Young Irelands GAA (Limerick)

Formation

On the 16th of November 1898 eight men met together at 55 Thomas Street, Limerick City which was the headquarters of the Young Ireland Society. Their purpose was the formation of a hurling club to be called after the Young Ireland movement, which was prominent in Ireland at the time. The men who attended were Johnny Sweeny, Michael McInerney (Davis Street) James Fitzgerald of Guinness, Jack Murphy (Mungret Street) Pat Cowhey (Athlunkard Street), Jim O’Connell, O’Connell Street, Paddy O’Farrell, Frank O’Shaughnessy, and Jim Gleeson. The first few years of Young Irelands were confined to being an underage club. Shamrocks was another Limerick City club and many of the older members of the IRB and of the Young Ireland Society were attached to the Shamrocks club. When they saw the progress of the new Juvenile club in Young Irelands they decided to form one club called Young Irelands that would also take part at adult level. Shamrocks had won the 1898 County Senior hurling championship beating Caherline at the Markets Field. Many of the older members of this team retired after this success and the remaining players joined Young Irelands with 6 of them playing on the Young Irelands team that defeated Monagea in 1902 to win their first of 7 County Senior hurling Championships. The six men who won both county titles were James Flanagan, Michael Hogan, Johnny Sweeny, Andy Kelly, M. Slattery and C. Kelly. In later years Shamrocks were revived and based in the Boherbuoy area of the city in the Rangers Social club. Young Irelands won their second senior hurling title in 1910 when they defeated Castleconnell.

Social Club

In the early days, Young Irelands was more than a GAA club. Every type of Gaelic activity was encouraged. They held many successful lectures and concerts. They held a weekly Ceili, which ran for several years, and they had fully equipped Club Rooms with a Library and Billiard Tables. They were the first Club to hold a banquet to honour a County Championship success, this being held at Cruises Hotel following their 1928 victory against Rathkeale.

Golden Era

Young Irelands Golden era was in the 1920s and early 1930s. They used to have great struggles against their City Rivals Claughaun who also had their Clubrooms in the Gaelic League premises in Thomas Street. Young Irelands used to train and play matches in the Markets Field in the 1920s and it was not uncommon near the end of the season for Young Irelands and Garryowen rugby club to be training at opposite ends of the Markets Field at the same time. Young Irelands defeated Newcastlewest in 1920, Bruff in 1922 and Rathkeale in 1928 to capture their fifth County Senior hurling title. In 1927 Young Ireland organized a 7 a side hurling confined to club members and they had committee meetings in the Gaelic League Hall every Wedsnesday. Young Irelands official opening of their club rooms took place at 17 Thomas Street in 1929. Young Irelands rented the rooms off the Gaelic League. These rooms were formerly the headquarters of The Gaelic League, which moved to St Itas Hall. Young Ireland field was in Roxboro Road during this period but they decided not to renew the lease of the field in 1932 owing to its unsuitability due to the erection of houses in the vicinity. The club decided to return to its old training ground, The Markets Field. They also moved their Club Rooms to Number 8 The Crescent in 1932 for an annual rent of £100. They left their rooms in Thomas Street because the Gaelic League sought an increased rent. Young Irelands won the County senior hurling championship in 1930 defeating Newcastlewest. They defeated Newcastlewest again in 1932 to capture their last county title. They hit a lean period for a few years after this. They reorganized the club in 1936 and had underage success in 1938 and 1939 in hurling and football.

Strong Club

The strength of the Young Irelands club could be gauged from he fact that they once fielded Senior hurling teams in Cork and Limerick on the same Sunday to aid Padraig Pearses School, St Endas. In Cork they played St Finbarrs and at Limericks Gaelic Grounds they lined out another 15 against Cappamore. On another occasion they travelled by train to Killarney, toured the Lakes, played a senior hurling match against Corks Glen Rovers and a Senior Football match against the local Dr. Crokes. Young Irelands was predominantly a hurling club but it also produced some good football teams. Young Irelands were a fantastic club in the past and they provided captains for 3 Limerick teams who played in All Ireland Senior hurling finals. In 1921, Killaloe born Bob Mc Conkey lifted the Liam McCarthy while in 1923 Paddy McInerney who was born in O’Callaghan’s Mills but who moved to Limerick at a young age captained the side. In 1932 Caherconlish born Mickey Fitzgibbon captained the Limerick side. Mick Kennedy originally from The Ragg in Tipperary captained the side that won Limericks First National hurling league title in 1933-34. Mick Murphy, Willie Gleeson, Paddy McInerney, Denny Lanigan, Bob McConkey, Mick Kennedy all won All Ireland Senior hurling medals with Limerick.

