PROGRAMME PLUS VOLUME 1, NUMBER 7, JULY 30th, 2016

Transcription

1 PROGRAMME PLUS VOLUME 1, NUMBER 7, JULY 30th, 2016 Welcome, dear readers, to the seventh edition of Programme Plus, arriving one day behind schedule due to work commitments. My day job revolves entirely around deadlines which simply must be met; thankfully, there s a little more flexibility with this offering due to the voluntary nature of it, although I still apologise for the slight delay. First of all this month, there s a couple of slight tweaks on the technical side of things. I usually send the bulletin in a Microsoft Word document, but I have reverted to pdf format due to popular demand. Secondly, I m sending the associated images in a separate . I have opted against using hi-res scans because I discovered that some subscribers didn t have the capacity in their accounts to receive these. Therefore, what you see are simple, straightforward jpgs photographed by an iphone. Given that it s a very visual hobby, my main aim is to ensure that everyone gets to read and see the images in the most simple format for all. And by sending the jpgs separately in this way, I can distribute more of them to the maximum amount of people. Not surprisingly given the time of year, this has been a bumper month for programme production, and as a result this is the biggest edition thus far. So, without further delay, let s get cracking with the real news. PROGRAMME OF THE MONTH: My choice for this month s accolade is the 64-pager for 5 issued for the double-header of Leinster Senior football championship semi-finals in Croke Park on June 26 th (technically the wrong month, I know, but I only received it in July!). The games between Dublin and Meath, and Westmeath and Kildare, may have been forgettable affairs, but editor Cian Murphy went to great lengths to mark the famous four-game saga of 1991 in what is labelled on the cover as the 25 th anniversary souvenir edition. Above those words is a lovely graphic with the years on either side of a circle featuring the numbers 2 and 5, the 2 in the blue of Dublin, and the 5 in the green of Meath. In terms of 1991 content, it starts on 26 and 27 with reports of the four games. Brendan Minnock follows with an interview with David Beggy on 28 and 29, and he also contributes the next two pages titled 4 Games That Changed Everything, featuring a wonderful action shot of Mick Lyons tackling Vinny Murphy. The rest of the general content is first class too. Seán Creedon offers a timely two pages after the trip to Kilkenny to play Laois, listing the results of the 54 consecutive Dublin championship games played at headquarters from 2006 to Colm Keys highlights the key role played by Stephen Cluxton in 80 not out for the game s biggest influencer, while the modern-day player interviews are with Ger Egan, Keith Cribbin, Paul Flynn and Mickey Burke. There s the usual mix of previous meetings, reports on past encounters, and, given that it s a double bill, we are treated to no fewer than eight pages of Leo McGough s From The Archive material. Interestingly, it s explained on page 23 that Kildare didn t pose for a team photograph before the Wexford game because the weather was so poor, so captioned head and shoulders images for the full panel of 2016 are included instead.

2 This is one of several fine programmes produced this year by Cian Murphy, a newcomer to the Leinster editor s chair. In that sense it could be viewed as a cumulative award, but I opted for this rather than one of the provincial finals due to the effort made to look back on Here s one suggestion that might improve matters even further going forward: how about using some of the programme covers from past games? Collectors all over the country would be more than happy to oblige with scans! FIRST AND LAST: First and Last is a fairly common genre of programme collecting among the soccer fraternity in particular. It s not unusual to see specific requests in this area, and it may cover a variety of situations. For example, many professional clubs have moved into new grounds in the post-hillsborough era, so some enthusiasts will collect the last programme produced at their old home, and the first one at their new abode. Another example would be when a club gains promotion to League 2 from the National League; collectors will seek the last programme from the non-league days along with the first after arriving among the coveted top 92. I have yet to come across a G.A.A. collector with this specific desire, although many of us will sub-consciously collect programmes from the first finals for various competitions. All this is by way of commenting on the Celtic Challenge 2016 finals programme. All five deciders were held in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, on June 18 th, so I actually meant to write this for last month s edition but it slipped my mind. To the uninitiated, the Celtic Challenge is an Under-17 hurling competition which was the selected flagship project of the Hurling Development Committee. It involved 38 teams from 31 counties, with over 1,000 boys playing a combined total of 115 games from early May onwards, culminating in a finals day which saw five games on the trot played from 10 a.m. all the way through to 4.40 p.m. I was there for three of them, and for the record the overall Division 1 winners were Offaly who pipped South Kilkenny in a thriller. The other finals saw South Wexford beat Kerry in Division 2, North Wexford beat Dublin Plunkett in Division 3, Wicklow beat Westmeath in Division 4, and Waterford City beat Laois in Division 5. Given that it was the first-ever staging of the competition, I thought collectors might be interested in acquiring a copy of the programme. The good news is that it s a DBA production so is readily available from their office. It ran to 24 pages for 3 and started with a contents page on 2 and the Clár an Lae on 3. Next up were messages from Aogán O Fearghail and HDC Chairman Paudie O Neill. The competition rules were on 6 with a Cúl Camp message on 7. Then we get into squad lists rather than the conventional 1 to 15 in line-out style with substitutes underneath that we are so familiar with. Waterford City, Laois, Westmeath and Wicklow occupy pages 8 to 11. The centrespread features a full-page photograph on 13 with one representative from each competing team standing in a tunnel in Croke Park. It s a colourful spectacle, and it should be noted that O Neills designed attractive jerseys complete with the Celtic Challenge wording and logo across the chest. Page 12 outlines the background to the competition in a piece headlined The Celtic Challenge - Origins And Structure. The plan was to provide a seven-week programme of meaningful, prescheduled games, with everyone qualifying for their own level after a series of regionalised group

