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.
Eire Og Annacarty-Donohill 1994 Intermediate Hurling Champions
County Tipperary senior hurling final program, Semple Stadium, Thurles, November 3, 2019
Article can be viewed here.
My Tipperary Life
The Nationalist and The Tipperary Star, October 31, 2019
What’s your idea of a perfect weekend in Tipperary?
It has to include a visit to Brosnan’s Pub for a few pints and to catch up with the local news. Reading the weekend papers is a vital part of my existence. The highlight has to be a hurling match in Thurles, preferably against Cork, and a chat with a few Cork supporters before or after the game over a few pints of Guinness. If there isn’t a game to go to, Sunday lunch at home with my wife’s cooking and a good bottle of wine.
Who has made the greatest contribution to Tipperary in your lifetime – and why?
A very difficult question but the two Tipperary people who have made a great contribution to Tipperary in my estimation are General M. J. Costello and T. J. Maher. Both these men were major figures in the county, and beyond, during their lifetimes and they contributed significantly to improving the lot of people in the county.
After a distinguished army career, in which M. J. Costello reached the rank of Lieutenant-General, and was ever after referred to as General Costello, he took over the Sugar Company, which was in a weak state after the Emergency. He set about improving soil fertility and established soil testing stations, limestone quarries and fertiliser compounding. He waged a ceaseless war against the various beet diseases and against the pests of the crop. His work into beet seed research won recognition across the beet-growing world, including a prestigious decoration from King Baudouin of the Belgians in 1973. His vision was to make the smallest farm viable. His vegetable project was aimed to accommodate the small family holding as much as the big farm. His efforts lifted the depressed Ireland of the fifties and, as the celebrant of his funeral Mass on October 22, 1986, expressed it, his life was ‘dedicated to protecting, uplifting, to guiding, to counselling the ordinary people of this island – the people of no wealth, the people of no property, the people of uncertain future, the people of no influence.’
T. J. Maher’s achievements in the later decades of the century were also impressive. Beginning his life on the family farm in Boherlahan, he joined the newly formed National Farmers Association soon after its foundation and rapidly made his way up the ranks and was one of the ten members, who sat out at the Department of Agriculture for nineteen days. He succeeded Rickard Deasy as President of the N.F.A. in 1967, a meteoric rise in the organisation in about ten years. He helped to unite the various farming organisation under a new title, the Irish Farmers Association in 1976 and, as a committed European led the vote for entry to the E.E.C. He later became president of the co-operative movement. His next move was in 1979 when he was elected MEP with a massive 86,000 votes, a tribute to his leadership qualities and his success in giving Irish farmers a powerful voice. When he retired after three terms in the European Parliament, he spent his time furthering the activities of Bothar, the organisation he co-founded in 1991 to give people in the developing world an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty through this self-help scheme. T. J. Maher’s contribution to the lives of the Irish farming community was truly immense.
What’s your first Tipperary memory?
It must have been about 1946 or 1947. I was coming home from Redwood bog sitting on top of a creel of turf and passing Tom Lambe’s house, he came out and handed me up a new hurl: ‘Take that’, he said, ‘’you’ll find good use for it.’ It was my first proper hurl. Before that I used a crookey stick. Tom Lambe was my hero at the time and played on the Lorrha senior team.
What’s your favourite part of the county – and why:
Even though I come from the north of the county I am more attracted to some of the landscape of South Tipperary. The area that impresses me most is the Vee and the area that stretches down to Lismore. I think it’s the wilderness effect that attracts me, which contrasts with the rich farming terrain in the rest of the county. The story of Petticoat Luce fascinates me. Pettycoat Luce was supposed to be a bad living woman. She killed her father and her mother and an unbaptised child. The Parish Priest of Clogheen gave her a penance to drain Bay Lough with a thimble. Some people from Clogheen went up to Bay Lough to make an outlet to let the water run out. When they were there they saw that Clogheen was on fire They ran down to save it. When they got down it was not on fire at all. And there’s more stories about her but not enough to reveal what kind of person she was..
What do you think gives Tipperary its unique identity?
I suppose the Tipperary accent has to be part of its uniqueness and the inability of many people to pronounce their ths. Tipperary people are proud and pride themselves in the designation, Premier County. Most people attribute this title to the fact that we won many competitions in the G.A.A., when they were first played, such as the first All-Ireland, the first under-21 All-Ireland, etc. It might come as a shock to some that the attribute, Premier County, is supposed to have originated in praise of the county as one of the foremost in providing soldiers to the British Army! That theory is backed up by the number of Victoria Crosses won by Tipperary soldiers. Maybe the uniqueness of the county is due to the fact that we were the only county that had two administrative units up to recently.
Do you have a favourite local writer or authorities?
As a student of history I cannot go beyond Dr. Des Marnane, who has written so extensively of West Tipperary since the production of ‘Land and Violence: A History of West Tipperary from 1660’ in 1985. Since then his production has been enormous as the pages of the Tipperary Historical Journal can testify, as well as his books. He briings to his writing a great desire for the truth and a searching analysis of the records. An indefatigable researcher, he has thrown new light on many old issues and exposed much that was myth and humbug in historical events.
Another writer whose work I have huge respect for is Pat Bracken. His book ‘The Growth and Development of Sport in County Tipperary 1840-1880’ in chock a block with exciting information, revealing a sporting Ireland during the forty years covered in the title and challenges many of our assumptions about the development of these sports, as well as the state of hurling before the foundation of the G.A.A. A work of assiduous and painstaking research, it is a must read for anyone in the county interest in sport.
