'GAA Collection' a treasure trove of All-Ireland film
GAA Collection: Jimmy Doyle lifts the Liam MacCarthy Cup for Tipperary in 1965
Footage from the All-Ireland football and hurling finals from 1947 to 1968 are to be made available online by the Irish Film Institute.
From today the GAA Collection on the IFI Player is available, free to view, for a limited time.
Featuring commentary from the legendary Micheál O’Hehir, the collection covers the All-Ireland football finals from 1947 to 1959 and hurling final footages from 1948 to 1968.
It can be viewed on the IFI Player at www.ifiplayer.ie and the IFI Player suite of apps.
Football highlights of the collection include the 1947 All-Ireland football final, held in New York's Polo Grounds, which saw Cavan beat Kerry by 2-11 to 2-7; Mayo’s now famous 1951 victory, the last All-Ireland won by the county,, against Meath; and the last appearances of Cavan (1952) and Louth (1957) in the All-Ireland final.
In an echo of the current season, the football games include the 1956 decider between Cork and Galway, delayed to October due to a polio outbreak in the Cork.
Galway, who won by 2-13 to 3-7, featured two of the greatest players of their generation, Frankie Stockwell (who scored 2-5 from play) and the versatile Seán Purcell. Cork were led by Donal O’Sullivan and included Paddy Harrington at half-back, father of the three-times major-winning golfer, Pádraig.
Hurling highlights include Waterford's last All-Ireland victory in 1959; Tipperary and Cork's six-year dominance of the championships between 1949 and 1954; and Wexford’s dramatic victories in the 1955 and 1956.
There’s also footage of actor John Gregson with the Kilkenny team during the parade before the 1957 All-Ireland final as part of the production of the film Rooney.
The film incorporated actual footage of the final itself and John Gregson, the Liverpool actor who played the lead role, lined out with the Kilkenny team in the pre-match parade to the consternation of many players and fans at the time.
And there's the famous 'Mushrooms' final of 1966, when a young Cork team arrived in the decider after a 10-year wait, with most of the players new to Croke Park.Â
IFI Director Ross Keane said, 'The films in this collection depict a remarkable ambition to capture two of the fastest field sports on 16mm film, and allow us to experience the first surviving indigenous footage of Gaelic football and hurling.
“The IFI is proud to provide access to the rich heritage of our national games to audiences across Ireland and the world via the IFI Player.”Â
From the 1940s to 1970s, the National Film Institute, now the Irish Film Institute, produced and distributed a number of educational and entertainment films, the best known of which was a series of GAA football and hurling All-Ireland final highlights from 1948 to 1979.
The matches were filmed by some of Ireland's most legendary cameramen including Bob Monks, Brendan Stafford, Vincent Corcoran and George Fleischman.
Alongside the terrific sports footage, the films also give a glimpse of the social history of the time.
For instance, the high-profile appearances of Catholic archbishops is notable, as is their role in starting the games.
The films also include pre-match footage of the areas surrounding Croke Park as fans make their way to the game, while the footage from 1959 onwards is important as it was the first time the matches were filmed in colour.
RTÉ did not start broadcasting in colour until 1969.
The GAA Collection joins a wealth of other materials preserved in the IFI Irish Film Archive, which holds over 30,000 cans of film dating from 1897.
Other collections currently available free-to-view worldwide include The Irish Adverts Project, featuring restored ads from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s; The Irish Independence Film Collection, a treasure trove of repatriated newsreel material from British Pathé, exploring a tumultuous time in Ireland's history; and the Loopline Collection Vol. 1, a collection of short films and documentaries from Sé Merry Doyle's acclaimed production company Loopline Film.
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