Five sculptures that celebrate how hurling is both a sport and an art

Sculptures and statues in Wexford, Kilkenny and Limerick celebrate the truth that hurling is both a sport and an art (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

My favourite sports are rugby and cricket – and if armchair spectators are counted in too, then soccer too. I am looking forward to a new tournament getting off to start with Ireland v Wales on Friday evening, and have been delighted with Aston Villa’s performance so far this season.

But since my childhood I have also had an enthusiasm for hurling, nurtured by kind uncles who brought me to see Waterford and Wexford playing.

I could never understand Gaelic football, but it was impossible to grow up in the south-east without being infected with the all-pervading enthusiasm for hurling.

This weekend promises to be gripping one for anyone interested in hurling, and I shall be keeping a keen eye on the performances of Wexford, Waterford, Limerick and Kilkenny.

During my ‘road trips’ in summer and autumn, I saw again a number of sculptures and statues that celebrate the truth that hurling is not only a sport but an art too.

The statue of Nicky Rackard on Selskar Square in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The statue of Nicky Rackard, Wexford’s best-known hurler, is unusual because he is on one foot only. The statue on Selskar Square shows Wexford’s most famous sporting son in a typical all-action pose, sliotar in one hand, hurley in the other.

Nicky Rackard was the hurling hero of the 1950s and one of the greatest hurlers of all time. He is the leading championship goal scorer of all time with 59, and won two all-Ireland hurling titles with Wexford.

He played both hurling and football for Wexford from 1942 to 1957. With his brothers, he helped Wexford to two All-Irelands in the 1950s. He and his team are credited with revolutionising the game of hurling as the lifted Wexford to the top of the game. He died in 1976.

Wexford Borough Council commissioned the Ludlow-based portrait sculptor Mark Richards to cast a larger than life-size statue of Rackard in his hurling prime.

Mark Richards specialises in fine figurative work. He was taught by AJ Ayres who, in turn, had worked with Eric Gill. Johannes von Stumm, Past President of the Royal Society of Sculptors, describes him as ‘one of the finest figure and portrait sculptors in Great Britain.’ The €120,000 commission was funded through the Per Cent for Art scheme.

The sculptor travelled to Wexford to meet Rackard’s children and to learn about hurling. He also met Kevin Gore, ‘who showed me how to hold a hurl and hurler maker Philip Doyle, who made me a hurl like the one that Nicky would have used in the 1950s, so as to be accurate as possible.’

The statue was unveiled in Selskar Square, just off North Main Street and close to Selskar Abbey, in March 2012 as part of the Set the Heather Blazing Festival. It has been a very popular feature in the town centre since then.

Sadly, the statue has since suffered from bouts of damage since, and it has been fenced off a number of times when his hurley was damaged and repair works were carried out.

The ‘Pride of Kilkenny’ by Barry Wrafter in Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The ‘Pride of Kilkenny’ is a sculpture by Barry Wrafter on Canal Square in Kilkenny honouring Kilkenny’s hurlers. It was more than three years in the making and was unveiled on 26 May 2016.

This work beside John’s Bridge is a four-metre high, two-tonne sculpture. It shows three hurlers, in black and amber, with hurleys and helmets, reaching for a sliotar.

The sculptor Barry Wrafter from Ennis, Co Clare, has been immersed in the stone trade since his youth. The Wrafter family has been in the trade dating since the 18th century. They were renowned sculptors and have the distinction of being mentioned in Seamus Murphy’s book Stone Mad.

Wrafter has stressed that his sculpture, the ‘Pride of Kilkenny,’ does not depict a particular player, although the player fielding the sliothar bears a striking resemblance to Tommy Walsh.

The Kilkenny hurlers have won the All-Ireland Senior Championship 36 times. This ‘testament to both hurling’ was unveiled by the Kilkenny Senior Hurling manager Brian Cody.

Mick Mackey in a characteristic solo-run pose in Castleconnell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

A life-sized bronze statue of the Limerick hurler Mick Mackey (1912-1982) was unveiled by the President of the GAA, Liam O’Neill, in Castleconnell, Co Limerick, in May 2013.

The Clare-based sculptor Séamus Connolly, best known for his life-size statues of Richard Harris and John B Keane, was commissioned for the statue depicting Mackey in a characteristic solo-run pose.

Mackey is considered one of the all-time hurling greats. He was born in Castleconnell in 1912 and became known for his strength and skill on the pitch with Ahane GAA club. During his playing career over 20 years, he won three All-Ireland titles, five Munster championships, five National League titles and eight Railway Cup medals. He is also credited as the inventor of the solo-run in hurling.