3 games. It certainly succeeded in its aim and I was very impressed with every aspect of the competition. Seeing two Wexford captains lifting cups probably helped a little in formulating that opinion! The line-outs continue from pages 14 through to 19, before two pages on the paths to the finals and an explanation on the best and fairest award. One player from each team was selected for this honour by the match referee in consultation with his officials and, apart from skill levels, it was devised in order to recognise respect shown to officials and general sportsmanship. The programme ends with the Nowlan Park safety regulations on 22, a photograph of the trophies with representatives from the sponsors, the Past Hurlers Association, on 23, and an O Neills ad on 24. I wasn t aware of the existence of this Association beforehand I must admit, but the key men involved are Tipperary duo Noel O Dwyer and John O Donoghue, Waterford s John McGrath, Michael Carroll of Kilkenny, and retired Croke Park official Seán O Laoire from Clare. The quiz buffs among you may be interested in the names of the cups, all in honour of some victims from Bloody Sunday at Croke Park on November 21 st, 1920: Michael Hogan (Division 1), John Scott (Division 2), William Robinson (Division 3), Michael Feery (Division 4) and Jerome O Leary (Division 5). We talked about collector s items before, so does this programme fit the bill given it s for the firstever competition? I ll let everyone decide that for themselves! THE MONTH IN PROGRAMMES: There s a vast array of programmes to review this month, including top-quality Senior finals from all four provinces plus the usual host of qualifier offerings. July 2 nd - All-Ireland hurling qualifiers round one, Wexford v. Offaly, Limerick v. Westmeath, Clare v. Laois and Cork v. Dublin: DBA produced another four-in-one programme for 3, running to 32 pages and along familiar lines. The pairings and venues are outlined on a cover complete with the eight county crests, and details of the times and officials are on page 3. Mártan O Ciardha has a twopage spread, Cleachtaithe Go Maith, on 4 and 5 with an action shot from the meeting of Clare and Laois in Next up is another spread from John Harrington of GAA.ie titled Rebuilding Confidence And Gathering Momentum, a snapshot of what the qualifiers are all about - for some counties at least. There s a page of Wexford v. Offaly facts along with a profile of referee Johnny Ryan on 9, followed by the line-outs. This theme continues with the Limerick v. Westmeath facts and line-outs on 13, 14 and 15 respectively. The centrespread is a piece by Enda McEvoy of the Irish Examiner headlined First Step On The Road To Redemption. The Clare v. Laois facts and line-outs are on 19, 20 and 21. As an aside, regular readers may remember my piece in a previous edition advising caution with regard to the list of scorers published in national newspapers, as the provincials are a lot more accurate in my view. This game provided an example as the Irish Examiner reporter credited Aaron Shanagher with 4-1 rather than 3-1, giving him Shane O Donnell s goal for some reason I couldn t fathom after watching the highlights. It may be deduced that Ger Canning of RTE uses his local daily in Cork for research as he repeated the error in his commentary of Clare v. Limerick, although he compounded it by saying Shanagher s goals came against Westmeath rather than Laois. It will be interesting to see whether Shanagher or O Donnell is credited with the goal in future programmes this summer.

4 Getting back to this review, the Cork v. Dublin facts and line-outs are on 23, 24 and 25, including a tribute to the late Jim Forbes who was a very efficient P.R.O. for a spell among his many postings within the G.A.A. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. The qualifier records fill a half-page on 27, with county crests utilised, and the last piece of interest is a crossword and list of ten questions for the younger readers on 28. Ten and a half pages are filled with advertisements or promotional material. July 3 rd, Croke Park - Leinster Senior hurling championship final, Kilkenny v. Galway: The latest instalment in this rivalry saw Cian Murphy and his crew produce a 68-page programme for 5. Match information is on page 3 and, with regard to a comment from Patrick Donegan in the last issue, it was good to note that the compilers did clearly stress that extra-time wouldn t be played in the event of a draw in either the Minor or Senior games. The Leinster Council has a nicely-illustrated infographic outlining where their money is spent, and this appears on 4 beside the words of welcome from the Chairman, John Horan. The three sponsors have messages on 6 and 7, and there s also an illustration of the Senior medals specially commissioned to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising. There s photographs of the referees and team managers plus details of the selectors on 8, and the Senior roll of honour is on 11 with photographs of the captains, David Burke and Lester Ryan. The Story of the Season by Gordon Manning of The Irish Sun occupies a colourful three pages from 13 to 15, but the incorrect venue is listed for two Offaly games: Tralee instead of Tullamore for the clash with Kerry, and Portlaoise rather than Tullamore for the quarter-final against Laois. Paddy Flanagan of Mullingar is the doyen of programme producers and did wonderful work in that field from the late 1970s onwards. He was one of the forerunners in compiling readable, wellpresented material at a time when this was a rarity, so it s good to see he s still keeping his hand in as it were by supplying the round by round results for the Senior and Minor championships. The information is drawn from the daily papers though, a conclusion I drew from seeing the Minor details on page 40 as a Wexford lad who didn t even play against Westmeath is credited with a goal, something I highlighted in a previous edition. Enda McEvoy of The Irish Examiner fills pages 18 and 19 with a feature headlined The Golden Gate and Golden Opportunities, while Leinster Council P.R.O. Pat Teehan looks back on the 2012 trilogy between Kilkenny and Galway across 20 and 21. The previous meetings of the counties are on 23, and Cian O Connell of GAA.ie interviews Cyril Donnellan on 24 and 25. Cian Murphy has a chat with Jackie Tyrrell on 26 and 27, while the Galway and Kilkenny team photographs are on 29 and 31 respectively. The Minor line-outs are on 32 and 33, with the Senior equivalent across the centrespread. Leo McGough s points and goals quiz is on 36, with games to come on 37 along with a photograph of the All-Ireland winning Féile na ngael hurling team from Faythe Harriers. Photographs of the Minor captains along with the roll of honour are on 39, plus the list of additional Dublin panel members. The round-by-round Minor results and a message from the sponsor are on 40 and 41, with photographs of the Dublin and Wexford teams on 42 and 43. Pat Teehan looks at the previous Minor

