Barefoot battles on Kerry's strands

As we look forward with keen anticipation to the last hurling final of the millennium with traditional rivals Cork and Kilkenny in contention, it is appropriate that the modern game should recognise the past. In last week's column reference was made to the Dublin Metropolitan Hurling club and a certain Mr Cusack in a magazine published in London. Now a correspondent, Padraig O Loingsigh from Killarney, tells us that, long before Cusack's time, hurling was played on the strands of Iveragh in the Kingdom of Kerry. He points out that a drawing of Derrynane Abbey shows hurling being played there in 1831.

The drawing is by John Fogarty and was engraved by R Havell of London. The information is contained in a recent, splendid work by O Loingsigh, A History of the Parish of Caherdaniel.

The fact that the author is from Cloyne in Cork, the birthplace of Christy Ring, explains the interest in hurling, a game with which Daniel O'Connell was familiar, apparently having been sent, as a boy of eight to Tir O mBaoill "to get the mountain air, to make him healthy and hardy and where we used to play hurling and football".

O Loingsigh refers to a book published, also in London in 1841, Hall's Ireland in Scenery and Character, which records that hurley (sic) "a game rather rare although not unknown in England, is a fine, manly exercise, sufficient of danger to produce excitement and is, indeed, the game par excellence, of the peasantry of Ireland. "To be an expert hurler," Hall wrote, "a man must possess athletic powers of no ordinary character, he must have a quick eye, a steady hand and a strong arm and he must be a good runner, a skilful wrestler and, withal, patient as well as resolute. "Now comes the crash of mimic war, hurleys rattle against hurleys - the ball is struck and restruck and when someone is lucky enough to get a clear puck at it, it is sent flying over the field. It is now followed by the entire party at utmost speed. "The ball must not be taken from the ground by hand and the tact and skill shown in taking it on the point of the hurley, the running with it half the length of the field and, when too closely pressed, striking it towards the goal is a matter of astonishment to those who are but slightly acquainted with the play."

It would appear from O Loingsigh's research that hurling was far more popular in Kerry than football at the turn of the century, when a policeman from Scotland Yard, John Sweeney, recorded that cricket and hockey were played on the beach. The author believes that the the game was not hockey but hurling.

It appears that referees, as we know them nowadays, did not come into vogue until the GAA was formed. Rules in operation in Killimor in Galway in 1869 called for "three umpires to be appointed in each side who have the power to order any hurler to cease playing who in their opinion is under the influence of strong drink, who loses his temper or strikes any of his opponents intentionally. Should the hurler refuse to do so the opposing team may claim the prize".

There is apparently some evidence to suggest that a referee on horseback was used in some places and that he would give a smack of his whip to anyone who stepped out of line.

The folklorist Domhnall O Suilleabhain reports that hurling was played on the beach at Derrynane in the last century. "Hurling and dancing were the pastimes of the young people every dry Sunday at specially designated places. The hurlers played in their bare feet and were dressed in their shirts and trousers.

"A hurley was tossed up in the air to decide who had first pick. The winner of the toss picked the best hurler and the loser the second-best hurler and so on until they had two teams for a match." Reports indicate that as many as 24-a-side would play.

Things were somewhat different in Sneem in those days. They played in a field and in grey flannel pants, white flannel shirts and leather shoes which had cleats of rubber underneath. Things weren't always peaceful and faction fighting was common. The folklorist Tadhg O Murchu has recorded an account of a hurling match played on Lohar Strand not long after the Famine. The match got totally out of control and O Murchu describes how "the opponents tore into each other like wild badgers until the tide came in an put an end to it".

The sticks and sliotars used in the old days were basic. The sliotar was wollen thread wound around a piece of cork and covered in "gutta perch", a rubbery type of material. "This substance was boiled in a pot of water and allowed to dry so that it wouldn't be too sticky. It was kneaded like dough and butter was added.

"The ball was as big as a goose egg but wasn't oval shaped. It was as hard as iron and you wouldn't break it if you hurled it for a month."

O Loingsigh reports that a death took place many years ago in a match on Derrynane Strand, west of Derrynane House. "Following this tragic event no hurling was played for a year until the dead man's father went down to the beach one Sunday morning with a hurley and sliotar. `Come on lads,' he shouted. `It is alright to play again,' and he hurled the sliotar along the strand.

It now seems likely that barefoot hurling on Derrynane Beach is about to be revived next year, which should be interesting. One fancies that it will have little resemblance to the kind of a game we will see at Croke Park tomorrow.