He received the Texaco Hall of Fame Award in 1961 for his outstanding contribution to hurling. He was honoured again in 1980 with the inaugural All-Time All-Star Award. He died in 1982. Two years later he was named at centre-forward on the Centenary Team and in 2000 was chosen at number 11 on the team of the Millennium that also featured Christy Ring.

The Mick Mackey Stand at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick was completed in 1988. Limerick County Council also named a roundabout on the main Limerick to Dublin road after the legendary hurler.

Jackie Power (1916-1994), the ‘Prince of Hurlers,’ in Annacotty, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Jackie Power (1916-1994), known in Co Limerick as the ‘Prince of Hurlers,’ is commemorated with a statue near the mill and square in Annacotty, Co Limerick – the former Irish rugby international Peter Clohessy is also from Annacotty.

Jackie Power was born in Annacotty in 1916. He was prominent in hurling from 1933 to 1949, winning medals at club, county and province level. He also played Gaelic football. He died in 1994.

The life-size bronze statue of Jackie Power was erected in Annacotty in 1996. The inscription on the plinth of reads:

Jackie Power
The Prince of Hurlers
With Ahane, Limerick and Munster

Jackie was a hurling artist whose amazing skill technique courage dedication and sportsmanship ensured his place amongst hurling immortals.

‘Ruck and Puck’ on O’Connell Street, Limerick, celebrates Limerick’s obsession with hurling and rugby (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

‘Ruck and Puck’ is bronze statue outside the AIB Bank at 106 O’Connell Street, Limerick, and represents Limerick’s two sporting obsessions – hurling and rugby.

The initiative for this sport monument was taken by bank manager Paddy O’Callaghan.

This bronze statue of a rugby player and a hurler is the work of the sculptor is Robin Buick from Ballymena, Co Antrim. It was unveiled by President Mary Robinson on 18 May 1992.

A T-shirt boasting of Kilkenny’s hurling skills (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

There is a well-known T-shirt in Kilkenny that reminds people that Carlsberg does not do Hurling … but if they did, Kilkenny would probably still beat them.

I have been honoured to lift the Liam McCarthy Cup with Limerick hurlers after Limerick won the All-Ireland final in 2008.

But at the weekend, I’ll be cheering for Wexford, and then for Waterford.

Wearing the Wexford colours (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Two Precentors of Limerick, two Rectors of Rathkeale, one bishop and a general

Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick … three Gough brothers were part of the Diocese of Limerick in the 17th century and the Rathkeale family was the ancestral line of Field Marshal Gough (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

After a project looking at my predecessors as Precentors of Limerick was postponed last month due to the pandemic limits on public events, I thought it might still be interesting to look at past precentors in a number of blog postings.

Last week, I recalled some previous precentors who had been accused of ‘dissolute living’ or being a ‘notorious fornicator’ (Awly O Lonysigh), or who were killed in battle (Thomas Purcell). There were those who became bishops or archbishops: Denis O’Dea (Ossory), Richard Purcell (Ferns) and John Long (Armagh).

There was the tragic story too of Robert Grave, who became Bishop of Ferns while remaining Precentor of Limerick, but – only weeks after his consecration – drowned with all his family in Dublin Bay as they made their way by sea to their new home in Wexford (read more HERE).

In the 17th century, two members of the Gough family were also appointed Precentors of Limerick. In all, three brothers in this family were priests in the Church of Ireland and two were priests in the Church of England, and the Rathkeale branch of the family was the ancestral line of one of Ireland’s most famous generals.

The Gough family was descended from John Gough (ca 1525-ca 1562), who lived in Wiltshire in the mid-16th century. His son, the Revd Hugh Gough (ca 1562-1635), was the Rector of All Cannings, near Devizes, Wiltshire, in the Diocese of Salisbury, and was the father of at least seven sons, including five sons who were ordained as Anglican priests.

Two of these sons – the Revd Edward Gough and the Revd John Gough – remained in England and became vicars of parishes in Dorset and Hampshire. But three sons – Robert, Francis and Hugh – moved to Co Limerick, and these brothers helped each other to acquire prominent positions in the diocese.

The eldest of the three Gough brothers to move from Wiltshire to Limerick was the Venerable Robert Gough (1584-1641). He was educated at Baliol College, Oxford (BA 1606), and was ordained deacon in 1608 and priest in 1608. He was appointed Precentor of Limerick in 1614, and was appointed Archdeacon of Ardfert in 1628 by his younger brother, Bishop Francis Gough.

Robert Gough remained Precentor of Limerick and Archdeacon of Ardfert until he died in 1641.