5 final appearances of both counties on 44, and there s a report on the 1983 final on 45 complete with a photograph of future soccer international Niall Quinn who scored 3-5 in that game. There s an interesting feature on The GAA and the 1916 Rising in Leinster by Dr. Richard McElligott on 46 and 47, re-produced from The GAA and Revolution in Ireland: edited by Gearóid O Tuathaigh. This is followed by a two-page list on 48 and 49 of members of the GAA in Dublin who fought in the Rising. Jackie Napier from Bray pens a two-page tribute to his old friend Jack Boothman on 50 and 51, and it s appropriately followed by a similar piece on the late Joe McDonagh by Mártan O Ciardha. Leo McGough s From The Archive feature is always eagerly awaited by programme collectors, and the focus this time is on an interview with Kilkenny s Paddy Moran from Gaelic Sport in September, 1969, and an extract from Sylvie Linnane s autobiography, True Grit. Cian O Connell writes about the record six goals scored by Kilkenny s Mick Kennedy in the 1916 final on 58, and there s a crossword as Gaeilge and a plug for this bulletin on 62. The Cumann na mbunscol line-outs are on 63, with two pages of handball on 64 and 65. The overall count of pages devoted to advertisements or promotions is 15, rendering this a most informative and well-presented souvenir on the whole. July 3 rd and July 10 th, Munster Senior hurling championship finals, Kerry v. Tipperary in Killarney (football), Tipperary v. Waterford in Limerick (hurling): I m looking at these programmes together with the intention of performing a compare and contrast exercise. All of the necessary ingredients are contained in both (80 pages hurling, 72 pages football, both 5) to be included in the very good to excellent category. However, there s one aspect of the football programme that makes it better than the hurling in my view, and that s the layout, general design, and more attractive fonts used. I don t detect a printing credit in the football offering but it has a familiar Kerry look to it, whereas Cube looked after the hurling as usual but persisted with a spindly, unattractive font in my opinion. The content in both is first class, but I feel the design in the football version does it justice a good deal better than the hurling. Features in the football programme include Juvenile club focuses on Dr. Crokes and Clonmel Commercials respectively, a piece by Jason O Connor on Kerrymen helping to spread the football gospel in the Premier county, interviews with Killian Young and Evan Comerford, a tribute to the late Jim Forbes, and profiles of Minor players David Clifford (Kerry) and Jack Ryan (Cork). The Senior player profiles are well laid out, head and shoulders photographs with club, date of birth and championship debut alongside. They are equally good to be fair in the hurling programme where the items of interest include Seamus O Doherty s player of the past profile on Waterford s Austin Flynn, and his contribution on Waterford s previous league and championship outings in Limerick. Phil Fanning pens a tribute to the recently-deceased Seamus Power, while the Juvenile club profiles are on Fourmilewater and Thurles Gaels, and Jackie Cahill has a chat with Noel McGrath and Noel Connors respectively. I also note with interest that our friend James Lundon has a half-page ad in both programmes looking for old G.A.A. memorabilia, and featuring four illustrations of some interesting items in his

6 collection. They say you ve got to speculate to accumulate, and I m sure James ad caught the eye of many people browsing through these publications - a smart move. July 6 th, Tullamore - Bord Gáis Energy Leinster Under-21 hurling championship final, Dublin v. Offaly: A total of 20 fact-filled pages for 3, with Patrick Donegan going to great lengths to complete the full list of previous winning captains. I was happy to lend some assistance and I also called on Leo McGough for help, while I believe PM O Sullivan was on the case in Kilkenny. Between us we managed to come up with the definitive list, but Patrick deserves all of the credit for doing so much leg work. He also contributed pieces on their finals of 1967 and 1972, the previous winning teams from both counties, as well as the names of all those who played in this year s championship. There s a deserved page on Offaly s win in the inaugural Celtic Challenge, plus two promotional pages on The Faithful Fields, a call to arms for support for the new Offaly Training Centre. There s also the full list of previous meetings, the final appearances thus far of both counties, this year s top scorers, the roll of honour, and a plug for this bulletin sure, what more could you want or need in 20 pages?! July 6 th, Limerick - Munster Intermediate hurling championship final, Limerick v. Clare: Twelve pages for 2 here, with action shots of a player from each team on the cover. Page 2 has photographs of the mentors plus lists of additional panel members and backroom teams. Gerry O Sullivan s Chairman s address and Ed Donnelly s thanks are on 3, with a Q&A with referee Joe Larkin of Cork on 5 in a sandwich between ads for the Limerick race day and Bus Eireann. The line-outs on 6 and 7 are followed by ads on 8 and 10, with profiles of Eoin Quirke (Clare) and Kevin O Brien (Limerick) on 9 and 11 respectively. The back page has the roll of honour, a line on the cup (Sweet Afton) with its photograph at the bottom, and the paths to the final - a nice, compact programme fitting the occasion and containing all the relevant information one would expect. July 9 th, Thurles - All-Ireland qualifiers round two, Cork v. Limerick (football), Wexford v. Cork and Clare v. Limerick (hurling): DBA produced a 48-pager for 4 for this triple-header, including eleven pages of ads. and a further four of promotional material. Details of the officials are on 3, with an Arthur Sullivan piece titled Summer Of The Underdog? on 5 and 7 with a nice photograph of Darragh Foley and Daniel St. Ledger showing what Carlow s football win over Wicklow meant to them. The qualifier top scorers are on 8 with a photograph of Kildare s Johnny Doyle who still leads the way on The football scoreboard for the year thus far is on 9 with an action shot from Donegal v. Monaghan, and then Brian Murphy has a piece on 10 and 11 titled Inter-County Needs To Remain Pinnacle Of The Game. Cork s football qualifier record is on 12, and I can only assume the Rebels are not fond of posing for pre-game team photographs because the one used on 13 is a side-shot taken as far back as the first Allianz League game against Mayo! The football line-outs are on 14 and 15, with the Limerick football team photograph on 16 and their qualifier record on 17. There s similar treatment of the Cork hurlers on 18 and 19 before the Cork and Wexford line-outs on 20 and 21. Wexford s team photograph and qualifier record fill 22 and 23, while the centrespread is an article by Dermot Crowe of The Sunday Independent titled Walking The Qualifier Tightrope. It s laid out with a backdrop of a lush green playing field which is empty

