Heritage Week 2023 sees Carlow County Museum team up with Cumann Luthchleas Gael Ceatharlach to present a lecture by Dr Siobhan Doyle on A History of the GAA in 100 Objects and the Carlow Connections. The lecture takes place in the Seven Oaks Hotel on Thursday April 17th at 8.00pm and because it is organised for Heritage Week 2023 admission is free.
This year’s Heritage Week theme is Living Heritage and certainly our gaelic games are one of this country’s great embodiment of this theme. The Carlow County Board will also have a display of objects on the night in the Seven Oaks Hotel from many clubs across the county that represent the wide and long history and heritage of the GAA since its foundation in 1884.
Siobhan’s book, A History of the GAA in 100 Objects, was shortlisted for 2022 Sports Book of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards, as she will give us a whistle stop tour of some of her favourite objects from her book. The Carlow connections come in the form of the book featuring two objects from County Carlow, the famed Haughney Cup, and the 1944 All Ireland Football Semi-Final match programme between Carlow and Kerry. The Haughney Cup is named in honour of Denis Haughney who died in 1922 as a result of injuries in a football match. The cup soon became the Carlow Senior Football Championship trophy for many years. The cup has the honour of gracing the front cover of the book and is on display in Carlow County Museum. Siobhan, a native of Wexford and works in the National Museum of Ireland, says “This fascinating book offers a new perspective on the GAA by assembling a range of objects from every county in Ireland, as well as overseas, to present a chronological history of the GAA. From a fifteenth-century horsehair sliotar to a tweed camogie dress, Trevor Giles’s sleeveless jersey and Brian Cody’s baseball cap, all corners of the GAA world, personal and official, are explored and celebrated in.”
This is not the first time that Carlow County Museum and Cumann Luthchleas Gael Ceatharlach have partnered together. They had previously done so in 2009 to present a county exhibition on the 125th anniversary of the GAA. As a result of this success the Museum is, again, in partnership with Cumann Luthchleas Gael Ceatharlach launching a display case in the Museum that will hold many of the county’s former GAA trophies including the aforementioned Haughney Cup, the Fr Lawler Cup and the Conlon Cup which was originally presented by the Carlow Nationalist in 1984. https://carlowmuseum.com/exhibitions/carlow-gaa-125th-anniversary-exhibition/
Jim Bolger, Chairperson of Cumann Luthchleas Gael Ceatharlach, proudly said that “We are delighted to once again team up with the County Museum and also take the opportunity to acknowledge the support of Carlow County Council. The array of silverware on display in the museum will resonate with many and rekindle great memories from the field of play where there was no shortage of commitment, courage and passion, allied to no little skill in pursuit of lifting the particular precious piece of silverware. The richness of the collection is best exemplified by the picture of the Haughney Cup on the front cover of Dr Doyle’s gem of a book”.
Recently in Netwatch Cullen Park Jim, handed over the recently retired Junior Hurling Championship Cup, formerly the Premier Hurling Cup, to Cllr Andrea Dalton, Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council and Chairperson of the Board of Carlow County Museum. This will now form part of the display in Carlow County Museum.
In welcoming the display of the trophies Cllr Dalton, said “it was wonderful to see the Haughney Cup on the front cover of Siobhan’s marvellous book. Through the ongoing relationship between Carlow County Museum, Carlow’s fully accredited Museum Standards Programme for Ireland, and the Carlow County Board, with its rich history and community values, everyone can benefit in marvelling at these beautiful trophies and no doubt tell a tale or two of county finals past”.
Carlow County Museum is operated by Carlow County Council in partnership with the Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society. Heritage Week 2023 is coordinated nationally by the Heritage Council and locally by Carlow Heritage Officer at Carlow County Council. https://carlowmuseum.com/carlow-county-museum-featured-in-a-history-of-the-gaa-in-100-items/
