Update 28th October

The Challenge of the Blank Page

 I’ve come late to the blog this week and wondered what it would be when I sat down to write something and thus keep oxygen in the series to tide me over. I believe in the ‘consistency’ of being there.

As a colleague/friend/ someone I know used to say; ‘We eat at one, dinner or no dinner!’ So like a rare swimmer near a cold pool I’ve walked around the laptop a few times and exchanged stares and as you can see the game is on…..

Then I was reminded of the challenge as enunciated by W.B. Yeats and copy and paste to here;      

“The Circus Animals’ Desertion

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

I sought a theme and sought for it in vain,

I sought it daily for six weeks or so.

Maybe at last being but a broken man

I must be satisfied with my heart, …….

(Ending)

Now that my ladder's gone

I must lie down where all the ladders start

In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart”.

Halloween Trick or Treat

Halloween or Hallowe'en, a contraction of All Hallows' Evening or Eve, or All Saints' Eve, is a celebration observed in a number of countries on the 31^st of October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day.

It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts and so on.

Some Traditions

When we were young, decades ago, there was a real night of activity and challenges which we entered with gusto. The most memorable was trying to get a mouthful of an apple lying in a basin of water. A variation on this was trying to do likewise to the apple as it hung from a height.

Then there were items hidden in food such as the ring in the a cake or barmbrack which I always called a ‘barnbrack’. A young person was blindfolded and the items were laid on saucers or polish lids and shuffled around like a three card trick and then the person would dip.  A person's future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example a ring meant marriage, a thimble indicated remaining single, a coin meant wealth and the more macabre ‘clay’ stood for death.

Today one of the symbols, particularly in the States, is the pumpkin which is pretty new in our domain where it once was the turnip. While the tradition of St. Stephen’s Day wren boys going from house to house singing or playing music seems to be dying the Halloween tradition of ‘trick or treating’ looks strong. I remember that Halloween took on a destructive twist with young men, in the deep night, causing damage to cabbage plots and by removing gates and such actions. I know not what the symbolism of those latter acts were.

Also at Halloween there seemed to be a culture of ghosts and scary story telling. The scares were either imagined or deliberate pranks played by older people on kids sometimes fuelled by the spirits!

(As  a digression; one of the most brutal shootings in Northern Ireland called The Greysteel massacre happened on the evening of 30 October 1993 in Derry.  Three members of the UDA, a loyalist paramilitary group, opened fire in a crowded pub during a Halloween party, killing eight civilians and wounding thirteen. One of the gunmen called out immediately before the shooting ‘trick or treat’. The pub was in an Catholic nationalist area and was seen as a reprisal for a previous I.R.A. attack.)

In England the tradition is, to a large degree, submerged by Guy Fawkes night on November the 5^th which remembers the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the early 1600s’. It is commemorated by bonfires and fireworks and the burning of an effigy of Guy Fawkes who was involved in the original ‘Gunpowder Plot’.

Down the years there has been issues with dangerous fireworks causing injury to young people. These fireworks have become more regulated in recent times and are not as prevalent as heretofore. Elderly residents too can be victims of thoughtlessness. So have fun but take care of yourself.      

Johnny Beirne R.I.P.

Last week I mentioned the deaths of three people and the grim reaper continues his work. Johnny Beirne was laid to rest today (Thursday) in Assylinn graveyard. I would not pretend to have known Johnny very well but I was familiar with him and our paths crossed from time to time, sometimes in a local tavern. He was a member of the Boyle Junior team (there were only senior and junior grades then)that won the 1964 Championship when, in the final, they defeated Rahara, from beside Knockcroghery. They had played six games in that campaign including Killina. In a brief few words with Hal Cawley outside the church on Wednesday evening he told me of a vital score by Johnny after a solo run through a dogged Killina defence which helped Boyle to a win in that game. I called to Johnny some time ago returning an old significant Roscommon medal I felt one of the lads had brought into school for me to see, years ago. It had gotten ‘submerged’ with me afterwards. Anyway I had a very pleasant chat with Johnny on that occasion. I used also see him on Tonroe Bog and he saying to me once ‘it’s a pity we can’t bring the fireplace out to the bog’. With these few words and the picture of that ’64 team (above) I tip my cap with respect to Johnny Beirne.

  

Frank Dennehy R.I.P.

Frank Dennehy, one of Roscommon’s finest servants of recent times, was laid to rest in Elphin on Tuesday. Frank came from St. Brigid’s country in South Roscommon. After secondary school in Summerhill he spent some time in England and returned to North Roscommon. He became inextricably linked with Kilmore GAA Club and was a great servant of that club in many ways. He graduated to the Roscommon County Board and was County Secretary for a period and President on his death. He was hugely popular and respected by all. Apart from the GAA he was manager of Elphin Credit Union. Frank was one of the great community contributors and did it all with grace and humour which were his gifts. He will be sadly missed by a wide circle of family, friends, the Roscommon GAA community and the many people who were touched by his understanding and generosity.   

The World Series-Baseball

As a student I spent three summers in the U.S. In 1968 I caught the baseball bug. It was the year a team called the New York Mets-then based at Shea Stadium-not alone won their league but went on to win what they refer to as The World Series. This is the Holy Grail of the game. What was amazing about their win was that they came from nowhere, the basement to the very top like Leicester in English soccer this year. Subsequently they were referred to as ‘The Amazing Mets’. I had a book once on that campaign. It may have been called ‘The Year the Mets Lost Last Place’. I still remember the names of some of the players; Jones, Seaver, Koosman and a manager called Yogi Berra.

Anyway the two teams contesting the World Series at the moment are The Chicago Cubs and The Cleveland Indians. It is the best of seven games. In the first game, on Tuesday night, ‘The Indians’ got off to a great start with 3 runs and ran out winners by 6 to 0. The Cubs have not been to this level since the forties and not won since 1908. It was similar in Boston until a breakthrough win a short few years ago. Were the Cubs to win it would release a pent-up emotion in that city that would relegate the Leicester story to the ordinary. However losing the first game does not bode well for them.

Since I don’t have Sky etc. I’ll have to follow it on a lap-top twitter source. It will be a long night but I guess it would be more my thing than Trump v Clinton. Baseball in my opinion is the quintessential l United States game as Cricket is in England and hurling is in this country. They display, in a way, the soul of each country.

