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NOVEMBER 2015
BRINGING YOU ALL THE NEWS FROM THE IRISH IN SCOTLAND
THE CHIEFTAINS
and guests will
play a special
show at CELTIC
CONNECTIONS to
commemorate the
centenary of the
Easter Rising
PAGE 4
BILL HEANEY and
HUGH JORDAN
pay tribute to the
late, great film
star MAUREEN
O’HARA and tell of
her special Scottish
connection
PAGES 8-9
FREE
Scotland emerge
victorious in the
first leg of this
year’s HURLING
/SHINTY
INTERNATIONAL
series at Bught
Park in Inverness
PAGE 14
Was Celtic’s founder a saint?
I DAN McGINTY
WAS Brother Walfrid a saint? That was the
question asked of the Glasgow Irish community
as they gathered in St Mary’s Church,
Calton, for a Mass on the 128th anniversary
of Celtic’s foundation.
PIC: GERARD GOUGH
The question was asked by Fr Tom White, parish
priest of St Mary’s, Calton, who was celebrating
the Mass (right) as ex-players, staff and supporters
of Celtic FC gathered in memory of the club’s
founding fathers, particularly Br Walfrid.
Founded in St Mary’s Hall on November 6
1887, the club was the brainchild of Br Walfrid—
a Marist brother from County Sligo—who was
serving among the poor Irish immigrants in the
East End of Glasgow.
Following a successful commemoration Mass
three years ago—on the occasion of the club’s
125th anniversary—which was held with the
support of the Celtic Graves Society, the links
between St Mary’s parish, the Glasgow club and
its illustrious founder have been explored in much
greater detail.
Life and ministry
Now, Fr White has issued a call for Br Walfrid’s
life and ministry to be re-examined and for the
community to ask if viewing him simply as
Celtic’s founder does him justice, considering his
efforts among the poor not just of Glasgow, but
also of London, which won him many admirers in
the communities which he served.
“Br Walfrid is still remembered here with
affection 100 years later, but perhaps how we view
his life and work is held back by the sometimes
negative context of football and faith,” Fr White
said. “As Catholics we need to ask ourselves: Are
we doing this man a disservice?
“I don’t think pursuing a cause for sainthood
should be ruled out, but I think this is more about
‘flying a kite.’ We’ve had a warm response from
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people, and I think it can lead to a greater reconnect
for people between the wider elements of Celtic;
between the Irish and Catholic elements. He was
a great man, who did great work and left a great
legacy—and isn’t it time we looked at that again?
“Every cause for sainthood begins humbly,
with a question like that.”
Fr White made his comments during his homily,
when he spoke of his hope that Br Walfrid could
one day be recognised as a saint, and asked for the
prayers and support of the Catholic community in
Glasgow—so closely linked with the Irish
community which Br Walfrid served—and beyond
in pursuing such a cause.
The anniversary Mass saw Celtic supporters
gather to pray for the soul of Br Walfrid as well as
to give thanks for the fruits of his labour, including
Celtic, and to pray for the work of the Celtic
Foundation, the club’s charitable arm, as it seeks
to continue Celtic’s commitment to the poor people
of the city's East End—as well as further afield—
as envisioned by Br Walfrid in 1887.
Portrayal
The Mass also provided an opportunity for both
Celtic supporters and members of St Mary’s parish
to see Peter Howson’s painting of Br Walfrid, with Fr
White noting that despite its inspirational portrayal
of a former clergyman of the parish, it could not
be permanently displayed within the church until
such times as Br Walfrid is recognised as a saint.
Howson’s decision to paint Br Walfrid came as
15 Blairlinn Road, Cumbernauld, Glasgow, G67 2TF
Phone: 01236 720503
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E-mail: maurice.friel@btconnect.com
part of his move completely into religious works
—which also saw him paint St John Ogilvie,
perhaps Glasgow’s most prominent saint—and was
the result of a desire to show the caring ministry
of Br Walfrid for a desperate people.
“There were 40 or 50 preparatory sketches
which are works in themselves,” Howson said. “I
wanted to convey the compassion; it’s in the eyes.
I also wanted to convey the simplicity—the fact
that this man cared about people.
“There are very few images of him, which was
probably helpful because it meant I didn’t know
exactly what he looked like. It’s my vision of the
man. It looks like him to me—more like him than
I could ever have imagined.”
The painting was commissioned by Emma
O’Neill of Nine Muses, and she spoke to The Irish
Voice about the motivation behind creating such
an image of Brother Walfrid.