His younger brother, Francis Gough (1594-1634), the fifth son of the Revd Hugh Gough, followed Robert to Limerick in 1618. when Francis was educated at Saint Edmund Hall, Oxford (BA 1615; MA 1618). He was a priest at New College, Oxford, in 1618 when he moved to Ireland at the age of 24 and was appointed Vicar of Rathkeale, Rector of Kilscannel and Chancellor of Limerick (1618-1626). Six years later, he also became Vicar of Ballingarry (1624-1626).

At the age of 31 or 32, Francis Gough was appointed Bishop of Limerick and Ardfert on 18 April 1626, and was consecrated bishop in Cashel on 17 September 1626. He died on 29 August 1634, still Bishop of Limerick, at the age of 39 or 40.

The window in the tower in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale … for most of the 17th century, Rathkeale had only two rectors, both of them members of the Gough family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The third Gough brother to move from Wiltshire to Limerick was Canon Hugh Gough (1599-1682), who was Rector of Rathkeale for 54 years. He seems to have been ordained in 1619, when was barely 20, and priest. At the age of 23 or 24, he became Prebendary of Donaghmore (1623-1626) in Limerick, and when his brother Francis became Bishop of Limerick, he succeeded him as Rector of Rathkeale and Kilscannel, Vicar of Clonelty and Chancellor of Limerick (1626).

Canon Hugh Gough held these church positions for the rest of his life, and also became Rector of Kildimo (1639) and Rector and Vicar of Mahoonagh, south of Rathkeale and Newcastle West. He married Eleanor Bolton, continued to live in Rathkeale, survived the disturbances of the Cromwellian era, and was 82 or 83 when he died in office in 1682.

So, for most of the 17th century, from 1618 to 1683, for 65 years spanning eight decades, the parish of Rathkeale in Co Limerick, had only two rectors, both of them members of the Gough family, Bishop Francis Gough and his brother Canon Hugh Gough.

Canon Hugh Gough was the ancestor of the main branch of the Gough family in Co Limerick. His son, George Gough, who was living in Rathkeale in 1682, married Anne Robert, and was the father of the second Precentor of Limerick from this family, yet another Canon Hugh Gough (ca 1661/1662-1730).

This second Canon Hugh Gough was born in Rathkeale ca 1661/1662, when his grandfather, Canon Hugh Gough, was still Rector of Rathkeale. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1684, MA 1688), and was ordained around 1686.

He was the Precentor of Limerick for over 40 years. His church appointments included Vicar of Duagh, between Listowel and Castleisland, Co Kerry, in the Diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe (1686-1703), Vicar of Mungret, Limerick (1687-1730), Precentor of Limerick (1689-1730) and Vicar of Ballingarry and Corcomohide (1692-1730); he was also a Vicar Choral of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (1693).

By the end of the 18th century, the principal Gough family home was at Woodstown, near Annacotty, Co Limerick, when it was the home of the grandson of the second Canon Hugh Gough, Captain George Gough of Woodstown (1722-1783).

His son, Colonel George Gough (1750-1836) of Woodstown, married Letitia Bunbury of Lisnavagh House, Co Carlow, in 1775. He was Deputy Governor of the City of Limerick, and during the 1798 Rising fought with the militia at Edenderry and the Battle of Colooney.

Their six children included the Very Revd Thomas Bunbury Gough (1777-1860), who continued the family’s clerical tradition, becoming Chancellor of Ardfert (1811-1815) and later Dean of Derry (1820-1860).

Saint Brigid’s Church, Stillorgan, and the Gough family tombs seen from the parish centre (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

But their most famous son was Field Marshal Sir Hugh Gough (1779-1869), 1st Viscount Gough, a famous 19th century general who fought in the Peninsular War, the Opium War, various wars in India, and was the commander-in-chief in China and in India.

Lord Gough was born at Woodstown, Co Limerick, and once lived at Saint Helen’s, on the Stillorgan Road, Booterstown – now the Radisson Hotel – which he bought in 1851. When Gough died at Saint Helen’s in 1869, he was buried in Saint Brigid’s Churchyard, Stillorgan.

The graves in the churchyard also include those of his son, George Gough (1815-1895), 2nd Viscount Gough, and Hugh Gough (1849-1919), 3rd Viscount Gough.

Lord Gough’s nephew, George Gough, still owned 2,398 acres in Co Limerick in the 1870s. But by then the house at Woodstown had long been ‘in ruins.’ Another house was later built by the Bannatyne family and was the home of the Goodbody family in the early 20th century. The house is now part of the Saint Vincent’s Centre run by the Sisters of Charity for people with intellectual disabilities.

The Gough family graves in Saint Brigid’s Churchyard, Stillorgan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Discovering the charms of Annacotty by the banks of the River Mulkear

Annacotty, Co Limerick, developed around the mills and weir on the River Mulkear (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

The new lock-down is taking its toll on everyone in recent days, and it has put paid to plans for a visit to Dingle, Co Kerry, early next week.