What’s the biggest challenge facing the county today?
I don’t know about the biggest but there are a few big ones. We need to expand on the number of tourists coming into the county. Over 300,000 visit the Rock of Cashel annually but there is too small a spill over to the rest of the county. We have a lot to offer the tourist, religious places like Holycross, Roscrea, Lorrha, water pursuits on Lough Derg, mountain climbing in the South, good food, plenty of sport. The big challenge is to sell the huge variety of visitor attractions we have to offer. In the meantime we need to catch up with Kilkenny in the roll call of All-Ireland honours!
If you had the power to change one thing in, or about Tipperary, what would it be?
Another difficult question because I’m not quite sure what traits, habits or practices Tipperary has that are different to other counties. I suppose it would be a good idea to have one capital town in Thurles rather than two in Nenagh and Clonmel, with politicians and staff traipsing between the two incurring expenses. Another idea might be to relocate the county a bit further south where the weather would be better.
Moyaliffe House
Clonoulty-Rossmore Vintage Club, 19th Annual Vintage Rally, Clonoulty Village, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, September 1, 2019
Moyaliffe House is a large house, built over several periods. It is situated within a mature garden, beside the River Clodiagh and within the grounds of a ruined castle. The approach to the house is between a stately avenue of lime trees, planted over one hundred years ago. Nearby is Moyaliffe Hill, which rises to over four hundred feet above sea level, from the top of which are fine views of the Rock of Cashel and the Devil’s Bit.
The name ‘Moyaliffe’ or ‘Mealiffe’ is a derivation meaning ‘field of Olaf’. As far as is known, Olaf was the reigning King of the territory in 900 AD, when he fought a fierce and defensive battle on the banks of the River Clodiagh, losing two hundred men.
The ruins of a castle, which was built about 1100 AD, can be seen to the south of the house. The castle was one of a series built by the Butler family to preserve law and order over their vast domain granted by King John of England. In 1500 AD it was besieged by Turlough O’Brien, when one hundred Kilkenny men with Robert Shee, the sovereign of that city, marched out to the assistance of Sir Piers Butler at Moyaliffe, but were defeated and left a great number of their men dead on the field, including Shee.
The House
The oldest wing of the house at one time adjoined the castle. The middle wing was added in the 17th century, while the newest wing, which made the house the fine structure it is today, was built in 1810. All the walls of the house are of exceptional thickness. Behind panelling, in the thickness of one of the outside walls enclosing a passage on the first floor, is what might have been a secret closet, in which a man could have hidden. In the courtyard is a deep well which assured a water supply, which was important in such houses in case of attack.
The Armstrongs
The owners of Moyaliffe since 1695 were the Armstrongs when Thomas Armstrong (1671-1741) purchased the townland and the ruins of a towerhouse, which had been built there by the Butler family in the early fourteenth century. Thomas was the younger son of Captain William Armstrong of Farney Castle, who had come to Ireland to fight for the royalist cause in the Irish Confederate Wars. The Armstrongs were of Scottish origin and are said to have derived their name during the Battle of the Standard (1138), when a warrior of the clan lifted a fallen king back onto his horse by using just one arm. The family motto, vi et armis Invictus maneo (by force and arms I remain unvanquished, reflects the fearless and warlike nature for which the clan was famous.
The Moyaliffe branch of the family was rather more peaceful in its inclinations than the motto might suggest. While many men of the family continued in the tradition of serving in the army, equally many took to the cloth and served as clergymen in parishes in Tipperary and elsewhere. William ‘Billy’ Carew Armstrong (1752-1839) served as rector of Moyaliffe from 1789 to 1797. He also held the rectorship of Moylough in the diocese of Tuam and the chancellorship of the diocese of Cashel. Billy’s marriage to Catherine Beresford in 1789 was not only good for his career but brought money into the family, allowing him to improve the holding at Moyaliffe. He extended the modest family home by the addition of a Georgian wing, planted a parkland of oaks and beeches and established a beech walk overlooking the Clodiagh River. As a result of this prosperous marriage, many subsequent generations carried ‘Beresford’ as their middle name.
Billy’s eldest son, John Armstrong (1791-1846) also married well. His wife, Catherine Somers, was the only surviving child of Thomas Somers of Chaffpool, County Sligo. Through this marriage, the Armstrongs came into possession of estates in Mayo and Sligo, and for many decades the family abandoned Moyaliffe House in favour of Chaffpool House. Apparently John was a much-liked landlord and highly respected magistrate, and the local community were devastated to hear the news of his premature death during the famine from typhus fever he had contracted while working tirelessly to ease the suffering of the poor and starving.
End of the Family Connection
Eventually the Moyaliffe estate came to Captain Marcus Beresford Armstrong and, following the death of his only son, he made the decision to pass the state to his second daughter, Jess (1891-1949). (The Mayo and Sligo estates had been sold to the Congested Districts Board in 1904.) She was married in 1927 to Captain William Daryl Olphert Kemmis (1892-1965) of Ballinacor, County Wicklow.
She and her husband divided their time between Moyaliffe and Ballinacor until the death of Captain Kemmis in 1965, when, through a series of events, Jess Kemmis lost ownership of Ballinacor, which was inherited by her husband’s maternal cousin, Major Richard Lomer, and Moyaliffe, which was offered for sale to the Land Commission. She was later able to regain possession of Moyaliffe House and 12 acres of the demesne, but not the surrounding farm.
