If Eoin O’Duffy had not become Commissioner of An Garda Siochana in September 1922 it could be stated that the link between An Garda Síochana and the GAA would be quite different today.
Employment in Clonmel and towns like it was scarce during the early nineteen hundreds. Women, especially, were usually reduced to taking back-breaking jobs in houses. Only the few could train to be teachers, office workers or nurses.
When one thinks of playing sport during a pandemic the mind immediately focuses on the current nightmare GAA supporters have had to endure because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Ireland has been here several times before and 80 years ago is one that springs to mind.
