Dowdallshill hurling match was a repeat of an All-Ireland final

Harry McCarthy has been on to say he remembers a ‘big’ hurling match taking place at St Brigid’s Park “back in the late 1950s or early ‘60s.”

The ancient game was mentioned on this page a fortnight ago as having been played at the Dowdallshill grounds; but there was no reference to the clash Harry talks about.

I should have done better, because it was only after speaking to Harry that I recalled being at the game. It followed an under-age match in which Harry was playing, and although only an exhibition match, it involved a number of the game’s greatest exponents, playing with two heavyweights of the day.

In fact, it was a repeat of the 1959 All-Ireland final, in which Waterford beat Kilkenny in a replay. The Deise were captained by Frankie Walsh and included one of the county’s best ever, Tom Cheasty. The MacCarthy Cup hasn’t been back in Waterford since.

Cheasty and Walsh were at St Brigid’s Park, along with, among others, Martin óg Morrissey and Ned Power. They are names that would resonate with Waterford supporters of a past generation.

Kilkenny came in strength as well, the great Ollie Walsh playing in goals. Unusual for him, Walsh had conceded three goals in the All-Ireland final replay. In front of him that day, playing at right-half, was Paddy Buggy, who would go on to become President of the GAA. A young Eddie Keher came on as a sub in the drawn match.

It would come as a surprise to hear that Maurice Murphy, senior, the late father of present-day Naomh Moninne stalwart of the same name, hadn’t a part to play in bringing this galaxy of stars to Dundalk.

Ollie Walsh would be back in Louth a few years later. He was a contestant in one of the early runnings of the Poc Fáda on Annaverna. And he was a winner.

The game which opened the Dowdallshill programme, the one referred to by Harry McCarthy, was in an under-16 divisional competition. This annual event involved three teams, North, South and Mid Louth, and being a knock-out had just two games.
But it was important in that it gave youngsters their first taste of representative football. It had an equivalent at under-18 level.

Perhaps the hard-working Kevin Gordon and his Minor Board colleagues might consider reintroducing these competitions, increasing them to four teams, North, South, East and West.

Finding dates might be a problem, however, because never before has there been so many under-age competitions in both football and hurling to be catered for, especially with the introduction of under-17 and under-19 grades.

One particular under-16 competition brings back mixed memories to me. I was at full-back on the North team, and did well enough in the semi-final for a local paper (not this one, as used be written whenever there was criticism at a County Board meeting of some report or the other) to say I was “a tower of strength”. Phew!

The final was arranged for St Brigid’s Park as the curtain-raiser to a National League match, and I retained my place. However, instead of heading out the Newry Road, making sure I was in time for the game, I got involved in a card game in the Gaels clubrooms (aka, the den of iniquity).

I must have been chasing losses because I stayed at the table longer than I should have. With the result that when I eventually got to St Brigid’s dressing room I was told that a change has been made – I’d been dropped because I was late.
I shouldn’t have had any complaints, but I had. A Gaels colleague who had accompanied me throughout, playing cards, rushing over the Big Bridge, and arriving late was named in my place.

To this day I can’t understand why I didn’t take my case to The Hague’s International Court of Human Rights.