As Jess had no children, and he younger sister was also childless, Jess Kemmis bequeathed Moyaliffe House and grounds to her distant relation, Robert George Carew Armstrong (1911-1983) of Natal, South Africa. Following Robert’s death, the property passed to his eldest son, Graham Carew Armstrong (b. 1946). It remained in the hands of the Armstrong family until July 1999, when it was sold to John Stakelum.
Life in Moyaliffe
In his comprehensive Life of Tom Semple and the Thurles Blues, Liam Ó Donnchú gives an interesting picture of life at Moyaliffe in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Many of the workers on the estate were brought in from Scotland. Tom Semple’s grandfather, James, was one and worked as a servant at Farney Castle, where the father of the first Armstrong to take over Moyaliffe, was established. Tom’s father, Martin, is recalled locally as being a coachman and butler at Farney Castle and later at MoyaliffeI
It is clear, from the following account of a celebration at Moyaliffe, that Martin Semple was held in high esteem by the Armstrongs and could be trusted with a position of responsibility. ‘In October 1878, Captain Edward Armstrong celebrated the annual ‘Harvest Home’ at Moyaliffe Castle. Invitations had been sent to his tenants, labourers, tradesmen and their families and the celebrations began at about 4.00 p.m. for the assembled gathering of all ages, numbering about one hundred and fifty-five. They assembled in the vicinity of the farmyard, in an area specially built for such festivities, where a dance-floor had been laid and the area decorated with evergreens, corn sheaves and appropriate slogans, some in the Irish language. Fiddle music filled the autumnal air and the tables were ‘full and plenty’ and well-decked with a selection of meats including roast beef and a selection of hot smoking puddings. Captain Armstrong arrived with his wife and her companion, Miss Bagwell, about 8.00 p.m. amid welcoming cheers. The flowing bowl followed with plenty for all and the Captain drank to the health of his tenants, labourers and his invited friends from Farney Castle and Templemore. At 10.30 p.m. the Captain and his entourage retired. Tea, punch and porter were liberally distributed during the remainder of the night, under the supervision of Mr. Semple (Tom’s father), Mr. Hogan, Mr. Harrington and Mr. Aduett, all appointed by Captain Armstrong to act in his absence. Celebrations continued until 7.00 a. m., when all wished each other good-bye in friendship.’
Tony Reddin (1919-2019) Remembered
Munster Senior Hurling Championship, Tipperary v Portláirge, Semple Stadium, May 19, 2019
In a fine nostalgic piece in the 1981 Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook, Seamus Leahy recalls a visit from his uncle Paddy and Jimmy Maher after Lorrha’s defeat by Holycross in the 1948 county final. He produced an autograph book and his uncle wrote: ‘Sensation: Holycross won county championship 1948. Tipp will win All-Ireland championship 1949.’
Then he handed the book to Jimmy, who wrote: ‘Jim Maher, Boherlahan.’
‘Identify yourself,’ urged Paddy, ‘Jim Maher, Boherlahan could be anyone. Write ‘Tipp goalie.’
‘Not after today,’ said Jimmy, ‘didn’t you see your man, Reddin, today? He’s your goalie now.’
Jimmy was right. After eight years as Tipperary’s senior goalkeeper he was to give way to this ‘unknown’, who had shown unusual ability during the North and county championship. He was picked as Jimmy’s replacement for the county’s first game in the league against Offaly on October 24 and played his last game against New York in October 1957. His tenure with Lorrha was from Easter Sunday 1947 until April 1958 during which time he won two North championship medals in 1948 and 1956.
Mullagh to Lorrha
Tony arrived in Lorrha from Mullagh, Co. Galway early in 1947 at the age of twenty-eight years. He had shown promise in his native county, playing with the county juniors and seniors and with the Connaght Railway Cup team. He won a Connaght junior hurling medal in 1940 and played full-forward with the county against Tipperary in the Monaghan Cup game in London in 1946. However, it wasn’t until he crossed the Shannon that his true potential was realised.
His list of achievements is impressive by any standards, As well as winning three All-Irelands, six national Leagues, 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 wining Monaghan Cup team on eight occasions. His ninth visit was as a substitute in 1957, when Tipperary were beaten. He was also picked for the Number 1 position on the Teams of the Century and the Millennium.
One of the Greats
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 ball 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 plenty of space to clear. He claimed to know which side of the goal the 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 Banagher Connection
Tony Reddin died on March 1, 2015 in his ninety-sixth year, survived by his wife, Maura (nee Smyth) whom he married in 1956, and nine children, six girls and three boys. The family moved from Lorrha to Banagher in 1964 and Tony took over as manager and selector of the local St, Rynagh’s team that won ten out of twelve county finals between 1966-1976. He had a very simple message on the training pitch, develop a quick touch, deliver the ball fast and always do it diagonally. Tony’s son, Cathal, who played with Offaly and later with Paris Gaels had the distinction of winning Poc Fada na hEorpa at Tongeren on July 7,
1997
Of all the medals that Tony won during his distinguished hurling career, one that he cherished greatly was the 1933 county under-14 medal he won with his native place, Mullagh. Quite recently two of his grandchildren, twins Orla and Aisling Gaughan, won the Galway under-14 county camogie final with Ardrahan. Tony would have enjoyed the co-incidence!
Patrick Roger Cleary (1857-1933) General Secretary G.A.A.
Munster Senior Hurling Championship, Tipperary v Limerick, Thurles, May 16, 2019
Patrick Roger Cleary was born in Lagganstown, in the Parish of New Inn and Knockgraffon the youngest of the five children of Roger Cleary and his wife Hanora (Ryan), and baptised in New Inn Church on March 14, 1857.