Croom/Young Irelands

The next major impact that they made on Limerick GAA was negative. Young Irelands joined with Croom in 1949. This was surely one of the most bizarre amalgamations in Limerick GAA history. The officers elected for this new club were as follows- Chairman- L. Jones, Vice Chairman- Bob McConkey, Joint Treasurers- J.Cregan, Jack Cusack, Joint Secretaries- S.English, and Seamus O’Ceallaigh, Captain of Senior Hurling team-P. Cregan. Vice Captain- Jim Sadlier. They played the mighty Ahane in the first round of the championship and defeated them in probably the most infamous club game in Limerick GAA history. An Ahane player, Mick Herbert was seriously injured in this game and Joe Cregan received a prison sentence for this incident. Croom /Young Irelands were defeated by St Patricks later on in the championship and this amalgamation disbanded in 1950.

Lanigan Memorial Park, Westfields, North Circular Road

In 1953 Young Irelands moved to a field in Westfields off North Circular Road. The use of the field was given to them by the Lanigan brothers, Denny and Jack who were builders. Denny who was born in Granagh had played for Young Irelands and Limerick and was part of the famous half back line for the Limerick All Ireland winning team of 1917 that was called the Hindenburg Line. Denny, Jack Keane and Willie Hough formed this half back line. The club had hoped to set up a permanent base in Westfields with a pavilion and call it after their former great player Denny Lanigan. They set up the Lanigan Memorial Park Committee. They put more emphasis on their underage structure as they knew that they could not just rely on players transferring into Limerick.

Young Irelands/Commercials

Young Irelands and Commercials joined in the 1950s as sister clubs with Young Irelands running the hurling and Commercials the football. They fielded underage and adult teams and did relatively well throughout the sixties and early seventies. The club entered a credit scheme for the field in Westfields in 1970 but this new field never materialized and in the 1975 season they were renting a field in Blackwater, which was previously held by Parteen.

Demise of Young Irelands

In 1981 Young Irelands failed to field any hurling team. The most players they could muster was 12. The club secretary Maurice Egan said in his report that the most promising development was the relationship between Young Irelands and the new club on the Southside of the city, which was formed in 1979 called Ballinacurra Gaels. Young Irelands and Commercials used Ballinacurra Gaels field and they assisted them with work on their field. Seamus O' Ceallaigh had been a very prominent Young Irelands clubman throughout the years and he was instrumental in setting up Ballinacurra Gaels. Not long after this Young Irelands hurling club ceased to be. Its sister club, Commercials soldiered on for another decade and disbanded in 1991. Young Irelands was never really a parish based club team in the classic sense and this was to prove their ultimate downfall. While they had underage teams for most of their history and focused on developing this side of the club from the fifties on they like Commercials were the club that any outsider who came to the city played for. The other clubs in the city had developed stronger roots and the locals could identify with them better. Things might have ended up differently if their field in Westfields was bought and developed for the use of Gaelic Games. This never materialized and the blue and gold of Young Irelands ended up fading out of existence.

Roll of Honour

County Senior Hurling Champions- 1902, 1910, 1920, 1922, 1928, 1930, 1932. County Junior Hurling- 1920 County Juvenile Hurling- 1904,1938,1939. County Juvenile Football- 1938 City Minor Hurling- 1945 City Juvenile Hurling-1938, 1939 Juvenile Football-1938 East Junior Football-1931 East Minor Hurling 1931 New Ireland Shield- 1958,1959,1967 Junior Hurling City League- 1919,1942

Notable players