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02 Oct 2025
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02 Oct 2025
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The Limerick senior hurling team marching in the pre-match parade with Kilkenny before the 1973 All-Ireland final and, pictured below, is Michael Martin Jnr | Picture: MICHAEL MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY
PRIOR to 2018, taking photos of a victorious Limerick hurling team on Ireland’s stage of all stages, Croke Park, was a very rare occurrence.
But, in 1973, a Limerick man had the privilege of doing just that.
The late Michael Martin Jnr of Michael Martin Photography on Upper Gerald Griffin Street in Limerick city was one of a number of photographers in Dublin on that glorious day for the Treaty County.
Michael Martin Photography has been in business since 1954, set up by Michael’s father before him, Michael Snr.
Michael Jnr went into the photography business and started working with the Irish Independent in the early ‘60s, going into business with his father in the ‘70s but still doing a bit of work with the Independent.
Michael Jnr and his wife Toni, traveled to Croke Park for the match together.
Michael went to the pitch and Toni ended up sitting two seats away from the President of Ireland at the time Erskine H Childers.
“My father said to her, ‘you wait here and I’ll be going out onto the grounds’, and she ended up sitting next to the president,”Michael’s daughter Michelle laughed. Michelle now runs Michael Martin Photography.
Following the match, Michael headed straight for the car and set his sights on getting back home to Limerick where he set up the darkroom and printed around 70 photos from the match.
“His first port of call was Patrickswell where he stopped at Murphy’s Pub (now Cú Chulainn),” Michelle explained.
“The barman in there took the full 70 off him so he had to ring his father from the top of the street to print more,” she laughed.
Michael and the team spent two days out and about selling the pictures from the match to public houses, clubs and businesses all across Limerick city and county.
Every year during the All-Ireland championship, Michael Martin Photography continue to sell a large number of the coveted 1973 photos to Limerick hurling fans all over the world.
Michael Jnr passed away in 2019 and left behind a legacy in photography.
To this day Michael Martin Photography continues to supply its services for weddings, births, birthdays, and much more.
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