The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE year 1914 was significant in both a national and international context. In June, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, in Sarajevo, an incident which would lead to the outbreak of World War 1.
John Redmond’s Woodenbridge call to arms for that war, in September 1914, created a split in the Irish National Volunteer Force from which would emerge the National Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers. The latter would go on to shape the Irish political landscape in the years following the 1916 Rising.
However, during this turbulent time, the subject dominating the headlines, in the Banner County at least, was the fact that the Clare hurlers had made history by becoming the first county to capture All-Ireland senior and junior honours in the same year, beating Laois in both finals.
By Tomás Mac Conmara
The story of 1914 in Clare, from a sporting, social and historical context, is told in this week’s Clare Champion.
