. In the same year as the committee reported, there were demonstrations against the South African rugby team in Dublin and the G.A.A. Ban was compared with apartheid on the Late Late Show. The Ban was seen as discriminatory as the practices in some Dublin golf clubs against Jews and women. It was also likened to the Berlin Wall. All-Ireland footballer and Government Minister, Sean Flanagan, expressed the opinion that that G.A.A. would become ‘an empire without citizens’ if it didn’t remove the Ban. There were protests against the Ban outside Croke Park for the Leinster football final of 1970. A motion passed at the 1970 congress called on all clubs and county boards to put forward their views on the Ban before the next congress. If the pro-Ban people were hoping that the grass roots would come down in favour of the status quo, they were badly disillusioned. A substantial majority of clubs and counties came out in favour of removing the Ban and thirty out of the thirty two counties had motions in favour of removing Rule 27 at congress. As if anticipating the outcome of the congress a picture appeared in the Irish Independent some months before the event showing Mick O’Connell standing in a crowd at a soccer match!
The expectation was best expressed by Mitchel Cogley, sports editor of the Irish Independent in an opinion piece on the front page of the newspaper on the Saturday morning of congress weekend: ‘The matter has been comprehensively threshed out at club and county level over the past few months, with an overwhelming majority at all levels for the removal of the Ban . . . it would appear that the Ban must go! . . . If it is not then what price DEMOC(K)RACY?’
Evolution of the Ban
The Ban didn’t spring full blown into existence but the first intimations of the rule came as early as 1885 when the G.A.A. decided that ‘any athletes competing at meetings held under other laws than those of the G.A.A. shall be ineligible for competing at any meetings held under the auspices of the Gaelic Athletic Association.’ Until then athletes competed under the rules of the English AAA, which rules themselves were exclusionary.
The first instance of the exclusion of games and persons associated with them came at the reconvened convention on February 27, 1886, when it was decided on the proposition of John Cullinan of Bansha and seconded by D. H. Ryan of Limerick ‘that affiliated clubs be requested not to play football or hurling matches against any club which is not a properly organised club playing under Gaelic Rules.’ According to Mac Lua this was aimed at insistence on proper affiliation and the ostracism of rugby clubs. The exclusion idea was further developed at the executive meeting on September 27 when Maurice Davin suggested that persons playing under rugby or other non-Gaelic rules should not be eligible for membership of the association. When the revised constitution of the G.A.A. was adopted at the second annual convention at Thurles on November 15, 1886, the Ban appeared as Rule 12: ‘Any member of a club in Ireland playing hurling, handball or football under any rules than those of the G.A.A. cannot be a member of the Association, and neither can members of any other athletic club in Ireland be a member of the G.A.A.’ The exclusion rule was further expanded at a special convention on January 4, 1888, when the following resolution was proposed and adopted: ‘That no member of the Royal Irish Constabulary, including the Dublin Metropolitan Police be eligible for membership of an affiliated club, or be allowed to compete in any Gaelic sports.’
The G.A.A. went into decline in the early 1890s because of internal difficulties and as a result of the Parnell Split. Only three counties attended the 1893 convention and only five at the 1894. The 1893 convention removed the Rule that excluded the RIC. The 1896 convention discarded the Ban. It arose from an appeal by Tom Irwin against his expulsion by Cork county board for having played rugby. The executive ruled that members of the association were entitled to play any game they liked. It also ruled that the G.A.A. ‘shall be strictly a non-political and non-sectarian association.’
According to Mac Lua it was a desperate attempt by the G.A.A. not to offend any more people and to win back those that had been lost in the post-Parnell Split, as well as by the Ban and the RIC rule. The G.A.A. was in a state of flux for a while.
Revival
The celebrations that took place around the country in connection with the 1798 Centenary revived the national spirit and the G.A.A. was reborn. Another important development was the election of Michael Deering of Cork as president at the 1898 annual congress. The new national fervour gradually led to the revival of the Ban. At the annual convention of 1900 Michael Cusack protested against the presence of RIC bands at many G.A.A. sports meetings and called for a re-affirmation of the separatist spirit which motivated the founding fathers of the association.
At the 1901 convention T. F. O’Sullivan proposed ‘That handicappers holding licences from the Association be prevented from officiating at police sports meetings under penalty of having their licences cancelled and that no permits be granted to the promoters of athletic meetings under the auspices of Dublin Castle.’ The motion was seconded by Michael Cusack and carried. The new national fervour found further expression in a second motion by T. F. O’Sullivan at the reconvened convention. He proposed ‘That we the representatives of the Gaels of Ireland in convention assembled hereby pledge ourselves to resist every means in our power the extension of English pastimes to this country, as a means of preventing the Anglicisation of our people: that County Committees be empowered to disqualify and suspend members of the Association who countenance sports which are calculated to interfere with the preservation and cultivation of our own national pastimes: that we call on the young men of Ireland not to identify themselves with rugby or Association football or any other form of imported sport which is likely to injuriously affect the national pastimes which the G.A.A provides for self-respected Irishmen who have no desire to ape foreign manners and customs . . .’ The motion was seconded by Denis O’Keeffe of Thurles. In the same year James Nowlan was elected president of the association and was to have an important influence on the direction of the G.A.A..
O’Sullivan’s motion, which was listed as Rule 28, was amended at the 1902 convention as follows: ‘That any member of the Association, who plays or encourages in any way rugby or Association Football, hockey, or any other imported game which is calculated to injuriously affect our national pastimes, be suspended from the Association and that this resolution apply to all counties in Ireland and England.’ The Ban as we know it today had arrived. The same convention also sanctioned the setting up of Vigilance Committees for athletic purposes. The idea was put forward earlier in the year at a central council meeting at Thurles, proposed by T. F. O’Sullivan and seconded by J. D. O’Brien of Tipperary. Counties were requested to appoint committees ‘to report illegal meetings and detect illegal practices in connection with athletics under G.A.A. laws’. The police rule came back at this time as Rule 28A: ‘That police, soldiers, sailors in the British Navy, pensioners from the British Army or Navy, be prevented from playing hurling or football or competing at athletic meetings under G.A.A. laws.’ By 1916 the Ban was firmly established.
Mixed Views on the Ban
Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Civil War motions on the Ban appeared again. Supporters of the Treaty were of the opinion that the Ban was no longer required with the departure of the British. In contrast the republicans were for its retention. The debate on the Ban was really a reflection of the political divisions rather than opinion on the Ban. However most motions to abolish the Ban failed and the vote to retain it at the 1926 convention was passed by 80 votes to 23. In the same year a motion was passed that votes on the Ban would in future be taken only every three years.
In fact the Ban was strengthened when a decision was taken to have Gaelic games the only sports played in the Free State Army. Vigilance Committees were also reactivated. Hockey was disallowed at the Tailteann Games. The Ban was extended in the 1930s to prevent G.A.A. members from organising any form of entertainment with ‘foreign dances’. This was extended in 1932 to include the banning of G.A.A. members from attending any ‘foreign dance’. G.A.A. members were also prohibited from writing on G.A.A. matters for any foreign newspapers from 1940. The Free State Government favoured the G.A.A. In 1927 the Association was the only sporting body exempted from income tax on profits it earned. The Ban was given impetus in 1932 when the IRFU, which up to then used to fly the Union Jack when Ireland played at Belfast, and a Rugby Union flag, which included the coats of arms of the four provinces, when playing at Lansdowne Road, was forced to fly the National flag at the Dublin venue. The Ban against things foreign was given further support with the passing of the Public Dance Halls Act of 1935, which made it impossible to hold dances ‘without the sanction of the trinity of clergy, police and judiciary’.
