Ireland's Office of Public Works and the GAA have opened Clann of Gaelic Games, the new exhibition at Dublin's Phoenix Park commemorating 13 decades of the Irish sports in the park.
The exhibition was launched at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre on July 3, marking the playing of the GAA All-Ireland finals 130 years ago.
Representatives from the clubs and counties who competed in the All-Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Championship finals at the park in 1893 attended the opening, as well as OPW representatives and officials from the GAA, LGFA, and Camogie Association.
The collaboration between the GAA Museum at Croke Park and the OPW showcases centuries of hurling, camogie, and football activity in Phoenix Park.
The ‘Clann of Gaelic Games’ exhibition launches today in the @phoenixparkOPW Visitor Centre and will run for the months of July and August. It is open 7 days a week from 9.30am to 5pm and admission is free. pic.twitter.com/VBRRT5cl7c
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 3, 2024
“You cannot tell the story of the GAA without talking about the Phoenix Park such was the pivotal role it played in the years before the GAA’s foundation, and in its formative years," said GAA Director General Tom Ryan.
"The park’s links to Gaelic games go back much further and so it is fitting that in remembering the heroes of the 1893 All-Ireland finals, played in the park, that we also commemorate the role the park has played for several centuries facilitating Gaelic games and the importance it continues to have as a venue for football, ladies football, camogie, and hurling."
Michael Cusack founded the GAA in November 1884, following efforts the previous year to revive an interest in hurling through training sessions and exhibition matches in Phoenix Park.
Hurling has been played in the park as far back as the 1700s, with teams having once competed on the land of the Vice Regal lodge, now Áras an Uachtaráin.
After the establishment of the GAA, the first ever inter-county match took place in the Phoenix Park in 1886 between Tipperary and Galway, which led to the creation of the All-Ireland senior championships the following year.
The All-Ireland Championship finals of 1893, which were not played until June 1894, were played in the Phoenix Park with Blackrock of Cork winning in hurling against Confederation of Kilkenny and Young Irelands of Wexford crowned football champions after a final against Cork’s Dromtarriffe.
Don't miss the @officialgaa exhibition @phoenixparkopw . 'Clann of Gaelic Games' is a collaboration between GAA Museum @CrokePark and the @opwireland.
For full details see ? https://t.co/ithcAG7XIT#GAAMuseum #Hurling #Camogie #Football #Free@kodonnellLK @localgovire pic.twitter.com/FMIjciAiun
— Office of Public Works (@opwireland) July 3, 2024
For the last 140 years, Phoenix Park has played an important role in the history of a range of sports and has continued to be significant for the playing of hurling and football clubs and schools in Dublin. This is equally so for the Camogie Association, which celebrates its 120th anniversary this year, and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, which marks its 50th anniversary this year.
During the launch, a plaque to mark the 1893 finals was unveiled outside, and an oak tree was planted by Kieran O'Donnell TD, Minister for the OPW, to symbolize the strong link between Gaelic games and the park. Children from St Brigids and St Oliver Plunkett’s GAA clubs played exhibition games in football, hurling and camogie and GAA Games For All.
Minister O’Donnell said: "The OPW is delighted to collaborate with the GAA in bringing this wonderful exhibition ‘Clann of Gaelic Games’ to the Phoenix Park which recognizes the importance of the Phoenix Park with the creation and the development of the GAA movement.
"This showcases another aspect of how the Phoenix Park has played an essential part in the lives of the people of Ireland throughout the years."
The 'Clann of Gaelic Games' exhibit at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre, Phoenix Park, Dublin 8 will run for the next two months. The center is open seven days a week from 9:30 am to 5 pm, and admission is free.
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