Update 4th September

 Blog Friday September 3^rd.

 

Where to today?

Thoughts on Tyrone v Kerry.

I have asked a friend to get me a copy of ‘The Kerryman’ newspaper so that I can read their take on Kerry’s surprise defeat by Tyrone in the All-Ireland Semi-Final. That is part of my holistic approach to getting a grip on what happened.  

I have to hand this week’s ‘The Roscommon Herald’ and Father Liam Devine’s short take on it also. As you may know there was a certain amount about Covid and the Tyrone team for the last few weeks. Liam too has a few mentions of that issue and I will quote one nice one as follows;

 “The rapid recovery and the rude good health of the Tyrone players must be a great boost and consolation to people who have tested positive with Covid 19”.

It was the Kerry players who seemed to be struggling with cramps and so on as the game went through injury time. I presume that will be addressed in their post- match analysis.

Anyway Tyrone won because they played with a ferocity that may have been taken from Limerick's playbook. Their determination, motivation, and drive and their taking of the goal chances were key.

Their win now sets up a totally new challenge for Mayo in the final. There is no calling of it with any degree of certainty. Maybe Mayo will be less overawed by Tyrone than they would be by Kerry? Will Mayo be able to cope with the total war of the Tyrone team and substitutes? While the Mayo management will have been preparing, for the most part, to face Kerry they will now have to re-gig their mindset to face a very different challenge. Maybe this fresh challenge will present Mayo with (as is being said) a better chance of getting the Holy Grail of Gaelic football. It is intriguing, interesting, fresh, novel and only God knows how it is going to pan out.    

 

Father Devine’s Column

This is one of the features that I always go to when I start reading the Sports Section of, ‘The Roscommon Herald’. This week he referenced four different items The game as above and also that the Meath minor midfielder Jack Kinlough had Roscommon connections which he has. His father Oliver (Ollie) Kinlough and his grandfather -Frankie-who was the great forward with the Roscommon team of the forties. ‘Kinlough of the Golden goals’ as he has been referred to from time to time. Ollie played for a time with Padraig Pearse’s and also had some game with Roscommon a good few years ago now.

Gerry O’Reilly R.I.P.

Liam also referred to the death of Gerry O’Reilly of Rooskey. Gerry played wing back for Roscommon in the All-Ireland of 1962 v Kerry. He was a Garda and lived in Templemore the Garda training town in Tipp.   

Liam also paid a tribute to Liam ‘Chunky’ O’ Brien who was one of the star players in the Kilkenny team of the seventies. His club was ‘The Village’ one of the three great Kilkenny City clubs. It is also the club of Brian Cody.

I remember being at a senior hurling final in Nolan Park a decent few years ago and they honoured a club team from Bennetsbridge at half time which had won several county titles in the sixties. Even I was aware of the great players of that club team as the announcer called out their names.

I have suggested to Father Liam that he put together a book with material he has already had published in his columns in ‘The Herald’.

He is from the same townland as myself in Castlecoote, Fuerty and he went for a time to Roscommon C.B.S. and then to Summerhill and then Maynooth. He was in Sligo for a long time and during that time was P.R.O for Sligo GAA County Board a position he took with Roscommon when he transferred for a time to Athlone. He currently serves in Loughglynn area.

 

P.S. If you are reading through ‘the Herald’ of August 31^st you might read a very interesting essay titled;

 ‘Athleague man cares deeply about his local environment’.

The man in question is James Moran who I know pretty well and he touches on many elements of living in past and present times and highlights the grave challenges that are ahead for the next generation.      

 

Some Boyle GAA Notes

The Boyle Senior team play Michael Glavey’s on Saturday in the Hyde Park at 6.30. After their fine performance and win against Roscommon Gaels last time they will be hoping to copper-fasten their grip on the knock-out stages with a win…but you never can tell!

Two members of Boyle GAA were featured in the national papers recently with Cian Smith the Boyle team manager talking to reporter Arlene Harris. Cian talked initially of how fate and coincidence probably saved his life from cancer.

He talked about his cancer from diagnosis in 2007, intervention, the period of treatment to where he is now. It is a very telling and clear account of his experience. I do not know if you can access it online but it was published in the Health and Living section of the Irish Independent of Monday, August 23^rd. Cian a member of the Roscommon All-Ireland minor winning team of 2006. His dad Mike Jnr. is Chairperson of the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation.

The story emphasises the necessity for men to be more aware of health issues and not be dismissive of the warning signs.     

Daire Cregg turned up in the Farmer’s Journal talking of his farming exploits. Between education in UCD, football with Roscommon and Boyle and farming he certainly leads a very busy life. I have been detached from farming for quite a while now but Daire’s condensed story of heifers, bull calves, and ‘Friesian Jersey crosses’ told me I was well out of touch with Daire’s farming world. Still, he was able to insert the classic saying ‘every day is a learning day’. One that seems apt with Daire is ‘if you want something done ask a busy man’.      

 

Mention of Castlecoote

 R.T.E. will be transmitting a double documentary programme, on Monday and Tuesday nights the 6^th and 7^th of September on the tragic death of Father Niall Molloy in July 1985 aged 52. Father Molloy was then a curate of Athleague/Fuerty parish in Castlecoote. The death occurred around a wedding in Clara in Offaly and confused details surrounding his death have since then been contested by his family. His nephews Bill Maher and Henry McCourt have been trying steadfastly to uncover the truth of what happened to their uncle and who was really responsible. Perhaps this R.T.E. documentary might throw some light on it but I would not be in any way optimistic.

 

Seamus Heaney Nobel Laureate

On Wednesday night, on TG4, I watched a repeat of a programme paying tribute to the great Derry poet Seamus Heaney. I should have ‘taped it’ as it was a delight. It represented a kind and humble genius, a supporting and guiding wife that was Marie Devlin and family siblings who mirrored his humility. His life’s story flowed as if it was a stream. He came from Bellaghy, went to secondary school in St. Columb’s Derry then on to Queens University. There he met his wife Marie who was his soulmate. He lived first in Belfast until 1972 and then in Wicklow and later Dublin. He lectured a great deal abroad in Berkley University California, Oxford and Harvard. I remember getting a poetry book ‘Soundings’ autographed by him during Boyle Arts week when he gave reading in The Church of Ireland. He was awarded the Noble Prize for literature in 1995. He got a stroke in 2006 and died August 31^st 2013. I was in Dublin on his funeral day and regret not attending outside the church at Sandymount then. I was in Croke Park for an All-Ireland Semi-Final Kerry v Dublin with friends. Before the game started his death and funeral were announced and a minute’s silence called. The crowd of 80, 000 stood and paid their respects and ended with a round of applause. It was a unique and remarkable gesture. His daughter mentioned it in the documentary and how shy Seamus would be if he could have known.