Foreign Dances
There is a classic example of the implementation of this act in Cashel. Dean Innocent Ryan, a powerful figure in the town at the time was out for a stroll on a Sunday night in the summer of 1935 when he overheard a hullaballoo in the upper portion of the City Hall: ‘ I went to see how matters stood. The place was packed. I must say that the class of dance being indulged in was most objectionable. There was nothing Irish about it’. The Dean, not believing what he was watching, ordered his parishioners to go home at once. Most of the rabble obeyed him. The Dean was horrified to see the influence of foreign dancing creeping into the ballrooms and the likelihood of corrupting the innocent youth of the town. He called an urgent meeting of the Urban District Council and told the councillors that ‘This Hall has become a centre of immorality and a source of pestilence to religion and country.’ The Council took the side of the Dean in his war against what he called ‘dirty dancing’. It was agreed the hall would be used only for the purpose of ‘Old Time Dances’. A list of 15 rules was drawn up as to how to behave in a moral way at such dances and they were printed in the local newspapers. Rule 3 stated: ‘The jazz and what is known as ‘slow motion’ dances shall be taboo in the Hall.’ Rule 5 stated ‘There shall be no dancing after midnight.’ Rule 9 stated ‘Indelicacy in dress on the part of women dancers to be instantly reproved by persons in charge; extravagance in dress on the part of our girls – especially of working class – to be discouraged. All women dancers recommended to use Irish-made materials rather than flimsy, foreign silks and satins.’
Implementation of the Ban
It’s difficult to measure how the Ban was implemented. There were so many aspects to it, not to play foreign games, not to attend foreign games, not to organise foreign dances, etc that the vast number of G.A.A. members must have faithfully obeyed the rules or else the Ban was poorly enforced. The main implementation arm of the G.A.A.. was the Vigilance Committee but not every county had one. There is the well-known story of Mick Mackey, the outstanding hurler of the 1930s, who was a great lover of rugby and an alleged frequenter of rugby matches. The Limerick county board were fearful that he might be caught so they made him a member of their Vigilance Committee!. On the other hand not every county had such a committee and if they had and if they were active one would expect many more members of the G.A.A to have been suspended.
There is an interesting case study from a North Tipperary G.A.A. Board meeting, as reported in the Nenagh Guardian on July 11, 1936. The meeting was called to hear an objection by Bawnmore-Eglish to Ballingarry being awarded a junior hurling championship game, which they won by 10 points to 8 points on June 14, the same year. The grounds for the objection were that two Ballingarry players, John McKenna and Dan Treacy, had attended a rugby dance in the Oxmantown Hall, Birr on December 26, 1935. The chairman, S. F. Gardiner, quoted the rule under which the objection was made that any member of the G.A.A. ‘who plays or encourages in any way rugby or Association Football, hockey or cricket, or participate in dances under the patronage of British soldiers, etc suspends himself from membership of the G.A.A. for 2 years.’
Mr. Kelly, Eglish presented the case for Bawnmore-Eglish. Edward Horan, a witness for club, stated that he saw McKenna go into the hall on December 26, 1935. The chairman asked why the witness hadn’t reported the matter before then.
Mr. Kelly intervened to say it was the duty of the Vigilance Committee to do so. The chairman replied that they had enough to do in North Tipperary without going into Birr. He went on to say that it looked bad that the witness hadn’t reported the matter and added: ‘It seems to me now you did it in the interests of the club and not in the interests of the G.A.A.’
Mr. Cronin, a member of the board, said the witness wasn’t in the hall and couldn’t see the man. The chairman asked if the person could go into the hall and not to the dance. The witness replied: ‘I do not see what other business he would have in the hall.’
At this stage another witness, William Shanny, stated he was at the dance. The chairman said he couldn’t accept his evidence because he had automatically suspended himself by being there and his evidence could not be accepted!
Mr. Kelly stated that if the chairman wanted further witnesses he could ask the Offaly county board as one of their Vigilance Committee was present. The chairman replied it was that person’s duty to report the matter to the Offaly county board, which in turn would have reported the matter to him.
In further discussion Mr. Kelly asked if the chairman would accept the evidence of a band member. When there were further refusals to accept the evidence given, Mr., Kelly suggested that the board investigate the matter further and give the club a chance to bring forward some more witnesses, The chairman refused and in his summary he said that the only evidence produced was that of the driver of the car (Horan), who stated that he saw McKenna going into the hall and questioned why he didn’t report the matter until now. He left it to the members to decide. When the vote was taken the number voting for the objection was 9, those against 16 and abstentions 14.
It is difficult to know if this was the usual way breaches of the Ban were dealt with. Every effort was made by the powers that be to belittle the evidence of the Bawnmore-Eglish club and to cast doubt on the motivation of it. It is important to know that John McKenna was a high profile figure, having won an senior hurling All-Ireland with Tipperary in 1930. Also a fellow member of the team was Mick Cronin, who contributed at the board meeting!
A Momentous Year
The year 1938 was to be a momentous year for the Ban with a number of high-profile cases, particularly the suspension of President Douglas Hyde. The first case had to do with a Munster Council game. Tipperary played Clare in the Munster hurling championship semi-final on June 26 and won by 3-10 to 2-3. However, the result was objected to on the grounds that one of the players, Jimmy Cooney, was ineligible and Tipperary lost the game on a Clare objection to the result. Cooney had attended a rugby international at Lansdowne Road the previous February, was reported and suspended for three months from the date of the match, February 12. His suspension was removed on May 14. Because the player resided outside the county, he had to make a declaration to play for his county every year. Ten days before attending the rugby match he sent a signed declaration form to the Tipperary county board. For some reason it wasn’t forwarded to Central Council until shortly before Easter. President P. McNamee ruled that the declaration was invalid since Cooney was debarred from all G.A.A. activities, even making a declaration, while suspended. He was, therefore, ineligible to play for the county. When the Tipperary county board disputed the ruling by stating that Cooney’s declaration was made on February 2, Central Council replied it was on the date the declaration was received that mattered. The county board refused to accept this ruling and played Cooney in a Monaghan Cup game in London on June 6. On the night before Tipperary were due to play Clare in the Munster semi-final, President McNamee ruled Cooney ineligible on the grounds that his declaration was received during his term of suspension and as such was not eligible, and he was illegal to play in London and as a result had suspended himself for another six months!. Tipperary county board persisted with their claim that Cooney’s declaration was in order and played him against Clare. They won the game well but were objected to. Chairman of the Clare county board, Rev. M. Hamilton, stated that the objection was not vindictive on the part of Clare Gaels, inasmuch as they considered themselves to have been squarely beaten by Tipperary, but as there seemed to be a challenge to the authority of the association, they felt bound in the interests of the public name of the G.A.A., and the high sense of discipline it stood for, to make the only protest at their disposal against what seemed to be an apparent illegality. Having lost the game some players disagreed with the playing of Cooney against Clare. According to them there was no need and the matter ought to have been cleared beforehand. The team would easily have beaten Clare without Cooney and, as All-Ireland champions might have gone ahead and made it a double. The Tipperary county board’s persistence in playing Cooney had a certain pig-headedness about it. On the other hand the episode appeared to many ‘that the G.A.A. was being overly pedantic as well as being completely intransigent.’
