In part 1 of this blog, I covered the early years of the GAA and
two of the key figures in its formation, Michael Cusack and Maurice Davin:
https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/04/easter-sunday-1888-part-1-of-2.html
The first All-Ireland hurling and football championships were seen by the GAA executive as a necessary next step for the development of the new organization. Twelve counties initially undertook to run club championships in both hurling and football: Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow, although championships were not held or completed in all cases.
The first All-Ireland hurling championship began in 1887 with championships designed to find the best club in each county and these clubs would then go on to represent their county in the All-Ireland championship.
By the end of a chaotic and controversial series of county championships, with byes, walkovers, Fenian/IRB involvement and club expulsions, only four matches went ahead in the All-Ireland championship.
And before I go on, it’s worth making a few points about the actual game of hurling at the time as there were many key differences in comparison to the modern game.
Games were played on pitches of at least 200 yards in length by 150 yards in width, thus bigger than modern pitches. Teams had twenty one players aside. Based on newspaper reports from the time, most players played in their bare feet. The games lasted eighty minutes.
Regarding early tactics, it seems that teams moved in groups around the field (the group known as a scriob) with 'whips' or fringe players waiting on the margins for the ball to come loose.
The scoring system was complicated and games tended to yield low scores. A goal was more valuable than any number of points. And there was a score known as a ‘forfeit point’, awarded to the attacking team when a defender knocked the ball over their own end line. A forfeit point was worth only a fifth of a regular point.
All in all, it seems like quite a different game to our modern version of hurling.
The 1887 county hurling championships
https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/04/easter-sunday-1888-part-1-of-2.html
The first All-Ireland hurling and football championships were seen by the GAA executive as a necessary next step for the development of the new organization. Twelve counties initially undertook to run club championships in both hurling and football: Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow, although championships were not held or completed in all cases.
The first All-Ireland hurling championship began in 1887 with championships designed to find the best club in each county and these clubs would then go on to represent their county in the All-Ireland championship.
By the end of a chaotic and controversial series of county championships, with byes, walkovers, Fenian/IRB involvement and club expulsions, only four matches went ahead in the All-Ireland championship.
And before I go on, it’s worth making a few points about the actual game of hurling at the time as there were many key differences in comparison to the modern game.
Hurling depicted in an 1884 edition of the London paper
'Illustrated Sports and Dramatic News'
The shape of the hurley has changed over the years and, in 1887-1888 was probably longer than the current hurley and with a narrower 'boss', more comparable to a modern hockey stick. This may have reflected the increased emphasis on ground hurling and overhead striking at the time, in comparison to the modern catching and carrying game.
Games were played on pitches of at least 200 yards in length by 150 yards in width, thus bigger than modern pitches. Teams had twenty one players aside. Based on newspaper reports from the time, most players played in their bare feet. The games lasted eighty minutes.
Regarding early tactics, it seems that teams moved in groups around the field (the group known as a scriob) with 'whips' or fringe players waiting on the margins for the ball to come loose.
The scoring system was complicated and games tended to yield low scores. A goal was more valuable than any number of points. And there was a score known as a ‘forfeit point’, awarded to the attacking team when a defender knocked the ball over their own end line. A forfeit point was worth only a fifth of a regular point.
All in all, it seems like quite a different game to our modern version of hurling.
The 1887 county hurling championships
After a hotly contested and controversial campaign, Thurles ultimately won out in the Tipperary championship, winning the final against North Tipperary (a combined team from several clubs in the region). ‘The North Tipps’ had been favourites for the Tipperary
championship, having beaten a combined team from east and south Galway in a high profile exhibition match in
the Phoenix Park in 1886. The highly rated Moycarkey team was eliminated without losing a match and their case at GAA executive level was apparently not helped by their lack of IRB alignment.
In
Limerick, there was also controversy and an inconclusive end to the county championship. Murroe defeated Plan of Campaign in the first semi-final. The second semi-final involved South Liberties defeating Castleconnell but the match was spoiled by crowds encroaching on to the field and ended in disarray. After a chaotic final, in which both teams declared victory, the GAA Central Executive took the remarkable decision to award the Limerick championship to Castleconnell in a move that may also have been influenced by IRB members.
The Clare
county final was very much an East Clare affair, with Ogonnelloe losing out to
the nearby Smith O’Briens club from Garraunboy, just outside Killaloe. The Killaloe GAA club is still known as Smith O'Briens.
No hurling championship was played in Wexford but the football champions (Castlebridge) were persuaded to represent the county in the All-Ireland hurling championship (playing their first ever hurling match).
Strange as it may now seem, cricket and 'Irish football' were more popular sports than hurling in Kilkenny in the early years of the GAA. Only four teams contested the first county hurling championship, in comparison to nineteen for the football championship. In the hurling final, Tullaroan defeated Mooncoin.
