seamus dubhghaill

Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Tag Archives: Wexford Senior Hurling Championship


by Leave a comment

Death of Irish Hurler Bobby Rackard

Robert “Bobby” Rackard, Irish hurler who plays as a right corner-back for the Wexford senior team, dies in Killane, County Wexford, on October 19, 1996.

Rackard is born in Killane on January 6, 1927. He makes his first regular appearance for the Wexford senior team during the 1947 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and is a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement before the 1957 All-Ireland championship. During that time he wins two All-Ireland medals, four Leinster medals and one National Hurling League medal. He is an All-Ireland runner-up on two occasions. His brothers, Nicky and Billy, also experience All-Ireland success with Wexford.

Rackard plays his club hurling with Rathnure and enjoys much success and is a four-time county club championship medalist in his lengthy career.

In 1948, Rackard is a key member of the defence as Rathnure reaches only their second championship decider ever. A 3–5 to 0–2 trouncing of reigning champions Ferns St. Aidan’s gives him his first championship medal. After failing to retain their title the following year, Rathnure is back in the county decider once again in 1950. Another convincing 5–10 to 2–6 defeat of old rivals Ferns St. Aidan’s gives him his second championship medal.

It is 1955 before Rathnure qualifies for another championship decider and four-in-a-row hopefuls Ferns St. Aidan’s provides the opposition once again. A close game develops, however, a 2–9 to 2–5 victory gives Rackard a third championship medal.

After a number of years out of the limelight, Rathnure reaches the county final once again in 1961. A fourth defeat of Ferns St. Aidan’s gives Rackard, who scores two goals from his full-forward berth, a fourth and final championship medal.

Rackard first comes to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Wexford minor hurling team in the early 1940s. He enjoys little success in this grade but is called up to the senior team in 1947.

After losing the provincial final in 1950, Rackard is at centre-back the following year as Wexford faces Laois in the eastern decider. A 3–12 to 4–3 victory gives him his first Leinster medal as Wexford claims the provincial crown for the first time since 1918. The subsequent All-Ireland decider sees three-in-a-row hopefuls Tipperary providing the opposition. Nicky Rackard’s goal-scoring ability is quelled by Tipperary goalkeeper Tony Reddin, while Séamus Bannon, Tim Ryan and Paddy Kenny score key goals which power Tipperary to a 7–7 to 3–9 victory.

After back-to-back Leinster defeats over the next two years, Wexford faces Dublin in the 1954 decider. A huge 8-5 to 1–4 victory gives Rackard his second Leinster medal. A record crowd of 84,856 attend the subsequent All-Ireland decider with Cork providing the opposition. Wexford has a four-point lead with seventeen minutes left to play, however, history is against Wexford when Johnny Clifford scores the winning goal for Cork with just four minutes left. A 1–9 to 1–6 victory secures a third successive All-Ireland for Cork.

In 1955, Wexford continues their provincial dominance with Rackard collecting a third Leinster medal following a 5–6 to 3–9 defeat of Kilkenny in a replay of the Leinster final. Galway, who gets a bye into the final without picking up a hurley, provides the opposition and takes a halftime lead. A Tim Flood goal nine minutes from the end clinches a 3–13 to 2–8 victory and a first All-Ireland medal for Rackard. It is Wexford’s first All-Ireland triumph in forty-five years.

Rackard adds a National Hurling League medal to his collection in 1956 as Tipperary is bested by 5–9 to 2–14. The subsequent championship campaign sees Wexford reach the provincial final once again. A narrow 4–8 to 3–10 defeat of Kilkenny gives Rackard his fourth and final Leinster medal. Galway falls heavily in the All-Ireland semi-final, allowing Wexford to advance to an All-Ireland final meeting with Cork. The game goes down in history as one of the all-time classics as Christy Ring is bidding for a record ninth All-Ireland medal. The game turns on one important incident as the Wexford goalkeeper, Art Foley, makes a miraculous save from a Ring shot and clears the sliotar up the field to set up another attack. Nicky Rackard scores a crucial goal with two minutes to go giving Wexford a 2–14 to 2–8 victory. In spite of Cork’s loss, Wexford’s Nick O’Donnell and Rackard, in an unparalleled display of sportsmanship in any game, raise Christy Ring onto their shoulders and carry him off the field. Wexford wins the game and Rackard collects his second All-Ireland medal but there is no doubt in their minds that the real hero is Ring.

