Decades of Glory - Tipperary's Hurling Story - Part 1 (1884-1968).
A man by the name of Wakefield travelled through Ireland in the early 19th century, and wrote an account of his travels, which were published in 1812. Travelling through Tipperary he noted that hurling was a prevalent amusement, “that children as soon as they are able to follow each other, run about in bands of a dozen or more with balls and hurleys”.
“Hurling”, he noted, “is a game which cannot be played in mountainous districts ; and I think that the vigour and activity of the peasantry in the South are in great measure to be ascribed to their attachment to this play, which by the exercise it affords, strengthens the whole frame and contributes to health”.
He goes on to describe how the game was then played…"by parties of a hundred men on each side. The ball is tossed up in the middle and each player has a knotted stick with which he endeavours to drive it to the goal on that side to which his party belongs”. He was a shrewd observer as we may deduce from his final remark on Tipperary ; “the men are strong limbed and seem to be more active than those in Cork !”
Tipperary certainly has been a hurling county for longer than perhaps any other if historical references are to guide us. Though the location of Hayes’ Hotel in Thurles may have owed as much to logistical and geographical expediency as to any recognition of Tipperary’s pre-eminent position as a county which upheld gaelic tradition, it is nevertheless a source of great pride to Tipperary that Thurles became the “cradle of the GAA”, when the new Association was founded in 1884.
By 1887 it was time for the inaugural championships to take place. Twelve teams originally entered this championship, and Tipperary’s first ever championship outing was a victory over Clare at Nenagh, in what amounted to a quarter-final. This was followed by a semi-final victory over Kilkenny, and in the very first All-Ireland final, Tipperary - represented by a Thurles selection - came up against Galway, another county which had a great early tradition in the area of gaelic sport. Despite the basic nature of the playing area and facilities of the time, Tipperary and Galway, represented by Thurles and Meelick selections respectively, were led through the streets of Birr by a band - amid great pomp and ceremony - to the field of play. In those days the playing pitch was significantly larger than the current day pitch, particularly in width, and teams had twenty-one players. The scoring area was exactly similar to the scoring area used in the International rules football games nowadays between Australia and Ireland. Another vitally important factor in determining the style of play in those days is that a goal outweighed any number of points, so that one can presume points generally occurred through failure to get a goal.
This goes some way towards explaining the fact that Tipperary won the All-Ireland final by the strange - by modern judgement - score-line of 1-1 to nil. Tipp also scored a "forfeit point" which was awarded in the same situation as a modern-day "'65", and effectively was a tie-breaker if teams were level on goals and points. To Jim Stapleton of Thurles fell the honour of being the first man to captain a team to this great achievement, and to Tommy Healy of Moycarkey fell the honour of scoring the first goal in a senior hurling final. The squad also included Dinny Maher of Killinan whose son John captained the 1945 All-Ireland champions.
Despite beating Cork and Clare respectively in the next two championships Tipp lost out on both occasions to objections, which was a common refuge of losing teams at the time. By 1890, the fledging GAA - having lost the initial impetus and enthusiasm of the founding – had taken a severe hit through apathy and also the fact that in this era of political turmoil and agrarian unrest, interest in the organisation of the national games was over-shadowed by greater national concerns. Tipperary, for example, fell from having 130 clubs in 1887 to just 15 in three years later, and this was also the case in most other counties. This degeneration was reflected in the facts that the county team didn’t even compete in the championship again until 1894, and that there was no county championship played in those years either. A first championship defeat to Cork was Tipp’s lot when they initially re-entered the fray, but by 1895 a new force had arrived on the scene, and was to establish Tipperary on the hurling map in a big way.