G.A.A. Patron Suspended
These qualities were revealed to an even greater degree in the association’s treatment of President Douglas Hyde in the same year. Douglas Hyde (1860-1949) was elected first President of Ireland in June 1938. He was already a Patron of the G.A.A. On November 13 he attended his first soccer match, an international between Ireland and Poland at Dalymount Park, which Ireland won by 3-2. Also present at the game was Eamon de Valera, Minister Oscar Traynor, the Attorney General, Alfie Byrne, the Lord Mayor of Dublin and 34,000 spectators. The President’s attendance was widely reported in the media and sparked off a lot of debate. Sinn Fein held its Árd Fhéis the same day and the President was criticised for his attendance. It re-opened the debate on the Ban and the question was asked, If the President could get away with it, why have a Ban! The debate resulted in the Patrick Pearse G.A.A. club in Derry putting down a motion on December 4 to remove him as Patron of the G.A.A. The discussion claimed that the same rules should apply to the President as well as to everyone else. Against this it was argued that it was a discourtesy to the President to propose his expulsion and that the man should be distinguished from his office. Other G.A.A. clubs and county boards followed the Derry club’s lead. The discussion of the President’s action was the main news leading up to the Central Council meeting on December 17. At the meeting President McNamee moved, with little debate, that President Hyde had ceased to be a patron of the G.A.A. by his action of going to the soccer match. He argued that the rules were absolute and no one could breach them regardless of their station in life. The Ban was the G.A.A.’s most potent tool in its war against the Anglicisation of Ireland. The reaction of the public was generally one of outrage and condemnation. President Hyde remained silent on the matter and remained so up to his death. The matter remained in the news and it was discussed at club, county and provincial conventions and at the G.A.A. congress in April 1939. The G.A.A. made no attempt to contact the President for the entire duration of his office. It was believed that he should have been contacted and informed of the reasons behind the decision.
Widespread Reaction
The reaction to the removal of President Hyde varied across the country. In Ulster, with the exception of Tyrone, it was well received. In the eyes of Northern Gaels the Ban was seen as paramount to ensuring that they retained their Irishness and as a weapon to oppose the authorities in the North. In Connaught Roscommon G.A.A. supported Hyde and was one of three counties that brought forward a motion to the annual congress calling for his reinstatement. In Mayo the G.A.A. decision was severely criticised. There was much criticism of the G.A.A. failure to implement its own rules on foreign dances. Also, there was the case of Guard George Ormsby, a noted Mayo footballer. He attended a soccer match in Sligo on February 6, 1938. Sligo county board suspended him for being in breach of the Ban rule on foreign games. When it transpired he was at the match in his line of duty as a guard, he was re-instated. As this happened early in the year that President Hyde was suspended, he could equally have been absolved as he was attending the soccer match in his line of duty as President of Ireland. There was a big divide in Munster on the matter. Clare, under the influence of Canon Hamilton, supported the central council. The Canon later claimed that De Valera and Kevin Barry weren’t one hundred percent Irishmen because they played rugby! Kerry supported his reinstatement. Waterford supported central council. Cork were against the suspension. At the mid-Tipperary convention the chairman, Fr. Fogarty maintained that the Ban was ‘making the G.A.A. a source of humiliation for its friends and a laughing stock of its enemies.’ Later, as county chairman, he became a strong defender of the Ban. In Leinster opinions were divided among the counties.
Reconciliation
Following the election of President O’Kelly in 1945 the G.A.A. president, Seamus Gardiner decided to pay a courtesy call on him. This was the first time there was communication between the association and the Government since 1938. Nothing was heard until De Valera contacted the G.A.A. president. requesting a meeting with him and the general secretary. De Valera explained that the President could not ignore the slight which had been offered to Dr. Hyde by the G.A.A. in December 1938 and that precautions should be taken to prevent any similar recurrence in the future. He added that he believed that the patron should not be bound by the ‘foreign games ban rule’ and that he should be invited to important G.A.A. events regardless of whether he attended other sporting events. Following this meeting the central council was called and agreement was reached on De Valera’s requests. Following this development President O’Kelly decided to go to the 1945 All-Ireland finals at which he was received with suitable fanfare. As usual not everyone was happy with the new arrangement. Wexford G.A.A. county board decided to boycott the President on a trip he made to Wexford, for attending ‘foreign games’ in May 1946. It may have been at the same meeting between De Valera and Seamus Gardiner and O’Caoimh that the President requested the G.A.A. to re-instate President Hyde as a member of the G.A.A.. Gardiner is alleged to have agreed but Canon Hamilton was so annoyed that he didn’t speak to Gardiner for a year afterwards!
Progress to Removal of the Ban
In the 1947 congress a motion to remove the Ban was defeated by 180 votes to 5. In 1953 the Lord Mayor of Waterford, Alderman Martin Cullen was suspended from the G.A.A. for attending a foreign game even though he attended in an official capacity. In 1954 Radio Eireann caused consternation in Gaelic Ireland circles by broadcasting a soccer match on St. Patrick’s Day in spite of strong protests. An interesting case was the suspension of Eamon Young of Cork in the early fifties for writing for a Sunday newspaper. This wasn’t allowed since about 1940 and the decision by the Cork county board was ostensibly to uphold the spirit of the G.A.A. In fact it is believed the real reason was Young’s stance on the personnel to travel with the Cork football team, as league champions, to New York. The board included Jim Barry as ‘trainer’ instead of the real trainer, Corporal O’Brien of Young’s club. His appeal against the suspension to the Munster Council was lost with only Kerry supporting it. There is a further interesting episode from Moycarkey sometime in the 1950s. Fr. Dinny O’Meara from the club got Mutt Ryan and Paddy Maher to go into the county convention and vote against a Ban motion, despite the fact that the club voted 80 – 2 the other way. Sean Barry and Der Shanahan, the official club delegates, were refused admission to Scoil Ailbe and told that the club was already represented inside!
The Nationalist reported in February 1956 on the application by Eamonn O’Duibhir, Main Street, Clogheen for re-instatement in the G.A.A. According to him he was automatically suspended for playing rugby with Rockwell College but that he had been compelled to play rugby at the school, where the game was compulsory.
The Ryans of Cashel were a famous sporting family in the fifties and most of them played rugby as well as hurling. The Cashel team that played Thurles in the Munster Junior Cup in March 1958 had six brothers on the team, Donal, Gerard, John, Eddie, Dick and Tony, Ger was in line for a place on the Tipperary minors but was suspended for playing rugby, but never got his notice. Apparently he was listed on the team as J. Ryan, and the suspension was sent to John by mistake!
