The GAA Archive holds a number of interesting GAA related documents. Each month staff at the GAA Museum choose one such document which is then displayed here as the 'Document of the Month'.

The document(s) of the month chosen for May 2010 are two 1785 handwritten statements on the death of Patrick McDarby. During a hurling match in Laois (Queens County) McDarby received a blow to the head from another player, Michael Brenan. McDarby died from his injuries the following day and Brenan was charged with his murder. The two statements are eyewitness accounts to the incident and were used in the subsequent trial of Brenan.

 Please click on the provided link to read the full statements
 

Both witnesses testify that Michael Brenan, Monenwee, gave McDarby a ‘desperate stroak with the flatt of said hurl’ and that McDarby ‘fell on his face on the ground with his arms and legs extended like a dying man senseless and speechless’. McDarby was brought to a house in Carlow but died the next morning.