Jim Stapleton
A famous name - Tubberadora - burst on the scene sporting the famous royal blue jerseys with gold sash that their parishioners of Boherlahan-Dualla so proudly wear at the present day. The Tubberadora era lasted from 1895 until the team broke up in 1898. They won three All-Irelands in four years and never lost a championship game of any description. The 1895 final was the first ever played at the new Jones’ Road venue, and Tipperary enjoyed a big victory over Kilkenny, with Paddy O’Riordan of Drombane being the scoring star for Tipp. The following year, the title was retained with a big victory over Dublin in the All-Ireland Final, but not without early warning signs in Munster of what was to become arguably hurling’s most celebrated rivalry. This was in the Munster Final against Cork which was drawn, and after much heated debate over a venue for the replay, the remarkable decision was taken to stage the match at Jones’ Road, Dublin. It remains the only Munster Final to have been decided outside the province.
Tipp withdrew from the championship in 1897, but won it again on their return a year later, with Kilkenny again being the final victims on this occasion in a remarkably high scoring affair – 7-13 to 3-10. Tubberadora as an entity ceased to be after this with many of their players playing with neighbouring clubs. What a legacy they left behind them! Their rivalries with the likes of Tulla and Tullaroan in this era were precursors to rivalries that have lasted to this day. Undoubtedly the towering star of the team was the captain Mikey Maher – as described by “Carbery” “ a thundering man, 6’2” and 15 stone hard-trained” – who became the first man to captain three All-Ireland senior championship winning teams. Mikey also found time to be involved in an official capacity at county board level, and was a huge figure in Tipperary hurling for many years after. He won 5 All-Ireland medals in total, an amount matched by his nephew Mick Maher of Holycross, in another golden era for Tipperary hurling over a half a century later.
Despite the departure of Tubberadora from the scene, for Tipperary it was in the words of Churchill ; "the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end". The 1898 victory was in fact the first chapter in the county's first three-in-a-row. The championships of 1899 and 1900 were won against Wexford and London respectively. In the latter year, Tipp – after beating Kilkenny in the semi-final – beat Galway in the “home” final before playing the exiles in the final proper. Lest this be interpreted as an “easy” game, it has to be said that only two late goals sealed a five point win for Tipp, and the London team in question actually beat Cork in the following year’s final. The captains for these two years were Tim Condon and Ned Hayes respectively, launching a most distinguished contribution to hurling by the parish of Moycarkey and Two-Mile-Borris.
After beating Cork in the Munster semi-final, Tipperary lost the 1911 Munster Final to Limerick by a goal. However, Kilkenny were awarded the All-Ireland championship after a dispute when the Munster champions Limerick refused to play at the appointed venue. In order to raise funds for an almost bankrupt association, a special challenge was arranged between the All-Ireland champions and Tipperary. This is regularly erroneously stated by commentators as being the All-Ireland Final of the year in question. It most certainly was not, as Kilkenny were awarded the title irrespective of the result of the challenge against Tipperary, for which a special set of medals were presented to the victorious Kilkenny team. Tipp did lose an All-Ireland Final to this Kilkenny oufit in the 1913 – the first 15 aside championship - when the Leinster county avenged an earlier defeat in the final of the Croke Cup - a major tournament of the time - by Wedger Meagher’s team. Meagher was from the Toomevara Greyhounds who by now were the leading team in Tipperary, winning five county titles between 1910 and 1919. Tipp weren’t long out of the limelight though, and won the All-Ireland title again in 1916 beating Kilkenny in the final, thus depriving the legendary Sim Walton of Tullaroan an eighth All-Ireland senior medal. This Tipp team was captained by Johnny Leahy of Boherlahan, who was also to captain Tipp to win the final nine years later. Tipp won this game comfortably enough despite losing Tommy Shanahan who got his marching orders with Kilkenny’s Dick Grace. Tipp were red-hot favourites to retain the title when they reached the final a year later but were surprised by Dublin, who had on their team, Bob Mockler a great midfielder from the Horse and Jockey, plus remarkably Martin Hackett from Toomevara, whose brother Stephen lined out with Tipp !
The journey to the final included a joust with Limerick which went to a replay and this rivalry was to blossom over the next four or five years, with a few replays thrown in as well. Tipp lost out in 1918 and ’19 to the eventual winners of the All-Ireland on both occasions, Limerick in the first year, and in the second Cork, who were bridging a sixteen year gap when they won the 1919 title.