One account has him educated in Mungret College. He was fluent in the Irish language and knew Latin. He qualified as a teacher and was appointed Principal of Inch St. Lawrence National School in Caherconlish, a single-roomed school of the type that was common in rural Ireland at the time, with eighty pupils. He married a local girl, Minnie Dooley, whose father was a member of the R.I.C. , in the Augustinian Church in Limerick on January 19, 1888. They had a son, Roger, who was born towards the end of the same year, and died at the age of six, and three daughters, Minnie, Nan and Kitty. There was a second son, Michael Patrick, who was born in Limerick and died at the age of three months.
As a result of falling out with his manager, Fr. Cooney, Cleary was sacked and became an agent to the Prudential Assurance Company, which worked well as a cover for his secret job as a travelling I.R.B. organiser. His involvement in the I.R.B. helped his spectacular rise through the ranks of the G.A.A.
The G.A.A. was rent by divisions at the time, which had their origins in the political situation that existed.. The physical force group of Fenians gained dominance on the Central Council and some counties, including Limerick, had two county boards representing the different viewpoints, an official one and a breakaway band of people not prepared to accept the Fenian policy.
Elected General Secretary of G.A.A.
At the convention of the ‘official’ county board in Limerick, in 1888, P. R. Cleary was elected secretary of the board, which indicated that his sympathies were with the Fenian side. He was a delegate to the Annual Congress of 1888, held in Thurles in January 1889, and was elected general secretary of the Association. His fellow Limerick delegate, Anthony Mackey, was elected treasurer. At the following Annual Congress in November, Patrick Cleary was elected for a second term. He served until the next convention, when he was succeeded by Maurice Moynihan of Kerry.
His two years in office were beset with difficulties. A number of counties refused to recognise the Central Council and would not take part in the All-Ireland championships. However, Cleary succeeded in completing the intercounty championships although with reduced participation by counties, eight in both hurling and football. He organised the games and refereed some of them himself. Dublin beat Clare in the hurling final and Tipperary beat Laois in the football in 1899.
All in all Patrick Cleary proved to be an active secretary and, considering the limiting circumstance in which he was operating, his performance was satisfactory. He continued to take an active interest in the G.A.A. in Tipperary and was acting chairman of the county board for a time in 1902. According to his obituary notice in the Tipperary Star ‘His interest in the fortunes of the G.A.A. was maintained all through his life and until comparatively lately when the weight of years was telling on his splendid physique. He travelled to all the principal hurling and football events in the southern area and was a familiar figure at Croke Park.’
Later Life
In May 1891 the Cleary family were living at Kilmallock and by mid-1892 were settled in Killarney, where it was noted by the Dublin Castle authorities that ‘he was received by the leading suspects of the place.’ When O’Donovan Rossa visited Kerry, P. R. Cleary took a prominent part in organising reception committees. Tragedy hit the family in April 1895 in Killarney, when his eldest child, Michael Patrick, died.
By 1895 the family were back in Limerick, living in Thomondgate, where his youngest son, Michael Patrick Cleary, was born. The move back to Limerick was seemingly dictated by his new job as an agent for a Bordeaux wine firm, in which capacity he was enabled to travel all over Ireland promoting the I.R.B. cause.
His wife, Mary Anne Dooley, died in St. John’s Hospital, Limerick in September 1896 at the age of twenty-nine years, apparently of cancer, and he was left to bring up the three young girls by himself. By 1901 he was back in Tipperary, living in the village of Bansha with his young daughters and continued to move around the country as an agent for the French Wine Firm.
By 1911, he and his family had moved into Tipperary town, to Emmett Street, where he was now employed as a County Council land surveyor. He designed the Maid of Erin statue, which was unveiled on March 10, 1907. He died at Emmett Street on July 8, 1933 and was interred in Kilfeacle Cemetery. A plaque to his memory was unveiled there by former G.A.A. president, Seamus Ó Riain, on August 15, 1990.
Burgess Capture County Intermediate Title in 1993
Tipperary County Hurling Final October 2018
Burgess won the county intermediate title in 1993 when they defeated Upperchurch-Drombane in the final at Templederry on November 7. It was their first victory since 1976, when they beat Eire Óg, Annacarty in a replay. The previous year, 1992, they had reached the final but were beaten by Kickhams.
Five teams affiliated in the 1993 North intermediate championship, Templederry, Shannon Rovers, Kildangan and Silvermines, as well as Burgess. The championship was played on a league basis with the top three to qualify for the knockout stage.
Burgess began their campaign against Templederry at Nenagh on July 3. Against a strong breeze they trailed by 2-10 to 0-5 at the break but put up a good second-half performance to draw by 1-17 to 2-14. Their next game was against Shannon Rovers on July 16 and they came through this contest by 0-19 to 2-10. A week later they defeated Silvermines by 2-13 to 1-9 at Nenagh. This was a tough encounter, which saw both sides reduced to thirteen players during the game. On August 22, Burgess cleared the final hurdle when they defeated Kildangan by 3-14 to 3-8 at Cloughjordan.
They emerged top of the group with seven points and qualified for the final. The second and third teams, Templederry and Shannon Rovers, qualified for a semi-final, which was won by Templederry at Nenagh on September 29 by 1-10 to 1-8.