“100 years on from his death and we are still
faced with poverty and hunger in our communities,”
she said. “And it is through re-igniting Br
Walfrid’s spirit in the portrait that we personify
his benevolent force, and tell of his immense
humanitarian legacy that has come to live in the
shadow of the football super-power that he created.
“There is still a need for ‘penny dinners’ and Br
Walfrid’s legacy is still raising money for charity
today. For this, in my opinion, Br Walfrid deserves
to be recognised as a saint, and for his message to
be immortal.”
Following his time in Glasgow, Br Walfrid was
sent to London, where his commitment to the poor
found him among desperate poverty in Bethnal
Bow and Green. Relying on his experiences in
Glasgow to help his efforts in London, Br Walfrid
once again used sport as a means supporting his
work and football matches organised by him
among the barefoot children of the area were a
common sight.
I dan@theirishvoice.com
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NOVEMBER 2015
Gaels bring the curtain down on a fantastic year for the club
GLASCHÚ Gaels GFC brought the curtain
down on a big year for the club as they hosted
their annual dinner dance and awards ceremony.
It was the first time that all three sections of the
club—men’s, ladies’ and underage—had united for
the end of season gala, and saw senior players
mingling with the club’s young talent and their parents.
Although the evening’s events were being held
in Clydebank Sports Club, the Gaels’ community
brought all the glamour of Las Vegas to the town
with roulette and blackjack tables providing the
entertainment on the night.
However, the main event was the awards
ceremony and after a remarkable year for the club
there was a lot to celebrate across all sections.
Brian Sharkey, club chairman, opened the night
with a thoughtful address, recognising all of the
members of the club and the achievements of
2015, which have already re-energised club
members ahead of the coming season, inspiring
them to continue their hard work, particularly
with underage players.
To mark the great strides taken at youth level, a
special recognition award was presented to club
staple Ronan McDermott in honour of his tireless
and unprecedented efforts with the youth team.
Ronan was presented with a framed picture of the
youth team (above left) after their historic U12
Scottish Championship win—the club’s first
underage county title.
The dance also provided an opportunity for the
Gaels Ladies to mark their Scottish Junior County
Championship win, and the victorious girls were
presented with their medals on the night (above
right), with one club stalwart in particular being
honoured—Jennifer Treacy, who was announced as
Club Person of the Year. She was presented with
the Jimmy Kelly Perpetual Shield, in honour of the
founding member of the club and becomes the first
female recipient of the club's prized annual award.
The finale of the night came with the launch of
the Glaschú Gaels Hall of Fame and the first
inductee was unveiled as Paul Gallagher, one of
the earliest club members who was recognised for
his ‘dedication and contribution to the club over
the past 16 years.’
As he was received into the Hall of Fame, he
was praised for his ‘work on and off the field,
both as a player and as a manager, which has left
an indelible mark and has made possible the club
we see today.’
Award Recipients
Special Recognition: Ronan McDermott
Junior Player of the Year: Conor Higgins
Young Player of the Year: Conal Gormley
Cornerstone Award: Damian Kellegher
Men’s Manager’s Player of the Year: Niall
Kennedy
Men’s Player’s Player of the Year: Eoin
Leonard
Ladies Most Improved: Monica Cohen
Ladies Team Ethos Award: Helen Conroy
Ladies Manager’s Player of the Year: Katrina
Magill
Ladies Player’s Player of the Year: Siobhan
Reynolds
Club Person of the Year: Jennifer Treacy
Hall of Fame Recipient: Paul Gallagher
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own Sr Rita Dawson, as duo Darius Campbell and Michelle McManus—each themselves committed supporters of the work of the hospice—provided
the entertainment. Leading the events on the night was Peter Martin, who said, “I’m very proud to be associated with the hospice. And I’m also
proud that Sister Rita and the hospice chairman Professor Leo Martin have asked me back to host the event.” Fundraising efforts will continue in
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THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
Irish condolences after Paris attacks
DAN McGINTY
IRELAND was at the fore of countries
offering their condolences and support
to France in aftermath of the attacks in
Paris, which saw more than 129 people
killed and several hundreds more injured.
One Irish tourist was among the injured,
having suffered gunshot wounds at the
Bataclan concert hall where at least 89 of
the crowd gathered there for an Eagles of
Death Metal concert—including one British
man—were killed by terrorists.
