Scores that take a fair puck
QUESTION
Has a score ever been registered direct from a puckout in a hurling match?
THIS has indeed been done on very rare occasions, though the conditions do need to be absolutely perfect for such a freak occurrence to happen.
In fact, it is said to have been achieved in the 1905 All-Ireland final replay between Kilkenny and Cork, a match that was bizarre enough for many other reasons.
The match was played on June 30, 1907, due to the regular backlogs of the era, and was replayed despite Cork having won the first game by 5-10 to 3-12.
It came to light that the Cork goalkeeper was an army reservist and Kilkenny claimed that it was against the rules to field a member of the crown forces.
The game was ordered to be played again, despite it coming to light that Kilkenny had also fielded an ineligible player, with Matt Garagan having played for Waterford in the same Championship.
After all the off-field drama, Cork were soundly defeated 7-7 to 2-9 in Fraher Field, Dungarvan, but not before the great Cork and Dungourney full-back Jamesy Kelleher scored a point direct from a puck-out, doubtless aided by a stiff sea breeze.
In more recent times, last year in fact, Laois county goalkeeper Enda Rowland scored a point direct from a puck-out while playing for his club Abbeyleix in a county championship game against Clough-Ballacolla.
Rowland’s massive puck-out was helped by a strong breeze and the ball actually hit the ground before bouncing over the bar, meaning the pitch must have been firm enough for such a thing to occur.
The keeper has scored several times during his career but his incredible puck-out point is believed to be his first – and is available to just about see in a grainy clip posted on YouTube.
In 2016, during an Antrim minor championship game on August 12, O’Donovan Rossa’s goalkeeper Philip Kennedy scored a goal direct from a puck-out, helping his side to a 7-10 to 1-6 win over St Patrick’s.
These are the only puck-out scores I can come up with. Perhaps some of your other readers will be able to recall or have heard of it happening elsewhere.
T Kennedy, Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
QUESTION
Does Belarus have its own language? If so, how different is it from other Slavic languages?
SLAVIC refers to a group of East European tribes with related languages. The word is thought to derive from slovo meaning word, denoting a people who speak the same language.
However, by AD1000, separate East Slavic, West Slavic and South Slavic languages had emerged. Between the 11th and 14th centuries, they split into the modern Slavic languages of Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn and Ukrainian in the East; Czech, Slovak, Polish, Kashubian and Sorbian in the West; and Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene in the South.
The Belarusian language is a venerable one. It was an official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1230 to 1596. In 1517, the scholar Dr Francysc Skaryna published the Bible in the Belarusian language — the third nation after the Germans and the Czechs to have a printed Bible in its native language.
The two official languages of the Republic of Belarus are Russian and Belarusian. Its script is Cyrillic and the alphabet looks similar to Russian and Ukrainian. Belarusian is phonetic – most of the words are written the same way they are spoken – while in Russian the spelling and pronunciation often differ.
While spoken Belarusian sounds similar to Russian, the languages are only partly mutually intelligible. A key difference is that Belarussian uses an ‘h’ sound that is not found in Russian. It also has ‘dz’ and ‘ts’ sounds that are closer to Polish than Russian.
Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.
QUESTION
Did half-sisters Elizabeth and Mary Tudor have a good relationship?
FAMILIES are complex at the best of times, but few can compare with the Tudors.
Mary was 17 years her half-sister’s senior. Born in 1516, for the early part of her life she was ‘the pearl’ of her father Henry VIII’s kingdom. Her world imploded when he divorced her beloved mother Catherine of Aragon and separated from the Catholic Church in order to marry Anne Boleyn. On the birth of Elizabeth, Mary’s status was radically altered. Her rank was downgraded from Princess to merely ‘the Lady Mary, the King’s daughter’ and her household was disbanded.
Aged three months, Elizabeth was sent to live in Hatfield Houseand Mary’s humiliation was complete when she was sent to be the infant’s lady-in-waiting.
When she arrived, she was asked if she wished to pay her respects to Princess Elizabeth. She replied that she ‘knew of no other princess in England but herself; that the daughter of Madame de Pembroke was no princess at all’.
Despite this, reports suggest she acted in a maternal fashion towards her sister, saving her ire for Anne Boleyn.
At Hatfield, Mary was subjected to petty restrictions and bullying. Her jewels were confiscated and she was not permitted to walk in the gardens, attend the parish church or the public gallery of the house lest she attract public support. This oppressive atmosphere took its toll on her health and she remained of a delicate constitution, prone to stress-related illnesses, for the rest of her life.
Following the execution of Anne in 1537 and the birth of their halfbrother Edward the following year, Mary and Elizabeth were restored to the succession. They occasionally met at court and Mary is said to have acted cordially towards her.
Following the death of Edward VI in 1553 and the plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, Elizabeth’s position became precarious. Mary was proclaimed Queen on July 19. On July 31, Elizabeth rode out of London to escort her into the city. In the euphoria of becoming Queen, Mary greeted her younger sister with great affection and, on August 3, when Mary rode in state, Elizabeth was immediately behind her.
This warm state of affairs cooled rapidly and Mary spread rumours that Elizabeth did not resemble Henry VIII, but the musician Mark Smeaton – one of the five executed as Anne Boleyn’s lovers.
Their relationship reached its nadir in 1554 when Mary crushed a Protestant rebellion led by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the name of Elizabeth. The young Princess was taken to the Tower of London suspected of treason. Her life was on a knife-edge, but the clever Elizabeth survived interrogation.
Following a phantom pregnancy, on November 6, 1558, the weak and ill Mary recognised Elizabeth as her heir. On November 17, Mary died and Elizabeth succeeded to the throne.
Alison Thatcher, Kidlington, Oxon.
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