Brennan hails Davin’s GAA contribution

NICKEY BRENNAN yesterday paid tribute to the GAA’s first president Maurice Davin for his role in ‘bestowing the gift of the GAA on the Irish nation’.

Brennan was accompanied by the Association’s Director General Liam Mulvihill and the Patron of the Association, the Archbishop of Cashel, Dr Dermot Clifford when they unveiled a new headstone on Davin’s grace in Churchtown cemetery near Kilsheelan village in Tipperary.

The headstone was erected as part of a refurbishment project at the resting place of Mr Davin, initiated by the GAA’s Central Council. Work at the site also included the erection of a plaque, the laying of new surrounds and the sealing of the grave.

Davin, who came from Deerpark near Carrick-on-Suir, was noted as an outstanding international athlete in his youth and at one point held the world record for the hammer throw.

He actively campaigned for a body to control Irish athletics and, like Michael Cusack, was particularly concerned that social circumstances excluded the vast majority of Irish people from participating in athletics.

He gave his support to Cusack’s campaign for the founding of the GAA and presided at the initial meeting in Thurles. Appointed the GAA’s first President, he remains the only man to have served two terms and to resign twice.

Though not actively involved in the Association after 1889, a number of major games were played on his farm in the following years, including the 1904 hurling final when Kilkenny beat Cork to claim their first ever title.

Davin died in 1927. His final resting place was refurbished by the South Tipperary Board in 1984 but had since become dilapidated.

Speaking at the ceremony, Brennan paid tribute to Sean Fogarty, chairman of the Munster Council for his contribution to the project to restore the grave and said Davin’s contribution should never be forgotten.

“When it was drawn to our attention that Maurice Davin’s grave wasn’t to the standard that one would expect for such a central figure in the GAA’s history, we acted immediately to rectify the situation,” said Fogarty.