Establishment of GAA in Cavan One year after the GAA was founded in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary, on 1st November 1884, the game quickly spread throughout the country. The first club in Cavan and in Ulster came in late 1885 namely Ballyconnell Joe Biggars in honour of west Cavan Nationalist MP Joe Biggar. The first chairman of the club was Thomas O’Reilly and first secretary was John Alex Clancy. The name of the club was later changed to Ballyconnell First Ulsters. By 1886 other clubs quickly followed, Bailieboro Home Rulers being the second club to be affiliated and the third was Mullagh Breffnians followed by Maghera MacFinns. There is documentary evidence that football was played in Mullagh as early as Famine times (1846). The poet Bernard Nulty wrote a letter to The Anglo-Celt in 1888 recalling that he had been summoned and fined many times for playing football on a Sunday before he emigrated to the United States around 1849. By 1886 football clubs spread throughout the county and became very popular throughout the county with a real air of parochial and national pride and young men proud to be associated with this new association. Teams marched on to the field behind their local band, with tram and band usually travelling by brake. However another local team only a few miles from Mullagh Cross Independence, founded in 1887, proved the exception, travelling to their games on horseback. First County Board in Cavan County Boards were set up throughout the country including Cavan. The first county convention took place on 27th December, 1887 in McGoldrick’s Hotel, Ballyjamesduff. That historic event was marked during the GAA centenary in 1984 when a commemorative plaque was unveiled on the building. The newly-elected officers all hailed from the east Cavan area. The first Co Board chairman was T. P. McKenna, Mullagh; Vice-Chairman was Thomas O’Reilly, Ballyconnell and the first secretary was Thomas Mulligan, NT, Virginia. Laurence Fitzsimons, also Virginia, was its first treasurer. The committee comprised Michael Owens, Mountnugent; Patrick O’Reilly, Bailieborough; Thomas Maguire, Annagh; John A. Clancy, Ballyconnell and J. Leneghan, Bailieborough; P. Dempsey, Cavan Slashers was co-opted on 22nd January 1888. TP McKenna First Club The GAA was founded in Cavan in 1884 and the Anglo Celt records a club active in Ballyconnell in 1885. However they didn’t affiliate to GAA Central Council until March 1886 so that can be taken as the founding of the GAA in Cavan and Ulster. The Club was called Ballyconnell Joe Biggers. Bigger was the local MP. He was a Belfast man and a staunch Nationalist. There had been great rejoicing across Cavan when Bigger was elected the previous December 1885 so the new club were proud to be associated with Cavan’s first Nationalist Home Rule MP. The founders were John Aex Clancy and Tomas O’Reilly. The Ballyconnell Joe Biggers held many athletic events reported on extensively. They also ran into bother with the RIC who tried to stop them playing football on Sundays. The second club formed in Cavan were the Bailieborough Home Rulers followed by the Mullagh men. When in 1887 Mullagh claimed to be Cavan’s first club the Ballyconnell Gaels decided to change their name. They unceremoniously dumped Joe Bigger and affiliated as Ballyconnell First Ulster’s. Their claim was not disputed and the name stuck. In the first County Championship the first Ulster’s met the Bailieborough Home Rulers. They played at Cavan in the autumn of 1886. The Home Rulers left Bailieborough at 4am in the morning and brought the goal posts on a horse and spring cart. The first Ulster’s and Home Rulers erected goalposts in a field outside Cavan Town. A large police force warned them they were breaking the Sunday Observance Act. However they played on regardless? The very first Cavan County Final, under GAA rules was played in a field outside Cavan Town on 30th April 1887. The final was contested by Ballyconnell First Ulster’s and Maghera Mac Finns. The Anglo Celt records that the First Ulster’s were “handsomely rigged out, regardless of the cost” However the Celt was none too impressed with the Mac Finns with the reporter noting that “Maghera Mac Finns appearance was not in their favour.” Whatever about their appearance the Maghera men could play football in the 21 a side contest. Mac Finns recorded a famous victory on a score line of 1-4 to First Ulster’s 0-1, thus entering the history books as Cavan’s first Champions. The local Cavan Slashers entertained both teams after the game and by all accounts the entertainment was good. The Anglo Celt records that the Maghera team reached White Gate Cross in Maghera as the first Cavan Champions the following Monday morning. Cavan’s First Gaelic Football Team, Ballyconnel First Ulster’s (c1888)
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 15:02:49 +0000
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