Update April 17th

Some Week-End Events

1. The Boyle Angling Community will be busy with their annual Fishing Festival on Lough Key. With the promise of fine weather it should be helpful whether it applies to the fish being cooperative I do not know. I missed the Angling Club from their regular participation of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Perhaps they passed on this year to give others a winning chance!
2. Boyle Seniors play Clann na nGael  on Saturday away. The team have 4 points from their first three games so something from this game would be very helpful towards retention of O’Rourke Cup status.(The minors play Pearse's in the Abbey Park on Thursday at 7).
3. The Annual Roscommon Fleadh Cheoil takes in Ballaghaderreen this Easter week-end. It is quite some time since it has been there but being the home town of Matt Molloy and with a top traditional pub called ‘Spells’ should help in attracting the crowd. This is the first of the county fleadhs and I remember fondly a number of them being in Boyle in the seventies.
4. Boyle Tidy Towns Committee continue their litter picking endeavours especially on the roads into the town each Tuesday at 7. Hopefully the public will come out in their own areas to help with the effort.        

The Burning of Notre Dame ... A Universal Cultural Tragedy.

"Notre Dame is our history, our imagination, where we've lived all our great moments, and is the epicentre of our lives," said Emmanuel Macron the President of France last evening, continuing

"It's the story of our books, our paintings. It's the cathedral for all French people, even if they have never been. But it is burning and I know this sadness will be felt by all of our citizens."

The sadness goes well beyond the state frontiers of France, it is felt universally including of course in our own country. Regrettably I have never been to Paris though I have had the thought with me from time to time. I would certainly have visited Notre Dame had I done so. It is the major jewel in the crown of European Cathedrals. It became famous in literature with Victor Hugo’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ which was late adapted as a musical.

I have been to a good number of magnificent churches such as those in Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Florence and so on. During the summer of 1968 I ‘worked’ in New York diocesan block in Manhattan including St. Patrick’s Cathedral. 

We in Boyle know only too well about the economic and emotional cost of fires in our town with the fire in the fine Gothic Parish Church in 1977. Before that there were the fires at Rockingham in the 50s’, The Roscommon Herald in the ‘60s’ and a number of commercial buildings within the town. 

It is just so sad. It will be rebuilt which will take a long time but the provenance of the original building will be compromised for decades. Notre Dame (which kind of translates as ‘Our Lady of Paris’) was obviously having work being done to it with the scaffolding around it. The fire seems to have been accidental and due to the wooden roof of centuries the fire spread rapidly.  However the wall structure is said to be still intact and rebuilding will pursued. Perhaps this disaster will be a warning to similar buildings.

For Parisians, irrespective of religion, being a building of such beauty it is akin to a bereavement.       

The Affirmation of Sport

Tiger Back from the Death

For a certain constituency sport does not play a significant part in their lives and that is their right. For those of us for whom sport plays a significant role in their lives it colours our lives immeasurably. Since last Thursday I’ve been able to watch portions of the U.S. Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia in the U.S. Like so many things there are deficits with The Masters and the golf club there in terms of sexual discrimination and the overplay of deference to its membership and traditions and the idea of ‘the Green Jacket’ and so on. It is still a unique sporting event though. It has had its heroes and high drama over the decades. It has broken hearts and elevated some humble players. And in recent times the Irish players have played a small part in this.

The headlines of today’s newspapers and all media platforms are elevated by the victory of Tiger Woods. ‘ Back from the Death’, ‘Glory Day’ and so on. This was his 5^th Masters win and was probably the greatest sporting comeback, for an individual, in sporting history. I used to play a little golf some years ago but felt it was a ’luxury’ in terms of time allocation. The win last night may rescue a declining game. It will certainly be welcomed by Golf internationally and by Augusta in particular. The response of the crowd to his win was evidence of something special happening. His own reaction was also evidence of having overcome many demons in overcoming ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’.

One had to feel for the Italian golfer Molinari and the person I would like to have won Ian Poulter but their diversion into water drowned their chances of golf coronation. All in all, it was, with all its twists and retrospective inevitability, like a Shakespearian drama.

Later this summer the British Open Golf Championship comes to Northern Ireland and the Royal Portrush golf club from July 18^th to 21^st with a prize fund of over 10 million dollars. This is just the second time for the Open to visit Northern Ireland with the last being in 1951 at the same course with the winner being Max Faulkner with Irishman Fred Daly coming fourth. Fred Daly was the first Irish man to win the Open which he did in ’47 at Hoylake near Liverpool.

Another… Different Tiger

A couple of weeks ago being flued out I watched a deal of Cheltenham racing and say a Willie Mullins trained horse, ‘Al Boum Photo’ finally win for his trainer who had horses second for six times.  While I am not a gambler at all it too was a tapestry of drama in victory. There was tragedy also with a number of horses dying through injury.  Then came the English  ‘Grand National’ and another Tiger rolling home for the second year in succession. The horse was a ‘guest’ on Friday night’s 'Late Late Show' illustrating its status. Ireland or a certain part of it has a love affair with racing horses.  

Back to Basics … GAA

CBS Roscommon at Croke Park

At a more mundane level on Grand National Day, Saturday April 6^th , I was in Croke Park as the secondary school I attended, Roscommon C.B.S., won the All-Ireland Senior ‘B’ football championship versus Rathmore of Kerry. It too had its twists, seemed won, saw a generous lead seep away, was level going towards extra time but saw a great winning point scored by my side over our Kerry opponents. It was not overwhelming just a nice one.

Boyle Club Games

On a very local level I have been impressed with Boyle senior GAA team in the last few weeks. They should have got a draw in their opening game against St. Brigid’s, struggled too much to get scores in their win over St. Croan’s and I am told (as I was otherwise engaged) Boyle were very impressive on Sunday last in a high- scoring game against Roscommon Gaels. Boyle 3. 9 Roscommon Gaels 1.14. While Boyle have a number of county names now, an emerging star is their goalkeeper Rob Kearney who has been excellent in the games to date. This Saturday there is big challenge when the travel for the first time to their fourth game v Clan na nGael on Saturday evening next.

On Tuesday evening I caught most of the second half of an under 16 game v Roscommon Gaels again. It was a fine narrow win for Boyle and a great game of football with skills a plenty and some stars for the future of both clubs.  

I am aware that Boyle ladies at under-age and senior are also doing well and also have members contributing to county teams. Alas I am not as tuned in to the ladies game as I might be. That is the price the sports anorak pays sometimes.

Hurling Vibes!

I heard a whisper that there were some gentlemen suggesting starting to introduce ‘hurling’ again to Boyle. It is one of my regrets that I did not do this or get engaged with those who did since I came to Boyle in ’72. I have heard that there was tentative hurling in Boyle in the late forties. Then an Offaly man, Bob Carr, who had a saw mill near Ardcarne Church,  made some effort with the schools in the mid-sixties. Bob became very involved with hurling at County level during the sixties. In the early seventies Limerick army man and former Limerick and Munster hurler P. J. Keane had another go at it. He had some very good under –age players with two notable players in Martin Candon and T.P. Toolan. Perhaps the last shot at it was a Galway gentleman who had come back to Boyle from England. A Mister O’Dowd if I am not mistaken. He had all the gear, helmets and hurleys of course but it too ran out of steam. It would certainly be a challenge and a ten yea project as the camogie seems to be taking hold with the young ladies right now.           