7 save for the presence of three Clare hurlers and Limerick rival Paudie O Brien in the bottom right from their 2015 meeting. Clare s qualifier record and photograph is on 26 and 27, followed by the Clare and Limerick teams on 28 and 29, and the Limerick photograph and qualifier record on 30 and 31. There s a graphic of each county s qualifier record, using crests, on 33 along with the top 10 hurling qualifier marksmen. By my reckoning, Patrick Horgan s seven-point haul pushes him up from fourth to second spot on 5-86 (101), one behind Niall Gilligan on and one ahead of Brian Carroll on The hurling scoreboard thus far is on 35 with a Kilkenny v. Galway photograph, while Martán O Ciardha writes under the headline Ag Freastal Ar An Dá Thrá on 37 with a photograph of one of the dual players mentioned, Podge Collins. Profiles of the three referees complete with photographs are on 39, and there s five paragraphs of a taster from the GAA.ie column of retired Tipperary midfielder Shane McGrath on 43. All in all there s a decent amount of reading and, it could be construed as a collector s item by certain collectors given that the programme marks Wexford s first Senior hurling championship win over Cork in 60 years (I had to mention that somewhere! I ll be guarding my copies with tender loving care anyway!). July 9 th, All-Ireland Senior football championship round 2B qualifiers (Cork v. Limerick in Thurles; Fermanagh v. Mayo in Elverys McHale Park; Kildare v. Offaly in Newbridge; Longford v. Monaghan in Clones): There s one slight quirk to this 32-page programme for 3 in that the Cork v. Limerick details are included, even though the programme wasn t sold at this game. As alluded to above, it was part of the 48-pager for the Thurles triple-header where the game took place, along with two hurling qualifiers. However, there is some different information in that this programme lists the last ten qualifier results for all eight participants, rather than the full qualifier record as per Thurles. The articles by Brian Murphy and Arthur Sullivan are repeated along with the list of football qualifier top scorers. New material amounts to a Colm Keys centrespread titled Population Matters But Small Counties Can Still Dream, the line-outs for the Castlebar curtain-raiser (Charlestown Sarsfields v. Mountbellew/Moylough in the Connacht Senior club football Leo Kenny Memorial Cup final), and a piece by Martán O Ciardha ( Peil Ar Na hoileáin). July 10 th, Salthill - Connacht Senior football championship final, Galway v. Roscommon: DBA have been looking after the Connacht programmes for many years now, and this 56-page offering cost 5. One thing I really like about this one is the player profiles featuring a head and shoulders cut-out plus name, date of birth, club, height, weight and championship debut. So many programmes these days tend to neglect the most obvious and sought-after information of all, namely some details on the players apart from their name and club on the line-out pages. And the use of dates of birth is a lot more accurate than listing ages in years, a point I will reference again below in relation to the Ulster championship programmes. There s a lot of good, solid reading material throughout, with Mártan O Ciardha recalling some Cluichí Ceannais Eile on 8 and 9 before Seán McGoldrick of the Sunday World writes about Galway s Habit Of Wrecking Rossies Dreams. There was another addition to that list of course, albeit one week later. The previous meetings listed on 15 only start at 1950 for some reason, while

