Jasper cycles in search of the truth

Jasper cycles from Tipperary to Croke Park in search of the truth

Vincent Jasper Murphy is a publican, restaurateur and undertaker in Fethard, Co Tipperary. He is also the producer of the Documentary On One on RTÉ Radio 1, 100 Years, 100 Miles, which tells the story of a photograph, a bicycle and the events of Bloody Sunday.

His story started with a picture taken in the early 1900’s, of his grand-uncle Gus McCarthy on a racing bike. The family knew Gus as a very successful footballer, but not as a cyclist. Gus had played football for Tipperary and was on the team that played Dublin on November 21st, 1920, when the British forces opened fire in Croke Park, killing 14 people, in a revenge shooting after Michael Collins’s men assassinated British agents only a few hours before. That day became known as Bloody Sunday.

Not long after he saw the picture, he was in the Highnelly Bike shop near Pallasgreen in Co Limerick. Marty, the owner, had a collection of restored vintage bikes. When he showed him the picture of Gus, he said that the bike was a Hercules. And he had one, in poor condition, but it could be saved. Jasper decided there and then that he was going to cycle the Hercules to Croke Park in memory of Gus in the anniversary year of Bloody Sunday. And so the restoration began.

Eight months later, he had a cyclable bike.

Around the time that he got the bike back, he attended a Documentary On One seminar in the RTÉ Radio centre in Dublin. Afterward, he signed up for their course and began a journey in to the Jasper on the road to Dublin via the Grand Canal

world of documentary making. When he sent a proposal a few months later, The Doc On One team liked the idea of the cycle as a way to tell the story and agreed to work with him on what would become his first radio documentary.

He started to train on the bike and research everything he could find out about Gus and Bloody Sunday. He found pictures, stories, documents, medals and most of all, the truth. One of the most important things that he discovered was that stories change with time and telling. Some of the stories that he had heard were true, some had an element of truth and some were just incorrect. So he began investigating the stories.

He brought his recorder everywhere, just in case there was anything that might be beneficial to the documentary. And he made some more discoveries. The Tipperary jersey in the Museum in Clonmel has always been known as the one worn by Michael Hogan when he was shot and killed on Bloody Sunday. It was sent for restoration, but while the restoration was being carried out, it was forensically examined. They found no trace of gunpowder, bullet holes or blood. It was his jersey, but not the one he wore on Bloody Sunday. Also, many believe that an armoured car on the pitch opened fire on the players and crowd on Bloody

Jasper’s Grand Uncle Gus McCarthy

Sunday, but this is untrue. That scene was in the film Michael Collins, but it is complete fiction.

He pulled a group together to join him on the cycle, but in March, a world-wide Pandemic closed down the country and they were all confined within a two-kilometer radius of their houses. They couldn’t meet to train, let alone travel to Croke Park. But when the restrictions were eased they took the opportunity and travelled at the end of July. They had the day picked, and despite the horrific weather forecast, they went. After a wet start, the conditions changed. The rain stopped, and the wind turned, pushing them towards Dublin. Even though Jasper had only one gear on the 115-year-old bike, they made good time. The first stop was in Durrow where they ate, had a coffee and got to use the toilets in the very accommodating Castle Arms. (Belonging to another Undertaking family, Murphy’s of Durrow).

After seven hours of cycling they reached Heuston Station in Dublin, where the Tipperary team had arrived 100 years earlier. The following day they arrived at Croke Park.

You can listen to the full story on the RTE Documentary On One Website (“100 years 100 miles)” or wherever you listen to podcasts. Since the broadcast, the Documentary has made the final of the New York Festivals Radio Documentary Awards (the Oscars of the Documentary World). The winners will be announced in September.