Michael Dundon, former editor of the Tipperary Star, has an interesting account of his suspension under the Ban. He was one of seven members of a local soccer team in Thurles that was going well in the second half of the sixties, four of them from Thurles Sarsfields and three from Kickhams. They were suspended at a county board meeting in 1967. Dundon was at the same meeting as a reporter for the Tipperary Star but only heard of the suspension afterwards, because it never came up at the meeting! Having contacted the county G.A.A. secretary he was informed it had come up and the seven of them suspended! At any rate none of them was ever officially notified of their suspension nor informed when they could return. It seemed to be a case of finding unimportant victims to show that the board was serious about the Ban. In their case their suspensions didn’t make much difference as they all played junior hurling. When it came to dealing with the county’s star hurler, Jimmy Doyle, the treatment was different. Jimmy was reported for attending a rugby match and summoned to a board meeting. He attended and explained that when taking the dog for a walk along the Brittas Road he saw a rugby match in progress and wandered in to see what was happening. ‘And did you watch the match’, he was asked. ‘I did,’ replied Jimmy. So the board was in a pickle. He was guilty and would have to be suspended but you couldn’t have the county lose its best forward for six months! Eventually they found a solution. ‘And did you pay to get in?’ ‘’’deed I didn’t!’ replied Jimmy. ‘Ah!, you’re okay, so!’ he was informed.
Tom Woulfe
One of the great proponents of the abolition of the Ban was Kerryman, Tom Woulfe, the chairman of the Dublin Civil Service G.A.A. Club. According to Cormac Moore ‘His personal motivation stemmed from an incident in 1948 when he was involved in a Vigilance Committee for Dublin county board, where a person was suspended for playing a foreign game and that person subsequently took no further part in the G.A.A. Woulfe was disgusted by the experience and refused to act as a vigilante again’. Instead he set about campaigning for the abolition of the Ban starting with an investigation into the usefulness of the Ban by his own club. He kept the Ban high up in the agenda at congresses during the 1960s. The division between the two camps became entrenched and the debate more and more acrimonious during this decade. The motion to remove the Ban was defeated by 282 votes to 52 in 1965. The World Cup and its television coverage in 1966 gave a great boost to the spread of soccer. In the same year Tomás Ó Fiaich claimed that the Ban didn’t help the G.A.A.’s aim to end Partition. Minister for Education, Donagh O’Malley came out strongly for its removal. In 1967 there was talk of removing Jack Lynch from the G.A.A. because he attended a rugby match. The following year he spoke out against the divisive nature of the Ban. In spite of these arguments the official G.A.A. stood solid behind the Ban as indicated by the vote for its abolition in 1968, defeated by 220 votes to 80. In the light of that vote it is incredible the transformation in opinion over three years to the extent that it was abolished by acclamation in the 1971 congress.!
Bibliography
The most comprehensive history of the Ban, ‘The Steadfast Rule’ by Brendan Mac Lua, was published by the Cuchulann Press in 1967. It traced the evolution, extension and retention of the Ban from the beginning of the G.A.A. There is a substantial amount about the Ban in Cormac Moore’s, ‘The G.A.A. v Douglas Hyde: The removal of Ireland’s First President as G.A.A. Patron’, which was published by the Collins Press in 2012. A fine account is to be found in Paul Rouse’s ‘Sport and the Politics of Culture: A History of the G.A.A. Ban 1884-1971’, which was his UCD Master’s Thesis. For individual instances of the Ban in operation a survey of contemporary newspapers is very revealing.
There were some very strong supporters of the Ban. Canon Hamilton (1894-1969), who was chairman of the Clare County Board for twenty-five years from 1920 and was responsible for having the 1947 All-Ireland football final played in New York, was a staunch advocate of the Ban, though he held the opposite view for some time after the Treaty, gave a lecture on the Ban, which was produced in booklet form by Club Camán Peil in 1955. In the same publication the Listowel writer, Bryan Mac Mahon, has a supplementary article giving nineteen reasons for the Ban. The most prominent G.A.A. official in support of the Ban was Pádraig Ó Caoimh, who was general secretary of the association from 1929 to 1964. According to Cormac Moore he was ‘an unbending advocate of the Ban . . . who firmly promoted the Irish-Ireland movement and he saw the Ban as the cornerstone of that movement.’ During his time in office he worked hand in hand with Padraig McNamee, who was president form 1938-1943 and who moved with little debate in 1938 that Douglas Hyde had ceased to be a patron of the G.A.A. by his action of going to a soccer match.
Poems of Cashel & Distant Places by Pakie Keating
First Published April 2021
Booklet can be read here.
Michael O’Meara (1917-2020) Lorrha
Appreciation, Nenagh Guardian, February 27, 2021
The passing of Michael O’Meara (Mick of the Hill) before Christmas saw the death of probably the oldest man ever to live in the Parish of Lorrha & Dorrha. A very distinguished man, he died quietly in his sleep on Wednesday, December 9 and was buried, because of Covid 19 - which had no part in his passing, - without pomp or circumstance in Lorrha cemetery two days later. He deserved an extraordinary send off but the restrictions greatly curtailed what would have been appropriate.
One of six children born in Roughan to James O’Meara and Brigid Hough on August 5, 1917, his birth coincided with the start of the Battle of Passchendaele in World War 1. His grandfather, Michael Hough, who was born in Ballymacegan in 1835, went to a hedge school, which was in the open air in good weather and in a derelict school when it was bad.. He remembered the Big Wind, which ravaged the country on January 6, 1839.
Michael O’Meara went to primary school at Gurteen (today Rathcabbin) at the age of four and a half years in 1922, The school was a two-storey building with the girls on the top floor and the boys on the ground. The children were strictly segregated with the 11 am and lunch breaks taken at different times. The girls were taught by Nora Moran from Redwood and the boys by Richard J. Bracken, a native of Banagher..
Michael missed no day his first year in school and won the prize for the best attendance. The prize was the princely sum of 2/6 (approx. 16 cents) which was riches at the time. The first day he missed was in 1923, the day that Patrick Tyquin was shot. A native of Lusmagh and a grandson of a Fenian, Tyquin joined the Free State army and was shot when he came to Rathcabbin to visit his girlfriend. Michael received his First Communion in Rathcabbin Church and the only present he got on the occasion was a holy picture. Later he was confirmed by Dr. Michael Fogarty, who was bishop of Killaloe from 1904 to 1955. His memory of the sacrament was that he knew the whole catechism by heart but nothing of the meaning.
First Hurling
Michael played his first hurling in 1927 at the age of ten and a half years. This was an attempt to organise an interclub competition for under-16s. There was a trial game between Gurteen and Lorrha schools at Ballincor Cross and Fr. Moloughney, who was the first priest in the parish to own a car, carried eleven of them to the match. Michael scored a goal and was picked on the team to play Borrisokane but they were badly beaten and that was the end of underage club games until the late ‘thirties.
Michael stayed at primary school until he was fourteen and a half and the only further schooling he got was for about eighteen months at Birr Technical School, where he studied Irish and book-keeping for two evenings a week. He was needed on the family farm as his father had died in 1925 at the age of forty-six years. These were the years of the ‘Economic War’ when life was tough on the land after the bottom fell out of prices.
