History

History

Below is a history of Four Roads Hurling Club written by Tommy Connolly and published in book produced for the clubs centenary year in 2005 - "Four Roads Hurling Club - A Century of Hurling 1905 - 2005"

Four Roads Hurling Club

The First Hundred Years

by Tommy Connolly

At the outset, I would wish to dedicate this article to the memory of the great man of Four Roads hurling - Johnny Mee. It is now over 20 years since Johnny and I first began to scratch and poke at the rich and proud history of the great game of hurling in our parish. Around that time he became slightly obsessed with getting all he had in his head committed to paper before he departed this life. He latched onto yours truly (why I know not) and we spent many enjoyable nights going through old newspapers and microfilm in Roscommon County Library.

Indeed, one of our most enjoyable excursions was a visit to the ageing Pat Carroll, Cloonlaughlin, "one of the greatest of them all" in Johnnys opinion. We arrived armed with a notebook (mise) and some deochanna! At an early stage the notebook was left down and a long night was spent reminiscing and telling hurling stories. I remember another great hurler (much younger than Pat) Tommy Treacy (Cloonlaughlin), came through the door at some stage to join in. Sadly, Tommy also is departed. We eventually headed home in the early hours of the morning, warm in the glow of the light in the eyes of an old hurler as he relived past glories. May they all rest in peace.

Even though Johnny departed our shores in 1994, he achieved his wish. He wrote a lot of material down and we have audio and video accounts of the history of hurling in the parish featuring himself. He was Mr. Hurling in Four Roads for over half a century. As long as a camán is swung in this parish, his name will be revered. Mile buiochas, a Sheáin.

It is necessary, first of all, to put this great game of ours in some sort of national historical context. The earliest mention of hurling we can find is as long as 1275BC. The setting is the Battle of Moytura, near Cong, in Co. Mayo. The Fir Bolgs, who then ruled Ireland, were resisting the invasion of the Tuatha ds Danann who wanted half the country. Both sides prepared for the coming battle. While the preparations were going on, they decided to get proceedings underway with a hurling contest.

The description of the match is to be found in a manuscript in Trinity College. An excerpt from the account: "Ruád with 27 sons of a courageous Mil, sped westwards to the end of Mag Mia to offer a hurling contest to the Tuatha de Danaan. An equal number came out to meet them. The match began. They dealt many a blow on legs and arms, 'til their bones were bruised and broken and they fell oustretched on the turf, and the match ended. The cairne of the match is the name of the cairn where they met and Glen Cairne Aillom the place where they are buried".

We are all familiar with the stories of the Red Branch Knights and that father of all hurlers, Cúchullain, which would date from the time of the birth of Christ. A couple of hundred years after that we come to the heroics of Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Fianna. They must have been some hurling outfit! Indeed the lovely Gráinne, who was betrothed to Fionn, fell in love with Darmaid when she saw him hurling. Have you noticed that Four Roads hurlers never have any trouble in getting wives?

A measure of the importance of hurling in old Ireland is the fact that the Brehan Laws provided for compensation for thiose injured in hurling matches. Right up to the end of the first millennium and beyond, hurling continued to be the most popular outdoor game played by the Irish. Even the colonists who arrived after the Norman invasion were attracted to it. So much so, that one of the statutes of Kilkenny forbade the Anglo-Irish from taking part in hurling games. Like most of the statutes this failed in its objective - a case of closing the stable door after the horse is gone! Indeed, there is evidence that the game was brought back to England by some of the colonists and their tenants.

Whether we like it or not, there is considerable evidence that the patronage of the lanlord classes was important to the spread of the game in the 17th and 18th centuries They picked the teams, arranged the hurling greens and supervised the matches, which were frequently organised as gambling events!

The game was in decline for the first three quarters of the 19th century. The ideas of the French Revolution began to have an impact and this politicisation lead to class-consciousness and a growing anti-landlord feeling. The Great Famine and agrarian troubles later on also contributed.

The cause of hurling in the last quarter of the 19th century was taken up by the Irish themselves, awakened and enthused by that great swell of Celtic revival and interest in all aspects of Gaelic culture, literature and pastimes at that time. The setting up of the GAA in 1884, was an inevitable consequence of this flowering of Gaelic pride and passion.

