County Championship

The way we were - The early days of Kerry GAA

November 15th, 2011
by Weeshie Fogarty

 Richard McElligott is a native of Stack's Mountain, Kilflynn. He is the chairman of the Sports History Ireland society. He has just submitted his PHD thesis with the Department of History and Archives in UCD. His thesis is on 'The Establishment and Development of the GAA in Kerry, 1884-1924. I met up with this Kerry football historian two weeks ago and had a fascinating interview with him about his love of Kerry GAA history in particular. Richard has a vast deep knowledge of all things Kerry and it will be a pity if this thesis is not recorded and i believe it's a great opportunity for some individual or group within the GAA in the county to publish his magnificent work in some form or another. This work needs to be available for future generations.

So this week  as the present year's county championships have drawn to a close, it seems appropriate to reflect on the history of the county's inaugural competition. The year 1889 saw the first county hurling and football championships established in Kerry. At a meeting of the newly formed Kerry County Board in early February, the fifteen football teams and five hurling teams that had entered the competitions were announced and the draws were made for the first round.  Sunday 3 March 1889 saw the inauguration of the Kerry County Championship. It began with three games at Killarney GAA's ground, located a mile from Killarney town, on a bitterly cold day with a strong south-east wind. To generate interest in the competition this first event was free of charge for all spectators. The Barraduff fife and drum band entertained the crowd as the teams and supporters marched to the field. Laune Rangers and Barraduff Daniel O'Connell's played the first ever championship game in Kerry, with Killorglin winning 1-3 to nil. Indicating Gaelic football was still slowly spreading across the county, the Kerry Sentinel newspaper reported this was only the second time Barraduff have been seen on the field of play and they still lacked the required fitness, judgment and science for football. The match was followed by a game between a second Killorglin team, The Harrington's, versus Kenmare O'Connell's and a final game between the Kilgarvan Shamrocks and Rathmore William O'Brien's.
 
As many Kerry GAA clubs had only recently formed, some had trouble adapting to the finer points of Gaelic football such as the concept of positional play. In their match with the Knockanure Volunteers, Lixnaw easily proved the superior team winning 1-11 to nil. This was due to Knockanure apparently being in blissful ignorance of the knack of distributing themselves on the field. As a consequence their players were always in a clutter and when the Lixnaw men gained possession of the ball, they had little difficulty in sending it home.
Disputes over scoring were another feature of the first county championships. When O'Brennan and Castlegregory played in a first round tie the game ended level without a single score registered by either side in ninety minutes of play including thirty minutes extra time, 'where the only thing both sides succeeded in doing was bursting the ball'. This fixture went to a second and then a third replay where, seven minutes into the second half, Castlegregory scored a goal that the referee awarded, but, which O'Brennan disputed. The team walked off the pitch, refusing to finish the match.

Disputes, over the outcome of matches, were such a frequent feature of early County Board meetings that in April 1889 a rule was passed stating that in future a fee of 5 shillings must be accompanied with an objection which would be forfeited in case of frivolous objections. Yet, it must be borne in mind that a dubiously awarded goal often meant the difference between the winning and losing of a match as until the 1890s a goal outweighed any number of points scored during a game. The haphazard nature of playing fields and problems of a primitive transport system also hindered matches. One championship game was held in a pitch in Valentia which was reported as having a considerable incline between the side lines, which had the effect of confining the play to a particular portion of the field and, as an inevitable consequence, the constant kicking of the ball into touch. Rathmore were unable to make their championship clash with Killarney on 28 April 1889, as they could not procure the necessary horse drawn cars to transport the team to the venue.

The inaugural Kerry County Championship Finals were held that May. On Sunday the 19 May, the hurling final was contested between Kenmare and Kilmoyley Emmet's before a large crowd at Fossa. Though Kilmoyley were reported as the superior team as far as hurling and discipline were concerned Kenmare succeeded in scoring a goal minutes before full time, which the Kerry Sentinel reporter thought was entirely accidental, giving them victory. The rough nature of the game resulted in a Kilmoyley player breaking his leg and two of his team mates receiving severe injuries. The football final on 26 May matched Laune Rangers against Dr. Crokes at the Tralee sports grounds. Special trains were laid on from both Killarney and Killorglin and the admission price for the event was 3 pence. In a game described as the finest game of football yet seen in Kerry, Rangers won 0-6 to 0-3 and became the county's first football champions.
 
The year 1889 also marked the first appearance of Kerry clubs in the All Ireland Football and Hurling Championship; at that point it was the winning club team and not an all county representative selection which contested the competition. Kerry's first foray into the Munster Championship had mixed results. On 28 July 1889 Kerry's hurling and football champions were drawn to meet the Cork champions at the site outside Mallow. Special trains brought the four teams and their supporters to the venue. In the first match Inniscarra met Kenmare in hurling. Kenmare, behind by five point to one, scored a goal from a free in the last minute to give them victory. The football match between Laune Rangers and Middleton was described as a magnificent exhibition of football, with Rangers losing 0-2 to 0-1.

Despite Kenmare's success, they found themselves in the unique position of being undefeated in the Munster Championship, yet still losing the competition. Kenmare were next drawn against Tipperary champions Moycarkey, but the latter failed to show and Kenmare were awarded the match as a walkover. Yet, the GAA's Executive Council reversed the decision. Moycarkey had beaten Tulla Emmet's of Clare. However, the Moycarkey versus Tulla match was ordered to be replayed. Moycarkey refused and Tulla were declared Munster Champions even though the Kerry team remained unbeaten!


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