Disruption to the championships and a brief break in Tipperary’s participation was the inevitable consequence of the more serious business that took over the minds of the nationalistic youth over the next few years. During this time, from a Tipperary perspective gaelic games and the national question intersected in the most grotesque fashion, with the appalling murder of Grangemockler’s Michael Hogan by the Black and Tans at a football match in Croke Park on November 21st 1920. Back on the hurling field however, Tipp were back in the final in 1922, having beaten Limerick in the replayed Munster Final. This time Tipp faced Kilkenny and after being level at half-time took over in the second half to lead well with ten minutes left. However, a Kilkenny finish comparable to Offaly’s “microwave” All-Ireland of ’94 gave the Noresiders a merited victory in what described by Phil O’Neill, - a GAA historian of the time - as “a game which will be ranked as perhaps the best played in the hurling code of modern times”.
In 1923 Tipp fell to their arch-rivals of the time, Limerick, who subsequently lost the All-Ireland Final to Galway. Tipp gained revenge over the Shannonsiders in the following year’s Munster Final, before succumbing themselves to the Tribesmen, in the first defeat that Tipp suffered in an All-Ireland semi-final. Tipp lost by only a point but were lucky that some defensive lapses weren't punished more severely, so that there were no complaints from the Munster champions. Tipp won the Munster Final of ’25 against new final opponents in Waterford who proved no match for the experienced Tipp men. Further new opponents, Antrim, were comfortably beaten at the semi-final stage, and once again Galway, - one of the best teams of this era - were the All-Ireland Final opponents. Galway, who had beaten Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final, started the game well, but were overwhelmed by five Tipperary goals, and Johnny Leahy became the first Tipperary man to bring the Liam McCarthy cup home. Undoubtedly that star of the day for Tipperary was Lorrha's Tom Duffy who scored 2-3 from wing-forward.
The following year saw Tipp – fresh from a successful American tour - lose to Cork in the Munster championship in a replay, playing all bar the first ten minutes without Martin Mockler of Moycarkey who was sent-off. This game is considered the occasion that really started Thurles as a big match venue, but of more immediate significance for Tipp was that it heralded an era of dominance for Cork hurling. From a situation when they had won only one All-Ireland title in the previous twenty-three years, the Rebel county proceeded to collect four in the next six years. In 1926 Tipp had to be content with a Junior All-Ireland title – the county’s fourth – to join the titles won in 1913, ’15 and ’24.
In the first years of the new century, Cork took over as the dominant force in Munster winning five consecutive titles, as Tipp’s efforts particularly under the supervision of Two-Mile-Borris were blighted by objections and withdrawals during this time. Tipp were back in 1906 to win the first of two All-Ireland titles in three years, this time, as also two years later,led by another legendary figure in Tipperary hurling by the name of Tom Semple. Semple- a native of Drombane - moved to Thurles and was synonymous with the famous Thurles Blues team which backboned the Tipp team of the era. “Carbery” was also unbridled in his admiration for this great hurler describing him – in terms you wouldn’t find Kevin Cashman using - as a “greyhound winger of Thurles town, rangy and handsome as a Greek apollo”. Tipp beat Dublin in the final on both occasions, with the 1908 final going to a replay, which Tipp won convincingly against a team laden down with Tipperary men. Tipp narrowly beat Cork the following year in a hectic Munster Final in Dungarvan, but fell in the final to what was developing into a great Kilkenny team of the time. Such was the dominance of this Kilkenny team that they won more than a quarter of that county's current total of All-Ireland senior titles in the space of ten years between 1904 and 1913.