There is some evidence that hurling was played in our parish at that time and probably long before that. We know for certain that the local landlord, Mr. Talbot of Mount Talbot, used to organise an annual hurling game between the locals and neighbouring Athleague. This game used to take place in a field called the 'Crab Park' in front of the big house, and was part of an overall sports day involving all sorts of track and field events. When those games began, we dont know, but they certainly go way back into the 19th century.

So, with a hurling tradition already established and with the GAA in business since 1884, the situation was rife for someone to organise hurling affairs in the parish, structure it properly and set up a club. Cometh the hour, cometh the man! That man was Matt Heavey, a Galway man, who cam teaching to Tisrara N.S. He set up the first hurling club in the parish about 1904/1905, and the name he gave to his team was the 'Tisrara Maith-Go-Leors', a name that has become almost immortal in the history of Roscommon hurling.

Matt Heaveys fledgling 'Maith-Go-Leors' team enjoyed spectacular success almost as soon as it was born. Because of this instant success, it is to be surmised that there was a solid foundation and some tradition of hurling there already. Their very first match was against Athleague who had a very strong side. Another teacher, Paddy O'Sullivan from Cork, had come to Athleague a few years before that and established hurling there. Indeed, ever since that time the rivalry between Four Roads and Athleague has always been rather intense. Nobody gave the 'Maith-Go-Leors' much of a chance, but they won a famous victory.

They went on to win three McLoughlin Shields in a row (county championships) - 1905, 1906 and 1907. This shield was donated by Canon McLoughlin (Roscommon Town) and one wonders if it still exists somewhere. Indeed, Roscommon Town were great rivals of our heros and there was always a tremendous personal duel between Heavey and Harry Hession in mid field. Also playing for Roscommon at that time were five Monaghan brothers. Their father was a saddler in the square and they were said to be fine hurlers.

This team built by Heavey was a source of great pride and inspiration to the people of Tisrara. They trained and played matches in a field at Lismaha, on the road from Athleague to Mount Talbot, just before the turn into the right for Cloondray (near where the state forest is now). The local landlord, the above mentioned Mr. Talbot, gave them the use of the field. Heavey was a hard task master. He was a strict disciplinarian and favoured a direct style of play - he had little time for cowardice or for intricate patterns of play.

People travelled from far and wide (on foot, by cart trap etc.) to see the play. The strongest aspect of their play was their ground hurling. Heavey got a hurley pattern of the Wexford style and gave it to a local carpenter, James Nolan of Corrocot. This hurley had a very heavy heel and when the ball was struck properly, one could get great height and length into the strokes. Nolan was a great craftsman and took great pride in his work - "works of art" in the opinion of Johnny Mee.

Just as nowadays we have songs praising the glories of the great hurling, football and soccer teams, back then in Four Roads we had that witty poet/rhymester Tom Seavers. He put pen to paper and articulated the pride all parishioners had in their team, because make no doubt about it, at that time they were the greatest thing that could have happened in the parish. It was only natural, therefore, that they should be immortalised in one of Toms poems.

Maith-Go-Leors

Just a line, a verse of mine

While medals shine today.

With men who win and will again

In spite of teams they play.

These athletes gay, they hurl and play

On many a hard-fought field,

And well they may feel proud to say

They never were force to yield.

The young and strong in hundreds throng

At Galway place there’s more,

You would ride your bike the whole long day

To see these athletes score.

In Athlone town they won hands down

Beside the Shannon stream,

In Longford town they won renown

Any beat the Longford team

Those men of fame won many a game

They were swift but never sore

In cold or heat they’re hard to defeat

Those good men Maith-Go-Leor.

So, they will hurl again and medals win

When the summer sun does beam

And then again, they are sure to win

This brave Tisrara team.

Goodbye, my song is now made long

Next time I may write more,

When the days are long and the big crowds throng

To see these athletes score.

To describe the captain and his fame

Some help, I may implore,

And describe each name and each well played game

Many thanks to Marty Smith, Corrocot (grandson of Tom Seavers), for the words of the poem.

All good things must come to an end and the Maith-Go-Leors couldn't continue on their winning ways forever. They were defeated by their great rivals from Roscommon in a McLoughlin Shield game. There is an interesting background to this defeat, which was the beginning of the end for the Tisrara team. It seems that a prominent citizen (who shall remain nameless) dies on Saturday before the game and as was the custom he was 'waked' that night. Most of the team were at the wake, were up late and, to put it mildly, 'over-indulged'. Suffice it to say they were not at their best the next day and were beaten by a young, fit Roscommon side. And so ended an era which brought great excitement and pride to this small rural parish.

