Have you ever wondered who was regarded as the greatest ever hurler before Christy Ring? Some would say it was Lowry Meagher of Kilkenny, others would say it was Jamsie Kelleher of Dungourney. Most people with an understanding of the history of hurling would probably agree that the title of Ireland’s greatest hurler probably belonged to Mick Mackey before it was passed to Christy Ring.
When Mick Mackey is viewed in that context it is extraordinary how his name has faded from the lips of hurling commentary over the past 15 years. In the 1960s and ‘70s, when both men were still hale, hearty and still active in the GAA, the debate about their respective strengths and weaknesses was a regular topic amongst the old-timers who saw them play.
Christy Ring, who was the younger man by eight years died in March 1979 and Mick Mackey followed him ar ‘slí na fírinne’ in September 1982. Since then the status of Mick Mackey has lost ground in the wake of a line of pretenders to the crown of Ireland’s greatest hurler.
A new book Mick Mackey – Hurling Legend in a Troubled County by Henry Martin was launched this week. The book peers inside the life – on and off the field – of Mick Mackey. In undertaking this formidable task the author also reveals a view of daily life in rural Ireland in the 1930s and 1940s. It was a different world 70 years ago; a different Ireland; and hurling was certainly different.
The following is an account of an incident in the 1935 Munster Hurling semi-final between Limerick and Cork. “A ball dropped between Tadhg Kelly of Cork and Mick Ryan [of Limerick]… Ryan was a split second faster than Kelly and connected with him [Kelly] right on the forehead.
‘Kelly fell to the ground and was reported dead. He was administered the last rites and then moved to the hospital in Thurles. All the players knelt down on the field and there was total silence as everyone in the ground said a decade of the Rosary. There may have been tension in the match…but the blow was totally accidental. The match started up again and they played to the end. Kelly woke up in hospital afterwards and went home with Cork.”
Limerick hurlers were the kings of Munster between 1933 and 1938. Between October 1933 and August 1935 they won 31 competitive games in a row. During that period they won five National Hurling League titles, four Munster Hurling Championships and two All-Ireland titles. This was a considerable haul of success in any era, but Henry Martin explains that it could have been far greater but for the continuous wrangling and bitterness within Limerick GAA and often within Mackey’s own club of Ahane.
This is Henry Martin’s second book on Limerick hurling. In his first book Unlimited Heartbreak he laid bare the infighting and political backbiting between various camps within Limerick GAA through the decades down to the present day. As with Unlimited Heartbreak, his research in this book is thorough. There are accounts from 45 separate interviewees. Many of these are drawn from television and newspaper interviews given over a 40-year span.
The result sees Martin giving a detailed account of the effect of this internal Limerick GAA turmoil on the hurling career of their greatest hurler, Mick Mackey. This is done in such a way that we see Mackey not only as a victim of these often-bizarre incidences, but also often filling the role of the perpetrator.
The 1935 Munster and All-Ireland finals are typical examples of the swing in Mick Mackey’s fortunes. Limerick defeated Tipperary 5-5 to 1-4 in the Munster Final. The Irish Independent said “The match was a personal triumph for Mick Mackey of Limerick who gave one of the most brilliant and spectacular displays of hurling ever seen.”
Just a few weeks later, Limerick’s 31-game unbeaten run came to a controversial end in the dying minute of the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny. Henry Martin writes “Limerick were awarded a close in free at the very end of the game to level the scores…Timmy Ryan, the captain, was to take it and put it over the bar. Mick Mackey pushed him away and took the free instead and struck it under the bar. The ball was caught by the Kilkenny goalkeeper and cleared. Kilkenny won 2-5 to 2-4.” In 1969 Mackey told the late Val Dorgan in an interview “They always say I lost the 1935 one by missing a free, but it never worried me really.”
Mick Mackey and his brother John (who was considered to be an equally good player) played for the Ahane club. The club dominated Limerick hurling throughout the 1930s and 40s until it was finally beaten down by the politics of Limerick GAA. During their glory years Ahane drew huge crowds to fundraising tournaments it is also claimed that several thousand people would come out from Limerick City to watch them train on a Sunday morning.
Ahane won seven successive county hurling titles between 1933 and 1939. They failed to retain the title in 1940 principally because Mick and John Mackey withdrew from hurling for the year after their brother Paddy’s death. Paddy had actually received an All-Ireland medal for being a sub on the 1940 Limerick team. This caused a split in the Ahane club as Dan Givens (father of Irish soccer international Don) who was also a sub did not receive any medal. Trouble and arguments seemed to follow the Ahane club wherever they went. There are many instances of strife and violence throughout the book. The most famous of these is a near fatal row which ended with Mick Mackey in the witness box in the subsequent court trial.
So who were Mick Mackey’s peers? As already stated his brother John had a fair share of supporters. His battles with John Keane of Waterford appear to be the stuff of Greek legend. We are told “A Limerick source at the game says that Keane and Mackey spent more time pulling across one another and clattering one another off the ball than they did playing the ball.” Everyone agrees however, that the sight of Mick Mackey soloing up the field in full flight was one of the greatest features of hurling in the 1930s and 40s.
The book suggests that the mantle of greatest hurler probably passed from Mick Mackey to Christy Ring during the drawn and replayed 1944 Munster Hurling finals. In the replay, Mick Mackey scored a goal only for it to be called back by the referee who awarded a free in to Limerick instead. In the next play Cork went up the field and Christy Ring scored the game-clinching goal. Cork went on to win their fourth successive All-Ireland title. Ring would win four more medals in the next 10 years and Mick Mackey began the slow decline back to being a mere mortal.
Mick Mackey – Hurling Legend in a Troubled County is a tremendously lively read. It does not attempt to unnecessarily glorify its hero. Instead Henry Martin captured the man as he was in the times in which he lived and hurled. The argument that Limerick should have won more All-Ireland titles during the Mackey era will never be resolved, but one thing is certain, Limerick would have won much less without him.