The passing of Paschal Harrington, Boyle Sportsman

The passing of Paschal Harrington, Boyle Sportsman

Paschal Harrington formerly of Boyle passed away after a short illness, aged 69, on Thursday May 9th in Cavan Hospital. Paschal was a retired Garda and lived in Drumharlry, Moyne, Co. Longford. He was the brother of Padraig Harrington Sacristan of St. Joseph’s Church, Boyle.

In his early days at St. Mary’s College, under Father Mattimoe, and in Boyle GAA club he was a good and active footballer. He was  a member of the St. Mary’s College, Connacht winning teams of ’65 at Juvenile and ’66 at senior Division ‘C’ championships. The senior team captained by John Keenehan is pictured below. There is reference to his class being referred to as; ‘The twelve apostles’. Perhaps that was the number of pupils in that class. More notably he was a fine handballer. The family were in business in St. Patrick St. where his parents, Peter and Veronica, had a drapery and shoe business. Being adjacent to Boyle handball alley (Casey’s Alley of yore) Paschal was drawn to that sport like so many from that street like the Perrys, Gaughrans, Keaveneys, Clarkes and the Kennedys from south of the river and so on, in the 60s’.  He brought this sporting skill with him when he enlisted in the Garda Siochana and trained in Templemore. The Garda Siochána, as an  organisation, took great pride in its handball stalwarts down the decades and Boyle provided them with a number of greats including Paddy Perry, Paddy Reid, Jim and Pat Clarke. Paschal won a number of Garda Championships one of the trophies named after the great Mayo footballer, Garda Tom Langan. He also won Connacht Championships and represented Roscommon as an U 21 All-Ireland finalist. He travelled the country playing with his friend and neighbour Pat Clarke another great exponent of the game. 

Prior to joining the Garda he had stints at sub-teaching in Boyle N.S., and with John Leonard accountant Elphin Street. (John from Gurteen passed away also last week). 

On graduating from Templemore he was, like so many Garda, transferred to ‘Border Duty’ in Monaghan and Cavan and spent most of his career in Arva from which he retired from the force. During his work duty there he witnessed a bank robbery where shots were fired. So it was a dangerous time.  

    

Paschal’s passing is deeply regretted by his wife Marie, daughter Edel, son Dean, sister Mary, brother Padraig. Also by his former St. Mary’s classmates and Boyle friends.

Update 22nd May

Searching for a Maria McKay married to Michael O’Grady with a daughter named Eileen: 

I have recently had an enquiry trying to find the descendants of a Boyle connection. The background is that members of  a family called McKay apparently came to Boyle in the latter half of the 1800s’. There were two brothers Henry and Hugh and they were shoemakers. The line of interest is that of Henry. Henry died in 1910 and a son Corporal William McKay, Connacht Ranges, born in Grange, died of his wounds in Flanders, France on October 11th 1918. He nearly made it through that hell. His is buried in Aisne, France and his headstone is marked as aged 36, son of Henry and Mary McKay (nee Ryan) Drum, Boyle, Co. Roscommon.   

Another son of Henry and Mary i.e. Patrick McKay (died 1957) married a Kate Feeney a Catholic. They had 3 daughters, Maria, Elizabeth and Sarah.

Maria McKay married a Michael O’Grady and they had a daughter Eileen. It is probably there that there could still be a Boyle connection.   

There was another branch of the family called Roberts through marriage who lived in Dublin

The person researching this family was in Boyle and Grange some time ago and it was suggested that they contact me. It is not really my field but by putting it ‘out there’ we could come up with a connection.

The latter part of the query does not go too far back. Maybe someone will have heard of the Cpl. William McKay being killed so late in the War or some such information. (Thanks to Danny Tiernan for that nugget of information). 

Chernobyl Sky Atlantic Television Series

I mentioned this recently. I have watched the first two episodes of the drama. While what happened was a huge and long-living disaster the documentary/drama indicates that Europe escaped what might have become a an unimaginable disaster. The first instinct of the regime of the then USSR was to cover up but it was on such a scale that it could not be covered up. It was first detected outside the USSR in Sweden by scientists in a Swedish power plant monitoring the fall-out from Chernobyl over 1,000 KMs away. The U.S. then confirmed the location through spy satellites.