8 Dónal Keenan writes that New Heroes Can Join The Immortals on 16 and 17. Page 19 has a piece and black and white photograph of the jubilee team, namely the Roscommon Under-21 side of The Senior scoreboard is on 21, while Arthur Sullivan asks Have Galway Lit The Flame Again? on 22 and 23. Yes Arthur, they most certainly have. Those Galway player profiles I praised are very attractively laid-out from 24 to 27, with the Senior line-outs across the centrespread before Roscommon get a similar four-page treatment. There s more from Arthur Sullivan on 34 and 35, and once again whoever wrote the headline must have had a crystal ball on the desk: Roscommon Questions Remain After Bumpy Road. The Senior roll of honour and referee s profile is on 37, and we get into the Minor final coverage from 39 to 43. The Cumann na mbunscol teams have a crossword for children as Gaeilge below on 45, and there s a page on the visiting Shanghai Under-12 football team on 46. The facing page has a tribute to the late Aiden McGowan of Leitrim, a stalwart of his county and province. This was a good programme on the whole; and let s see more of those player profiles, and not just in Connacht! July 13 th, Innovate Wexford Park - Leinster Intermediate hurling championship final, Kilkenny v. Wexford: The most senior programme seller at the venue told me he was on the receiving end of several disgruntled comments when patrons realised this offering would cost them 1. It comprised four pages of a photocopied folded A4 sheet with the line-outs on 2 and 3 and a list of Wexford G.A.A. sponsors on the back. Some, but not all, had been photocopied in a manner that left the teams upside down. This was a prime example of a programme that ought to have been given out free of charge. July 16 th, All-Ireland Senior football championship round three qualifiers (Cavan v. Derry in Kingspan Breffni Park; Clare v. Sligo in Markievicz Park; Kildare v. Mayo in Elverys McHale Park; Longford v. Cork in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park): 32 pages for 3, with eight line-out pages of course along with a page apiece listing the full qualifier records of the respective opponents along with a profile of their referee underneath. The reading material comes from Martán O Ciardha ( Aisling Trí Na Néalta ), John Harrington of GAA.ie ( Embrace The Qualifiers And Reap The Rewards), and a centrespread from Declan Bogue ( Days To Be Treasured ), with a photograph of Longford s Robbie Smyth (spelled Smith) celebrating his goal the previous week versus Monaghan. There s a brief taster of Declan O Sullivan s column on GAA.ie and a page with a crossword and quiz for the children. There s eleven and one-third pages of ads/promotional material. July 17 th, Castlebar - Connacht Senior football championship final replay, Galway v. Roscommon: I recall from bitter experience as a former Co. P.R.O. that sinking feeling when a big game ends in a draw and you learn that the replay is on the following weekend. Thoughts turn straight away to compiling another readable programme with as much new information and fresh angles as possible. Maybe it wasn t so difficult for DBA in this instance given that it s their day job so to speak, unlike the hordes of amateur progamme producers around the county. Anyway, they stuck with the 5 cover charge and this time gave patrons 48 pages. So, what was new? Mártan O Ciardha looked at Athimirtí Eile, while Arthur Sullivan s piece carried a headline that must rank as understatement of the year given the dross served up in the drawn game: More Required Of Galway And Roscommon In Replay. This time it s pleasing to note that all of the Galway v Roscommon previous meetings are included over two pages, from 1901 all the way up to the

9 drawn encounter one week earlier. I could see no reason why the stats didn t start until 1950 in the first programme, and no explanation was given. Pages 18 and 19 are excellent, with superb use of graphics. On the top left of 18 there s a photograph of Kevin Walsh with one of his quotes in a circle. Next to that is a map outlining the venues of previous meetings along with a breakdown in numbers, all done in colour-coded format. There s a Galway by numbers piece stretching across the middle of 18 and 19 and containing six snippets in all. Odds and ends are on the bottom of 18, and Did You Know? on the facing page carries photographs of the three sets of twins on the Galway squad: the Sweeneys, the Kynes and the Varleys. The top of page 19 sees a theme introduced in the Ring, Rackard and Meagher Cup finals continued, namely the use of crests to outline the clubs with players on the squad, 16 in all. This is a superb addition to the DBA programmes I must say. Below that, to complete two fact-filled pages, is a snippet on the last drawn game between the counties at this stage in The pages are dotted with numerous photographs also, making for a most attractive spread. The Galway player profiles are repeated from 20 to 23, albeit in a slightly different lay-out, but there s the addition of their drawn game stats, namely wides, frees awarded, scoring chances, yellow cards, red cards, black cards and 45s. Roscommon gets the same treatment after the centrespread, with the 14 crests of their clubs with squad members carried on page 31. The top of 30 features a map of Ireland beside the headline Magical Mystery Tour. It lists the ten different venues for Roscommon s twelve competitive games of the year thus far, all highlighted on the map, making for a total distance travelled of 6,080 km. Galway man Ciarán Murphy of Second Captains contributes a two and a half page piece titled A Week To Gain A Decisive Edge. There s a list of all previous drawn finals and replays on 37, before Dónal Keenan has three pages of a potted history of some of these meetings. The teams for the curtain-raiser, a Ted Webb Cup Under-16 game between Roscommon and Galway City/West are on 42 and 43. July 17 th, Croke Park - Leinster Senior football championship final, Dublin v. Westmeath: A similar template as per the hurling final programme is in use for this 76-pager for 5. All of the same features are included again, while Martin Breheny contributes the guest piece and argues that Provincial Championships Continue To Do Their Duty. Pat Teehan recalls Westmeath s sensational one-point win over the Dubs in 1967, and the more familiar comfortable win for the boys in blue in 1993, complete with an action photograph of a boyish-looking Jim Gavin. The previous meetings are on 23 before Brendan Minnock talks to John Heslin of Westmeath over a two-page spread. Cian Murphy then has a chat with Cian O Sullivan before the team photographs are followed by two pages on Trevor Giles of Meath, recipient of the Hall of the Fame award on the day. Minor coverage starts on 41 and includes the previous final appearances of both Laois and Kildare, coupled with a report on their last final clash in Six pages are repeated from the Leinster hurling programme, four on the 1916 Rising and two on the late Jack Boothman. Given the big difference between supporters attending Kilkenny v. Galway