Hurling was the only recreation. Michael started playing junior with Lorrha in 1934 and continued in the grade until 1936, when he was promoted senior. The team had little success. There is a club photograph of a 1937 seven-a-side parish league team in which he is prominent in the front row. There is another picture on a team in the Woodford Gold Medal Tournament in 1939. He must have impressed because he was given a county trial and was picked to play against Limerick in the Sweet Afton Cup final in April 1940. He impressed again and was picked to play against Clare in the Thomond Feis competition, which Tipperary lost. A week later he was on the team that defeated Kilkenny in the Monaghan Cup, which was played at Carrick-on-Suir because of the war. Tipperary won and Michael was on the bench for the first round of the Munster championship against Cork at Thurles. Tipperary gave a poor performance and were beaten by 6-3 to 2-6.
He was a versatile played who played in the backline, centrefield and gradually established himself as a forward and was good at scoring goals. Probably one of his greatest displays was in the Limerick LDF Area final in 1944. Hubie Hogan, Tommy Ryan and Dan O’Meara were also on the team. The forward line included Martin Kennedy, Dinny Doorley and himself. They scored eleven goals between them, he getting five of them. He gave all the credit to Kennedy ‘who was absolutely brilliant. He laid on the ball and all I had to do was hit it into the net.’ Kennedy was forty-six years old at the time and this was his last game.
County Intermediate Title
One of the highlights of Michael’s hurling career with Lorrha was winning the 1946 county intermediate championship, the first county final to be won by the club. He played full-forward in the final against Moycarkey-Borris at Gaile, which was as close to the Moycarkey club as it was possible to be. Another highlight was a North senior hurling title in 1948 before going down to Holycross-Ballycahill in the county final. Again he was at full-forward and believed the team’s poor performance on the day was due to negative tactics, standing behind their men and re-acting to their opponents’ actions rather than going for the ball.
Michael continued to play until 1954 without further success. He became a selector in 1960 and was treasurer of the club from 1967 to 1978. During this time the club purchased nearly six acres from the Land Commission at Moatfield, which became the club grounds.
The Rathcabbin Players
Michael married Carmel O’Meara (no relation) in February 1952 and moved into Carmel’s place in Curraghgloss. They were to have four children, Gerard, Declan, Emer and Deirdre.
Michael’s talents weren’t confined to hurling and farming. He was a marvellous raconteur with a great memory and was capable of regaling his listeners with a wealth of stories from a life full of exciting memories. He was a good comic actor, who graced the boards in Rathcabbin Hall for many years. He was one of those who started the Rathcabbin Players in 1941 in order to raise funds for the Red Cross branch in the area. ‘Troubled Bachelors’ was the name of their first production and it was directed by R. J. ‘Dick’ Bracken, who had a tremendous interest in drama. There were many other plays as well and they were all produced in the primitive conditions of Rathcabbin Hall, working with candle or oil lamp. It didn’t cost Michael much thought to make the round trip of seven miles from Curraghgloss to the hall. Any money that was made went to the Red Cross, the F.C.A. or the G.A.A. club. The plays were produced annually until 1959.
The drama group was revived in 1985, following a few years when Michael and Sheila Dillon were involved in the production and staging of Novelty Acts in the Scór competitions. A number of one-act plays were produced before the ‘Troubled Bachelors’ was re-staged, Success came quickly with invitations from outside the parish to stage their productions. In 1997 they were invited to bring ‘The Field’ to London. Not only did Michael produce but he donned the robes of the ‘Bishop’ in the play and, in addition, doubled up as ‘Dandy McCabe’ in the absence of Joe Cleary, giving a tour de force performance in two startlingly contrasting roles. The play was produced for two nights to packed houses. Another great production of theirs was an act called ‘The Blunder Brothers.’ Michael’s acting career continued until 2008, when he appeared as ‘King George V’ in a pageant built around the people of Lorrha parish, who fought in World War 1.
A Life of Activity
Michael O’Meara’s life was full of activity. At the farming end of things he served his time in the NFA and later the IFA. Before that he was involved in the formation of the Young Farmers Club in 1947 and 1948. Elected chairman, the club had an educational purpose and eventually merged into Macra na Feirme in the mid-fifties. In the early part of that decade he was involved in the setting up of the North Tipperary Agricultural Wholesale Society, a properly constituted company with shareholders, which aimed to purchase manures and seeds for the members at wholesale prices. He was also involved in the ploughing championships and acted as a judge for a good number of years. He joined the LDF in 1940 and continued in the FCA after 1945 right up to 1978. In 1941 Johnny Corcoran and himself won the Irish Press District Shield for .22 rifle shooting, and repeated the victory in 1942. They represented the District in the area competition at Limerick and won and were picked on the Limerick Area team for the All-Ireland. When the FCA came into existence after the war, the areas were changed and Lorrha were in the Tipperary area. The .303 rifle competition came into being in 1947 and a team of six from the county was entered in the All-Ireland. Michael came fourth in the individual All-Ireland and continued competing at the highest level for many years afterwards.
Michael O’Meara’s life was a rich one, rich in individual talents and in its many contributions to the parish of Lorrha and the world beyond. Over a long span of years he entertained a lot of people, whether on the field of play or on the stage in Rathcabbin Hall and further afield. Off both platforms he engaged people he met through his lively personality and intelligent mind. He contributed significantly to the history of the parish of Lorrha and Dorrha and was, without any shadow of doubt, a huge adornment to the life of his native place.
The Premier County
Most of us grew up with the idea that the Premier County tag referred to Tipperary's prowess and success in the game of hurling. Sure, the G.A.A was founded at Thurles, four of the seven founders were from the county and we won the first All-Ireland! And we were first in the Roll of Honour for senior hurling titles for decades until the Stripy Men from Kilkenny went ahead of us in the twenty-first century. This was galling to most of us when we recall the long period from 1922 to 1967 when they failed to beat us in a decent match!
But the Premier tag is a recognition of our superiority in many other areas of human activity. It suggests leadership qualities and bravery in the face of opposition. A good example of this was shown by St Ruadhan from my own place. Diarmuid, the High King of Tara, tried Ruadhan for giving sanctuary to the King's alienated foster son. Nothing fazed, Ruadhan cursed Tara: 'Desolate be Tara forever!' He also forecast a terrible death to the King, which came true. He was stabbed by his foster son. Wounded, he fled to a house, which was set on fire. Seeking to escape the flame, Diarmuid scrambled into a vat of ale and was finished off when a burning ridge pole fell on his head! You don't mess with a Tipperary man!
Many reasons are given for the county getting the Premier tag. The farmers of the Golden Vale will credit it to having the best land in the country. The Butlers arrived with Henry II, owned most of Tipperary and remained the premier Anglo-Norman family. There are less-noble reasons. The Premier County had an unrivalled reputation for lawlessness in the nineteenth century. A return of all crimes and outrages from July 1836 to December 1837 yielded ratios per 1,000 of the population of 1.52 for all Ireland and 2.85 for county Tipperary. In fact, there is a view that the proclamation of two counties in Tipperary in 1838 was based on law and order needs. Another argument, attributed to a Christian Brother in Thurles, who used to tell his class that Tipperary was the Premier County for supplying recruits to the British army! There may be substance in this as eighteen men, either from the county or connected with it, were awarded the Victoria Cross.