There are a small number of Irish actors they being Jessie Buckley as the wife of a fireman first on the scene, Barry Keoghan and Caoilfhionn Dunne. One of the main characters a nuclear scientist is played by Jared Harris son of Richard. While Emily Watson also plays a key role as another scientist who has an influence for good in the horror story. A Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgád plays a high ranking Soviet politician impressively.

The series illustrates the horror to great effect. Isn’t it is something that mankind can put together such a facility that they then cannot control when things go wrong. It is said that Einstein regretted his contribution to the  nuclear option which his famous equation E=mc to the power of 2 facilitated.     

BREXIT

It reminds me of September and the reopening of school after the summer break. Well the holidays from BEXIT are nearly over with elections of this week (Thursday in the U.K.) being the extra can of (I do not like using the term) worms into the boiling pot. The opening scene of Macbeth with the witches seems to be a possible analogy here;

A cave, a caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three witches.

“Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble”.       

The EU election in the U.K. is, predictably, a vote on Brexit v Remain though not couched as such. Nigel Farage is in great form and his party is predicted to win the majority of U.K. seats. The opposition is fragmented and the Brexit electorate is wound up like a shed of Millwall supporters and going for the straight message ‘Out’ . Hapless and helpless Theresa May can do little about it. Her days are numbered. The U.K  is like the fishing cork that gets sucked into one of those river whirlpool. Let the games begin again.

Two Weeks of ‘Unbelievable’ (Soccer) Football 

It almost seems as if it is a long time ago now when Liverpool welcomed Barcelona to Anfield and performed one of the greatest comebacks in high level football by  turning a 3 goal deficit into a 4 to 3 win. It was unbelievable.

Then on the following night Spurs went to Amsterdam a goal behind to Ajax. Ajax added two goals as they looked to be cruising and then Spurs made the great comeback with a hat-trick from Lucas Mouras enabling their 3 away goals to tip the balance in Spurs favour. So two English premier league clubs contest the Champions League final in  a couple of weeks.

While it might seem as if I am glued to soccer on T.V. that is not the case but I did indulge in the lesser menu of the Championship which can turn up drama of its own. Aston Villa (managed by John Terry) v West Brom. in the effort to get into a Championship play-off final with the prize being promotion to the premiership. The game goes to extra time and then penalties which Aston Villa win. The Villa star is Jack Grealish.  A real indulgence was to see who they would play and this meant watching Leeds v Derby County (managed by Frank Lampard). Leeds bring a 1 nil lead back to their home ground i.e. Elland Road- and are odds on to win but don’t and are beaten 4 to 3 in the dying minutes. Irish international Richard Keogh plays a big part in the win and Shay Given is to be seen as part of the management

So Aston Villa now play Derby County in Wembley England’s Bank Holiday Monday May 27th  (Ireland’s Bank Holiday is June 3rd)  at 3 to see who will be promoted with Sheffield Utd. and Norwich.

On the local soccer scene I attended Boyle Celtic v Moore at Lecarrow on a Saturday evening in the Roscommon County Cup semi-final. As Ronan Flanagan headlined it in his ‘Roscommon Herald’ report ‘Moore drama as United reach final’. In keeping with the above this game too went to penalties and extra penalties with Moore going through 7 to 6.

Changing back to my regular code I attended Roscommon v Leitrim in the Hyde in their first round of the Connacht C ’Ship. Roscommon 3.17 Leitrim 0.12. When I relayed the opinion to my son that; ‘This was the worst performance I have seen from Leitrim in the Connacht C ‘Ship’ he replied “You said the same thing last year”. I will not dwell on the Leinster v Saracens tank battle in the Heineken Cup final. It was cruel.

By the time I am back here again, the two intriguing European Soccer finals will be resolved, Liverpool v Spurs and Arsenal v Chelsea and Villa v West Brom.

The Caves of Keash

On May Bank holiday Monday I participated in a walk up to ‘The Caves of Keash’. It was something I have been meaning to do from time to time. A good group gathered at the Eastern Harps complex a kilometre or so from the Caves. On a fine sunny day we walked towards the base of the caves and proceeded up a nominated path. As a senior person now, I realised about half way up that my flat terrain walking was not appropriate training. However pride pushed me through the incline barrier. Maybe that wasn’t clever but I’m here relating it! There is not much to see within the caves but outward Sligo looked well. So down again and a chat with a lady gardening, from Boyle actually, formerly Egan. Back in the Eastern Harps a chat with Edward East and having a social cup of tea with cake and some music from members of the Dwyer clan. It was a really nice couple of hours and I am indebted to the organisers Carmel and Thomas Taheny, Padraig Henry and a great Eastern Harps man Sean Scott.  On the pitch training a young Harps group was Francis Candon who was unusually subdued. That is what time can do. Thanks also to the farmers who accommodate this access through their lands. Things have got so restrictive to a ridiculous degree that this is not always the case. I commend also Eastern Harps on their magnificent new Club facility which shows where the club has come to and is a hugely positive statement of intent into the future. It is up to the present and future generation to appreciate it and keep it well. 

*I have just got a text note re. the 2nd Eastern Harps Walk Series 2019. “This month’s walk is scheduled for this coming Sunday May 26th in Strandhill. Meet at 9.30am at Mama Johnson’s Ice Cream Parlour. Walk starts at 10. Free of charge. Route 7 km. approx.. various terrains. Unsuitable for buggies. Please spread the word. 

    

Eugene McGee R.I.P.

It is a rare ‘gift ‘I suppose to able to criticise an organisation and still be regarded very highly by it. Such was the personality of Eugene McGee. He rose to GAA coaching prominence with UCD in the early seventies and guided them to three Sigersons in a row and six of the eight he contested as manager. This will never be equalled. They won two Dublin county championships and an All-Ireland Club Championship.  Their great rivals were St. Vincent’s with Kevin Heffernan and they had to give up on a final when it was fixed for during exam time. County boards disliked College teams as I know with UCG also. I’ll refer to that again maybe.  

 John Kelly of Boyle and Tony McManus a bit later were members of those teams as was a player who seemed to be an eternal student of the time Benny Gaughran of Louth. I met Eugene or perhaps I should refer to him as Mister McGee a small number of times since I was for a period Secretary of UCG GAA in the early seventies. He was not a person to be trifled with. He was Editor perhaps owner of the Longford Leader and later a columnist for the Independent papers and regular commentator on GAA for R.T.E. radio. Beside me is the Sunday Indo of May 12th. Sport pages 8/9 and Colm O’Rourke gives him a great tribute amongst others.  I seem to remember him giving a talk once in Boyle maybe at the Arts or some such forum. My longest interaction with him was on a train journey to Dublin when he sat down in the seat opposite me at Longford. He was going through a file of old clippings and photographs for a U.C.D. former players re-union and we talked of the Sigersons that we had in common. For people who have never experienced that inter-varsity competition it is for GAA players (with its hurling equivalent The Fitzgibbon Cup) a livelong memory.

In GAA terms he will always be remembered as the manager of the Offaly team that defeated Kerry in ’82 when Seamus Darby scored the goal that ended Kerry’s drive for five in a row. The account of that year’s Offaly campaign and the huge part played in it by team- manager Eugene McGee is told in the award winning book ‘Kings of September’ by Michael Foley published in 2008. ( A similar title ‘When we were Kings’ by John Keenan of the Galway 3 in row team of the sixties is a favourite essay of mine if you wish to Google same).    

P.J. Cunningham headlined his tribute in that Sunday Indo paper regarding Eugene McGee “A great manager and a great man”.  

A busy week end in prospect.

Friday evening usually kicks off the weekend. This Friday will see the flurry of activity with the election. I have noted this  a couple of weeks ago. The only revision I would have is that in the EU elections after the certain Mairead McGuinness, the near certain Ming and Matt Carthy the fun starts from there. I see Brendan Smith posters seeping into the Boyle area. Perhaps the opposite is happening in his area with Anne Rabbitte posters. The danger for Fianna Fail is that a surging Maria Walshe would take a second seat for Fine Gael. That would be a repeat of the previous F.F. debacle and invites the spake ‘Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me’. Peter Casey’s bubble has probably evaporated but his transfers will be of major significance.

In England they have the first past the post electoral system which is a disaster for small parties and probably independents. The Irish system of transferable votes is much more nuanced and can lead to candidates being elected after any number of counts. If one was very clever one could start at what one would suggest was the weakest candidate and work the way up giving the vote a value all along the way….a kind of ‘Yankee’ bet. So you could actually give the Green candidate Saoirse McHugh a number one vote to suggest that you are coming around to environmentalism and go on to x, y z from there!    

