Remembering Harry Boland on the centenary of his death
THE MOST successful hurling club in Dublin will celebrate the life of one of their most famous members, Harry Boland, on the centenary of his death.
One hundred years on from the death of Harry Boland, Faughs GAA club will this Sunday take part in the centenary celebrations with a day of commemorative matches and festivities.
Boland was a very active GAA man.
Having refereed the 1914 All-Ireland Football Championship Final, he joined Faughs alongside Eugene Ryan from Rathmines Hurling Club in that same year.
Chairperson of the Dublin County Board during the revolutionary period, between 1911 and 1916, Boland also ended up winning two senior hurling championships with Faughs in 1914 and 1915.
Boland became heavily involved in the Irish Volunteer Force and took an active role in the Easter Rising of 1916.
He was subsequently elected to the first Dáil Éireann in 1918 as a member of Sinn Féin. Boland was a close ally of Michael Collins but later sided with Eamon de Valera in opposing the Anglo-Irish Treaty which kickstarted the Irish Civil War.
After being re-elected to the Dáil, during the War of Independence, Boland was shot and mortally wounded by the Free State Army on July 31, 1922, at the Skerries Grand Hotel.
The Phibsborough native was a republican envoy in the United States between May 1919 and December 1921 – at one time being presented with the Harry Boland Silver Cup.
A replica of the Harry Boland Silver Cup will be presented during the official opening of Faughs new pitch on Sunday to the Dublin county board for the Dublin Intermediate Championship.
Following that presentation, which is at noon on Sunday, July 31, Faughs minor hurlers will host Camross of Laois before their adult camogie team take on Skerries Harps.
At halftime in each game, Faughs juvenile players will challenge Kevin’s Hurling Club members.
Following that, at 3pm, Faughs hurlers representing Dublin are set to face-off against the oldest GAA club in North America, Harry Bolands of Chicago, in a 1920 commemorative match.
This game will be refereed by grandnephew of Harry Boland, Diarmuid Ó Loing from Bondi Gaels and Australasia CLG.
At the end of the day, there will be a presentation on items from the Faughs Museum along with refreshments and music in the clubhouse.
