54.  Master McGrath

Three miles west of Dungarvan in Co.Waterford stands a fine monument to the most celebrated dog in the history of greyhound coursing, the legendary Master McGrath. This famous greyhound was owned by Lord Lurgan and trained by James Walsh, who named it after the orphan boy who reared the dog in nearby Colligan.

It soon became clear to all who saw him that Master McGrath’s speed was phenomenal, and his pulling powers little short of miraculous. He was two years old when he won the first Waterloo Cup, the Blue Riband of hare coursing, in 1868, and by winning that coveted trophy again in 1869 and 1871 he achieved a hat trick that has been the wonder of the sporting world ever since.

The Master, as he was known, died on Christmas Eve, 1871, when he was only five years old, but he lives on in song and story. His proud master, the second Lord Lurgan, a descendant of the Brownlows who founded the town, erected an imposing monument outside the Brownlow mansion, Lurgan Castle, on the grave of the noble dog.

He is also remembered in the eighteenth-century parish church of Shankill: behind the pulpit, a stained glass window bears his image. Probably the greatest honour bestowed on him was that his effigy was finally placed at the top of the town’s coat of arms.

NO doubt you’ll remember the last line of the song: “Give three cheers for Ireland and Master McGra”‘.
If you want to see this great champion and his master, then visit the pub in Lurgan named in his honour.
There on the wall is a valuable original photograph of master and dog, given by Lord Lurgan to his girlfriend and bearing the Brownlow crest on the gilt frame. Next door in the lounge is a copy of this photo, bearing the personal signature of Charles Brownlow, the second Lord Lurgan.

Even before you go into the pub at all, you’ll see the immortal greyhound on a large copper plaque above the street entrance, and inside a similar, smaller, plaque adorns the back wall of the bar. That original photograph, by the way, came down to the pub via a man from Waringstown whose grandfather had been Lord Lurgan’ coachman.

There’s also a fine original lithograph print of Master McGrath, from the year 1870, which belonged to a solicitor in the town, and was donated to the public house as being the best showplace for it.

There’s more to be seen here, quite apart from the memorabilia of the tavern’s eponymous canine hero.
The Tudor-style lounge, designed by owner Marcellus McMullan, reveals a fine collection of old china plates, a display of old cigarette packets, including some exotically named ones like Hill’s Sunripe, Fleet Wing, Sinclair’s No. 3, and a lovely old grandfather clock in the corner.

The public bar has a really interesting row of ten pictures of old Lurgan: fascinating photographs they are, including one which shows the pub as a single-story building with a straw roof. Settle yourself down in the relaxing lounge, with its Elizabethan- style timbers and tapestried seating, and by the end of the evening as you are singing “Three cheers for auld Ireland and Master McGra'”, it could well be the pub as much as the dog your song is hurrahing.