The Early Years | Lahorna
DeWets | Troubled Times | Kilruane
MacDonaghs is Born |
North Championship Success
"Unconquered yet, are you De Wet
O may you never vary,
The magic name that gained such fame
For gallant Tipperary"
By 1900 hurling was played in every area of Cloughjordan
parish. There were teams in Rapla, Ardcroney, Congor, Cloughjordan, kilruane,
Bantiss, Glenahilty, Kyle, Modreeney and Loughane. It was decided that
the time had come to enter a team from the Lahorna area, for the newly
formed North Tipperary hurling championship.
A meeting was held in late 1900 in Balinamurra; its not
certain in whose home it was held, where the name Lahorna De Wets was
chosen in memory of the South African general De Wet, who had given the
British forces such a rough time in the Boer war.
The first chairman of De Wets was George O'Leary of Beechwood. The secretary
was Michael Gaynor of Rapla and the captain of the team was Jack Dwan
of Kilruane. Tom Ryan had no official position in the club at this time,
but he was known to everyone as "The Boss". His word was law.
De Wets usually trained in a field owned by Michael Flannery, near George
O'Learys House.
Round One
Roscrea 5-7 Nenagh 1-1
Kilbarron 0-2 Balingarry 0-0
De Wets -awarded game Carney-disqualified *
Semi-Final
Roscrea 1-4 Kilbarron 1-2
De Wets Bye
Final
De Wets 0-4 Roscrea 0-3 **
*In the round one game between De Wets and Carney, Carney
were leading by 2-0 to 1-2 when they walked off the field. The game was
awarded to De Wets.
**After De Wets beat them in the North final, Roscrea lodged
an objection and a replay was fixed for Templemore which Roscrea won.
De Wets objected on the grounds that Roscrea fielded some players from
Offaly, and they were awarded the match.
De Wets were set to play the county Final against Ballytarsna
of the South.Out of the blue a De Wets spokesman declared that they had
no interest in playing the county final. They had set out to win in North
Tipperary and they had achieved their objective.
In view of what happened in the 1902 county final it is probable that
De Wets would have won the 1901 final, if they contested it.
1902 proved to be De Wets greatest year. In round one of the Championship
De Wets beat Nenagh at Knigh by 6-10 to 1-1.
In most cases the losers objected to the winners after every game. The
delays by these objections held up many fixtures until late in the year.
The final was between De Wets and knigh which De wets won by 2-5 t0 1-2.
Carrick were nominated in the South to play De Wets in the county final.
This match was played in Thurles and was won by De Wets on the score 7-10
to 1-2.
Front row:L to R: James O'Meara(Moanfin), Tom Ryan(the Lough), Jack Dwan(Capt.).
Middle row:Mick McLoughney(Lahorna), Tom Ryan Beechwood), Tim O'Connor,
Pat Williams(Cloughjordan), Tim Carr(Ballymackey), Martin Darcy (Kyle).
Back row:Jim Darcy(Bantiss), John O'Meara(Carriganagh), M. Kennedy (Killyloughnane),
Ml. Conway(Beechwood), Dan Ryan(Soolmoy), Rody Nolan(Cunnahurt), Paddy
Behan (Ballinweir).
Officials:Michael Gaynor(Hon. Sec.), George O'Leary(Chairman)
Missing from photo: Denis Whelan.
Twelve teams entered the North Tipperary Hurling Championship of 1903.
De Wets were drawn against Portroe in the first round and won by 6-11
to 0-1. In round two De Wets beat Ballycommon by twelve points to one.
In the Semi-final Templederry were overcome on a scoreline of 0-5 to 0-2.
February 14th 1904 was the date set for the North Final. Tomevara were
beaten by 3-8 to 1-0.
The county final was never played. It is not known exactly
why, but Two-Mile-Borris were awarded the game.
The "Nenagh News" tells us that Cork beat Tipperary
in the munster Senior hurling final by 4-6 to 1-10, having led by 3-5
to 0-2 at half time.The Tipperary team was a De Wets selection and included
most of the members of the 1902 county championship winning side.
