Dublin won the 1924 All-Ireland SHC. Back row: E Fleming, P Donnelly, Ro Doherty, J Bannow, T Kelly, P Kenefick, J Ryan. Third Row: R McCowen (Hon Sec), M Drumgoole, P Cavanagh (trainer), M Darcy, P Aylward, J Walsh, M Holland, J Holland, J Conroy, R Mockler, A Harty (Co Bd Chair), J O’Neill (Treasurer), Second Row: T Finlay, T Barry, F Wall (capt), PJ Walsh (President), D O’Neill (vice capt), W Small, G Howard, M Gill. Front: W Banin, T Daly.
By Cian Murphy
A special event has been held at Croke Park to honour the Dublin hurling team who defeated Galway in the 1924 All-Ireland final – played on Jones’s Road 100 years ago today.
Relatives of the players gathered in the Hogan Stand with memorabilia and stories of their loved ones who were part of a history making team, and they were joined by Uachtarán CLG Jarlath Burns who paid tribute to the players for their contribution.
“It is important that we remember the great teams and the great players that went before us. This is especially true of the players from this era of a century ago,” he said.
“The Ireland of this time was one emerging from a decade of heartache and difficulty. From the Great Lock Out to the Great War, from the War of Independence to Civil War, it cannot have been easy to have continued to have played games or supported them. But we know that the games in fact were more important than ever. We know that they had a role in healing and unifying people after the Civil War and we know that people were delighted to have games when some sort of normality returned to Irish life and huge crowds flocked to see them.
“In honouring the hurling champions of 1924, we salute a generation of players who ensured that the GAA and Gaelic games emerged from this period and went on to a surge in popularity and importance in Irish life that continues through to this day.”
The event was organised by Phil O’Dea of Ballymun Kickhams GAA and inspired by the fact that the CJ Kickhams club were the Dublin champions and had six players on the All-Ireland final team.
He said: “We are very proud of the history that the club has and are delighted to have had the opportunity to research and retrace their steps so that we can pay tribute to players who were active in a crucially important time for the GAA as it was establishing itself after the Civil War. We felt it was important to remember the team and to also connect with their surviving relatives and give them an opportunity to come back to Croke Park and talk about their connection.”
The CJ Kickhams club was formed in 1886 and drew from men working in the thriving drapery business in Dublin. So big was this area of employment that the drapers of Dublin had enough teams to run their own club championships and on display at Croke Park were the impressive trophies that they were fought for in football and hurling: the Kickham Cup and John Power Cup – which date from 1896 and are some of the oldest trophies that exist in the GAA.
The 1924 All-Ireland final was played in December of that year as the Association worked to get their war disrupted schedule back on track.
This scheduling meant that Mick Gill had the unique distinction of playing for his native Galway when they won the hurling final of 1923, which was played in September of 1924, but was then eligible and a star player on the Dublin team which defeated Galway on December 14, in the 1924 hurling final, and making him a winner of two hurling medals with two different counties in the space of four months.
Dublin saw off Galway 5-3 to 2-6 in front of 9,000 at Croke Park in a match refereed by Cork’s Pádraig Ó Caoimh, the future Ard Stiúrthóir of the GAA.
There were no native-born Dubliners on the team. Tipperary (four), Clare (three), Kilkenny (three), Laois (three), Galway and Limerick supplied the players. Kickhams had six on the team, and also the non-playing captain in Frank Wall of the famous menswear shop in Kilkenny. Faughs supplied five, Collegians (UCD) two and Garda two.
Six of the players had the notable achievement of winning All-Ireland medals with more than one county, namely Mick Gill (Galway), Rob Doherty (Clare), Pat Aylward (Kilkenny), Garrett Howard (Limerick), Mick Daly (Tipperary) and Tom Finlay of Laois - an outstanding athlete, and a man responsible for the foundation of the Equestrian School in the Defence Forces.
Many of the team featured for Ireland in the Tailteann Games that were held in 1924, 1928 and 1932. Among them was Garrett Howard of Limerick who would win five All-Ireland medals in all and was later awarded an All-Time All-Star by the GAA. His daughter is the former camogie star and Camogie Association President, Liz Howard.
Among the memorabilia and stories shared was the fact that two of the winners of 1924 have proud links to high class GAA achievement in the present day. Full back Bill Small from Borrisoleigh is the Great Grand Uncle of Dublin footballers John and Paddy Small from Ballymun Kickhams.
Mick Holland from Whitegate scored two goals in the 1924 final. Playing in the same position a century later, his Great Grand Nephew Mark Rodgers from Scariff scored 1-3 for Clare in their 2024 All-Ireland triumph.
“We are indebted to Phil O’Dea for the effort and research he has put into this project. Seeing the family members gather to relive precious memories and share stories and memorabilia was really special. We owe so much to those who built the Association for us, and we have a duty to remember them. Phil O’Dea’s work, just like that of Brendan Minnock in Offaly this year to mark the centenary of their first ever hurling All-Ireland title, should be an inspiration to others,” added Cian Murphy of the GAA History & Commemorations Committee.