Although there is some uncertainty regarding whether a championship was played out in Galway, Meelick were declared the county champions and may have also had players on their team from surrounding areas such as Killimor, Eyrecourt and Mullagh. This region of south and east Galway was, along with northern Tipperary, one of the few places in Ireland where hurling had continued to thrive from antiquity, prior to the establishment of the GAA,
Along with the Limerick championship, the Cork county championship was among the most controversial and bitter of all and, like the Limerick championship, failed to produce a definitive champion. St. Finbarr's and Cork Nationals both claimed victory in their semi-final, and the planned final against Passage did not go ahead.
The Phoenix Park was very much the epicentre of Dublin hurling in the early days of the GAA, with The Eblana club playing near the Wellington Monument, Kickhams playing on the Fifteen Acres, Grocers' Assistants on the polo grounds and Metropolitans and Faugh-a-Ballaghs playing on the Civil Service cricket ground. This may have been as a result of a call from Michael Cusack for GAA clubs to claim ownership of the Phoenix Park, thus putting an end to favouritism for 'knots of well-to-do people' living in 'charmed circles'. He wanted the Phoenix Park to be used by ordinary Irish people, playing Irish games 'for the benefit of the children of the poor who are being slowly poisoned in their own homes'. Metropolitans won the Dublin county championship as had been expected.
The All-Ireland championship of 1887
In what would be the first ever first inter-county hurling championship match, Meelick of Galway defeated Castlebridge of Wexford in Elm Park Dublin on July 2nd 1887 on a scoreline of 2-8 to one goal. The result was not surprising, considering that the Meelick team came from a traditional hurling heartland and were among the favourites to win the All-Ireland championship. Remarkably, the Castlebridge team was primarily a football team and, having been persuaded to represent Wexford in the absence of a hurling championship in that county, this was their first ever hurling match.
The Kilkenny champions Tullaroan were due to meet the champions of Cork and then Limerick but received byes in both matches because of inconclusive county championships. So the Kilkenny champions progressed on to the All-Ireland semi-final without playing a match.
The Tipperary champions received a walkover when Metropolitans of Dublin failed to field a team for their match in Mountrath. They then went on to beat Smith O'Briens of Clare in the next round, in a match played in Nenagh.
The penultimate match of the championship pitted Tullaroan of Kilkenny against Thurles of Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final, played in Urlingford on the border between the two counties. Before the match, Tullaroan objected to Thurles including some players from their team who were from outside of Thurles town. Changes were made and the match went ahead, with the Tipperary champions winning on a score 4-7 to nil and thus drawing first blood in a sporting rivalry that would go on to become one of the most fabled in GAA history, the latest installment being last August's All-Ireland hurling final.
The scene was thus set for an All-Ireland showdown between the champions of Tipperary and Galway.
Easter Sunday, 1888: the first All-Ireland hurling final
It is unclear why Birr was chosen as the venue for the delayed All-Ireland hurling final of 1887 (played in 1888) but it may well have been because of its situation in a hurling heartland and between the two competing counties. Records of the actual day and match are sketchy and there are many legends associated with the game. However, we do know that the two teams gathered at Cunningham's hotel and marched in military style out of the town down Wilmer Road, across the Camcor river and on to Railway Road and the beginning of what is now the N52 (coincidentally, my aforementioned route for All-Ireland final ticket hunting). On their march to Johnny Farrell's field, the match venue, they were led by three Fenian members from their clubs: James Lynam of Meelick (a veteran of the American Civil War) and Hugh Ryan and Andrew Callanan of Thurles.
The Tipperary hurlers wore green jerseys with 'a little galaxy of stars artistically worked around the centre' and the Galway men also wore green jerseys, but with a white stripe. Three thousand people assembled to witness the spectacle, having travelled from all over the surrounding countryside by various means. Despite the strongly nationalistic feelings of the day, it may be that 'a friendly regiment of the Scottish Highlanders stationed in Birr at the time, volunteered to keep order and control the sidelines', although this may also be legend.
The referee was Patrick J. White, a native of Toomevara in Co. Tipperary but living in Birr. Despite his own protestations and concerns about perceived bias in favour of his native county, he was persuaded by both teams that they would accept his judgement and authority.
Like many other aspects of the game, there is legend associated even with the match ball, one story being that it was fashioned together from cork, twine and covered with red leather, all in a pub in Killimor, and by three members of the Meelick team.
Whatever the origins of the ball, it was thrown in at 3 p.m. and went 'whizzing in all directions, now here, now there, threatening one goal, now another'. Each team pressed and harried - 'the play was simply fierce' - and the Tipperary men opened with a point. This would turn out to be the only score of the first half.
A key event of the second half involved a fracas between John Lowery of Meelick and one of the Thurles players, with the unnamed Thurles player going off injured and Lowery possibly being sent off.
