Of great importance in the history of Kildare is the Curragh, which is the training ground of the Irish army. Fionn Mac Cumhall and Fianna practised there and many other famous British regiments trained there for the Boer War and World War 1.

The Curragh Racecourse was voted "Racecourse of the year" 1999. It is owned and managed by the Irish Turf club (founded in Kildare in 1790)who encourage the sport of Horse Racing. 25% of Racehorses in Ireland are trained in Kildare.

The Curragh is one of the best-known grasslands in Co. Kildare. The Curragh has existed as an open, unenclosed area for at least 2,000 years. In 1996 the Curragh was declared a national monument.

                          BY TRACEY WALSH

Donnelly's Hollow

Dan Donnelly was born in Townsend Street, in Dublin in 1788.  The Ireland he was born into was characterised by colonial oppression, small agrarian poverty and burning patriotism. Just a decade later an ill-armed, Irish force fuelled by a desperate nationalistic pride and a sense idealism rose in revolt under the àssuasion of Theobald Wolfe Tone.

 Little is known about Donnelly’s early life except that he was a carpenter and that he frequently visited pubs in which he could reputedly hold his own at hard drinking or hard hitting. Donnely’s first recorded fight place at the Curragh on September 14^th 1814.

He died penniless at the age of 32 on February 18^th 1820. A great amount of people turned up for the funeral.  Dan Donnelley’s arm was taken off and is now in a glass case in “The Hide Out” pub in Kilcullen.