The life of Michael Cusack one of the founding members of the GAA.
Michael Cusack was born in 1847 during the Famine in Carran in County Clare where his family and the people of the area spoke Irish. He went on to become a teacher and taught for a time in Blackrock College in Dublin. In Gardner Place he set up an academy to teach those wishing to take exams to enter the civil service. James Joyce is believed to set his character 'The Citizen' on Cusack.
A fine athlete himself Michael Cusack had an interest in a number of games and wrote about sport. Brother Liam P. O'Caithnia recalls Cusack describing his interest in rugby, cricket and athletics as "I was in and through all these camps". Brother O'Caithnia traces connections with hurling in Dublin which would lead to the founding of the Metropolitan club and from that his contact with Maurice Davin which would lead to the founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884.
This episode of 'Pobal' was broadcast 27 November 1976. The presenter is Breandán Ó hEithir.