The First World War, the War of Independence, and the turbulence of the early 1920s didn't help the cause of hurling in the parish. We had to wait until Easter, 1946 (when the 1945 final was played), for our next Roscommon Senior County Championship. During those long barren years, there were many good hurlers and good teams who kept the ancient game of hurling going in the parish. In the 1920s there was a team nicknamed the 'Young Mogeys'. While not as successful as the originals, they boasted some great hurlers in Pat Carroll, Hugh Farrell, the Cunniffes and Turleys from Mount Talbot, Mick Hevehan, Mike Killalea, Dan Burke and John Hynes. Joe Galvin, Cloonloughlin, who played a prominent part in the National Struggle, also hurled with Four Roads in this period.

The Cunniffe and Turley brothers from Mount Talbot were all great athletes. In fact, John Cunniffe played soccer with the great Arsenal club in the 1930s while he worked as a young priest in London, shortly after being ordained. He would have been introduced to soccer in Maynooth seminary.

A memorable trip for under-age hurlers took place in 1927, when Fr. Bernie Keane, Arthur Casserly and Matt Heavey took the whole squad of players to Croke Park, Dublin, for the first Railway Cup Finals. This was a huge undertaking at a time when hardly anybody in the parish had ever been to Dublin. It was a trip of a lifetime for those young men, and indeed it was they who went on to fly the flag of hurling in the 1930s.

No account of the story of hurling in this period would be complete without mention of a character Paddy Cox. Originally from Dublin, he came to work as a farm labourer/farm manager to Tom Coyles, Cullawinna, and spent approximately 30 years in the place. He was a real enthusiast and every March he would announce "Tis time to start hurling". Somebody would say "There's no ball", and the rapid reply would be "I bought one yesterday". He eventually went back to Dublin and was seen in later years working during the Spring Show and Horse Show in the RDS.

During this period matches were played in Brian Finnertys field in Coolderry (where the graveyard is now), in Coyles in Four Roads (where the hay shed is) and also in Kellys 'pump field' in Four Roads. They used to train also at Tumrover, Cloonloughlin. Mee's field was first used about 1941 and was to be the home of Tisrara hurling for over half a century, until the splendid new Tisrara Community Sports Park was opened in 1995.

The winning of the 1945 county championship was really a milestone in the history of this famous old club. It hadn't been won since the time of the Maith-Go-Leors in 1907 (and a measure of the drought that preceded it was the fact that from 1936 until 1945, Four Roads hadn't won a single championship match! This win really was the catalyst that set the club up for the very successful 60 years that followed.

By this time Johnny Mee was secretary and was to don the mantle of 'Mr. Hurling' in Four Roads for many years to come. He practically ran the club single handedly in the 1940s and into the 1950s. This 1945 breakthrough heralded a new era of great hurlers and great teams. It was the spark which ignited a new wave of interest and pride in our parish. Just as the mighty 'Maith-Go-Leors' were heroes 40 years before, we now had a whole new set of folk-heroes and the crowds once more flocked to see them in action.

That 1945 final wasn't played until Easter Sunday, 1946, mainly because of the success of the county senior football team at that time. There were many duel players and the club hurling championship suffered because of this. In fact, the star player of the Four Roads team, Mattie Heavey (son of the man who formed the club over forty years before), was on the county football panel at the time. Mattie was indeed a star player - he was so gifted that a certain man used to walk up from Athleague on summer evenings just to watch him practise in Mee's field. He was indeed a class act and he had two other brothers: Sean, goalkeeper, and Seamus who were also fine hurlers on the team.

They defeated St. Comans, Roscommon, in the 1945 final which was played in Knockcroghery. There were very few cars around in 1946. Even though the war was over, petrol was still rationed. The hurling club bought some coupons and gave them to car owners to carry the team members - their own family had to walk or cycle to the match. For example, Joe Killian brought four or five, as did Sean Naughton. John Mee had just purchased a two-seater car and he brought Andy Finnerty and Gerry O'Malley. As was the case in the heyday of the 'Maith-Go-Leors' the road to Knockcroghery was black with people walking, cycling and on carts and traps, full of anticipation and hope on their way to the big game. They came home with heads held high, singing the praises of the whole new set of parish heroes. The great hurling famine was over, never to return in the 60 years since!

