Games The chief outdoor games played in this locality long ago was hurling. There was a small team of hurlers in every village. Each young man procured his own hurley. He cut a suitable branch from a tree or bush, then he pared and shaped it as required. An ash hurley was considered as the best kind.
They also kicked football. There was a great team in Keelogues about forty years ago. They were called "The Warriors" and they beat Ballyvary, Castlebar and Balla and several other teams. I heard the old people say they had a great football team in Castlebar about fifty years ago. They were called "The Mitchells" after a great Irishman called John Mitchell who was a leader of the young Ireland Party 1848. They beat every team they met including an English team from Lancashire. They kicked football at that time without having any hands on the ball. They were great handball players in this locality some years ago. They had no real good ball-alley so we see through
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