Very rare All-Ireland Hurling booklet sells for four times original estimate at auction

Sarah Slater

An extremely rare 1913 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final programme made almost four times its original estimate at auction.

Estimated up to €3,000, it sold for €11,000 during an auction of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Collectors by Fonzie Mealy’s auction house in Castecomer, Co Kilkenny on Thursday.

The final held at the GAA’s newly acquired Jones’s Road grounds - which later became Croke Park - witnessed Kilkenny overcome Tipperary to become the first team to win three titles in a row.

Kilkenny clinched the title by 2-4 to 1-2.

George Fonsie Mealy, the auction house’s director, explained that it is “a rare occurrence” that such a programme should “firstly come up for sale” and “secondly be in really good condition”.

Another item - an entrance ticket to what was to become known as the Bloody Sunday GAA Football match at Croke Park on November 21st, 1920 - fetched €9,000 - three times its guide price.

Dublin were scheduled to play Tipperary in a one-off challenge match at Croke Park, the proceeds of which were in aid of the Republican Prisoners Dependents Fund. Tensions were high as people feared reprisal in Dublin.

Despite this a crowd of almost 10,000 gathered in Croke Park.

Eye-witness accounts suggest that five minutes after the throw-in, an airplane flew over Croke Park. It circled the ground twice and shot a red flare - a signal to a mixed force of Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), Auxiliary Police and Military who stormed into Croke Park and opened fire on the crowd.

The shooting lasted for less than two minutes. That afternoon in Croke Park, 14 people - including one player, Tipperary's Michael Hogan - lost their lives. Up to 100 people were injured.

Other lots included 1924 All-Ireland Hurling series Dublin winners' medals made from nine-carat gold and a Leinster Senior Hurling from the same year. The pair reached €6,000.

Late poet and playwright Seamus Heaney’s Remembering Malibu, comprising four A4 sheets of manuscript drafts, written in the poet's hand and extensively corrected, topped €18,000.