It is very difficult to come up with a true definition of what is history.

The Roman philosopher Cicero said that “History is a witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalises memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity.” Feel free to go deeper into the meaning of history if you want, but for most day-to-day purposes Cicero is as near the mark as most people need.

History, like politics has an international basis, but just like politics, ultimately all history is local too. Visit the hometown of any hero in the world and someone is bound to tell you “Oh! He was good alright, but he had a brother at home who was better than him.” Or you might hear, “but he wasn’t the best in the class when we were growing up.

Maybe the “hero” had a brother better than him and maybe he was not the best in the class, but that just begs the question, “how did he become such a famous person.” More often than not, the answer to this question is, environment. Many clues to why many of the world’s historic events unfolded at they did lie in understanding the environment in which the chief characters grew up and developed. This is true of all facets of life, from war to politics to endeavour and achievements and of course, sport.

Two books recently published in Cork, vividly underscore this. Brian Dillon’s GAA 1910-2010 by Tim Horgan and Sport in Cork, A History by Donal O’Sullivan.

Both books set out to cover sport in Cork with different styles. Tim Horgan covers 100 years of Gaelic Games and social lives of the people who lived and continuing to live in the Dillon’s Cross area. He records the minutiae of everyday life; the games, the incidents the families and their connections that contributed to making Brian Dillon’s Hurling and Football club a part of everyday life in the area.

Donal O’Sullivan on the other hand, took on a monumental task. Even though he confines the remit of the book to the 1870 to 1939 era, he has bitten off a huge chunk of Cork life. The development of the administrative affairs of seven sports is covered. They include Gaelic games, soccer, rugby, cricket, golf, tennis and rowing. He draws heavily on newspaper reports and primary sources such as minute books for his information, but captures successfully the difficulties of the times they lived in.

In the GAA chapter of Sport in Cork,  A History, Donal O’Sullivan tells us that in 1909 the Cork County Board had an income of just over £727 and a total expenditure of £648. He also tells us that the Board paid £118 for renting playing fields in 1911. We learn Brian Dillon’s were one of the luckier clubs of that era because they were near the countryside and had the use of a number of fields. They were recorded [presumably in the newspapers] as having played games in Bells Field and Kelleher’s Field.

Tim Horgan goes much deeper into this. We learn that the cross roads that became known as Dillon’s Cross got its name from the tavern that the Brian Dillon’s parents ran “at the corner of the Old Youghal Road and the Ballyhooly Road.” We learn of Brian Dillon’s leadership of the Fenians in Cork, of his imprisonment and death at 42 and how his funeral struck a cord with the ordinary people of the area who lived their lives under the shadow of Victoria Barracks (now Collins Barracks). The daily movement of military men and equipment through Dillons Cross served as a reminder that Ireland was an occupied nation.

A plaque honouring Brian Dillon was unveiled at Dillons Cross in 1909. This heightened the interesting in nationalism in the area. Dillons Cross had already spawned the first rugby club in Cork, the Montenotte Rugby Club and the first successful civilian soccer team, Barrackton FC (first civilian winners of the Tyler Cup 1909) and shortly after the plaque was erected, a group met in Miss O’Sullivan’s public house with the intention of forming the Brian Dillon’s Hurling and Football club.

Tim Horgan interviewed Mossie Murray, who was born in 1910, about those people and early days of Brian Dillons. Mossie Murray sheds light on the early games that Brian Dillon’s played. “They [Dillon’s] used to go down to Bell’s Field near the Fever Hospital to play Madden’s Buildings and Madden’s Buildings would come up to Kelleher’s Field for a return match.”

From this point onward the two books go their separate ways. Donal O’Sullivan continues to record the “what and the when” of various sporting bodies and events. Interestingly, the information we learn about the organisation of cricket, golf and tennis peters out once Ireland becomes a free state. One can only assume that they mass participation sports of GAA, Association Football and Rugby usurped the space available in newspapers and these minority sports faded into the background.

Tim Horgan, on the other hand, records the rise of the GAA by unveiling the inner soul of a community. His account of “The goal that made History” on the 28^th of September 1936 is a classic example of why the GAA was and continues to be the strongest social force in the country.

The goal that made history was not scored in an All-Ireland final, or a world cup final; no, it was much more important than that. It was the goal that won the club its first City Division junior hurling championship. A shot, late in the game, from Willie “Songbook” Horgan, found its way to the net and ‘Dillon’s defeated Blackrock by 4-4 to 3-4. The victory was made all the sweeter because they had defeated neighbours Mayfield and Glen Rovers in earlier rounds.

This sort of victory shortens long winter evenings for GAA players all over the country, and it helped hide the reality of life during the 1930s. By the time Brian Dillon’s played Blarney in the county semi-final their captain, Dick Walsh was working in Dagenham, England and they lost by two points.

Dillon’s retained the city title in 1937 and won the junior county hurling championship of 1938. “The Emergency” or WWII broke out in 1939. This changed everything. Tim Horgan summed up the role of most GAA clubs in that time, “It was in those days that the clubhouse on Stream Hill became a badly needed community centre with innocent fun and games by day, regular céilí and modern dancing by night and fireside banter at all times. Brian Dillon’s was not just a hurling club in those years – it was a way of life.”

Brian Dillon’s GAA Centenary 1910-2010 features many families, dozens of characters who have contributed thousands of hours to the club and hundreds of players who are united by the fact that they shared the honour of wearing the blue and white of Brian Dillons.

In Sport in Cork, A History, the story of Brian Dillons is just one of many reference points that Donal O’Sullivan has touched. He has not undertaken to develop these stories in the manner of Tim Horgan; instead he has provided a valuable overview to their beginnings and the administrative environment within which they developed.

Each book explores a different aspect of the sporting lives of our forefathers. They reveal how they operated and, in the case of Brian Dillon’s, why they did what they did. Do they represent a history of Cork? I think Cicero would have approved.

For the Caption:

Brian Dillon’s GAA Centenary 1910-2010 by Tim Horgan

Sport in Cork, A History by Donal O’Sullivan published by The History Press Ireland