Celtic Games of Our Fathers - From Setanta to Rory McIlroy

Way back in the mists of time, a hero came to Scotland from Ireland. With three massive steps, he came bounding over from the green swards of the Emerald Isle to the Isle of Skye. Hanging off his thighs and traveling with him were 80 other people: 80 more on each arm; nine more spinning in his hair. He came to Scotland to compete his education as a fosterling with the Warrior Queen Sgáthach; to learn to battle and love. As a gift in return, he gave the game of shinty to Scotland.

Historians, though uncertain about exact chronologies, generally testify to the both the antiquity and commonality of the ball and stick games of the Irish and the Scots. The above legend of the Queen Sgáthach and the origins of camán in Scotland, quoted by my good friend, Hugh Dan MacLennan, the Mícéal Ó Muircheartaigh of Scotland, captures through metaphor the common heritage of the Irish and Scottish national games. ‘The game of camanachd’, MacLennan continues, ‘is peculiar to the Celts of Scotland and Ireland - peculiar that is to say, to the old Scottish or Gaelic-speaking people’. Shinty - iomain or camanachd in Scottish Gaelig - was introduced along with Christianity and the Gaelic language to Scotland around 1500 years ago by Irish missionaries. It is noteworthy that Saint Colmcille is believed to have arrived in Scotland as a result of a little local difficulty at an Irish hurling match! Born in c.521 A.D. in Donegal, Colmcille is actually the first historical person to be referenced in connection with the ancient game.

Before the codification of sport in the nineteenth century, stick and ball games existed as early forms of field entertainment and ceremonial practices in indigenous cultures across the world. There may have been cross fertilisation, or in the case of the native South American Aracuano stick game or Isle of Man cammóg game, eradication, of playing styles through the ages as civilisations and empires rose and fell, but the human impulse to propel a ball through use of stick or body is a universal emotion that lay at the root of society’s greatest sports today. 

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Many respected academics and commentators on Scottish heritage acknowledge the Celtic Scots from Ireland as the originators of a pan-Celtic kingdom which once embraced the north of Ireland and the western seaboard of Scotland. Father Ninian Macdonald, the shinty historian claimed in the 1930s that:

Shinty is one of the oldest games in the world. It is nearly as old as the Gaelic language itself. Wherever in antiquity we find that language, be it in Ireland or Scotland, there, too, have we shinty with it...The oldest legends and myths, written over a thousand years ago, represent the mythic heroes of the Gael...as engaging in gigantic matches all over the lands of the Gael. At the dawn of history proper, with Columba (Colmcille) at Iona and King Brude at Inverness, we have historic evidence that the game was played...Camanachd is therefore a game of high antiquity.

A survey of the ancient Brehon laws of Ireland casts an illuminating light on the significance of camán.. Fostered children had to be provided with a hurley; bronze and copper ornamentation on the hurleys delineated between ranks of the sons of noblemen, and immunity was granted to a player who injured another during the course of play. The early Irish had a tremendous love of competition, be it ball games or the board games of winter – and some renowned students have traced the origins of chess to these early peoples. Gaelic scholars have recorded references to native ball and stick games back as far as the Battle of Moytura, near Cong, County Mayo, in 1272 BC between the native Fir Bolg and the invading Tuatha De Danann. The earliest Irish myths refer to the Tailteann Games, an ancient Irish sporting festival began by the god, Lugh – it was not unintentional (nor in a fit of modesty!) that the modern founder of the GAA, Michael Cusack, also went by the pen-name of Lugh Lámh Fhada. The Tailteann Games occurred annually during the Feast of Lughnasa (August 1) for almost 4,000 years until 1169 A.D.

Later medieval accounts of the early Irish sagas which outline the epic life and deeds of Cúchulainn, may be shrouded in the variables of folk memory but from these mythical mists emerge accounts of hurling spectacles, events and warriors, that show how central camán was to the Irish consciousness. The Scottish camanachd also traces its mythological ancestry with camán/iomain back to this Ulster cycle. In their brilliant 2009 exploration of the development of ball playing, camán, shinny (and yes, the informal ice hockey game of Canada goes by the same name) and hurling in the province of Ulster before the GAA in the acclaimed book, Ulaidh, Eire agus Eile, Art Ó Maolfabhail, Roddy Hegarty and Dónal McAnallen cast new light on the history and myth of Séadanta, (the gaelic for pathmaker, leader and later corrupted into Setanta), also known as Cú Chulainn. In so doing, they open up intriguing possibilities for Ireland as being an ancestral progenitor of golf, even before the Celtic cousins later settled across the sea in Scotland and fine tuned the modern version.

