PAUL ROUSEreflects on the bizarre happenings that took place in the 1887, when the champions of Cork were drawn to play Kilkenny's finest hurlers

ON THE morning of Sunday, 24th July 1887, the Tullaroan hurlers, champions of Kilkenny, gathered at the railway station in Kilkenny city. There was, reported a newspaper, “something martial in their tread, and it was easy to perceive that they were men who had a task before them”.

With them were supporters from their home village and from all over Kilkenny, who were buying tickets for the special excursion train which was about to take them to Dungarvan, Co Waterford. The Kilkenny men were due to play the champions of Cork in the first round of the All-Ireland hurling championship.

Twelve counties had entered that first championship, organised by the GAA, which had been founded just three years previously in 1884. The plan for that competition was a straightforward one. Each county was to play off a local championship in hurling and football between clubs and the winning teams would then proceed to the All-Ireland championships.

As there were no provincial championships, the All-Ireland championship was arranged by open-draw.

And when the draw for the first round was made, the champions of Cork were drawn against the champions of Kilkenny.

The prospect of such a match generated huge excitement.

At every stop after the train carrying the Tullaroan hurlers left Kilkenny city, further hurling enthusiasts came on board. By the time the train moved passed Mullinavat, the smoke belching from its engine bore testimony to the number of passengers being carried to Dungarvan.

As well as playing a hurling match, the football champions of Kilkenny were also to play the football champions of Cork.

Kilmacow had emerged as Kilkenny champions and when the train pulled into the station in that village, the champion footballers were there waiting on the platform. When the people on the train saw the footballers already dressed in their green and amber jerseys, a great cheer was emitted.

At Waterford station more people clambered aboard. Now, though, there was no room left in the carriages and those who wanted to travel to the match were forced to climb on to the roof of the train. There they sat as the train rolled on to Dungarvan.

After Kilmacthomas, the approach of a tunnel left some of the passengers atop the train somewhat nervous. In the darkness of the tunnel, a rumble of cheering rose up and then grew louder, before finally exploding into huge volleys of cheers which echoed across the countryside when daylight was regained.

The Cork contingent also arrived by train, with the honourable exception of a half-dozen members of the Cork Gaelic Bicycle Club, who had cycled all the way from Cork City to Dungarvan. The train from Cork arrived at noon, carrying 500 passengers. They were met by the Dungarvan brass band, which led a procession through the town to the Gaelic Field. There was a wooden stand erected on one side of the field, while the remainder was roped off and the pitch lined with white chalk.

The Cork crowd had brought their own Butter Exchange Band with them and they brought up the rear of the procession which snaked through the town.

Marching through the town were the hurlers from St Finbarrs, the Lee Football Club, and several members of the Cork National Hurling Club.

The newspapers estimated that up to 20,000 people (most probably a gross exaggeration) were present at the Dungarvan Gaelic Field by the time the footballers representing the Lee Football Club, who were champions of Cork, and Kilmacow took the field for the first match.

It was a tough, physical encounter. At one stage, a player from Kilmacow was temporarily put from the field by the referee to calm him down. This was no great surprise. After all, there was a long tradition of robust play involving Kilkenny football teams.

Just two months previously a football match between Ballyhale Shamrocks and Slieve Rue had ended in disgraceful scenes. The match descended into a faction fight as the referee decided to stand back and let both teams at it.

In the end, the violence ended only when members of the Kilkenny GAA county committee pulled up the goalposts.

The match between Kilmacow and the Lees did not degenerate quite that far. And by the time it had concluded, all agreed that Kilmacow were far too physically strong for the Lee team and were deserved winners by four points to no-score.

The hurling match was due to take place next. It ended in a dreadful anti-climax. Although the St Finbarrs hurlers had travelled to play Tullaroan, they were not the champions of Cork.

Indeed, there were no champions of Cork in 1887.

The Cork championship had begun with an entry of 22 teams and had limped towards a conclusion only at the beginning of July. With the date with the champions of Kilkenny looming a week later, the Cork County Committee decided to schedule the semi-final match between St Finbarrs and the Cork National Hurling Club for 2pm on Sunday July 17th, with the winners to play the final against the Passage Hurling Club later that afternoon.

In the semi-final, the Cork Nationals scored an early point, but St Finbarrs quickly launched a counterattack. The ball flew around the Cork Nationals goal area. Amid great confusion, the referee ruled that the ball had crossed the line inside the point posts and accordingly awarded a point to St Finbarrs.

Spectators rushed on to the field with opinions sharply divided on the justice of the decision.

The umpire standing at the goalposts was asked his opinion and he said he believed the ball had not crossed the line and that no point should be awarded. This view was corroborated by two clergymen standing nearby.

The upshot was that the Cork Nationals refused to accept the decision of the referee and the St Finbarrs refused to accept any decision but the referee’s.

Attempts to resolve the impasse proved fruitless and the match was abandoned. Both of the disputing teams and their supporters remained on the field, however, claiming victory in the match.

Both also questioned the captain of the Passage team for the final and the right to be crowned county champions. Those challenges were refused, with the Passagemen determining to await the decision of the referee and the county committee.

An emergency meeting of the Cork County Committee was held on Saturday evening, the night before the fixture in Dungarvan, it was a classic last-ditch attempt to find a solution. The meeting was held at the business premises of Alderman D Horgan, who was also the chairman of the Cork County Board. A huge crowd gathered outside the premises as the meeting took place.

Representatives of Passage Hurling Club, St Finbarrs and the Cork Nationals were brought before the meeting. After some discussion, the Passage Hurling Club agreed to withdraw from the competition, as they would be unable to get together a team to go to Dungarvan at such short notice.

St Finbarrs agreed to a proposal that lots be drawn between themselves and the Cork Nationals to decide who would go to Dungarvan the following day to represent Cork. The Cork Nationals rejected the idea.

They told the meeting that they would agree to accept whatever the decision of the county committee would be, but they were would not draw lots.

And there the meeting reached an impasse, for the quorum to make a decision at a county committee meeting was five, and there were but four members present.

When news of the deadlock filtered from the meeting to the crowd waiting outside, there was “the greatest dissatisfaction that no agreement could be come to for the purpose of sending a team to Dungarvan to represent Cork,” according to the reporter from the Cork Herald.

When the train pulled out of Cork on the Sunday morning, the St Finbarrs men had travelled, not to insist that they had the right to play as the champions of Cork or even to represent Cork, but to play a challenge match against the men from Tullaroan.

In Dungarvan, when the football match finished, the Tullaroan team took the field and claimed the championship match against Cork as there were no champions from that county on the field.

They then rejected the offer of a challenge match and left the ground. All that was left was for the men of St Finbarrs to play an exhibition match amongst themselves for 20 minutes.

The Kilkenny newspapers were entirely understanding of the decision of their champion hurlers not to play a challenge match.

This was, it was said, entirely understandable in the circumstances.

The Cork press were scathing, however, and lamented the attitude of the Kilkenny men, which they believed amounted to raising the “white feather”.

It did the hurlers little good.

In the next round they were hammered by Thurles, the champions of Tipperary, in a match played on a Thursday afternoon in Urlingford.