10 in hurling, and Dublin v. Westmeath in football, this is certainly no harm and was a wise decision, particularly with the strong emphasis on the capital city in the 1916 features. Our friend Leo McGough s From The Archives features Des Ferguson of Dublin and a look back at the counties clash in 1967 when Donie Smith of Westmeath made history by playing football in a helmet to protect himself after a head injury. There s a page on the visiting Warwickshire Under-12 development squad alongside one on the forthcoming World Games to be hosted in Dublin from August 7-14 th. The last twelve pages of another informative programme are mainly filled with promotional material and ads. July 23 rd, Tullamore - All-Ireland Junior football championship semi-final, Mayo v. Wexford: This competition is the unloved child of the G.A.A. family so to speak, with scarcely one hundred people in attendance and most of them parents, siblings or partners I would guess. In the circumstances one couldn t blame DBA for producing a basic full-colour four-pager for 1 with a silhouette of football action on the front as a backdrop to the county names and crests. The line-outs are on 2 and 3 of course, with the back featuring a GPA promotional photograph supporting the Childhood Cancer Foundation. Incidentally, one of the national newspapers had a two-line preview of this game, and the second line made me despair. The writer (not noted for his accuracy on loftier G.A.A. matters either), declared that Wexford had beaten Meath and Dublin to win Leinster. For the record, the Dubs haven t entered this competition at all in recent years, and we didn t cross paths with the Royals either. Longford and Louth were our previous opponents - just another example of the inaccuracy that annoys the many collectors among us with a passion for facts, figures and proper research. July 24 th, Thurles - All-Ireland Senior hurling championship quarter-finals, Waterford v. Wexford and Galway v. Clare: You know the serious stuff is starting when the DBA programme increases in size from A5 to B5. It was 5 for 48 pages and, just to underline my point, Enda McEvoy s piece on page 11 is also titled The Serious Stuff Starts Today! The three previous Wexford v. Waterford meetings are marked by the team line-outs and an action photograph from each, and there s two pages of thumbnail photographs of participants from all four counties, just with name and club (the addition of dates of birth would be a big bonus). Christy O Connor writes about The Cost Of Evolution on the centrespread, and ends with the ominous line: For now, that increasing disconnect between many supporters and many of the modern coaches - and ultimately the game itself - may be about to get bigger. The line-outs from the last two Galway v. Clare meetings are on 32 and 33 beside the list of their twelve previous championship clashes. Dermot Crowe has a piece titled Opportunity For Healing And Redemption, with the Minor coverage (Limerick v. Wexford) from 39 to 41. There s a nice two pages for the younger readers on 42 and 43, featuring the work of illustrator yellowbelly.ie as well as a very good photographic look at the sideline-taking styles of Austin Gleeson and Joe Canning, two masters of the art. More of this please in programmes, as we need the children of today to develop our love of collecting; this type of focus on their needs will definitely help in that regard! July 27 th, Loughgiel - Bord Gais Energy Ulster Under-21 hurling championship final, Antrim v. Derry: Spectators entering Fr. Healy Park and paying the 5 stg. admission fee were given a free sheet printed one side only, although of a higher quality than would be the norm in such a case. It

11 was printed on heavier, card-like paper and the line-outs were in colour and in keeping with the normal template used for Ulster Senior championship games. Ulster championship programmes x 12: My complete set of Ulster championship programmes arrived from Stephen Donnelly just in time for review purposes. There s twelve in all, ten in football including replays, and two in hurling. I bought them for 53 ( 37 plus 16 postage), and I would encourage all those interested in obtaining the set to stephen.donnelly.ulster@gaa.ie before placing an order. Just bear in mind that he is on holidays now until August 15 th. I don t propose to go into the content of each programme game by game, but I will make some general observations. The size is slightly larger than B5 for all bar the football final which jumps to magazine/brochure dimensions. The pre-dominant cover colours for football were an attractive red and gold, save for the final itself which boasts a mainly white background. The covers of the hurling programmes are darker, but with nice use of graphics. Mentioning graphics, Lairdesign have partnered with the Ulster Council for many years now to produce programmes which are very easy on the eye, colourful and particularly adept at getting the message across in terms of the numerous initiatives undertaken by the provincial body. One hobby horse of mine was also finally rectified during the campaign: for some time now, the apostrophe had been omitted from the President s foreword, and it drove the sub-editor in me to distraction when I saw Presidents foreword in print. It was the same for the first three games this year but, lo and behold, somebody finally spotted it as the beautiful apostrophe appeared for the Monaghan v. Down quarter-final in Clones on June 5 th and has become a permanent fixture. The player profiles feature name, age, height and weight, with the age given in years rather than dates of birth. I prefer the DOB, although it s good to note the years do seem to be changed to mark birthdays. For example, Tyrone s Niall Morgan is 24 in the Derry programme on May 22 nd, and 25 in the final programme versus Donegal on July 17 th. That dispels one fear I have when ages are listed - that they are handed in before the campaign and not altered as the months progress. Dates of birth are another nice way of engaging the younger folk though, as they can scan the details to see if they share a birthday with any of the players. In an era where there s an increasing disconnect between players and supporters, this is one antidote when used. The familiar Valuing The Volunteer feature is continued in this year s programmes, a profile of a hard-working clubperson from each of the competing counties. The Senior and Minor games are always comprehensively previewed, while a special feature saw a page devoted to the activities of the participating counties in 1916, well researched and superbly illustrated. There s detailed analysis of match stats, the usual one-minute Q&A with a player from each Senior team, while the player profiles are expanded to include head and shoulders pics in the final programme. Other special features from the Tyrone v. Donegal 76-pager for 5 include reflections on the Tyrone team of 1956 and the Down side of 1991, an obituary for the late Seamus Mac Geidigh of Raidio na Gaeltachta, and the full lists of championship rolls of honour and top scorers through the years. One slight gripe: as is the normal custom, the team photographs are not captioned. I think praise is also due for the 48-pager issued for the hurling final between Antrim and Armagh in Owenbeg on July 10 th, given that this championship is very much the forgotten child of the G.A.A.,