The FAI & John Delaney Debacle

The John Delaney saga rolls on. The debate has mushroomed as the days lengthen. Last week’s appearance of a group of FAI officials at an Oireachtas Committee had large elements of farce attached to it. A number of the Oireachtas members were compromised by being ‘friends’ of John Delaney. Then there were the very uneven contributions of the personnel on both sides. John Delaney’s contribution in just reading a short statement and then claiming privilege in terms of avoiding further questions was surreal. While legally entitled to that course it was like Hamlet being there but not contributing…though he did make a few banal contributions. It took another twist when Padraig O’ Ceidigh of the Committee understandably confused by the personnel of the FAI delegation tried to get to grips with ‘who was who’ on the opposing benches.  Some were recent appointees and so many of their contributions were; “Leave it with me. I’ll get back to you on that one”. However he did come up with an interesting personage who turned out to be a legal eagle covering John Delaney. So it was a little like Tony Soprano, all lawyered up before (the very Irish version… Healy- Rae et al) of  some grand jury.     

The Chairman, Fergus O’Dowd, bent over backwards to be ‘fair’ to both sides constrained it seems by a previous court ruling involving Angela Kerins of Rehab and her appearance before this committee some years ago.

While the only real contributor was the President of the FAI Donal Conway as the other members present were pretty pathetic including the Honorary Treasurer 

It was odd that Ml. Healy Rae got to speak as he is not listed as being on the Committee. Michael obviously ‘crashed’ the party to praise of Delaney and of his contribution to Kerry soccer. I was down in Killarney when Boyle Celtic played in a national competition there during their great season of 2016/2017 and the evidence of  Killarney’s soccer was evidence of this.. They certainly had access to funding to put it all in place.

One of the most impressive interrogators on the committee was Jonathan O’Brien a Sinn Fein T.D. He was not of on the official list either. He seemed to be pursuing a particular line and it turned out that he was very involved with soccer in Cork City. 

T.D. Kevin O’Keefe from East Cork was just an embarrassment with his tentative questioning obviously knowing the soccer people present especially Delaney. However I see a colourful line quoted from him as follows; ”You (Delaney) could be regarded as the Tump of the F.A.I.”   (This could be along the lines of a classic reference which suggested that; ’This young man is capable of anything’!  

So the blazers took a big hit. Perhaps the green revolution could spread to places like the north west.  

Three Different Anniversaries

The Limerick Soviet

There have been documentaries detailing three very different historic events. The first was a short social experiment; the second a horrific Bloody event and the third the declaration of Ireland as a Republic.

The social experiment took place in Limerick in April 1919. After the shooting of a volunteer by the British Army there followed a number of protests by the united people of Limerick city coordinated for the most part by the Trade Union Movement. The committee involved set up a Free area within the city of Limerick where they administered their rules and provided for the people. The area was surrounded by the British Army and the stand- off lasted for a number of weeks. The hammer and sickle symbols were used on the red flag and it came to be known as ‘The Limerick Soviet’. One pretty unique facet of it was that it actually printed its own money in that short time. This like the next paragraph has a resonance in Derry.

The Amritsar Massacre

The Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919 in Northern India when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Acting Brig-Gen Reginald Dyer fired rifles at a crowd of Indians, who had gathered in a compound for a protest meeting in Amritsar, Punjab. Nearly 400 hundred people were killed and some 1200 injured. It followed the death of a British soldier and happened in the background of racial contempt for the Indian people by section of their British colonists. I seem to remember that General Dyer had some Irish connections!

Ireland Declares a Republic

This only happened in April 1949 as prior to that Ireland was a weak member of the British commonwealth. The Irish Coalition Government of the time was led by Fine Gael’s John A. Costello with the aid of Sean McBride’s Clann na Poblachta party. Fianna Fail had been in government from ’32 to ’48 and Eamon de Valera accepted the Commonwealth arrangement out of some deference for the Northern unionist population in the hope of some future reconciliation of a kind. It is kind of replicated today by Micheal Martin v the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.  

While I had a couple of other ideas for paragraphs I’ll adjourn for now and hopefully get to them next time.

Good night and may your Gods go with you.

Tony. 

  

                   

                           

Update 28th March

Father Peyton..'The Rosary Priest’              blog march 28th

While I get very little ‘mail’ response to these blogs I did get three relating to my reference to the T.V. programme on Father Peyton titled ‘Guns and Rosaries’.

I mentioned his possible connection with Croghan but I had mixed him up with Bishop Fulton Sheen who had connections to Croghan/Elphin as J.K. clarified for me with; “  Bishop Fulton Sheen who also had huge Media popularity was a descendant of Croghan parents. He is on way to being sanctified. His American relatives were in Croghan late last year meeting up with their local cousins, Whitneys and Kellys. Bishop Sheen used to visit Elphin when he came to Ireland in the ‘50s and ‘60s. I actually met him as he stayed with my aunt and uncle- in- law Mick Kelly who was his cousin. Mick Kelly was the principal of Knockvicar NS for many years.” Tom Mullaney was also in touch regarding Bishop Sheen as I felt he would know his Croghan background.

Christy Wynne remembered Father Peyton being in Boyle in the mid ‘80s on a Sunday in June as follows;

“Hi Tony,

               Reading your Blog re the television programme “Guns and Rosaries” shown a few nights ago brought back memories of the visit of Fr. Patrick Peyton (the central figure) to Boyle back in the mid-eighties. It happened on a Sunday in June when Roscommon were playing either Mayo or Galway in the first round of the championships. Clearly a clash of interests that day but nevertheless a huge turnout of families and admirers gathered in what was the old soccer pitch or Roe’s Field (as we called it then). The then Bishop, the late Dr Dominick Conway, was there in person. I happened to be a member of the choir that day singing our hearts out under the sure baton of (Mrs.) May Conroy. The gallery or stage that day was (as always) Sean Mc Quaid’s large trailer.  The weather was sunny and Fr. Peyton spoke in his beautiful soft humble voice for a good half an hour and was given a rapturous reception.  Bishop Dominick spoke for an hour about the monumental work the man was doing for God and the practice of the family Rosary in every home. The whole event from beginning to end lasted about three hours with the members of the choir having the honour of shaking hands personally with the great and humble man. Crowds gathered around afterwards hoping to get close up to him hopefully to shake his hand. A day to remember! I regret to say I cannot recall if The Rossies won that day”.

Thanks Christy.

After reading the above  a faint recollection emerged with me of passing over the railway bridge and almost wondering what was going on in that area on that day. I was on my way to the match so Father Peyton’s drawing power had waned a good deal from the fifties. Looking up GAA records the best bet I have is that, that was Sunday June 16, 1985. Roscommon played Galway in Hyde Park with the result being a draw. Someone should confirm that or correct the record. I imagine there was a programme of the Father Peyton occasion. I have one for the match!

Brexit Update

Updating Brexit is almost a daily challenge. Last night, Wednesday, there were eight votes on a variety of options. None of them got a majority. These are called ‘INDICATIVE’ votes. That means that they can give indications as to the feeling/opinions of the members of The House of Commons but they are NOT binding…..a kind of debating forum. However three came up close to the winning post;

1.        A  proposal by Ken Clarke re. the Customs Union Defeated by 272 votes to 264, majority 8.

2.        Confirmatory public vote Defeated by 295 votes to 268, majority 27 proposed by Margaret Beckett. (That is the REMAIN horse and it is getting traction but just slowly trotting down to the start as of yet).

3.        Labour’s alternative plan Defeated by 307 votes to 237, majority 70

These may return on Monday in some guise.

The running order of the day was taken over from the Government by the generality of M.P.s’  led by a proposal of Sir Oliver Letwin. His amendment called for the indicative votes.

The chaos of the Commons was best illustrated by the moment Anna Soubry M.P. (former Conservative now Independent) was shouted down by MPs amid more chaotic Brexit scenes in the Commons despite her suggestion that “the country is watching”. Indeed M.P.s’ seem not to care about the country watching such a circus.

