NOSTALGIA is not, as we all know, what it used to be. Yet it is a potent force in most walks of life, not least in sport.

It seems that, in spite of the glorification of modern sporting personalities which gives them - the status of heroes, very significant numbers of people like to refer back to the past which seems to be able to give them a handle on the present.

At a time when the status of Irish boxing has never been higher, let us reflect on the career of Dan Donnelly.

Most Irish people will have heard of Dan Donnelly and many will have seen the rather gruesome display of his right arm and hand in the glass case in Kilcullen but few will be familiar with his achievements.

Ironically enough Dan Donnelly was born in Townsend Street in Dublin within a stone's throw of where this newspaper is printed.

One evening, his father, Peter, then in failing health, was insulted in a "local tavern" by a visiting sailor and Dan, a handsome and well proportioned young man, gave the sailor a drubbing on the spot.

This resulted in a match being agreed by friends of Dan and the sailor the following evening and thus began Dan Donnelly's pugilistic career. He hammered the sailor again and, according to a scribe of the time, "cut him to ribbons and crossbuttocked him to earth in double jig time".

Very soon Dan was boxing in the booths of the day supported by members of "The Fancy" and was proclaimed as champion of Ireland. Dan's exploits soon brought him to the attention of travelling pugilists from England - Dublin was the second city in the Empire after London - and betting on contests was widespread.

This sort of activity in those days was regarded much as cock fighting is today but a match between Donnelly and a famous English prize fighter Tom Hall, was made with £66 set aside as the purse for the winner.

Huge sums of money was also wagered.

Because the whole thing was illegal a "safe" place had to be found and a site in Kildare which could accommodate a huge crowd was where the two men met on September 14th, 1814 in a bare knuckle contest.

Donnelly, most people accepted, was rather raw against a much more experienced opponent but at the end of the 15th round, Hall was unable to "come up to scratch" and Donnelly was declared the winner.

It was a year before Donnelly had another official fight. This time it was another aspiring world champion from England, George Cooper, who provided the opposition.

One of Donnelly's backers was a man called Captain Kelly, presumably an army man, who might be described as the Don King of the day. He is reported to have made a side bet of £400 on the match between Donnelly and Cooper and the fight was fixed for what later became known as Donnelly's Hollow on December 13th, 1815.

The venue was supposed to be a closelyguarded secret but contemporary reports suggested that people travelled from as far away as London and Glasgow, not to mention all parts of Ireland, and a crowd of some 30,000 attended.

The English boxing writer of the time, Henry Downes Mills, reported that Donnelly was "six feet tall and weighing 13 stones, he looked strong and bony with no loose flesh. He was firmly muscular, his arms long and slingy; his shoulders uncommonly fine and of punishing quality in action; a hard battling, determined face over a neck noble and bold".

They battled it out for 11 rounds. Here it must be remembered that, in the days before the Marquess of Queensbury drew up the basis of the present rules, crossbuttocking, a type of wrestling, was allowed and each round ended when one or other boxer fell or was knocked down.

The Henry Downes Mills description of the last round includes the following description: "Donnelly was fresh, punishing and vigorous as when he began. Two tremendous blows, perfectly timed, followed in quick succession. A left hook to the mouth sent the blood down Cooper's chest, a right to the body floored the Englishman, who lay bleeding in his corner. The game fellow could not come up to scratch and Dan's green colours were flung high into the ring".

Shades there, one presumes, of The Celtic Warrior!

Sadly, Dan Donnelly was to succumb to a combination of high living, bad advice, poor management and reportedly, TB, before what was a very promising career could be pursued in England.

Several generations later Jack Doyle was to follow in his footsteps. He was not, therefore, the last Irish boxer to end his days thus but he remains immortal in that glass case in Kilcullen and in the hollow in Klldare which will always be known as "Donnelly's Hollow".

There are few of us who will ever lay claim to such a memorial.