Tulla’s ‘seat for life’ drive to fund fantastic new facilities

MAJOR developments are underway at Dr Daly Memorial Park in Tulla, with the start of a project to build a sports pavilion and viewing stand.
This is an impressive and modern, multi-purpose sports and recreational facility. It consists of an 860-seater viewing stand, gym, meeting rooms, medical treatment room, press commentary box, kitchen/canteen, changing rooms and toilets.
The development was designed and is being constructed and part-funded by Q-Con Building and Civil Engineers. The facility will be open for the 2022 GAA season.
To finance the project, Tulla GAA Club is organising a ‘Seat for Life’ fundraiser. This fundraiser is an opportunity for people to have their names inscribed on a Permanent Plaque Scroll, displayed at the sports pavilion.
A ‘Seat for Life’ allows anyone to dedicate a seat to themselves, a deceased GAA follower or someone they know who would like to be associated with assisting with financing the construction of the stand.
Dr Daly Memorial Park in Tulla has been the home to Tulla hurling for over 80 years. The famous ground has hosted teams from across the GAA community at local and national level.
The hill from which these games were witnessed is being transformed into a modern state-of-the art facility.
The park was officially opened on May 18, 1941, by Padraig McNamee, the then President of the GAA. The park was named in memory of Dr Tommy Daly, a native of Tulla, who was killed in a car accident on September 21, 1936.
He was no ordinary native of the parish, as he was regarded as the outstanding hurling goalie of his era. He won four All-Ireland Senior Championships with Dublin while a student at University College Dublin (UCD).
In the years 1917,’20, ’24 and ’27, he won six Fitzgibbon Cup medals. He also won a Railway Cup medal with Leinster in 1927, a Munster Championship in 1932 and an All-Ireland Junior Championship in 1914 with Clare.
Perhaps the role which gave him greatest pride was Tulla’s victory in the 1933 County Final in which he starred.
The captain of that Tulla team was Patrick Quinn, grandfather to Mark, who is now constructing the new stand and pavilion.
The Claret and Gold: A History of Tulla Hurling Club 1887 – 1987, Volume I, records the origins of Dr Daly Memorial Park and the fundraising efforts to support it.
A month after Dr Daly’s tragic death, a committee was formed with a view to procuring and equipping a Gaelic Park in his honour. They purchased O’Gorman’s field for £300.
“The fact that Dr. Tommy Daly himself played so much hurling in O’Gorman’s field and that the natural hill at the side of the field provided excellent viewing for spectators, probably influenced the Committee in making its choice.
“Three years later Páirc An Dálaigh was opened as a fitting and lasting memorial to Dr Tommy Daly,” the book outlines.
The book also details how, by the ‘70s, while Cusack Park, Ennis was undergoing major reconstruction, Dr Daly Park had become the leading hurling pitch in the county. The county Finals of 1977, ’78 and ’79 were played there.
The Claret and Gold adds: “Also in the ‘70s, the Dr. Daly Park became the home venue for Clare’s National League games. Clare had a run of 13 consecutive wins in the League at the Dr. Daly Park, over Kilkenny four times, Tipperary twice, Dublin twice and Cork, Wexford, Waterford, Galway and Kerry once between the years 1970 and 1978.
“The Clare team that won the League in 1977 and ’78 trained in the Dr Daly Park. While much was written in the press about the inadequacies of the Dr Daly Park as a county grounds, all were agreed that it had a special atmosphere.
“Crowds in excess of 6,000 were common and there were some marvellous games of hurling, especially the Clare v Kilkenny games.”
In 1980, Cusack Park reopened, but the memory of the many memorable matches lives on.
It was there that Sixmilebridge won their first Senior hurling Championship in 1977, where Wolfe Tones and Ogonnolloe met in the 1998 Clare Senior Hurling championship and the referee played ten minutes of injury time – leading to the match being re-fixed for a week later.
It was the venue when Whitegate defeated Cratloe in the 2018 Clare Senior Hurling Championship; where the great Feakle team of the 1980s had many victories; where the Clare football team held a training session after winning the 1992 Munster Football Final.
Hurling teams throughout the county have fond, and not-so-fond, memories of playing in the famous sod of Dr Daly Memorial Park.
The first major upgrade of Dr Daly Park was the redevelopment of the playing ground involving the laying of a sand based pitch in 2003, followed by new dressing rooms in 2004. Floodlights were installed in 2009.
Full details of how to get a ‘Seat for Life’, at a cost of €100, are available from any club officer, coach or pPlayer.
They can be purchased online at Tullagaa.clubzap.com.