'I Love Me County'

Waterford Sporting Stories

Cian Manning

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781803992563
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Irish History
• Index: History

Waterford, the Gentle County, can boast a proud sporting tradition that is as long as it is unusual. Ireland's oldest city has witnessed many trends, from blood sports like bull-baiting in Ballybricken to roller hockey at the Olympia Ballroom. But the towns and villages of County Waterford were not to be overshadowed, producing notable sports people such as basketballers and boxers.

In 'I Love Me County', learn about everyone from camogie pioneers to World Champions, as this collection of stories records the lives, loves and losses of some of Waterford's forgotten sporting heroes, demonstrating the importance of sport and leisure in the history of the county.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 ‘Savage Manners and Inhuman Barbarity’: Bull-Baiting at Ballybricken, 1714–1826
• 2 ‘The Hub of Hikers’: Waterford and Rambling, 1775–1930
• 3 Johnny Ryan (1826–1907): Portlaw’s Pre-Eminent Sportsman
• 4 Hugh Collender: Cappoquin Sports Manufacturer and Rebel
• 5 Patrick Hearne: ‘The Gambler’
• 6 The Irish Giant ‘Who Gained Notoriety, if Not Fame, as a Pugilist’: Lismore’s Ned O’Baldwin (1840–75)
• 7 Vere Thomas St Leger Goold (1853–1909): Waterford Tennis Player and Monte Carlo Murderer
• 8 ‘Died of Inanition’: County Waterford Archery Club, 1860–65
• 9 Thomas Joseph Dart Kelly: Waterford Man and Aussie Cricketer
• 10 Joe Tracy: America’s Greatest Race Car Driver
• 11 Waterford’s First Hurling Revival, 1884–1934
• 12 Patrick Street, Pugilism and Preaching: Stories of Arthur Clampett
• 13 Dungarvan was his Hometown: Shaw Desmond (Author and Spiritualist)
• 14 To the Waterford Coast and Along it: Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
• 15 ‘The Palm of Superiority’: Handball in Waterford, 1887–1911
• 16 Heavyweight Boxing: Champion of the World Visits Waterford, December 1887
• 17 Jack Mitchell: ‘The Man with the Plate in his Head’
• 18 ‘Urbs Intacta was Supposed to be at Stake’: Oxford and the Waterford City Regatta, 15 July 1890
• 19 ‘A Cycling Carnival’: Ireland vs England, People’s Park, Waterford, 11 August 1891
• 20 T.O. Jameson: The Captain at Cappoquin
• 21 Dan Cooney (1892–1940): ‘Our Dan’ from Near Dungarvan
• 22 The Wild Man from Borneo: Grand National Winner 1895
• 23 ‘The First Waterford Men to Win All-Ireland Medals’: Jack Dwan and Larry Tobin, Tipperary Footballers
• 24 ‘Battling Brannigan’: The Story of Gerald Hurley
• 25 An American Millionaire at Waterford Harbour
• 26 ‘Aesthetic Appeal’: The Many Lives of Edward Augustine McGuire (1901–92)
• 27 ‘I Fail to See Why we Cannot Play Polo’: Waterford Polo Club, 1904–06
• 28 Patrick Joseph Mahon: Forgotten World No. 1 Golfer?
• 29 ‘Old Men and Novices’: Roller Hockey in Waterford, 1910–85
• 30 Danny Morgan: Cheltenham Gold Cup-Winning Jockey and Trainer
• 31 Camogie in County Waterford, 1913–17
• 32 Matt O’Mahoney: Kilkenny Soccer Pioneer
• 33 ‘Sleeping Draught’: Michael Lacey, the Forgotten Contender
• 34 Check Mate: Austin Bourke, Chess and the Irish Weather
• 35 Dungarvan’s Denis Kelleher: An ‘Unpredictable Irishman’
• 36 ‘“Non-Political” Bosh …’: Gaelic Games Abandoned at the Sportsfield, 21 October 1923
• 37 A Portrait of my Grandfather as a Young Man
• 38 Waterford Hockey Players Tour America, 1925
• 39 Waterford City: Munster Junior Cup Winners, 1928
• 40 A Tale of Two Millionaires: Donaghy and Capelli, 1937–38
• 41 Josie McNamara: Waterford’s ‘Queen of Sport’
• 42 ‘Ideally Suited to the Irish Temperament’: Waterford Fencing Club, 1948–73
• 43 Colonel James Flynn: Irish Olympic Basketballer
• 44 Waterford FC in Iceland, May–June 1953
• 45 Mutiny on a Boundary: The Blyth Affair, Waterford, 1954
• 46 Waterford and District Table Soccer League, 1957–60
• 47 Suirsiders, Sliotars and the Silver Screen: Hollywood and the 1957 All-Ireland Hurling Final
• 48 Sea Lions and Walruses: Baseball in Tramore and Waterford City, 1958–66
• 49 The Brown Bomber at the Arch in Tallow
• 50 Waterford Ladies’ Soccer League, 1967–70
• 51 ‘Sell A Dummy’: Louis Fulloné, Failed Waterford Trialist, and Diego Maradona
• 52 Poles Apart: Piotr Suski, Włodzimierz Lubański andthe League of Ireland
• 53 Celtic Squash Club: A ‘Great Waterford Nursery’
• 54 Alma Delahunty: Ruánmhór Rúnaí (1981–85)
• 55 Samba in the South-East: A Brazilian in the League of Ireland
• 56 Jason Phelan (BMX Rider): Déise Daredevil
• 57 Grace Doyle: ‘The Stoke and Love of Surfing’
• 58 Evan Power: The Future of Irish Polo
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgements