I picked up a copy of a tunebook by Pat McNulty, the Glasgow uilleann piper at the Bridge club in Newcastle about 1965- some challenging tunes in it! His foreword was very scathing about musicians playing too fast- I can't find that copy to confirm this, but note that a reprinted copy in 1990 has a revised foreword (again by the man himself) -but no mention of fast playing!
Did he beat 'em or did he join 'em?