The stage was no set for the final, which was fixed for MacDonagh Park, Nenagh on October 3. Burgess retained their title by accounting for Templederry by 3-12 to 1-9. The Guardian reported the match thus: ‘Weather conditions were atrocious, but credit to both sides for their efforts to provide a splendid game. The scoreline is a bit hard on Templederry, who lived with their opponents for the first half, but when Burgess turned on the power in the second half, they were unable to withstand it. But they battled gamely to the end. The opening five minutes of the second half were critical in deciding the game, as Burgess hit a goal and two points that put them in a commanding position. This Burgess team shows promise of future greatness. The foundation of victory was laid on a solid half-back line.’
The North intermediate champions were: David Ryan, Shane Ryan, John Flannery, Kevin Cooney, John McKenna (0-3), Colm McDonnell, Tony Gregan, John Joe Ryan, John Darcy (0-3), Denis Darcy, Liam McGrath (0-1), John Grace (1-0), Michael Kearns, Sean Nealon (1-5), Darrell Tucker (1-0). Subs: Eugene Hogan, Aidan McGrath.
John Darcy won the Guardian Player of the Week for his display in the final.
Referee: Michael Cahill (Kilruane MacDonaghs.
The County Championship
Burgess’s opponents in the county semi-final were West champions, Arravale Rovers. This game was played at Templederry on October 20 and the North champions came through by 1-13 to 0-13 in an absorbing encounter. Burgess were in disarray in the first half and appeared to be chasing the game, while Arravale were on top and led at the interval by 0-10 to 1-4. However, Burgess were a transformed side in the second half and served up an impressive performance to emerge impressive winners., Outstanding for the winners were Dinny Darcy and Sean Nealon, whose accuracy accounted for 10 points of the winners’ total.
The county final between Burgess and Upperchurch-Drombane was arranged for Templederry on November 7 at 12 noon. The heavens opened for the entire game and the conditions for playing hurling were as adverse as they could possibly be. However, the conditions failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the Burgess players, who overcame the stern challenge of the opposition by 0-11 to 0-7.
According to the match report in the Guardian ‘There were many reasons why Burgess won this thrilling game. They won because of the character and pride instilled in the side by trainer, Donie Nealon, and his selectors. They won because they had men like Liam McGrath and Dinny Darcy, who were prepared to run themselves to a standstill for the honour of the green and gold on their backs. They won because they had a set of backs and a goalkeeper, who blocked, hooked, chased and harried their opponents in an attempt to stave off wave after wave of Upperchurch attacks. But, most importantly, they won because they had fifteen men on the field who played as a team and were prepared to cross the pain barrier to satisfy the great hunger for success that had plagued the club for so many years at adult level. This victory, and the subsequent promotion to senior level for the 1994 season, is a just reward for the many months of toil and effort put in on the training field and if ever a side deserves its moment in the limelight, then surely this Burgess side does.’
The champions were: David Ryan, Shane Ryan, John Flannery, Kevin Cooney, John McKenna, Colm McDonnell, Tony Gregan, John Joe Ryan, John Darcy (0-2), Liam McGrath (0-2), Dinny Darcy, John Grace (0-1), Eugene Hogan, Sean Nealon (0-4), Darrell Tucker (0-2). Subs: Michael Kearns. Also: Aidan McGrath, John Maher, John Murray, Patrick Cooney, Darren Meaney, David McAuliffe, Donal Nealon, Timmy Maher, Eugene O’Brien, John Ryan, Seamus Slattery. Team management: Donie Nealon (manager), John Ryan (trainer), Kieran Hogan, Jack Maher, Mortimer Hogan.
Statistics: The team remained undefeated in their seven intermediate hurling championship matches. They scored 10 goals 99 points and conceded 8 goals and 70 points. Eighteen players took part, the starting fifteen plus Michael Kearns, John Maher and Aidan McGrath. Ten players scored in the campaign, Sean Nealon 4-43, Darrell Tucker 1-14, John Darcy 2-10, Liam McGrath 1-10, Michael Kearns 0-12, Denis Darcy 1-0, John Grace 1-1, Eugene Hogan 0-2, John McKenna 0-2, Shane Ryan 90-1. Burgess played all their seven game in their own division.
Fethard’s 19th County Senior Football Final in 1993
County Football Final Day, October 2018
Fethard won their 19th county senior football final at Holycross on October 17, 1993, when they defeated Loughmore-Castleiney by 0-13 to 1-4. Writing an account of the game in the 1994 Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook, club secretary & P.R.O. Denis Hannon stated it ‘was one of the best football finals of recent years. Fast, open, tough, physical but always entertaining football. It kept the large crowd enthralled.’
Fethard’s successful journey to county honours commenced in the South championship, which attracted seven affiliations, Ballyporeen, Grangemockler, Commercials, Moyle Rovers, Cahir, Ardfinnan and Fethard. The semi-final pairings were Fethard v Ballyporeen and Commercials v Moyle Rovers. Fethard came through by 0-15 to 1-6, while Commercials accounted for Moyle Rovers on a 3-15 to 2-8 scoreline.
The final was played at Cahir on one of the hottest days of the year. Fethard were without the services of Michael ‘Buddy’ Fitgerald and Tommy Sheehan. Commercials led by 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval, but the introduction of Sheehan in the second half revitalised Fethard and his all-important goal was instrumental in giving his side their 25th South title on a scorline of 1-10 to 0-9
Quarter-finals
In the first of the quarter-finals, played at Drombane on September 4, Cashel King Cormacs snatched a late draw from favourites, Nenagh. They made no mistake in the replay at the same venue on September 19, winning by 1-12 to 0-10, after leading by 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval.