One of his book collections of poetry has the apt title of, ‘The Spirit Level’ which makes one think, especially in these testing times. I could go on a good bit about Seamus Heaney but maybe if I add the poem which was nominated as Ireland’s favourite it would be better;

 

  ‘When all the others were away at Mass’

I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.

They broke the silence, let fall one by one

Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:

Cold comforts set between us, things to share

Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.

And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes

From each other’s work would bring us to our senses.

 

So while the parish priest at her bedside

Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying

And some were responding and some crying

I remembered her head bent towards my head,

Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives–

Never closer the whole rest of our lives.   

The family too talked about the inscription on his headstone and for whatever reason I looked at again later in my scribbled notes when Ronaldo had scored his two goals;

“Walk on air

       Against

Your Better

      Judgement.

The Death of Pat Hume

 Another death, that is the death of Pat Hume on Thursday. Pat was the wife of the one of the greatest Irishmen in Irish history, John Hume. Like Marie Devlin, but in a very different environment, Pat was the rock on which John rested and relied on to get him through all the challenges and adversity of his times. The family were threatened, abused, mocked, but she held it all together. She was one of those heroic Irish women. She was married to John (another Nobel Prize recipient) for 59 years and in the announcement of her death yesterday the family began “We are heartbroken to announce the death of ……”  We owe these women like we owe so many mothers huge, unconditional, gratitude.

Epilogue

All this has chastened me and I will not now enter the arena of farce that is a thing called Merriongate. Get real as to the scales of significance.  

Slán.     

             

              

Update 20th August

 ‘The world is in a state of chassis’

 The playwright Sean O’Casey wrote something of that nature in one of his plays. The world today certainly is in a similar bind. It is arguable that the modern empire of power and influence, the United States, is being rocked and is potentially in decline. The dramatic collapse of the U. S. nurtured government in Afghanistan and the chaotic, sad and dramatic scenes that have emerged in Kabul is potentially a core picture of that in progress. The speed with which it developed is staggering and the same can be said of the failure to realise that such could happen.  Now a country that was emerging from a medieval past is possibly going to be tossed back again into that dark, depressing and dangerous environment.

I have watched more news and programming of current affairs from the U.S. in the last eight months than I have ever done. Starting with the march on the Capitol in Washington on January 6^thand the resistance of such a percentage of the U.S. electorate to accept the Presidential election outcome it has been a hugely testing time for the administration in that country. The lack of cooperation amongst the political parties for the common good is depressing. Then we in this island have experienced a good deal of that also in recent decades.  

Watching from the wings are Russia and China. Around thirty years ago I visited a former history teacher of mine -Tom Geraghty- from Roscommon C.B.S. days. After a long conversation touching on a number of things I moved to leave. I was stopped in my tracks when he posted the question; “And, and, what about China?” So that had to be ‘treated of’ for another half hour. He viewed China then as the emerging empire for the twentieth century and his view seems to be gaining incremental evidence with each decade.

The challenges for a benign western society which has given a good life and example to many for nearly sixty years or so are alarming. As we speak we have Covid and its twists and turns; Climate change with its effects in rising temperatures across global averages, enormous forest fires from California to the Mediterranean and the Tundra area of Russia to Australia, Brazil and more. Then there are the surges of refugees more than after W.W.2. The growth of the drug trade with the suggestion that they can be sourced easily. Now that the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan the possibility of the drug trade from there is said to be huge. The open trade and abuse of drugs in our own capital city. Enough of all that for now.          

 

Sport and its Diversion

After Roscommon seniors lost to Galway I was in some despair as to the future of the GAA games in Roscommon. Then, as if from nowhere, like a Christmas advertisement, came a series of county football wins that lifted the spirits. Those same spirits needed some lifting! Oddly the first balm came with another defeat that being by Kerry in the All-Ireland minor semi-final for 2020. The foundation for this had been laid a good while ago with a win over Galway and the quality of the performance remained.

Then the minors of 2021 continued with a great win against Mayo and especially an outstanding comeback v old foes Galway. This team did not reach their best form for the Connacht final and a with key player being injured they lost to a good Sligo team who were bridging a gap of over fifty years. We certainly didn’t begrudge it to Sligo.

Next came the Under 20 team who defeated Mayo convincingly in the Connacht Final and then overcame a somewhat arrogant Down team in the All-Ireland semi- final at Cavan to set up an intriguing Final v Offaly. The gods deserted Roscommon with some early missed goal opportunities and in the second half Offaly got into their stride to reach a handsome lead. Still the fighting spirit of the Roscommon team shone through again as they clawed their way to within a goal score of Offaly but time ran out on them.

The joy of the Offaly team and its supporters including V.I.P. supporter Shane Lowry showed what it all meant to them also.

In any event we can look at these two grades with optimism for next year. We have to be aware that the performances of teams, even those who bring forward some veterans from a previous year, they are not predictive. 

 It all justified a long tenure on my flagpole of the Roscommon colours for this year and if it is similar in 2022 it will be a great sign. Still as the old prophecy goes ‘when man plans for the future the Gods smile’. Another one being used by American military officers on CNN goes ‘plans can corrode at the first point of contact with the enemy’.

Sport of the Home Front.

This Friday evening, we return to the domestic fare with a Senior championship first round game v Roscommon Gaels in the Abbey Park. While our record with ‘the Gaels’ has been negative the senior panel is being supplemented each year by very good young players and this year is no different. So we can look to qualifying from the group stages to the knockout section and then it is in the lap of the Gods.

Since, by the next edition of the Oblique View, the major draw being promoted by Boyle GAA and Boyle Celtic will be concluded at the end of August I suggest that, if you are of mind to, you log on to the sites of either of these clubs to purchase a ticket.    

Boyle Arts Festival

I wish to commend the organising committee of the Boyle Arts Festival for keeping the flame of the Festival alive when it might have been easy to put hands up and pass for another year. The running of the events required imagination and improvisation with the Marque coming to the rescue. I’ll just mention three of the items amongst the many which impressed and they were Carole Coleman in conversation with Kingston Mills who has been prominent on our airwaves with guidance on Covid’s status. The talk uncovered a real picture of Mister Mills and his background and his strong connection to Boyle. There are a number of these events which will be available online at www.boylearts.com.  Another item to look out for there is a Donie O’Connor song titled ‘Queen of Main Street’. 

Three regular performers Lizzie, Lynda & Ceara unsurprisingly repeated their success from former festivals.

A nugget for me was Laura Earley with an illustrated talk on mosaics in County Roscommon. She told the story of Mister John Crean from Ballygar who established a ‘factory’ for Mosaic production in Roscommon town in the 1950s’. Early in the venture he brought a number of Italian craftsmen to the factory to enhance their products. Two of them were Sergio Bennedetti and Luciano De Paoli. I went to national school in Castlecoote where the school was located close by the old church and similarly with a new church being built in the later fifties. As schoolboys we witnessed all the construction activity and this included the use of mosaics in the church where I served mass after its dedication. I also got to know Sergio Benedettie who is very well known in Roscommon.

From Laura’s talk I finally got to distinguish between mosaics and terrazzo which is a composite of various chips of stone with a binding material.

There were three examples referenced from Boyle and they were Mac Namara’s on Main Street, Carroll’s on Bridge Street and at the entrance to The Royal Hotel.  Laura’s sister Katie – a milliner- featured in two-page spread in The Roscommon Herald of August 10 with Ciara McCaughley. So the Mullymux based Earley girls are part of a talented and innovative family.  

Sport Keeps Giving

I really enjoyed the European Cup and now we are into the World Cup qualifying cycle for the finals in Qatar in 2022, next year! There are three games for Ireland at the beginning of September with Ireland playing Portugal away, followed by Azerbaijan and Serbia all within a week.

Ryder Cup Golf

This competition will take place at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin in the U.S. This state is in the area of the Great Lakes of the United States. The American Captain is Steve Stricker. He has a good few challenges as I read he has six Captain’s picks. The European captain is Padraig Harrington which should help Shane Lowry if he does not make the automatic selection.

 The 1966 All-Ireland winning U 21 team remembered and recorded.

The above team and their campaign have now been recorded in a detailed book by a member of the team, Paul Mockler, with a significant footprint of Mick Rock from Elphin. They were a hugely talented team with many of them progressing to the Roscommon senior team. The captain of the team was Colm Shine from Clann na Gael who passed away not long ago. The team was managed by Dr. Donal Keenan the Chairman of the County Board who was generally the main side-line voice for senior teams during his time as Chairman.

Roscommon’s opponents in the final were Kildare, which presented the Clarke Cup for the winners that year, possibly expecting to win it themselves perhaps as they were defending champions and had a star-studded team. Indeed, prominent sports journalist John D. Hickey suggested that “It will be the eighth wonder of the world if Roscommon beat Kildare in this year’s final”. Boyle had a number of players with that team. Pat Clarke was at corner back and Pat Nicholson was at full back while John Kelly Elphin/Boyle was at corner forward. John Nicholson and Ray Sheerin were also members of the team and played in earlier games. Amongst the other prominent players were Dermot Earley, Martin Joe Keane, Tom Heneghan and Marty Cummins. It was a great team, a great game and a fine victory. As a spectator it still echoes as one of my best memories a Roscommon performance and result in Croke Park. All this is covered in detail by Paul in this book with a picture from the Crescent Boyle of members of the team saluting the welcoming crowd from Johnny Keaveney’s lorry. The book is available from Supervalu stores and various other outlets at €12.

P.S. This book provides a template perhaps for other campaigns by Roscommon. The one that stands out is the minor win in Ennis v Kerry in 2006 where the logjam of traffic on the route down was a little similar to images prominent on television screens. They are now the good memories.                

 

All Ireland Hurling Final

This takes place on Sunday next between Cork and Limerick. Cork won the U 20 championship this week and are in the minor final on Sunday v Galway. Cork has been in the doldrums for a time winning the All-Ireland last in 2005 which is a really long stretch for them but they seem to be coming strong right now. Limerick dismissed Waterford in the semi-final while Cork overcame a dogged Kilkenny after extra time in their semi-final. Personally having witnessed the relentless power and ruthless approach of Limerick I feel they will win comfortably. Cork are a team for the future but that is not this year.   

Limerick the defending champions are going for a third title in four years which has not happened for them since the days of Mick Mackey in the 1930s. This is a unique final as the finalists come from the same province and Limerick and Cork have never met in a final.   

Covid and Boyle

I read with disappointment that Covid is very prevalent in Boyle at this time. Apparently, taking notice of the guidelines of masking and social distancing and recognising the danger of community spread are being ignored by some in our population. We are now listed amongst the top figures on various scales. With the onset of children going back to school those figures of community spread will be difficult to contain and reduce. So if we can get over this surge and learn from it, maybe things can improve. It will take a more careful and caring approach for ourselves and our neighbours to achieve that.     

 

TAKE CARE         

  

 

 

 

 

        

 Sport and More Sport

The drama of sport continues like a roller coaster. After all the drama of the Euro Soccer Championships, which was compelling, comes the Olympics.

But first to more localised thrills in familiar arenas. This involves inter-county championships. After the disappointment of the Roscommon senior defeat to Galway in a drab and uninspiring Connacht championship game, some of us thought that Roscommon’s future looked bleak. But then came a number of major performances from the minors and U 20s’. Their victories have led to the U 20s’ being in the All-Ireland semi-final on Saturday next v Down in Cavan and the U 17s’ being in the Connacht final v Sligo in the Hyde on Friday.

All this in a way started with a defeat in an All-Ireland Semi-Final to Kerry -which was a residue of last year’s incomplete minor competition- on July 11^th on the score of Kerry 3.21 Roscommon 2.13.   While that team lost to a very good Kerry team the attacking and competitive style of play was uplifting. Little did those of us on the margins realise that this was to be the pattern with the winning of the games since then.

Certainly it has endorsed my leaving the Roscommon flag flying high in front of the house.

While all of these four games have been great for Roscommon supporters to watch last week-end’s U 17 win over Galway was the real thriller. Behind by 11 points at one stage Roscommon through the second half stormed back to snatch the game near the death amid high drama in a nail-biting finale. Roscommon 1.16 Galway 2. 12. It is a rare day that a Roscommon team could achieve that against Galway. 

Since I write these notes for a basically Boyle constituency I will mention Boyle’s significant part in these games. Oisin Cregg had been a pivotal player in ‘last year’s’ U 17 team. His brother Daire is a key player in this year’s U 20 team which faces Down. Boyle had two players featuring on the team v Galway at U 17 who were Eden Kerins and Daniel Casey (nephew of David) with Niall O’Donnell coming on towards the end. Apart from those 3 there are other Boyle players, David Flanagan and Luke McGrath who are unlucky to be missing out due to injury and then there are Gavin O’Connor and Joseph Coyle on the panel also.

Versus Galway Eden Kerins gave a ‘Man of the Match’ performance as he drove forward, distributed the ball with deft accurate passing and using his soccer skills to effect a number of times. This is a pretty rare practise which I do not understand.

I have seen these players a good few times at the various under-age stages and they are a treat to watch especially when they take on an equally good Roscommon Gaels team.

So well done to all those young players. They have raised the spirits of Roscommon supporters again and thanks to their club coaches down the years and their management teams of now.

Boyle Ladies convincing win v St. Brigid’s in League Final

On Sunday last I was present in the Abbey Park for a senior ladies league final. I was hugely impressed by the quality of the performance of these ladies. Scores were pretty close at half time but in the second half Boyle gave an exhibition of point-scoring that I have rarely seen in the Abbey grounds. There was a sequence of around five points, with no wide, by Boyle. They have many fine players in this Ladies team. Since I am not in any way qualified to nominate star players I’ll add the Boyle ladies team as posted by the Club P.R.O. here;

 

R. Johnson; S. Keenahan, I. King, S. Kerins; C. Cregg, S. Moran, S. King; R. Cox, M. McKeon; G. Flanagan, S. Cull, M. Ward; H. Kerins, K. Harrington, N. Regan. (Some familiar names there!)

Add to this were the two Wynne ladies who came on and turned in a great shift.

In this week’s ‘The Roscommon Herald’ I came across a reference to Róisin Wynne by the Herald reporter Kevin Egan which is worthy of inserting here. At the end of his report on Roscommon’s defeat by Laois of the Roscommon team in the Intermediate Championship (Sport page 16) he nominated 9 Laois players who could have been nominated as ‘Player of the Day’. He continues;

“However it would be unfair to put any one of them ahead of Roisin Wynne, who was nothing short of out-standing once she was handed the task of a marking- job on Mo Nerney (Laois’s constant star). Between her (Roisin’s)goal-line clearance, any number of superb tackles and factoring in how this was a task thrust upon her early in the game as opposed to something she could prepare for, it was an incredible showing from the Boyle player”.  

Now that is as good a salute to a great performance as I think I have ever read. So well done Roisin and well done Kevin.  

 

Now to some important Club Errata;

The Boyle GAA and Boyle Celtic Major Draw takes place at the end of this month.

In the mean-time to get you there you could participate in Boyle GAA’s Club Lotto where the Jackpot prize has now reached the dizzy heights of 10,000 euro.   

Congrats to Boyle Celtic

Congratulations to Boyle Celtic who won a cup in the R.D.F. L. (Roscommon and District Football League) on Sunday by 1 to 0 over Ballymoe. One of the stars of the team was James Bolger from Corrigeenroe but alas James is returning to his college in the U.S. shortly. He will be sorely missed by the sports clubs in Boyle. Bon voyage James. Well done also to team manager Jake McCrann on this win. The cup was in memory of the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of the Roscommon League. So that would have been 1971 which means I must have played in some very early games of that league. I remember playing in Glinsk, Galway, near O’Dowd’s Bar! I remember John Mc Guinn, Sean Daly, James Candon, Freddie Daly and John McPherson and maybe Hal Cawley. I could have been a contender!  

The Lions Tamed

After the delight of their win in the first test v the Springboks (South Africans) the British and Irish Lions were brought down to earth in all its morphisms on Saturday last. As a ‘sports’ game it should not be given that title as it was a ‘bear wrestle’ and they were banned close to two centuries ago. It is likely that in fifty years’ time people will look at recordings of this kind of ‘game’ in amazement that it was supposed to be regarded as a sport. The game stuttered on in a stop-start nature with score and dangerous play reviews by the new time.

The few real plays in the game came from the South Africans and that was why they won. I do not imagine the parents of the Lions members are looking forward to the third and last ‘test’ next Saturday afternoon. I’ll tune in to see if the Lions can make any headway against the Goliaths. 

The Death of Michael Fitzmaurice

One of Roscommon’s greatest ambassadors in the capital, Dublin, Michael Fitzmaurice, passed away in the past week. While he lived in Dublin his heart was always with Roscommon. He supported numerous initiatives in supporting things Roscommon. He was founder member of the active Roscommon Association in the capital. One of his legacies is the collection of Roscommon Association Year Books later Roscommon Life. That was for around 25 years. I met him first in Arnott’s Shop where he was dedicated employee for decades. 

He was a major supporter of Roscommon GAA and many teams and players were the recipients of his and the Roscommon Association’s hospitality down the years. He was one of the senior stalwarts who are now a vanishing race. May his gentle soul rest in peace.    

 

The Olympics;

The landscape of sport has been on show in Japan these weeks. I have tried to tune into a certain amount of it especially the input of the Irish. The rowers came through for the most part and were great with an attitude to match. Our own Niamh O’Rourke of course did her very best in a close middleweight fight but the veteran Chinese lady Li got the verdict. Still to get to the Olympics was some achievement. Boxer Aidan Walshe though getting a bronze lost his chance of going further after his Michael Carruth’s Barcelona ’92 gold-winning-celebration of jumping up and down resulted in an ankle injury that put him out for the silver medal fight.

(As an aside I think that coaches should coach their teams to celebrate safely. Often after a goal, in soccer especially, the scorer is buried under a pile of bodies and it surprising that there are not more injuries as a consequence).

One of the most enjoyable celebrations of a gold medal and an iconic moment of this Olympics was when the two leading high jumpers decided that they would not go into a jump-off. So Qatar’s jumper, Bashim, and his Italian opposing competitor but friend Tamberi agreed to share the medal. Bashim looked on in bemusement as Tamberi rolled around the ground in joy.

I’ve seen that shared impulse happen a couple of times. I doubt if it will catch on Saturday in South Africa!   

I will return to the Olympics next time and refer to Rory and Shane.

 I have a turf assignment to address right now so I will adjourn this wander through current sport and return to Tonroe.

P.S.    if you got this far! As part of the Arts Festival programme I will be giving an illustrated wander around Boyle with the aid of screened pictures if you feel comfortable in attending that. It takes place on Friday afternoon and booking is required!

Take Care.

Update 17th July

Boyle GAA Nursery Initiative.

The True Spirit Shines Forth from the Actions of Babes; One of my positive ‘sights’ of Boyle arises when walking up the Sligo Road from below the Abbey Park on a sunny day and seeing the Cúl Camps for young players in progress. To see the lovely Abbey Park in its historic environs dotted with wee kids like mushrooms is a sight to behold. This was endorsed when I read the following notice in the GAA notes recently, and I quote;

“Last Monday July 5^th , Boyle (GAA) started our nursery programme with the most enthusiastic kids that ever walked or ran on grass. There were 66 boys and girls and over 20 coaches and (club) officers in action  on that Monday evening. The 4 to U 6 programme focuses on basic movements and skills with the most important skill to having fun and making friends . Well done to all”.