Club Players’ Association

It was inevitable that an organisation would emerge that pays attention to the ‘ordinary’ Gaelic players throughout the country. It is generally felt by those players that they are being treated abysmally. They start training shortly after Christmas or even before. Then a league begins and in Roscommon’s case their ‘county players’ are allowed to play in nominated games. Very kind. Then when the Championship starts there is often one game like a lost flower in May and then the remainder when the ‘county team’ are eliminated from the championship which despite a paucity of games even at that level can be late July. Even at that all the county finals took place around Mid-October. The weather has been more than kind this year but that is exceptional. There has been much talk about player wellbeing and welfare in recent years and everybody subscribes to this orally. Yet little changes. The GPA’s brief has unashamedly being the inter-county payers and they have managed to get a generous stipend from the GAA nationally which is questionable.

If one wants a stark example of how ‘ordinary’ club players are treated one has only to consider the way the Kilmore Intermediate team and club were treated last week-end when they were forced to play Monivea in the Connacht Club Intermediate Championship less than 24 hours after their win in the intermediate replay on Saturday. Also news of the death of their Club President, Frank Dennehy, had also emerged. This is outlined in a very strong statement from the club extracts from which can be seen on page 63 of this week’s Roscommon People. Kilmore have formed the first local branch of the new CPA (Club Players Association). I imagine I will be returning to this theme.  

Congratulations To

• Dessie Carlos of Ballinameen was a key member of the Castleknock Senior GAA team who defeated St. Jude’s in the Dublin County Semi-Final on Thursday evening. On Newstalk Sport, Dessie was nominated as ‘Man of the Match’ in the game and obviously will now feature in Dublin county final.  Dessie, a former St. Mary’s College student, has been a familiar and valued  member of Boyle Celtic in recent years.

• Congratulations to Jonathan Conroy who managed Creggs to their Junior Championship victory on Saturday evening last over Kilglass Gaels. Johnathan was one the finest players of Boyle teams for years and represented Roscommon seniors in goals a number of times. He was also a hugely popular coach to a number of teams in Boyle before he migrated to Mid-Roscommon East Galway. He is a gentleman and held in high regard in Boyle GAA and I am sure now in Creggs. I can see from Frank Brandon’s commentary in this week’s Roscommon People that they celebrated with gusto. I know Creggs and celebrating in Mikeen’s is one of the things they do better than most, maybe even more so than Kilmore.

• Congratulations also to young Boyle player Cian McKeon on being fifth on the county championship top scorers list with 1.25 i.e. 28 points. The winner Kevin Smith led with 1.32 i.e. 35 points.

    

Update 21st October

The Passing of three sports men

Anthony Foley

The past week has seen the passing of three sporting men of different times and levels. The tragic death of Limerick, Munster and Ireland rugby legend Anthony Foley came as huge shock to all sporting people. The reaction of people particularly in his home town and province was evidence of the regard in which he was held and the incredulity that a giant of a man, aged just 42, could be swept away from this life so suddenly. I copy to here, the reaction of sports journalist Roy Curtis to Anthony Foley’s death  

“The chokehold of sorrow, the vice-grip of inexplicable loss seems to banish the oxygen, lock out the light.

Stop all the clocks, for the heartbeat, the ticking timepiece of the Munster nation has been stilled.

You did not need to know Anthony Foley to sense a hole gouged open in the ozone layer protecting Ireland’s soul, to believe your very core, the ability to think straight, had been drop-kicked into a hellish swirl of confusion and incomprehension and disbelief when the dreadful news arrived like a volley of winding punches to the solar plexus”.

Sudden death is an incomprehensible shock and all Irish sports people shared that shock with the rugby community when the news pinged through the instant media networks on Sunday. The gates of Thomond Park became an instant shrine to a much beloved sporting icon, a man steeped in a sports tradition handed down by his father Brendan. Anthony was a chip off the old block and it looked as if the dynasty was to be a lasting one. But fate and the gods thought otherwise and a deep, deep, wound is being felt now by his family, friends, colleagues and the communities to which he brought such enjoyment and pride. Perhaps there will be some consolation for those closest to him in that he had achieved so much in a short life and leaves a legacy of memories to be tossed and turned in their minds in times to come.

   ‘Death, be not proud’ by John Donne.

‘Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not……               

Paddy Beisty, Rathcroghan

Paddy Beisty passed away on Tuesday the 18th aged 90 years. He was a member of the Roscommon panel of the last Roscommon team to win a senior All-Ireland football championship in 1944. There is just one member of that great side still with us now and that is Liam Gilmartin who lives in Dublin. I had been asked many time ‘how many of them left’ the them being the members of the 43/44 Roscommon teams. My numbers have declined incrementally in the last few years with the demise of men such as Brendan Lynch and John Joe (Nerney). Paddy Beisty was a kind of ‘forgotten’ man of that group as he was a substitute in ‘44 as an eighteen year old and later spent a good spell in the U.S. He went to Summerhill College at the turn of the forties and played football there and later when he went to Ballyhaise Agricultural College. In’43 Mantua set up their own team breaking for a while from Elphin and they won the junior championship with Paddy being one of the stars. Dan O’Rourke brought him into the county panel for ’44 and they went all the way and Paddy got his All-Ireland medal. It was suggested that it would be the first of a number but again fate took a hand in proceedings. Paddy’s father had been in the United States and had got citizenship which also passed to his son. The result was that even though domiciled in Ireland he was eligible to be ‘called up’ to join the U.S. army which he did at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin. After training in England he was posted to Europe in support units in ’45. After the war he ‘demobbed’ in the States and stayed there and married an American lady, Carol. With their family they returned to Ireland and Rathcroghan in the late sixties.

In talking to those Roscommon football stars, and I’ve been lucky enough to have talked to most of them, the decency, integrity, camaraderie, and how easily they wear their honours, shines through. In that most difficult period they were the county’s heroes and this carried through to many other counties also. They made Roscommon people happy and proud and they left a legacy that lives on. It has been the benchmark for Roscommon football for over 70 years. Paddy Beisty played his part in all that, and as the proud holder of a senior All-Ireland medal with Roscommon, deserves his due in the record of Roscommon’s great era in Gaelic football.