Tipp picked up a first National League title in 1928 at a time when the competition was simply a round robin with no knockout element. Once again Johnny Leahy was the captain, in his last season in the blue and gold. Remarkably, his brother Mick won an All-Ireland senior hurling medal with Cork in the same year. Despite Cork’s “golden era”, Tipp slipped in for another senior title in 1930, in what was a glorious year for the county. They won the “triple crown” as it was called, taking the senior, junior, and minor titles in the one year, the first county to sweep the boards by winning every available championship. The seniors beat Waterford, Clare, Galway, and Dublin by seven points in the final. Tipp were captained by John Joe Callanan of Thurles, who had won an All-Ireland medal with Dublin ten years previously ! Another member of the team worth mentioning is Tommy Leahy, whose medal gave the four Leahy brothers of Boherlahan All-Ireland senior medals on the field of play – a feat not equalled since. Indeed the feats of the Leahy brothers and their status in Tipperary GAA are without rival. Paddy is a legend in Tipperary hurling and was effective manager of the Tipperary team between 1948 and ’66, during a time of unprecedented success. Johnny Leahy was to become a hugely successful captain for Tipperary – his captaincy of five Munster championship winning teams being a record. He became secretary of the Tipperary county board for twenty-one years having already served a term as chairman. Johnny was also remembered for his sharp wit as recalled by Raymond Smith when recounting a "joust" between Limerick legend Mick Mackey and Johnny ;
“after Tipperary had beaten Cork in a Munster tie, Mackey said to Johnny, recalling an old arrangement : “I suppose you will come to Limerick now to play us ?” Johnny avoided the question with a devilish gleam in his eye and said ; “Isn’t it great, Mick , that they’re out of it !”
If the Leahys were Tipperary's greatest hurling family, then the county’s greatest individual star of this era - and perhaps of any - was undoubtedly Martin Kennedy of Toomevara. It is a great tribute to the reputation that Martin acquired in his day, that despite the passage of time he was selected on the Tipperary team of the millenium in 2000. Martin was the antithesis of cosy monster stereotype that the revisionist modern era tends to apply to full-forwards of yore. He was a comparatively small, but a very skilful, free-scoring full-forward and had also been a member of the successful 1925 Tipperary team. He hurled in later years with Kildangan, who when amalgamated with their neighbouring parish of Kilbarron (now Shannon Rovers) were a formidable senior outfit in the '30s.
Ned Wade of Boherlahan won both junior and minor medals in 1930, and subsequently was desperately unlucky to miss out on a senior medal, declaring for Dublin in 1937 when Tipp won the All-Ireland, and going back to his native county the following year when Dublin became champions !
Another interesting member of this team was Jimmy Close then hurling with Newport. Jimmy was to achieve fame at senior level with Ahane and Limerick later in the decade.
Tipperary won again in the relatively newly established minor grade in 1932, ’33, and ’34, with a junior title being won as well in ’33. However, at senior level despite the good start to the decade, the 1930s was to prove a largely barren period for the Premier county. It was Limerick’s magnificent team of the era – jam-packed with household names such as Timmy Ryan, the Mackeys, Paddy Scanlon, and Paddy Clohessy to name but a few – who dominated Munster hurling in the middle of the 1930s. They met Tipp in three successive Munster Finals in 1935, ’36 and ’37. The first two were unsuccessful with Mick Mackey running riot in the ’36 match in Thurles, but in the 1937 final at Cork, Tipp provided a shock for the Shannonsiders, winning by two goals. The All-Ireland Final was played at Killarney due to a delay in the completion of the new Cusack Stand because of a builder’s strike. The opposition was Kilkenny who had a successful decade themselves, and despite revisionist views that all Kilkenny's titles have been won in recent times, while Tipperary's were won in a different age, both teams had eleven titles going into this final. Kilkenny had in their squad the likes of Lory Meagher, Matty Power, Martin White, Paddy Phelan and Tommy Leahy who had served them well in the past, but perhaps they went to the well once too often with an ageing team. Tipp had a twelve point lead at half-time and romped home by 3-11 to 0-3. One of the most notable contributions of the day was the performance of Newport’s Jimmy “Butler” Coffey who scored 1-3 off no less a player than Paddy Phelan routinely considered one of the greatest hurlers that Kilkenny has produced.
