Antrim defeated Donegal yesterday in football to qualify for the All Ireland
against Tyrone in three weeks time.The score was 2 - 10 to 1 - 9.
The free family paper Alive this week has a story on the trophy they will be
playing for - The Sam Maguire Cup. The trophy was modelled on the Ardagh
Chalice, one of Ireland's greatest treasurers now housed in the National Museum.
Found by potato pickers in Ardagh , County Limerick in 1868, the chalice was
probably made in the 800s, possibly in Clonmacnois, and it may have been one
of the treasures stolen from Clonmacnois in 1125 by a Limerick Dane who was
later hanged.
The Ardagh Chalice stands 7 inches high and 9.5 inches in diameter, with two
handles, it was made by a master craftsman using many metals, and has 354 parts.
Engraved on a beautiful band running round the outside of the bowl are the names
of the twelve apostles.
Sam Maguire was an Anglican born in Dunmanway, Cork in 1879. He was very
involved with London Hibernian club in London and was involved with Michael Collins
about 1908 and returned to Dublin. He died from T.B. in Dunmanway in 1927.