The remaining quarter-finals were played on the weekend of September 11/12. Fethard had no problem defeating Oliver Plunkett’s (Moyne-Templetuohy/Gortnahoe-Glengoole) by 3-12 to 2-4 at Littleton on September 11. On the following day Loughmore-Castleiney defeated Commercials by 1-7 to 0-5 at Cashel, while Arravale Rovers defeated St. Brendan’s (Kildangan/Shannon Rovers) by 1-14 to 2-2 at Borrisoleigh.
Semi-finals
The county semi-finals were played at Holycross on a very wet October 3. In the Loughnore-Castleiney versus Cashel King Cormacs clash, two goals at the start of the last quarter by the Mid men, reduced the closing minutes to a formality. Loughmore-Castleiney led by 1-3 to 0-4 at the interval, despite playing against the breeze, and although Cashel King Cormacs played well in the second half, their opponents were superior and deserved their 3-9 to 1-7 margin of victory.
In the second semi-final Fethard gave a classy performance to outplay Arravale Rovers. Fethard led by 1-4 to 0-1 at half-time, and were in front by 0-13 to 0-5 at the final whistle.
The Final
The final at Holycross on October 17 was an exciting encounter, even though Fethard had six points to spare at the final whistle. The winners dominated the first half and led by 0-8 to 0-2 at the interval, despite playing against the breeze. But Loughmore re-shuffled their team and put in a much-improved performance in the second half. There was only a goal between the sides at the start of the final quarter, and an upset was on the cards, but a goal opportunity missed by Loughmore-Castleiney, plus a rally by Fethard, ensured that the latter went on to victory by 0-13 to 1-4.
The dominance of Fethard in the first half was due mainly to the midfield brilliance of Shay Ryan and Brian Burke, who sent a great supply of ball into the forwards. Immediately after half-time Chris Coen made it 0-9 to 0-2, but this was to prove their last score for nearly fifteen minutes. Loughmore-Castleiney, true to their tradition and reputation, never gave up and cut the lead to manageable proportions with a good goal, followed by two points.
The game was still anybody’s for the taking when ‘Buddy’ Fitzgerald was introduced. Much to the delight of the Fethard supporters, he gave the team a vital injection of spirit. Shay Coen made a tremendous save and from the clearance centre-forward Michael O’Riordan scored a vital point that was to change the course of the game.
Shay Ryan broke away and scored a point to give Fethard a four-point lead. In the last five minutes Fethard got on top again and points from Roibeard Broderick, and Tommy Sheehan with the final kick of the game scored Fethard’s 13th and final point.
Captain Willie O’Meara, who played a captain’s part all through, accepted the cup from county football chairman, Hugh Kennedy, on behalf of a young and determined Fethard panel.
The ‘homecoming’ of the team later in the evening was tremendous. The parish priest and community council welcome the team home and the players were paraded through the town. Various people gave speeches and trainer, Dinny Burke, and a selector, Danny Kane, broke into song.
The 1993 county champions were as follows: Shay Coen, Martin Ryan, Michael Ryan, Philly Blake, Michael Quinlan, Willie O’Meara (capt.), Willie Morrissey, Brian Burke (0-2), Shay Ryan (0-1), Tommy Sheehan (0-2), Michael Riordan (0-2), Michael Spillane, Martin Coen (0-3), Chris Coen (0-2), Jimmy O’Meara. Subs: Roibeard Broderick (0-1) for Martin Coen, Michael Fitzgerald for Martin Ryan. Also: Liam Connolly, John Hackett, Danny Tobin, Brendan Brett, Dermot Hackett, Tom Ryan, Kenny Hackett.
Selectors: Dinny Burke (trainer), Danny Kane, Jimmy O’Shea, Pat Sheehan.
Club Officers 1993: chairman - Micheal McCormaic, secretary & P.R.O. – Denis Hannon, treasurer – Seamus Hackett.
Presentation of Historic MS to Lár na Páirce
Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship semi-finals, Thurles October 7, 2018
Lár na Páirce, the museum of Gaelic Games at Thurles, was recently presented with a rare manuscript. It was the handwritten diary of the tour of the United States by the Tipperary senior hurling team in 1926. Written by Tom Kenny of Portroe, one of the party of twenty-three who made the trip, it recounts the social side of the tour.
The diary formed the basis of the book of the tour that was published in 1928 and reprinted once. Published in London by George Roberts I often wondered why it was published there, rather than in Ireland. Apparently, Tom Kenny could find no publisher in Ireland to take on the job and had to go to London. The fact that it took two years after the event for the book to appear would confirm the difficulty he had in getting it into print.
The tour was undertaken by the Tipperary All-Ireland winning team of 1925. It was the first trip by a bunch of hurlers to the U.S. since the Celtic Invasion in 1888 and the first time for a county team to travel across the Atlantic.
The tour lasted eleven weeks. It commenced at Cobh with the party boarding the German liner, Bremen, and sailing to New York. Hurling games before substantial crowds were played in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Travel overland was by train. At the end of the tour there was a big send-off banquet in the Central Opera House, New York and another in Pouldine National School, Moycarkey on their return, which went on until seven in the morning.
The tour was a splendid success. All the games played were won, The crowds were large and enthusiastic and the total number that witnessed the games was about 100,000. Newspaper coverage of the visit was generous. From an Irish standpoint there was a quiet pride that the visitors had excelled themselves on the trip and had done Ireland proud. Frank McGrath gave a glowing report to Central Council and made many worthwhile suggestions for the better organisation of the G,.A.A. in the U.S.