A man by the name of Wakefield travelled through Ireland in the early 19th century, and wrote an account of his travels, which were published in 1812. Travelling through Tipperary he noted that hurling was a prevalent amusement, “that children as soon as they are able to follow each other, run about in bands of a dozen or more with balls and hurleys”.
“Hurling”, he noted, “is a game which cannot be played in mountainous districts ; and I think that the vigour and activity of the peasantry in the South are in great measure to be ascribed to their attachment to this play, which by the exercise it affords, strengthens the whole frame and contributes to health”.
He goes on to describe how the game was then played…"by parties of a hundred men on each side. The ball is tossed up in the middle and each player has a knotted stick with which he endeavours to drive it to the goal on that side to which his party belongs”. He was a shrewd observer as we may deduce from his final remark on Tipperary ; “the men are strong limbed and seem to be more active than those in Cork !”
Tipperary certainly has been a hurling county for longer than perhaps any other if historical references are to guide us. Though the location of Hayes’ Hotel in Thurles may have owed as much to logistical and geographical expediency as to any recognition of Tipperary’s pre-eminent position as a county which upheld gaelic tradition, it is nevertheless a source of great pride to Tipperary that Thurles became the “cradle of the GAA”, when the new Association was founded in 1884.
By 1887 it was time for the inaugural championships to take place. Twelve teams originally entered this championship, and Tipperary’s first ever championship outing was a victory over Clare at Nenagh, in what amounted to a quarter-final. This was followed by a semi-final victory over Kilkenny, and in the very first All-Ireland final, Tipperary - represented by a Thurles selection - came up against Galway, another county which had a great early tradition in the area of gaelic sport. Despite the basic nature of the playing area and facilities of the time, Tipperary and Galway, represented by Thurles and Meelick selections respectively, were led through the streets of Birr by a band - amid great pomp and ceremony - to the field of play. In those days the playing pitch was significantly larger than the current day pitch, particularly in width, and teams had twenty-one players. The scoring area was exactly similar to the scoring area used in the International rules football games nowadays between Australia and Ireland. Another vitally important factor in determining the style of play in those days is that a goal outweighed any number of points, so that one can presume points generally occurred through failure to get a goal.
This goes some way towards explaining the fact that Tipperary won the All-Ireland final by the strange - by modern judgement - score-line of 1-1 to nil. Tipp also scored a "forfeit point" which was awarded in the same situation as a modern-day "'65", and effectively was a tie-breaker if teams were level on goals and points. To Jim Stapleton of Thurles fell the honour of being the first man to captain a team to this great achievement, and to Tommy Healy of Moycarkey fell the honour of scoring the first goal in a senior hurling final. The squad also included Dinny Maher of Killinan whose son John captained the 1945 All-Ireland champions.
Despite beating Cork and Clare respectively in the next two championships Tipp lost out on both occasions to objections, which was a common refuge of losing teams at the time. By 1890, the fledging GAA - having lost the initial impetus and enthusiasm of the founding – had taken a severe hit through apathy and also the fact that in this era of political turmoil and agrarian unrest, interest in the organisation of the national games was over-shadowed by greater national concerns. Tipperary, for example, fell from having 130 clubs in 1887 to just 15 in three years later, and this was also the case in most other counties. This degeneration was reflected in the facts that the county team didn’t even compete in the championship again until 1894, and that there was no county championship played in those years either. A first championship defeat to Cork was Tipp’s lot when they initially re-entered the fray, but by 1895 a new force had arrived on the scene, and was to establish Tipperary on the hurling map in a big way.
