Legend has it that that there was once a high King in Teamhair (Tara) called Laoghaire or Ó Laoghaire (pronounced O’Leary) who demanded of all the lesser chieftains that they pay their taxes before the feast of Samhain. Now while all the other chieftains in the surrounding areas were very compliant there was one who ruled the area known as the Damhliag (so called because of the large stone church that was built there) refused. He decided that as taxes were not ordinarily paid until the sun could be clearly see shining on the end stone in the great passage tomb at Bru Na Boinne where his ancestors were buried, he would not comply with this quite unreasonable request. In any event he had not had the time to round up the cattle he was going to use to pay the taxes with as he was busy making a heady concoction of uisce beatha for the upcoming Samhain festivities and would be in trouble with his warriors if he didn’t have enough when the great feast came.
In any event the High King Ó Laoghaire was not amused with this excuse so he sent his brave and formidable warriors to collect the taxes he was due. You see he needed them to buy in supplies of the very same uisce beatha for his own celebrations as his druid the O’Maol Bhanaigh (who was also his chief Financial officer) was on an extended vacation in Gaul visiting his new grandson. The leader of the men of Damhliag the Ó Cadáin was not prepared to be pushed around by the Tara men and he marched to meet him. Both armies met in the place known as the Boolies and prepared to do battle. However first it was decided to see if a way could be found to avoid bloodshed and the wise men of the High king met with the wise men of the Damhliag and after sampling copious amounts of the freshly distilled uisce beatha they hammered out an agreement. It was decided that both armies would select their best warriors to fight in unarmed combat armed only with some scraps of ox skin which they wrapped around their hands. They called this type of fighting dornaliocht (you see the Marquess of Queensbury hadn’t yet been born).
When the warriors of both sides heard that they would have to do a bit of this new fangled dornaliocht they decided to go along with it so long as were allowed to have some of the new batch of uisce beatha especially as they could see from the demeanour of the negotiators that it was a reasonable good batch this year. Both sides agreed to this request as the Árd Ri was anxious to get on with collecting his taxes and the chief of the Damhliag wanted to distil some more of the precious spirit. However once the combatants had a few drinks they decided to have a few more to give them even more courage and before the day was out neither side was in a fit state to compete in the dornaliocht.
It was decided to meet again the next day in the Boolies to settle the matter. However, there was an invasion of Vikings on the morrow and it took the efforts of all the warriors to repel these invaders. The two sides decided that the dornaliocht would have to be put back until a more suitable time when there was no fear of an invasion. But it took until 1014 before a different Árd Ri could eventually defeat these raiders and before the fight could be rearranged the Normans invaded and messed up the arrangements once again.
Both sides never gave up on the idea and decided to have it this year. However as the harvest is late this year the Damhliag will not be ready for action before all this years uisce beatha is distilled. So it cannot happen before Samhain. It will therefore take place on the 24 of November the two sides will eventually meet in the Battle of the Boolies to decide once and for all when the taxes are to be paid. The ancient arena at the Boolies however does not have any modern facilities to host such an important event so it will instead be held in the Pillo Hotel in Ashbourn, just up[ the road from the two hostile camps . Up to fifteen mighty men from Teamhair (SkryneGFC) and a few women as well, will do battle with a equal number of members from the Damhliag (Duleek-Bellewstown) club in a white collar boxing tournament to raise funds for both clubs. Rumour has it that the chairmen of both clubs Dan O’Leary of Skryne and Oliver Cudden of Duleek (direct descendents of the Árd Ri Ó Laoghaire, and the Ó Cadain of the Damhliag ) will do battle themselves. Whether it will be necessary for them to imbibe liberal amounts of the uisce beatha before they enter the ring remains to be seen but they do intend to knock seven bells out of each other (sorry about the pun) just to show who is best.
Tickets are €20 each and can be purchased from any member of either club. Any business interested in using the event for sponsorship or advertising purposes should contact members of the organising committee.
Dan O’Leary (087) 8222012; Joseph O’ Brien (086) 1767006; Eamon Giles (087) 4161732; Derek Monaghan (086) 8042009; Eddie McCormack (087)2517197
