Local Faces: Joe Cully

OCCASIONALLY in these pages, we like to spice things up a bit and give you, our valued readers, something a little bit different, writes Ken Doyle.

This is one of those weeks as we delve into the world of Medieval Combat Sports in the company of one of its top practitioners, Tallaght man Joe Cully.

In case you were wondering, yes this is the real deal. Practitioners compete in full armour and they use swords, shields and all manner of lethal medieval weapons.

It’s really something to see but before we get into all of that, we’ll take our customary delve into Joe’s early years.

“I’m originally from Virginia Heights in Springfield and I went to school at St Mark’s both for primary and secondary. After I left school I almost got lost in academia.

‘In between working all kinds of jobs I achieved a Degree in Drama from Trinity College, a Masters in History from what was then NGUI and is now the University of Galway and a H Dip in Archaeology from UCD.

‘In fact I spend my weekends these days teaching Archaeology to young people. I’ve actually always liked the idea of teaching young people and passing on knowledge. I really enjoy it.”

As far as his working week goes, these days Joe works in public service and he’s quite happy with his lot career wise.

But, let’s get to the meat of the matter, the swords and the shields and the terrifying combat which is so close to Joe’s heart.

“Well I’ve tried a load of different combat sports and Martial Arts over the years but nothing really clicked with me.

‘I always had that competitiveness about me and I really wanted to find an outlet for it. When I discovered Medieval Combat Sports, I took to it straight away and wished to God I’d found it earlier.”

Medieval Armoured Combat Ireland (to give it its correct title) is divided into four clubs, representing the four provinces of Ireland.

‘First there’s Athenry 1316, based in Galway and representing the West, the Knights of Munster based in Cork, representing the South.

‘The North is represented by the Knights of South Down in Newtonards and our gang, representing Dublin and Leinster is called Fragarach, named after the legendary Fragarach, the mythical sword of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Joe is the Chairman of this motley crew.

Joe joined a couple of years before COVID and recalls to me the great work of his predecessor as Chair, David Maher.

“Well if it wasn’t for David, the club probably wouldn’t exist now.

‘He ran himself ragged during that time making sure that club activities could continue as much as possible.

‘When it was over, I took over as Chairman and that freed David up to concentrate on other aspects of the club. He’s still hugely important to us.”

Medieval Combat Sport, Joe tells me, is not an official Martial Art, even though there are many similarities with traditional Martial Arts, there are some technical points which mean they can’t be.

It’s still as physical and full contact as can be though, hence the armour and shields but injury rates are comparable to boxing or any other combat sport.

“We compete against other teams both here and abroad and those trips are fantastic.

‘We also have a women’s team now so the club is growing and membership is very healthy.”

Given the equipment needed, I ask Joe if it’s a prohibitively expensive sport to take up and he says, “well it’s not cheap exactly but as far as costs are concerned, we’re comparable to golf. And a bit more exciting.”

“Training is very accessible and we have a great co-operative spirit at Fragarach.

‘Some of our people represent the National Team and in the last couple of years they’ve represented the country in tournaments in Mexico and Hungary.”

Joe himself is actually injured and can’t compete at the moment which is driving him mad.

“I hurt my knee at the World Championships and I’ve been out since.

‘Well when I say I hurt my knee, I broke it, tore the ACL and basically made an absolute mess of it.

‘I’m recovering slowly but surely though and I’ll be back in the armour soon.”

Earlier I mentioned that Joe has a degree in drama from Trinity and, having been involved with the Abbey Theatre (a genuine Abbey actor as my mother would have said), he taught at the Tallaght Youth Theatre for many years.

He’s also the principal designer of the Tallaght Pride flag which you can see displayed at various locations in the locale.

One problem Joe tells me about Fragarach is that currently they’re practicing at a facility in the far- northside near the airport.

The club is well connected with Tallaght though and not just through Joe.

They perform at the Tallaght Heritage Week every year and Joe gives special praise to the Historical Society and Dawn at Áon Scéal in particular.

So for more information, visit armouredcombat or drop a line to fragaracharmouredcombat@gmail.com

We thank Joe for his time and wish him every success with Fragarach and his dodgy knee.