Johnny O’Neill of Clann

Johnny O’Neill was one of the cornerstones of the emergence of Clann na  Gael as a powerhouse of club in Roscommon football. After being a top minor player he became an established goalkeeper with Clann and then the Roscommon team. He was a keeper on the Connacht team of ’73 which was defeated by the Combined Universities in a replayed final. He won multiple county club championship medals. Boyle resident John Kelly was a playing colleague with of his with Roscommon and spoke of the ability, warmth of personality, and popularity of Johnny as a person. So the Clann club has lost one of its many legends with the death of Johnny O’Neill.



The Third and Final U.S. Presidential Debate

I decided to stay the course by watching the final debate in the U.S. Presidential Debate last Wednesday night/Thursday morning. It reminded me of when I was a boy and getting up in the middle of the night, with my dad, to watch Cassius Clay fight Sonny Liston. I was not really looking forward to the debate. It was hardly worth the effort. I was a bit frayed from the previous occasions. The format was different on this occasion and more stable. It was divided into segments and ‘moderated’ by  a man called Chris Wallace. The segments covered The Supreme Court, Immigration, Economy, Fitness to Govern, Foreign Hot Spots and National Debt. The emerging reality is that both of the candidates are seen as poor options. There were two programme analysts and one of them encapsulated the merits of the candidates as follows; ‘He (Trump) is everything that is wrong with our culture and she is everything that is wrong with our government’. Which suggests that in the next election the choosing of candidates will be more rigorous since the current pair are so divisive.  

The usual topics of Clinton’s emails, huge fees for a speaking engagement, the Clinton foundation funding and so on surfaced. The one real strike in the debate was Trump’s failure to say that he would accept a result after the election count – obviously if the count went against him. This of course could call into question any election result so the whole roster of candidates for Congress could, theoretically, be thrown into the mix.

The actual election is not a straightforward numbers game either. Even as it stands there are states which are solidly ‘blue’ (Democratic) or ‘red’ (Republican). States which are won by ’blue’ or ‘red’ give to their winner all the states ‘electoral’ votes example Maryland a ‘blue’ Democratic state has 10 electoral votes or California also a ‘blue’ state with 55 electoral votes.  There are a small number of ‘swing states’ which could go either way and they are key to victory. These include Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, South Carolina, Nevada and Colorado. So on count night those are the ones to watch.

All this seems a bit out of kilter, to me, with the idea of the great democracy where in fact voting for a ‘blue’ candidate in a hot ‘red’ state is just exercising your franchise but has no effect and vice versa.

(As you can see I’m interested in this process. Perhaps some night classes organiser might set in train a programme of lectures on U.S. History and Politics for our enlightenment of this hugely important subject.)

Errata

1.     The best of luck to Jonathan Conroy who manages Creggs in their Junior Final replay on Saturday at Strokestown v Kilglass Gaels at 4pm. A top man always, Jonathan.

2.     I had a discussion with a sports person recently and he was noting the effect of the narrow selective broadcasting of games such as golf and cricket to pay per view channels. This has the effect of limiting the viewer numbers and by so doing the possible wider interest in the sports. I know this is a big discussion and sports are going after the huge money on offer. Rugby is another sport as last week-ends schedule illustrates; Connacht v Toulouse, Sky; Leinster v Castres BT Sports; Munster v Racing Sky and so on.

3.     One of the most drawn out and unnecessary television programmes recently must have been the ‘draw’ for the 2017 GAA Championships.

4.     The Roscommon Herald continued its very nice series of Snapshots with a short profile of Annie Egan. I imagine Annie has more interesting lore from her war years in London.

5.     I have not managed to get to the Saturday morning Lough Key run/walk but it is on my list!

6.     On Sunday there is the 21^st staging of the run/walk in aid of cancer.  Damian Regan at 086 394 2388 is the man to contact regarding particulars.

7.     A Harvest Thanksgiving Service will take place in Ardcarne Church of Ireland also on Sunday the 23^rd at 7.30.
 

8.     It has been a disappointing week watching big television soccer games. Liverpool v Manchester United, on Monday night, was a bore. Man City v Barcelona was chaotic. In terms of Manchester City it was like watching key elements of Mayo’s All-Ireland performances in terms of goal giveaways and goalkeeping blunders. Was "Pep" Guardiola not watching the All-Ireland football final and replay?

9.     Fair play to Chris O’Dowd and Niall Horan (of One Direction) and host Graham Norton for a very entertaining show on Sunday night last. While the show transmits at one hour it actually takes three hours to record so what you see is the edit. Also it means that the guests are in situ for three hours!

1.                        I see that one of the iconic town hotels has closed i.e. Hayden’s Hotel of Ballinasloe where I attended a few weddings decades ago and post-match reviews when Ballinasloe was a GAA fixture venue.  

1 In the sports section of the Sunday Independent page 10 there is an ad. for a Sports Conference in Dublin with ‘special’ guest Lance Armstrong. (As I write he has withdrawn!) The price quoted for tickets from Ticketmaster...€175!!

Sin é

Slán.

Update 21st October

The Passing of three sports men

Anthony Foley

The past week has seen the passing of three sporting men of different times and levels. The tragic death of Limerick, Munster and Ireland rugby legend Anthony Foley came as huge shock to all sporting people. The reaction of people particularly in his home town and province was evidence of the regard in which he was held and the incredulity that a giant of a man, aged just 42, could be swept away from this life so suddenly. I copy to here, the reaction of sports journalist Roy Curtis to Anthony Foley’s death  

“The chokehold of sorrow, the vice-grip of inexplicable loss seems to banish the oxygen, lock out the light.

Stop all the clocks, for the heartbeat, the ticking timepiece of the Munster nation has been stilled.

You did not need to know Anthony Foley to sense a hole gouged open in the ozone layer protecting Ireland’s soul, to believe your very core, the ability to think straight, had been drop-kicked into a hellish swirl of confusion and incomprehension and disbelief when the dreadful news arrived like a volley of winding punches to the solar plexus”.