Saturday Evening another contest of a different hue

On Saturday at McHale Park Roscommon play Mayo in the ‘real’ championship. Roscommon last won at McHale Park in 1986 with Gary Wynne on the team. It was the year after Dermot Earley and Pat Lindsay retired. Roscommon are underdogs but they seem to be very fit and strong and the if the hard running and back-up play, so much in evidence against a weak Leitrim, can be replicated to a degree they could really challenge. Also the game now is about panels and the use of twenty players. It surprises me in watching rugby that star players are regularly substituted a decent time from the end of the game. But for the manager in Rugby Union  it is a regular occurrence albeit with the possibility of 7 substitutes. Anyway it will again tell us where Roscommon senior team is at and how long the summer for county football will be.

*A friend of mine who is a Dublin resident and is a dedicated Roscommon supporter bemoaned the fact to me that he and his ilk could not travel to C’Bar on Saturday by train as the last train passing back to the capital would be well gone before the game was ended. Railways played a very important place in the fixing of fixture venues for decades in the early days of the GAA. Then there were ‘specials’ for games but now there is no co-ordination from both the GAA and CIE on this matter. It is worthy of consideration is it not?) 

Actually since I sent this blog first time I see a note on twitter regarding; Full details of the match special on Sat. are on the website…….too complicated for me to transfer to here but maybe someone can translate to realboyle…please. 

(A result from a first year colleges game this week Enniscorthy C.B.S. v Tullamore. At half time it was Tullamore 5.11 Enniscorthy  CBS 0.0. final result Enniscorthy CBS 11. 01 (34 points) Tullamore 6.12. (30 pts). It was a breezy day!)  

‘Good night and may your gods go with you’     Dave Allen.

Update 11th May

European and Local Elections and an appended Referendum,

I was ‘studying’ the candidates and possibilities for the upcoming elections on May 24th. Then I thought maybe there would be a constituency of people who read this who might be interested in an unauthorised view of same. In review it is pretty conservative but it is what I anticipate rather than what I might wish for.   

The county for local elections to Roscommon County Council is divided into 3 constituencies i.e. Local Electoral Areas. These hinge on the towns of Boyle (which also incorporates Ballaghaderreen and Strokestown), Roscommon and Athlone. These areas seem to be sub areas of the County Council and have their own chairperson etc. I am puzzled by their roles as they seem to be very much in the background.  If one thought the Northern Ireland border was irregular then the borders between these 3 units are even worse. I forget if this is the first year of these boundaries, perhaps not, but they throw up such conundrums as established councillors being unable to vote for themselves, because they live outside their electoral area. Then there are areas which are a major distance from their core town eg. Castlecoote being in the Athlone (25 miles distant) area when their natural town is Roscommon five miles away. The Council once having 26 Councillors now has 18 with each ‘area’ returning 6 councillors. Here is the list for the Boyle Electoral Area with the sitting Cllrs. *. At least two Cllrs. have stood back from this election they being Rachael Doherty F.F. Cootehall and Michael Creaton F.G. from Loughglynn.              

Sampey, Aidan. Castlerea Co. Roscommon. Factory Employee Fianna Fáil. (Was a candidate previously). 

*Cummins, John. Boyle Co. Roscommon. County Councillor Fianna Fáil. (A solid long-serving Councillor for Boyle area). 

*Murphy, Joe. Scramogue, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon. Post-person Fianna Fáil. (As far as I remember was co-opted on the success of his brother Eugene’s Dail victory). 

Hussain, Sajjad (Saj). Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon Barber Non- Party. (Certainly a new face and possibly stating a trend but how he can gain traction outside Ballaghaderreen is problematic). 

*Byrne, Valerie. Elphin, Co. Roscommon. Public Representative Non-Party (Long-time candidate succeeding her husband Gene). 

*Mulligan, Michael Patrick. Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon Public Representative and Shopkeeper Sinn Féin. (A regular and visible councillor).

Suffin, Keith. Boyle, Co. Roscommon Community Worker Fine Gael. (A former Boyle Town Commissioner and this is a big challenge at this level).

*Callaghan, Liam. Castlerea, Co. Roscommon Farmer and Public Representative Fine Gael. (Liam has been quietly visible around Boyle in recent times. Was co-opted on the nomination of Maura Hopkins to the Senate).

