Irish sport in 1924: A year of Olympic and Tailteann Games

As the clock ticks into 2024, this period in the calendar is always one in which predictions are made for what to expect in the year ahead.

It's also a time for reflection back at the dozen months just gone but just like this time last year, let's go further back - a century to be exact - and look back at what the annals of history have to say about the sporting year of 1924...

The early 1920s was a period in which the events of the War of Independence and the subsequent Civil War had a significant impact on the sporting calendar.

Gaelic games was particularly affected but by 1924 that was slowly changing, albeit with some notable exceptions.

Indeed, for the first time since 1919, the All-Ireland hurling final took place within the same calendar year as the rest of its preceding rounds, with the decider between eventual winners Dublin and Galway at Croke Park on 14 December 1924.

However, three months before that, the delayed 1923 final also took place on Jones' Road with Galway triumphing on that occasion against Limerick in a showpiece replete with goals as the Tribesmen won 7-03 to 4-05.

Little did they know it at a time of back-to-back All-Ireland final appearances in '23 and '24, but the Galway hurlers wouldn't become champions again for more than half a century with eight final defeats in the interim period before the duck was broken in 1980.

As for Dublin, they celebrated dual triumphs in 1924 as their footballers narrowly beat Kerry by two points at Croke Park, although that September's decider was in fact for the 1923 championship - the actual 1924 final would not be played until the following year when the Kingdom would turn the tables.

TheIrish Independent from 29 September 1924 notes the gap in experience that