Maryborough CC and Stradbally CC, 1933

Note: A chance encounter between Roland Bradley, Laois Cricket Club, and Mrs Eleanor Russell resulted in Mrs Russell providing Roland with photographs relating to cricket in Stradbally in the early 1930s. A further encounter resulted in Tom Cosby, Stradbally Hall, providing Roland with a score card for a game between Maryborough CC (Portlaoise) and Stradbally CC. As a native of Portlaoise, I was delighted to have the opportunity to do some research and to provide a context for Laois CC now being based in Stradbally.

The start of every season is a time of great optimism because no game has been lost and it is always hoped to equal if not improve on the performances of the previous year. Thus, it was for Maryborough CC as it approached the 1933 season. It had spent some of the close season improving its facilities, and it had erected a boundary fence at Kellyville Park which is now the location of the offices of Laois County Council.

          Early in the season, R. H. Russell, a member of the family which owned Gray Russell Ltd manufacturers of cricket bats and tennis racquets, scored 38 for Phoenix CC 11 in the game against Merrion before being “unlucklily run out”. For the first game of the season, Maryborough CC travelled to Stradbally for a two innings per side game. Maryborough batted first and scored 44 runs of which Horace Turpin, a solicitor, contributed 16 runs. In reply, Stradbally scored 41 runs. In the second innings, Maryborough managed to score 50 runs, with Jappy Delany, a student who later became a dental surgeon, scoring 14 and Horace Turpin scoring 13 runs. Stradbally scored 58 runs in their innings, with Keep scoring 29 and Kelly getting 17 so the gross scores were 99 to 94 and a win for Stradbally.

          In the second game of the season, Maryborough played Rath and won on a score of 121 to 78 runs. Russell maintained his fine early season form by scoring 76 and the other double figure score came from J. Doran (23 runs). The leading scorers for Rath were T. Hunt (17), J. Smith (23) and T. Drennan (20). In the return fixture, the result was reversed, and the Nationalist correspondent was not too impressed with some of the cricket. He referred to Rath as having the “advantage in bowling and fielding”, and he suggested that Maryborough might pay more attention to these facets of the game. The main scorers for Maryborough were W. C. Meehan, a son of a former Member of Parliament, who by playing “stylish cricket” scored 34 and Jappy Delany, “the most promising of the young wielders of the willow” who scored 11.

          Some time ago in an article about cricket in Fingal, it was mentioned that one of the reasons for the game surviving in that area was that the GAA’s ban on foreign games was not implemented with any great vigour due to pragmatism and not to any lack of patriotism. This was not the case in Laois in 1933. One of the Stradbally players, S. Shortall, was reinstated after he had “suspended himself by attending a cricket dance”, and two months later, L. Brophy, Mountrath, applied for reinstatement after his suspension for playing cricket in 1932.

          When Maryborough travelled to Castlecomer, they were assured of a great welcome because Dr T. J. McCormack, a member of the team, was a native of Castlecomer and had won All-Ireland hurling medals with Kilkenny in 1911, 1912 and 1913. Dr Pierce Grace, another member of the Maryborough team on this occasion was also a native of Kilkenny. The Russells, father and son were playing, and this must have caused some confusion for the scorers because Mr Russell, Senior, was R. G. H. Russell and Mr Russell, Junior, was R. H. H.  Delany took 4 wickets and the Rusells also took 4 wickets. The main scorers for Maryborough were Doran (46), R. G. H. Russell (23) and Delany (20), and it won convincingly on a score of 141 to 61.

          The visit of Merrion to Kellyville Park was eagerly awaited, and it turned out to be an auspicious occasion for R. H. H. Shortt who scored 118 in an innings which “was not free of chances, of which a couple occurred, but R. H. H. was in luck and everyone was glad to see him run into three figures”. (Nationalist and Leinster Times, 8 July 1933). A. A. Odlum of the Flour Milling family was one of the members of the Maryborough team for this game and playing for Merrion was C. J. Little. Alan, one of this family played for Laois Cricket Club for several years. The Evening Herald published a weekly review of cricket happenings, and in addition to congratulating R. H. H. Shortt, it was also fulsome in its praise of Maryborough CC:

The enthusiastic cricketers in this town are to be congratulated on the great improvements that they have made on the ground which is now up to the best standard. The game has flourished there for many years and if they do not always win, they can be relied on to follow the highest sporting lines. (Evening Herald, 8 July 1933).