And isn’t it great to be able to add our own ‘well done’ to all involved also? That is the spirit and long may the aspiration of skills, fun and friends be to the fore with those growing kids and enlightened mentors.

*Speaking of the fine Abbey Park there is a big draw in the process in conjunction with Boyle Celtic to raise funds to provide better facilities for both clubs at their playing fields. The Abbey Park must be one of the best-used sporting facilities around. It is great to see the togetherness of both the soccer and Gaelic club clubs taking on this major fundraiser in true community spirit. Now if anyone reading this abroad especially it would be great to see them come on board by purchasing a ticket and in so doing be in with a chance to win a major prize of a car plus while supporting the home place. To do so, if you log into the websites of Boyle Celtic or Boyle GAA  you can buy a ticket online there. Or if necessary contact me at conboytc@gmail.com.   

Roscommon and GAA at a Crossroads.

Roscommon Senior team gave a disappointing display when being beaten by Galway in the Connacht Semi-final. It is not as if they did not try their utmost which we should always bear in mind. Losing to Galway is not new and if one studied the statistics that would be borne out. We have had our days in the sun and rain in Salthill and other venues. Our population mitigates against the pyramid of numbers. Each spring we dust ourselves down, put last year's disappointment aside with renewed vigour and …most years get chastised for our optimism!

Still there are chinks of light coming through the floorboards. One was the display, a while ago now. It was the Roscommon minor team especially in a win over Galway. We made our star contribution then with young Crag and reserve goalkeeper McPherson on standby. This group stayed together for many months to take on a fine Kerry team in the All-Ireland Semi-Final last Sunday. This too was a great game with young Crag injured being a big deficit but they never gave up and had some obvious bright players in Hand, Gamely and others as the scoreline shows the coat of negativity was left aside as they went at it ‘hammer and tongs’ and gave us a lovely exhibition of skill, openness and sportsmanship. Congratulations to all.

The U 20s’ also are in the Connacht final v Mayo having defeated Sligo last weekend. So we can look forward to that and not take the flag down yet.

The Crossroads

The defeat of Leitrim 0.11 to Mayo 5.20 has poured more fuel on and sparked a renewed debate on the logic of these matchups. This, for the most part, is tied into the Provincial structures which have obtained since the beginning. But is this still fit for purpose? I doubt it but many conservatives will not be for changing. This week in his very popular column in The Roscommon Herald Fr. Liam Devine suggested that the system of Senior, Intermediate and Junior as practised by the LGFA is worthy of consideration for a change.

It works well within the county so why not outside? It is outside for inter-club competition rivalry leading to All –Ireland days for Senior, Intermediate and Junior Clubs. I was part of that a few years ago when Forty got to the All-Ireland Junior Final and though defeated they were really satisfied that they got to play in Crooke Park. Historically Roscommon for some years in the latter years of the 1930s’ took part only in the Junior championship. Then in 1939 they reached the final of that competition and lost but retuned to win it in 1940. That team formed the basis of the great days of the forties for Roscommon. At under-age, I’ve always felt that winning or more importantly participating in a  competition at whatever level is much better than being out of one’s depth at a much higher level. The milk ad is a real example of perspective. ‘Another team would have lost by 15 goals.

Lough Key Park.

I have visited Lough Key Visitor and Activity Park a number of times of late. It is really in full bloom especially when the sun shines. The staff and management there have tried extremely hard to enhance the facilities and services that people can avail of. I presume that most people from around Boyle appreciate what they have on their doorstep. There are numerous kiosks now to facilitate patrons. Once the park seemed to resist such customer/visitor aids. Now there are plenty of diversions. I look forward to the opening of the playground!  With the Coved time emphasis on holidaying at home, I presume that it has helped swell the number of people who use the camping sites. There is a big increase in Irish ownership of camper vans and such. Ireland seemed to me to have been behind the curve with this type of holiday escape.

The fairly recent Renaissance of cycling continues at a pace and one sees this in the park as all ages avail of pedal power. It is such an exercising, valid and safe way to get to grips with the various tracks and trails of the park. The introduction of the new cycleway from the park and into Boyle is a real bonus. In more reasonable times one could imagine the volume of users of this lovely cycleway and end up in the town of Boyle. Boyle had been on a very positive visitor curve in 2019 and hopefully, that will crystallise next year.  So Louise keep pushing the positive boundaries. Keep the faith as the populist saying goes.  

McGahern Barracks is Open to visitors

The Barracks in Cootehall is open by appointment only from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.  Appointments can be made via the Barracks website, www.mcgahernbarracks.ie or by contacting 087 9588734. Entrance fee is €5 per adult and €2.50 for children aged from 11 to 17. It is on my ‘to do’ list.  

The Elixir/Beauty of Sport;

The end of the Euros was also the end of a month of high drama and entertainment. It was perhaps the most dramatic and enjoyable sports Tournament for decades. Maybe that call is influenced by its immediacy. One has to review it in reverse order starting with the Final.

It was certainly high drama. England’s immediate, unexpected score, distorted the scene for some time. Italy, probably the best team in the Tournament were deserved winners. They were involved in two of the most dramatic games of the series, their win over Spain and then against England. Italy had the ‘personality’ of the Tournament in their captain Giorgio Chiellini and the second Gladiator Bonucci. Chiellini showed his leadership and also his enjoyment of the challenges he faced. Regularly too we saw him smile and show how relaxed the great player could be on numerous occasions during the competition. He was someone with whom the Italian support could muster around. They too had a charismatic manager in Mancini. This quick revival resulted from their failure to get to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This was incredible for Italy and also hard to believe is the fact that this Euro win is their first since 1968!    

For the naysayers in terms of supporting England, it must have been a joy but for the minority in this country who tipped the scale in the direction of wanting England to win it was disappointing. This is an ongoing debate for a long time. While the team management and teams themselves are very likeable entities a lot of the ire is due to that section of support who do so much damage to the image of the total package. Booing the national anthems of opposing teams, the drunken and aggressive behaviour as witnessed in Lansdowne Road some years ago. The ‘gung ho’ of the red top papers, the equating of a potential win as being another item of evidence of a false positive for BREXIT and so on. They make it hard to be on their side nationally.

The team members themselves seem to me to be probably to a man genuine decent people. Who can criticise Harry Keane, McGuire, Walker, Rice, Grealish. A number of those have recently emerged as social benefactors led by Marcus Rashford and Raheen Sterling . Thousands of Irish follow these same players with various teams in the English leagues.   