It is important to record the names of the players on duty for Four Roads on that historic day at Knockcroghery. The team was as follows: Sean Heavey, Seamus Heavey, Bernie Feeney, James Killian, Ned Burke, Brian Finnerty, James Nolan, Mattie Heavny, Gerry O'Malley, James Moran, Johnny Mee, Andy Finnerty, Sean Naughton, Pat Feeney, Ned Hevehan, Micky Flynn came on as a subsitute for Sean Naughton who was injured.

The county medals were presented at a dance in Neds (Hevehan) Hall (the Shamrock Hall), on 18th December 1946, fair day in Ballygar. Music was supplied by the legendary Bert Flynns Band. Only 20 medals arrived and as there was nearly 30 on the panel, a minor crises seemed imminent. However, help was near at hand. A call to our curate, Fr. James Brannelly solved the problem. He had a large collection of all sorts of medals for parish sports day, etc., and so everyone got a medal and went home happy!

Now that this great team had got the taste of success, they went on to win it again the next year. They failed however, to emulate their predecessors, the 'Maith-Go-Leors'. by doing a three-in-a-row. In a semi-final game which Four Roads people always felt was let slip away, a tremendous display by Micky Finneran ensured victory went to our great rivals, Athleague. Indeed, in those years in the 1940s and 1950s Athleague always had a great team and were the team to beat. That 1947 game was played in Mee's Field.

There are great stories about these big games played in the famous field. It was certainly different to county finals today. One has to remember that it was an ordinary agricultural field where the teams togged out under the hedge. There was no perimeter fence and the spectators stood three or four deep around the side-lines. It was impossible to keep them back behind the lines and they kept encroaching further and further onto the field of play. There were regular pitch invasions as spectators joined in when a row erupted and free-for-alls often ensued. There was usually mayhem near the goals. This was usually where most of the 'action' took place. It was all very unfair on the poor goalkeeper. At the time, goalies were not the 'protected species' they are now and were fare game for opposing forwards. To have to endure the attention of crowds of spectators around and sometimes in, the goal area made their task very difficult. Sometimes Johnny Mee painted a white wash on the goal posts and put sheep wire around the back of the goal to give the unfortunate keeper some protection.

A match in the local field was a big occasion in the parish. It was talked about well in advance and for weeks afterwards. John B. Keane wrote a play about a 'Field'. Here in Four Roads we have our field to talk about which a whole book could be written. I remember as a youngster back in the Sixties, the great crowds of hurlers there all day on a Sunday. There would be a continuous match from about 2 o'clock until well after 6 o'clock. There may have been over twenty-a-side at times, with lads joining in and departing at different times.

In 1948, Four Roads and Athleague were once more in opposition in the county final. This game was played in Mee's field. Four Roads were leading by six points with only a short time left, and victory seemed to be within their grasp. However, Athleague scored two late goals to force a draw and fancied themselves for the replay as they would have home advantage.

Four Roads had lost the great Mattie Heavey to emigration that year and he was a terrible loss. Immediately after the drawn game, Johnny Mee and some others hatched a secret plan to get him back from Manchester for the replay. His fare was sent to him and he arrived back in Dublin on the Saturday night before the match. It was the best-kept secret ever with no one knowing about it, only the select few who were sworn to secrecy.

On the day of the match, the two teams paraded in Athleague behind the band before the start. There was an immediate buzz from the crowd when it became apparent that Four Roads had only 14 men. Just prior ro the throw-in, Mattie Heavey walked in and took up his usuak position in the middle of the field. The psychological effect of this on his colleagues and on the oppostion was enormous. Even though he didn't reach his full flowing style until half-time, Four Roads ran out easy winners by 13 points. It was a famous victory and a master-stroke by Johnny and his colleagues. It has become very much part of Four Roads and Roscommon hurling lore and is still talked about to the present day.

It was also during this period of great success in the 1940s, that the present Four Roads jersey as we know it today, came into being. The original 'Maith-Go-Leors' team wore a green jersey with a black diagonal loop. At some stage in the 1930s, they began to use a black jersey with yellow band. This was the same jersey as worn by Fuerty footballers and the clubs used to frequently swap and lend the jerseys to each other. Eventually, some were lost and neither club had a full set. So the Four Roads players held a meeting after training one evening and decided to purchase a new set and to change the colour. It was Mikey Flynn, Mount Talbot, who suggested the simple formula of switching the colours of the existing jersey - i.e. a yellow (amber) jersey with a black hoop. And that is the jersey that has been worn with great pride by Four Roads hurlers ever since.

