Friday, December 8th, 2023

There were several articles in local newspapers in October 1923 concerning Glenmore people and teams.

Glenmore Junior Hurling and Junior Football

Although by 1923 Glenmore was well known for its Senior Football Teams, having won several county championships in a row, in October 1923 the Glenmore Junior Hurling team and the Glenmore Junior Football team made it to the Southern semi-finals.

On the last Sunday of September, a meeting of the Southern Board of the County GAA met at Knocktopher to fix the remaining ties in the Southern Championship. Four teams, Hugginstown, Ballyhale, Glenmore and Moondharrig still remained in the junior hurling championship. “Ballyhale was fortunate in securing the coveted bye in the second round…” Ballyhale was paired with Hugginstown. Glenmore was to play Moondharrig.

In Junior Football there were five teams remaining. These included: Cotterstown, Nore Rangers, Haristown, Glenmore and Tullogher. Tullogher had a bye in the second round, thus it was determined that Tullogher would play the winner of the Harristown and Glenmore game. The winner that match would then play the winner of the Cotterstown v. Nore Rangers match (New Ross Standard, Fri. 5 Oct. 1923, p. 8).

Glenmore’s schedule at the end of October was as follows:
Junior Hurling Semi-finals—11 Nov. at Mooncoin, Ballyhale vs. Glenmore, referee Mr. Mark MacDonald.
Junior Football Semi-finals—4 Nov. at Slieverue, Glenmore vs. Tullogher; referee Mr. T King (Munster Express, Sat. 27 Oct. 1923, p. 5).

Glenmore vs. T.F. Meagher

Notwithstanding the forthcoming semi-final games, “a permit was granted for a hurling match between Glenmore (Kilkenny) and T.F. Meagher (Waterford) at Waterford on the 14^th (Nenagh Guardian, 12 October 1923, p. 1).

On the 14^th at the Sportsfield in Waterford “two matches which excited much interest” were decided. The football match between De La Salle and Gracedieu resulted in an easy win for the former, and, “ if they can retain yesterday’s form, they will have to be reckoned with in the forthcoming League competitions.

“The ball was set in motion for the hurling contest between Glenmore and T.F. Meaghers. This match was considered by many too stiff a test for the city representatives, and as it was played in a continuous downpour it was thought that the much heavier Kilkenny team would obtain a runaway victory. The Meagher’s, playing with great determination under such adverse conditions, and only being defeated by such a narrow margin, must be congratulated on their plucky display. A feature of the game was the magnificent defence of both teams, and the general feeling was that a return match would be well worth witnesses. At the final whistle the scores were: Glenmore, 2 goals, 1 point; Meagher’s, 1 goal, 1 point. Mr. T. King (Knockboy) had charge of the whistle” (Waterford News & Star, Fri. 12 Oct. 1923, p. 3).

Letter to the Editor Re: Glenmore vs. T.F. Meagher

Waterford News & Star, Fri. 12 Oct. 1923, p. 11

Dear Sir—As a consistent admirer of Ireland’s national game, I went to the Sportsfield on yesterday (Sunday) to see how Waterford’s young hurlers would behave against the visitors from “Glenmore.” When the respective teams lined up the disparity in size and weight was very obvious, but having seen the T.F. Meagher’s in action in Dungarvan and defeating the County Champions on their own ground, I did not share the pessimism of some outside the railings who predicted that it was all over bar the shouting. When the first quarter of an hour had elapsed it was plain that the lanes which the “Glenmore” men were expected to make through the home team were a long time becoming visible.

I happened to be at the “Glenmore” goal when the two Co. Kilkenny umpires disallowed the goal for Waterford, although it went fully one foot inside the goal posts before being cleared by the inter-county goal keeper. Size for size the T.F. Meagher team are much superior, and had the ground not been sodden and the goal at the city side not been a mass of slippery mud the result would have been different in spite of the fact that the “Glenmore “men included three parishes and some whose names are a household word in inter-county hurling. All honour to the T.F. Meaghers for their splendid performance against stupendous odds (being short two of their best men). They have chosen an appropriate name, as nearly all of them are fellow townsmen of the illustrious patriot and orator. Thanking you in anticipation for insertion of above, Yours Truly, N. McCann (Camán).

According to the Kilkenny GAA Bible 2019 (p. 31) Glenmore won the County Senior Football Championship and the Junior Hurling Championship in 1923, but failed to win the Junior Football Championship title.  See our post of 13 August 2023 regarding the 12 Glenmore Senior Football players who played in the Leinster Senior Football Semi-Finals.

Who was Mary Murphy of Glenmore?

 A Remarkable Centenarian—The death took place at Glenmore during the week of Mrs. Mary Murphy at the great age of 102 years. An Instance of her remarkable health was that she was able to walk to Mass up to a short time ago, and was moving about up to a few days before her death. Her recollections of the stirring events of the past hundred years were most interesting. Her varied accounts of the famine of ’48 and ’49 would make interesting reading. She was a young woman then and saw many cases of death from slow starvation; it was a common thing for people to supplement their dole of Indian-meal with cabbage and nettles in order to procure a full meal, and she witnessed men employed in the public works then organised, leaving their  homes in the mornings with only a pint of thin gruel for their dinner, the gruel being generally boiled in a large pot at some particular farmstead, the meal and pot being supplied  by the authorities. There were no National schools then; the master taught his little class in an old house, or beside a hedge, no trains, no motors or bikes, much less flying machines.

She knew men having to go to Dublin to walk the journey to and back because of not having the money to avail of the mail coaches. In her young days when tea was as rare as ten shilling told pieces are now the family able to procure a pound of it for Christmas were considered well off people. She was held in great respect and the funeral was largely attended by the people of the village and district (New Ross Standard, Fri. 26 Oct. 1923, p. 8).

Unfortunately, no newspaper identified where in Glenmore Mrs. Mary lived or who her husband was. Also, no death register could be located for a Mary Murphy who died in October 1923 at the age of 102.

Watching the World Go By

“An old man in Glenmore district who is past his labouring interested himself by counting the number of motor cars and motor lorries that passed his house between Ross and Waterford during one week recently. At the end of the seventh day his list totalled 352. Truly the age of horsepower has vanished” (New Ross Standard, Fri. 26 Oct. 1923, p. 8).

One hundred years later, 352 vehicles must pass over the N25 between New Ross and Waterford in an hour or two. Can anyone identify the Glenmore man who counted vehicles in October 1923?

Glenmore Creamery

Mr. N.J. Murphy secretary of the Farmer’s Union was appointed to organise the locals at Campile for a proposed creamery. “He visited Glenmore and interviewed the manager of the creamery there, as well as the milk suppliers and obtained a lot of useful facts and figures” (New Ross Standard, Fri.19 Oct. 1923, p. 4).

The Campile Creamery was established and during World War II it was bombed by German bombers in August 1940. For a short article on the bombing click here.

Please send any corrections or additional information etc. to glenmore.history@gmail.com.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Waslh