 However, those whose job it is to try and expunge the cancer in the English support have an almighty task on hand. But it has to be done. The pictures of hundreds of ‘fans’ without tickets rushing into Wembley was like a repeat of the attack on the Capitol in Washington on January 6^th. A commentator I saw on television describing the drink and drug-fuelled scene on Wembley Way long prior to the game was frightening.

The British Open Golf;

The grey skies of post Euros have passed and another iconic sporting event is in progress i.e. the British Open Golf on the  Royal St. George’s bumpy looking course in Kent on the coast, not far from London. Irish hopes are as always recently with McIlroy and Lowry. Lowry had a great win two years ago at Portrush in the rain and has been the custodian of the ‘Claret Jug’ trophy  since then as there was no ‘Open’ in 2020.

The British and Irish Lions are in South Africa but lost a secondary game on Wednesday night. The three tests are the real challenges with those tournaments. The Springboks are world champions and showed that on Wednesday. Despite Covid restrictions and lack of meaningful games, they are still a huge and intimidating test. So the battles are coming down the road.  All this is taking place to the background of a country in turmoil with riots and social unrest topped by the pandemic of Covid.

The Olympics too begin on Friday July 23rd to a background of Covid and zero crowds which will of course create a surreal atmosphere and be a benchmark in the history of this great international gathering of all brands of sports.  

Books and More Books

I was pleased but not surprised to see that a former student of mine, Harry Keaney, put a section of his life down on paper. As has been heralded on the Home Page of Realboyle the title of the book is ‘Carrowreagh’ where Harry lived as a boy. It lies between Ballyrush and Riverstown. I know the area pretty well. He deals with those youthful times vividly. He treats of the next stage in his life when he attended St. Mary’s College in Boyle with kindness and regard. The founder of St. Mary’s, Father Kevin Dodd, was from the neighbouring townland of Ballyrush and so boys from that area gravitated towards Boyle. The next part of his life was a reporter mentored by the Michéal O’ Callaghan, Editor of The Roscommon Herald. His biographical journey ends there in this book.

Perhaps he plans to add a second part to it, as, after a ten-year stint there, Harry went to New York and continued in the newspaper business with the Irish paper there the ‘Irish Echo’.  During that time he was nominated as Sligo ‘Person of the Year’. He had a 3-year stint with the Sligo Champion before going to N.Y. and returned to it again for around 13 years on coming back to Ireland.  At present he is involved with Ocean FM Sligo local radio station.  

1966 U 21 All-Ireland

I heard of a gentleman enquiring regarding a book in production on this great team. The person who is doing this was a member of that team Paul Mockler from Ballinlough who now lives in retirement in Ennis. The book is now with the printers and I will advise those interested when it is available. Boyle had a number of players on that team such as Pat Clarke, Pat and John Nicholson, John Kelly (Elphin) and Ray Sheeran from Knockvicar. They defeated a star-studded Kildare in the final.

There are some other books I have come across lately which I will mention anon.

I will adjourn at that so take care and enjoy the sunshine.       

Update 7th April

Leitrim Mourns its Sporting Hero…Packie McGarty

It was with sadness that I, a Roscommon man, heard of the passing of Leitrim’s greatest Gaelic footballer, Packie McGarty at the age of 88. I feel that it would be very difficult for young people today to understand what icons like Packie meant to a county then. His decade, in the main, was the fifties when each of the five Connacht counties had their most distinctive and arguably greatest football heroes. Galway had Purcell and Stockwell, Sligo had Naas O Dowd, eclipsed later by Mickey Kearins; Mayo had any number of great players such as Paraic Carney, ‘Big’ Tom Langan and so on; Roscommon had Gerry O’Malley and Leitrim had McGarty and Flynn.

 

From Mohill, McGarty showed his potential early and began to represent the county at the age of sixteen playing senior before he played minor, legend has it.  Due to the circumstances of birth, his was not a career endowed with success and medals but one of relentless striving to get to the upper levels of the hill. It required a deep well of optimism that the next game, the next challenge, might be the one that succeeds. 

 

(We did see it in 1995 when with a dam-burst of emotion Leitrim finally won a Connacht title again and played in an All-Ireland Semi-Final at Croke Park.)

 

Leitrim in the fifties had a fine team led by McGarty and Flynn when they lost three Connacht finals in a row to Connacht kingpins Galway and in 1958 in St. Coman’s Park, Roscommon, they came within a whisker of making the breakthrough with McGarty having the game of a hero. Leitrim and especially McGarty’s failure to get Leitrim over the line that day, which I as  a boy witnessed, gave little joy to his opponents Purcell and Stockwell.

McGarty and teammates continued to toil in the Leitrim colours through the sixties, always with hope in their hearts and McGarty their model and inspiration. It is a benchmark of that era that a county’s finest sporting idol had to immigrate to labour in England being unable to acquire any meaningful work at home. Galway top brass tried to get him to play with Galway and guaranteed a decent job for him, it is said, in the sugar factory in Tuam. However his loyalty to his home county in that respect trumped all.

 

There was one stage though where all of us Connacht people could unite and shout for Purcell, Mayo’s Edward Moriarty from Boyle; O’Dowd from Sligo; O’Malley from Roscommon and of course McGarty. That was in the Railway Cup competition between the provinces.  

Connacht could hold its own and sometimes better on St. Patrick’s Day and crowds would be there from the west to support in unison. I imagine Packie must have revelled in the company of the other Connacht giants like Purcell and O’Malley as the province won in ’57 and ’58. He came to the team in ’54 and continued until ’67. He was a notable absentee in ’59, ’60, and 1961 probably in England then.

 

So I feel that there will be much reflection in Leitrim and with the Leitrim diaspora in far flung cities like New York especially where he also played. Reflection and some tears too, especially amongst senior people who saw him strive against all the odds with skill, tenacity, style and enduring courage realising that fate was not at his back. His memory will live long throughout the proud county of Leitrim. Packie McGarty was a special sportsman whose reward will be in a fairer place.

 

Update 26th January

 

Two Very Different Historic Topics of Now ...

 

The Covid War Continues

It would have been very difficult to imagine, in early March of last year, that we would still be battling THE virus. One really has to feel for the legion of frontline workers who have been struggling at those front lines trying, with great courage, to contain the pandemic. They had nearly succeeded and then seen a resurgence; nearly succeeded again and then came this current attack which seems like the most virulent resurgence of all. How those frontline workers have the resilience to continue is heroic? We will be forever in their debt.  

I presume one could say that most people have done their best but of course there are exceptions. The questions are not new about airports, cross-border travel, tracing, - which seems to be abandoned- and all those topics which seem to be on a loop on communication outlets.