I have failed to find information on who or when the tag Premier was given to the county. It has been attributed to Thomas Davis, who was editor of the Nation newspaper in the 1840s. As a tribute to the nationalist feeling in Tipperary he said that 'where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows.'
The first use of the tag has been found in the Nation on October 8, 1864. It appears in a report of an aborted boxing match. The contemporary sport of boxing was forbidden at the time because it was unregulated and cruel. Boxing matches were organised in remote parts of the country and attracted large crowds not only for the spectacle but for the betting opportunities. Such a match, between two English boxers, Coburn and Mace, was organised to take place between Gouldscross Railway Station and Cashel but was postponed because of a failure to agree on a referee. In the meantime, the Constabulary became aware of it and drafted in large number of police into the area, determined that the match wouldn't take place. Because of the failure to agree to a referee the match was abandoned anyway. However, the newspaper atbibuted its failure to take place to the vigilance of the police and the determination of the people of Tipperary, the premier county of Ireland, that 'such a debasing and inhuman spectacle of English customs and English sport was prevented.'
I'll leave the final word to the Nationalist. In a report on the visit of John Redmond to Tipperary on April 8, 1910, the newspaper commented on the impressive reception he received: 'It is only frtting that he should make his appeal in the heart of the great fighting county, which is regarded as the pulse of Ireland by reason of the prominent and strenuous part it takes in every struggle for Irish rights.'
The Stonethrowers
Tipperary has a seoond tag, The Stonethrowers. The origin of this is difficult to find. Tradition has it that it was a cross-country hurling match between Tipperary and Kilkenny that took place in the vicinity of Fenner long before the GAA was founded and finished with Tipperary losing the day and, having failed to beat the Cats fair and square, threw stones at them, thereby gaining the unenviable title of 'Tipperary Stone Throwers.' This would put the rivalry between the counties as much older and pre-dating the strong and determined loyalty and pride in parish and county that came with the foundation of the GAA.
If the tradition is true, it's a bit of a blot on ihe character of the men of Tipperary, depicting them as people who are unable to take their beating. Stonethrowing is also associated with anti-police activity and there is another suggestion that the tag originated following an altercation with the British army at some stage. The activity also suggests a kind of helplessness against superior forces and the last throw of the dice for a beaten people. Not a very good image and in stark contrast to the opinion of people outside the county who believe that Tipperary people 'have a superiority complex and feel that they are the best at everything.
[Ed. Note: On an apparently unrelated but like-named note, ‘The Stonethrowers' moniker shows up in America, and is also tied to Tipperary (though, perhaps, for less 'auspicious' reasons).
After the Erie Canal was finished, many Irish people settled west of Syracuse, New York on a hill overlooking the canal. This area became known as Tipperary Hill. When the city first installed traffic signal lights in 1925, they placed one at a major intersection in the main business district on Tipperary Hill, at the comer of Tompkins Street and Milton Avenue. Local Irish youths, incensed that the “British" red appeared above the “Irish” green, threw stones at the signal and broke the red light. John "Huckle" Ryan, then alderman of the Tipperary Hill section, requested that the traffic signal be hung with the green above the red in deference to the Irish residents. This was done, but soon New York State stepped in, and city officials reversed the colors.
The red fights were again broken regularly. Members of a group called Tipperary Hill Protective Association addressed the town rulers. On March 17, 1928, Commissioner Bradley met with Tipp Hill residents, who told him that the light would continue to be vandalized. The city leaders relented, and green was again above the red light, where it remains. It is said to be the only traffic light in the U.S. where the green light is on top. At the site is a statue commemorating the Stone Throwers.]
A Bloody Sunday Incident and the Looby Family of Cashel
Tipperary Historical Journal 2020, pp 149-164
Full article here
Brother Michael O’Clery, OFM, Chief of the Four Masters Compiler of the Annals - The Ballymacegan Connection
The Lamp 2020, pp.10-13
Full article here
The 2019 County Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary GAA Yearbook 2020, pp 68-71
Article can be viewed here
<span class="postTitle">Recent G.A.A. Publications 2019</span> Tipperary GAA Yearbook 2020, pp 64-65
Tribute to Tony Reddin
On the occasion of re-naming St. Ruadhan’s Park to Tony Reddin Park & Community Centre, December 7, 2019
Cathaoirlach, Uachtaran Cumann Luthchleas Gael, John Horan, Maura and members of the Reddin family, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I consider it a great privilege to be asked to say some words in tribute to Tony Reddin on the occasion of the renaming of St. Ruadhan’s Park as the Tony Reddin Park and Community Centre. It is right and fitting that the survivors of the 1956 team, which won the North divisional championship with Tony in that year, should be present along with his family and friends to celebrate this very important occasion.
When Tony came across the bridge at Portumna in February 1947, he was twenty-eight years of age and had already quite a bit of hurling done for his club Mullagh, for Galway and for Connaght without achieving much in the line of honours. The one exception was a county juvenile medal, which he was to cherish for the rest of his life. Travelling to Lorrha was to start a new chapter in his life.
His reputation as a goalkeeper had preceded him and he got his first opportunity to show his prowess when Fr. O’Meara went to him in Holy Week and asked him to play on Easter Sunday. St. Vincent’s of Dublin were coming to Rathcabbin to play Lorrha in a challenge game that was to be the beginning of a long friendship between the two clubs, inspired by the Drumgoole connection – Noel was to captain Dublin in the 1961 All-Ireland, that Tipperary narrowly won and Noel’s mother was a Corcoran from Ballymacegan. At ant rate Tony turned up, had a good game and the visitors won by a point. It is interesting to record that this was Tony’s first match in Tipperary, in the quiet backwater of Rathcabbin. His last match for Tipperary was to be in the bustling city of New York in October ten years later.
Tony didn’t do anything spectacular during 1947 but he made up for it the following year, particularly in the North final against Borrisileigh at Nenagh on August 22. With a gale force wind in the first half Lorrha ran up a lead of 4-3 to 0-4 by half-time. In the second half Borrisileigh had a downpour behind them and they attacked the Lorrha goal with everything in their arsenal in an attempt to get back on top. They tried for goals again and again, when points went abegging, and Reddin stopped the ball with mechanical ease and flung it back in their faces. Borrisileigh scored twice, early and late in the half, but it wasn’t enough. Lorrha had won, scoring 1-1 on top if their half-time tally, for a final scoreline of 5-4 to 2-5, and the parish and further afield sung the praises of a new goalkeeping star. Lorrha won the county semi-final against Cashel but went down heavily to Holycross-Ballycahill in the final. In both games Reddin’s contribution was way above that of average men.
In a fine nostalgic piece in the 1981 Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook, Seamus Leahy recalled a visit from his uncle Paddy and Jimmy Maher after Lorrha's defeat by Holycross in the county final. He produced an autograph- book and his uncle Paddy wrote: 'Sensation: Holycross won county championship 1948. Tipp will win All-Ireland championship 1949. Signed: P. Leahy.' Then he handed the book to Jimmy Maher, who wrote: 'Jim Maher, Boherlahan.'
'Identify yourself!, urged Paddy. 'Jim Maher, Boherlahan could be anyone. Write 'Tipp goalie.'
'Not after today,' said Jimmy, sadly but signing, just the same. 'Didn't you see your man, Reddin, today? He's your goalie now.'
