Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-21
IRISH HURLERS.

The Gaelic Club or This City to Competei
 For the Championship ot America Nexts
 sunday. Hl
 For the past six months the residents of Baldwin street and vicinity have beenA wondering where the great army of stall wart young men belong who meet in the rye lots week evenings and in Riverside park on Sundays and furnish the specta- tors with some remarkable feats in the ancient Irish game of hurling. The game has been known in Ireland from time i'm memorial and still preserves all its old time charms for the man who is sufficient ly stout of limb and fleet of foot to -in- dulge in thepastime. The yonng men re- ferred to belong to the O'Connell Royers Gaelic Athletic club, and present for midable appearance as they march to and from their meeting grounds carrying hurleys or camans. huge pieces of wood resembling ponderous axe handles. and which could not be yielded by anyone ex- cept he possessed more muscular power than the ordinary man. The hurleys very forcibly remind one of the story of the Irish giant who, it is told, made a caman out of a giant oak tree and a ball out of a huge boulder and issued a challenge to the neighboring chiefs to meet him in a hurl- ing match for the championship Of the world. Several came but when they saw their opponent all withdrew from the field and the boulder was afterwards chiseled into an immense monument and set up over the champions remains which were encased in A coffin made out of the huge caman.
 The o'Connell Rovers have not been predicting for fun. Their aim was to bring the championship of the Gaelic Athletic association of America to Water bury and hold it in the fourth ward for years to come, just as the Wolfe Tone Gaelic Athletic association of Brooklyn, N. Y., has held it in that place for the last twelve years. With this end in view the local club has been practicing day and night since early last spring and when they found that they had the game re- duced to a science made application for admission to the Gaelic Athletic associa- ton of America and being admitted forth with issued a challenge to the champion Wolf Tone club to play them a match game for the championsl ip of America. The champions. it is stated. at first hesi- | tated, but finally consented and to day a letter was received from Manager Murry stating that his club would play them the | best two out of three games at Ridgewood park on next Sunday afternoon for the | championship of America. The OConnell Rovers immediately went to work and col lected the plcked men or the cluO anu VIII leave here on the o'clock train Saturday evening for the field of conflict, fully bent on making a superhuman effort to pluck the laurels from the Brooklyn club and carry them back to Waterbury.
 Most of the men have won laurels in | Gaelic clubs in their native land and are
 confident of victory. Eighteen men will
 do battle for the laurels, but iE case one
 should be disabled in the conflict, which
 is not improbable, a couple of reserves have
 been placed on the list. Here they are Captain, Martin Connor; vice-captain,
 Patrick Hayes; Daniel Griffin, Morgan
 Bowling. James Hayes, William Duane,
 Daniel Connolly. Michael Hayes. Thomas
 Duane. Michael Barnett, wm Fitzgerald
 John Toomey. Michael Shannahan, Wn
 Shannahan, John Bowling. Thomas Mur phy, Lawrence Shea, Timothy Donahue
 Robert Stack, Peter Griffin and Richard
 Rafferty; Empires Frank Healy and Johr
 Hayes. The game is the talk of the towr
 and if the club bring the championship tC
 Waterbury their friends promise them [ big reception On their return.