A Boy's Song

James Hogg

Where the pools are bright and deep,
Where the grey trout lies asleep,
Up the river and o'er the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Where the blackbird sings the latest,
Where the hawthorn blooms the sweetest,
Where the nestlings chirp and flee,
That's the way for Billy and me.
                     
Where the mowers mow the cleanest,
Where the hay lies thick and greenest—
There to trace the homeward bee,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Where the hazel bank is steepest,
Where the shadow lies the deepest,
Where the clustering nuts fall free,
That's the way for Billy and me.

Charles J. Kickham

Charles J. Kickham (1828-1882)

Though he was totally deaf and almost completely blind because of an accident in boyhood, he wrote what is probably Ireland's greatest historical novel, composed numerous popular ballads, wrote countless stories and newspaper articles, and was one of our finest, idealistic patriots of all time. This was Charles Kickham, a man of supreme courage, not only against the enemies of his country, but against those incapacitating handicaps, and the illnesses brought on by his imprisonment in English jails.

Charles Kickham was born in Mullinahone, Co.Tipperary, "beside the Anner at the foot of Slievenamon", on 9 May 1828. His father was a farmer and shopkeeper noted for his charity and intelligence, while his mother was an O'Mahony, related to the great founder of the Fenian Movement. Two of the boy's uncles were priests, and he was almost entirely educated by his father, and a local scholar named Thomas Cleary who was to die a priest in the USA.

Kickham described the home environment many years later in his personal recollections:

Reading aloud was the custom in my father's house. To this fact I think I was indebted for a rather early acquaintance not only with Robinson Crusoe, but with Pickwick, Martin Chuzzlewit, King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Vicar of Wakefield and diverse other works in prose and verse, which I cannot now so distinctly recall. The Nation, in like manner, was read aloud, not only the speeches in Conciliation Hall and at the Repeal Meetings in the provinces, but also the leading and literary pages, including of course, the Poet's Corner.

The last years years of Kickham's life were spent in Blackrock, Dublin, the better to work on The Irish People—this was the newspaper of the Fenian Brotherhood and had Kickham on it's editorial board—but his heart remained in Mullinahone. He suffered an injury as a result of an accident while crossing the road at the incessantly busy spot near where he then lived at Mountpellier Place. He died sometime later of a stroke on 22 August, 1882. Thousands accompanied his remains all the way to Mullinahone, where the poet-patriot wished to be laid at the foot of Slievenamon.

Great Wins for South Tipp U-16s

Having won the Tipperary inter-divisional tournament, the South Tipperary U-16 hurlers headed into the Munster Championship. This tournament, between the the county GAA divisions in Munster, took place over the May Bank Holiday week-end.

On Good Friday they played a tough challenge game against West Waterford, which they won. On Saturday, in the tournament proper, they won two close games against East Waterford and North Cork. In the semi-final, played in Mallow GAA Grounds on the Monday, South Tipp beat East Clare by one point. In the final, the Tipperary side beat Imokilly, Cork by 2-8 to 0-8 to achieve a famous victory. Heartiest congratulations to all concerned.

While not wanting to minimize the contributions of others, I was very pleased to read that Declan Fanning had been involved in the coaching of this team. As a player for club and county Declan displayed outstanding defensive techniques—something lacking in other Tipperary defenders for many years. His talents should be availed of in the coaching of young players in the county.

Galling Tipperary Defeat

National Hurling League Final:

Kilkenny 2-25; Tipperary 1-27 (AET)

Tipperary's one point defeat by Kilkenny in last Sunday's National Hurling Final at Semple Stadium, Thurles was a bitter pill for all true Tipperary GAA followers. This was a game in which Tipperary had enough possession to win comfortably. The concession of two goals from penalties is a terrible way to lose a game. I cannot understand how players, from a young age, are not shown how to harry a player in possession without using an arm around him, thereby conceding a free when the opponent falls, whether deliberate or otherwise. There were far too many hurried and misplaced passes by Tipperary players last Sunday. This displays a lack of confidence which the training ground should help to eliminate.

The worrying part about the situation are the comments attributed to those close to the team as hailing the display as if it was a victory. This type of inferiority complex will never achieve success.

Tipperary

The following is taken from Romantic Slievenamon which was edited by the late James Maher of Kickham Street, Mullinahone, Co.Tipperary:

There's a little winding road in Tipperary,
Where the cobble-stones protrude and hurt your feet,
But I'd rather walk that road in Tipperary
Than the smoothest and widest city street.

There's a little singing stream in Tipperary,
And it chatters and it gurgles on its way;
Oh! I'd sit beside that stream in Tipperary
And listen to its music all the day.

There's a mountain, grand and noble, in Tipperary—
My heart's delight—romantic Slievenamon;
It's matchless grace adorns you, Tipperary,
As the rose adorns the bush it grows upon. 

There are kindly folk in homely Tipperary,
And the stranger's always welcome on the hearth;
The heart is never lonely in Tipperary—
'Tis the home of sweet content and wholesome mirth. 

So God's blessing be upon you, Tipperary,
May your joys be many and your ills be few;
May you ever thrive and prosper, Tipperary,
And your sons and daughters e'er prove staunch and true. 

- M.J. Costelloe

The Handigrippers of Kilcash

 Following the founding of the GAA in Thurles in 1884, one of the first clubs to affiliate was Kilcash—my own native place. Kilcash had been engaged in football contests for some years prior to 1884.

The following is an extract from Tipperary's GAA Story written by the late Canon Philip Fogarty, and published in 1960:

All Star Handigrippers—Kilcash "Redoubtables" 

The handigrippers of Kilcash, the most dreaded team in Tipperary, disappeared in 1888 because of the parish rule, but up to then they were: Tom and Ned Kelly, Pat Ryan, Jim and John Kehoe, Tom and James Butler, William and James Shea, Mick and Peter Tobin, Tom and Pat Lawless, Pat and Tom Stokes, Mick Dee, Jim Slattery, Tom Carey, Jack Commins, Tom Prendergast, Mick Fleming, William Gibbs, Dick Crotty, Phil Callanan, Mick Lyons, Jim Hennessy, John Harney, Patsy Neill and Pat Foran.

The Legacy of Kickham

Charles Kickham's gravestone in St. Michael's Churchyard, Mullinahone carries the following tribute from his friend Rose Kavanagh:

Rare loyal heart and stately head of grey,
Wise with the wisdom wrested out of pain,
We miss the slender hand, the brave bright brain,
All faith and hope to point and light the way,
Our land should go, oh surely not in vain,
That beacon burned for us, for we can lay,
Fast hold of the fair life without a stain
And mould our own upon it—we can weigh
Full well his fate who suffered, sang and died
As nobly as he lived ah nought could tame
The truth in him, for nought could trust aside,
His lifelong love, the land whose sacred name
Throbbed to the last though his life's ebbing tide,
And lit the face of death with love's white flame.