One hears, from time to time, people who get infected expressing their puzzlement as to where they could have picked it up. The virus is so insidious with nightmarish tentacles.

The great hope is with the vaccines. So if we can continue with our adherence to guideline contribution, to our country and ourselves, as we enter the spring time of the year, we can once again renew our hope that the broad War may be receding. 

“This is not the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

 

The Presidential Inauguration in the United (!) States;

The swearing-in of President Biden was a very interesting and relaxing event. In a sense millions of people exhaled a sigh of relief at a return of a kind of normality. There was also the end of a turbulent four years when an extraordinary President inflamed passions and was seen by so many to be so extreme in so many ways. (Now one always has to be conscious of the fact that Donald Trump got over 74 million votes).

Trump crashed in a number of the avenues he chose to go down especially in the post-election months. His insistence on the idea that the election was a fraud when so many pointers showed otherwise was one. It is referred to as ‘The Great Lie’, apparently having a historical precedent. The real crash came with the Rally of January 6^th when President Trump encouraged his supporters to challenge the political establishment in the Capitol. This they did in a very unforgiving way and Trump’s response was neither reasonable or politically smart.

When someone makes a mistake he might ask himself ‘What was I thinking about’. More often that question is asked ‘What were you thinking about?’ So Trump, Giuliana and Donald Jnr. all lost it in that they could hardly have envisaged the carnage they were encouraging. Or could they?

This led to the second Impeachment which is proceeding now even if Trump is no longer a President. It is pretty obvious that President Biden is struggling with this action. On the one hand, there is a feeling of necessity to punish Tump’s behaviour and responsibility for the March on the Capitol and the deaths, destruction and Insurrection style symbolism of it all. Also, there is the idea that it is the only real opportunity to clear Trump from getting back on the political stage.

For Biden on the other hand it is going to be a big distraction from that precious first 100 days and keeps Trump in the limelight and indulge his huge support. Then, of course, there is the danger of making Trump some kind of martyr and we in Irish history know a bit about that.

The U.S. is said to be nearly as divided now as in the period after the Civil War of the 1860s’. The period after their Civil War was known the period of ‘Reconstruction’ but others also see it as a continuance of the Civil War with the Suppression of the rights of coloured people in the South and so on.

Perhaps some winter hence the Night Class scene could include a course on United States History.

Returning to the Inauguration, there was a great feel to it, of peace, hope and celebration. The theme was one of bipartisanship and coming together. While Biden is in in a strong position in the political houses it seems as if the ongoing policy of the Republicans in the Senate will be one of obstruction and delay. A lot of the sentiment expressed immediately after January 6^th will be cast aside.

The big chess piece here is Mitch McConnell.

Getting back again to Jan. 20^th, there was a big inclusion of faith and practitioners of faith with the huge Bible, priest friend and Reverend friend. The entertainment was loud and colourful with Lady Gaga punching it out with J Lo and Garth Brooks with Amazing Grace. Keep in mind the M.C. Amy Klobuchar whose joy was so evident. Last summer she was seen as a Vice President candidate but stepped back from it. The really happy face in it all was Vice-President Kamala Harris. She is the first woman to be such and a real contender. She is bound to attempt goin the extra step up when the opportunity arises.

For me though the lady who stole the show was the 22-year-old Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman with a ‘poem’ titled ‘The Hill We Climb’. It was not just a reading or recital of a poem but a performance of art as the clear voice, the gesticulating hands and all her body and soul exclaimed her message.

I encourage you to Google her performance on U Tube. It could join some of the great speech passages such as President J.F Kennedy’s

‘Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country’

 or the great

‘I Have a Dream’ speech of Martin Luther King, who, in a sense, enabled Amanda and Kamala to be on the Capitol podium on Jan. 20^th.   

 

For me to go onto some more mundane topics, after listening to Amanda again there now, does not seem appropriate.

 I think I’ll take a good break and end here with two favourite conclusion extracts, the first from Thomas Kinsella’s poem;

‘Mirror in February’ 

“I fold my towel with what grace I can,

Not young, and not renewable, but man”.

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

This vies with some closing lines from Robert Frost’s;

‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’.

‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep’.

(Frost recited a poem at J.F. K’s inauguration)

 

Take Care

and

‘May your Gods go with you’ (Dave Allen).

Sin é.

             

   

Update 11th January

Prologue

I’d like to wish a good 2021 to some more Boyle people abroad who I missed in my pre-Christmas list; Damien Battles in the U.S.; Colm McQuaid in Melbourne; Killian with a K Egan in London.  

 

Covid Pandemic Over 6,000 Cases Today

It seems incredible that the Covid Pandemic has reached such heights and such virulence again. There are quite a number of times when we believed that we had it nearly under control. But like a forest fire which we thought under control, the embers explode again and the numbers follow suit. While it is ‘challenging’ for us all we can only try and imagine what it is like for those on the front lines. Those especially in the hospitals who had felt, surely, last July and again in late Autumn that they had it under control and that they would get some hard-earned relief only to be confronted by the flames of the virus confronting them again.

I am not competent to suggest why all the above happens and can only theorise on that aspect of it. The rumour mill of Shebeens and house parties and obvious hot spots and so on. Some activities that might qualify the orchestrators to fringe membership of a Trump rally.

Our hope is with the vaccines down the track and that reasoning people will remain reasonable and make their contribution as always.

 

The Broad Challenge of Trumpism

I too am concerned about the immediate future with regard to President Trump. My take may surprise you. It is in train that tomorrow Nancy Pelosi Speaker in The House of Representatives i.e. Congress will promote a motion for the Impeachment of President Trump. He is the only President to have had two runs of Impeachment against him.

The House of Representatives is made up of 435 members. The Democrats are in the majority with 222 Reps. And the majority leader is actually a congressman Steny Hoyer. I have little of him as he seems to be subservient to The Speaker (I presume Chairperson) of the House. The republicans are in the minority with 211 members and their leader is Kevin McCarthy who is vocal. Nancy Pelosi who is easy to dislike dominates and has the position of Speaker since 2003 the first lady in the position.

The Senate is a very different kettle of fish. It is made up of 100 senators from 50 states i.e. that is, obviously 2 senators per state. The Republicans were in the majority in the Senate until Jan. the 6^th when 2 Democratic senators were elected for the state of Georgia. It is now 50 v 50 BUT in that situation the Vice President i.e. Kamela Harris has the casting vote thus tilting the balance in favour of the Democrats which is huge tin terms of getting the policies of the Democratic President, Joe Biden, through. The Republican majority leader until Jan. 6^th was Mitch McConnell. The incoming Democratic leader in the Senate will be Chuck Schumer with Mitch McConnell moving down to become Republican Minority leader.