The Irishman, who has not been named,
underwent surgery for gunshot wounds and
is said to be in ‘a serious but stable condition.’
Consular assistance is being provided through
the Irish Embassy in the French capital.
Many visitors from Ireland were expected
in France the day following the attacks, as
Ulster Rugby travelled for a Champions
Cup match against Oyonnax, which was
later postponed, while Irish rock stars U2
cancelled their concert in Paris, due to take
place the next night.
Among those caught up in the chaos was
Paddy Gray, a professor at Ulster University,
who was in an Irish bar at the time and had
to flee with others as the attacked unfolded.
“People just ran everywhere,” Professor
Gray said later. “You didn't know what you
were running to or who you were running
with—that was the panic.
“It was panic, total panic. I didn’t know
what was going on. I was tweeting, taking
photographs and didn’t really know what to
do. I was a wee bit shaken but I’m OK now.”
Professor Gray was ultimately given
shelter in the home of a local, who invited
those fleeing to stay with him until the
worst of the danger had passed.
“Police told us to run and we started
running down the street,” he explained. “I
ended up being pulled into this entry lane by
these people and we were sat there for a
while. The police were marching up and
down all armed. All of a sudden this nice
guy told us to come into his house.”
Among the ways the people of Ireland
have shown their solidarity with France in
the days following the attack was a minute’s
silence in the streets of Dublin, while books
of condolence were opened at Belfast City
Hall and Derry’s Guildhall.
In Dail Éireann, meanwhile, the massacre
was marked with a minute’s silence—
announced by government chief whip
Paul Kehoe.
“The atrocities in Paris have appalled the
Irish people and, as is fitting, the national
parliament will mark these terrible events
when business resumes on Tuesday with a
minute’s silence in memory of the victims,
followed by statements to express our
sympathy and solidarity with their families,
friends and all of the French people on
behalf of the Irish people,” Mr Kehoe said.
His words were echoed by Tanaiste Joan
Burton, who spoke of her outrage at the
attacks on the people of Paris and her hope
that the danger could quickly be eliminated
by French authorities.
“I am deeply appalled at the events in Paris
and the cold blooded murder of innocent
people,” she said. “I fervently hope further
loss of life can be prevented by the French
authorities who are responding to a nightmarish
situation. Our thoughts are with the people
of France.”
dan@theirishvoice.com
Dalriada GFC celebrates 25th anniversary with old friends
DALRIADA GFC celebrated
their 25th anniversary by
travelling to old friends in
Gortin, County Tyrone, where
they took on the local side and
renewed friendships that have
endured throughout their
quarter of a century of playing
Gaelic football in Scotland.
To mark the occasion the
visitors took on the Gortin St
Patrick’s men’s side (right) for
the Fair Cities Trophy—a
trophy that has held pride of
place in Mossey’s Pub, Gortin,
Co Tyrone, since the hosts
defeated Dalriada during their
20th anniversary celebrations
back in 2010—while their
ladies team also took on St
Patrick’s for the first time.
Drawing together a mix of
past and present players from
all over Scotland and Ireland,
the Dalriada contingent that
arrived in Gortin served up a
double victory as both the men
and ladies ran out winners
against their hosts.
The Fair Cities Trophy
returned across the Irish Sea
after a five year absence
following a three-point victory
for the visitors, while in the
ladies’ match it took extra time
to separate the two sides, with
Dalriada eventually sealing
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victory by a single point.
Following the match, the
celebrations of the weekend
began in earnest, with the
auspicious occasion being
marked by a reception in
Mossey’s Pub at which club
stalwart Peter Mossey gave an
enjoyable and informative
presentation on the history of
the club, which included some
of the club’s previous successes,
such as winning the Scottish
Championship in 1993 and a
British Provincial Final
appearance in the same year
Dalriada ladies’ captain
Ciara Mulligan and her male
counterpart Ciarán Finnerty,
presented both sets of players
with special medals to mark the
occasion. Commemorative
plaques were also presented to
Dalriada stalwarts on the night
in recognition of their efforts on
behalf of the club, including John
Joe Moran, Kevin Heffernan
and Eugene O’Sullivan.
Speaking on their return the
visitors offered their thanks to
their hosts, saying: “Dalriada
wish to acknowledge the
excellent hospitality shown by
the Gortin club, and people of
Gortin in general over the course
of the weekend, and we hope
to return the favour some day.”