Tour Book
Tom Kenny’s account of the tour captures some of the flavour of the experience: 'Saturday, May 15th: Not much sleep last night when Nealon and Kennedy called on their rounds with notebook and pencil, asking if we jazzed with the Germans thereby suspending ourselves from the G.A.A., and if we took the meat sandwiches, thereby excommunicating ourselves from the Catholic Church.’
One of the more colourful members of the tour party was Tom Duffy of Lorrha. He features more often in it than any other member of the party in the account. There are about twenty references to him. He was the life and the soul of the party. In one place the party plan to take over the ship. In the plan Duffy is to be Captain. In another place "the wit and humour of most of them, especially Duffy, is most enjoyable." The entry for 7 June reads: "Tom Duffy is singing that song 'The next I met was a fair-haired lady, standing at a cottage door'. And on 9 June there is a discussion between Jack Power and Tom on the state of the country: "A crock of a country", says Duffy. "Sure we haven't seen a tram of hay, a ditch, nor a hedge since leaving the old country, but it is a fine country in other ways, Jack- they do everything the big way." Duffy thinks the Yanks made a mistake to set the country dry. "That hooch is rotten stuff, Jack, and if it continues as plentiful as it seems to be it will make mad men, blind men or dead men of all of them that drink it." On 19 June there is a party on the train and Duffy dances a jig. Later Paddy Leahy and Tom try to sing the last verse of the Star-Spangled Banner at the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. Later still we learn that five hurlers are found in Duffy's Chicago hotel room saying the rosary. On the ship home he is constantly playing his favourite deck game and won 'Chalking the Pig's Eye' in the ship's sports. Truly a man of many sides!
Written in pencil (no biros then and carrying ink bottles was problematic) in neat handwriting, the diary formed the basis of the book, Tour of the Tipperary Hurling Team in America 1926, The book is a rare collector's item now and this manuscript, written in a notebook with the front cover missing, is a rare and priceless find. It includes the signatures of all the players on the last page.
Lois Tierney, a grand-daughter of Tom Kenny, found it in a drawer in her late uncle, Billy's, place in London. The find included a cache of Kenny family photographs also. On behalf of the extended Kenny family, she has now presented it on loan to Lár na Pairce for the people of Tipperary as it records the epic journey of that great Tipperary team that captured All-Ireland honours in 1925 and made history as the first county team to visit America and traverse the continent from coast to coast.
Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks in the Parish of Lorrha & Dorrha at the end the 19th Century
2018
There’s a fascinating book called Devia Hibernia: The Road and Route Guide for Ireland of the Royal Irish Constabulary. Written by George Dagg, who was a member of the RIC, it was published in 1893 and when I went looking for it in the Tipperary County Library, they didn’t have a copy and I discovered there were copies in only four libraries in the country. One of these was the Dublin City Library, Pearse Street Branch. I consulted it there.
So, why my interest in this rare tome? I have been trying to establish the number of RIC barracks there were in the parish before we got our independence. I thought there was a study in existence of RIC barracks, giving the date of the foundation of each one, how long it was in use and how many RIC personnel were in occupation.
No such study existed but I was directed to Devia Hibernia as a source of the information I was looking for. It was partly satisfactory and included information on the other facilities that existed in the place it the time..
The Guide included all the RIC barracks in Ireland at the time, including those in the Parish of Lorrha and Dorrha in 1893, but it doesn’t include information on barracks that may have existed in the parish before that date.
The RIC Barracks
The Guide tells us that the population of Lorrha was 122, which must be just the immediate village. There was a telegraph office which functioned from 8 am to 8 pm. The Post arrived at 9 am and was despatched t 3-30. There was a Port Office in the village and one post car available. The sergeant’s name was Thomas O’Rorke but there’s no information on the number of constables he had under him. The Petty Sessions were held there every four weeks.
There was another RIC barracks at the Pike. The Sergeant’s name was James Murphy. The nearest Post Office was in Rathcabbin. No other information is given.
I include Riverstown, even though it was outside the parish. It also had an RIC barracks and the sergeant’s name was John Watson. The population of the village was 102 and it included a Post Office.
There was no RIC barracks in Rathcabbin but there was one in Annagh, close to the R438. The sergeant’s name was T. Malynn. The nearest Post Office was in Derrinsallow, which appears to have been a place on importance at the time. There was a mill these beside the River Brosna.
Another RIC Barracks existed in Portland. I’m not quite sure where the location was. The sergeant’s name was David Lavelle. There was also a Post Office in the place.
Not Included
I was interested in three other places where there’s supposed to have been RIC barracks in the parish. One of these was in Joe Corcoran’s in Grange. When the land was divided in the area the Corcoran family was given as residence a building which had once been a barracks.
Another place is McCormack’s pub in Abbeyville. There is a strong belief that the building was once a barracks and it includes features that seem to confirm that, including a central room that looks like a cell. Close by near Ashpark House is where a barracks existed at the time the Ordnance Survey Map was made. Opinion has it is that when it closed down a new barracks was built where McCormack’s pub now stands.
There is also a strong belief that a barracks existed on the hill behind Carrigahorig village. Rumour has it there was a barracks there as late as the 1920s, when Sean Treacy and Dan Breen were hiding out in the area.
Strength of RIC in County
However, none of these latter places are mentioned by George Dagg in his Guide. The book also gives information on the strength of the Royal Irish Constabulary in County Tipperary in September 1891. In the North Riding there were 1 County Inspector, 6 District Inspectors, 6 Head Constables and 257 Sergeants and Constables. In the South Riding there were 1 County Inspector, 7 District Inspectors, 10 Head Constables and 454 Sergeants and Constables.
