was caman (pronounced as spelled; the a long). All through ancient Gaelic literature there is constant mention of hurling.
The following is a description of a game of hurling, from one of the best of the Ossianic tales, "The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne," translated and published in Dublin, in 1880, by the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language:—
"There arose a dispute between two women of the Tuatha Dé Danann, that is, Aoife, the daughter of Mananan, and Aine, the other daughter of Mananan, the son of Lear, viz.: Aoife had become enamoured of the son of Lughaidh, that is, sister's son to Fionn Mac Cumhaill, and Aine had become enamoured of Lear, of Lith Fhionnchaidh, so that each woman of them said that her own man was a better hurler than the other; and the fruit of the dispute was that a great goaling match was set in order between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fenians of Erin, and the place where the goal was played was on a fair plain by Loch Lein, of the rough pools.
"The Fenians of Erin and Tuatha Dé Danann answered that tryste.... We, the Fenians of Erin, and they were for the space of three days and three nights playing the goal from Garbhabha na bh-Fiann, which is called Leamhaw, to Cromghleann na bh-Fiann, which is called Gleann Fleisge now; and neither (party) of us won a goal. Now (the whole of) the Tuatha Dé Danann were all that time, without our knowledge, on either side of Loch Lein, and they understood that if we, the Fenians, were united (all) the men of Erin could not win the goal of us. And the council which the Tuatha Dé Danann took, was to depart each again, and not to play (out) that goal with us."
The first thing we hear about both Cuchullain