The vanquished Maryborough team travelled to Stradbally on the following day (2 July) and this is the game for which the score card was located. The opening pair for Stradbally, Capt Cosby (4) and T. Cole (12) were out cheaply, but that was good as it got for Maryborough. Tryom (45) and Keyes (109) batted Maryborough out of the game, and Kelly scored 45 to give Stradbally a final score of 246 runs for 7 wickets. A score of this nature in that era was a tribute to the quality of the wicket and outfield at Stradbally Hall. On a demoralised Maryborough team, only two players, Meehan (11) and J. P. Tyrrell (19) managed double figures, and it was bowled out for 59 runs.

The Meehan family had a long association with Castleknock, and all the boys attended the college. The Stations of the Cross in the College Chapel were presented by the Meehan family in memory of Fr Edward Meehan who died in 1919 while he was still President of Castleknock. It was appropriate therefore that Castleknock should visit Maryborough on 8 July 1933 to play the local team. The result was a convincing win for Castleknock on a score of 191 runs to 81 runs. Only 3 players, Maguire (25), Doran (16) and Dr McCormack (12) from Maryborough got into double figures whereas Castleknock had 7 players in double figures.

In August, things improved slightly for Maryborough CC. It had the better of a drawn match in a 12 a-side game against Phoenix, and there were substantial contributions from J. A. O’Donnell (57), G. Kenny (34) and R. Russell (28*). Carlow CC was one of the teams that Maryborough played frequently, and the two teams met in Carlow on 7 August. Maryborough batted first and scored 169 runs, which looked like a winning score, but Carlow got the required runs for the loss of only 3 wickets, with substantial contributions from McConkey (97), Early (24) and Governey (20). Earlier in that week, a junior side (Under 15) from Carlow travelled to Maryborough and won on a score of 94 runs to 87. The reporter was impressed by the commitment of the young players and suggested that “it would be a good idea if some of the seniors set about emulating the keenness of the juniors in this respect”. In a return junior match, Maryborough got revenge by scoring 109 runs to Carlow’s 78 runs.

The final game of the season for which there was a report was between Carlow and Maryborough at Kellyville Park. This was a strange game which took lots of unexpected turns. Carlow batting first, was dismissed for 54 runs, and Maryborough which looked like being out for less because its first four batsmen were out for 7 runs; 8 wickets had fallen for 54 runs; 9 wickets had fallen for 56 runs, but the last wicket brought the score up to 120 runs, to give Maryborough a win by a margin of 66 runs. In a somewhat begrudging comment, the Nationalist suggested that it was “the Carlow bowling more than the Maryborough batting that was responsible for the unexpected score”.  The final game of the season against Halverstown was not played due to rain.

 This was the end of an eventful season for Maryborough CC. It had improved the ground, it had played against two top Dublin sides, it had been on the wrong end of 2 centuries, it had been the object of fulsome praise from the Evening Herald and it had a junior section in place to ensure that players were coming through to replace those who were retiring. It had the structures in place for the club to continue to thrive and develop, and yet one year later, the club was offering its ground maintenance equipment and its cricket resources for sale. What happened? Certainly, it had lost some supporters through bereavement. Did it lose some of its key administrators whose organisational skills, energy and people skills can keep a club going when it hits stormy waters? Was it unable to field a team due to increased domestic /business commitments or competition from other sports especially golf? Further research will be required to address these questions. On every other occasion that the club had ceased to function, it had not sold off its stock and so it was relatively easy for a club to be re-formed, but by this irrevocable action, it was transparently clear, that cricket would not be played in Portlaoise for many years. Stradbally CC continued to function for some time, but by 1937 cricket had ceased completely in Laois, and it was not until 1985, that cricket was again played in Portlaoise. The impetus for this article was provided by some photographs of cricket in Stradbally and a score card of a game between Maryborough CC and Stradbally, and it is very fitting to see that Laois Cricket Club is now playing in Stradbally on a field provided by Tom Cosby, whose family have over many years been the mainstays of cricket in the county.