Don't ask me how I came across this, but an entry in The Dublin Gazette, No. 2854, covering Tuesday 27 September 1774 to Thursday 29 September 1774 notes the following:
"On Thursday last, there was a very great Hurling Match for an Hundred Guineas between the principal Hurlers in the County of Tipperary and the County of Galway, at Ballingarry, near this Town, which was won by the former."
https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/DGZ-1774-2854
Amateur sport, eh? ;)
Quote from: Evil Genius on January 26, 2026, 08:02:10 PMDon't ask me how I came across this, but an entry in The Dublin Gazette, No. 2854, covering Tuesday 27 September 1774 to Thursday 29 September 1774 notes the following:
"On Thursday last, there was a very great Hurling Match for an Hundred Guineas between the principal Hurlers in the County of Tipperary and the County of Galway, at Ballingarry, near this Town, which was won by the former."
https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/DGZ-1774-2854
Amateur sport, eh? ;)
It doesn't say that the players got the 100 guineas. And Tipp were always likely to have won.
Having bother reading that but it's well known that the landed gentry with their sprawling estates had hurling teams from the peasants who worked on their land.
It isn't by chance that hurling is strong in South Galway, Tipperary, East Cork , Kilkenny etc with the good farmland
Quote from: armaghniac on January 26, 2026, 08:54:56 PMIt doesn't say that the players got the 100 guineas. And Tipp were always likely to have won.
No doubt and no comment.
It will most likely have been staged for gambling purposes. It is similar to Steeplechasing, first recorded in Co. Cork in 1752, where (I think) two wealthy landowners each put a large stake on their best horse and jockey in a cross-country race between two landmarks (church steeples) on a winner-takes-all basis.
Abd it was very common in England around that time for wealthy landowners to raise a cricket team from the village they owned to challenge the village team of a neighbouring landlord on a similar basis.
Indeed, gambling on cricket was so prevalent that the Courts risked being overwhelmed with disputes, meaning the government was forced to make gambling a private contractual matter between participants, so that you couldn't sue someone for not paying out etc, a situation which afaik continued until an Act of Parliament in 2005 which gave legal recognition to regulated betting.
(I'm open to correction on the above by better informed posters than me, btw).