Jim Stapleton
A famous name - Tubberadora - burst on the scene sporting the famous royal blue jerseys with gold sash that their parishioners of Boherlahan-Dualla so proudly wear at the present day. The Tubberadora era lasted from 1895 until the team broke up in 1898. They won three All-Irelands in four years and never lost a championship game of any description. The 1895 final was the first ever played at the new Jones’ Road venue, and Tipperary enjoyed a big victory over Kilkenny, with Paddy O’Riordan of Drombane being the scoring star for Tipp. The following year, the title was retained with a big victory over Dublin in the All-Ireland Final, but not without early warning signs in Munster of what was to become arguably hurling’s most celebrated rivalry. This was in the Munster Final against Cork which was drawn, and after much heated debate over a venue for the replay, the remarkable decision was taken to stage the match at Jones’ Road, Dublin. It remains the only Munster Final to have been decided outside the province.
Tipp withdrew from the championship in 1897, but won it again on their return a year later, with Kilkenny again being the final victims on this occasion in a remarkably high scoring affair – 7-13 to 3-10. Tubberadora as an entity ceased to be after this with many of their players playing with neighbouring clubs. What a legacy they left behind them! Their rivalries with the likes of Tulla and Tullaroan in this era were precursors to rivalries that have lasted to this day. Undoubtedly the towering star of the team was the captain Mikey Maher – as described by “Carbery” “ a thundering man, 6’2” and 15 stone hard-trained” – who became the first man to captain three All-Ireland senior championship winning teams. Mikey also found time to be involved in an official capacity at county board level, and was a huge figure in Tipperary hurling for many years after. He won 5 All-Ireland medals in total, an amount matched by his nephew Mick Maher of Holycross, in another golden era for Tipperary hurling over a half a century later.
Despite the departure of Tubberadora from the scene, for Tipperary it was in the words of Churchill ; "the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end". The 1898 victory was in fact the first chapter in the county's first three-in-a-row. The championships of 1899 and 1900 were won against Wexford and London respectively. In the latter year, Tipp – after beating Kilkenny in the semi-final – beat Galway in the “home” final before playing the exiles in the final proper. Lest this be interpreted as an “easy” game, it has to be said that only two late goals sealed a five point win for Tipp, and the London team in question actually beat Cork in the following year’s final. The captains for these two years were Tim Condon and Ned Hayes respectively, launching a most distinguished contribution to hurling by the parish of Moycarkey and Two-Mile-Borris.
After beating Cork in the Munster semi-final, Tipperary lost the 1911 Munster Final to Limerick by a goal. However, Kilkenny were awarded the All-Ireland championship after a dispute when the Munster champions Limerick refused to play at the appointed venue. In order to raise funds for an almost bankrupt association, a special challenge was arranged between the All-Ireland champions and Tipperary. This is regularly erroneously stated by commentators as being the All-Ireland Final of the year in question. It most certainly was not, as Kilkenny were awarded the title irrespective of the result of the challenge against Tipperary, for which a special set of medals were presented to the victorious Kilkenny team. Tipp did lose an All-Ireland Final to this Kilkenny oufit in the 1913 – the first 15 aside championship - when the Leinster county avenged an earlier defeat in the final of the Croke Cup - a major tournament of the time - by Wedger Meagher’s team. Meagher was from the Toomevara Greyhounds who by now were the leading team in Tipperary, winning five county titles between 1910 and 1919. Tipp weren’t long out of the limelight though, and won the All-Ireland title again in 1916 beating Kilkenny in the final, thus depriving the legendary Sim Walton of Tullaroan an eighth All-Ireland senior medal. This Tipp team was captained by Johnny Leahy of Boherlahan, who was also to captain Tipp to win the final nine years later. Tipp won this game comfortably enough despite losing Tommy Shanahan who got his marching orders with Kilkenny’s Dick Grace. Tipp were red-hot favourites to retain the title when they reached the final a year later but were surprised by Dublin, who had on their team, Bob Mockler a great midfielder from the Horse and Jockey, plus remarkably Martin Hackett from Toomevara, whose brother Stephen lined out with Tipp !
The journey to the final included a joust with Limerick which went to a replay and this rivalry was to blossom over the next four or five years, with a few replays thrown in as well. Tipp lost out in 1918 and ’19 to the eventual winners of the All-Ireland on both occasions, Limerick in the first year, and in the second Cork, who were bridging a sixteen year gap when they won the 1919 title.