Sudden death is an incomprehensible shock and all Irish sports people shared that shock with the rugby community when the news pinged through the instant media networks on Sunday. The gates of Thomond Park became an instant shrine to a much beloved sporting icon, a man steeped in a sports tradition handed down by his father Brendan. Anthony was a chip off the old block and it looked as if the dynasty was to be a lasting one. But fate and the gods thought otherwise and a deep, deep, wound is being felt now by his family, friends, colleagues and the communities to which he brought such enjoyment and pride. Perhaps there will be some consolation for those closest to him in that he had achieved so much in a short life and leaves a legacy of memories to be tossed and turned in their minds in times to come.

   ‘Death, be not proud’ by John Donne.

‘Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not……               

Paddy Beisty, Rathcroghan

Paddy Beisty passed away on Tuesday the 18th aged 90 years. He was a member of the Roscommon panel of the last Roscommon team to win a senior All-Ireland football championship in 1944. There is just one member of that great side still with us now and that is Liam Gilmartin who lives in Dublin. I had been asked many time ‘how many of them left’ the them being the members of the 43/44 Roscommon teams. My numbers have declined incrementally in the last few years with the demise of men such as Brendan Lynch and John Joe (Nerney). Paddy Beisty was a kind of ‘forgotten’ man of that group as he was a substitute in ‘44 as an eighteen year old and later spent a good spell in the U.S. He went to Summerhill College at the turn of the forties and played football there and later when he went to Ballyhaise Agricultural College. In’43 Mantua set up their own team breaking for a while from Elphin and they won the junior championship with Paddy being one of the stars. Dan O’Rourke brought him into the county panel for ’44 and they went all the way and Paddy got his All-Ireland medal. It was suggested that it would be the first of a number but again fate took a hand in proceedings. Paddy’s father had been in the United States and had got citizenship which also passed to his son. The result was that even though domiciled in Ireland he was eligible to be ‘called up’ to join the U.S. army which he did at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin. After training in England he was posted to Europe in support units in ’45. After the war he ‘demobbed’ in the States and stayed there and married an American lady, Carol. With their family they returned to Ireland and Rathcroghan in the late sixties.

In talking to those Roscommon football stars, and I’ve been lucky enough to have talked to most of them, the decency, integrity, camaraderie, and how easily they wear their honours, shines through. In that most difficult period they were the county’s heroes and this carried through to many other counties also. They made Roscommon people happy and proud and they left a legacy that lives on. It has been the benchmark for Roscommon football for over 70 years. Paddy Beisty played his part in all that, and as the proud holder of a senior All-Ireland medal with Roscommon, deserves his due in the record of Roscommon’s great era in Gaelic football.

Johnny O’Neill of Clann

Johnny O’Neill was one of the cornerstones of the emergence of Clann na  Gael as a powerhouse of club in Roscommon football. After being a top minor player he became an established goalkeeper with Clann and then the Roscommon team. He was a keeper on the Connacht team of ’73 which was defeated by the Combined Universities in a replayed final. He won multiple county club championship medals. Boyle resident John Kelly was a playing colleague with of his with Roscommon and spoke of the ability, warmth of personality, and popularity of Johnny as a person. So the Clann club has lost one of its many legends with the death of Johnny O’Neill.

Update 14th October

• Cooney Centra Breast Cancer Awareness Walk will take place in conjunction with the weekly Saturday morning Lough Key run/walk on this Saturday the 15th at 9.15.

• Connacht GAA Draw. Preliminary Round Sligo v New York/ Leitrim v London/ Mayo v winners of Sligo v New York with winners playing Galway in the semi-final 1 / Roscommon v winners of Leitrim v London in semi-final That could be in Hyde Park. Apart from that no comment.

• In my humble opinion the ‘Black Card’ has failed and needs to be disposed of.

Fair play to Roscommon County Board with their reasonable charges of €10 for championship games. There have been very good crowds that I see so a bit of positivity there.

• The Chicago Cubs are in with a good chance of exorcising themselves of even a worse dilemma than Mayo (and Roscommon if you insist). They have reached the latter stages of the U.S. Baseball championships and if they were to win, it would be their first World Series for 110 years.

• There was a very nice profile of John Rush, Boyle, on page 3 of the Roscommon Herald this week, accompanied a Brian Farrell picture, titled ‘Butler to royalty and the stars’. I was a little aware of John’s career and had it on my list to talk to him but this profile is fine. You never know what roles some people have played throughout their lives. 

Bob Dylan gets Nobel Prize for Literature

I had been kinda wondering about what I might write for the blog and then I heard on the radio that a singer who was part of a period of my life had received The Nobel Prize for Literature. This is in the broadest sense in terms of writing as the citation goes ‘creating new poetic traditions within the American song tradition’. While it was argued that Bob Dylan was not really either a great singer or musician he created a body of meaningful lyrics that meant that the Nobel Committee had the courage and went up a different road in this year’s nomination. It will be applauded by the millions whose lives he enriched and influenced.

Bob Dylan or just Dylan as he is regularly referred to was not actually his real name it being Bob Zimmerman who was born in Duluth in the state of Minnesota living for a period of his early life in Hibbing. He then went to New York and Greenwich Village at a very young age and in a very short period in the early sixties wrote and released a body of work and iconic classic meaningful songs that gathered an international fan base.  Greenwich Village was a mecca then for singers, writers, actors and artists. It probably still is. Amongst  those he met there were the Clancy brothers and he regarded Liam Clancy highly.  Much of his most celebrated work dates from the first half of the 1960s when his songs chronicled social unrest, although Dylan repudiated suggestions from journalists that he was a spokesman for his generation. Nevertheless, early songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements. He was present at some civil rights rallies but did not get as involved as say his friend Joan Baez. His influential manager was Albert Grossman and I once had a video of perhaps Dylan’s first English tour of England where the emerging singer accompanied by Joan Baez introduced his amazing early songs to audiences on this side of the Atlantic. That video got misplaced.   

While, for me, one side of my listening in the early sixties was ‘The Beatles’ it was not long before they were joined by Dylan, a name he supposedly borrowed from Dylan Thomas the Welsh writer. In college in the later sixties Dylan was the high priest of folk ‘message’ music. There is some debate about a motor bike accident in July ’66 which led to him leaving the public arena for a good while. He returned and upset his fan base by introducing an electric element to his music. In the late nineties he published an autobiographical work titled ‘Bob Dylan Chronicles Volume One’ which was regarded highly and as ‘Book of the Year’ in various circles.

