Donnelly and Cooper

DESCRIPTION: Boxers Donnelly (Irish) and Cooper (English) meet. Odds are on Cooper. First Donnelly is knocked down, then Cooper, then Donnelly again; (referee) Kelly's pretty daughter exhorts Donnelly to get up and win. He does,and Miss Kelly congratulates him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1854 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(77b)); c.1845 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.1270(017))
KEYWORDS: pride fight sports
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1815 - Donnelly (1788-1820) and Cooper fight in Kildare
FOUND IN: Ireland US(MA,MW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 317, "Donnelly and Cooper" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 27, "Donnelly and Cooper" (1 text)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 26, "Donnelly and Cooper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster 44, "Donnelly and Cooper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean-FlyingCloud, pp. 21-22, "Donnely and Cooper" (1 text)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, p. 278, "THe Donnelly and Cooper Fight" (1 text)
Vikár/Panagapka-SongsNorthWoodsSungByOJAbbott 39, "Cooper and Donnelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2147
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(77b), "Donnelly and Cooper," The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1854; also 2806 c.15(226), 2806 c.8(245), Firth c.19(16), Harding B 11(934), Harding B 11(935), Harding B 19(45), Johnson Ballads 2271B[some illegible words], "Donnelly and Cooper"
LOCSinging, as200750, "Donnelly and Cooper That Fought on Kildare," Johnson (Philadelphia), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.1270(017), "Donnelly and Cooper," James Kay (Glasgow), c.1845
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Donnelly & Oliver" (broadside Murray, Mu23-y3:015, "Donnelly & Oliver" ("You muses I beg you will lend me your aid, I'll sing of brave Donnelly a true Irish blade"), James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C; also Murray Mu23-y3:037, "Donnelly And Oliver," unknown, 19C) (subject)
cf. "Morrissey and the Black" (theme)
cf. "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (tune, theme)
cf. "Heenan and Sayers" (tune, theme)
SAME TUNE:
I'm the Boy Can Do It (per broadside Bodleian Harding B 17(77b))
Relief for Ireland ("Arise, my Irish heroes! It's painful to relate") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 134)
St. Patrick's Day in New York, A New Song ("Come, all you true bred Irishmen, wherever you may be") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 149)
NOTES [477 words]: Michael Padden and Robert Sullivan's May the Road Rise to Meet You, p. 211, devotes much space to Dan Donnelly, "a carpenter by day and a pub brawler by night," who was very popular with his people: on "September 14, 1814, he drew forty thousand fans to a fight -- a seventeen-round win over an Englishman" (note that, under the boxing rules of the time, rounds were not timed but ended with one fighter or the other knocked to the ground. The fight ended when he stayed down for half a minute).
They add that Donnelly was "as prodigious a drinker as he was a fighter," which apparently contributed to his demise at age 32.
Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster has a brief history of Dan Donnelly, "knighted by the Prince Regent" [i.e. by the future George IV, son of George III who became regent during the periods of George III's madness - RBW], brought down by "good living and bad company," dead in 1820 at 32 years of age; "thousands lined the street to Glasnevin cemetery." - BS
O hOgain, pp. 182-183, notes that Donnelly became a figure of folklore, with reports of him settling a bar brawl with one punch to each of the brawlers. There was also an account of his mother winning a race against a horse before his birth; although probably based on the tale of Macha, the mother did little to downplay it.
Supposedly a Captain William Kelly discovered Donnelly, a carpenter, in 1814; his career lasted until 1819. His first major fight was against the champion of Dublin, and lasted 16 rounds. There was a parade in Dublin, led by Donnelly's mother, to celebrate the victory over George Cooper.
O hOgain admits that there is "scant evidence" that George IV actually knighted Donnelly.
Boylan, pp. 97-98, has a capsule biography of Donnely, who died in 1820: "Born in Dublin, son of a carpenter, and followed the same trade. Fond of drink and company, he led a wild and extravagant life. Lived in Ringsend, and became noted for his strength in encounters with sailors." His first major fight was against an Englishman named Hall (which forced him to actually train -- and leave his drinking companions). The fight took place on September 14, 1814, with Donnelly winning after 17 rounds. He needed just two weeks to waste his 100 guinea prize. "His next march was against the English champion, Cooper, in 1815. He defeated him in eleven rounds at 'Donnelly's Hollow' in the Curragh, now marked by a small obelisk."
After that, a merchant gave him the money to get started as a publican; that let him get married. But he didn't take care of the business and went broke. So he went to England to give sparring exhibitions. In 1819, he beat one Oliver in 32 rounds on July 21, 1819. He went back to Dublin, and this time, his fame let him succeed as a publican. But he didn't take care of himself; "He died in his house, of a sudden chill, on 17 February 1820." - RBW
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File: K317

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