The total cost of running the force in the country that year was £1,425,530 of which Horses and Forage cost £19,056.
Centenary of Gaelic Sunday
The Nationalist, August 4, 2018
Gaelic Sunday was the response of the G.A.A. to a proclamation by the British authorities early in July 1918 prohibiting all ‘meetings, assemblies, or processions in public places’ without written authorisation from the police’.
The G.A.A. responded in two ways. It forbade any club or part of the G.A.A. body to apply for a permit to play a game, ‘breaches of which were to be punishable by automatic and indefinite suspension’.
More dramatically the G.A.A.’s resistance went beyond non-compliance to actual defiance of the proclamation. County Boards were instructed to hold a meeting of their club delegates with a view to organising a program of club matches to be held on August 4th. All these games were to start simultaneously at 3 pm and nowhere was a permit to be sought.
The press reported at the time that about 1,500 hurling, football and camogie matches were scheduled, that over 50,000 players were expected to participate and that many thousands more would turn out to watch.
The numbers that participated may not have been as great as the weather turned out to be atrocious. The football match planned for Castlegrace against Cahir was abandoned owing to the inclemency of the weather.
Newspaper reports
The Nationalist of August 7, 1918 reported that the match between Boherlahan and Cashel did go ahead. The local correspondent reported that ‘notwithstanding the inclement nature of the afternoon a goodly muster foregathered in the sports field to witness the contest, which turned out as expected in an easy win for the All-Ireland champions’.
Neither team was at full strength, owing to the prevalence of ‘flu’ amongst them, but both fifteens gave a good exhibition of the national game. The result was: Boherlahan 5 goals Cashel 1 goal 2 points. Mr J. Cahill, U.C, P.L.G., Cashel refereed.
‘The Cashel Brass Band played to the grounds, where an excellent musical selection was discoursed. The band returned playing an inspiriting national air. Throughout the entire proceedings there was nothing but perfect good order, and not an unseemly incident was associated with the festival. The local police were passive onlookers, and they did not in the least interfere with the match.’
The last sentence sums up the success of the G.A.A. defiance. There was no showdown between the British authorities and the G.A.A. as had been expected. The authorities realised the impossibility of policing so many events and relented beforehand ‘a circular being sent out to the police to the effect that Gaelic games were no longer to be considered to fall under the terms of the July 4th proclamation.’
Participation in County Tipperary
The Nationalist reported on August 7 that 12 games were played between the South division clubs, about 14 in the Mid division and 16 in the North. (There was no West division at the time.)
The report continued: ‘At Ballyfowloo, Clonmel hurlers defeated Ballyfowloo after a well-fought contest by 3 goals to 1 point..
‘At Kilcash, Clonmel footballers went down before the home team after 25 minutes play by 2 points to 1 point. The heavy rain greatly interfered with the game, which was abandoned after 25 minutes.’
Another match was played at Ballydine. The contestants were Golden and Ballydine. The newspaper report described the match as ‘a noteworthy exhibition of good feeling.’ Few spectators were present and the match ended in a draw. The referee on the occasion was P. Hayes, Ballydine
The paper reported that the matches went off without difficulty ‘in no case was there any interference with the players though youths of 9 and 10 years of age were arrested for doing the same thing about a week before.’
The Midland Tribune gave an extensive report of G.A.A. activity on the day in North Tipperary. Written by ‘The Whip’, the writer screams Victory! at the beginning of his column and writes euphorically on how the Gaels of the division defied the Government directive on playing games. He continued: ‘The Gaels of North Tipp, I am glad to say, acted as one man, and their display on Sunday last was one to be proud of. Fourteen matches was no small task, and the fact that they were all carried out shows the loyalty and patriotism of the Gaels of this sporting district.’
He goes on to give a list of the games played: Killadangan v Ardcroney at Ardcroney; Finnoe v Kilbarron at Finnoe; Abbeyville v Eglish and Lorrha v Glenahilty at Abbeyville; Roscrea v Coolderry at Roscrea; Toomevara v Moneygall at Park; Toomevara v Gurtagarry at Gurtagarry; Ballymackey v Nenagh at Kilruane; Ballina v Ballywilliam; Newport v Birdhill; Portroe v Garrykennedy; Shalee v Foilnamuck; Templederry v Curreeney; Newport Shamrocks v Ballinahinch.
No Interference
‘The Whip’ continued his report: ‘In only one case, as far as I can learn, was there anything like interference, and that was in Kilruane, where the local police sergeant demanded admission, but did not consider it worth fourpence of his money. He took the name and address of the young man, who refused him admission without the payment of fourpence, and then he viewed the proceedings over the ditch.’
‘The Whip’ attended the match between Nenagh and Ballymackey at Kilruane. The posters had stated Nenagh as the venue and this inconvenienced the writer, who walked the railway line to get there, but was late arriving. He added that five policemen were also inconvenienced and took up positions at the Show Grounds before the time advertised for the match. The game at Kilruane turned out not to be up ‘to All-Ireland standard, or even championship standard, but nonetheless, the game was a good one, and well worth fourpence of anybody’s money, even Sergeant O’Donnell’s’ The result was a draw, Nenagh 3-3 Ballymackey 2-5.
I couldn’t find a detailed report of what teams played in the 14 matches in the Mid division. The Tipperary Star report for August 10 is unsatisfactory, lacking in detail. All it carries is a generic report of what happened in the county without any specific information relating to the Mid division. Perhaps, someone reading this may be able to fill in the details.