It is related how at Eamhain Mhacha, one of the seats of power in ancient Ulster, Séadanta took part in a game of áin phoill – ‘the driving of a hole’ as it is called in the earliest version of the story, written down in Leabhar na hUidhre, (The Book of Dun Cow) in 1100 and used a lorg ána, or driving stick. In the later Book of Leinster version of 1180A.D. this game is called cluiche poill, meaning literally ‘the game of a hole’, and the words, báire, iomána (hurling) and camán (hurley) are introduced. Iomáin, literally meaning to ‘drive about’, was derived from áin, meaning to drive. The terms of lorg ána, áin phoill and cluiche poill have long been obsolete in an Irish context since. However iomáin has never gone out of use in either Ireland or Scotland, and later it developed another form iománaíocht, signifying hurling, and similarly the word camán, the hurley, is universally understood in Ireland and Scotland. It is possible that two different types of play may have been confused in the written stories of Cú Chulainn. Though it may be a subject of conjecture, there is no doubt, that this ‘game of the hole’ with its ‘driving stick’ does bear the traits of an early form of golf, but further references to this sport in the ancient gaelic tracts of Ireland remain elusive, and there is a case for citing European influences and beyond such as the Dutch sport of kolf as fusing with our own to create the modern game. The golf historian Robert Browning also referred to the ancient gaelic roots of golf in his 1955 history of the sport. Given the exploits of a certain young County Down man hailing from Holywood recently at the US Open, the following Shaw Mason Survey of north Down in 1825 is of interest:

Amongst their other amusements, the game of shinny, as it is called by some, and common (camán) by others is of note. Common is derived from a Celtic word ‘com’, which signifies ‘crooked’ as it is played with a bent stick at its lower extremity somewhat like a reaping hook. ….It resembles the game of golf in Edinburgh. Christmas is the season when it is most generally played. It prevails all through Ireland, and in the Highlands of Scotland. Nor is it confined to any sect, as Dissenters and Romanists seem to be equally attached to it.

The great game of Iomán was always the game of the people of all creeds, and of all classes. It is interesting to note that golf actually featured as one of the later Tailteann Games in the 1920s. As for the Holywood man who bested the Congressional in unprecedented style, Rory McElroy, nephew of the 1980s Armagh footballer Mickey McDonald, is obviously steeped in a great tradition of Gaelic ball and stick games. He sure did play like the modern take on the Red Hand heroes and more power to him in the years ahead as his greatness to come reflects well on his family and on the talent conveyor belt of the thirty two county Golfing Union of Ireland from which he emerged.

Presidential tidings and flying the flag for Ireland

It is good to learn of the recent news that one of the two original tricolors unfurled at the GPO buildings during the 1916 Easter Rising is now in the good hands of the folk at the American Irish Historical Society.

Some comment has been raised about such a historically precious artifact, so central to the narrative of Irish independence, belonging on Irish soil, but to raise such heckles is to be totally oblivious to the point that Irish America was also at the heart of this independence movement.

That the American Irish Historical Society, with its traditional warm welcome and its dedication to the motto of its founding patrons, “That the world may know” now hosts the flag is entirely appropriate. The Society’s mission since the time of Teddy Roosevelt’s involvement and before to Thomas Hamilton Murray in the 1880s has been to bring to light the history of the Irish people. The history of the Irish people, with all of its complexities and varying shades of green, has never been exclusive to mere national boundaries - a 70 million diaspora can bear witness to this.

This may not be apparent to those such as John McColgan, director of “Riverdance”, who opined in a TV interview aired during the past week that Michael Flatley’s post “Riverdance” career has been less authentic due to its cultural fusion with his American homeland. Nor is it apparent to the broadcaster Pat Kenny, who earns handsomely from the Irish tax payer, and has more than once touted his opposition to Irish people abroad who don’t contribute to the state coffers being entitled to vote in Ireland.
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Waterford’s own Thomas Francis Meagher, the Young Irelander who, with Boru’s descendant William Smith O’Brien, brought home the first Irish tricolor from French shores, would surely approve of this latest acquisition though. Having been condemned to death for leading sedition in Ireland, he later led the Irish Brigade of the Union army in some the bloodiest campaigns of the American Civil War, and became a later governor of Montana.

He wrote of his decision to lead the Irish Brigade: “it is not only our duty to America, but also to Ireland. We could not hope to succeed in our effort to make Ireland a Republic without the moral and material support of the liberty-loving citizens of these United States”. Meagher’s own papers are amongst the collection held at the recently restored American Irish Historical Society’s 5th Avenue home.

