Footballing Memories

Comment: Before the GAA was founded in 1884, a game called cammaus was played in many parts of Cavan. It was basically an early form of hurling. Phil recalls the old men of his young days talking about the game, which he called caummas.

Did you ever hear of them playing any other games? You mentioned caummas?
Aye, they played caummas but I don't mind (remember) it. But I often heard the auld men that ceilied in our house talking about them.

Tell us what you heard from them.
They played with sticks. They had sticks with big heads and the bigger the head, the better. And they used to come to the orchard that was at our house to cut apple tree branches, for there always used to be big heads on the apple tree. And the handles could be more than 4 foot long. I seen them. I had them in my hand. They used to be left at our house because they (the players) used to play in the bottoms below our auld house.

And who used to play? Just the neighbours?
The neighbours, all went out. There was a little fella, the name of Johnny Kennedy, and when he was playing he used to bring ash shovels for caumma sticks, an auld shovel that the blade'd be near wore off. And this poor little Kennedy fella got the skelp of a shovel along the side of the head and he went away from the rest and lay down in the briars. But when they all went home, he didn't go home. The father came looking for him after night, and a little pincher dog he had found him in the briars, his head all blood.

Did you ever hear of women playing?
There was a Mrs Baxter, she was Anne Gormley by her maiden name, and she was head-beetler with them.

And she used to play with the men?
Aye, she played with the men.

Were there any rules? Or had they goal posts?
They had goal-posts, they had. There'd be up to a hundred head in the bottoms under our auld house of a Sunday evening. You know, there was no house at that time but there was four or five young fellows in and maybe some houses had nine or ten. The caummas was in full swing long before the GAA. When the football came it did away with the caummas, whole and entire.

What width were the goal-posts?
I don't know. The day of the match they'd put down bits of wattles or anything. It was often their coats they'd take off them and throw them several yards apart. I don't think there was much rules and there was no referee.

And what sort was the ball?
I think the ball, to the best of what I heard about it, was a wiskit ball rolled tight and they sewed a cloth round it. I think the cloth they used was corduroy.

Did they play any other games?
In winter, their game was pitching stone 'quites'. That's what they called the big flagstones. If they got any kind of stone, so long as it was flat, they'd pitch it at a big stone in the road. 'The Granny' they called the stone that was in the road. The fellow that got nearest it won. And they used to have money bet, coppers that was bet on the edge of the road about who'd win. It was the same as pitching pennies, but they had no pennies. That's why they couldn't pitch them. They pitched the 'quites' to pass the time, you know.

Comment:Before the GAA was reorganised in 1903, football in Cavan was on the decline. As control broke down, football tournaments became occasions for excessive drinking and faction fights. Phil recalls those days before 1903.

Those matches in the old days, before 1903, were they rough?
They were. Rough.

Would they kick each other?
Well, not so much. The leap on one another quicker. They'd run in on top of you and give you the two fists in the stomach and put you on your back. And, if all failed, they leap up with two heels into the chest and put you down. Mickey McGannon was an auld fellow and he'd say 'Oh, football's alright, but I don't like to see them slithering down others' eyebrows with a pair of steel tips on them'.

So you could jump with your shoes into a fellows chest?
Oh aye. That was nothing at all.

In those days did they play the ball mostly on the ground? On the ground.

And did they not kick the shins of other?.
Well they had shin-guards. I got a pair of them shin-guards as a present from one of them (players). Well there was scores cut in that you'd think a man had sunk a 'cleek' in them and ripped them up. With kicks!

And had they football boots?
There was no such thing as a football boot until 1903. That's the time when football was brought in in a civilised way.

Would there be many rows at football matches.
Well there was no football match without one. I went to a tournament in Newtowngore. I was about 18 at the time. And we walked 6 miles from Killeshandra over to it, five or six of us, and we walked home. And we saw five minutes football. The ball was threw in and the match went on between Killeshandra and Aughavas, (from) far over in Leitrim. The row began and it never ceased. There was, I suppose, a hundred men in a ring, in a pile in the middle of the field, boxing. And there was one man, Charlie Gilronan, of Killeshandra. He was a blacksmith. And he was going round the ring and any place he met a polis (police) man he nailed him.

Were the police called in?
They were there anyway. There was a polis barrack in Newtowngore at the time, so they had only a few perch to come. It was a tournament and Kildallan was to kick in it. They thought it useless because they hadn't a full team and they'd have to borrow a couple of the Killeshandra Leaguers. As soon as they'd go out all hell would rise again. Kildallan was to kick against Drumreilly, but the row was on anyway, if a Killeshandra man never opened his beak.

Was there much drink in question?
Well, there would always be drink because no man nearly went out sober. That was the way it was. They'd get the drink in some town before they'd go. But in tournaments the drink was supplied. It was kept away from the field. It'd be in a house or two away from it.

How much drink was there?
A barrel of porter was the common run, and the teams were treated. It was all tournaments in those days and you might have to play two or three matches. That happened at Creeney Hill, below Belturbet, when the Sons of O'Connell beat Clones. And at another tournament in Killeshandra, the Cavans were the champions of the time. And to get Kildallan bet (defeated) the (Killeshandra) Leaguers put them against Cavan. And they bet Cavan. Garney hit the ball in the middle of the field, a left footed kick, and when the goalkeeper was just going to catch it, Tom McGrath lit on him here (in the chest) and him and ball and all rolled in. McGrath was as active as a willie-wag-tail and wasn't a little heavier either. He was only about 8 stone weight.

Was it hard to control the spectators?
It was. It was. There was more danger of a row among the spectators nor there was among the teams. I seen when no team could come to kick football in Killeshandra without the town 'neucks', as we used to call them, rising a row. And it was women that riz (gave rise to) the row in several occasions. Scrabby came to kick the Leaguers and the outsiders were prepared. They went into the wood that was merning (beside) the football field and they pulled an arm of ash plants. And they came out and when the row riz Scrabby tackled them and they gave the Leaguers a fright that put manners on them from that day till this.

How used they go to the tournaments away back in the early 1890's?
They got a pair of horses and a wagonette - they carried 40 head - and the rest walked.

Did you pay to get on the wagonette.
You did. You paid and then, when they were getting down, there was tuppence (two pennies) a man lifted for pocket money for the driver. I always rode the bicycle. After the game some fellow might be in a hurry home and he'd come to me for the bicycle and he'd give me his seat on the wagonette. But the weight of the people had to walk.

Was there much of the old party business in those days?
The party business was spoiling all. And the party business was strong when I was half done football. Miltown didn't want to play with me because I was the only Sinn Feiner that was on the team. I took off the ganzee and I threw it to them, and I never put it on me again. They wouldn't play with me, they didn't want me. They were all Hibernians. I went to play with Kildallan.

Did the police ever interfere with the matches?
I never heard tell of them interfering with any football match, well not unless there was a row. There was one day Cavan and Miltown were kicking in Drumlane. The referee was from Ballyhaise. They (Cavans) bribed him and they gave him a revolver. And he did anything he could to get Cavan to win. They did win alright. But he put off men that weren't doing one hate (anything wrong). And when the match was over they'd have killed him. Old and young tore in to get at him. And the polis came in and got rid of the crowd.