I may be limited to travelling within Co Limerick for at least the next three weeks, if not more. But, as I found out during a visit to Annacotty last weekend, there are many more interesting and beautiful places for me to visit and explore in this county.

From the bus, I have often seen Annacotty, with its beautiful weir and former mills 7 km from Limerick city centre, and had been promising myself a visit for some time.

A mural below the N7 bridge celebrating life on the River Milkear in Annacotty (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Today, Annacotty (Áth an Choite, ‘the ford of the angling cots’) is a suburban town on the outskirts of Limerick. It is just off the old N7 Limerick-Dublin road, where it crosses the Mulkear River, 1 km upstream of where it flows into the River Shannon.

The village originally grew up around the grain mills built to take advantage of the water power of the River Mulkear. In the past, the mills were associated with nearby Clonkeen Church, established as a monastic site ca 600. One mill was beside the bridge itself and has now been restored as bar and restaurant, and the second mill was 1 km upstream at Ballyclough.

A railway station opened in Annacotty in 1858, bringing the promise of economic development. The village developed a strong co-operative movement with the setting up of the Annacotty Co-Operative Society in the 1890s, and the creamery became a major centre for the manufacture of butter and cheese.

Ballyclough Co-operative Creamery was founded in Annacotty in 1910 in opposition to the Cleeves Creamery that previously operated in the Mill at the turn of the century.

Annacotty railway station finally closed in 1963. But butter continued to be a major produce in Annacotty until the 1960s, when the creamery was taken over by Black Abbey Co-operative, based in Adare.

The AKZO Group opened the Ferenka factory in Annacotty in March 1972 to manufacture steelcord. However, it gained notoriety when its Dutch managing director, Tiede Herrema, was kidnapped by Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle of the IRA in October 1975. He was freed four weeks later after a protracted siege in Monasterevin, Co Kildare.

After continuing losses and experiencing industrial disputes from the day it opened, the Ferenka factory closed in December 1977, with the loss of over 1,400 full-time jobs.

The original bridge over the River Mulkear at Annacotty (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The N7 originally ran through the Main Street, but it by-passed Annacotty in 1980 when a new bridge was built over the River Mulkear 100 metres downstream. That, in turn, was superseded by the building of the Limerick Southern Ring Road, crossing the river 1 km upstream at Ballyclough.

Annacotty Industrial Estate was later built on the site of the former Ferenka factory. Meanwhile, with the expansion of Limerick from 1990 on, Annacotty was absorbed into the rapidly growing suburb of Castletroy.

After a succession of mergers, the co-op in Annacotty became part of the Dairygold Co-op was established in 1993 with the amalgamation of Mitchelstown and Ballyclough co-ops. The former creamery became a hardware store, but this too closed in 2009. The building is now the Irish-owned store Mr Price.

A sculpture in Annacotty of Jackie Power, the ‘Prince of Hurlers’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

As Limerick city and suburban Castletroy expanded, Annacotty became a popular area for housing and industry , with its good infrastructure and transport links, and its easy access to the University of Limerick and the national technological park. Nearby facilities include the Castletroy neighbourhood park, Castletroy Golf Club, fishing on the Mulkear River, and the University of Limerick’s multi-purpose sports arena.

Annacotty became part of Limerick City at the local government elections in May 2014, when local councillors were elected as part of the Limerick City Metropolitan District.

Annacotty has a good variety of pubs and restaurants, including the Black Swan, a colourful pub on the Main Street. It was established over 100 years ago and has been owned and run by the Nicholas family for over 60 years.

The Black Swan is a colourful pub in Annacotty (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Black Swan is unique, personal and traditional, a rare find like the sign outside that celebrates a rare bird – Rara Avis – the unique black swan. The Black Swan was refurbished in recent years and is known as a proud supporter of local teams, and for live music.

We had a late lunch at the Mill House, a beautifully restored building, and watched the climax to the Munster v Scarlets match, with a thrilling 30-27 win for Munster.

It seemed appropriate, as Annacotty has a strong sporting tradition as home to UL Bohemians, the local rugby club located on Mulkear Drive, and Aisling Annacotty, the local GAA club.

The former Irish rugby international Peter Clohessy is from Annacotty. The village is also the birthplace of the Limerick county hurler Jackie Power (1916-1994), the ‘Prince of Hurlers.’ A life-size bronze statue of Jackie Power was erected on the Main Street in Annacotty in 1996.

The Annacotty Sundial by the riverbank dates from 2019.

The Annacotty Sundial by the riverbank dates from 2019 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)