Centenary of Limerick's 1921 All-Ireland hurling championship title

SUNDAY marks the centenary of the first All-Ireland SHC final when the Liam MacCarthy Cup was presented.

And, back in the 1921 championship, Limerick were winners!

A third All-Ireland SHC title for the men from Shannonside was won with a 8-5 to 3-2 win over reigning champions Dublin.

Due to the unrest of the era, the final wasn’t played until March 4, 1923. 

A reported crowd of 19,000 attended the final in Croke Park with admission to the ground one shilling or two shillings for adults and sixpence for school children - all totalling a gate receipt of £1,680.

The crowd were entertained by the Transport Workers Band and the Artane Boys' Band.

Limerick had played just two games to reach the final.

As was often the case in the early years of the GAA, the Munster Championship was contested more in the boardroom than on the pitch in the 1921 campaign.

Indeed it was a fallout from the previous year’s provincial championship that eventually saw the most sporting of gestures from all other Munster counties to allow Limerick and Cork play in the 1921 Munster SHC final as they had then in the 1920 championship, which was the result of appeal and counter appeal before all were dropped when the resolution was agreed to let the counties again battle it out in ‘21.

Cork had won in 1920, but the 1921 final ended with a 5-2 to 1-2 win for Limerick in Thurles on May 28, 1922. 

The Leinster SHC was actually completed in 1921 - Dublin defeating Kilkenny in the September final and that progressed them into a third successive final.

Limerick’s All-Ireland SHC semi final against Galway took place four weeks after the Munster final. Limerick 6-0 to 2-2 winners in the Markets Field on June 25, 1922.

There was then a nine month wait for the All-Ireland final on March 4, 1923. 

In the final, Bob McConkey played a captain’s role with four goals from full forward. Willie Gleeson and Tom McGrath scored two goals each.

Among the Dublin scorers was Limerick native Mick Neville.

And, so Bob McConkey accepted the Liam MacCarthy Cup and ensured his place in history as the first captain to do so. In 1991, Tipperary’s Declan Carr became the last captain to raise the original cup, which is now on display in the GAA Museum. A replica of the Liam MacCarthy Cup was first presented in 1992 to Kilkenny captain Liam Fennelly and it’s this trophy that remains in situ.

The cup was named in honour of a former president of the London GAA Board. MacCarthy was born in London in 1853 to Irish parents - his mother Bridget Dineen was from Bruff in Limerick and his father Eoghan was from Ballygarvan in Cork.  

In 1922, Liam MacCarthy approached the GAA and offered to commission a trophy for the winners of the All-Ireland SHC. 
Modelled on an ancient drinking vessel, known as a mether, the Liam MacCarthy Cup was wrought by Edmund Johnson Jewellers of Grafton Street, Dublin and cost £50.

LIMERICK: Michael Murphy (Young Irelands); Ter Mangan (Croom), Dave Murnane (Fedamore), Paddy McInerney (Young Irelands); Jack Keane (Castleconnell), Willie Hough (Newcastle West), Denny Lanigan (Young Irelands); Willie Gleeson (Fedamore), Jimmy Humphries (Cappamore); Willie Ryan (Cappamore), Garrett Howard (Croom), Mick Mullane (Croom); Chris Ryan (Pallasgreen), Bob McConkey (Young Irelands), Tom McGrath (Claughaun).