The GPO itself, having received a stay of execution from Bertie’s plans for a shopping mall, etc., remains open as it has since 1818 for its original purpose as the nerve center for mail distribution in Ireland and remains in decent working condition. It is to be hoped that in the future No. 16 Moore Street will be umbillicaly linked with the GPO in a responsive, dignified and relevant vision and pragmatic plan for the appropriate honoring of the centenary of the Easter Rising. The Alamo of the Easter Rising, where the 1916 rebels of O’Connell Street made their last stand after tunneling through the burning ruins from O’Connell Street.

Some of the workers told the Celtic Times that the plans for a theater aren’t going down too well either, but given that it was a poet’s uprising, the likes of McDonagh, Pearse, Plunkett et al would hardly be averse to a new national theatre taking some kind of residence within an overall living heritage site of the free people Connolly envisaged.


It could truly reverberate on Ireland’s main street and beyond. One champion of this national theater project is Senator David Norris, who has had a rough week of it in his Irish presidential campaign bid. Whatever the outcome, and indeed it may be a good citizen of this great Irish American parish who becomes Ireland’s next president, that person will be presiding over a nation who’s fate is near as perilous as the one which confronted the first president of the Irish Republic’s government amidst the burning embers of the GPO. Perhaps a new republic is the antidote. Anyone for seconds?

It is after all a time to be bold. This was something which the recently departed finance minister Brian Lenihan preached. It was something of a tragedy that a man with his depth of intelligence and courage could have been so central to the fateful architecture of guarantees given to institutions now subject to criminal inquiries.

His strongest supporters have referred in their eulogies to his critical Achilles heel as being the inability to say no, something which the ferociously hungry hordes of self serving senior civil servants no doubt preyed upon when having seen their frontline colleagues in the public service from firemen to teachers experience unprecedented cuts, they successfully lobbied for immunity from such on December 23 2009, betraying a horrible instinct for self preservation instead of public service when there was but a carcass left to nurse their demands.

They even managed to get the €200 levy sidelined for the annual parking fees which cost the state €9 million a year! That December date as much as the bank guarantees will remain etched in the minds of many who have had to meet things head on, and they are part of a vested straitjacket that will have to be removed given their collective responsibility for the advice given to Lenihan in those decisive days of September 2008.

On a human level, I couldn’t help but think of the lot of politicians with Lenihan’s departure, men like Minister Seamus Brennan who I met with at Leinster House in the context of a National Sports Museum for the Shannon Region when he was but months away from his own death from cancer. Tony Killeen was also present, a man fighting cancer.

The late minister also had a special bond with the Celtic Times in that we both led winning 5 a side teams in NUI Galway, although the fact that our team FC Hungover happened to pip a side that went by the name LSD Eindhoven has not painted this parish’s achievements in a glowing light in comparison.

Perhaps Luke Ming Flanagan, TD for South Leitrim Roscommon would empathize. Speaking of which, I haven’t got the latest update on his campaign on the right to bear slains and man the bogs of Ireland, but this column from its endeavors last week in the moors of west Clare most wholeheartedly recommends footing turf as a perfect aid in facilitating tight hamstrings; perhaps it is why the auld one say there were no hamstrings in their days but decapitations maybe with the like of the Iron Man of Rhode around.

At the East Clare Heritage Interactive Turf Exhibition are the hardy boys of Lough Derg, Ger Madden and Paddy Gleeson

Incidentally East Clare Heritage in Tuamgraney, Ireland’s oldest continually used church from the time of Boru, has a turf exhibition worth catching at the moment if around the stunning Lough Derg district. If the regulator’s office ever decide to take down the turf-cutters, they may yet have to pay a visit to a White House hopeful, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, who has previous as a teenager when it comes to saving turf in his ancestral Clare homeland.

Slán tamall

Guests of the nation: Queen Elizabeth, Obama, Ireland's history and its future

Queen's visit to the Garden of Remembrance Source: Government Pool

The much heralded and trumpeted visits of presidents and monarchs have come and gone, and dignity fatigue has kicked in as the Irish masses are said to be on the verge of national meltdown from collective good behaviour and putting on such a brave show.

Our Taoiseach has gone on primetime TV to specially congratulate us, the people on “not bringing shame on our nation” during the queen’s visit. One Sunday paper, the likely candidate, was even peddling headlines like, “proud to be Irish, proud to be British”.

