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Lot 486 1893: GAA All Ireland Football Championship Medal won by Wexford
1.25 by 1 in.
Hallmarked gold medal awarded to Michael Curran of Young Irelands. Engraved "G.A.A. all Ireland Football Championship Won By Wexford 1893" to reverse and "M. Curran" in circular cartouche to obverse. The 1893 final was played in June 1894 between Young Irelands, Wexford and Dromtariffe of Cork. The final was without doubt was one of the most unusual in the history of the association. The match was arranged to be played at Ashtown near the Phoenix Park but the pitch was unplayable, described by the Wexford Independent at the time as "a graveyard overgrown with grass..." The crowd of approximately 2000, which had come to see the game made their way to the polo pitch in the nearby Phoenix Park in hope that the game could take place there. The polo pitch, however, had no markings or goalposts that were suitable for a football match, but ingenuity triumphed and city drivers placed their jaunting cars at intervals around the pitch while the people in between the cars acted as the boundary lines. When the match finally did get underway the Young Irelands went into an early lead with the benefit of the hill. The second half saw Cork disallowed a goal and "a Cork man swooped down on Paddy Curran who was bending over the ball and gave him an open kick in the face which turned his left eye out of his head...". This led to a mass invasion of the pitch and after the Dublin referee did eventually restore order and asked the teams to replace their casualties, the Cork team refused to return to the pitch handing the title to Wexford with a winning score of 1-1 to 0-2. A hard-earned and scarce medal. For more information see The Wexford Hurling & Football Bible 1887-2008 by Dominic Williams.
Hallmarked gold medal awarded to Michael Curran of Young Irelands. Engraved "G.A.A. all Ireland Football Championship Won By Wexford 1893" to reverse and "M. Curran" in circular cartouche to obverse. The 1893 final was played in June 1894 between Young Irelands, Wexford and Dromtariffe of Cork. The final was without doubt was one of the most unusual in the history of the association. The match was arranged to be played at Ashtown near the Phoenix Park but the pitch was unplayable, described by the Wexford Independent at the time as "a graveyard overgrown with grass..." The crowd of approximately 2000, which had come to see the game made their way to the polo pitch in the nearby Phoenix Park in hope that the game could take place there. The polo pitch, however, had no markings or goalposts that were suitable for a football match, but ingenuity triumphed and city drivers placed their jaunting cars at intervals around the pitch while the people in between the cars acted as the boundary lines. When the match finally did get underway the Young Irelands went into an early lead with the benefit of the hill. The second half saw Cork disallowed a goal and "a Cork man swooped down on Paddy Curran who was bending over the ball and gave him an open kick in the face which turned his left eye out of his head...". This led to a mass invasion of the pitch and after the Dublin referee did eventually restore order and asked the teams to replace their casualties, the Cork team refused to return to the pitch handing the title to Wexford with a winning score of 1-1 to 0-2. A hard-earned and scarce medal. For more information see The Wexford Hurling & Football Bible 1887-2008 by Dominic Williams.
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