He has toured many times and Ireland has been regularly included in those tours. I remember attending a concert of his in Pearse Stadium Galway and it was a case for me, on that occasion, of the truth of the epithet ‘don’t ever meet your heroes’ as the venue did not generate an atmosphere then and Dylan did few if any of the classics.

Of course if I was the kind to become obsessed with a singer it would have been Dylan but being a ‘jack of a number of trades’ that did not happen. Still a disc of Dylan’s greatest hits contains a number of my favourite songs, on most  days. I copy here a song written by Dylan in ’74 as a blessing and wish for his young son then aged eight. The title reminds me regarding that great decade of change, the sixties, when my friends and I felt forever young about life and possibility then.    

  

 "Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always

May your wishes all come true

May you always do for others

And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung

May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young

May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous

May you grow up to be true

May you always know the truth

And see the lights surrounding you

May you always be courageous

Stand upright and be strong

May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young

May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy

May your feet always be swift

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful

And may your song always be sung

May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young

May you stay forever young.  

My friends the Bees

I read that a certain number of bees are now on the endangered species list. Bees play a huge role in pollination and I see in the Roscommon Herald page 8 that Roscommon County Council are sponsoring two seminars regarding same. One takes place on Saturday October the 22^nd in the Moylurg Room at Lough Key and the second takes place in Castlecoote House on Thursday October 27^th.  Information on how people can help in this process can be accessed www.biodiversityireland.ie or contact Roscommon County Council co-ordinator Breata Coyle at bcoyle@roscommoncoco.ie.     

First Time Buyers Grant

I mentioned this last week so that mention can be accessed if you wish by scrolling down. I circulated my thoughts on same to a number of politicians and those ‘who it might concern’. That is unusual for me.  A few responded. My basic point of discrimination by offering a grant to one section of ‘first time buyers for a new built home’ to the exclusion of ‘first time buyers of a second hand home’ was not addressed. C’est la vie. Of course when new homes are built it will be an open market and ‘first time buyers’ will be competing with everyone else. So I wonder how many first time buyers will in fact become owners of newly built homes. A spokesman for the building industry suggested that  on the Claire Byrne television show that it would help stimulate the market as if there were no or very few house buyers there at present. I was watching a tv programme perhaps a month ago and it related to house-hunting and in the segment in Dublin a house started off at an opening price of €310,000 and there was a parade of potential purchasers. It was eventually sold for €430, 000. There were plenty of purchasers there and the reason house prices are rising in Dublin, Galway and those places is that the supply is not there. The buyers have been there for some time now in those urban areas but the building has not begun. Why?        

Anyway the government feel confident that the measure will ‘stimulate’ building and first time buyers will be competing for those new houses. I wonder how many ‘first time buyers will’ actually benefit.  We’ll see. File closed.

The U.S. Election….. Again! 

The present election in the U.S. must be one of the nastiest, personalised, angriest elections for a long time in a Western democracy. It seems to get worse by the week. The election date is November 8^th. After recent revelations about Trump a number of high profile Republican politicians such as Republican Speaker in the House Paul Ryan and former presidential candidate John McCain have withdrawn from endorsing Trump. I imagine that amongst the reasons for these are worries for the broader election of Republican Senators and Congressmen that takes place in tandem with the presidential election. Perhaps Ryan is also thinking of how a commitment to Trump now will be seen if he wishes to make a play for the presidency in the future. The probability is that whoever wins this time it will be just a one term president and that by the time the next race begins a better effort will be made to have more acceptable candidates in place.  It seems as if the Republican party is pretty damaged by it all. Indeed it will be difficult to heal the divisions in U.S. society that have been brought to the surface in this campaign.

It has been suggested that I am too engaged with the U.S. presidential election. I was and am more than disappointed with the U.K. Brexit result and I would be more than disappointed also by a Trump election. I had hoped for a close run thing in the U.K. referendum and that such would be a wake-up call for the E.U. Perhaps the fact that Hillary Clinton has so much baggage that sees her at such a low base of satisfaction should be a wake-up call also for the Democratic Party in terms of future candidate selection.

         

Update 7th October

First Time Buyers (House)Grant

·        There is an expectation that in the Budget first time buyers will get a grant towards buying a home. Fair enough.

(There are suggestions that this will just increase the price of houses and will go, by and large, to the builders, so perhaps the Government should give it directly to the builders! I’ll park that and get to my annoyance.)

These grants are proposed to be for newly built houses only.  

To whom it concerns my question is; What about young people/couples who are also first time buyers but buy secondhand as opposed to new builds? Why the discrimination against them in this grant allocation?   

The authorities may think well of their proposal but the new builds are not there and will not be there for a considerable time. So will young people now postpone the prospect of getting on the property ladder until these ‘new builds’ come on the market at much higher prices than now?  In the meantime they will continue paying the exorbitant rents prevailing in the hope that the scheme will be beneficial in 2/3/4 years time. I’d be very sceptical about that. Another angle; There are a good few houses which were built say seven years ago and have not been finished or lived in. Do these qualify as ‘new builds?

Anyway my immediate question is as highlighted.   

Mayo Heartbreak Once Again

There is an odd sentiment expressed by the actor James Caan’s character in the 1974 film ‘The Gambler’  which is;

“I play in order to lose”

He needs to lose, to feel and enjoy the risk, to place himself in danger.

Perhaps it is the contradiction present that has made me remember that notion.

When one looks at Mayo’s record in the semi-final and final stages of All-Ireland football campaigns it smacks a bit of Caan’s character. They have ‘gifted’ the game to their opposition in so many different ways; sending offs (McHale v Meath), own goals, managerial mistakes, penalties etc.

In the finals they have lost in the last twenty seven years to; Cork ‘89/ Meath ‘96/ Kerry ‘97/ Kerry 2004/ Kerry ‘06/ Donegal ‘12/ Dublin ’13 and ‘16. In the semi-finals of ’14  they lost to Kerry in a replay and similarly to Dublin in ’15. So they have lost an incredible sequence of 8 finals. No county has lost so many finals at club (various grades) and county in the last 27 years and then the number of semi-finals. Perhaps there is a grain of consolation in that they have been so close, contenders at least.

