The Match I Will Remember-The Carrahan Flag

The Match I Will Remember- Says Danny McNamara of Clare
Only Survivor of Team That Won The Carrahan Flag. As Told To JOHN D. HICKEY

It would be very Interesting to know if there is in existence an older hurling trophy than the Carrahan Flag which a strapping side from Tulla won in 1888 when they defeated Feakle in a challenge match that aroused tremendous interest, not alone in the rival parishes, but throughout the entire County Clare.
The origin of the Flag, a magnificent five feet by four feet oil painting, believed to depict a famed hurler and athlete named Patrick McGrath, from Glandree, is lost in antiquity, but it is as prized to-day in Tulla as it was the day the parish's hurlers won it in Con Kearney's field and carried it back in triumph to the village.

Only Survivor
To-day only one member of that victorious Tulla side is still with us - 92-years-old Danny McNamara, of Glandree, who, if his memory is failing a little, has wonderful retention for one of his four score and twelve years.
When in the Banner County recently, I heard much about the Carrahan Flag and, on learning that one of the gladiators of that contest was alive, I naturally jumped at the invitation of County Board chairman, Rev. John Corry, C.C., Quin, to visit the celebrated hurling patriarch.
My surmise that we would find Danny invalided could not have been more wide of the mark. We found the old warrior seated erect in a chair at the fireside filling his pipe.
After he had bent down, as freely as a man half his age, to lift a coal to kindle his pipe he was much more mellow, eager to talk.
When Father John said "We want to find out something about the match against Kilnamona for the Carrahan Flag.'' Danny looked quizzically at his questioner and said "Didn't I tell you all about that years ago."
Father Corry agreed and when he added that he had mislaid his notes Danny said mischievously, I thought. "Well, Father aren't you the damn bad messenger"
Having enjoyed the shaft at the priest that he holds in great affection, Danny said: "And the match in Con Kearney's field was against Feakle and not against Kilnamona. And, as the flag proves, we won".

Memorable Matches
That victory and the 1889 ' All-Ireland final in which Dublin (Kickhams) defeated Clare(Tulla) by 5-1 to 1-6 at Inchicore on November 3 are the two matches that stand out above all others in Danny's memory.
When I asked him if he would devote as much time to hurling if he were again a young man, Danny almost sarcastically replied: "And would you tell me what else I would be doing only hurling and hurling."
With the help of his son, Andrew, and Father John I brought Danny down the years and it was with obvious pride that he said "When the match was over didn't Tulla Fife aad Drum Band play the team and all the parish through Tulla that evening of the Carrahan Flag match. We beat them all, but without a doubt it was Feakle we beat in the final.
"It was a tough match without a doubt and the crowd that was at it. Why sure didn't some fellows come over from America to see it, but they were Irish of course. We had loads of visitors for it.
"Ned Corry, Ballyastil, and his cousin Bob were two great men on our team and didn't ' Keniry, a great boy, clip the feathers of Hinchy from Feakle.
" It was in the last ten minutes of the game that we beat them right. We then started giving Feakle such a beating that they nearly left the field. They had enough of us I can tell you. And Feakle, mind you, had great men, too, in the Sheas, Thomas and Dan —Dan was a powerful man entirely -" Dagger " Gallagher and Thady Kane, the goal-keeper.

Difference of Opinion
" Denis McKenna was our captain and he and myself were the managers. Our goal-keeper Pat Neill was the best in the country, but McKenna did not want him as he wanted to play in goal himself. Willie Moroney and myself were on both sides of the line (corner backs).
'"Well anyway, when the teams lined out there was an almighty crowd present, the Lord save us. It will be kept in memory that there was hurling that day in Con Kearney's field. There was no one who was not there.
"We played Ogonnelloe, too, and beat them and that was a great win for us, as hadn't Ogonnelloe beaten us before they went on to win the 1888 title. Oh begor we did, we beat them all right. Dominic Stuart was the manager of the Ogonnelloe team.
"McKenna wanted to bet £20 with Stuart that we would win, but Stuart would not have any bet. McKenna put £20 on the counter but Dominic withdrew. He knew damn well that they were beaten before the game started at all.
There used be great betting in those days but we would know nothing about it. I used to play with Feakle, before Tulla affiliated."

