Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 216 (Sports at Listowel)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Hornpipe32AABBA Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Sports at Listowel
 about these two bars

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MMu (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Sports at Listowel, The / The Sports of Listowel / Breen's Hornpipe / Breens (also in D)
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.

Year
Recorded
Track
#Tune
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
~1978B.2#1[MMu] Martin Mulvihill with Mick Moloney. Traditional Irish Fiddling from County Limerick. Martin Mulvihill (fiddle).View album details
~199315#1[Shskn] Shaskeen. My Love Is in America. Tom Cussen (banjo), Benny O'Connor (drums, bodhrán), Sean Conway (flute, whistle, guitar, vocals), Charlie Harris (accordion), Kevin Rohan (fiddle, vocals).View album details
~20026#1[SN 3] Sliabh Notes. Along Blackwater's Banks. Matt Cranitch (fiddle), Dónal Murphy (accordion), Tommy O'Sullivan (guitar, vocals).View album details

Bibliography

Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.

As tune #236 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As hp #41 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.

If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1927