Disruption to the championships and a brief break in Tipperary’s participation was the inevitable consequence of the more serious business that took over the minds of the nationalistic youth over the next few years. During this time, from a Tipperary perspective gaelic games and the national question intersected in the most grotesque fashion, with the appalling murder of Grangemockler’s Michael Hogan by the Black and Tans at a football match in Croke Park on November 21st 1920. Back on the hurling field however, Tipp were back in the final in 1922, having beaten Limerick in the replayed Munster Final. This time Tipp faced Kilkenny and after being level at half-time took over in the second half to lead well with ten minutes left. However, a Kilkenny finish comparable to Offaly’s “microwave” All-Ireland of ’94 gave the Noresiders a merited victory in what described by Phil O’Neill, - a GAA historian of the time - as “a game which will be ranked as perhaps the best played in the hurling code of modern times”.
In 1923 Tipp fell to their arch-rivals of the time, Limerick, who subsequently lost the All-Ireland Final to Galway. Tipp gained revenge over the Shannonsiders in the following year’s Munster Final, before succumbing themselves to the Tribesmen, in the first defeat that Tipp suffered in an All-Ireland semi-final. Tipp lost by only a point but were lucky that some defensive lapses weren't punished more severely, so that there were no complaints from the Munster champions. Tipp won the Munster Final of ’25 against new final opponents in Waterford who proved no match for the experienced Tipp men. Further new opponents, Antrim, were comfortably beaten at the semi-final stage, and once again Galway, - one of the best teams of this era - were the All-Ireland Final opponents. Galway, who had beaten Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final, started the game well, but were overwhelmed by five Tipperary goals, and Johnny Leahy became the first Tipperary man to bring the Liam McCarthy cup home. Undoubtedly that star of the day for Tipperary was Lorrha's Tom Duffy who scored 2-3 from wing-forward.
The following year saw Tipp – fresh from a successful American tour - lose to Cork in the Munster championship in a replay, playing all bar the first ten minutes without Martin Mockler of Moycarkey who was sent-off. This game is considered the occasion that really started Thurles as a big match venue, but of more immediate significance for Tipp was that it heralded an era of dominance for Cork hurling. From a situation when they had won only one All-Ireland title in the previous twenty-three years, the Rebel county proceeded to collect four in the next six years. In 1926 Tipp had to be content with a Junior All-Ireland title – the county’s fourth – to join the titles won in 1913, ’15 and ’24.
In the first years of the new century, Cork took over as the dominant force in Munster winning five consecutive titles, as Tipp’s efforts particularly under the supervision of Two-Mile-Borris were blighted by objections and withdrawals during this time. Tipp were back in 1906 to win the first of two All-Ireland titles in three years, this time, as also two years later,led by another legendary figure in Tipperary hurling by the name of Tom Semple. Semple- a native of Drombane - moved to Thurles and was synonymous with the famous Thurles Blues team which backboned the Tipp team of the era. “Carbery” was also unbridled in his admiration for this great hurler describing him – in terms you wouldn’t find Kevin Cashman using - as a “greyhound winger of Thurles town, rangy and handsome as a Greek apollo”. Tipp beat Dublin in the final on both occasions, with the 1908 final going to a replay, which Tipp won convincingly against a team laden down with Tipperary men. Tipp narrowly beat Cork the following year in a hectic Munster Final in Dungarvan, but fell in the final to what was developing into a great Kilkenny team of the time. Such was the dominance of this Kilkenny team that they won more than a quarter of that county's current total of All-Ireland senior titles in the space of ten years between 1904 and 1913.
