My Christmas Just Past
December 1st
RE-Union
Generally I have a reserved
opinion on Christmas. However I can say that I enjoyed the Christmas just gone.
So these notes are just a review of Christmas Past for me. It was pretty busy
and started early. It had a mix of television viewing, book launches, quizzes,
more television viewing, walks, social and family occasions.
The first real ‘occasion’ was
a very successful St. Mary’s College/Boyle Vocational School Re-Union on
Thursday December 1st. I’ve noted this here previously but it set
the tone of sociability and good feeling for the rest of the month. It is
always great to meet old friends who one might not have seen for years. This
was the case here with the presence of Frank Fahey from Loughrea, a very
popular teacher in the college back the years and Tom Colleran from
Ballaghaderreen, Phil Fannon/Cooney and John Moyles amongst others.
Mary Regan’s Book Launch
The following night saw the
launch of Mary Regan’s book of her husband Christy’s pictures. This is the
second such publication and it was launched by a former excellent student I
remember well, Harry Keaney who had worked with Christy at the Roscommon Herald
in the 80s’. Harry spent a good period of time afterwards in New York and at
one time was voted Sligo ‘Person of the Year’ there. He returned to Ireland and
became Editor of the Sligo Champion and now works with Ocean FM.
T.J. Devine and the
Election in the Snows February 3rd 1917.
Mary’s book of pictures
‘Through Christy’s Lens’ was my second ‘book launch’ as I had attended when
Michael McDowell presented Father Tomás Flynn’s book on the 1917 By-Election in
North Roscommon titled ‘Thomas J. Devine and The Election in the Snows The
North Roscommon By-Election of 1917’. This book deals with the forgotten
candidate of that 1917 election, T.J. Devine. The event is particularly
remembered for the election of George Nobel Count Plunkett father of Joseph
Mary Plunkett one of the 1916 Rising leaders. T. J. Devine lived in St.
Patrick’s Street and has a number of close relations living in
Boyle.
The election took place on
February 3rd so its Centenary is just a month away. It is a very
important event in the historical progression of the time and I am surprised to
hear so little about it being remembered, at present.
Sunday December 4th
The event of the day was
Boyle GAA AGM. There was general satisfaction with the cabinet and saw the
first Lady Chairperson, Kathleen Hanmore, take office. The County GAA
Convention took place in Ballinameen for the first time on December 16th
and was a more contentious affair especially with dis-satisfaction expressed
with the financial state of play. Perhaps I will return to this.
‘Roscommon Legends
Book-Launch’ the 11th.
Richard Canny’s book on the
great Roscommon team of the second half of the 80s’ was launched by Dermot
Earley Jnr. in Kilronan Castle and turned out to be a very social affair as I
have related here previously. There are some copies of the book still available
with me.
Ecumenical Service Church
of Ireland
Keeping in mind the religious
tenor of the season I always try and be present for this light religious
occasion with its emphasis on sung Hymns.
By this time the Christmas
tree was put in place so the festive season as evidenced by the fine town
lighting and various carol renditions at various locations. Now I missed quite
a few events so it demonstrates what a full programme is there if one wishes or
has the energy to participate.
Railway Cup Final and
Remembering a Railway Cup Legend
On Saturday the 17th
with friends I attended the Railway Cup Final between Connacht and Ulster at
Pairc Sean Mac Diarmaida, Carrick-on-Shannon. It was a disappointing game and
one yearned for the great days of the Railway Cup of my youth when over 40,000
people attended the finals on St. Patrick’s Day at Croke Park. It gave us a
rare enough occasion to see football and hurling legends play such as hurling
maestro Christy Ring of Cork. It was also a time when Connacht had some of its
greatest football stars in each county.
On that Saturday night I
travelled with my old friend Paddy Cummins of Killina to the village of
Brideswell, in the St. Brigid’s Club area of South Roscommon to attend the
launch of fund-raising campaign to provide a memorial to the legendary Gerry
O’Malley who died on January 6th 2016.
At the back of my mind was
the Annual Boyle GAA Christmas Quiz so that had to be moved a bit forward in
the mind then with some prepping as its date came closer.
On the Monday a number of us
had a very congenial little party for a close friend in a local home.
Late Christmas cards were
dispatched supplemented by a little foray into card emailing.
The week progressed with the
usual last day chores and the arrival of family members which would see a first
‘all-present’ for the occasion in a number of years.
