February 17

  • 1820 Dan Donnelly, renowned Dublin-born pugilist whose victories included one over the English champion over eleven rounds—when a round lasted until one or other was thrown or knocked to the ground—at ‘Donnelly’s Hollow’ in the Curragh, at present marked by a small obelisk, died.
  • 1980 The Derrynaflan hoard (eighth and ninth centuries), consisting of a chalice, a paten, a paten stand, a strainer and a large bowl, was discovered by a father and son using metal-detectors on the ancient monastic site of Derrynaflan, Co. Tipperary.
  • 1867 ‘When we look down into the fathomless depths of the Fenian conspiracy we must acknowledge that eternity is not long enough nor hell hot enough for such miscreants’—sermon by David Moriarty, bishop of Kerry (1814–77).