ON Monday, November 3, 1884, the back page of the Cork Examiner carried a lengthy report headed ‘Gaelic Association For National Pastimes’.
Details are minutely reported of a meeting held at 3pm the previous Saturday, November 1, in Miss Hayes’ Commercial Hotel, Thurles. The purpose of the gathering was ‘the forming of an association for the preservation and cultivation of our national pastimes’.
The convenors of the meeting were given as Mr Michael Cusack, Dublin, and Mr Maurice Davin, Carrick-on-Suir. A circular outlining their intentions and aspirations had been posted out to maybe 20 or 30 persons that Cusack and Davin felt would be interested. The attendance was very disappointing to say the least, with only seven or eight present.
More than likely, the report in the Examiner was written by a staff member, John McKay a native of Co. Down. He was born in the 1850s and worked with the Belfast Morning News (now the Irish News). On gaining employment with the Cork Examiner, McKay moved Leeside.
He lived variously at Anglesea Street, Upper Panorama Terrace, Elizabeth Place, and Western Road, and was very involved with the Cork Athletic Club - his family in Ulster had strong athletic connections in Belfast.
No writer’s name is given for the report on the GAA founding meeting in Thurles, but McKay is listed amongst the attendance and spoke extensively at the gathering. He said he had at first intended to oppose any business being done at the meeting on account of the small attendance, but had changed his mind when he found the nature of the proposition.
“Who,” he asked, “could offer any opposition to their association being placed under the patronage of Archbishop Croke, Mr Parnell and Mr Davitt - three names that went straight to the heart of every true son of this Green Isle?” - applause.
So, from tiny oaks the GAA started that November day in Thurles.
Davin was elected President and McKay, along with Cusack and John Wyse Power, were given the position of joint Honorary Secretaries.
The previous year, on Thursday, April 19, McKay had married Ellen Browne of Mallow in SS Peter and Pauls Church in Cork city. At the time, Ellen - daughter of James Browne, a farmer - was living (and probably working in the Munster Hotel in Coburg Street.
Since my introduction to the GAA well over 50 years ago, I had a huge interest in its early years. The story and history of Cusack were well known to me, but in fairness, like many others, I knew precious little about J.K. Bracken, John McKay, Joseph P Ryan, Thomas St George McCarthy, John Wyse Power.
These five men were present in Hayes’ Hotel 139 years ago - there may have been others too, but their names are not revered as the seven ‘Founders’ are.
In 2009, my interest in the GAA’s ‘Founding Fathers’ took on a new perspective. Incoming President, Youghal’s Christy Cooney, asked me to serve for three years on one of the Associations National Committees. I agreed to become a member of the National Awards and Presentations Committee, under the Chairmanship of Jarlath Burns of Armagh - now the President-Elect of the GAA.
That was the year of GAA 125, as the association was celebrating a century and a quarter of existence.
Much of the early part of our Committee’s term was spent preparing for the 125 Celebrations in the autumn/winter of 2009. The task assigned to me was to do a report on the burial places of our seven founders and report back on the condition of headstones or memorials.
It was work I just loved, and before long I’d been to the graves of Cusack and Wyse Power in Glasnevin, Davin’s final resting place in Dysert Churchtown, and the grave of JK Bracken in Tankardstown, near Kilmallock. These four graves had headstones but most needed cleaning, re-lettering and refurbishment. That was four of the seven.
After some research, I discovered that Joseph P Ryan had emigrated to Canada. He died there in 1918. Through contact with Canadian GAA stalwart John O Flynn, Ryan’s grave was found in Cranbrook cemetery in British Columbia.
Thomas St George McCarthy lived the longest of the GAA founders, dying 55 years after the 1884 meeting. He had been largely forgotten.
I discovered his final resting place in an unmarked grave in Deans Grange cemetery in Dublin. Before the year was out a fine headstone had been officially unveiled where McCarthy was buried in 1943.
That left just one to be commemorated - John McKay.
Luckily, Armagh man Jarlath Burns put me in contact with another Ulsterman, Donal McAnallen of Tyrone. Donal is an amazing person - a historian, author, and genealogist with GAA DNA to the very core.
McKay was born in Co. Down so Donal and a great friend of his, Kieran McConville, were soon ‘on the case’. It wasn’t long before the lads made the breakthrough. They discovered McKay and his family had moved to London. He had been back in Cork in 1911 after a sojourn in Belfast. He may have worked as a journalist on the Cork Free Press in the years before 1916. Anyway, he ended up in London and died in 1923 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery - in an unmarked grave.
I contacted the cemetery authorities who confirmed the grave plot Reference No was 2823C. After weeks of to and fro, letters, emails and phone calls, a reputable firm of stone cutters and monumental sculptors, Robertsons, had been contracted.
By early November, a fitting memorial to Downpatrick-born John McKay had been erected far, far away from the Mountains of Mourne.
We had a great gathering of Gaels from home and away for the unveiling ceremony. I was so glad that both Donal and Kieran were able to be present. Their work and research was phenomenal, and were it not for their persistence in following ‘leads’ and clues, the headstone to McKay would never have been erected.
Donal is still researching the McKay family and the Browne family also. The ‘Forgotten Man of The GAA’ is now well remembered.
The Brownes of Tullacondra and Kilmaclenine in North Cork could possibly be related to Ellen, who married John McKay - an ongoing piece of work! Ellen lived on until 1949 and reached the great age of 95 when she died.
Next Saturday, December 2, 2023, is exactly a century since GAA founder John McKay died. The plan is that we will gather at his graveside in Kensal Green on Saturday morning to lay a wreath and remember the Down man who represented Cork at that historic meeting in 1884.
There’s a good chance that Mountains Of Mourne and The Banks might well waft over the City of London where ‘they don’t grow potatoes, nor barley nor wheat, but there’s gangs of them digging for gold in the street…’
Read More
I remember when JFK died, 60 years on his legacy remains more Cork GAA articles
More in this section
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Rami G Khouri
Nikkei Editorial
visit website