Reynolds, Andrew. Rooskey, Carrick on Shannon, Co. Roscommon Entrepreneur Fine Gael. (Has a profile with choirs and social initiatives. But a kind of crowded area).  

Crosby, Tom.  Tarmonbarry, Co. Roscommon Businessman Non-Party. (Tom was a former Councillor and a pretty disappointed one when losing last time out. His experience will engender an all-out campaign to retrieve his seat).  

O’Donnell Mary. Ballinameen, Boyle, Co. Roscommon Researcher Non-Party. 

     

Sitting Councillors are in a strong position and hard to displace. The absence Cllrs. Doherty and Creaton means at least two new faces. So my guess, being a novice in this, is as follows. In no definite order John Cummins, Valerie Beirne, Michael Mulligan, Tom Crosby, Joe Murphy, Liam Callaghan with Sampey being reserve.   

 ----------------------          

Athlone (Roscommon)  *1  CONNAUGHTON  Ivan   IND / *2  FALLON  Laurence   IND / 3 GREHAN  Ger FG  / 4  HAND  Malachy FF/  5 HARNEY  Joe SF / 6  KELLY  Seamus  FF/ *7  KEOGH  John FF / 8  KILDUFF  Donal IND / *9  NAUGHTEN  John  FG/  *10  WARD  Tony  IND/ 11  McCABE  Derek  IND.  

There are 5 sitting Cllrs. here and it is hard to see any of them displaced with Kilduff, because of connections, being in a strong position for seat number six.   

--------------------           

Roscommon: 1  COFFEY   Gerry  FG/ *2 CONNOLLY  Dominick IND/ *3  DINEEN  Nigel IND/ *4  FITZMAURICE  Paschal FF/ 5 GROARKE  John IND/ *6  LEYDEN  Orla FF/ 7  McDERMOTT  Marty FF/ 8  MORRIS  Padraig IND/ 9  O'BRIEN  Séamus SF / 10 *SHANAGHER  Kathleen IND/  11  WALDRON  Anthony IND. (former Cllr. Ml. Creaton F.G is not contesting the election). 

Again there are 5 sitting Cllrs. It will be interesting to see if Waldron can make the comeback and McDermott seems to have momentum. There is the possibility of a sitting Cllr. Being a casualty in this area.   

I’ll be the most interested of anyone to see how close the conservative view above is to what transpires!

The European Elections

There are, again, three big Electoral areas. We ae in the Midlands- North- West area.

 Midlands-North-West is a four-seat constituency, comprising Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath.

Midlands North West (4 seats):

Cyril Brennan (Solidarity-People Before Profit)

*Matt Carthy (Sinn Féin)*

Peter Casey (Independent)

*Luke “Ming” Flanagan (Independent)*

Patrick Greene (Direct Democracy Ireland)

Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

Fidelma Healy Eames (Independent)

Dilip Mahapatra (Independent)

*Mairead McGuinness (Fine Gael)*

Saoirse McHugh (Green Party)

James Miller (Independent)

Diarmaid Mulcahy (Independent)

Olive O’Connor (Independent)

Michael O’Dowd (Renua)

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fáil)*

Brendan Smith (Fianna Fáil)*

Maria Walsh (Fine Gael)*

The outgoing MEPs for the constituency are Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Matt Carthy, Mairead McGuinness with Marian Harkin (Independent standing down). Mairead McGuinness F.G. will top the poll with Ming Flanagan Ind. and Matt Carthy S.F. looking strong. How Peter Casey former presidential candidate fares will also be interesting. The contenders for the fourth seat are, by my assessment, Anne Rabbitte F.F. v Brendan Smith F.F with Maria Walsh F.G. also in the hunt. Presuming that the ballot paper is listed in alphabetical order those three possible contenders for the last seat are the last three on the list.  While I would like to see the Green candidate Saoirse McHugh doing well, name recognition is a major factor and I, as an example, do not know much about Saoirse. 

The Referendum on the Regulation of Divorce in Ireland 

The proposal

The proposal is about two issues relating to divorce, namely how long people must be living apart before applying for a divorce, and the recognition of foreign divorces.

There will be one question on the ballot paper and voters can either vote Yes to allow both changes, or No to reject both changes. Voters cannot accept one change and reject the other.

If a majority votes Yes, then the Constitution will change.

