‘Home of hurling’ welcomes decision

TYPE “Thurles tourism” into Google and you get three responses, one of which opens with the less-than-glowing description, “Thurles is of very little interest in itself ...”

However, this is to ignore the town’s impact on Ireland’s social and cultural history. For it was here, in 1884, that Michael Cusack, Maurice Davin and Dr Thomas Croke founded the Gaelic Athletic Association, the only body to rival the Catholic Church in its impact on the Irish way of life.

As a result, the Tipperary town is known as “the birthplace of the GAA” and “the home of hurling” and seemed like the perfect place to visit on the weekend the GAA were deciding whether to allow ‘foreign’ sports into their Croke Park cathedral.