Qualla: Thurles https://qualla.com/thurles en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Thurles https://qualla.com/thurles Thurles: Introduction https://qualla.com/thurles/ On a November day in 1884, seven men met in a billiard room above Hayes' Hotel in Liberty Square, Thurles, and resolved to take back Irish sport. The Gaelic Athletic Association was born in the time it took to drink a few pots of tea. Within a generation, hurling and Gaelic football would belong, in a way no English game ever could, to every parish in Ireland - and Thurles, a market town of perhaps four thousand people in the middle of the Tipperary plain, would be remembered as the place where it started. Today the hotel still stands on the same square. The room is upstairs. The plaque is small.

Read more: Thurles on Qualla

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/7/thurles-wp/gc67-thurles-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Thurles: Strong Fort of Éile https://qualla.com/thurles/ Long before the GAA, Thurles was Durlas Éile - the Strong Fort of Éile - and the territory it ruled stretched from Croghan Hill in Offaly down toward Cashel. The Eli, a half-legendary tribe, gave their name to it; by the 8th century the O'Fogartys, a branch of the Éile, held what...

Read more: Thurles on Qualla

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/7/thurles-wp/gc67-thurles-strong-fort-of-ile.mp3 0:06 2 full Thurles: Hayes' Hotel and What Followed https://qualla.com/thurles/ The 1884 meeting at Hayes' Hotel had been called by Michael Cusack, a Clare-born schoolmaster who had grown weary of watching Irish field sports die out under the weight of English cricket and rugby. Maurice Davin chaired the gathering and became the first GAA president. By the n...

Read more: Thurles on Qualla

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/7/thurles-wp/gc67-thurles-hayes-hotel-and-what-followed.mp3 0:06 3 full Thurles: A Cathedral with a Pisan Face https://qualla.com/thurles/ When the bishops of Cashel fled the Rock during the Reformation, they eventually came to Thurles. After the Penal Laws relaxed, the Roman Catholic archbishop chose to make his seat here rather than return to the contested rock outside town. The Cathedral of the Assumption, begun ...

Read more: Thurles on Qualla

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/7/thurles-wp/gc67-thurles-a-cathedral-with-a-pisan-face.mp3 0:06 4 full Thurles: The Trip to Tipp https://qualla.com/thurles/ For seven summers between 1990 and 1997 Thurles meant something quite different. Semple Stadium hosted Féile - the Trip to Tipp - and at peak it drew an estimated hundred thousand young people for a long weekend. The Cranberries played. Blur played. The Prodigy and Rage Against t...

Read more: Thurles on Qualla

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/7/thurles-wp/gc67-thurles-the-trip-to-tipp.mp3 0:06 5 full Thurles: Horses, Hurlers, and a Ryanair https://qualla.com/thurles/ Horse racing has gone on in Thurles since 1732. The current racecourse, an oval right-handed track a mile and a quarter round with a steep uphill finish, runs National Hunt fixtures through the winter and flat racing later. The town has produced more hurlers than any rural town h...

Read more: Thurles on Qualla

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/7/thurles-wp/gc67-thurles-horses-hurlers-and-a-ryanair.mp3 0:06 6 full