History has a way of repeating itself

This week's Cavanman's Diary

Readers of this newspaper on Saturday, September 25, 1920 would have been forgiven for scratching their heads in confusion.

On page nine, under the heading ‘The Semi-final’, was the following short notice.

“The much-talked of All-Ireland semi-final, Cavan v Dublin, is still in abeyance and the possibility is that it will not be brought off until the crisis created by the hunger strikes has passed.

“For the time being, it is hoped that members of the county team are keeping themselves fit so that they may be ready for action when the call comes.”

Yet just above and to the right was an advertisement, proclaiming that the match would take place in Navan two days later. Which was it?

As it turned out, the ad was correct. It had been handed in, late in the day, to the newspaper’s printers in Dublin, who managed to squeeze it on to a page. By then, it was too late to remove the copy about the fixture not going ahead and, thus, a mixed message was sent out.

Unsure of where they stood, Cavan county board contacted the secretary of the Central Council by wire and the fixture was verified. The players were rounded up and did some training the following day in Virginia but when Sunday came, they were no match for a brilliant Dublin selection, who came out on top by 3-6 to 0-3 at the Navan Showgrounds.

“The Dubliners, who had the advantage of a nice breeze, started in the most taking style,” reported the Irish Independent, “and had established a big lead before the first quarter had passed.

“Cavan stuck to their work in the most tenacious fashion. Still, the Metropolitans held a lead of 2-5 to 1-1 at the interval. The play was more even in the second period when the Cavanmen were seen to better advantage but the Dubliners, who played a right good game throughout, always held the upper hand and won by a good margin.”

“Considerable interest was centred on the game as Cavan, who has performed well in the Ulster Championships, were considered to possess a big chance of lowering the colours of the Dublin,” commented the Evening Herald.

“The northern team had a large number of supporters present, their admirers having requisitioned every class of motor vehicle to journey to the venue.”

Dublin, selected by the St Laurence O’Toole’s club, showed one change from the side which defeated Kildare in the Leinster final.

“The game had not long been in progress when it became apparent that the tall stories relating to the abilities of the Cavan team were not justified,” said the Herald.

It was a dramatic time, on and off the pitch. Many of those who had made the journey to Navan were stopped by the military at Dunshaughlin on the way home, all vehicles and persons searched.

As the country burned, the screaming headlines in the newspapers in the days around that Cavan v Dublin match alone told the tale; ‘Deeds of blood in Belfast again’, ‘Terror in Trim’, ‘Uniformed men ran amok’ and ‘Destruction of Irish towns’ (accompanied by photos from Lahinch and Galway) were just a few examples.

The entire era, brilliantly covered of late by journalist Michael Foley of the Sunday Times and by the GAA themselves in this, the centenary of Bloody Sunday, was like nothing the GAA had ever contended with.

Nothing, that is, until this year, with the pandemic raging and necessitating this most unusual championship. And, amazingly, the four semi-finalists were the same, in the same order.

Back then, the outstanding semi-final was not played off until May 7, 1922. On the same afternoon that Tipperary beat Mayo by 1-5 to 1-0 in front of 15,000 spectators at Croke Park, the 1922 championship actually threw in, with Monaghan beating Antrim by a point in the opening round.

Excitement was at fever pitch by the time Pat Dunphy threw in the ball at HQ, with the Independent reporting that an old man in the unreserved seating area actually fainted.

(Abbeyleix man Dunphy, incidentally, had also taken charge of the Cavan v Dublin game 19 months earlier. Later that year, he would be in the man in the middle at both the football and hurling senior finals, too.)

Mayo goalkeeper Dick Creagh, who had played so well in the Connacht semi-final at Castlerea that even the Galway players congratulated him, kept his side in the game early on with a string of fine saves but Tipp, who had taken three games to beat Clare in the Munster Championship, were stronger and held on to win, with the newspapers bemoaning the lack of bite in the Mayo attack.

“Speed and stamina” were the key attributes in Tipperary’s win, reckoned the Freeman’s Journal.

The Cork Examiner, which carried a large photo of the Tipperary starting 15, in the white and green jerseys with ‘Tipperary’ in gold letters which modern day followers will be familiar with following the county’s historic recent Munster final success in the same colours, was gushing in its praise for the Munster men.

“Tipperary,” the paper reported, “were unquestionably the superior team and fully deserved their victory. They took quite a long time to settle down to the game but once they got going, they held command of the play in all departments of the field.”

As for the final, it wouldn’t take place until June 11, 1922 when Tipp beat the Dubs, 1-6 to 1-2. This time around, of course, Dublin did manage to get their hands on Sam – or, rather, keep their hands on him.

For Mayo, the long wait goes on but history has a way of repeating itself, as we have seen.

Their day will come too.