Jimmy was right. After eight years as Tipperary's senior goalkeeper, Jimmy was to give way to this 'unknown' who had shown unusual ability during the North championship.. There hadn't been many players from Lorrha who had achieved county status but Tony Reddin was to be an outstanding representative for the next nine years.
It's not possible to give a detailed history of Tony’s achievements with Lorrha and Tipperary in the course of this short tribute. I’m going to mention one of many outstanding performances, the Munster final against Cork at Killarney on July 23, 1950 ‘the toughest match I ever played’ according to Tony. The last ten minutes of that game remained vivid in his memory years later. The outcome of the game hung in the balance. The overflow crowd of 55,000 had encroached on to the pitch so that the referee, Bill O’Donoghue of Limerick, had to stop the game for ten minutes until the pitch was cleared. No sooner had the game restarted than the encroachment resumed around Tony’s goal and became so bad that, as he looked left and right, he found himself in the horn of a half-moon. Bottles, cans and sods were raining on his goals. Anytime a ball came in he was teased, barracked and even pushed. He was caught by the jersey as he ran out to clear the ball. There was much more.
When the final whistle sounded with Tipperary victorious, Tony had to escape from an angry crowd of Cork supporters. He found himself under the protection of a number of priests. Fr. O’Meara have him a hat and a short coat and covered him up as best he could, but he was unable to leave the field until well after the game, as fitting a tribute as there could be to the quality of his play!
I believe that this performance plus his heroic display in the 1948 North final established Tony as an outstanding goalkeeper, a player of heroic proportions, a man apart. He became a folk hero, not only in the parish of Lorrha and throughout Tipperary. He was great in the days before television when it was impossible to see the player in action unless one attended the matches and one had to depend on the voice of Micheal O’Hehir to bring us the information of his play, to describe his goalkeeping performances and relate his brilliant saves. And O’Hehir did it so well that radio on a Sunday afternoon with him at the microphone was a memorable experience.
I remember at that time the pride I felt when the lineout for a Munster game was relayed by O’Hehir on radio and the first man on the list was in goals, Tony Reddin of Lorrha. In the days before TV and Social Media, etc, etc this was brilliant to hear. Tony put Lorrha on the map just as Lorrha put Tony on the map. He brought the parish pride and fame and the parish as well as the county gave him a platform to express his genius. That genius was recognised when he was an automatic choice for goalkeeper on the Team of the Century and the Millennium Team
His Genius
Why was Reddin so brilliant? It may be a good place to analyse the quality of his greatness. Many people remember Reddin as a big man going high for the ball, catching it securely and bursting out amid a welter of hurleys, to clear well up the field. It will come as a surprise to learn that Tony is not a big man. He stood 5'9" and, at the height of his career in the early fifties, never weighed more than eleven and a half stone! He was a very fit man. He trained for the position as keenly as another might train for centre-field. Running cross-country, jumping over hedges and ditches and building up his arms made him the strong player he was. He had the eye of a hawk, some might even say of compensatory quality, for defects in his oral and aural senses. Neighbours have commented on how sharp that eyesight was and his ability in spotting someone at a distance. He was no mere ball stopper but a player who completed the act by clearing the ball down the field. He was equally good on the right or the left side and this again came from constant practice. He sharpened his reflexes by belting a ball against a rough stone wall from short distances and catching the ball in his hand as it rebounded in different directions. Prob¬ably his greatest ability was a sensitive touch allied with the tilting of the hurley's face at an angle which enabled him to kill even the fastest ball dead so that it rolled down the hurley into his hand as if by the genius of a master magician. Finally, Tony used no 'half¬door' of a hurley to stop the ball. His was of ordinary size and he had the same stick for most of his hurling career, a heavy, many hooped, ugly llooking affair.
Tony Reddin's list of achievements is impressive by any standards. As well as winning three All-lrelands, six National League, two Brendan Cup medals and one Oireachtas, he also won six Railway Cup medals and four 'Ireland team' cups. He travelled to London on nine occasions and played on the winning Monaghan Cup team on eight occasions. His ninth visit was as a sunstitute in 1957 when Tipperary were bffccfc fg eaten. He won two North divisional titles with Lorrha.
There is nobody to deny that he was one of the greats of hurling history. He was great in the days when a goalkeeper's fate was to be bundled into the back of the net if the backs gave the forwards sufficient leeway. Tony's greatest asset was, to stop the hall dead so that it rolled down to his chest or his feet. He would leave the ball on the ground until the last moment and then, with the forwards rushing in, he would take it, sidestep them and have loads of space to clear. He claimed to know which side of the goal a ball would come by watching which foot a forward was on when he hit the ball. Whatever the reason for his greatness his stopping prowess was the bane of forwards and a joy to supporters for many a year.
The Corn Mill at Carrigahorig
The Lamp, 2020, pp 18-20
A stone over the entrance to Carrigahorig Mill, Lorrha, Co. Tipperary used to state that the structure was built in 1805. A fine building of four storeys, it was demolished in 1994. According to the Bassett’s County Tipperary Guide and Directory, which was published in 1889 ‘the village of Carrigahorig consisted of eight houses and a mill. Mrs. A. Flynn was the village grocer, and three others, Martin Hough, Thomas Joyce and Michael Salmon, were publicans and grocers. The Postmaster was Michael Joyce and the miller was Edmond Doolan, who was also a farmer and Justice of the Peace. The mill was known as Santa Cruise.’
As mentioned above, the stone over the entrance stated that the mill was built by Thomas Going in 1805. It was an impressive building of four storeys with different grinding stones on each floor. The Goings were originally from Lorraine in France. In 1713 Richard Going leased premises in the Barony of Lower Ormond from Francis Heaton. Philip Going of Moneyquil, Nenagh died in 1820 in his 79th year and was buried in Ballymackey graveyard. He married Grace Bernard in 1767 and the couple had one son, Thomas, and three daughters. It appears that Thomas, whose address is given as Santa Cruz, Sherragh, Barony of Lower Ormond, was born in 1769. He married his first cousin, Rebecca, in 1803 and died without issue in 1815, before his father, at the age of 46 years.
The building of the mill at the time may have been the result of the Inland Bounty Act of 1758. This act was passed to ensure an adequate supply of corn and flour to the capital, Dublin by offering premiums to enterprising millers in the provinces. It led to a big expansion in the milling industry.
We don’t know who succeeded Thomas Going as the owner. A man by the name of Thomas P. Ferman is reputed to have owned the mill during the 19th century. His family suffered a misfortune, when his son was shot accidentally. Apparently there was a party in his house and one of the boys picked up a pistol and pointed it in fun at the son, not realising there was a bullet in it. He pulled the trigger and the bullet went through the son, killing him instantly. The father was so disillusioned he leased the mill and became an absentee landlord. One of the people who leased it was a man by the name of Samuel Palmer, who had associations with Portumna, Palmerston. He was the occupier of the mill in 1850.
A Flourishing Enterprise
The mill was a first class one, on a par with the best in the country. It produced top class flour with its silk screen. It also produced wholemeal, pollard and bran. It purchased wheat from the neighbouring farmers and dried it in a kiln before extracting the flour. The kiln was a major one and was heated by turf, which was also supplied from neighbouring bogs. Suppliers were paid sixpence a box for the turf. It is unclear what volume of turf the box held. The place was a hive of activity when it was at the height of production at the end of the nineteenth century and was reputed to employ over one hundred people. There was a row of houses in Ballyquirke, where many of the workers resided.