Last Sunday’s game was a real battle as I felt it would be and there were heroic performances throughout the field for both sides. The displays of courage and commitment of the Mayo defenders such as Keegan, Boyle, Higgins, Durkin and McLoughlin were awesome. Though I predicted that Lee Keegan was in danger of being sent off I thought he would not go alone. I have looked at this incident a number of times with the benefit of the magic rewind button and from Keegan’s point of view it was a harsh decision by the referee with Connolly potentially being an influential cheerleader. Indeed in a particular period, before half time, the referee did Mayo no favours such as when McCarthy ploughed into Vaughan on 28 minutes and about three other questionable refereeing decisions that went in Dublin’s favour. 31 minutes Boyle fouled by Fenton (and others) yellow could have been ‘black’. 32 minutes O’Sullivan dumps O’Shea nil. Keegan off 34 minutes. 39 minutes Small a swing on O’Connor in a tangle on the ground which if interpreted as an attempt to strike was a red card offence.

While the decision of the Mayo management to change the goalie for this game has been given plenty of coverage the hurt to the individual should be considered in a set of circumstances that will become part of Mayo folklore and which will stay with him possibly for life. His initial kick was directed towards a Mayo player in space but took a curve towards the side-line which was contested by Harrison and I presume Andrews with a contested ball crossing towards the incoming Connolly. Keegan’s tangle with Connolly resulting in the Mayo star’s exit via Black Card.

All players make mistakes but it is the mistakes of goalkeepers which really stick in the minds. These are regular enough in soccer, Pakie Bonner v Holland in the U.S. World Cup ’94, Peter Bonetti substituting for Gordon Banks in Mexico v Germany in 1970 not having played a big game for two months, Joe Harte for England and Manchester City whenever.

Coming on as last man in goals for a replayed All-Ireland before over 80 thousand people in situ and millions watching has to be the most intimidating thing. The role of the goalkeeper has now expanded to precision-passing of a ball sometimes forty or fifty yards. The requisite run-up can be easily interpreted by opposition. A mistake though can be fatal. And so it was with the concession of the penalty.

In the player by player analysis on the Sunday Independent the total for the players were; Dublin 109 Mayo 108 but for the first three substitutes it was Dublin 22 Mayo 18. Again the Dublin bench proved decisive and the Mayo ‘House of Pain’ has another chapter.  

Road Safety Week October 3^rd to 9^th

T.V. ads. Tell it as it is

This year, Irish Road Safety Week (IRSW) will be taking place from Monday 3 October to Sunday October 9.

The two major issues which have traditionally been involved in road deaths are Speed and Drink. A significant third is now coming into the equation i.e. mobile phone distraction.

Down the years I have seen major television advertisement campaigns which have been direct and make the points very tellingly.

A current TV ad involves two cars coming in opposite directions one with a family and the second with a male driver who is engaged with his mobile phone. The result is a horrific crash.

A second involves a lady driver with a child in the back and she also is distracted by answering her mobile phone.

A third from some time ago involved a true story of a young man who had been in an accident and was giving an account of how it came about and of his clearly very constrained life changed due to one ‘silly mistake’. He says

“I made a stupid mistake that night. I had been drinking and then I drove. If you think drinking and driving is cool, just think of me. Never risk it.”

Apart from harming oneself the unforgivable consequence of ‘drink driving’ can be the devastation it can cause to other innocent road users.  

One different ad from a quite a while ago dealt with ‘accident blame’. Two cars have fairly slight crash. One of the drivers gets out and begins to take the blame being in the wrong but then senses that the driver of the other car has alcohol consumed and the whole story of blame is changed.

‘The Siege of Jadotville- The Congo 1961’

The most remarkable feature of the battle of Jadotville is that no Irish soldier was actually killed there. I attended the film this week and if this was a reasonably accurate account of the tumult of the battle it was incredible that the Irish Company of soldiers escaped with their lives. The commanding officer Quinlan is portrayed as a heroic figure with his soldiers performing with courage and ability. There are elements of the classic British film ‘Zulu’ in this film in terms of a small garrison holding out against the odds. In a sense it is an action picture with a very thin sketch as to how they were left in this isolated position. I have read reviews suggesting that Irishman Conor Cruise O’Brien, who was the United Nations civilian in charge, was treated unfairly in his portrayal in the film. His portrayal as a colonial figure, which he was not, being shown as his shoes are shone by a coloured youngster. The film required a ‘bad guy’ and Conor was nominated.

The Irish general Sean McKeown is given the name McEntee and though regarded highly then gets a poor showing in the film. It is interesting for us in this area as we know people such as Georgie Tiernan who actually participated in the action. It is available for viewing on Netflix.  

St. Brigid’s defeat Boyle

As feared by some, St. Brigid’s proved much too strong for Boyle in the county semi-final at Strokestown last Sunday. The physicality of St. Brigid’s as exemplified by Ian and Senan Kilbride in different sectors of the field were decisive. Boyle never got going in the first half and at half time St. Brigid’s led by 1.6 to 0.2. In the opening minutes of the second half a Senan Kilbride goal sealed the deal. It was only in the last ten minutes or so that Boyle, continuing to play with heart, managed to improve the look of the scoreboard with goals from Cian McKeon and Roch Hanmore. There were two stand-out players for Boyle they being Sean Purcell and the emerging young player Cian McKeon. So Boyle will start again next year, this time in the second division league but in Group One of the championship. While it is difficult to see where the necessary strength in depth will come from the three fine championship wins of the last month or so will be encouraging.    

Errata             

·        I see that  Ireland's latest restaurant to be awarded a Michelin Star is, ‘Heron and Grey’ in Blackrock, Dublin. It can cater for just 18 customers at a sitting. It works from a tiny kitchen and I am reliably informed that it actually has no toilet! How that could be with all the rules and regulations as voiced by people in the restaurant industry is hard to believe.