Prime Minister, Theresa May, continued on the carousel of HER DEAL which looks like returning to the chamber possibly Friday but probably Monday. The fact that the DUP still oppose this sees its possibility of success being minimal. This is despite Jacob Rees –Mogg and Boris Johnson now grudgingly supporting her. This is after months of castigating HER PLAN as being x, y, z terrible. Poor Jacob seemed ghostly as he talked to T.V. reporters in the foyer of the House relaying this while Boris was smirking, probably feeling his time was nigh for the Premiership.

Theresa threw in her final card to get support for HER PLAN. The card was that if she got the support to get it through she would resign before the next phase of negotiations! Now I ask you about the logic of that. Bring it home. The Chairperson of Boyle GAA wants to build a one million euro whatever and it is opposed by a large majority. The Chairperson suggests that if the proposal is supported that she/he will then resign. Where is the logic in all that?

The reality for Theresa is that she is on the political plank in any event and suggesting her departure ensures that, in the short-term, now.

THEN THERE IS THE PROSPECT OF BORIS JOHNSON AS PRIME  MINISTER. What a prospect!! And it is suggested, rarely now, that things in that HOUSE could not get any worse!! It all reminds me of one of my favourite films, the classic ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. I don’t think Mrs. May is ideal for the role of Nurse Ratched though. Now Mrs. Thatcher that would be different.

P.S. it was interesting to see Donald Tusk send a message of support to REMAIN CAMPAIGN though the E.U. mandarins need to be careful in their support being a red rag to John Bull.   

E.R.G. = Eur. Research Group.

Television Programme Reflection

Like most people I enjoy watching television. News, documentaries, politics (Brexit!), quizzes, some films and of course sport. The soaps and those ‘reality’ programmes are not for me. Why are they called soaps? Because when they first emerged in the U.S. they were mainly sponsored by soap and detergent companies…Procter & Gamble etc. The soaps are a politics free zone. Never a reference to the trials and tribulations of the Universe as their universe navigates around a square or a pub. Their lives are intertwined like a Christmas lights cord.  Still a Brexit free zone though.

Looking at today’s- Thursday- T.V. Guide there is the following toxic zone for me; ‘Celebrity Globetrotters’ as David Norris and company flail around in North Africa. Terrible. ‘First Dates Ireland’. ‘Say yes to the Dress’ with a possible sequel being ‘Say Yes to the Suit’.  Then there is very popular Mrs. Browne’s Boys in all its variations. I shake my head.

 Plenty of cookery programmes with Nevin McGuire in danger of becoming the Daniel O’Donnell of T.V. Daniel and his wife Majella are out meeting friends in the U.S. Marty Morrissey is coming closer to being Wee Daniel as he and another male called Bernard O’Shea (I never heard of him) ‘Star’ in a two hander called “Marty and Bernard’s Big Adventure” . The T.V. promos for this encourage distance, like, Lough Key Park. Marty take care, you could become the Ann Widecombe of Strictly Come Dancing. That programme became so famous that its title could be referred to by just ‘Strictly’. (There is a word for that which escapes me just now or even longer) like Messi or Ronaldo. Spurs footballer Dele Alli wants to achieve that honour of being known as just ‘Dele’. I presume because the name Alli had been taken already. 

Soap of the Week, says my guide, is EastEnders…..”Tiffany has returned…..”   

(That paragraph is a kind of ‘stream of consciousness’ text a bit like its subject. Needs work). 

                                                                                                                                    SPORT

Roscommon Lift Down

Roscommon dropped to Division Two on Sunday when they were outclassed by an emerging Kerry side at Hyde Park. As in previous games Roscommon came through with a good first half performance with the half time score being Kerry 1. 8 Roscommon 0. 8. However the quality of the Kerry players shone through in the second half and they were very comfortable winners. The final score was Kerry 2.17 Roscommon 0.13. The damage to Roscommon’s opportunities to stay in the top division was done in earlier rounds. Even in the first round against Mayo during a cyclone there was a decent chance to get point(s). Whatever happened in Cavan Roscommon in the second half did not perform. Perhaps the goal just before the break there was a telling score. I will not dwell on the obvious in the Tyrone game. It is a pity. I don’t subscribe to the idea that Division Two is where we are at level wise. There is a buzz about playing the top teams such as Dublin, Kerry, Mayo Tyrone and so on. The crowds seemed to me to be greater by a good deal this year also.

Annoyance; Kerry showed scant respect to the supporters with the team they obviously forwarded to those who prepared the match programme. There were 5 changes to the starting programme line out. I can understand a couple but five! Then further confusion of a kind. David Clifford started wearing no. 22. The name on the programme  after number 22 was Adrian Spillane. Why the change from the number he had on the programme which was number 27?  

Odd; There was considerable comment on the fact that team captain Enda Smith did not start on Sunday. It was puzzling. One would have thought that starting a top player and taking it from there would have been a more logical approach.

Boyle v St. Brigid’s Sunday.

This week-end it is back to the Division One County League when Boyle play St. Brigid’s at the Abbey Park on Sunday at 2. The ground looks in great shape at the moment and with the extension of the lighting on the ‘training’ pitch the facilities continue to improve.  

Boyle minors play St. Aidan’s on Saturday at 4.30 in Boyle.

Boyle Celtic v Manulla on Sunday at 2.

Celtic were pipped by St. Peter’s in the Roscommon District league. St. Peter’s defeated Ballymoe to take the title for the second year in a row. For Celtic an earlier loss to Kilkerrin and home defeats to Ballymoe and Castlerea proved costly. A number of injuries also told against Celtic throughout the season. 

On Sunday next they play Mayo club Manulla in the Connacht Cup which Boyle have challenged well for in recent years just failing in the closing stages.

Speaking of soccer what about John Delaney then? A bit of pressure, move over and create a new high profile job….reincarnation of a type. ‘Chameleon’ would be the word there…but if you do not know what that means you’ll just have to google it.

‘May your Gods go with you’.

Update 20th March

‘Guns and Rosaries’…. Father Peyton of Mayo and the U.S.  RTE 1 Thursday 10.15.

 Senior people will remember the year 1954 as Marian Year. (Marian’s of Boyle) Many ladies carry that name as a result of a special  Catholic emphasis on Our lady during that year. Most of the shrines you see in Boyle, Fuerty and so on resulted from then along with other symbols. One of the great advocates of veneration to Our lady was the priest Father Patrick John Peyton through the praying of the Rosary. He was born in 1909 in Attymass, East Mayo and died in California in ’92 aged 83.

On Thursday night on RTE there is a programme on Father Peyton titled ‘Guns and Rosaries’. The Irish Priest who became an unlikely Hollywood celebrity recruiting other celebrities to a global prayer campaign-crusade- that reached millions. It is currently being advertised on television with images of Grace Kelly , Vice-President (then) Richard Nixon and so on. In the background are Fidel Castro, Nikita Khrushchev of Russia and images from the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956. Peyton was a precursor of Billy Graham. Older people will remember the very strong tradition of families gathering each night before bedtime and saying the rosary. I would not know if that still survives today.

Father Peyton became known as ‘The Rosary Priest’ and  traversed the world with his Rosary Crusade and coined the phrase of ‘The family that prays together stays together’.  I have some recollection of him having a connection to Croghan. Tom Mullaney may advise on that. He is apparently near the end of the process of being canonised a saint. He was a really influential figure in the 1950s of a very dogmatic Catholic ethos more based on a fear of hell than anything else. I remember shards of it.

Brexit Keeps on Giving

 I should have gone, with my three vote forecast regarding Brexit of last week, to the Bookies as it was also Cheltenham. The 3 were; 1. Theresa May’s proposal being shot down again; 2. Taking a No Deal off the table and 3. Looking for an extension. The No Deal had an interesting amendment in that they added a ‘Never’ to No Deal which when it gets cemented in with legal cement (like you use in fire stoves etc.) It is pretty strong stuff.