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Readers can take a journey
through Celtic’s early years
GERARD GOUGH
CELTIC Park was the fitting
venue for the launch of a new
book documenting the club’s
founding and earliest years.
The book, Celtic: The Early
Years 1887-1892 was written
by Brendan Sweeney, a lifelong
Celtic fan born and bred in
Clydebank to Donegal parents.
Brendan was a founding
member of Celts For Change,
the Jungle Bhoys and the Celtic
Graves Society—where he
remains a committee member.
He also served seven years on
the executive committee of the
Celtic Supporters Association.
The Jock Stein Lounge at
Celtic Park hosted the launch
of the new book, which gives
an in-depth and comprehensive
analysis of the circumstances
surrounding the birth of Celtic
Football Club in the East End
of Glasgow on November 6,
1887 in St Mary’s Hall, Calton
to its rise to the top of the
Scottish game in less than five
years, when it overcame all the
odds to win the club’s first
treble in 1892—a feat that
shook Scottish football to
its foundations.
As well as giving a detailed
review of the birth and early
years of the club, it also gives a
supporter’s perspective,
speaking from the heart on all
the key events and the key
individuals to an extent that
has never been accomplished
before covering the early years
of the club.
The level of research carried
out over years of study and the
attention to detail stands out in
over 500 pages jam packed
with facts, the evidence to back
it up and the accompanying
pictures, which help to paint
the picture of the early Celtic.
Many unknown details—
never presented before—
are unearthed, including a
comprehensive study on the
life of Brother Walfrid up to his
departure from Celtic.
The research done to put the
book together was one of the
highlights for the author, who
spoke to The Irish Voice about
the success of the launch and
the interest that he book has
already generated.
“The launch was great,”
Brendan said. “And the
response from the main
booksellers and from the
webpage I set up has all been
positive. The feedback has
been really good.
“The research was the best bit
for me. There was an incredible
amount of detail involved and
available at the Mitchell
Library, you just need to know
where to look, but when I did I
uncovered lots of new facts.”
Indeed no stone has been left
unturned in the search for the
complete story of Celtic FC
from 1887 to 1892. This is the
story of a forgotten Celtic, in
the original Celtic Park that
the support helped to build, a
community effort, the embryonic
Celtic.
The book speaks of the
growth of the club, its many
challenges on and off the park
to establish its dream, to
become accepted, its successes
and its failures and all in a
short four year spell that was to
whet the appetite before the
club moved to the current
Celtic Park in 1892.
The book tells the untold
story of the early Celtic in
great detail, of the men who
established the club, of the
detailed circumstances that
brought them together, of the
original Celtic Park and of the
fairytale that is Celtic FC.
Celtic: The Early Years 18871892, published by CQN Books
and priced at £19.99, can be
bought by visiting the following
website: http://www.
celticearlyyears.com
gerard@theirishvoice.com
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touching hearts, changing lives
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THE IRISH VOICE
NEWS
AN IRISH EYE
NOVEMBER 2015
1916 remembered at Celtic Connections
GERARD GOUGH
THE Easter Rising of 1916 is to be
celebrated at the 2016 Celtic Connections
as part of the anniversary theme at the
popular annual event.
Celtic and Ireland fans turned out in great numbers in Glasgow for an
evening with Packie Bonner to mark the launch of his autobiography
The Last Line (above). The event—held in Walkabout Bar and
compered by the book’s ghost writer Gerry McDade—saw the former
Celtic and Ireland stopper recount experiences of home along with
his football career at both club and international level. Packie’s former
teammates Charlie Nicholas, Frank McAvennie and Joe Miller (below)
were also on hand to show their support and along with the big
stopper took questions from the audience in what was a lively and
enjoyable night.
PICS: GERARD GOUGH
Irish folk favourites The Chieftains (right)
—along with special guests including
Dubliners’ fiddler John Sheahan and top
contemporary balladeer Declan O’Rourke
—will be on hand to play a show entitled
Ireland 2016, aimed at commemorating the
centenary of the Rising and the importance
that the event played in Irish history. The
show is supported by Culture Ireland.
“Our cultural identity was central to the
aspirations and motivation of 1916 as
embodied by the presence of several poets
among the rebels, and the simultaneous
artistic ferment, encompassing song, literature, theatre and journalism, which fuelled
the nationalist cause,” Irish Senator Labhrás
Ó Murchú, director-general of Comhaltas
Ceoltóirí Éireann, said.