After a subsequent period of sustained pressure, Thurles pushed for a goal but had to be content with a forfeit point.
The final score of the match was definitive, with Thurles scoring a goal. Thurles captain James Stapleton named the scorer as Tommy Healy but the Midland Tribune reported the scorer as Jim Leahy. A surely reliable eye witness was the Meelick goalkeeper John Mannion who said: 'The ball came down to me out of the sun and a 17 stone Tipperary man arrived at the same time. The ball went in between us, but they won it fair'.
The teams were cheered off the pitch and marched back again in military fashion to Cunningham's Hotel. And thus ended the humble beginnings of the All-Ireland hurling championship.
No hurling championship was played in Wexford but the football champions (Castlebridge) were persuaded to represent the county in the All-Ireland hurling championship (playing their first ever hurling match).
Strange as it may now seem, cricket and 'Irish football' were more popular sports than hurling in Kilkenny in the early years of the GAA. Only four teams contested the first county hurling championship, in comparison to nineteen for the football championship. In the hurling final, Tullaroan defeated Mooncoin.
Although there is some uncertainty regarding whether a championship was played out in Galway, Meelick were declared the county champions and may have also had players on their team from surrounding areas such as Killimor, Eyrecourt and Mullagh. This region of south and east Galway was, along with northern Tipperary, one of the few places in Ireland where hurling had continued to thrive from antiquity, prior to the establishment of the GAA,
Along with the Limerick championship, the Cork county championship was among the most controversial and bitter of all and, like the Limerick championship, failed to produce a definitive champion. St. Finbarr's and Cork Nationals both claimed victory in their semi-final, and the planned final against Passage did not go ahead.
The All-Ireland championship of 1887
In what would be the first ever first inter-county hurling championship match, Meelick of Galway defeated Castlebridge of Wexford in Elm Park Dublin on July 2nd 1887 on a scoreline of 2-8 to one goal. The result was not surprising, considering that the Meelick team came from a traditional hurling heartland and were among the favourites to win the All-Ireland championship. Remarkably, the Castlebridge team was primarily a football team and, having been persuaded to represent Wexford in the absence of a hurling championship in that county, this was their first ever hurling match.
The Kilkenny champions Tullaroan were due to meet the champions of Cork and then Limerick but received byes in both matches because of inconclusive county championships. So the Kilkenny champions progressed on to the All-Ireland semi-final without playing a match.
The Tipperary champions received a walkover when Metropolitans of Dublin failed to field a team for their match in Mountrath. They then went on to beat Smith O'Briens of Clare in the next round, in a match played in Nenagh.
The penultimate match of the championship pitted Tullaroan of Kilkenny against Thurles of Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final, played in Urlingford on the border between the two counties. Before the match, Tullaroan objected to Thurles including some players from their team who were from outside of Thurles town. Changes were made and the match went ahead, with the Tipperary champions winning on a score 4-7 to nil and thus drawing first blood in a sporting rivalry that would go on to become one of the most fabled in GAA history, the latest installment being last August's All-Ireland hurling final.
The scene was thus set for an All-Ireland showdown between the champions of Tipperary and Galway.
Easter Sunday, 1888: the first All-Ireland hurling final
It is unclear why Birr was chosen as the venue for the delayed All-Ireland hurling final of 1887 (played in 1888) but it may well have been because of its situation in a hurling heartland and between the two competing counties. Records of the actual day and match are sketchy and there are many legends associated with the game. However, we do know that the two teams gathered at Cunningham's hotel and marched in military style out of the town down Wilmer Road, across the Camcor river and on to Railway Road and the beginning of what is now the N52 (coincidentally, my aforementioned route for All-Ireland final ticket hunting). On their march to Johnny Farrell's field, the match venue, they were led by three Fenian members from their clubs: James Lynam of Meelick (a veteran of the American Civil War) and Hugh Ryan and Andrew Callanan of Thurles.
The Tipperary hurlers wore green jerseys with 'a little galaxy of stars artistically worked around the centre' and the Galway men also wore green jerseys, but with a white stripe. Three thousand people assembled to witness the spectacle, having travelled from all over the surrounding countryside by various means. Despite the strongly nationalistic feelings of the day, it may be that 'a friendly regiment of the Scottish Highlanders stationed in Birr at the time, volunteered to keep order and control the sidelines', although this may also be legend.
The referee was Patrick J. White, a native of Toomevara in Co. Tipperary but living in Birr. Despite his own protestations and concerns about perceived bias in favour of his native county, he was persuaded by both teams that they would accept his judgement and authority.
Like many other aspects of the game, there is legend associated even with the match ball, one story being that it was fashioned together from cork, twine and covered with red leather, all in a pub in Killimor, and by three members of the Meelick team.