There were a number of other division 2 votes. One concerned another Referendum. Now that had a nuanced twist to it in that The House of Commons first had to vote if they would allow such a vote. The vote was allowed by a decent majority but when the vote was taken it was shot down by a ‘decenter’ (sic) majority. Play with that for a while. ‘Would you get a decent pub quiz team from the front benches of both Conservatives and labour?’  After that Jeremy mentioned something about backing a Referendum. There is a sense of Boda Berg about it …..but…..I’m….hooked. Box set for next Christmas please.

I took leave of Brexit for some days then and joined the high jinks at Cheltenham. While I am aware of gambling addiction and cruelty to horses (four died during the meeting) it was a theatre of a very different hue.

Forgetting that Monday was not a Bank Holiday it was only late in the day that I heard rumblings of something else going awry at the Commons and poor Theresa being blindsided again. The Chair of the House i.e. The Speaker whose name is John Bercow threw a ‘spaniard’ in the works as I once heard a Dub. expounding on a building site. Bercow resurrected a law or directive from 1604 resisting a motion being brought before the House too many times without significant amendments. It would probably have been defeated anyway. While Bercow seems to be enjoying himself too much in this whole circus, considering how dammed serious it all is, he was probably right in this.

Now the question arises as to the length of the postponement. There are European Election which take place between the 23rd and 26th of May. The U.K. Prime Minister would like a short postponement but that now seems unlikely considering the amount of new thinking required. The danger with a long postponement is that BREXIT may just unravel and offers solace to REMAINERS such as former Tony Blair Secretary Alastair Campbell who we often see on RTE. There is a ‘spaniard’ which could emerge with the May Elections in the U.K. in that the reputational damage being shipped by the Conservatives and Labour is such that it will give Pro-Brexiteers big advantages in the first past the post elections.

COMMENDATIONS

The Rossies House Draw

There are a number of groups who deserve praise for their work in recent times. Before Christmas I waxed as lyrical as I could on the achievement of the Roscommon GAA Group who ran a hugely successful draw for a Sean Mulryan House and netted something near 1 million euro profit.

I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here…Organisers and Participants

Last Saturday night St. Joseph's, the Town Hall was packed and enjoyed a fun fund-raising event organised by a Boyle GAA ‘Young Turks’ Committee. They comprised of Brian Furey, Roch Hanmore, David Kelly, Karl Kennedy, Marc O’Connor, Mark O’Donohoe, Sean Purcell and Cian Smith. It took a great amount of organising and tying all the strings together and they were just great in doing all that. It is said that Barack Obama won his first U.S. Presidential election in the States on the foot of modern technology and communications platforms. I am not tuned into much of those but they are obviously the future and I’m sure they played a big role for Saturday night’s event as it had done for Roscommon last winter.

The competitors also deserve great credit. It was for a few a really nervy/tricky time dealing with the spider touch and snake familiarisation process. This was really evidenced with Michael Cawley during those two Trials. The panel here included; Barry Simon, Damien Butler, David McKenna, Derek Brady, Donal Connaughton, Enda Smith, Ian Cooney, Jacinta Callaghan, Joe Ryan, Karl Keenan, Laura Horan,  Mairead McKeon, Mark O’Connor, Mary Flynn, Niamh Beirne, Ray Hannon, Seamus Keane, Saoirse O’Flaherty, Seanie McDermott [Who grew up (a little) in Brooklyn N.Y. until he was 9], Sham Hanifa-‘I use fake tan a lot’; Shauna Moran, Sinead O’Donohoe and Vickie Lavin.  These represented a formidable cast with Donal Connaughton and Seamus Keane coming out tops.

The more senior members of the club were delighted to see the energy and innovation of these young guns and it is fair to say that the future of the club is in rude good health with this imaginative and linked in community. Fair play to you all.

St Patrick’s Day Organising  Committee

I may have only imagined hearing, some time ago of the possibility of there being no St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Boyle this year. Anyway a committee emerged comprising of Joe Ryan, Derek Dooley, Martin Downes, Lorcan Egan, Brian Kelly, A Kohler, D. Shannon, B. Simon and Keith Suffin. A successful parade emerged. The day was dry, the crowds were out and the atmosphere was fine and business was done. So hats off to the Committee and all who helped them; Gardai, sponsors, participants, helpers, M.C., platform  and the photographers who recorded and posted to their various media platforms.

I have pondered on mentioning this but since I did last week I had broken the ice. It emerged again at the parade. Standing for a while with a cup of tea outside Mattimoe’s I could not hear the introductions of the M.C. Jnr. Smith. I moved up to the bridge and it resulted in only minimal improvement. Not to be able to hear Jnr. at say 20 feet is something. At Boyle GAA grounds we use an old inadequate East European sound system. So maybe someone who would be qualified in the arts of sound systems for outdoor events might come on board with a system that would straddle the main line of Bridge St. to The Crescent next year.

Fair play to Danny Tiernan with his themed messaged entry. I was happy to see Richard Connolly Snr. back from Crufts. Who actually won? There is a very decent prize pot for the winners, plus the honour …not to be sneezed at!

Schools For Climate Change

Climate change is an accepted fact by most (excepting Donald Trump and similar geniuses). I open with the obvious by saying that I am no expert in any way in all this. Still in accepting the veracity of climate change it behoves us all to make our contribution to help turn the tide on this. It may not impact on senior people like myself but it certainly will on people I care greatly about. Last Friday thousands of school children throughout many different countries took to the streets to highlight the issue and bring pressure to bear on those in positions of power and influence to address the issue more aggressively. The EU has allotted certain fossil fuel emission quotas to its member countries to be reached by a certain year. Ireland apparently are falling way behind in their required targets. Its approach is lazy and deferential. Of course it needs courses of action that will not be popular especially with the farming community. Bord na Mona too with its power stations and the harvesting of peat on an industrial scale are in the cross hairs.

Anyway the young school people are a very important pressure group as they have most to lose. They also have time and many of them will become influencers and decision makers in the near future. Oddly some school managements adopted a negative attitude to their pupils involvement in last Friday’s protests. One would have thought it would have been a great and memorable ‘field trip’ for them and a chance to make a real difference to show leadership in a zone where it is obviously lacking with the political classes and vested interests. The Australian minister for education saying that the Friday strikes were illegal for example!

The original school protestor was a 16 year old Swedish girl called Greta Thunberg and she has spoken to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Poland; to the super rich at Davos and the E.U. Friday was chosen as the day last week because it is the day Great was allowed/allocated for her protests in her home school. She will probably be nominated for a Nobel Prize.

She is following in the footsteps of Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan who won a Nobel Prize in 2014 in pursuit of education for female students in her country prohibited by extremist elements.

There is a young Cork lady with disability who I am a great admirer of Joanne O’Riordan who also addressed the U.N.  in 2012. Donald Walshe from Tralee I think who died of cancer in May 2013. A young lady with disability who I see at Roscommon GAA games regularly and is Wheelchair hurling All-Star i.e. Sarah Cregg. These are some of the young people who set major examples to us all. Let us work with them for as I applaud them and wish them well. There are many hurdles to negotiate.

Boyle Athletic Club Up and Running

Tonight Tuesday I came across a group of Boyle Athletes out for their run. On enquiry I was told that this a fairly recent club i.e. Boyle Athletic club and now they were up and running with a membership of 170 or so. That is a magnificent number for a young club. I believe they had a huge number participate in a Drumshambo Run recently and that they can travel to venues far and wide to participate. Again the leaders are as follows that I know of; Dean and Melissa Beirne, Noel Scally. Neil Conlon, John Brennan, Helen Beirne. A number of these people are involved in the very popular Lough key run on Saturday mornings  and have extended to this Athletic Club chrysalis.