The show was announced as programme
for Celtic Connections 2016 was launched
by artistic director, Donald Shaw. From
Thursday January 14 to Sunday January 31,
2500 musicians from around the world will
gather in Glasgow for 18 days of concerts,
ceilidhs, talks, art exhibitions, workshops,
free events, late night sessions and a host of
special one-off musical collaborations.
Stars of world, folk and roots music, who
will perform on 26 stages at venues across
the city, include Rickie Lee Jones, Lau, The
Unthanks, Béla Fleck, Moving Hearts,
Robert Plant, Lucinda Williams, Admiral
Fallow, Toumani Diabaté, Karine Polwart,
Boys of the Lough, and Larry Carlton.
With artists from Inner Mongolia to
Armagh, Senegal to Italy, and Brittany to
the Outer Hebrides and Southern Manitoba
performing at the festival in 2016, Celtic
Connections remains a hotbed of musical
talent from cultures and countries from
across the globe.
“Celtic Connections is rooted in a love of
traditional, folk and world music,” Donald
Shaw said. “Since our earliest days the passion,
the skill, and the excitement that you find at
a live concert at Celtic Connections has
inspired us to put together the programme
each year.
“For 2016, we are bringing superstars and
cult heroes, new talent, and artists who were
legends long before the first Celtic
Connections was staged.
“This year we weave stories of pilgrimage,
of crossing continents, we celebrate
anniversaries and the Auld Alliance. We
have a lot of amazing concerts to pack into
18 days. Join us when Celtic Connections
returns next January.”
Councillor Archie Graham, chair of
Glasgow Life, added: “Glasgow is a
welcoming city that is proud of its heritage
and embraces diversity. Each January we
host a festival, which in many ways, mirrors
our home city.
“Celtic Connections brings together
musicians from across the world for a
celebration of musical traditions, the best of
contemporary folk and world music, and the
ways in which different musical cultures
interweave and inspire and, always, entertain.”
Ireland 2016 performed by The Chieftains
and special guests takes place on January
15, 2016 at 7:30pm at the Glasgow Royal
Concert Hall. Tickets are priced between
£27-£30 and can be bought online at:
http://www.celticconnections.com or
from the Concert Hall box office on 0141
353 8000
Series of screenings shine a light on Easter Rising leaders
PHIL BOSWELL MP
Coatbridge, Chryston
and Bellshill
November 6, 11am, Glenboig Community Centre.
12noon, Stepps Cultural Centre.
SCOTLAND’S Easter Rising
commemorations will
continue apace next month
ahead of a big year of
celebrations and memorials
as the role of veteran Fenian
and pivotal figure in the rising
Tom Clarke is examined in
Glasgow.
The event marks the first in a
series of screenings of the
acclaimed Seachtar na Cásca
series—organised in partnership
by The 1916 Rising Centenary
Committee (Scotland) and the
Pádraig Pearse Branch of
Conradh na Gaeilge.
The screenings are described
as the ‘ideal opportunity to
learn about the seven leaders
November 13, 11am, Chryston Cultural Centre. 12noon,
Moodiesburn Pivot Centre.
November 20, 11am, Burnhead Community Centre.
12noon, Bellshill Cultural Centre.
November 27, 11am, Old Monkland Community Centre.
1.30pm, St Patrick’s Church, Coatbridge.
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HOLYTOWN THE FIRST MONDAY OF
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BURNHEAD THE LAST MONDAY
OF THE MONTH AT
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NEWARTHILL COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY CENTRE
AT 7.15PM/7.45PM
PLEASE CONTACT LOCAL OFFICE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
AND AN APPOINTMENT PLEASE TELEPHONE 01698 304501
SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY
MICHAEL MCMAHON MSP
for the Rising, and will be
screened on Sunday December
6, at 7pm. Admission to the
screenings is free and they will
be followed by a discussion
about each of the patriots.
The venue is the Centre for
Contemporary Arts (CCA) at
350 Sauchiehall Street,
Glasgow G2 3JD.
November 28, 11am, ASDA Coatbridge. 12.30pm,
Bargeddie Community Centre.
FOR UDDINGSTON & BELLSHILL CONSTITUENCY
who were executed for their
part in Easter Rising [and] find
out what brought them on the
road to revolution and why it is
so important to keep their
memories alive.’
The first in the series is
about the veteran Fenian Tom
Clarke, who of all the leaders
was arguably most responsible
!""#"
Drop-in Surgery with SIOBHAN
McMAHON, MSP for Central Scotland.