So tomorrow Nancy Pelosi will probably get a majority from the House of Reps. But then the motion moves to the senate. There are impossible hurdles there for Pelosi. One is that the Senate is not due to sit again until Jan. 19^th the day of the President’s Inauguration. Also with the Senate being 50:50 it needs such a majority that there needs to be a large number of Republicans coming on board against Trump. That will not happen in the numbers required. So it will fail. I presume knowing that it will fail Pelosi and Co. see it as a necessary motion of censure on the sins of President Trump.

THE GREAT DANGER IN ALL THIS is in victimising Trump you are the making a God out of Trump. It is little mentioned that Trump got over 74 million votes in the November election. Not all of his supporters can be of the same strain as the portion of people, from the total attendees at the Washington Rally, who attacked the Capitol last Wednesday.

I believe that political commentary should allow for a percentage of an audience being reasonable using words like ‘majority’ or ‘minority’. It may be hard to do that for Wednesday but remember the 74 million plus voters for Trump. 

On Thursday President elect Biden stumbled (I’d say improvising) into a comparison with the German Propagandist Goebbels saying that there 250, 000 people killed in the Allied bombing of Dresden when it was contended that it was much less. (The bombing of the beautiful city of Dresden is a matter for debate to this day). Biden referred to it as ‘The Big Lie’,  transferring this to the lie of a rigged election as repeated by Trump. Now dipping into Nazi comparisons is fraught with danger and a mistake.

What do Trump’s supporters see in Trump that attracts such unswerving support;

They see an economy which they feel is ‘booming’.

He has kept his ‘America First’ promises as in withdrawing from the Paris climate Accord.

His pro-religious, pro-life policies have pleased conservatives who have contributed to his election.

He has confronted and ‘called out’ the danger of an quickly emerging and dangerous super-power in China.

He was seen as very different politician to the embedded formula of traditional politicians in all areas of Washington.

They fear THE LEFT as they see personified in Bernie Saunders and the LEFT also represented by Biden. The United States have for a century been paranoid by the threat of communism from the 30s’ to Joe McCathy’s witch-hunts in the 50s’, the Cuba crisis in the 60s’; Vietnam which was a ‘push back of communist expansion in south East Asia and Latin America and so.

The idea of ‘fake’ news; the role of Fox News and other channels. The convenience of Twitter which Trump has mastered to stunning extent. All these coalese to paint the opposition as figures of hate.

There is a word called mesmeric I think and people become so fascinated, so influenced by someone that they lose all personal responsibility.

Once I pasted a photograph from a Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis burst of applause into my history book to illustrate the Irish too could lose their grip as they rose to applaud I think it was Charlie Haughey. It is regularly seen when young people attend concerts of artists they ‘adore’ the Beatles, Elvis Presley. Trump could anything with gestures, lies, contradictions and so on and the following would be mesmerised. Those rioters who crashed and then strolled into The Capitol Buildings last Wednesday were intoxicated by the event and had no conception that in the following days the F.B.I. and such would be calling on them for defiling ‘The People’s House’. This was made somewhat easy by the incredible lapse in security with regard to the Capitol.   

  Of course it will be very interesting to see what penalties the main figures who were at the head of that riot will incur. To millions they will be of course be heroes!

The United States is as divided now it seems as it was after the conclusion of The Civil War. The period following the Civil War was called ‘RECONSTRUCTION’. They have to embark on another period of ‘Reconstruction’ now. Has Joe Biden the ability to turn it around? I’m sceptical. A lot of people voted for him because they couldn’t vote for Trump not because they were confident with Mister Biden. He has experience. He is a moderate. His major challenge is clipping the wings of that 74 million voters who sought a different path. He needs to tread very carefully.       

    “The words of a President matter. At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite”.

   

     Roscommon Minors (U 17s’) in All-Ireland Semi-Final.

Roscommon Minors defeated surprise packets Sligo in the Connacht Final at Bekan, Ballyhauins on St. Stephen’s Day. It was played in appalling conditions but Roscommon who played a text-book winning game against Galway in the semi-final proved themselves too good for Sligo for most of the game. However, in a low scoring game Sligo came back towards the end but it was too late and so Roscommon progressed. When the game will depend on the status of the virus pandemic.

Oisin Cregg (team Vice-Captain) was selected as ‘Man of the Match’ in the game and well deserved it. Also I commend the other Boyle panellists Conor McPherson and Luke McGrath, the manager and all associated with the team. While this was a final win in terrible conditions the win against Galway was a real treat to watch with all the coaching principles in full view. The best of luck in the Sem-final v Kerry whenever that happens.   

(The last time these same counties met in a Connacht minor final was in 1949. The first game was then played in Boyle, which ended in a draw, and the replay went to extra time at C’Bar which Roscommon won. Sligo however objected to a Roscommon player being over- age. He was but due to a mix up with his age certification he played.  After acrimonious appeal meetings the objection stood. As per rule the Chair. Doctor Hugh Gibbons and the Secretary Michéal O ‘Callaghan were both suspended with the team captain and the player himself. The sanctions to al were lifted some time later. One could do a short thesis on the whole affair. Sligo’s run ended against Armagh in Lurgan.)

 

‘A Dictionary of Roscommon Biography’ by Mike Lennon Strokestown and Dublin.

I recommend highly here a major book titled ‘A Dictionary of Roscommon Biography’ by Mike Lennon of Strokestown. There are some 5000 people listed with biographical notes. This covers Roscommon born people or people who had a strong connection to Roscommon or spent their time in the county. It costs €30 and is available from Una Bhán at King House. I would put it amongst the top three books of relevance to Roscommon County. It is the product of ten years work by Mike and his work and passion for the subject matter shines through in the finished product. It would be a great gift for any time of the year as it was for myself.  

 

The Passing of John McPherson

I heard with sadness at Christmas of the death of my ‘comrade’ John Mac Pherson. The ‘comrade’ tag goes back a long way as if we were the remainders of some long ago imaginary revolution. Like so many I was very fond of John. He was great fun to talk to and often had a trademark twist to his yarns. In thinking of him now I seem to remember that he was a regular user of the term ‘you know yourself’.  He was a faithful follower of Boyle Celtic, Sligo Rovers and Tottenham Hotspurs from which he contacted me not very long ago. He was a member of Boyle town Commissioners and one of the last serving Mayors of Boyle. With his wife Jean they formed a really grand couple. His son Shane representing the family paid his dad a broad tribute of which he would be very proud. May you rest in peace ‘comrade’.