As I Roved Out: Jubal seeks every kick of the ball
What has Jubal Valentine to do with the Carlow Senior Football Championship? Read on
Jubal Valentine from the TV show ‘FBI’ is a very unlikely character to feature in a GAA article, even more unlikely again when the article in question concerns the Carlow Senior Football Championship. But Jubal has long been a hero of mine as I reckon if tracking the history of Gaelic Games lay in the hands of the Assistant Special Agent in Charge and his team then hurling and football would have the most comprehensive set of records ever compiled. In fact, why not give our readers a sneak preview of how Jubal would set about this task …
Jubal Valentine walks into the caretakers house at the corner of the Dr Cullen Park land, once the home of revered groundsman Tommy Lennon (after whom the stand in the county grounds is named) but now a building transformed into the headquarters of a Special Research Unit. “Listen up people” he begins in trademark fashion. “The Carlow Senior Football Championship,” he continues, “we know the first was in 1889, we know the semi-finals of this years competition are on here next Sunday but what I want us to uncover is every kick of the ball, as in how many games have been played in that 136 year span, not just the winning roll of honour but the date, venue and result of all the matches, as I say, every kick of the ball.” There is silence in the room. 136 years. Every kick of the ball. Jubal is after turning up for the wrong programme. It’s the set of ‘Mission Impossible’ he should be on. He must be a mind reader. “Your mission should you choose to accept it is to track each and every match, not just that, I want to know how many games were played here in the county grounds, how many over in Bro Leo Park, Tullow, how many down in McGrath Park, Bagenalstown, how many below in Kildavin’s Spellman Park? And, to borrow a phrase of the’ Barrowside Gael’, here’s one for you, how many games were played on a Sunday? How many on a Monday, Tuesday, how many in June, July, you get the drill?!” The room remains silent. Jubal himself breaks the silence and calls on a couple of phrases he has used previously to direct investigations. “Let’s get creative folks” he encourages, then with a daring look, “surprise me.”
“I’m out of here,” says Special Agent Maggie Bell who quickly boards the JJ Kavanagh Bus for Dublin Airport. She has great time for Jubal but this Irish trip was a big mistake. She is replaced - important to keep the gender balance - by Maria Von Trapp who proffers excellent advice, “let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start …
‘Special Agent LMG’ follows this advice and immersing himself in the dusty archives, unearths the 1889 files of ‘The Nationalist and Leinster Times’, the paper of record in Carlow for a century and a half. And there on page 5 of the Friday, March 9th issue, in the fifth column, is a little double headline: ‘Gaelic Football’ - ‘County Carlow Championship. Underneath we read:
“The first match for the County Carlow Championship was played on Sunday between Carlow and Donore on Ballybar racecourse. The event caused a good deal of interest amongst the admirers of Gaelic pastimes, and a large crowd was present. It would have conduced a good deal to the convenience of both spectators and players if the former were content to keep outside the sidelines, but notwithstanding the praiseworthy efforts of several gentlemen connected with Tinryland club the crowd insisted on encroaching on the field. The ball was thrown-in at half-past three, and before many minutes had elapsed it became apparent that big scoring would not be the order of the day. The teams seemed to be very evenly matched, and although the ball was often in dangerous proximity to the goals, it was always got away before a score could be made. Towards the end of the first half hour Carlow succeeded in getting a 40 yards kick, and McDonald scored a point very cleverly. During the second half hour both sides played very determinedly, but there was no score made and the victory was awarded to Carlow on the point mentioned. Some of the Carlow men were rather taken aback by the decision of the referee (Mr EJ Doyle), with reference to dandling of the ball from one hand to another, but Mr Doyle pointed out that the County Committee had decided to allow dandling on one hand but not with both.”
Jubal was impressed, very impressed. “Right, so we know from day one there was controversy, them fancy-dan townies dandling and whining, how many more controversies were there? Weren’t Tinryland done out of a perfectly good point recently and what’s this I hear about the ‘Battle of Rathoe’ or am I getting mixed up with the ‘Battle of Little Bighorn’ and Custard’s Last Stand, there was definitely a Carlow connection, a Myles Keogh.” Special Agent Tommy Murphy informs Jubal that Myles Keogh was indeed a Carlow man, from Orchard in Leighlinbridge but that the battle he was involved in was in 1876, “eight years before the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association.” Jubal nodded but getting information on his earphone, presses it to hear better and asks, “how is it that Kilbride who are credited with winning only one Carlow Senior Football Championship title won two finals?! Make sense of that people!”
“Ah yes, Kilbride,” nods ‘Special Agent LMG’, “they won the SFC in 1935, the roll of honour is correct but the fact that they won two finals is also correct and they won both of them in 1935 too.” Jubal, who doesn’t suffer fools gladly, stared at the Agent and asked if he’d been drinking. Once more ‘The Nationalist’, the paper of record, was the source of the answer. In virtually all previously published results the county final of 1935 was recorded as Kilbride 3-6, Leighlinbridge 1-3. That game was played in ’The Bog’ in Bagenalstown on Sunday September 29th, ’The Bog’ being an affectionate title on a popular venue down a fall of ground on the banks of the Barrow. Kilbride had a strong team back then, taking ownership of the prestigious Feis Cup by winning it three times, the third in June 1935 and, presumably, on that late September Sunday the wearers of the red and green were presented with the Haughney Cup, then the symbol of Carlow football supremacy.
However Leighlinbridge, popularly known as the ‘All-Blacks’ objected to the result and were awarded a re-fixture, a re-fixture played on Sunday, November 3rd at the O’Hanrahan’s Grounds (the Barrack Field near Granby Row). Kilbride won again, this time by 2-2 to 1-0 but apart from a very small report in ‘The Nationalist’ (the paper of record, remember) the week after that final the game was airbrushed out of history until now! The story of that objection, the conundrum the County Chairman found himself in and the possible reason the re-fixture result didn’t become part of local folklore is worth a column in itself. Watch this space!
1,034: Now to answer some of Jubal’s earlier teasers. Dr Cullen Park, more recently known as Netwatch Cullen Park, has been the scene of 1,034 championship battles, the first SFC fixture in the newly opened County Grounds on July 5, 1936 when Tinryland beat The Shamrocks. The ‘Shams’ were a town team who actually had use of the Rathnapish venue prior to its purchase by the County Board and four more SFC matches were played there in the early 1930s, the first on Sunday, October 15, 1933, a semi-final, when eventual champions Milford beat Bagenalstown 3-3 to 0-3. McGrath Park, Bagenalstown has hosted 114 SFC fixtures (including the storied drawn and replayed finals of 1951), Bro Leo Park, Tullow is on 96, including the 1970 final, the last played outside Dr Cullen Park. Hopefully the pleasant Slaneyside venue will be allocated four more to make it to the ‘ton’. Spellman Park, Kildavin has catered for 53 championship matches including semi-finals.
Sunday, of course, was the traditional day for major GAA action and Carlow’s flagship football competition was no different and it was not until as late as 1982 that the first non-Sunday Carlow SFC fixture took place when Bro Leo Park in Tullow housed a Losers Group semi-final replay between Ballinabranna, the 0-8 to 0-5 winners, and Ballon. In all, subject to a recount, there have been 1,009 games played on the Sabbath. Saturday (310, including two final replays) and Friday (141) are next in line while Monday has hosted just four SFC fixtures and, surprisingly, none of the four have been on a Bank Holiday Monday.
“Let’s get all this down on paper” advises Jubal, “and praise the Lord for the paper of record!”