It appears that a man called Joyce, probably from the village, was the head man for Palmer. The story goes that at one stage the price of wheat rose by sixpence a barrel. Joyce refused to pay it and the farmers refused to supply grain to the mill. There was danger it would have to close but Joyce tried a ruse. He announced one day that the price of grain would drop by sixpence a barrel the following Monday. According to the story there was a traffic jam at the mill the following days as the suppliers struggled to get the wheat in before the price went down!
As stated above the miller in 1889 was Edmond Doolan. At some stage it came into the possession of Edward (Ned) O’Donoghue. He died on April 16, 1906 at the age of 74 years and is buried in the Old Cemetery, Terryglass. It is said that his remains were brought to the church the evening before burial, the first remains to be thus treated in Terryglass church. Up to then the dead were waked in the home and brought to the burial ground the following day. One of the reasons for changing the practice was what we would call today, health and safety matters. Wakes in small houses were conducive to the spread of disease because of the crowded conditions. A son of Ned O’Donoghue’s, John C, died two months later at the age of 38 years, and a second son, James, died in October, 1909 at the age of 36 years. It appears the mill was then taken over by another son, William.
William O’Donoghue
William O’Donoghue married Teresa Sammon in Lorrha Parish Church on November 13, 1912. The witnesses were Paddie Sammon and Mai Sammon and the ceremony was performed by Fr. John Gleeson, P.P. The couple had six sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Michael Raymond, who was born in January 1914, became a priest, and the older of the two daughters, Mary Josephine, who was born in November 1916, became a nun.
In 1920 Bill O’Donoghue’s name appeared in an advertisement in the Irish Independent looking for a miller ‘to dress stones, make oatmeal and grind corn.’ The candidate must be a T.T., the job was indoor and the applicant was requested to state his age and wages. The address given was Santa Cruise Mills, Carrigahorig. A similar advertisement appeared in the same paper on October 14, 1926.
As part of the safety measures in the mill, there was a timber wheel attached to the grinding stones, which came into use if there was interference with the stones, in order to prevent them from being damaged. On such occasions the wheel shattered and brought matters to a halt. The wheel had then to be repaired and put back in working order before milling could resume. During Bill O’Donoghue’s time the carpenter who used to repair the wheel was Bill Loughnane from Lorrha.
Bill O’Donohue carried on an extensive business of grinding corn and making oatmeal. In the forties and fifties all the local farmers used the facility to have their grain ground and neighbours from that time remember it as a bustling, busy place with plenty of traffic in horses and carts travelling into and out of the mill. Interestingly it wasn’t the only mill in the place. O’Donoghue had another mill further up the river on the Aglish Road and it was leased to Grubbs. They specialised in making oatmeal. Later, this mill was converted to the generation of electricity and the Grubbs supplied light to the village for a number of years before the coming of Rural Electrification.
Bill O’Donohue’s sister was married to a Boland of Boland’s Mill , Dublin fame. During World War 1, Bolands used to supply Carrigahorig with pollard, which Bill sold to the local farmers.
After Raymond, who became a priest, the O’Donohue boys were Wilsy, who was a farmer and he married an O’Meara, who had a drapery business in Birr, Cyril, who was born in 1919, Des, in 1920, Charles in 1922 and Brendan in 1925. The second girl was Teresa Kathleen, who was born in 1918 and married Nicholas Cunningham. Wilsy, Des and Brendan played with the Lorrha senior hurling team beaten by Holycross in the 1948 county final. Theoretically, they should have played with Shannon Rovers, born, as they were on the Terryglass side of the Carrigahorig river. Des and Brendan ended up in the United States and Charles in Africa.
Athlete of Note
Bill O’Donohue was an athlete of note. Cycling was his great interest. He started a race that went from Carrigahorig to Borrisokane and back by Kilbarron and Terryglass. Bill put up a clock for this race and won it himself every year. Eventually a man, who worked at McAinch’s at the Ferry beat him, kept the clock and that put an end to the race.
Bill travelled all over the place taking part in cycle races. The story goes he used to keep his good clothes in the Little Mill on the Aglish road, later owned by the Grubbs, so that he could get away to races without his father knowing. He was a successful cyclist and won a lot of races. There is a story that he had cups all over the house, some of them holding up windows!
Bill was a good swimmer and used to go to Galway for a week at the time of the races. He usually travelled with John McIntyre. The latter had a very fast pony and they travelled in a trap to Galway during the Emergency.
An advertisement appeared in the Nenagh Guardian on August 3, 1963 from Desmond O’Donohue offering for sale Santa Cruise House, Lands and a Corn Mill. The land included 84 acres and the sale also included a ‘magnificent residence’ with five bedrooms.
The sale must have gone through because another advertisement appeared in the Nenagh Guardian on October 5, 1963 for a clearance sale at the mill. The sale consisted of livestock, machinery, furniture, outdoor effects and a motor car. The sale was to take place on October 12 and the auctioneer was Wm J. Kennedy, Borrisokane.
Demolition of Mill
The new owner was Colm Keane from Carney. When he took over he tried to continue the business of grinding corn in the mill but some accident happened to the water wheel, which was regarded as one of the biggest in Ireland. The wheel was never repaired and was later dismantled and sold.
Keane sold the mill to Peter Gibbs in 1987 while retaining the dwelling house and the land.. The mill had fallen into disrepair by this stage and the new owner couldn’t get grants to restore it. He demolished it in 1994 and sold off the stone and the other effects. He started a fish farm, which he still runs. The dwelling house, described as a magnificent dwelling in the 1963 sale, has deteriorated much in the meantime.
The demolition of the mill was carried out by P. J. Downey of Terryglass, who pulled the building down by attaching cables to parts of it. By this stage a large crack had appeared in one of the gables. The stone and effects were purchased by an architectural salvage firm.
On one occasion , it must have been the early fifties, I brought grain to the mill to be ground, I had to wait an age before my turn came. It must have been well into the afternoon. I was ravenous with the hunger and Bill must have taken pity on me. The next thing his wife appeared with a jug of hot sweet tea and some brown bed lightly buttered. It must have tasted beautiful because I can still remember the pleasure it gave me!
Of course there is no such place as Carrigahorig! It is made up of four townslands, Ballyquirke, Firmount, Garryclohy and Roran. Carrigahorig, Carraic-an-chomhraic, means the rock of the meeting, in this case the rock of the battle-meeting. It is reputed to be a place famous for its fights. The Mearas of Firmount, three brothers of them, were notorious for fighting, They fought all over North Tipperary, and challenged groups from near and far.
Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks in the Parish of Lorrha & Dorrha at the end the 19th Century
The Lamp, 2020, pp 27-28
Full article can be viewed here.
Respecting Amhrán na bhFiann
17th Laochra Gael Presentations, The Dome, Semple Stadium, November 24th, 2019
Article can be viewed here
Clonmel Commercials 1994 Senior Football Champions
FBD Insurance County Senior Football Championship Final 2019
Article can be viewed here.