The 1904 championship had a very late start. De Wets met Borrisokane in
the first round on 20 November in Ballycommon. De Wets were victorious
by 4-13 to 1-1. De Wets beat Lorrha in the semi-final on a scoreline of
5-11 to 0-3.
The North final was played in Kilbarron where De Wets beat Ballycommon
by 5-8 to 1-4.
The county final
The county final was between De Wets and a combination of players from
Thurles, Two-Mile-Borris and Moycarkey. In the end the combinatoion emerged
victorious by 5-8 to 3-9. This great game was witnessed by several Thousand
people, and De Wets lost nothing in defeat.
In the Munster hurling final of 1904, Cork beat Tipperary by 3-10 to 3-4.
Con Brewer was the only De Wets player on the team.
The draw for the 1905 championship was as follows:
Templederry v Nenagh
Ballinahinch v Kilbarron
Lorrha v Toomevara
Youghal v Nenagh Wolfe Tones
Lahorna De Wets v Roscrea
Terryglass v Ballycommon
Ballina v Ballingarry
The last four left were De wets v Ballina and Lorrha v Templederry.
Owing to objections and counter objections, tournament games and bad weather,
the semi-finals were not played until 1906.
Ballina surprisingly beat De Wets in the first semi-final. De wets lodged
an objection and the game was fixed to be replayed. Ballina never turned
up for the replay and De Wets were awarded the match. De Wets expected
an easy match against Lorrha whom they had beaten well the previous year,
but were surprisingly overcome by 3-5 to 2-3 in a hard fought game.
For the first time in five years De Wets had failed to win the North Championship.
1906
In February 1906 the Nenagh club held a tournament in which seventeen
medals were offered to the winners. The teams involved were:
De Wets v Tulla(Clare)
Castleconnel(Limerick) v Coolderry(Offaly)
De Wets overcame Tulla by 2-10 to 2-6 and faced Castleconnel
in the final. The Limerick men were firm favourites for the game. The
"Nenagh News" had this to say about the game:
"Lovers of this grand old Irish pastime were treated to one of the
finest exhibitions of hurling ever witnessed in Nenagh town."
Result: De Wets 5-10 Castleconnel 2-6.
In the
De Wets were drawn against Nenagh Wolfe Tones who they beat 4-15 to 0-1.
As in the previous year Lorrha and De Wets met in the north final. De
Wets were still sore after being "robbed" by Lorrha the previous
year. They trained hard for the final and made no mistakes this time winning
by 4-6 to 1-4.
The county final was played in Nenagh and once again
the contestants were Thurles and De Wets. Again the Kilruane mens bogey
team were Thurles Blues, who won by 4-11 to 3-6.
It is impossible to follow the games that were played in 1907. De Wets
were declared the winners of the Championship and went on to meet Thurles
once more in the county final. Yet again Thurles proved too good and won
by 3-13 to 1-6.
Many people were saying that De Wets were getting old and coming to the
end of their reign. In the following years this turned out to be true.
Once again De Wets came out on top in the North Tipp. championship. The
county semi-final was fixed for Roscrea, and the opponents were, once
again, Thurles. For some unknown reason the De Wets were very late onto
the Roscrea field. They looked like men in a trance and played as such.
The second half was nearly over and Thurles were leading by 5-13 to 1-4
when Lahorna De Wets walked off the field. It was surely their darkest
hour and one from which they never recovered.
For 1909 and 1910 no team was entered from the parish. The De Wets went
into hibernation.
In 1911 the hurlers of Lahorna were getting fed up with
themselves and their long rest, so they decided to make one last desperate
stand. They entered a team for the 1911 championship of North Tipperary.
In their very first match they beat Youghal by 6-0 to 2-1. The next game
was the North Semi-final against Ballinahinch. De Wets won by 4-5 t0 2-1.
In the North final Toomevara were to be the opposition. This was claimed
to be the final of the old De Wets versus the new toomevara team, champions
in 1910. Toomevara won the game by 7-0 to 3-0. The era of the De Wets
had ended; the era of Toomevara had begun.
In 1913 Cloughjordan(De Wets) won the county junior final
beating old rivals Thurles in the county final by 6-2 to 1-2.
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