To continue the story, another county title was won in 1949, when St. Patricks, Knockcroghery, were defeated. The Conlon Cup came again to Four Roads in 1954, when the recently formed Tremane Club was the opposition. In 1958, they clashed with old rivals Athleague in the final and emerged victorious after a thrilling game, winning by 3-5 to 3-4. A highlight of this game was the clash between our own John Connor, Coorcot, and Athleagues Jim Fives, a Waterford County hurler who was an army officer stationed in Castlerea at the time. It was the general consensus that the Four Roads man got the better of that encounter.

There was only one county title won in the sixties and that was in 1962, when John Mulry, Tibarney, captained the black and amber to a hard-fought victory over Roscommon Gaels. This was the first county final win witnessed by yours truly, when the facilities at Athleague were very basic compared to the fine set-up there today. Johnny Mee always called this Austins Lanes final as he put in a towering display at full-back. At the end of the decade we suffered the heartbreak of losing three county finals in a row, to Tremane in 1968, and Roscommon Gaels in 1969 and 1970.

We can't leave the swinging sixties without mentioning the trojan work undertaken towards the end of the decade in underage hurling by Phonsie Tulley. Coiste Iomana Ros Commain had been established and great work done almost single-handedly by Phonsie would bear fruit in the successes, which came late on in the Seventies and particularly in the Eighties. In any history of the hurling club, Phonsie's contribution (he had earlier played with distinction in goal from Four Roads and Roscommon) must rank equal in importance with Johnny Mee and Matt Heavey.

Another highlight of the Sixties was the famous All Ireland Junior Hurling win by Roscommon over Warwickshire, England, at St. Comans Park, in 1965. I have the great memory of seeing a blood-spatered Gerry O'Malley being carried shoulder-high around the pitch after the game, having won his one and only All-Ireland medal. Gerry played all his club hurling with Four Roads and was one of the great servants of the club. His ability with a hurley was discovered purely by accident at half-time in a Minor football match, when he went pucking around with some local lads. Johnny Mee spotted him and so began a glorious career. In fact Gerry has Railway Cup medals playing hurling for Connaught. Other Four Roads players honoured with selection for the province were Mattie Heavey, Benny Tansey, Brian Mitchel, Paddy Dolan, Frank Carty, Declan Coyle, Adrian Tully, Mickey Cunniffe and Ray Mulry.

Other Four Roads players to win All-Ireland Junior medals in 1965 were Brian Mitchel, Jimmy McDonald and Michael Murphy, who was a substitute. When the Junior All-Ireland was won for the second time in 1974, we had Paddy Dolan, Johnny Dolan, Frank Mitchel, Benny Tansey, Brian Mitchel and Michael Murphy on the team (six players). Willie Fallon was a substitute.

Two county senior titles were won in the Seventies, 1971 and 1977. This '77 team was in the opinion of many, one of the best ever teams from the club to win a county championship. They also made history when they were declared Connaught champions (the Galway champions were suspended) and played Leinster champions Rathnure of Wexford, in the All-Ireland Semi-Final in Wexford. Although fairly well beaten in the end, they put in a great performance and won the admiration of all present at the game.

The club hit on a third golden age of great teams in the 1980s. A three-in-a-row, only once before achieved by the legendary 'Maith-Go-Leors', was achieved in 1981, 1982 and 1983. In fact they were denied a historic four-in-a-row by Pearses in the Centenary Final of 1984, played in Hyde Park. They were back to win the title again in 1986.

The guiding light behing the great run in the 1980s was Frank Carty, who trained the team. Frank introduced new standards in training methods and fitness. He was also a star player himself at centre-half back for club and county. This was a team of many stars - the half back line alone of Michael Connolly, Carty and Johnny Dolan must have been the finest ever to represent the club. However the real jewel in the crown was Paddy Dolan, the greatest seen by this humble scribe. He would have walked into any county team and regrettably was never properly treated by Connaught (Galway) selectors. He was a joy to behold, a genius with a caman with a vast repertoire of skills and tricks.

