Events from the year 1880 in Ireland. Events 2 February – Charles Stewart Parnell addresses the United States Congress. 31 March – 27 April – United Kingdom general election in Ireland produces a majority for the Irish Parliamentary Party in Irish seats. 27 April – charter founding the Royal University of Ireland, allowing the Catholic University of Ireland to re-form as University College Dublin. 17 May – Parnell elected chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party. May – Irish National Land League of the United States founded. September – November: "Boycotting" of Captain Charles Boycott. 18 October – Ballycastle Railway opened between Ballymoney and Ballycastle. December – trial of Parnell and others for conspiracy begins. English philanthropists are active in connection with the west of Ireland: Quaker James Hack Tute distributes aid and publishes Irish Distress and its Remedies; heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, offers to advance £250,000 to the authorities for the supply of seed potatoes, forcing the government to take action itself. St Stephen's Green, Dublin, opened as a public park. Arts and literature 9 February – the Theatre Royal, Dublin, burns to the ground. Sport Soccer 18 November – Irish Football Association is founded at the Queen's Hotel, Belfast. Irish Cup knock-out competition instituted on an all-Ireland basis. Births 3 January – Francis Browne, Jesuit priest and photographer (died 1960). 6 January – John McKenna, traditional flute player (died 1947 in the United States) 12 January – Frank Fahy, Sinn Féin MP and later TD, member of 1st Dáil, Ceann Comhairle, Fianna Fáil TD (died 1953). 23 January – Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran, Unionist politician (died 1950). 9 February – Thomas Kettle, writer, barrister, Nationalist politician and economist (killed in action 1916). 20 February – J. J. Walsh, Sinn Féin MP, member of 1st Dáil, a founder-member of Cumann na nGaedheal and Cabinet Minister (died 1948). 29 March – Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, British politician and businessman (assassinated in Cairo by the Zionist group Lehi (Stern Gang) 1944), born at Iveagh House, Dublin. 30 March – Seán O'Casey, dramatist and memoirist (died 1964). 26 April – Joseph Lynch, cricketer (died 1915). 6 June – W. T. Cosgrave, first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (died 1965). 13 June – John Dignan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert (died 1953). 2 July – Mary Elizabeth Byrne, literary scholar (died 1931). 19 August –