On Saturday 9th may, author and historian Donal Fallon will host In The Ring with Dan Donnelly, a special night of performance and conversation celebrating the life of the eponymous 19th century bare-knuckle boxer.
The event will take place at the National Stadium, Dublin with contributions from Damien Dempsey, Brian Kerr, Barry McGovern, Terry O'Neill, Niamh Ní Charra, and Emmet O’Brien.
Below Donal Fallon writes an introduction to the event....
Dan Donnelly was an early Irish sporting celebrity, and remains one of the most dramatic personalities produced by the great sport of boxing. It is fitting that the National Stadium sits so close to the Coombe, where he is forever associated with a public house he formerly managed. Dan’s story provides a natural opening into a broader exploration of boxing and sport. It is a sport that has shaped the lives of many, from balladeer Damien Dempsey to football manager Brian Kerr, who recalled the National Stadium to me as "my second sporting home after Richer", as St. Pat's fans affectionately know Richmond Park. For Kerr, it holds deep memories of his father, a beloved figure in Dublin’s boxing tradition. For Dempsey, boxing was more than a youthful pursuit, but something which has shaped his life and music. Donnelly's story has inspired much, including Niamh Ní Charra's wonderful album Donnelly's Arm.
The son of a carpenter, Donnelly was born in 1788 in Townsend Street, going on to become a folk hero and the first Irish-born heavyweight champion boxer. In the true spirit of such folk heroes, stories of his exploits are both iconic and inconsistent. In the Dictionary of Irish Biography, sports historian Paul Rouse acknowledged this problem at the very outset of his entry on Donnelly: 'His life is one in which reality and mythology are not easily separated.
Not unlike fighters of more recent times, Donnelly's downfall was perhaps rooted in his success, with the cork rarely put back into a celebrating bottle.
Donnelly’s fighting prowess is well documented. On the Curragh of Kildare, his victory over English boxer Tom Hall in September 1814 was witnessed by a crowd of thousands, the spot of that victory and others now marked by a memorial and known as Donnelly’s Hollow. The Irish victory was met by bonfires on hillsides as Donnelly returned to Dublin, but ominously the main celebrations occurred in the taverns of the capital when the pugilist eventually made it home.
Not unlike fighters of more recent times, Donnelly's downfall was perhaps rooted in his success, with the cork rarely put back into a celebrating bottle. Following in the footsteps of many leading English prize fighters, Donnelly became a publican, with his first premises opening on Capel Street with the support of a wealthy merchant. Later came a pub on Poolbeg Street, near to his Townsend Street birthplace, and one on the Coombe, the only surviving premises today. Today, it is trading as Fallon’s.
Stories about Donnelly are endless; unsurprisingly, he emerges several times in the Schools' Collection of the Irish Folklore Commission, who recorded thousands of tales from across Ireland in the late 1930s.
John Fallon's Capstan Bar, located at 129 The Coombe, is proud of its connection to former proprietor Donnelly, his image hanging on the wall of what is essentially one room and a (highly sought after) snug.
One thing you won't find in Fallon’s is Dan Donnelly’s mummified arm. Following his burial in Kilmainham’s Bully’s Acre, Donnelly’s grave was disturbed by graverobbers, a not entirely uncommon scandal in the Dublin of the time. There are conflicting tales on how Donnely’s right arm came to be severed and mummified, but its afterlife is a curious and fascinating journey that included display in Belfast’s The Duncairn Arms and a residency for several decades in Kilcullen’s The Hideout from 1953.
Culture Date with Dublin 8 allows us to celebrate Dan, boxing, and a beloved venue.
In The Ring with Dan Donnelly takes place at the National Stadium on Saturday, 9th May, as part of the Culture Date with Dublin 8 festival - it's followed on Sunday, 10th May, by a tag team wrestling and slam poetry event. Find out more here.