One of the great highlights any possibly the greatest achievement in the history of the club took place at Ballyforan on Sunday, November 20th 1988, when the Connaught Club Championship was won on the field of play. Galway champions, Abbeyknockmoy, were expected to pick up the Connaught title without too much trouble. However, the mighty heroes from Four Roads had other ideas and in a hectic final quarter, goals from Simon Coyle, Paul Dolan and Paddy Dolan shocked Abbeyknockmoy and the hurling world. The final whistle brought an explosion of emotion and celebration, which had to be seen to be believed. It was a source of great pride for Four Roads people all over the world and will always be a cherished memory for those of us who were lucky to be there.

In the subsequent All-Ireland Semi-Final they were well beaten by Buffers Alley of Wexford, who went on to win the All-Ireland. However, the huge number of people who made the long journey to Wexford brought a carnival atmosphere to Wexford Park and although things didn't go to plan on the pitch, they returned home with heads held high with fine memories of a great sporting occasion.

The '90s saw the emergence of a group of players whose successes are up there with any of the Roscommon hurling greats. County finals were won in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997 and a third 3-in-a-row was captured in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Our only All-Ireland title was won in 2001, when we captured the 7-a-side Shield in the Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland 7's competition.

The victory in 2002 had a tragic aftermath. Our great captain, hero and hurling legend, the great Mickey Cunniffe died only six weeks after he raised the Conlon Cup in a victory salute. Words cannot describe the sheer volume of shock and grief that gripped the parish in that Autumn of 2002.

In this era, All-Ireland titles were won by Roscommon at B level in 1994, intermediate in 1999, and junior in 2001. Prominent players on those teams included the Mannion, Coyle, Cunniffe and Glennon brothers, Tomas Lennon, Adrian Tully, Ray Mulry, Damien Lohan, Paul Connolly and Tom Naughton.

In 2003 the club commissioned a new cup in Mickey's name to replace the famous Conlon Cup. When our senior hurlers won their 25th county title in October 2005 (a quarter century of championship wins in their centenary year) the Mickey Cunniffe came home for the first time. In a gesture that was highly significant, our hurlers, after a bonfire-lit victory journey from Athleague, left their cars and walked the Mickey Cunniffe Cup through the famous crossroads in Four Roads. It was a moment of intense raw emotion and pride in the club in our centenary year.

As we come to the end of this account of the history of hurling in our parish we should place on record our ever lasting gratitude to all who toiled from nearly a century to promote the game here. Many are gone to their eternal reward in that great hurling field in Heaven. But the baton has been passed on any there is still plenty whose great love for the game enables them to make the great sacrifices to coach, encourage and motivate the youngsters coming through. We salute the work done in the schools in the parish. The fact that Tisrara N.S. are again County Champions is surely a healthy sign for the future.

We think also of the other unsung heroes, like the men who made the most important items - the hurleys. I mentioned James Nolan, Corrocot, earlier and no history of the game of hurling in our parish would be complete without mention of Jim O'Gara who lived at Chapeltown on the road to Athleague, just inside Athleague parish. Jim got a new pattern for a hurley from a Brother Cyril, a Kilkenny man, who taught in Roscommon and this is basically the hurley we use today. I remember getting my first hurley made by Jim in the Sixties at the cost of half-a-crown. When one considers that hurleys alone cost the club nearly €5300 last year, one can appreciate the work of Jim O'Gara and others like him in keeping the game alive in the lean years.

When Matt Heavey planted the acorn of a hurling club in the parish all those years ago, he couldn't have visualised the proud oak tree this club has become. From the humble beginnings in Talbots field at Lismaha to the lovely new Tisrara Community Sports Park, it is a long and proud story. The facilities at the sports park are a credit to the parish, to Fr. Francis Beirne (vice-president of the hurling club) and his enthusiastic fund-raising committee. Indeed, the hurling club members really put their shoulders to the huge fund-raising draw and are happy to share this marvelous facility with all sports people - real sporting ecumenism in action. The park is vested in the community and hurling people are honoured to serve on the management committee. They will, in future, continue to play their part in the operation and maintenance of the park.

Finally, we salute our hurlers - the men who have brought us so much pride and joy over the years. They have literally lost sweat and blood for the cause and we know they enjoyed every thrilling minute of it all. It always has been and will continue to be a great honour to put on the black and amber parish jersey now adorned with the parish crest, which feature hurling. We say thanks for the memories and, as we progress through the third millennium, we hope and pray that the sight of a Tisrara hurler will continue to stir the Celtic blood in our veins.