SPORT

GAA

Roscommon went down to Galway last Saturday in Salthill. I missed this one for a variety of reasons. Roscommon host Kerry on Sunday next and it would take a great performance to see Roscommon get a result that would retain them in the premier division. The points in this division are as follows; Kerry-10/ Galway-8/ Mayo-8/ Tyrone-7/ Dublin-6/ Monaghan-4/ Roscommon-3/ Cavan-2. Sunday’s games are as follows; Cavan v Dublin/ Mayo v Monaghan/ Roscommon v Kerry/ Tyrone v Galway.  The pity is that Kerry could still need a point I imagine since Mayo beat them last week and I am not sure could Galway overtake them? Tyrone have come a good way since we gifted them a point. They were impressive on Saturday v Dublin.

One thing I was not impressed with though was the ‘tackle’ of the Tyrone goalie on Paddy Andrews. It deserved a red card. Paddy Andrews got badly injured in this ‘tackle’. Another bad ‘shoulder- to- the- chest charge that got away lightly was that of the Rd. Croke's defender early in the first half v Corofin. Referees have a duty of care to players and there seems to be a season of aggression emerging.

A man who paid a big price, reputationally, for an incident he was involved in with Galway in the All-Ireland of ’83 was Kieran Duff of Dublin. I watched a poignant documentary on his life on Friday 15^th on TG4 as part of the Laochra Gael series. Perhaps it will be repeated and I recommend it. I t follows a very good similar documentary on Jason Sherlock around Christmas. One I missed was ‘Players of the Faithful’ on the Offaly team which stopped Kerry’s drive for five in ’82.

In two weeks the County Senior League-O’Rourke Cup- begins with a game in Boyle v St. Brigid’s and then there are a series of games on a regular basis. This new process should be interesting as it segues into the championship nicely in the later summer. Boyle should be contenders this year so bring it on.

Boyle Celtic after some blips are still in with a chance of the Roscommon League but have a last away game against title champions and leaders St. Peter’s Athlone. They had a very good win in Connemara to qualify for the Connacht junior Cup Quarter finals when they meet Manuella of Mayo.

Sin e from this bridging blog.

‘And so to bed’.

Update 12th March

***THE BIG BOYLE GAA FUNDRAISER ‘I’M A CELEBRITY GET ME OUT OF HERE’ REACHES ITS GRAND FINALE ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT ST.JOSEPH’S HALL. DOORS OPEN 7.15. ADVISABLE TO HAVE TICKETS PRE-PURCHASED.  

Crazy Fixture Alteration for Saturday.

Roscommon Senior football team had been fixed to play Galway in their vital league game on Saturday March 16^th at 2 pm in Salthill. Galway City on any Saturday as I and many more of you may know has the potential for  grid-lock. This will be exacerbated considerably by the fact that this coming week-end is St. Patrick’s Day week-end. Roscommon people question going to Salthill for games at any time or day for these reasons.

NOW INTO THE EQUATION THE POWERS THAT BE HAVE ALTERED THIS AND FIXED THE GALWAY V WEXFORD HURLING QUARTER FINAL FOR 1.30 AND PUSHED THE ROSCOMMON V GALWAY GAME BACK TO 3.30. That is a double header. Have they any sense of the traffic and parking issues involved in all this? There are legendry tales of people being ‘stuck’ in traffic in Galway going to and coming home from games in Salthill and of arriving long into games even after allowing time for the venue location and traffic history. Saturday has the potential to produce a catalogue of those frustrations. Throw a few hailstone showers into the mix and you have a journey to remember for all the wrong reasons.  It is hard to credit  that this double header could have been countenanced for that venue on that day.

Supporters for the second game will be edging towards Salthill in crawling traffic. When they get within that area, if they do, there will be no parking as what might be there will be occupied by the traffic from the first game. Is Tuam not a viable option for the football game?

Football supporters will want to support their teams BUT it is being made almost impossible by this arrangement. (While it is not a fixtures committee consideration Boyle Club have their major fund-raiser on Saturday night with say Enda Smith involved in the game and the fund-raiser as is Roscommon Herald Sports Editor Ian Cooney).   

I think that this decision could accelerate meaningful resistance from Roscommon and other counties to having fixtures in Salthill long term. There is a pretty obvious way for supporters to kick-start that.

Roscommon v Dublin

Roscommon raised their game –from the Breffni performance-and for forty five minutes or so gave a very good account of themselves. The spirit and tenacity of the Monaghan and Tyrone games was back and there was plenty of good football played. Roscommon’s status is now in the melting pot and Saturday’s game v Galway is vital.

Regrettably it was a raw day playing and watching two earnest teams playing. The Dubs supporters had come in their numbers as evidenced by the line of cars out the Athlone Road by which route our car-load made tracks home for Boyle. I have become a fan of Dublin and in many games one might nominate a different player from their team as ‘Man of the Match’. My consistent favourite is Brian Fenton who could grace any era as a supreme, elegant midfielder.

I have nearly exhausted my griping with the Salthill issue above but I have one also from Hyde Park. I had taken up a position on the Athlone Road side near the graveyard end. I was with a friend of mine Tony Regan originally from Clover hill/ Oran but long domiciled in Galway. There was a minute’s silence in respect of the death on the Saturday of the great Roscommon midfielder of the forties, Liam Gilmartin. Frustratingly I could not make out a word from the totally inadequate speaker system. It isn’t the first time I have come across reference to this issue. On Sunday last the system –not the individual manning it- was a total non- performer. I remember doing a Credit Union quiz in the town hall once and using the resident speaker system. It seemed adequate for the performers on the lower deck. But afterwards a senior lady made a point of telling me “I could not hear ‘nare’ (phonetic spelling) a word ya said”. It was pretty late to inform me of same.

Fair play to Jim Gavin for his generous and knowledgeable tribute to Liam Gilmartin when addressing the media after the game.

Congratulations to Leitrim on their successful promotion from Division 4 to 3 with a series of wins. They still have two games to play as well. So Leitrim followers can look forward to a trip for the Div. 4 final in Croke Park. What’s rare can indeed be wonderful. Leitrim born Meath star Colm O’Rourke penned a fine tribute to Leitrim in the Sunday independent.  Similarly the performance of Carlow hurlers is also worthy of note with their defeat of Offaly. One has to feel sorry for Offaly whose status has plummeted in both hurling and football in recent times.  

Brexit Update

I said, a good while ago, that I felt a postponement was a real possibility and it gets realer (sic) by the day. This week there is a series of votes in the British Parliament. On Tuesday there will be another vote on the formula/agreement which the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, presented on January 15^th . It was defeated by 432 to 202 votes then. I don’t think I’m stretching myself in thinking that defeat on Tuesday is another strong possibility. On Wednesday there will probably be another vote which is ‘against a NO DEAL exit’. That will get a favourable vote. Then on Thursday there may be a vote to seek and extension on the time for a British Exit. This could be for 3 months or 6 months. The longer it is, the greater the possibility is that the whole EXIT strategy will continue to unravel. At the end of last week I heard Theresa utter the unthinkable when she referred to “not leaving the EU at all” (paraphrase). So a little like a cricket match we will have at least three innings of this played out in the British House of Commons. More theatre, more drama, more uncertainty….’The wheels on the bus go round and round…’

**P.S. (late Monday night…there seems to be some movement which gives the British P.M. some kind of puzzling concessions which may help her in Tuesday’s vote. So watching the vote count in the British House of Commons on Tuesday night is a date not to be missed).

