Sir, – On Sunday afternoon and evening we witnessed one of the greatest matches in the history of hurling in Croke Park, marred not by defeat for the magnificent Dubs (since one of the two magnificent teams had to lose) but by the sending-off of Ryan O’Dwyer with the score in a fluctuating match 1-16 : 0-18 in favour of the Dubs. Unusually, Hill 16 was not covered in blue, but (more appropriately in my opinion, since this is the GAA way) in the blue of Dublin and the red of the rebels. What a match, and what a brilliant match-winner Cork have in Patrick Horgan.
In An Irishman's Diary of exceptional interest by Denis Fahey (August 12th) I learnt that up until 1929 at least it was Hill 60 not Hill 16, a tribute to the magnificent assault of the 5th Bn Connaught Rangers, 29th Brigade, Tenth (Irish) Division on Hill 60 (Kaiajik Aghyl) with Australians (13th and 14th Bns, 4th Brigade) and New Zealanders (Otago and Canterbury Mounted Rifles) under Maj-Gen Charles Cox. The Connaught Rangers (heroes of Bussaco on September 27th, 1810 under Col Alexander Wallace in the Peninsular War under Wellington) "dashing forward with a yell like hounds breaking cover" (Bryan Cooper) in their attack on the well at Kabak Kuyu. Consequently I am not surprised that Hill 16 was once Hill 60.
Let us not forget in this context the Dublin Pals, D Company, 7th Bn, Royal Dublin Fusiliers of the 30th Brigade, Tenth (Irish) Division at Kirec Tepe Sirti on the night of August 15th and 16th, 1915 when no fewer than 26 of them were killed in action. See The Dublin Pals War Dead: Suvla Bay 1915, in Sarah Alyn Stacey (ed), Essays on Heroism in Sport in Ireland and France (Lewiston, Queenston and Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press). Hill 16 is indeed "sacred ground". – Yours, etc,
Dr GERALD MORGAN,
The Chaucer Hub,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.