·         In the constant coverage of the Donald Trump campaign in the United States one comes across sound ‘bites’ like; ‘His rallies are not like political rallies but like sports events’ and ‘Mister Trump does not have ‘supporters’ he has ‘fans’. Not too much wrong with that I imagine.

·         ’The Great British Bake Off’ has been a big story in the U.K. with characters like Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Apparently it is transferring to Channel 4 to the dismay of its huge fan base. While I have no interest in the programme it is the phenomena of a TV programme consuming the emotional attachment of so many that makes me take notice.
Karl Marx once said that ‘Religion is the opium of the masses/people’.
Recently I met a couple of young Americans and after talking of the U.S. election one of them commented that while the election is ‘hot’ at the moment it will not be long post-election that the people will leave it behind and return to the Kardashians! Apparently their reality television documented lives are ‘huge’ there, perhaps even greater than ‘The Great British Bake off’. I know that sections of people are kind of addicted to say ‘Coronation Street’, ‘East Enders’, Football, ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys’(!), ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (A programme has really made it when its name can be identified by its tag such as ‘Strictly’), ‘Operation Transformation’, ‘Reality This and That’,  and so on. Sad really. I watch too much television myself but a few of the above would make me hit the zapper hard and fast.

·    I notice on the front page of The Roscommon Herald that the humble Roscommon County Hospital has been elevated to the title of ‘Roscommon University Hospital’. Apparently it is part of the Saolta University Health Care Group. This includes the seven public hospitals in the West and North West.  

·          Ireland’s car Insurance costs four times the EU average according to radio commentary today. Pat Kenny returned last night to Irish television on TV3 with an outline of how expensive this country is and why it is so. Apparently ‘if you drill down’ into the causes ‘economy of scale’ is very important.

·        • What’s in a name? A good deal obviously, as in; ‘The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment’,  ‘The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government’,     ‘The Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs’. I remember Ray Burke having a group of these departments. But then Ray was no ordinary……Ray.

·     • I heard a Garda representative claiming on a Sunday morning radio programme that ‘Garda cars were being held together with pieces of wire’. Is that legal? I remember baling twine being used decades ago for that purpose.   

I hope to return to philosophy next week.

Sin e

Update 7th October

First Time Buyers (House)Grant

·        There is an expectation that in the Budget first time buyers will get a grant towards buying a home. Fair enough.

(There are suggestions that this will just increase the price of houses and will go, by and large, to the builders, so perhaps the Government should give it directly to the builders! I’ll park that and get to my annoyance.)

These grants are proposed to be for newly built houses only.  

To whom it concerns my question is; What about young people/couples who are also first time buyers but buy secondhand as opposed to new builds? Why the discrimination against them in this grant allocation?   

The authorities may think well of their proposal but the new builds are not there and will not be there for a considerable time. So will young people now postpone the prospect of getting on the property ladder until these ‘new builds’ come on the market at much higher prices than now?  In the meantime they will continue paying the exorbitant rents prevailing in the hope that the scheme will be beneficial in 2/3/4 years time. I’d be very sceptical about that. Another angle; There are a good few houses which were built say seven years ago and have not been finished or lived in. Do these qualify as ‘new builds?

Anyway my immediate question is as highlighted.   

Mayo Heartbreak Once Again

There is an odd sentiment expressed by the actor James Caan’s character in the 1974 film ‘The Gambler’  which is;

“I play in order to lose”

He needs to lose, to feel and enjoy the risk, to place himself in danger.

Perhaps it is the contradiction present that has made me remember that notion.

When one looks at Mayo’s record in the semi-final and final stages of All-Ireland football campaigns it smacks a bit of Caan’s character. They have ‘gifted’ the game to their opposition in so many different ways; sending offs (McHale v Meath), own goals, managerial mistakes, penalties etc.

In the finals they have lost in the last twenty seven years to; Cork ‘89/ Meath ‘96/ Kerry ‘97/ Kerry 2004/ Kerry ‘06/ Donegal ‘12/ Dublin ’13 and ‘16. In the semi-finals of ’14  they lost to Kerry in a replay and similarly to Dublin in ’15. So they have lost an incredible sequence of 8 finals. No county has lost so many finals at club (various grades) and county in the last 27 years and then the number of semi-finals. Perhaps there is a grain of consolation in that they have been so close, contenders at least.

Last Sunday’s game was a real battle as I felt it would be and there were heroic performances throughout the field for both sides. The displays of courage and commitment of the Mayo defenders such as Keegan, Boyle, Higgins, Durkin and McLoughlin were awesome. Though I predicted that Lee Keegan was in danger of being sent off I thought he would not go alone. I have looked at this incident a number of times with the benefit of the magic rewind button and from Keegan’s point of view it was a harsh decision by the referee with Connolly potentially being an influential cheerleader. Indeed in a particular period, before half time, the referee did Mayo no favours such as when McCarthy ploughed into Vaughan on 28 minutes and about three other questionable refereeing decisions that went in Dublin’s favour. 31 minutes Boyle fouled by Fenton (and others) yellow could have been ‘black’. 32 minutes O’Sullivan dumps O’Shea nil. Keegan off 34 minutes. 39 minutes Small a swing on O’Connor in a tangle on the ground which if interpreted as an attempt to strike was a red card offence.

While the decision of the Mayo management to change the goalie for this game has been given plenty of coverage the hurt to the individual should be considered in a set of circumstances that will become part of Mayo folklore and which will stay with him possibly for life. His initial kick was directed towards a Mayo player in space but took a curve towards the side-line which was contested by Harrison and I presume Andrews with a contested ball crossing towards the incoming Connolly. Keegan’s tangle with Connolly resulting in the Mayo star’s exit via Black Card.

All players make mistakes but it is the mistakes of goalkeepers which really stick in the minds. These are regular enough in soccer, Pakie Bonner v Holland in the U.S. World Cup ’94, Peter Bonetti substituting for Gordon Banks in Mexico v Germany in 1970 not having played a big game for two months, Joe Harte for England and Manchester City whenever.

Coming on as last man in goals for a replayed All-Ireland before over 80 thousand people in situ and millions watching has to be the most intimidating thing. The role of the goalkeeper has now expanded to precision-passing of a ball sometimes forty or fifty yards. The requisite run-up can be easily interpreted by opposition. A mistake though can be fatal. And so it was with the concession of the penalty.

