Book review: Hurling, land, and legacy

Conor Power's 'Hurling 1810' is a short glimpse into the life of early 19th century rural Ireland

Author Conor Power, brings together the many strands of the story to a surprising and violent end. There are winners but many more losers. 

• Hurling 1810 
• Conor Power
• Menma Books,  €20.00

Much of the friction between landlords and peasants that underpinned the 1798 Rebellion had dissipated by 1810. The outcome of the Rebellion however, continued to cast a shadow across the country. 

In Dublin, Grattan’s Parliament was abolished and Dublin began to lose its lustre as the second city of the Empire. In rural Ireland, there was an uneasy peace between landlord and peasant.

The tension between landlord and peasant is the background for the story of Sean O’Meara, a peasant boy in his late teens whose prowess on the hurling field brings him to the attention of both the landlords and the anarchistic peasant gangs.

Sean lives a subsistence life in a rundown cottage with his widowed mother, Grace and younger brother Antoine. His father was killed fighting at Vinegar Hill in 1798.

Charles Kavanagh who is the landlord of Ballingrotty House, Carlow, recruits Sean to play for the hurling team that Ballingrotty House sponsor. 

It was the norm for the landlords of Leinster and Munster to sponsor hurling and cricket teams in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. 

Gambling, not honour, was the landlords’ main motive.

The hurling played in 1810 bore little relationship to the game we have today. Teams consisted of 21 players and the players were paid for playing. 

A skilful player like Sean O’Meara was revered. His ability to avoid life-changing blows was equally as important as his skill.

When Sean is invited to the ‘Big House’ he casts his eye upon Kavanagh’s daughter, Sarah. They are smitten with each other. 

The absurdity of their brief peasant-gentry relationship creates a tension that ultimately pushes Sean into the influence of the Caravats, a secret peasant society bent on the destruction of landlordism in Ireland.

While Sean had the hurling skills, he also had the life skills to see the dangerous influences that surrounded him. He knows that he has to get out of Carlow if he wants a worthwhile life.

His plan is to save the money he receives for playing hurling to help him get to France. Leaving would not be difficult as he could live without hurling and his fascination with Sarah is over. 

It was only the opportunity to avenge his father’s death at Vinegar Hill that kept him close to the dangers of peasant life in Carlow.

Juxtaposed with Sean is the landlord, Charles Kavanagh. He is surrounded by comforts of life thanks to the agricultural boom created by the Napoleonic wars. 

Kavanagh believes that he is a force for good in ‘his’ community. His deluded philosophy of “give the peasants plenty of hurling and they will not want to think of uprisings” is naïve.

The story develops over the summer of 1810. It ends with a series of events on the day and evening of the big hurling final. 

Author Conor Power, brings together the many strands of the story to a surprising and violent end. There are winners but many more losers. 

The wins and losses are not confined to the hurling game; the Demesne of Ballingrotty House could never be the same again.

Hurling 1810 is a short glimpse into the life of early 19th century rural Ireland. 

The male characters, Sean O’Meara and Charles Kavanagh, are well developed. This is not the case with the female characters like Sean’s mother. She could have played a more central role in events.

We now know that within five years, Napoleon would be defeated with a consequent drop in the demand for agricultural produce which would send Ireland into a recession. 

This, combined with many landlords moving to England and leaving their lands in Ireland in the hands of agents, paved the way for the Great Famine of the 1840s and the near extinction of hurling.

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