Christmas Eve Saturday
Since I was aware of the
considerable preparation of the Boyle Church Choir I attended in good time for
the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass and it was heartening. After the conscience
alerting messages regarding the terrible situation in Aleppo in Syria the Choir
demonstrated the breadth of singing quality, in its programme. After the
Christmas day mass there is the bustle and bonhomie of goodwill and greeting
people not seen since perhaps a Christmas past, “Happy Christmas” being echoed
with “And a Happy Christmas to you too”.
A Bright Christmas Day
The lovely weather had to
have a considerable cheering effect on all as only a year ago some people were
struggling with floods and such elements. I would have to remind myself that
while things with me were following a fairly benign path there were people ‘out
there’ who were not so lucky. Christmas Day started with a family gathering and
following food it was a real search of the television programme to find something
reasonable to watch for a lazy evening. That search was in vain unless you were
a fan of ‘Mrs. Browne’ which I am not.
St. Stephen’s Day ‘The
wren the wren the king of all birds..’
It was down to the Abbey Park
for what might be termed a ‘novelty game’ in which an ‘over 30s’ panel played
an ‘under 30s’. It turned out to be more ‘meet and greet’ causally watching
proceedings on the field which was played in a seasonal spirit. Well done to
all involved in that. I indulged myself later in ‘going into town’ to watch a
Munster v Leinster rugby game and moved location to Clarke’s to catch up with
the tail end of the St. Stephen’s Day, Lough Key Treasure Hunt. The welcome
from former students was generous and a pleasant couple of hours passed quickly
with one particularly good young musical ‘wren boy’s’ group from Knockvicar.
The GAA Quiz
Boyle GAA Quiz is at present
an established event in the Christmas social calendar of Boyle. While it is a
fund-raiser of a kind for the club, the club is as pleased with its social
ambience as anything else. The hall got an early morning make-over from a very
capable crew. This was the ninth Christmas Quiz starting with a humble outing
in the Moylurg, transferring to The Moving Stairs for a Rally Quiz and for
about three in that venue under the GAA banner. Having outgrown our venue we
moved to ‘the hall’ which had a slight risk element to it. Francis Candon
provided a disco element to it for a couple of times which only Francis can do
and progressed to higher tech presentation and earlier ending so people could
first meet up and then disperse to their own favoured venues. Each year I get a
little nervous as to its continuity but this year’s success guaranteed another
year at least.
Dodd’s, a topping Trad Session
The Christmas traditional
session is one of the best of the year and this year was no different. The
usual suspects, O’Connors, Morrises, Tivnans, Brendan Gaffney and Bernie
Flaherty were present. I like music sessions to be interspersed with songs and
on this occasion that was done in spades. Donie sang the Boyle song in tribute
to a subject in the song who was present on the night, Bernie Tansey, and he
followed later with a clever song involving Angeline Jolie romantic dilemmas.
There were songs also from Kit, Brendan, Bernie and a Galway visitor Grace.
John McGuinn was cajoled into singing a couple and added to the diversity as
did Gerard Tivnan with the classic ‘Rocks of Bawn’. I was in the good company
of a music devotee Kevin and his visiting niece as we traded stories of Kieran
Emmett, Peter Horan and Patsy Hanley. One story I heard on the night was
‘credited’, if that is appropriate, to Paddy Daly who disallowed singing in his
bar on the basis that: “ It was nearly impossible to get a very good singer to sing
and it was equally difficult to get a person who couldn’t sing to stop”
Anyways, as my uncle
used to remark, it was a very enjoyable night.
