Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers of The Old Cinema, Chatsworth Street, Castlecomer were certainly on the ball at a recent auction as a hurling ball fetched a cool €750.
The sliothar that was used in a landmark hurling battle between Kilkenny and Cork is a relic of the famous Thunder & Lightning Final of 1939.
An official match ball, inscribed in biro ‘Jim Langton-All-Ireland 1939’ was given to ‘John Power, Lacken (1940)’, a fascinating surviving memento from a clash of the ash that was played on the same day as World War Two was declared.
Kilkenny won the game on a score of 2-7 to 3-3 and was a cracker despite the fact that it was played in a thunderstorm.
The late Jim Langton is regarded as one of the greatest wing forwards of all time.
He was a superstar who won the hearts and minds of Kilkenny supporters and was also admired and respected as a camán craftsman by supporters from all other hurling counties.
CBS VICTORY LAUNCHED ILLUSTRIOUS HURLING CAREER
Born in Ballyragget, Jim moved to Kilkenny City and for years his family home was, rather aptly, a neighbour to Kilkenny CBS Primary as the bold Jim was to go on to win a senior colleges’ senior hurling medal with Kilkenny CBS, James’s Street in 1936.
That success was to be the start of a glorious career for the hugely promising then young Langton who went on to win four senior county hurling championships with Éire Óg in 1938, 1944, 1945 and 1947.
He won senior hurling All-Irelands with Kikenny in ’39 and ’47 and won Leinster Senior Crowns in ’39, ’40, ’43, 45, ’46, ’50 and ’53.
He won minor All-Ireland hurling championships with Kilkenny in ’35 and 36 and Leinster minor titles in the same years.
The legendary Jim Langton was selected on The Hurling Team of the Millennium; Hurling Team of the Century; Kilkenny Hurling Team of the Century; All-Time All-Star 1984 and was inducted into the GAA Hall of Fame in 2013.
HURLING MATCH TICKET SOLD FOR €7,000
Jim was born in Gowran, County Kilkenny on January 18, 1918 and passed away on April 18, 1987, aged 69.
There was big interest in the Collectors’ Sale which brought in a total of €220,000 on the hammer.
Top price of €7,000 was paid for a poignant memento of a fateful day in the history of the GAA.
The latter was a Grand Challenge Match (Football) Tipperary v Dublin ad Croke Park.
Bidding was brisk for an original printed ticket for this match.
Printed on pink card with serial No. and admission 1/-.
Excessively rare, the lot came with a reproduction memorial card of the victims who were gunned down by British Soldiers on what became known as Bloody Sunday.
The event followed the early morning assassination of 11 British Intelligent Agents, ‘The Cairo Gang’, in an operation organized by Michael Collins.
When the British retaliated later that day, it was to Croke Park that the military and auxiliary forces went, recognising that the stadium was the centre and symbol of Irish Nationalism and Nationalistic Aspirations.
