Photographed by S. Ryan, December 2009
Details local history and additional photographs below provided by R.M Brown, June 2020
Tom
McInerney, John Welsh, Billy Mcinerney and Tommy Hennessy, some of
those who rebuilt the Handball Alley. Photo taken in Handball Alley in
1940’s.
Newly cleaned and painted with new wire mesh on walls to stop ball’s going into wood.
Querrin Pier Handball Alley. During
the late 1800s and early 1900s there was a resurgence of Irish
Nationalism and the hope of Home Rule was in sight. During this time an
organisation called the Gaelic Athletic Association was formed in 1884
at the behest of a Michael Cusack , a Clare man. The G.A.A. included
handball in the GAA Charter of 1884 as one of the sports to be promoted
by the new Association and the GAA wrote the first rules for the modern
game of handball.Handball had been played in Ireland for a long time and
was exported all over the world by the emigrant Irish. The only other
handball alley in the district was the gable wall of the Irish College
in Carrigholt. The ball was made of rubber and one inch and a half in
diameter a little bigger than a golf ball. The game was played by 2
players ‘singles’ or by 4 players ‘doubles’.
The first Handball Alley : In
1910 the first Querrin Pier Handball Alley was built by the local
people and if it was to have two major improvements in 1945 and 1985 to
become the structure it is today. This first attempt did not back into
the wood but had its front wall on the boundary wall with two small side
walls of 4 feet length backing out on to the pier and from here came
out a further 14 feet. The road was now going around it !
Redesign of Handball Alley :By
1945 a local group decided it was time to improve the handball alley as
they enjoyed the game so much . The first major problem was its
projection out on to the road and pier and this was solved by my
grandfather , Bill Counihan, who owned the wood behind the alley. He
very generously gave the local group a section of the wood and part of
the alley was now backing into the wood and the present design of the
alley was established. The next issue was the money to finance it and a
local priest called Father Dick Lillis was the main driver in raising
the cash. He organised concerts at Querrin School, Carrigholt, Kilkee
and as far away as Doonbeg. The concert had the local talent and one act
that was exceptional were the Troy sisters whose step dancing was ‘ out
of this world ‘.
Tommy Power was
payed to build it and he organised the volunteers as this truly was a
community effort or meitheal. There was a large drop behind the original
front wall of the alley and this had to be infilled with rubble. The
main helpers at the time were the three other Lillis brothers of Father
Dick, Jimmy ,Gerrard and Billy , Martin Hennessy did the mixing and he
had 20 helpers collecting gravel by donkey and cart some of whom were
Michael Power , Sonny Hennessy ,Bertie O’Donnell, Marty O’Keefe ,Paddy
and Bill McInerney, Mickey O’Dee and Fred Hennessy the brother of
Martin. My uncle Bill Counihan had the job of drawing the seawater
for the mix as he was only a young schoolboy. The gable of a barn
belonging to John Brew was brought by donkey and cart to Querrin from
Black weir by Bertie O’Donnell and still forms part of the framework
that supports the back wall.
This
new Alley then led to the hay day of the handball’s popularity in
Querrin. In the 1940s handball was becoming a international game and the
USA became involved and new rules emerged e.g. no more using your foot
to return ball. Every police department in the USA had a handball alley
to keep their force fit. The big problem with the alley in Querrin was
it had no back wall so could not be used in competition and when Querrin
players played in a 'proper‘ handball alley they were not used to the
back wall so were always at a disadvantage.
The
most popular time to play was from around 12pm to 6pm on a Sunday
afternoon. There could be up to 50 players. When you arrived you put
your name up on the wall and you waited your turn. If you won you stayed
on the court and you played up to 21 points. If you lost a point and
you were serving you were ‘hand out‘ and only lost a point on your
opposition serving and winning a point. The loser usually refereed the
next game , Jack Galvin was the main referee for the big games. So one
player could hold his place if he beat all comers and Tom McInerney
described how his hand was swollen after one such session and he then
had to home and milk the cow. At other times they played with 6 players
with 3 on each side . The ladies used to come and watch also and in the
Summer days you could add swimming off the pier into the mix. The
younger players had to come first and get game before the adults
arrived. A big problem they also had was losing balls in the wood or
over the pier into the water. Money was short and an hour could
be spent looking for a ball. Collections of a few pence each were made
to buy balls in Nestor’s Sports Shop in Limerick and balls were bought
by John Galvin who worked in Limerick. Certain players who lived local
to the handball alley held the balls.
The
players in this new era of the late 1940s and 1950’s were very talented
and their names are still spoken locally with acclaim.
Tommy
and Ned Griffin, JJ Griffin ,Michael Power ,John Galvin , ,Paddy Nolan,
,Tom and Willie McInerney,Paddy Nolan and his friends from Kilkee,
and the Hough’s and Harvey’s from Doonbeg. There was one famous
match between Tommy Griffin and Paddy Nolan ,refereed by Jack Galvin
,which went on for hours and was one of the best games ever seen.
The
game of rackets was coming on the scene and was the new favoured sport
of the young. As a youngster in Querrin in late 1950s and 1960s I
played racket ball however the handball alley players always had first
call to it. Respect for the handball players rights to the alley was in
built.
Improvements to Alley : In
1985 it was again repaired and the walls were strengthened. It was
mainly done by Jimmy and Michael Galvin over the long Easter weekend of
that year along with other volunteers. The money was raised with a draw
and Clare County Council also donated some funds. It was newly
plastered inside and out.
In
November 2019 the handball alley was again given a facelift. It was
cleaned and painted and new posts and mesh wiring put along the top wall
to help stop ball been lost in wood. The money for this improvement was
kindly donated by the Community Fund of Moneypoint Wind Farm.
Article and photos by Robert Brown.
Sincerely
Robert Brown
Secretary
Querrin Pier Community Development Group.