Last week we had the British Attorney General, Jeffrey Cox in giving some legal stuff regarding the ‘Backstop’ referring to it as Cox’s ‘codpiece’. This was ‘gallows humour’ which was indulged by the Speaker (Ceann Comhairle) of the House of Commons, John Bercow.  This was absurd Eton schoolboy humour. It just demonstrates the capacity of the House of Commons and its residents to think that it is all a game. This Brexit which is a decision on the level of Chamberlain’s Declaration of War  with Germany in 1939. I will not lower the tone here to explain what that ‘codpiece’ nonsense is about.

Smith Family Do Boyle Proud with the GAA Presidents Awards

I was part of a proud Boyle representation who attended the above awards ceremony in Croke Park on Friday night last. There were around 400 people in attendance at what was a very enjoyable event. The awards ceremony was televised ‘live’ by TG4 and the Master of Ceremonies was the very pleasant sports commentator Mícheál Ó Domhnaill who is originally from the Ring Gaeltacht in Waterford but now lives in Sligo. TG4 had done some preliminary filming in Boyle early last week when they visited the Smith family home and the Abbey Park. All members of the family spoke to camera with Mary being particularly generous in her recognition of the GAA’s merit when a family member went through a serious illness. Some years ago.  Jnr. and Enda spoke on receiving the President’s Award titled after the Dermot and Mary Earley family. The Smith family represented themselves, their Boyle club and Roscommon county most impressively and received a standing ovation on reception of the award from GAA President, John Horan.

Another Roscommon person Noreen Corcoran, representing Kilglass Gaels club, was also very, very, impressive as she extolled the ethos and contribution of the GAA to her life and to the local community. She emphasised the scope of the GAA and its inclusiveness for all volunteers. Indeed the whole event was a recognition of ‘lifers’ in their involvement with the GAA clubs and communities countrywide. It was a real and impressive recognition by the top brass of the ‘grass roots’ of the organisation.

As an aside and as a lifelong activist I am always proud on visiting the magnificent stadium that is Croke Park which has been put in situ by an amateur organisation.

It was a great night, a night in which Boyle in its totality could take pride in its representation.   

WALES…. It’s Quiet in the Valleys.

Next week is another big week of sports. What with Cheltenham for a greater part of the week and, on Saturday, the revived Ireland playing Wales at 2.45 at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff. A thing that puzzles me a tiny bit is that there has not been a bleat from the Principality (of Wales) on the whole Brexit deal. We’ve heard the leader of Scottish National Party in the House of Commons, Ian Blackford, defend the Good Friday position. Of course Sinn Fein don’t go there and the DUP are in such an unlikely position as power brokers. But we have heard no discernible squeak from Welsh M.Ps’. Wales was long a bastion of Labour politics but then Labour politics with Bevan and Co. is not what it used to be. You can sing that.  

C.I.E. Map of Ireland Where Northern Ireland Does Not Exist

While waiting to exit the train from Dublin last week I was drawn to a curious map of Ireland’s rail network. All the usual lines were there, Dublin to x, y, z.  However when it came to Northern Ireland the train track crossed the border into a nothing land. It managed to call at Newry and Portadown almost as if it was a journey by hovercraft train. There was no indicator showing the coastlines of Down, Antrim and Derry….a desert north of the border. I know the geography etc. I thought we were past the time when Northern Ireland T.V. didn’t show weather forecasts for the south or northern Ireland people did not watch southern television programmes. This map with the Northern Ireland counties amputated must give Northern Nationalists a pretty negative message. It is, to my mind, petty in the extreme. Even An Post saw fit to put a new sign on Gurteen Post Office in the week before they closed the office for good!       

Update 22nd February

Brexit…
I imagine there are people who are shivering with fear at the prospect of ... dare I mention it again ... BREXIT. It is many people’s worst nightmare. In terms of personnel it seems that the U.K. was never as badly represented with its political leadership classes. The speed dating Theresa May and the pathetic Corbin. While May exhibits a demented visage as she tries to avoid a trauma in the Conservative party Corbin still acts as if this is a game of dare, if such exists. I have engaged myself  with a lot of radio, television and print coverage of that whole juggernaut. A few days ago I listened to Eoghan Corry a travel and communications writer as he rolled out the impending issues with air, sea and road travel and transportation in Ireland cross border, in reception ports in the U.K with ferries and at airports over Europe and so on. It Is incredible that an advanced society could plunge their people in such a backward manner. A huge jolt backwards of earthquake proportions.
Those in denial still imagine, I think, that it is like the captain of the Titanic directing the iceberg to shift its position a British liner is coming through here.

I have a caveat to all my misgivings. I had some happy times in England, around London, decades ago. I have been back there occasionally and talked to a good few Irish people who are still there as recently as last week. It is true to say that the wealthy (for a large part) south east, London and the ‘Home Counties’ is a different place to the large swathes of urban England with their ghettos and look of abandonment. For many people living in those areas of little hope the differentials of Brexit are abstract debates when just surviving is the daily chore.
I still believe that there will be a postponement of say three months at least ... though there are European elections in …May!!
With the jumble of it all it is a course that may haunt many for decades. 

Dermot Bannon ...’Just Amazing’
From time to time our national airwaves seem to be taken over by one person as they ride the crest of the wave of visibility if not popularity. (One time it was the Allen family of Ballymaloe). Dermot’s first television series ‘Room to Improve’ was apparently very popular and recently he has bought a new house for himself and his family for the tidy sum of €800,000 - in Dublin I presume! This, it looks like, will be a kind of laboratory for his own ideas, plans etc. I seem to remember Dermot at a kind of ‘Ideal Homes Expo’ in Boyle’s Complex some years ago. He is a very personable individual. Recently he fronted an advertising campaign for Vodaphone. This, to my mind, was presented in a way where the message was hammered into the viewer with repetition. (I remember an attempt at a joke analogy as follows; ‘What is the similarity shared by the Christin Brothers style of teaching students and  the original computer cards of long ago? Answer; ‘The information is punched into them).             

Anyway Dermot has returned with a variation on the theme with a new show called ‘Incredible Homes’ in which he is touring Australia to resurrect same. The first one I saw was in Sydney where a single lady with two special dogs resided. The presenter exhausted the full range of superlatives starting with the number one for all such occasions ... AMAZING ... there followed stunning, incredible, perfect (a very muted word) and a recent classic OMG (Oh My God ... never overestimate the x, y, z!). Dermot;  ‘OMG I’ve never been in a room like that’. After that he took off into the semi-bush and actually rented a house for a full day. This one was a number of the above superlatives with the addition of SPECTACULAR, unbelievable, takes your breath away (a song line there). ‘I could see myself living happily ...’ I lost the last few words as I had to go out for some turf for the tired fire. I imagine that the WOW factor got an airing.

Like Paul Newman’s character in the western film ‘Hombre’ I had a question here and it was; How on earth did someone get PLANNING PERMISSION for such a house overlooking a ravine from an eagle’s nest location on a cliff? They certainly were not dealing with Roscommon County Council. When writing, one is advised not to repeat the same word so I reflected on what the process is when Dermot is issuing forth amazing, incredible, unbelievable, stunning etc. Perhaps there is someone close by with a clip board noting the number of times each word is used and whose turn is next. At the eagle’s nest though Dermot declared he ‘had the house to himself for the day and there was nobody else present’. I speculated -just for amusement- how it was filmed. Perhaps the ubiquitous drone was at play. Amazing !!!         

In last week’s Roscommon Herald  Sport’s section there was a multitude of photographs recording the Herald/SuperValu Annual Sports Awards. The Guest of Honour was the genial Ray Houghton. In an empty moment I took to counting the number of photographs Chris participated in and it was ... 64. Amazing!