1 The Constitution will no longer require a person applying

for a divorce to have lived apart from his or her spouse for

at least four years. The minimum period of four years of

living apart set out in the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996

will continue to apply, unless and until the Oireachtas

changes the law.

and

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 The Oireachtas already has power to make laws

recognising foreign divorces. This power will be made

explicit in the Constitution.

The explicit constitutional prohibition on a person

remarrying in the State who has obtained a foreign

divorce not recognised under Irish law will be removed. It

will still be prohibited for a person to remarry in the State

unless their foreign divorce is recognised under Irish law.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If a majority votes No, then the Constitution will

remain unchanged.

1 The Constitution will continue to require that those

applying for a divorce must have been living apart for at

least four out of the previous five years. The Oireachtas

will not have the power to change this.

and

2 The existing power of the Oireachtas to make laws

recognising foreign divorces will not change.

The explicit constitutional prohibition on a person

remarrying in the State who has obtained a foreign

divorce not recognised under Irish law will remain.

Basically it gives the Oireachtas (Government) power to amend present conditions (laws/regulations) on acquiring divorce in this country and also dealing with out of state divorce recognition. 

It would have been helpful if an explanatory postal leaflet drop explaining these issues had been done as has happened generally in such Referenda. (Maybe it has and I have missed it.)      

Update 3rd May

Reminder: The Month’s Mind Mass for Sean Young takes place on Sunday next May 5^th at 9.30.

Highlight: On Wednesday evening in Sligo Showgrounds Sligo Rovers LOI (League of Ireland) U 15 team defeated Derry City on the score of 3 goals to 2. The scorer of the Sligo Rovers 3 goals was Boyle player David Flanagan!

Chernobyl A  Historic Disaster … T.V. Series not to be missed.

Last Friday was the 33^rd Anniversary of the greatest accidental tragedy which man was instrumental in. On that date the reactor of a Russian nuclear power plant in the Ukraine exploded and led to the spread of nuclear, cancer causing, radiation over a large part of North western Europe even to a degree in Ireland.  From next Tuesday, May 6^th , Sky Atlantic T.V. channel will screen a series based on those events and the heroic attempts by thousands of conscripted men to try and reduce the impact with many losing their own lives. The series will relate the disaster and the huge efforts to cover up the event by the Soviet government and the legacy of a despoiled land that exists now and will continue thus for possibly centuries.

        

Regrettably it is being shown on Sky Atlantic which many people do not have but hopefully it will transfer to more accessible channels in time.

The production (HBO in the U.S) was shown in New York at the U.N. on the disaster’s 33^rd Anniversary last week. Ambassadors present were reported as crying as they watched the disaster unfold.

Adi Roche has been organising for years the holidaying of children in Ireland, with birth disabilities as a result of the tragedy, from that zone. She is also lobbying for the ‘first responders’, or ‘liquidators’ as they are referred to there, to be awarded the Nobel Prize for their efforts and sacrifices. (People might better remember the images of New York firemen unknowingly walking to their deaths in tackling the Twin Towers outrage).       

I remember the time afterwards as the scale of the Chernobyl disaster began to emerge. The weather was particularly bad in the following days with wind and rain. The news and weather forecasters tracked the course of the dust emissions with the prevailing winds tracking up from the Ukraine across Russia. Lithuania, Scandinavia, Scotland and touching on Ireland. It was referred to closer to the explosion site as a black rain. It seemed a bit black here too. The fears for those regions were for the risk of cancer inducing radiation on people of course and also on animals and food products.

The Chernobyl disaster demonstrated the tragic destructive power of nuclear plants and the huge and possibly insurmountable challenges in controlling it after accident, use in a war, or in the decommissioning process which emerges with the ‘standing down’ of power stations.

As a postscript: There was also a serious incident at ‘Three Mile Island in the U.S. in 1979.  A 1979 film called ‘The China Syndrome’ (where a reactor could explode and burrow its way to China i.e. uncontrollable) with Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas was a pretty good if ‘clean’ representation of the early stages of such an event.

People of my vintage grew up with a real awareness of nuclear danger. It came to the fore with the Atom bombing by the U.S. of two Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki which ended the Pacific War of WW2. Then there was the race to get the atom bomb by others including Russia which did so with the help of spies et al. Then there emerged and even greater bomb called the Hydrogen Bomb. The real fear of a nuclear war emerged with the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 with President Kennedy and the Russian leader of the time Khrushchev playing a poker game for a time until the Russians climbed down.