Whatever the origins of the ball, it was thrown in at 3 p.m. and went 'whizzing in all directions, now here, now there, threatening one goal, now another'. Each team pressed and harried - 'the play was simply fierce' - and the Tipperary men opened with a point. This would turn out to be the only score of the first half.
A key event of the second half involved a fracas between John Lowery of Meelick and one of the Thurles players, with the unnamed Thurles player going off injured and Lowery possibly being sent off.
After a subsequent period of sustained pressure, Thurles pushed for a goal but had to be content with a forfeit point.
The final score of the match was definitive, with Thurles scoring a goal. Thurles captain James Stapleton named the scorer as Tommy Healy but the Midland Tribune reported the scorer as Jim Leahy. A surely reliable eye witness was the Meelick goalkeeper John Mannion who said: 'The ball came down to me out of the sun and a 17 stone Tipperary man arrived at the same time. The ball went in between us, but they won it fair'.
The teams were cheered off the pitch and marched back again in military fashion to Cunningham's Hotel. And thus ended the humble beginnings of the All-Ireland hurling championship.
A few final words: echoes of the past
Mark Rode’s wonderful statue is a striking and fitting tribute to the first All-Ireland hurling championship played on Easter Sunday, April 1st, 1888, as is Paul Rouse's book 'The Hurlers', the source material and inspiration for this blog. The first All-Ireland football final was played at the end of April 1888 in Clonskeagh, Dublin, with the Commercials club of Limerick defeating New Irelands of Dundalk, Co. Louth on a scoreline of 1-4 to 3 points and that site is marked with the plaque below.
From the little acorn of these 19th century matches grew the great oak of our modern leagues and championships, with hurling, football and camogie clubs now flourishing throughout Ireland for men, women, boys and girls and All-Ireland championships that are the centre-pieces of our sporting summers. One small irony is that Johnny Farrell’s field is now no longer, but is in fact the site of a large multi-national British superstore, so Mark Rode's statue faces not the field where the first All-Ireland hurling final was played but instead, built on that sacred site, is a Tesco superstore. I can only imagine the lyrical fury of Michael Cusack in response to this.
The bigger picture is that the dream of Cusack, Davin and their contemporaries of an Irish sporting organization for Irish games has probably exceeded even their wildest dreams.
And although the modern game of hurling differs greatly from the game played in 1888, there are still strong echoes from our past in the passion, skill and vigour of the game itself, the intense club and county pride and loyalty and the love of our Irishness. Cusack was first and foremost a hurling enthusiast and I can only imagine his joy at the stratospheric skill levels now displayed in his favourite game.
And those 19th century military parades are echoed in Croke Park at the end of every summer when teams march before the football and hurling finals, under the shadows of the stands named after Cusack and Davin, surely proving Cusack's words to be prophetic when he he wrote that, if their mission proved to be successful, he had no doubt 'that coming generations will bless us for the service we have rendered them'.
Mark Rode’s wonderful statue is a striking and fitting tribute to the first All-Ireland hurling championship played on Easter Sunday, April 1st, 1888, as is Paul Rouse's book 'The Hurlers', the source material and inspiration for this blog. The first All-Ireland football final was played at the end of April 1888 in Clonskeagh, Dublin, with the Commercials club of Limerick defeating New Irelands of Dundalk, Co. Louth on a scoreline of 1-4 to 3 points and that site is marked with the plaque below.
From the little acorn of these 19th century matches grew the great oak of our modern leagues and championships, with hurling, football and camogie clubs now flourishing throughout Ireland for men, women, boys and girls and All-Ireland championships that are the centre-pieces of our sporting summers. One small irony is that Johnny Farrell’s field is now no longer, but is in fact the site of a large multi-national British superstore, so Mark Rode's statue faces not the field where the first All-Ireland hurling final was played but instead, built on that sacred site, is a Tesco superstore. I can only imagine the lyrical fury of Michael Cusack in response to this.
The bigger picture is that the dream of Cusack, Davin and their contemporaries of an Irish sporting organization for Irish games has probably exceeded even their wildest dreams.
And although the modern game of hurling differs greatly from the game played in 1888, there are still strong echoes from our past in the passion, skill and vigour of the game itself, the intense club and county pride and loyalty and the love of our Irishness. Cusack was first and foremost a hurling enthusiast and I can only imagine his joy at the stratospheric skill levels now displayed in his favourite game.
And those 19th century military parades are echoed in Croke Park at the end of every summer when teams march before the football and hurling finals, under the shadows of the stands named after Cusack and Davin, surely proving Cusack's words to be prophetic when he he wrote that, if their mission proved to be successful, he had no doubt 'that coming generations will bless us for the service we have rendered them'.
Tipperary and Kilkenny hurlers parade in Croke Park before
the 2016 All-Ireland hurling final
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