The Movies/films/pictures
I went to the movies over a week ago while in Galway. The film’s title was ‘Vice’ a pretty ambivalent title. It was actually about the once Vice-President of the United States, Dick Cheney.  Governor George W Bush of Texas picked Dick Cheney, the CEO of Halliburton Co, to be his Republican running mate in the 2000 presidential election. No stranger to politics, Cheney's impressive resumé included stints as White House chief of staff and defence secretary. When Bush wins by a narrow margin, Cheney begins to use his newfound power to help reshape the country and (if the film’s premise is valid) the world. The young Bush was somewhat immature and Cheney used the opportunity to push his unorthodox approach. He recruited an individual who I took a considerable aversion to back then, that is Donald Rumsfeld. The actor Christian Bale had to put on major weight and is brilliant as the calculating and medieval Cheney. Cheney’s great driver/mentor was his wife Lynne played by Amy Adams. (I feel that Adams and Bale featured in the very good film ‘The Fighter’ some  time ago). An odd incident where Cheney shoots a colleague on a shooting trip is not explored as if it is par for the course! It is an unusual film and I advise ‘do not exit too early’. When asked later, ‘Did you enjoy the film?’ I responded ‘No not at all. It frightened me a bit though’. “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to..”.  I imagine it needs the appropriate host to do that and Cheney certainly was that .

My next film will be ‘On the Basis of Sex’. Do not jump to conclusions. It is about  significant moments in the career of the first lady to become a U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She attended Harvard being amongst a very few women in her class and worked her way up to being the first woman on the U.S, Supreme Court. One of her landmark decisions was that nobody could be discriminated against on the basis of their sexuality. The irony of the case was that the protagonist was a male. The Supreme Court is the third arm of U.S. Government and is hugely influential and the recent contested hearings to nominate Brett Kavanaugh demonstrate this.

I have also recently seen Mary Queen of Scots with Saoirse Ronan in the lead. While not a classic I was surprised that Miss Ronan’s performance did not elicit more positivity. If I get a chance I would like to see Green Book from what I see of its reviews.

Theatre

Port Authority
I fully agree with Sean’s (Home Page) thoughts on this play featuring Boyle’s Jarlath Tivnan in The Dock Theatre on Wednesday night. When I heard at the opening that it would be one hour forty minutes long, without an interval, I had doubts. But the time went very quickly indeed as three very different lives were relayed. It was a kind of the ‘three ages of man’ which, towards the end, had some threads of convergence. The highlight of the play for me was Jarlath’s character Kevin’s manic description of a volatile party in their chaotic bachelor rented a Donnycarney (Dublin) house. A few of those in attendance may have memories of a party akin to that (but hardly reaching its pitch) in the distant past and in distant locations. Well done to the large number of people from Boyle who made the trip to Carrick with the mixture of being entertained and also of supporting one of their own. I know from talking to Jarlath afterwards that he saw that and really appreciated it.

Gradam Ceoil Awards ‘The Waterfront Auditorium’ Belfast
The TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards last year featured a Roscommon musician and friend of Boyle’s traditional scene down the years as musician of the year i.e. Patsy Hanly from Cloontuskert not far from Strokestown or Ballyleague. This year, again, the Musician of the Year had strong parental roots in Roscommon she being Catherine McEvoy. Catherine was born in Birmingham to Roscommon parents from the Kilmore area. There are a number of McEvoys around Kilmore many involved in GAA. I first saw and heard Catherine in the late seventies when a traditional group from Boyle went to Dublin to be recorded for RTE’s Ceili House Radio programme and since Patsy was unavailable on the day Catherine filled in. Prominent in film clips illustrating her Birmingham roots were members of the Laurie family who were to the fore in Birmingham Comhaltas. They are related to Martin Purcell. Catherine though now domiciled in Meath continues to play in what is referred to as The North Connacht Style.   

Roscommon v Cavan in Hallowed Breffni Park 
Roscommon return to Cavan on Sunday next for the fourth game in the Allianz National League. A pretty restructured team has shown a great fighting spirit in their local FBD league and the 3 Allianz League games to date. They had a fine win against Monaghan and went very close to adding the Tyrone scalp. An unfortunate impulsive mistake by a Roscommon player in the dying seconds against Tyrone meant the probable loss of a fourth point from six. How costly that turns out to be is to be seen. League results can be fluid as counties are generally not at championship pitch and have some wriggle room in terms of results. I am not a statistician with regard to how we have done v Cavan in Cavan. From memory in recent years we have done pretty well but there have been disappointments. There are a considerable number of positives from Roscommon games to date. These include commitment, an improved defensive record, some impressive scoring from long range, new players making their mark and an overall feeling of wellness surrounding possibilities. Staying in Division One is the target. Roscommon and Cavan were the two teams who were predicted as the fall guys for this spring campaign. While Cavan are at the bottom of the table Roscommon with 3 points are in the melting pot. I expect that they will do their very best on Sunday and I feel that it will be good enough to see them add a further two points to their total. Whether even that is good enough to see them remain in Division One is to be seen but without them it is much tougher project.
There was a time in the 40s’ when Cavan and Roscommon were powerhouses in the game and Breffni Park has seen a lot of GAA history with great Cavan teams and icons of the game. In the 30 or so years from the middle 20s’ to the mid-50s’ Cavan would have won approximately 25 Ulster titles. Roscommon beat them in the replayed All-Ireland Final of ’43 and in the semi-final of ’44 but lost in the Semi-final of ’47 when they went on to their most notable success in the Polo Grounds final in New York over Kerry. They have  great support which continue to yearn for the return of the glory days of the past.   


MNÁ NA BUILLE ... WOMEN OF BOYLE.
I have sourced the small booklet as named above. It is a lovely little booklet of 20 essays by women from the Boyle area and I’m sure it will be treasured especially by the family members of the contributors long into the future. It is also a contribution to the social history of our area and the people who live here. There is a  very nice variation in the earlier lives of the writers and I was particularly taken by the experiences of those who went to England, worked there for a time and returned to Boyle. One of those was Rose McTiernan (page 36) who worked for a time in Whipps Cross Hospital in the Leytonstone area of London. My cousins ‘hung out’ in that area and I had occasion to visit one of them a number of times in that huge hospital with its very individual buildings. Near it also was an Irish dance hall called, I think, ‘The Innisfáil’. Rose may correct me if I’m wrong in that! Anyway Rose it was a grand piece full of feeling and love.
Annie Egan’s essay (on page 24) reminded me of the challenge and dour attitude that obtained in the officials, when passing through Holyhead Customs. They were very overboard with Annie as she was treated badly. The influence of the war I guess was a factor though that superior attitude continued until both countries joined the E.U. A sentiment that obtains in Annie’s piece and prevails in all the contributions was the loyalty and love of partners (husbands) which enabled them to endure tough times. While the times may have been tough there were happy times also as Rose references regarding her happy London years. I will return to this lovely and significant collection of biographical essays when I have read it properly. 
The booklet is for sale in Una Bhán shop in the King House complex, price €7.  (They stock most books of local interest so you can investigate those also). 

‘Good Night and may your Gods go with you’.  Tony.