      

The United States, Russia, the UK, France, China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, and Israel all control some nuclear capacity. There is always the fear of spread called ‘proliferation’. The current example of this is Iran.

War usage is a great danger but accidental meltdowns are a real threat. There was talk of building a nuclear power plant in Ireland once at Carnsore Point County Wexford. The nearest power plant to us is Sellafield formerly Windscale located in Cumbria, North Western England. There were fires there in ’57 and as recently as 2007 plus the danger of toxic material leaking into the Irish Sea. I haven’t heard much of that in recent years.     

Anyway as a documentary addict I will try and access the start of next Tuesday’s Chernobyl series. It is said that it is not for the faint hearted!         

Bio-Diversity/ Global Warming/ Endangered Species.

There is plenty of coverage of Global warming and the threat to a wealth of species of animals, insects and the diverse nature that obtains. It is frightening that we will pass on to our children and certainly our grandchildren a natural world that has been depleted of so much in recent decades. Some people might see this as abstract opinion and some people even deny the idea of ‘global warming’. In a background radio programme I heard the first reference to there being a marked decline in the number of salmon returning to their classic spawning grounds in Ireland from North America. Crossing the Salmon Weir bridge in Galway always induced a look into the waters below to observe the plentiful (when in season) salmon forcing their way upstream. I remember a story from then of an American tourist asking a local –possibly a poacher with his line a gaff hook-‘How come salmon can travel such a distance across the Atlantic to spawn and then return to Newfoundland back again?’ The poacher had heard that question many times and probably had polished the following answer; “Until salmon can talk we won’t know that”.   

Some time ago I referenced the decline of the Corncrake almost to extinction. The distinctive sound of the Corncrake was part of my boyhood in the hayfields and grasslands of my home farm. Now it is unheard of.…almost . A favourite place of mine is the island of Innis boffin (white Cow) off the Connemara coast out from Cleggan. The corncrake is ‘alive and well’ there and may even be a tourist attraction now.

Of course the decline of the bee with all its huge importance has been well proclaimed. I thought the rabbit too was on a downward spiral until I went to ‘Boffin’. Many young children were introduced to reading by a book series called ‘Ladybird’. It is a while since I have seen a real Ladybird or am I just imagining it?     

The Declared Decline of the Curlew.

Another species that are declining rapidly are the Curlews. I thought that these were so common that they were safe from serious decline. However the bird with the distinctive hooked bill and call are under threat as Siobhán Devoy in a recent article I came across proclaimed.  So I’ll post that simple article here rather than try to summarise it:

“People have been urged to watch out for sightings of the curlew bird as the National Parks & Wildlife Service endeavours to protect the endangered species.

The call comes as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan launches World Curlew Day in Ireland.

While species of curlew are under threat worldwide, there has been a 97% decline in the population of the wader in Ireland since the 1980s, according to a recent study.

A conservation programme is working with farmers, land-owners and communities across the country to prevent the extinction of the curlew.

Noted for its distinctive long legs, long neck and down-curved bill, the curlew is a winter visitor to wetlands across Ireland, according to Birdwatch Ireland.

However, it tends to live predominantly in the north-west of the country and along the Shannon River.

The bird also has a distinctive call that people may be familiar with during the summer months.

Dr O’Donoghue said: "The beautiful bubbling call of the curlew has always been a soundtrack to the Irish summer, but has sadly fallen silent across much of the countryside.

"To lose the Curlew would be like losing a big part of Ireland - like our music, our landscape or identity."

"We have a dedicated and hardworking team engaged in parts of Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan and Donegal and we are supporting local community projects elsewhere," added Dr O’Donoghue.

Easter Sunday marks World Curlew Day and to raise awareness of the shorebird’s vulnerability, a special Curlew Day flag will be flown at County Council and school buildings in the most important areas for curlew.

Members of the public are asked to be alert to the sound and sightings of the Curlew and reporting any  observations to the National Parks & Wildlife Service”. Ends.

Hopefully we can do better and reverse this decline. I have a back, back garden, which could in previous terms get some intensive treatment. Lately my conscience is suggesting the gesture of restraint and donating it as my legacy to nature and ‘biodiversity’.   

                                                                                                         Sports Notes

Some GAA fixtures; Boyle v Michael Glavey’s in the O’Rourke Cup, in the Abbey Park at 7 on Sat. May 4th.