Tipp picked up a first National League title in 1928 at a time when the competition was simply a round robin with no knockout element. Once again Johnny Leahy was the captain, in his last season in the blue and gold. Remarkably, his brother Mick won an All-Ireland senior hurling medal with Cork in the same year. Despite Cork’s “golden era”, Tipp slipped in for another senior title in 1930, in what was a glorious year for the county. They won the “triple crown” as it was called, taking the senior, junior, and minor titles in the one year, the first county to sweep the boards by winning every available championship. The seniors beat Waterford, Clare, Galway, and Dublin by seven points in the final. Tipp were captained by John Joe Callanan of Thurles, who had won an All-Ireland medal with Dublin ten years previously ! Another member of the team worth mentioning is Tommy Leahy, whose medal gave the four Leahy brothers of Boherlahan All-Ireland senior medals on the field of play – a feat not equalled since. Indeed the feats of the Leahy brothers and their status in Tipperary GAA are without rival. Paddy is a legend in Tipperary hurling and was effective manager of the Tipperary team between 1948 and ’66, during a time of unprecedented success. Johnny Leahy was to become a hugely successful captain for Tipperary – his captaincy of five Munster championship winning teams being a record. He became secretary of the Tipperary county board for twenty-one years having already served a term as chairman. Johnny was also remembered for his sharp wit as recalled by Raymond Smith when recounting a "joust" between Limerick legend Mick Mackey and Johnny ;
“after Tipperary had beaten Cork in a Munster tie, Mackey said to Johnny, recalling an old arrangement : “I suppose you will come to Limerick now to play us ?” Johnny avoided the question with a devilish gleam in his eye and said ; “Isn’t it great, Mick , that they’re out of it !”
If the Leahys were Tipperary's greatest hurling family, then the county’s greatest individual star of this era - and perhaps of any - was undoubtedly Martin Kennedy of Toomevara. It is a great tribute to the reputation that Martin acquired in his day, that despite the passage of time he was selected on the Tipperary team of the millenium in 2000. Martin was the antithesis of cosy monster stereotype that the revisionist modern era tends to apply to full-forwards of yore. He was a comparatively small, but a very skilful, free-scoring full-forward and had also been a member of the successful 1925 Tipperary team. He hurled in later years with Kildangan, who when amalgamated with their neighbouring parish of Kilbarron (now Shannon Rovers) were a formidable senior outfit in the '30s.
Ned Wade of Boherlahan won both junior and minor medals in 1930, and subsequently was desperately unlucky to miss out on a senior medal, declaring for Dublin in 1937 when Tipp won the All-Ireland, and going back to his native county the following year when Dublin became champions !
Another interesting member of this team was Jimmy Close then hurling with Newport. Jimmy was to achieve fame at senior level with Ahane and Limerick later in the decade.
Tipperary won again in the relatively newly established minor grade in 1932, ’33, and ’34, with a junior title being won as well in ’33. However, at senior level despite the good start to the decade, the 1930s was to prove a largely barren period for the Premier county. It was Limerick’s magnificent team of the era – jam-packed with household names such as Timmy Ryan, the Mackeys, Paddy Scanlon, and Paddy Clohessy to name but a few – who dominated Munster hurling in the middle of the 1930s. They met Tipp in three successive Munster Finals in 1935, ’36 and ’37. The first two were unsuccessful with Mick Mackey running riot in the ’36 match in Thurles, but in the 1937 final at Cork, Tipp provided a shock for the Shannonsiders, winning by two goals. The All-Ireland Final was played at Killarney due to a delay in the completion of the new Cusack Stand because of a builder’s strike. The opposition was Kilkenny who had a successful decade themselves, and despite revisionist views that all Kilkenny's titles have been won in recent times, while Tipperary's were won in a different age, both teams had eleven titles going into this final. Kilkenny had in their squad the likes of Lory Meagher, Matty Power, Martin White, Paddy Phelan and Tommy Leahy who had served them well in the past, but perhaps they went to the well once too often with an ageing team. Tipp had a twelve point lead at half-time and romped home by 3-11 to 0-3. One of the most notable contributions of the day was the performance of Newport’s Jimmy “Butler” Coffey who scored 1-3 off no less a player than Paddy Phelan routinely considered one of the greatest hurlers that Kilkenny has produced.
Jim Lanigan and the 1937 All Ireland Final in Killarney