Winning 21
Then, with but trifling help from Andrew and Father John, Danny named the twenty-one Tulla men who won the flag. They were: Pat Neill, Tom Coughlan, Denis McKenna, Ned Corry, Patrick McGrath, Dan Quigney, Dan Moroney, John McNamara, Matty O'Dea, Willie Moroney, John Scanlon. "one of the best hurlers ever, Martin Russell, Paddy Donnellan, Willle Flynn, "a great hurler, too," Paddy Vaughan, a good cow buyer"-Keniry, Jim King, Jim Corry, Bob Corry, Patey Liddy and Danny McNamara.
Then Danny turned to the 1889 championship. "Tipperary gave us a good fair fight in Boher. I remember we played in our bare feet.' Referring to the All-Ireland Final he said: "We would have beaten Dublin, but we had only seven or eight sober men, that day.
" Ten or eleven of them were out all night and we would have been much better on to go out without them. If we had done that we would have won as the boyos who had been out all night were only a hindrance to us. " If McKenna and myself were wise that day, we would have left those fellows off. 'The medals were worth £10 or £11. We were very sorry we did not do without them fellows who were out all night- that is when we learned the value of the medals.
"If this day I met the fellow who brought out our lads the night before that match, I would be on his neck on the minute. Such a thing to do. If we did not win the championship of Ireland, we went as far as the Final anyway.

Decent Man
"Jim Donoghue, of Tulla, was a descent man with the money in those days. He often gave us our dinner and ten bottles of stout when we would be out for a match.
After the match against Tipperary he brought us into the finest dining-room you ever saw in all your life. It was the finest table you could see.
"It was Moycarkey we were playing—they were representing Tipperary-and we brought down their colours, gave them a bad beating. Some of the Moycarkey lads left the field before the match was over. We were welting them.
" Moycarkey were leading by 2-4 at half-time, but they had not the stamina of the Tulla boys, I can tell you. There is history in that match, too, but the Carrahan Flag match was the best of the lot.
"After that match against Feakle we went into Kearneys and I saw Dan Quigney with twelve bottles of porter before him. I had only two bottles beside me. Rev. Father Tim Lynch, who was President of the Tulla club, and Wlllie Moloney, our vice-president, carried home the Flag.
"Father Lynch was then our Curate, and he came back to us as Parish Priest and a Canon. He was a big brave man, God bless him. "'Do you know that when Father Lynch was leaving here didn't we collect £300 to make him a presentation but he wouldn't take a penny of it. He made us keep it ourselves for the club and other things."

Better Now
When I asked Danny how he rated present day hurlers he replied "They were much better then. Where are the hurlers now? Seven or eight of our men would beat the teams of to-day.
"I was out of the country from 1890 when I went to America until about 1910, continued Danny. "When you get old the old brain goes too and it is hard to remember. I had a splendid job in America." Father Corry, detecting a note of regret in the still strong voice of the nonagenarian, interjected: "You might be dead now had you remained there." Danny, however, did not at all agree as he retorted "I would not; and I would be fresher than I am now."
As we took our departure from the light-hearted hurling star of the last Century, he admonished me. "Now don’t lose your notes and be having to come back again. All that trouble would be foolish."
Back in Tulla I learned that the duels between Danny and Thady Kelly in the Carrahan Flag match were said to be as fierce and spectacular as any ever seen on any field since.
By the way, Danny and the late Paddy Minogue were the founders of the Tulla team. Minogue, a brilliant all-round athlete went to America in 1888 with the "Invasion" teams and remained in that country where he died. In that instance Ireland’s loss was certainly America’s gain.