12 shoved into a corner away from the main action. In the circumstances it would have been easy to produce a smaller programme, but the Ulster Council certainly did it justice. That programme was 3, the same price as for all football games before the decider, while the hurling semi-final version was 2 for 24 pages. FROM FOREIGN FIELDS: How many collectors, if any, concentrate on trying to obtain programmes from foreign fields? I acquired an interesting item recently for the Fexco Asian Gaelic Games, played in Shanghai, China, on October 24 th and 25 th last year. The numbering is unusual as the first inside right page is 2 rather than 3. It s 32 pages in all including cover, with the schedule on the inside front cover and a message from Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. on 3 (or 2 as I have explained). The grand total of the next ten pages also feature messages from assorted sponsors, visitors from Ireland, and finally Joe Trolan who is Chairman of the Asian County Board (I always find it odd that they are referred to as County Boards; would Regional Board not make more sense?). The competing clubs then get a page each, with some proferring more information than others, and all bar three including a photograph. For the record, the teams involved were Abu Dhabi Na Fianna, Beijing, Laochra Busan, Dalian Wolfhounds, Dubai Celts, Hong Kong, Japan, Orang Eire (Malaysia), Queen s University Belfast international team, Seoul Gaels, Shanghai, Singapore Gaelic Lions, Suzhou, Taiwan Celts, Thai GAA, UCD International and Viet Celts. The inside back cover features a tribute to the late Lisa Orsi, formerly of Singapore Gaelic Lions, who died earlier in the year at the young age of 22. I have a few of these Asian Games programmes in my collection, and they are certainly different from the norm and nice to have as a result. ODDS AND ENDS: Just a few loose ends to be tied up here from programme reviews over previous months. Firstly, I received the Dublin v. Laois Leinster Senior football championship programme from Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, on June 4 th too late to be looked at last month. It was 3 for 44 pages, and a couple of items in particular caught my eye. The curtain-raiser was the meeting of Kilkenny and London in the British Junior football championship, eventually won by Lancashire. The Cats were holders, and this prompted an interesting trick question on page 19: name the last team to win Sam Maguire and Liam MacCarthy Cups at inter-county level in the one year? If you opted for Cork in 1990, you d be wrong it was actually Kilkenny in 2015 as the Sam Maguire Cup is also the trophy for the British Junior football championship! Secondly, Leo McGough s From The Archives Dublin focus contained the full list of the 45 games the Dubs had played on the road since the breakthrough of Heffo s Army in They were down here in Wexford twice, in 1985 and 1993 respectively, and left their mark in their own inimitable way. The man operating the old, wooden scoreboard left his post in disgust back in 1985 when he was joined by some Dubs, one of whom sat on the roof and, when the inevitable call of nature came, had nowhere to go suffice to say that the scoreboard man got to literally experience being pissed upon from a height! Then eight years later, Wexford manager Liam Fardy was giving his pre-match team talk in the old dressing-rooms at the Clonard road corner when there was an almighty noise from above and another inebriated Dub fell through the roof! Thankfully he had a soft landing, and his goal of trying to gain free entry to the ground was also attained as he raced out into the corridor in a did that really happen moment for the Wexford players and mentors!

13 Last month featured a review of the Ring, Rackard and Meagher Cup finals, and the Ring re-fixture was held in Croke Park on June 25 th. DBA produced 16 pages for 3. G.A.A. President Aogán O Fearghail comments on the unfortunate chain of events which is something of an understatement, although it s understandable that his position restricts him somewhat in his choice of words. Mártan O Ciardha contributes a piece as usual while Christy O Connor has two pages on Meath Looking For Different Kind Of Retribution. There s a Q&A with two of the participants in the Intermediate camogie curtain-raiser, Niamh Mallon (Down) and Aoife Maguire (Meath). Their teams complete the text in a programme with five pages of ads. After extolling the many virtues of the full-colour compilation programme to mark the Galway hurling championships some months ago, I should comment too on the football equivalent. It s 5 for 40 pages and is designed to cover the first three rounds, the last of which on August 13 th -14 th may well be altered if the county continues its winning run. Like its hurling counterpart, it s well presented and jam-packed with information, photographs, a championship preview, reviews of the completed Under-21 championships, and various tit-bits of useful news. Is there any other county putting this level of effort into a programme for the early rounds of its championships? Let me know if you ve come across any more. Finally, my thanks to Ed Donnelly for sourcing me a copy of the Féile Peil na nog programme from Kerry, North Cork and West Limerick from June 24 th to 26 th. This is a most unusual offering as it quite closely resembles an Argos catalogue in terms of size, colour coding and the type of paper used. It s standard A5 but it runs to a whopping 322 pages plus cover. There s a notable absence of the cost on the cover, and a set style of a page given to each participating club. Gaps appear therein though, with some not submitting panels, while others neglected to supply potted histories. In the case of the hurling equivalent, such omissions were chased and rectified before publication, but here it seems to have been a case of tough luck if you re not in, it s your own fault. On the plus side, the mini-histories that do appear contain a treasure trove of information, and you certainly won t read them all in one sitting! This is a programme that will take more than one night to read from cover to cover, that s for sure! FROM THE ARCHIVES: Given the year that s in it, some look back to the seismic events of 1916 is probably long overdue. And on the basis that it s better a little late than never, my choice this month is the match programme for the official opening of MacDonagh Park in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, on Sunday, September 27 th, The fact that it s Mac as opposed to Mc is an important point, just as the Liam MacCarthy Cup deserves its proper title. I ve seen McCarthy written more times than I care to remember. Given that the programme is almost 74 years old at this stage, my copy is in remarkably good condition, with no writing or paper tears. The photograph of Thomas MacDonagh on the cover - in green type - is somewhat obscured alright given the passage of time, but that s about the only blemish and I m certainly not complaining! A couple of interesting things to note about the programme - firstly, the absence of the date on the cover, and inside too for that matter. On page 26 it does state that the opening will take place on

