The Donnelly's Hollow pageants

They only happened twice, but the Donnelly's Hollow An Tostal pageants held in the early 50s are still strong in local folk memory.


They're certainly embedded in mine. As a nine- and ten-year-old I was one of the lucky youngsters who sold programmes at the events for a shilling apiece. We were allowed keep tuppence on each, so it was a profitable gig.

An Tostal was a national festival scheme which encouraged local communities to undertake pageants and similar events, both as a cultural endeavour and to provide attractions for the budding tourist industry.

It was a time when the Kilcullen Boxing Club was doing well sportwise, but needed funds. Such clubs always did, there were considerable expenses in ferrying the young lads to tournaments in all corners of the country.

My Dad, Jim Byrne Jr, was president of the club and Lieut Cyril Russell was the trainer. They came up with a plan to commemorate the famous 1815 bare-knuckle fight between Dan Donnelly and the English champion, George Cooper. The original fight had been just before Christmas in 1815, at a hollow on the edge of the Curragh.

The pageant idea was enthusiastically taken up by the club members and other locals. Plans were hatched to make it an event that would attract people from far beyond the locality.
The key characters were cast. Two of the senior boxers got star parts — Jim Berney was to be Dan Donnelly, and Kevin McCourt would play the part of Cooper. My uncle and godfather, Tom Byrne, and John Ffrench were appointed as seconds to the fighters, and a 'crowd' would be provided by the Kilcullen GAA football team.

Sunday April 19 1953 was picked as the date and a number of things had to be done. The two fighters had to learn the Rules of Bare-knuckle Boxing, formulated in 1741 by then British fighting champion Jack Broughton. 'Rules' are not the best description. In pre-Queensbury Rules, tactics like gouging, butting, hair-pulling and pouncing on the adversary when down were all permitted.

A choreography had to be devised. The original fight had lasted eleven rounds and a long time. This re-enactment was just one event in a programme of wrestling, fencing, and judo demonstrations, and boxing under Irish Amateur Boxing Association rules.

That last was a significant tournament, and would include Kilcullen club notables like John McKenna and Hugh Peacocke, as well as a number of Army gloves and members of clubs from Newbridge and Crumlin in Dublin.

There was promotion to be organised. With no television this was dependent on friendly newspaper correspondents and what would today be called direct personal marketing. That involved the main protagonists and the Kilcullen GAA 'rent-a-crowd', and anyone else who wanted to go on a skite for the night, dressing up in costume and doing a tour of local towns. Transport was in the back of the trucks of my Dad's 'Leinster Beverage' mineral water business. Stopping points in each town and village were, by no accident, pubs.

Logistics of the day had to be organised. Seats and PA systems would be provided courtesy of the Army, programmes were written for printing by the Leinster Leader, and advertising to pay for same had to be gathered.

Good weather might have been prayed for.


The programme for the first pageant is interesting in its own right. Not just for the articles, which included a Ballad and a Profile of Dan Donnelly and a contemporary account of the famous fight as well as some detail on the Brougham Rules and the various fighting sports which were to be presented on the day. The advertisements, to anybody still with a memory of the old days in Kilcullen, are gems.

The opening page featured an appeal to establish a Fund for injured professional jockeys, on a page donated by 'a well-known Amateur Rider'.

The then 'Famous Jockey Hall Hotel' with its Riding School and Hunting Establishment also bought space, while the spot beside it taken by the Irish Judokwai organisation — probably a 'contra' for their taking part in the pageant. They were offering a three-month course in Judo for twenty-five shillings.

The Grand Hotel in Droichead Nua (Newbridge) was 'justifiably famed for its admirable Cuisine and Homely Atmosphere'.



D Brennan & Sons in Kilcullen were 'Main Ferguson Dealers' and sold 'any make of car' as well as being Builders Providers, Ironmongers, Seeds & Fertilisers salesmen, and also ran a General Hardware and Drapery.

Byrne & Co Ltd, my grandfather's business of General Hardware and Drapery Merchants, could supply 'all Farm and Household Requisites' and were agents for 'Hoover' cleaners, 'Wolseley' electric fencing and 'Rayburn' cookers.

The advertisers in the timetable section were Peter Moloney, Draper and Outfitter; D O'Connell MPSI, Pharmaceutical Chemist; the 'Hide-Out' Lounge and Grill at Byrnes of Kilcullen; Nolan Victuallers; and T Berney & Sons, Saddlers.

Other adverts were placed by Mallick's Bar, 'just a stone's throw from Donnelly's Hollow'; The White Horse Inn in Kilcullen; McDonnell's Radio and Electrical Stores who provided 'all leading makes' of 1953 radio 'from 3/6d weekly'; Joe McTernan's Lounge, whose 'customers come back'; Ideal Chicks Ltd from Ballina and Dundrum, Dublin; and the Curragh Bloodstock Agency, which specialised in insurance and transport of bloodstock worldwide, as well as organising summer holidays and business trips for those not necessarily of a horsey bent.



The day itself? Memory is for obvious reasons a bit on the 'sunny summer days' side. But I do have the lasting impression that it was indeed a fine day. That's actually borne out by the fact that a cigarette end carelessly thrown away set the gorse on part of the 'Hollow' alight. What might have been a disaster was only averted by the 'timely intervention of an Engineers Sergeant'. And there was great action of all kinds for a kid, especially after the striding up in Dan Donnelly's 'footsteps' by Jim Berney following the vanquishing of his opponent.



Contemporary accounts suggest that 'many thousands' came from the locality and even from as far as Dublin, thanks to the publicity efforts.



It was certainly successful enough to be repeated the following year, a little later on May 2. This time, though, the Pageant commemoration was the Finale, with essentially the same cast.









New advertisers in the Souvenir Programme, still a snip at a shilling, included N Bardon of Kilcullen, Grocery, Bar and News Agency; Bill Malone of Kilcullen, Grocery & Greengrocery; J O'Brien of Hillside, Kilcullen, Confectionery and Grocery; Mrs Burke, Kilcullen, Grocery, Confectionery and Greengrocery. (As you can see, Kilcullen supported a lot of Grocery shops in those years.) And again, many contributors from outside Kilcullen too.

All of which are their own stories of a bygone age.





By an amazing coincidence, as I put the last words to this piece, who should sit beside me in the bar but 'Dan Donnelly' himself, in the person of Jim Berney, now 73. I said I'd love to have some of the old photographs of the time, and he told me he had an album of copies.

Which is why we have more than the programme pages to illustrate this. Many thanks, Jim.