|
Joe O'Muircheartaigh
|
 AND so domestic competitions in Clare’s hurling year have come to an end with Sunday’s Clare Cup final in Clarecastle.
It was a remarkable year in many ways, coming straight after an equally remarkable 2007. In this regard both Tulla and Clonlara can take a bow as championship winners in those two years, so it was entirely appropriate that they squared up to each other on what was a curtain call for 2008 competitions in the county.
They’ve been the real romantic stories of the past 12 months. Tulla of the great tradition effectively burst on the scene from nowhere in 2007 to win the Canon Hamilton Cup.
You could to so far as to say that they made the same kind of impact on hurling followers in their parish as the famous Robert Emmetts team made way back in ‘89 - 1889 that is, when they won county and Munster titles before playing an All-Ireland senior final in their bare feet.
Tulla didn’t leave their boots at home when reaching a Munster club final last year and were unlucky losers to Loughmore-Castleiney.
Clonlara, meanwhile, can now be said to have topped Tulla’s achievements thanks to their truly remarkable journey from being intermediate also-rans to winning county and Munster titles in that grade in ‘07 and following it up by winning the senior championship/Clare Cup double in ‘08.
Of course, it’s the senior championship triumph that stands sentinel over everything they’ve achieved on what has been a magic roundabout of a 12 months.
Now, reflecting on the hurling year just gone, isn’t it funny the way that magnificent county final win over Newmarket-on-Fergus on 26 October cast hurling in the county back to more controversial times.
It had nothing to do with Clonlara, apart from the fact that they had the temerity to beat favourites and bluebloods Newmarket-on-Fergus in that county final.
It had all to do with the mystery texters to Clare FM minutes after Clonlara had claimed the title. They came from the ‘Bridge. One went something like this: ‘A caller from Sixmilebridge wants to congratulate Clonlara on their win because they beat Newmarket’. Another talked about ‘Bridge people hating Newmarket.
The Sixmilebridge club took the messages so seriously that they were moved to issue a statement. It read: ‘Sixmilebridge GAA Club would like to disassociate it self from the text messages aired on Clare FM on Sunday the 26th of October last. These messages were not sanctioned or authorised by the club or any club official. The content and views expressed therein are not representative of Sixmilebridge GAA Club, and following an extensive investigation the source of the said messages has been identified and disciplined in accordance with Club rules. There is a great traditional hurling rivalry between both Newmarket and Sixmilebridge however such behaviour will not be tolerated or condoned.’
Only right that the club distance themselves from such comments, but the unanswered question remained: why such hatred among some in the ‘Bridge for Newmarket. What’s the history to all this bile?
Well folks, it’s taken a couple of weeks, but could it be that it goes all the way back to another Clare Cup final - the infamous final joust between Newmarket and Sixmilebridge in Kilkishen in 1962.
It must be something to do with it - it was the time the graves were dug in the Kilkishen field the night, or early morning, before the game.
It was the highpoint and nearly breaking point of the rivalry between these two neighbours in a game that represented a hangover from their championship meeting earlier in the year at Kilkishen that was won by the ‘Bridge.
Newmarket-on-Fergus didn’t want to play the Clare Cup final in Kilkishen, their reason being that the tight dimensions of the field didn’t suit their young and fast team, while it was tailor made for the more robust ‘Bridge boys.
It wasn’t until late on Saturday night that Newmarket decided to fulfil the fixture in Kilkishen, but by that time, or soon afterwards the grave-diggers had gone to work on the field. Not for me to say who the offenders were!
“Holes had been dug in the centre of the pitch and in the front of the far end goalmouth, while up at the entrance goalmouth a cross had been depicted, with the removal of a quite considerable amount of clod,” noted The Clare Champion.
It was a statement of intent and certainly a portent of things to come in the match that was played November 4 before a crowd that got so involved in the game that they spilled out on to the field at many occasions.
The Blues won the Clare Cup on a scoreline of 3-4 to 1-9, a victory that could be said to have kickstarted their golden era. They won the championship the following year - the first of 13 in a 19 year period.
However, the result of the game wasn’t the talking point - the controversy throughout was destined to be remembered long after the scoreline was forgotten about.
The headline in The Champion said it all: 60-Minute Brawl at Kilkishen it screamed, while the introduction let the reader know what had come to pass in the game.
“As the saying goes, ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ but at Kilkishen on Sunday where Newmarket and Sixmilebridge met to contest the final of the Clare Cup, it was a case of the camán being mightier than the player. Still clear to the mind are the fierce combats associated with the clash of these side-by-side rivals, but Sunday’s 60-minute brawl will undoubtedly outlive any such memories. From once the game was one minute old this was nothing but a succession of inhuman, unruly and disgraceful incidents.”
Meanwhile, such were the scenes that marred the 60 minutes, that people saw fit to write letters of complaint.
“The game in itself, from start to finish, was a downright disgrace and an utter discredit to our national passtimes,” wrote Prionsias Mac Thaidh in Ennis.
“Furthermore the aims and ideals of the late Michael Cusack went by the board. It was just one of those free-for-all encounters and the apparent motto looked like ‘get your man by fair or foul means at all costs’. It makes no difference whether you are a sole bread-winner, or to be seriously incapacitated for life, there was no regard whatsoever for human limbs.
“The unruly scenes were not altogether confined to the playing pitch. I witnessed an incident at the western side of the grounds outside the paling when three or four men were holding back a man with a hurley. You can guess his intentions if he were let loose.
“An old Gael who was privileged to be in the enclosure passed the remark that if the referee ordered any more players to the line, it would look like a seven-a-side,” Mac Thaidh added.
The people who texted Clare FM after the county final showed that the passage of 46 years hadn’t resulted in a complete thaw in once frosty relations between Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus.
It showed that some people never forget and won’t let go.
Never. Ever.
 |
The 19th with Joe O'Muircheartaigh 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