In the player by player analysis on the Sunday Independent the total for the players were; Dublin 109 Mayo 108 but for the first three substitutes it was Dublin 22 Mayo 18. Again the Dublin bench proved decisive and the Mayo ‘House of Pain’ has another chapter.  

Road Safety Week October 3^rd to 9^th

T.V. ads. Tell it as it is

This year, Irish Road Safety Week (IRSW) will be taking place from Monday 3 October to Sunday October 9.

The two major issues which have traditionally been involved in road deaths are Speed and Drink. A significant third is now coming into the equation i.e. mobile phone distraction.

Down the years I have seen major television advertisement campaigns which have been direct and make the points very tellingly.

A current TV ad involves two cars coming in opposite directions one with a family and the second with a male driver who is engaged with his mobile phone. The result is a horrific crash.

A second involves a lady driver with a child in the back and she also is distracted by answering her mobile phone.

A third from some time ago involved a true story of a young man who had been in an accident and was giving an account of how it came about and of his clearly very constrained life changed due to one ‘silly mistake’. He says

“I made a stupid mistake that night. I had been drinking and then I drove. If you think drinking and driving is cool, just think of me. Never risk it.”

Apart from harming oneself the unforgivable consequence of ‘drink driving’ can be the devastation it can cause to other innocent road users.  

One different ad from a quite a while ago dealt with ‘accident blame’. Two cars have fairly slight crash. One of the drivers gets out and begins to take the blame being in the wrong but then senses that the driver of the other car has alcohol consumed and the whole story of blame is changed.

‘The Siege of Jadotville- The Congo 1961’

The most remarkable feature of the battle of Jadotville is that no Irish soldier was actually killed there. I attended the film this week and if this was a reasonably accurate account of the tumult of the battle it was incredible that the Irish Company of soldiers escaped with their lives. The commanding officer Quinlan is portrayed as a heroic figure with his soldiers performing with courage and ability. There are elements of the classic British film ‘Zulu’ in this film in terms of a small garrison holding out against the odds. In a sense it is an action picture with a very thin sketch as to how they were left in this isolated position. I have read reviews suggesting that Irishman Conor Cruise O’Brien, who was the United Nations civilian in charge, was treated unfairly in his portrayal in the film. His portrayal as a colonial figure, which he was not, being shown as his shoes are shone by a coloured youngster. The film required a ‘bad guy’ and Conor was nominated.

The Irish general Sean McKeown is given the name McEntee (Conor Cruise O’Brien was married to the distinguished Irish poet Maire McEntee and they adopted two coloured children) and though regarded highly then gets a poor showing in the film. It is interesting for us in this area as we know people such as Georgie Tiernan who actually participated in the action. It is available for viewing on Netflix.  

St. Brigid’s defeat Boyle

As feared by some, St. Brigid’s proved much too strong for Boyle in the county semi-final at Strokestown last Sunday. The physicality of St. Brigid’s as exemplified by Ian and Senan Kilbride in different sectors of the field were decisive. Boyle never got going in the first half and at half time St. Brigid’s led by 1.6 to 0.2. In the opening minutes of the second half a Senan Kilbride goal sealed the deal. It was only in the last ten minutes or so that Boyle, continuing to play with heart, managed to improve the look of the scoreboard with goals from Cian McKeon and Roch Hanmore. There were two stand-out players for Boyle they being Sean Purcell and the emerging young player Cian McKeon. So Boyle will start again next year, this time in the second division league but in Group One of the championship. While it is difficult to see where the necessary strength in depth will come from the three fine championship wins of the last month or so will be encouraging.    

Errata             

·        I see that  Ireland's latest restaurant to be awarded a Michelin Star is, ‘Heron and Grey’ in Blackrock, Dublin. It can cater for just 18 customers at a sitting. It works from a tiny kitchen and I am reliably informed that it actually has no toilet! How that could be with all the rules and regulations as voiced by people in the restaurant industry is hard to believe.

·         In the constant coverage of the Donald Trump campaign in the United States one comes across sound ‘bites’ like; ‘His rallies are not like political rallies but like sports events’ and ‘Mister Trump does not have ‘supporters’ he has ‘fans’. Not too much wrong with that I imagine.

·         ’The Great British Bake Off’ has been a big story in the U.K. with characters like Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Apparently it is transferring to Channel 4 to the dismay of its huge fan base. While I have no interest in the programme it is the phenomena of a TV programme consuming the emotional attachment of so many that makes me take notice.
Karl Marx once said that ‘Religion is the opium of the masses/people’.
Recently I met a couple of young Americans and after talking of the U.S. election one of them commented that while the election is ‘hot’ at the moment it will not be long post-election that the people will leave it behind and return to the Kardashians! Apparently their reality television documented lives are ‘huge’ there, perhaps even greater than ‘The Great British Bake off’. I know that sections of people are kind of addicted to say ‘Coronation Street’, ‘East Enders’, Football, ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys’(!), ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (A programme has really made it when its name can be identified by its tag such as ‘Strictly’), ‘Operation Transformation’, ‘Reality This and That’,  and so on. Sad really. I watch too much television myself but a few of the above would make me hit the zapper hard and fast.

·    I notice on the front page of The Roscommon Herald that the humble Roscommon County Hospital has been elevated to the title of ‘Roscommon University Hospital’. Apparently it is part of the Saolta University Health Care Group. This includes the seven public hospitals in the West and North West.  

·          Ireland’s car Insurance costs four times the EU average according to radio commentary today. Pat Kenny returned last night to Irish television on TV3 with an outline of how expensive this country is and why it is so. Apparently ‘if you drill down’ into the causes ‘economy of scale’ is very important.

·        • What’s in a name? A good deal obviously, as in; ‘The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment’,  ‘The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government’,     ‘The Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs’. I remember Ray Burke having a group of these departments. But then Ray was no ordinary……Ray.

·     • I heard a Garda representative claiming on a Sunday morning radio programme that ‘Garda cars were being held together with pieces of wire’. Is that legal? I remember baling twine being used decades ago for that purpose.   

I hope to return to philosophy next week.

Sin e