The Night they brought
Liam McCarthy to Ballyfarnon
 |
| Gaye Sheeran, Master Lynam, Cian Flanagan Tipp. minor winner; Tommy Lynam, Gerry Emmett, Ray Lynam with the McCarthy and Irish Press Cups at Killoran’s in Ballyfarnon on Sunday Jan. 1st. |
 |
| Tony with the Liam McCarthy All-Ireland Senior Championship winning trophy with the Irish Press Cup for the winning All-Ireland Minor Hurling winners both being Tipperary in 2016. |
I have Gerry Emmett to thank
for the fact that I have now a snap, as Jimmy Murray used to call them, of mé
féin holding two prestigious All-Ireland Cups, the Liam McCarthy, All-Ireland
Senior Hurling Cup and the ‘Irish Press Cup’ for All-Ireland Minor
Hurling. This event took place in Killoran’s Bar in Ballyfarnon on Sunday
evening. While it was hosted by the Killoran family it was facilitated by the
Flanagan family from North Tipperary which I will explain. Edel
Killoran/Flanagan of Ballyfarnon now lives in North Tipperary and her son Cian
Flanagan played wing-back on the All-Ireland winning Tipp. minor team. For the
family to be able to have the two cups for key days at this time of year was a
pretty good achievement and to have them to bring to Roscommon was a generous
gesture. It was well appreciated on the night and young Cian played his role as
a modest guardian of the silverware as well as he can play the game. A number
of St. Ronan's veterans were present such as Cian’s grandfather Michael and
uncle Damien with cousins and extended family. It was good to see Tommy Lyman,
Patsy McKiernan, Gaye, Mary and Dermot Sheeran, Francie Cooney, Travers, Phil
and Gerry, John O’Connor, Bernard Mulhern and many ladies, whose names I would
not know, and youngsters present. Plenty of pictures were taken and I imagine
there will be a few on display ‘into the future’ as they say. Sean Martin gave
an appropriate speech of welcome and thanks to the Flanagan family for their
effort in making it happen. He recalled the All-Ireland day and of the extended
Killoran family meeting before the game outside the Croke Park Hotel and the
nervousness then, overshadowed later by the excitement of victory and pride in
having a very tangible link to this big sporting day for Tipperary.
As a postscript Gaye Sheeran
told me of Bob Carr and a Garda Delaney (?) promoting hurling in Ballyfarnon
once. Now if anyone could come up with that picture it would be a collector’s
item.
As you can see it was a
pretty busy and top Christmas for me. Meeting people home from the many places
contributed to that as it does to all here.
A Happy and prosperous
2017 to all our Boyle area emigres (I
am sure below is only a representative sample).
Australia --- Timmy O’Dowd/
Ciaran Conlon and family/ Paraic Sweeney & Ms. O’Connor/ Conor Nangle/ Enda
& Jacquie and Emer O’Callaghan/ Seamie Gallagher/ Damien Keenehan/ Ciaran
Keenehan. Miss Egan from Green St./Ger.
O’Gara and clan including Joan and honorary Boyle man, Sean Casey/ Joseph Moran
in Sydney/Karl Keenan, Perth. I hear you met a Conboy there recently.
The U.S.--- Damien
Dooley/ Frankie Flaherty/ Marcus Kennedy and friend who I had a nice talk with
after the quiz/ Joseph Mahon/ Brendan O’Callaghan/ Chris O’Dowd/ Doirbhle O'Dowd/ Austin and
Paraic Beisty/ The Spellman family x Forest View/ Pat and Margaret Lavin also x
Forest View now/ Niall Mc Crann in the U.S.
Canada; Tadgh Egan/ Sean
Mullaney/ Brian and Jake McCrann/ Miss Compton/ Dearbhaile Mac Namara.
England --- Caoimhin Young,
Quiz winner/ Killian Egan/ John Harrington/ / Gary Tiernan/ Nicky Emmett in
London/Sarah Mullaney/Liam Scott who I meant to get back to have a few more
words with in Dodds/Peter Cryan and friend from Clarkes.
Scotland --- Liam Young &
family / Rory Nangle.
Belgium --- James Candon in
Brussels
Germany and Belgrade --- The
Gannon family/ In Munich--Michael and Maria Kelly and their family of Mario,
Olivia and baby three soon. Thanking Michael for his nice and recent
post.
Spain--- Conor Tivnan/ Sean
Young & family/ John & Joan Gallagher and family/ Gavin, Declan and
Anthony in various places.
Portugal----Mattie Scott in
sunny Portugal.
Dubai --- Megan Morris, Aoife
Brady/ Paddy Conlon stationed in The Gulf temporarily/ Darren Dockery, the
Gulf!/ Neil Nangle in Bahrain.
South Africa --- Carmel
Finneran.
Brazil---Fr. Tony Conry.
Japan ---Kate Gilmartin if
still abroad at this time.
Singapore --- Catriona Moran
and family.
New Zealand--Niamh Brennan
and Kiwi partner Phil though I think they are in Boyle / Elisabeth Hemi Taute
(Sweeney) husband and son Cian in N.Z. Christina Marnell daughter of Marie Paul also in New Zealand.
No comments:
Post a Comment