Limerick hurling and the Don of a new era

TEN years ago, Limerick writer Don Mescall and Yours Truly, combined to write Fields of Glory for The High Kings. It is a paean to sportsmen and women everywhere.

Since they sang it in Croke Park, the group has thrived on the energy they feel it delivered, so much so that it is the last thing they do now before they go on stage. Galway hadn’t a chance. They were up against 15 Limerick warriors, who with the assistance of the two writers, unveiled what it takes to win an All-Ireland in Croke Park.

‘I was born in a country where people admire

Their great sporting heroes and how they aspire

To stand upon mountains and always be ready

To never give less than their all.

I once met an old man who told me great stories

Of legends of old who fought hard for the glory

Of lifting the cup in that moment of triumph

His memories had me enthralled

On the fields, the fields of glory

On the fields where boys become men On the fields, the fields of glory May the best team win in the end.

Songwriter Don Mescall, pictured, hails from a little village called Ahane, in Co. Limerick.

Don loved his hurling stories and when we were on the road together a couple years ago, I came to learn all the lore of this small and welcoming community and how it has become a place of pilgrimage because it is the homeplace of the legendary hurler, Mick Mackey.

In 1984, Mackey was voted centre half-forward on the Team of The Century and he was also on the 2000 Millennium Team. At club level, he won 15 County Championships

The competition for the county championship medal is second only in stature to the quest for an All-Ireland title. The same men who square up to other counties as a team vie with each other individually for the honour of their townlands. And everybody plays a part.

Supporting their team with a true sense of place

Are the handful of people with hope on their faces

They come from the townland, the parish, the village Their banners they proudly unfurl An anthem of hope is the song they are singing

The whistle it blows and the game it begins

And the roar of the crowd echoes up to the Heavens

It sends out a clarion call

As a ten-year-old boy, Don Mescall witnessed his father collapse and die in front of him, on the sideline, at a local hurling match in Ahane.. One of 11 kids, Don was supposed to be enjoying the exclusive company of his Dad at the game. Instead, he saw his world shattered After this most unsettling occurrence, rather than pick up a hurley , Don picked up a guitar and poured his emotions into his songs. One of them, Sunday Driving, from his new album Lighthouse Keeper, is a poignant memoir of better times. The album will be released in a couple of weeks time to coincide with the Don Mescall Comes Home concert in the Limerick Concert Hall. The hurling team got a hell of a welcome home after their victory last Sunday. They thoroughly deserved it for playing so well. Don plays well enough to merit a standing ovation. You can always depend on him He’s from Ahane

I’m dreaming about Ireland in fine sunny weather

A crowd of young lads playing hurling together

All hoping that someday the call they will answer

To play for the place they were born.