Paul Rouse: If Thurles was the GAA's birthplace, it was Dublin that saved hurling

It was what happened on the banks of the River Liffey which most influenced the invention of the modern game of hurling.

DUB DELIGHT: It was what happened on the banks of the River Liffey which most influenced the invention of the modern game of hurling. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie.

There have been few propagandists for hurling as committed as the Limerick GAA official, journalist and historian, Séamus Ó Ceallaigh. Year after year, he waxed lyrical in honour of a game with which he was besotted. 

In 1937, for example, he wrote: "Hurling is indeed a game for the Gods. Hurling, which can claim to be the parent of every game played with a stick and ball, stands still unapproached as the greatest game ever devised for the diversion of men.