"The Early Years"

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North Championship Success

There is a tradition in the parish that a great team of hurlers flourished in the area long before the G.A.A.was founded in 1884. We are told that during the 1798 rebellion there was much activity among the local people and when the cause was finally lost those hurlers called themselves the 98's to commerate their heroes of 1798. This team is reputed to have lasted up to about 1890.

A type of football was played by the ordinary small farmers and labourers of Rapla, Kilruane and Moanfin in the 1870's.
There were similar teams in Kyle, Killeen and Carrigatoher and Challenge matches were often arranged between them. "If the ball went out over a ditch, the players followed it and continued the game in the next field" says a reoprt of such an encounter.

The Foundation of the G.A.A. in 1884

The G.A.A. was founded in 1884 in Thurles by Maurice Davin and Michael Cusack among others, to bring the Irish games under a governing body.
In the early years the rules were few and simple.

* Twenty-one a side in hurling and football
* The game was of one and a half hours duration, with a change of ends at half time.
* Points counted only if no goals were scored, or if both teams scored an equal number of goals.

The winning of a championship was of course important, but there was much more to be got from being victorious in a big tournament. The honour of the little village was at stake when neighbouring teams clashed. To beat a well-known team from another area or county, in a tournament, was most desirable and in many cases was more sought after than winning a championship.

Three All-Ireland Medals were won by Cloughjorden men in the early years of the G.A.A. James Dwyer was on the Tipperary (Thurles) side that won the first All-Ireland in 1887 and William Spain was the first dual All-Ireland medalist in the history of the G.A.A. winning a football medal with the Limerick team of 1887 and a hurling medal with Dublin in 1889.

Between 1888 and 1894 a few new rules were introduced

* The number of players on hurling and football teams was reduced from twenty one to seventeen in 1892.
* County teams in future could be picked from the entire county.
* One goal would equal five points

Handball
The following locations have been pointed out as places where handball was played in cloughjordan parish from about 1885 to 1960.

* Lahorna
* The Middle Walk
* Bantiss
* Laughane
* Modreeney
* Cloughjordan village
* Silverstream

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