The U 12s’ play Western Gaels in Fenchpark at 11am on Sunday.

The senior ladies had a very good win over St. Faithleach’s in Ballyleague last week. Boyle 9.8 St. Failes 4.7. They now play in their final on Saturday the 11th.

Best wishes to Boyle representatives on the Roscommon LGFA and management; Maeve Brogan/ Kate Harrington/ Megan McKeon/Saoirse Wynne and with management Kieran McKeon. They will play their

Connacht ‘A’ minor final on Monday May 6th against Galway in Ballintubber. I may be wrong but I feel that this is a first ‘A’ final in this age group for Roscommon. 

The Connacht Senior Championship

The Connacht Senior Championships gets under way this week-end. It is said that there are thousands of Mayo people heading to New York for the preliminary round in Gaelic Park (Capacity say 3000). It should be a walk in the park for Mayo who seem to have retained the resilience  of the past decade.

Galway visit London’s McGovern Park for their preliminary round and unless there has been seismic changes there, Galway should emulate Mayo in terms of result.

Roscommon take on Leitrim on Sunday the 10^th in Hyde Park. I am told the ticket for the stand is priced at €25 which is at least €5 above reasonable which may be reflected in the attendance. While Leitrim will be buoyed by a good league campaign and promotion from Division four, history is with Roscommon. Regarding Roscommon, despite a competitive league of 7 games there is still a considerable question as to what the team will be. Back in the day (whenever that was) teams could, as the term went, ‘pick themselves’ at least down to 12/13. It would be a good challenge, a week out from the first championship game, to get 12 definite starters for Roscommon. It must be corrosive to the confidence of players to be started, dropped, come on as a sub and go through the whole range of uncertainty. A decent display against Leitrim is required as the fences get tougher from there.

Champions League Plus

The knock out stages of the Champions League has been great television viewing for a number of years now. This week saw Tottenham Hotspurs defeated by Ajax of Amsterdam by 1 goal to nil in a very poor game. Spurs were really missing two star players Kane and Son. Son will be back for the second leg but Spurs will ‘have it all to do’ away next week to get through to the final. The second semi-final was a cracking game and Liverpool were pretty unlucky to end up 3 to 0 losers to Barcelona. They need a performance of historic dimensions to overturn this situation. Barca scored three very different goals. Number one a great Suarez finish as PFA 'Player of the Year' Virgil Van Dijk was dozing, a fortunate rebound off the crossbar with Messi chesting it home was next; with the third being a sublime free kick from the genius player Messi taking him to 600 Barcelona goals. Anfield will be a cauldron of hope as opposed to expectation next week and the first goal will be key. Still this week Liverpool did contribute in a large measure to a great game.  

I remember seeing Spurs for the first time in the mid -sixties with part of the great team of the earlier sixties. Jimmy Greaves scored a goal that night that I still seem to remember. I have not heard of Greavsie for a good while now but he was a classic striker whose omission from the 1966 World Cup winning England playing team crushed him.    

In the Europa Cup Arsenal defeated Valencia by 3 to 1 while Chelsea drew with Eintracht Frankfurt 1 all.  Eintracht Frankfurt were involved in the first soccer game I saw on television in 1960. It was the European Cup Final against Real Madrid in Hampden Park, Glasgow before a crowd of 127, 000 people. It is regarded as one of the greatest football games ever played. Real Madrid with three masters, Di Stéfano, Puskas and Gento playing, ended up winning on the score of 7 to Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3. It was Real’s 5th final win in a row.

Those two London teams, Arsenal and Chelsea have real chances of progressing to the final. So two London clubs could meet in the final in the Olympic stadium of Baku,  Azerbaijan 2, 400 miles from London. Why this distant location from the possible final qualifiers was decided upon is not very logical as my friend Spock would endorse. Of course with Qatar hosting the World Cup in November/December 2022 anything is possible.  

Contributors Welcome

I mentioned before that if anyone was interested in forwarding a few paragraphs for publication consideration here we would like to see that happen. When I mentioned this to someone they suggested that perhaps encouraging members of communities such as Polish and Indian or other could be a good idea. There are quite a number of both communities in the region now. Whether they tune into realboyle I would not know but they’d be welcome here.

‘And so to bed’ Samuel Pepys.   

^I