November 3, 2008

Traditional Sports of Ireland - Carlow GAA

Filed under: Carlow - Vacations, PLACES TO VISIT - IRELAND, Sports - Ireland — admin @ 3:32 am

County Carlow has a rich and varied sporting history. There are reports of handball, hurling, football and horse racing taking place in the county in the eighteenth century.

Horse racing took place annually at Ballybar near Carlow town in the 1760’s. There was racing at Ballon at a later date. Fox hunting was popular, and during the hunting season packs would travel the picturesque County of Carlow hunting the energetic and cunning fox.

Leaping
Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries athletics tournaments were held in the county. In his book ‘1798 in Carlow’ William Farrell describes “many athletic exercises so well known to Irishmen as hurling, football, cudgelling, tennis or handball, leaping, wrestling, vaulting, throwing the sledge or bar or grinding-stone”, taking place in the county.

Farrell praises highly the quality of handballers and states that Carlow has “one of the best ball-courts in Ireland”. Gaelic games are still extremely popular in Carlow. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was founded in Carlow in 1888 to promote gaelic games.

Other fieldsports played with great enthusiasm in the county were cricket, polo and rugby. Colonel Horace Rochfort of Clogrennan was the founder of Carlow Cricket Club, and founder and first secretary of the All-Ireland Polo Club at Phoenix Park in Dublin having founded the Carlow Polo Club in 1873. He was the founder president of the County Carlow Rugby Football Club in 1873. Teams played at Tinypark House and various other venues in Carlow.

Boat race - mid-nineteenth centuryThe River Barrow provided an excellent venue for a Rowing Club in the county. However races and regattas had taken place in private boat-houses prior to establishment of the rowing club in circa 1860. The Carlow Rowing Club is still competing at all levels.

Carlow Golf Club [Leinster Golf Club] wasn’t formed until 1899. The original grounds were at Gotham midway between Carlow and Maganey. The club moved to Oak Park in 1922. Golf has grown to be one of the most popular sports and pastimes in the county. The Deerpark course is set in a mature wooded area with pleasant countyside near Carlow town. Other golf clubs in the county include Borris, Killerig and Mount Wolseley, near Tullow.

The Community Games were established in County Carlow in 1973. P.L. Curran was the first Chairman and Sr. Carmel Terry the first Secretary. The movements’s main aim is participation regardless of results. Many young Carlow people from the community games have achieved sporting honours in adult life. Among them are T.J. Kearns of Rathvilly in 110m hurdles, the Amond sisters in sprints, Paul McNally in cycling, Kenneth Kane in handball, Patricia and Carina Breen in draughts and Roisin Dermody in competitions for the visually challenged. The first County final was held in St. Patrick’s College, Carlow in 1973. In that year, Mary Amond won gold at the National finals in Mosney.

Possibly Related Posts:


Irish Folklore Stories - Carlow

Filed under: Carlow - Vacations, Uncategorized — admin @ 3:30 am

Irish Folklore from Carlow
The story of “Mad Sweeney” [Suibhne Geilt] has been chosen as an example of a well-known tale with specific Carlow connections. However motifs or patterns contained within this tale show important links with Merlin and the Arthurian legend as well as with the story of the Children of Lir. The link between the hermit or recluse and the saint, in this case, Sweeney and St. Moling is also discussed. The life of St. Moling is revisited again in the subject of St. Mullins as a place of ecclesiastical antiquity in South County Carlow. The life and lore surrounding another prominent Carlow saint, St. Laserian of Old Leighlin highlights another important monastic site in this county. The traditions surrounding the Holy Wells at these sites show similarities with those found all over Ireland. The “Pattern Day” at the Holy Well was usually held on the saint’s feast day. “Pattern” derives from the Irish word ‘patrún’ meaning patron in English. On this day the local people gathered at the ruin of the church or monastery and especially at the Holy Well associated with the local saint. Devotions typically included the making of rounds, that is walking around the site a prescribed number of times and the reciting of prayers. People would also drink water from the Holy Well and seek the intercession of the saint in obtaining a cure for ailments and diseases. The pilgrims frequently tied rags on nearby bushes or left coins in the vicinity of the Holy Well as part of the tradition. Differences both in the levels of piety displayed and in the preservation of the tradition are portrayed over time through the writings of the historians. It is obvious however, that the importance of the local saints themselves and their sacred places are still a vital part of the culture and heritage of County Carlow.

Possibly Related Posts:


Next »