A Tipperary All-Ireland final day tradition like no other

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

Almost 102 years ago, Tipperary captain Johnny Leahy stepped off the train in Heuston Station and led his team to the GPO.
They had the delayed 1922 All-Ireland senior hurling final against Kilkenny to play that September day in 1923 but it was a pilgrimage for other reasons too.
On O'Connell Street, they paid their silent respects to the fallen of the Easter Rising before making the short stroll to Talbot Street.
There, where their fellow countyman, GAA member and Tipperary IRA leader Seán Treacy perished two years earlier, they recited prayers before walking to Croke Park for the job in hand although Kilkenny won out.
Ever since, Tipperary people have marked their appearance in an All-Ireland final with a commemoration of Treacy's death. Sunday is the 28th since Leahy commenced a tradition like no other.
Without it, All-Ireland final day wouldn't be the same for many Tipperary supporters.
'I can tell you one thing, if it wasn't done, there would be an outcry,' says former county chairman and co-organiser Seán Nugent.
'It's a sort of an unofficial event but I received several phone-calls to know if it was going ahead. If it wasn't, some of us would be getting plenty of stick!'
It's as much now a gathering to hold up a custom started by the county team and a poignant means of starting the build-up on the day as a remembrance of how intertwined the GAA was with the republican cause.
Soloheadbeg man Treacy would have been known to many of the 1922 Tipperary team, especially Leahy.
A protagonist in the first shots of the War of Independence at his homeplace in 1919, the 25-year-old was later a member of Michael Collins's 'Squad' with his great friend Dan Breen.
He died on October 14 1920, a month before Bloody Sunday, killed by the British Secret Service while himself fatally shooting one of them.
Two bystanders also died in that flurry of bullets outside Peadar Clancy's drapery shop at 94 Talbot Street.
For Nugent, this will be his 19th commemoration. He's been attending since the 1961 All-Ireland final when Toomevara's Matt Hassett, who passed away earlier this year, was the winning captain.
For many years, Nugent and Liam Ó Donnchú, who will be master of ceremonies at Sunday's event beginning at noon, had been assisting historian John Hassett who had been vital to keeping the flaming lit. After Hassett's passing in late 2019, the duty now falls to them.
Songs including 'Tipperary So Far Away', which was composed by Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers in Treacy's honour, and 'Amhrán na bhFiann' will be sung.
'The Proclamation of the Irish Republic' will too be read.
'For many people, the oration sends them up the road to Croke Park in great spirits,' says Nugent. 'In 2016, Seamus Leahy (Johnny's nephew) led the commemoration. At the end of it, he said, 'And the very best of luck to both teams today. May the best team win and may that team be wearing blue and gold jerseys.''
This weekend's commemoration is significant for a few reasons: it is obviously the first since John Hassett passed away but his daughter Niamh will be giving a decade of The Rosary at it.
GAA president Jarlath Burns will be part of the ceremony too along with Tipperary band Rebel Hearts.
'John took the whole thing fairly seriously,' Nugent says. 'And it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to organise either because you had to get a public address system set up there in Talbot Street. Parking cars and traffic can be difficult around there on that day.
'John had a huge grá for remembering our patriotic dead and not for him it may not have continued. We're following his example now and hopefully we can keep it going.'
In a first-ever Tipperary-Cork All-Ireland final, the indelible connection between Treacy and Collins will not be lost either and a large Cork representation will be among the couple of thousand people expected to attend.
Treacy's death also came 11 days before Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney's following his hunger strike in Brixton Jail in London.
Treacy now lies in the cemetry in Churchquarter, Kilfeacle between Golden and Tipperary town.
The Kilcommon club in West Tipperary is named after him as is Arravale Rovers's grounds in Tipperary town. His memory is enshrined by those institutions but for many he is the start of a Tipperary All-Ireland final day.