Update 7th February

Congrats to Hal
I wish to congratulate Boyle’s Hal Cawley who was presented with the Roscommon Herald/SuperValu Hall of Fame award at a presentation in The Abbey Hotel Roscommon on Friday night of last week. Hal received the award for his lifelong service to and support of Boyle Celtic Soccer Club. As a GAA person, while I do not want to interrupt the soccer theme, I note that Hal was a regular GAA player with Boyle in the latter fifties and on the winning Junior team in ’64. Now that said Hal got glowing commendations from many corners especially Boyle Celtic officials past and present who accompanied and supported him on the night. All these and Hal’s own thought s and reflections on his soccer journey are encapsulated in a lovely tribute by Kevin Egan of the Sport’s section of The Roscommon Herald page 8. It is titled ‘Guardian Angel Fulfilled by Football. The Guardian Angel caption is culled from Boyle Celtic Chairman Sean Kerins's reference to Hal as  ‘Guardian Angel’ (an overseer) of Boyle Celtic.
 "THE PORT AUTHORITY" & Jarlath Tivnan
There is a residue of support and good will for Boyle actor Jarlath Tivnan. Jarlath will be in The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon on Wednesday February the 20^th in a Decadent Theatre production of a play titled ‘The Port Authority’. The play revolves around three stories.  A young boy leaves home for the first time, a man begins a job for which he is not qualified, a pensioner receives a mysterious package. As each man confronts the significance of these events, they are forced to take stock of themselves, their feelings, and of the decisions they have made. The writer of the pay is the award-winning playwright Conor McPherson of Seafarer, The Weir & Shining City.
• Further afield John O’Dowd from Abbeytown takes part in Martin McDonagh’s ‘Skull in Connemara’ which is touring in the north of England.
Cartoon Saloon Another Oscar Nomination
'Late Afternoon' is the latest success story for Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon of which Boyle’s Paul Young is one of the founding fathers. The short was written and directed by Louise Bagnall for Cartoon Saloon. They have had previous Oscar nominations for ‘The Secret of Kells’, ‘Song of the Sea’ and ‘The Breadwinner’ so this is the fourth time at the Oscars for Cartoon Saloon which is an outstanding record.
Evan McGrath ‘Man of the Match’
So to using the word ‘outstanding’ again, this time in relation to the performance of Boyle’s Evan McGrath in last Sunday’s fine victory over Monaghan. Evan becomes the second Boyle to win the award this year as Donie Smith got it for his performance v Galway in the FBD final. This was a-top Roscommon performance of true grit, determination and skill with a number of excellent performances. Fair play to team captain Enda Smith for converting with a fine penalty at a crucial stage in the game. Had Evan’s goal- bound shot not been saved it would have been an early top goal award contender after his powerful run in the lead up to it.
So from periods of despair as the search for a manager stumbled along late last year the Roscommon supporters have a bounce in their step once again. Fair play to all involved and it looks very much as if Roscommon’s stumbling in the management quest has come up trumps in Anthony Cunningham and his team
 Launch of Boyle GAA’s ‘I’m a Celebrity… get me out of here’
This Boyle GAA fund-raising venture will be officially launched with bells and whistles on Friday night in The Moylurg Inn’. The Event proper will take place on Saturday March 16^th. I imagine that we will hear the panel of ‘Celebrities' on this Friday night and hear plenty about the event from thereon in to the big night. A young energetic committee has taken this project in hand so we can look forward to that youthful energy and imagination resulting in an energetic and entertaining show on what could be a hectic St. Patrick’s weekend.
Brady Rules at Atlanta
It was a long late night on Sunday night /Monday morning watching the finale of the American Football season with what U.S sports fans regard as the greatest annual sporting show of all. This year’s game was a pretty muted and record low-scoring game where the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams by the score of 13–3. This meant they had the same number of wins as the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl championships won with six. Tom Brady and the team manager Bill Belichick have been there for all six and three (I think) lost finals. In any assessment  of sports achievements it  is a remarkable record and one that is unlikely to be ever equalled in that sport. If we have issues here with defensive Tyrone style football then this too was an exhibition of similar play with the veteran Belichick and his on-field general Brady finally outwitting the novice Rams manager Sean McVay and the novice quarter back Jared Goff. The BBC coverage with Mark Chapman and his pundits Osi Umenyiors, Jason Bell and Mike Carlson made it an entertaining 11.30 to 3.30 four hour experience where Osi sang the praises of the defensive game. As an aside the cost of a 30 second advertisement during the game (which were not the BBC of course) was €5,250,000 !
An Balla … Great (!) Walls
This is an interesting series TG4 dealing with great modern walls established to keep people in or out but basically in their allotted place. The affable presenter Síle Nic Chonaonaigh visited the ‘great’ wall which already exists for a considerable length of the U.S. Mexico border; the wall and Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Korea; the residue of The Berlin Wall and the grotesque wall which divides the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. There was one touch of levity here as a Palestinian business man showed her the hotel he had opened under the wall’s shadow which he called ‘The Walled Off Hotel’.
We live in historic times.
I doubt but that it was always so. Listening to the RTE News at 6 this Wednesday evening it had the full range of news ‘stories’ international and national.  BREXIT, for a change, had to compete with the two big national stories for top billing. They were the outrageous spiralling cost of the National Children’s Hospital and the nurses strike. The lack of control and transparency with the costing of the hospital is to use a word I use regularly …. unbelievable. if we were not in the middle of another huge issue i.e. Brexit, there would have been a case for it to bring down not just a few bureaucrats and a couple of ministers but the Government with them.
Nurses Strike
The nurses strike and its immediate impact on people who have had x, y, z cancelled/postponed is also incredible. But having thousands of procedures cancelled/postponed creates the ripple effect which will last for months on end. It is like a crash on a motorway. The saying that ‘all wars end’ could be transferred to strikes. So this strike too will end. Is there no way to reach the end before the beginning? It looks stark at the moment as both sides ‘dig in’ and try to win the hearts and minds battle. I have used the analogy  before that we are a small country which has its benefits. We have a population about the size of Birmingham. With all the resources and money being spent in the Health services here how can it be that such a tangle of what seems just now as intractable issues are allowed to fester until they just break and cause such hurt to a particularly vulnerable constituency.
Brexit
And then Brexit! Do not get tired of it for it will shape, for ill, our (foreseeable) future. For a real insight/education into the phenomena I highly recommend two brilliant documentaries. The Brexit campaign features in a documentary shown on Channel 4 on Jan. 7^th titled ‘Brexit: The Uncivil War’. The programme focuses on the P.R. battle between the top strategists on the ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ sides. Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings wins all as top –behind the scenes- man for the ‘Leave’ side over Craig Oliver of the ‘Remain’ side. One significant scene is the development of a telling slogan e.g. ‘Make America Great Again’ and ‘Fake News’ etc. It is the slogan on the red ‘Leave’ bus. Initially it is ‘Take Control’ but a brainwave comes on Cummings to insert ‘Back’ so it became the transforming ‘Take Back Control’.
The second documentary is titled ‘Inside Europe: Ten years of Turmoil’ . Two episodes have already been transmitted. The first a really engrossing one on the dilemmas of David Cameron and how Party politics trumped national interest. This shows Cameron hurrying to and fro from Brussels as Theresa May is doing at the moment with the same mantra seeking a different result. Gliding or flying around but still stuck in the mire of it all. The second episode describes the Greek crisis and how it nearly brought down the euro. Of course we have ‘form’, as the cockneys say, in that ourselves.
These programmes show what the top bureaucrats Jean Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk are like and they are as they say in Munster ‘Senior Hurlers’. If that needs verification just listen to what Mister Tusk said today; ‘European Council President Donald Tusk has spoken of a "special place in hell" for "those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan of how to carry it out safely".
Still there was a little sliver of light tonight as I watched/listened to Tommy Gorman of RTE News report from Belfast. The Sligoman would be my ‘go to‘ man on who?, what? and where? in N.I. As he commented on the softer tone of the DUP he expressed a feeling that change may be in the air. To quote Churchill - hardly a ‘Remainer’ I’d venture- after the WW2 victory at El Alamein; "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”.

For me it is the end for tonight. ‘Good night and may your God go with you’.