WHATEVER HAPPENED TO KINGSTOWN CC

I recently came across a fascinating photo of a group of men playing cricket with a couple of dozen others looking on. The background is interesting — the back of a row of houses, some trees, and a large church. The clothes they wear suggest it was taken in the mid-to-late 19^th century.

The picture was captioned ‘Kingstown’ but does not correspond with any of the churches in the town now known as Dún Laoghaire. The captioner may have just noted the name of the photographer whose address is printed on the reverse – “H Brown & Co (from London), Portrait and Landscape Artist, 95 Lower Georges Street, Kingstown.” Brown advertised his wares in the Irish Times in 1870, boasting he had been in Kingstown since 1856. He was still active in 1874.

However, on further study I worked out that the castellated turrets of the church are those of the Church of Ireland in Monkstown, built in 1789 and a mile or so closer to the city from Kingstown.

The whole episode set me thinking on one of the great mysteries of Dublin cricket – why has there been little or no club cricket between Dublin 4, close to the city, all the way south until you get to county Wicklow? The big coastal suburbs of Blackrock, Monkstown, Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey are populous, and prosperous, but have never had a long-running club.

It could be the topography, with large parts of those districts perched on hillsides, sloping down to the sea. Or perhaps it was the cost of land, although clubs such as YMCA, Railway Union and Merrion were able to find homes in equally sought-after Sandymountand Ballsbridge in the early 20^th century.

In the first edition of the Lawrence Handbook of Cricket in Ireland, 1865-66, the writer describes Hollyville Park as the strongest school side in Ireland, “situated close to the Monkstown station and in close proximity to Monkstown Church,” which appears to confirm my theory on the photo.

The original Hollyville Park school was situated off Newtownpark Avenue, a mile inland near Deansgrange between 1855-58, before moving to a site in Monkstown where Carrickbrennan Road now stands. I was unable to find when the school closed but the last advertisement it took out in the Irish Times was in 1880.

Monkstown played in the suburb for many years before moving to the Pembroke Wanderers hockey grounds in Sandymount. At one stage there were unconnected hockey, rugby and cricket clubs all calling themselves Monkstown, none of whom were actually playing in that suburb!

Monkstown CC played in Leinster league competitions from 1921 up to 1946, winning several trophies and competing in the Senior Cup in the early ’40s. It moved to Milltown Road, folding soon after. A revived club calling itself Monkstown played on the Irish Hockey Union grounds on Londonbridge Road from 1965-68.

There were other clubs over the years in the coastal suburbs – Sandymount CC were based in Horan’s Field, near Tesco in the village, and saw the first double century scored in Ireland in 1864 when James Gilligan helped his side score 524 against Co Wicklow. Sandymount CC continued in the Leinster league until 1929. The village, now home to Pembroke, Railway Union and YMCA, also hosted clubs such as Tritonville, Pembroke Wanderers and Elcho over the years, with Harding playing at the IHU too. Ringsend United played in Ringsend Park, an XI in the 1920s featuring an ancestor of Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie.

Pat Bracken has done remarkable research into clubs all over the land, and has dug up several clubs that played in the suburbs, such as Blackrock (Leinster league 1940), Dalkey, Ballybrack, Foxrock, Stradbrook (league in 1930s-40s) and Sandycove. I haven’t been able to find where any of these grounds were.

Owenstown were based where Roebuck Road meets Trimleston Road, although the Roebuck club actually played in Milltown!

A new club was set up in Cabinteely a decade ago and played in the Leinster leagues from 2014-17 when it merged with Dundrum to form DLR County, who play in Shanganagh Park, Shankill. There was a club in that area in the early 1870s, and were strong enough to get fixtures against Pembroke, Leinster and Civil Service, but they appear to have folded within a few years.

It still seems odd to me that no club was able to put down firm enough roots, especially as the ten senior clubs around the city have all lasted more than a century.

Arthur Samuels, a slow underarm bowler who turned out for Ireland in their first game in 1855, gave a talk on Early Cricket in Ireland to the Kingstown Literary & Debating Society in 1888, with the paper later published. It is an invaluable source for many reasons but he was able to trace the history of cricket in the township.

He and his friends founded the Kingstown club in 1848 on “a field near to St Paul’s church”, which is close to Glenageary dart station. The ground was leased on an annual basis and after a couple of years the club folded. It was revived in 1865 and “We went to considerable expense in laying out the ground, and surrounding it with wire fencing, and building a pavilion.” They were a strong club, beating all the major Dublin sides but Samuels admitted they found it hard to get their players to practise.

He explained: “The attractions of the bands on the pier and other allurements carried them away, and after some years, when our ground was taken for building purposes, the club ceased to exist.”

We wish DLR County CC well and trust they have more success in keeping their players away from the bands on the pier! It is brilliant to see the club thriving at Shanganagh Park with a solid and growing member base.