A farm accident in 1957 brings an end to Rackard’s inter-county career.

Rackard also has the honour of being selected for Leinster in the inter-provincial series of games and enjoys some success. In 1956 he lines out in his only inter-provincial decider. A 5–11 to 1–7 trouncing of Munster gives Rackard a Railway Cup medal.

In retirement, Rackard, along with his brothers, come to be regarded as one of the greatest hurling families of all-time. In 1984, the centenary year of the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association, he is named to the Hurling Team of the Century. In 1992, both Billy and Bobby Rackard’s brilliance is recognised when they are presented with the All-Time All Star Award for hurling. Rackard is also posthumously named on the Hurling Team of the Millennium in 1999.

(Pictured: The Rackard brothers from left Bobby, Nicky and Billy)


by Leave a comment

Birth of Nicholas “Nicky” Rackard, Irish Hurler

Nicholas “Nicky” Rackard, Irish hurler whose league and championship career with the Wexford senior team spans seventeen years from 1940 to 1957, is born on April 28, 1922, in Killanne, County Wexford. He establishes many championship scoring records, including being the top championship goal-scorer of all time with 59 goals. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest hurlers in the history of the game.

Rackard is the eldest son of five boys and four girls born to Robert (Bob) Rackard and Anastasia Doran, who had been married in 1918. He is introduced to sport by his father who had hoped he would become a cricketer. His uncle, John Doran, won an All-Ireland medal as a Gaelic footballer with Wexford in 1918 and it is hurling and Gaelic football that Rackard develops a talent for.

Rackard plays competitive hurling as a boarder at St. Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny. Here he wins back-to-back Leinster Colleges Senior Hurling Championship medals in 1938 and 1939, however, an All-Ireland medal remains elusive. He later attends University College Dublin (UCD) where he studies to be a veterinary surgeon. In all, his studies take eight years to complete because of his huge commitment to his sporting exploits.

Rackard plays his club hurling with his local Rathnure club and enjoys much success. He wins his first senior county title in 1948. It was Rathnure’s first ever championship triumph. Two years later in 1950 he captures a second county title, a victory which allows him to take over the captaincy of the county senior team for the following year. He wins his third and final county medal in 1955.

Rackard makes his debut on the inter-county scene when he is selected for the Wexford minor panel. He is just out of the minor grade when he is selected for the Wexford senior team in 1940. Over the course of the next seventeen years, he wins two All-Ireland medals as part of the Wexford hurling breakthrough in 1955 and 1956. He also wins four Leinster Senior Hurling Championship medals, one National Hurling League medal and one Leinster Senior Football Championship medal as a Gaelic footballer. He plays his last game for Wexford in August 1957.

By the late 1940s, Rackard is a regular in the full-forward line on the Leinster inter-provincial team. Success comes in the twilight of his career and he claims his sole Railway Cup medal in 1956.

Rackard’s brothers, Billy and Bobby, also experience All-Ireland success with Wexford.

In retirement from playing Rackard becomes involved in team management and coaching. It is with the Wexford senior team that he enjoys his greatest successes as a selector when he helps the team secure the 1968 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship title.

Rackard is most famous for his scoring prowess and is the all-time top championship scorer at the time of his retirement from hurling. His private life is marred by periods of excessive drinking, which had started during his university studies, and eventually develops into alcoholism. After quitting drinking completely in 1970, he travels the country as a counsellor with Alcoholics Anonymous. In an interview in The Irish Press in 1975, he details his life as a recovering alcoholic and becomes one of the first sportspeople to break the taboo of alcoholism in Ireland.

Rackard death from cancer at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin on April 10, 1976, sees a huge outpouring of grief amongst the hurling community. He is posthumously honoured by being named on the Hurling Team of the Century in 1984, however, he is sensationally omitted from the Hurling Team of the Millennium in favour of Ray Cummins. His scoring prowess has also earned him a place on the top ten list of all-time scoring greats. In 2005 the GAA further honours him by naming the Nicky Rackard Cup, the hurling competition for Division 3 teams, in his honour.

In 2006, a Wexford author, Tom Williams, writes a long-overdue biography of Rackard entitled Cuchulainn’s Son – The Story of Nickey Rackard. The same author also pens a now well-known song about Rackard many years earlier. It too is called Cuchulainn’s Son and has been recorded by various artists over the last 20 years and is a lament for the great sportsman.

In Wexford town, there is a statue to commemorate Rackard, erected in 2012.