Irish Stick Fighting

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Well, after living in Ireland for 21 years, I have to say I've never heard of this before. I suppose it might be "an ancient Irish martial art", but it looks more like a marketing ploy to me. But then I am always highly skeptical of "secrets" passed down from generation to generation-- while the possessor of those "secrets" could be telling the truth, it could also be an elaborate con job with no way to verify the truth of what one is being told. The "revival" of "ancient Druidic rites" come immediately to mind.

There is, however, one statement on Mr. Doyle's website that can be easily refuted, and that is his contention that the Irish didn't possess weapons. When Lord Edward Fitzgerald led the popular rising for independence in 1798 there was no shortage of weapons available to the Irish, which accounts for their early success. Unfortunately religious zealotry, especially in Wexford, doomed the venture to ultimate failure.

Judging from I have seen and read on his website, it appears to me that his school is teaching something akin to an amalgam of quarter staff and single stick techniques which enjoyed a revival in the Victorian era.