14 Sunday, September 27 th, at 2.15 p.m., but it doesn t give the year. I worked it out via a reference in one of the ads to June 1942, and also a poem titled , and then to be certain sure I googled to check that September 27 th, 1942, had indeed fallen on a Sunday. Of course, I could have referenced one of the excellent Eire Og (Nenagh) history volumes I mentioned in a previous issue, but I don t have them to hand as I write. I mentioned a couple of interesting things about the programme but just referred to one of them thus far. The second aspect is its pocket size - 113mm wide by 180mm deep. The Nenagh Guardian has a front page printing credit and the twopence price is noted on the bottom of the inside front cover below a poem titled Of A Poet Patriot by Thomas MacDonagh. The cover is printed on a slightly stronger card than the newsprint of the inside pages, none of which are numbered, but there are 40 in all to make a total of 44. The first article as Gaeilge is titled An G.A.A. agus a dhualgairí and fills page 3. That is followed by a one-page profile of Thomas MacDonagh, and then two pages on the address he gave to his accusers after his courtmartial. Page 7 is practically filled by a portrait photograph of Michael Cusack, with three lines on The Founder of the G.A.A. below which are carried on to fill page 8. Next up is The G.A.A. Charter, the full wording of Archbishop Croke s letter to Cusack on December 18, 1884, described in a subheading as his Clarion Call. An eleven-line poem by An Deiseach titled completes page 10, and 11 and 12 is a general article simply labelled Gaelic Games. Tipperary s Part in the Gaelic Revival starts on 13 with a photograph of former Munster Council Chairman Frank McGrath. It carries on to 17 with an image of Michael Gleeson also included, and I note some interesting observations in the context of how Tipperary are faring today. A sub-head Football In North Tipperary starts and ends with the following lines: Somehow football never made a wide appeal in North Tipperary The game is still played, but the standard is very low indeed. How times change; a low standard? Not any more my friends! There s just one line on camogie, as follows: Camogie flourished for a while, but enthusiasm quickly waned, and the game is now almost non-existent. Happily, writers like Martin Bourke and the late Gerry Slevin had the pleasure of recording the golden years of the game in the Premier county many years later. Page 18 is filled by Athletics In North Tipp., and then on 19 and 20 we have the words of Ireland s Hurling Men by Brian O Higgins and A Song For the Gaelic Clubs by Ellen O Leary. We get into the real nitty-gritty so to speak on 21 with a piece on The New Park and how it came into being. That is followed overleaf by brief snippets listing a famous Toomevara team of the nineties, a list of old Gaels from the closing years of the last century and later, and the line-out of the famed De Wets team. An article on Tipperary s Twelve All-Irelands starts on 23 and is broken up by a photograph of Tomás Malone, Chairman of the North Tipperary Board. It fills 24 as well, recording the hurling wins from 1887 to The four All-Ireland football championship wins of 1889, 1895, 1900 and 1920 feature on 25, with a small piece below in praise of Toomevara for marching to Croke Park in 1916 wearing Green, White and Gold armlets; a most audacious act surely, at a time when the wearing of the national emblem meant at least the prison cell. Characteristic of Tipperary was the comment of

15 an applauding Ireland. The Toomevara stance came while winning the 1915 Wolfe Tone Medal Competition which wasn t played until August of the following year. It s only on 26 that we get the details of the actual programme of events for the big day and, as I say, the year 1942 still isn t mentioned. The blessing was imparted by Archdeacon Slattery, with Frank McGrath of Nenagh, described as the prince of North Tipperary Gaels, formally opening the park. Two hurling games were to be staged, with Kiladangan facing Kilruane MacDonaghs, and Roscrea taking on Borrisoleigh. Tickets to the field were 1/-, and 6d. to the enclosure. Activities were to conclude with a Ceilidhe Mhor in the New Hall, Nenagh. A tribute to Michael Hogan is on 27 above a photograph of Seamus Gardiner, Munster Council Chairman. The ads start on 28, and it s there that I note a reference to the year in the half-pager from the Munster & Leinster Bank Limited It reads as follows: Resources (June, 1942).. 33,249,605. The ads continue all the way through to 42 before the inside front cover which carries the names of the MacDonagh Park committee, and the list of Tipperary hurling champions since A back page ad completes this little gem of a programme.next month I ll stick with the 1916 theme, so watch this space! THE SWOP - BY JAMES A. LUNDON (LIMERICK VIA GALWAY) All collectors swop with each other to some degree or another. I know a number of collectors who have never swopped with anyone, though I'm not sure how they could ever have built a collection that way. Many times we just give each other items of interest. Other times we buy and sell each other programmes or collectible material. And then on rare occasions, we swop with each other. There is some basic science to "the swop", especially the higher up the food chain you go, though it is very much an art at the very top end of the collecting world, amongst serious collectors. I may talk about the serious collector in another column. The swop (or swap - Google tells me that there are 266 million results for this spelling versus a paltry 5.5m for the spelling I prefer) when it goes wrong can get very messy, with collectors potentially falling out with each other over swops/deals which go wrong. Fragile egos can get very battered and bruised during the haggling and dealing that inevitably goes on during particular arduous swops. I have been on both ends of this painful situation over my near-20 years' collecting! Swops should be even i.e. what you are giving away is equivalent in all practical ways to what you are getting. This is easily achieved when the swop involves modern material, i.e. a 1987 MFF for an 1987 MHF is a straightforward swop and is easily achieved. The same is probably true of most competitions from the same year in the modern era, i.e. 1987, 1977 or Is it true of 1957? Probably not as straightforward! It depends on a few things but ultimately upon the people who are making the swop: are both parties happy to complete the swop with all known information? Obviously, the longer you are collecting, the better you should know whether a particular programme is just scarce, rare, very rare or possibly unique. Is the 1957 Munster football final much rarer than the equivalent 1957 Munster hurling final? Aside: any differences in a swop deal can be made up with cash or other less important programmes by agreement.