Theme: All-Irelands

gaa oral history project

A crowd gathers around the window of Kenny's
of Campile, Co. Wexford, to listen to All-Ireland commentary in the 1930s. There were only two radios
in the parish at the time this photograph was taken.
Courtesy of Horeswood GAA. More Images

There is no sports event in the world quite like an All-Ireland Final. The hurling and football finals played in September every year have come to carry all the trappings of modern sports, not least massive crowds and saturation media coverage. But the finals are much more than carbon copies of international sports events recast on an Irish stage...More

Eileen Malone

Eileen Malone, 81, Dublin
Eileen recalls the preparations, events, and atmosphere in her father's pub in Cathedral Street, Dublin, on the morning before and night after the All-Ireland Finals when she was growing up.
© GAA Oral History Project

Paddy Buggy

Paddy Buggy, 79, Kilkenny
Paddy, a former member of the Kilkenny Senior Hurling Team and past President of the GAA, describes the filming of the Hollywood movie Rooney during the 1957 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final.
© GAA Oral History Project

Eileen McLoughlin

Eileen McLoughlin, 73, Tipperary
Eileen discusses the importance of the All-Ireland in her social calendar and getting carried away with the excitement of a Tipperary victory in the 1950s. Eileen later married John McLoughlin, who played on the Tipperary Senior Hurling team.
© GAA Oral History Project

Paddy MacFlynn

Paddy MacFlynn, 91, Derry
Past President of the GAA Paddy MacFlynn recounts the sequence of events in a Central Council meeting that led to the decision to play the 1947 All-Ireland Football Final in New York.
© GAA Oral History Project

Denis Lucey

Denis Lucey, 44, Kerry
Denis compares travelling to the All-Ireland Finals, by train, from Kerry in the 1980s with travelling in the present day.
© GAA Oral History Project

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