Just as the Scots are on verge of striking camp and declaring nationhood, there are some seriously flirtatious eyes being made in some media and governing circles here at a common wealth with the perilous state of the collective coffers being cited. Those regurgitating this spin would be better advised to tone down the national self congratulatory claptrap of recent days as a great majority of us in this parish intend to remain as citizens still and not subjects for a good while yet to either London or Frankfurt; but wouldn’t mind subjecting a few of the Irish lackeys to the pitch cap treatment of the previous regimes, not just those who committed national treason in undermining the finances of the state, but those who continue to facilitate their reward instead of punishment. Simulated treatment of course.

The great tradition of Irish hospitality is enshrined within the ancient brehon laws long before the tourism folk today rebranded it as the land of the céad míle fáilte, the land of one hundred thousand welcomes, a welcome they say which is to be especially experienced if you are travelling through the maze that is Dublin Airport as Shannon, the international gateway to the west and both the innovative and traditional hub for north American air traffic seems to be the round peg in their squared image.

Our sophisticated Gaelic Irish ancestors knew that hospitality was good for travel and trade. One’s wealth was judged on not what was owned but given to guests when taking on the role of host. All social classes were obliged to provide food and shelter to those that came to their doorstep. The guest was subject to the protection of the home of the host and was expected to stay clear of violence while enjoying this hospitality. Nor was it proper for a guest to offer payment in return for hospitality. That is why, no matter what stance was taken prior to the visit, once the guest was on Irish soil in either Belfast or Dublin, ( I presume removal of our constitutional claims doesn’t mean removal of personal claims too) it is wrong to seek apologies. Beforehand fine, afterwards fine, but not once hospitality is offered during the visit itself.

Yet there are those pliable souls who would misconstrue such hospitality as a sign to push other agendas. Listen boys, the IMF were also pounding on the door of the Brits back in the 70s, our present travails were largely inflicted by Anglo Irish bank; the ECB loan money that flooded the banks over the least decade had no passport, it wasn’t technically Irish loans but German investments into British property developments transacted via the intermediary of a private bank that happened to be based in Dublin. So if the Irish mountain climbers fall so do the people holding onto that rope. It is good to be neighbourly.

Regarding the state visit, the gallows humour doing the rounds in best pseudo patriotic sincerity prior to the visit was that Hello magazine was vying with An Phoblacht for photographic rights to the pending visit of Queen Betty, but An Phoblacht was insisting it had a stronger bid in that it only sought one clear shot. Despite the strong security presence in Dublin giving the black and white feel of Paris 1940, there was something moving on a purely emotive level at what should have been an unimaginable sight of the 85 year old British Queen bowing her head in front of our republican dead at the Garden of Remembrance. Words are rendered useless here.

Just two pucks of a sliothar away, down Jones Road, a new face was introduced on the national stage a couple of weeks back when Liam O’ Neill of Trumera, County Laois became the first President Elect of the Gaelic Athletic Association without having to contest an election in over 100 years. O’Neill, whose home club is not based too far from President Obama's GAA club in Moneygall, is a big cut of a Laois man from a large family of twelve, and its clear to see why not too many were willing to go toe to toe with the schoolmaster. He is a man steeped in the history of the Association, and would have appreciated some ironies in the recent UK state visit to Croke Park, as no doubt would President Mary McAleese, who carried a hurl in her hand for “insurance” purposes attending school as a child in County Down.

It would be wonderful if O’Neill’s presidency of one of the few genuinely distinct Irish beacons of the last century would coincide with a Riverdance style opening up of our national games beyond the Irish family to the world at large through Olympic recognition. This would open new support channels for our GAA units worldwide from governments that recognise olympic accreditation. That would be something to mark 1916. Instead of the cap in hand, beggarly stuff we have seen where incredibly our “leaders” and our “rich” have hammered home to us the belief that capitalism must be rejected in bad times as it is essential that socialism be adhered to in sharing the pain, we can have something instead to share in the limelight, something to doff the hat at, a reclamation, or a rebuilding of the true learned status of Ireland.

Like a great Tyrone maestro and coaching guru would say, Win the War, Fight the War. If we draw on the best of our past, we can welcome better days ahead, because we have been blessed with a great foundation and the wealth of over 5,000 years of advanced civilisation to rebuild on.

Something that can be restored stronger than ever, through the global Irish village, our heritage, our sports. Pierre de Coubertin the father of the modern Olympic movement was so inspired by the Gaelic games he witnessed almost 120 years ago that he began the great new international sporting movement and it would be fitting that by 2016, the compliment can be returned.