Surgeries take place on the 1st Monday
of every month at the @Home Centre
Airdrie: 4-5pm (2 Clark St, Airdrie).
No appointment necessary. Call 0131
348 6389 for more information.
SIOBHAN McMAHON MSP SURGERY TIMES
SNP Councillor Surgery Times
Julie McAnulty
Coatbridge North & Glenboig
December 1, 12.30-1.30pm, St
Patrick’s Church Hall. 5.30-6.30 pm,
Townhead Primary School.
December 8, 11am-12noon,
Glenboig Community Centre.
4.30-5.30pm, Municipal Buildings,
Kildonan St.
Drop-in Surgery with SIOBHAN McMAHON,
MSP for Central Scotland.
Surgery takes place on the 2nd Monday of
every month at the following venue and time:
Hillhouse & Earnock Community Centre: 5.306.30pm (121 Hillhouse Rd, Hamilton)
No appointment necessary. Call 0131 348 6389
for more information.
Paul Welsh
Coatbridge West
No surgery in December at Old
Monkland Community Centre.
December 4, 5.45pm, St Kevin's/
Bargeddie Primary School.
December 17, 5.30pm, St Augustine’s
Primary School.
(HOME VISITS ARE AVAILABLE TO THOSE WITH MOBILITY RESTRICTIONS)
THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
NEWS
5
Strengthening business links
between Scotland and Ireland
Former soldier arrested over Bloody Sunday
I DAN McGINTY
THE families of the victims of the
massacre on Bloody Sunday have
welcomed the news of the arrest of a
former soldier by officers investigating
the events.
The 66-year-old is thought to be Soldier
J, who appeared before the Saville Inquiry,
which concluded that the ‘immediate
responsibility’ for the deaths lay with the
soldiers whose ‘unjustifiable firing’ led to
14 men being killed.
Later released on bail, the soldier was
arrested in Belfast as part of the ongoing
investigation, and his arrest led to hopes
being raised once again for the families that
justice will done and charges brought
against those responsible for the deaths of
their loved ones in 1972.
Kate Nash, whose 19-year-old brother,
William, was killed on Bloody Sunday,
spoke of how she was informed of the arrest
and welcomed the development.
“I had a call from the police liaison officer
that deals with our family,” she explained.
“She said that they had arrested a soldier
and that he was being questioned. She said
she wanted the family to know first before it
went out on the news.
“She said he was being questioned in
relation to the death of my brother, William
and two others: Michael McDaid, John
Young and the attempted murder of my father.
“I started to shake. I couldn't believe it. I
became very emotional. To see a soldier
even being questioned has truly shocked me.
I never thought it would get to this. There is
a flicker of hope. It’s a very positive step.”
The news was also welcomed by the firm
of solicitors representing the families. In a
statement, Peter Madden of Madden and
Finucane Solicitors described the arrest as
‘a very welcome development.’
However, despite the cautious optimism
among families that justice may finally be
done, more than 20,000 people across Britain
reacted to the news of the arrest by signing
a petition calling for any soldiers accused of
involvement in the massacre to being given
a pardon which would allow them to escape
questioning, arrest and punishment.
The petition specifically requests that UK
Home Secretary Theresa May grants ‘legal
pardons for all troops involved in Bloody
Sunday’ and for all ‘soldiers who were present
on that fateful day to be exonerated.’
It follows a move by seven of the soldiers
interviewed by Lord Saville—identified
only as soldiers B, N, O, Q, R, U and V—to
challenge the way the PSNI are able to
investigate the deaths on Bloody Sunday.
Despite these efforts, however, the
attempts to pursue justice for those killed in
Derry on Bloody Sunday (above) look set to
continue, with the officer leading the
investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Ian
Harrison, saying that the arrest ‘marked a
new phase in the overall investigation,
which would continue for some time.’
Chase away the winter chills with turf from McAndrew’s Store
THE best antidote to cold
winter nights is a roaring open
fire and there is nothing to
beat the comfort of the
unique aroma and warmth
of the traditional Irish fuel
of turf (peat).
In the village of Belleek,
where Fermanagh meets
Donegal, McAndrew’s Store
offers a range of turf and peat
briquette products. Turf is
available in hessian sacks,
which can be personalised and
in gift sets matched with
whiskey, Guinness or tea.
The store was developed by
the McAndrew family to give
people who were seeking to
recapture the Ireland of their
childhood or summer holidays
the opportunity to purchase
Irish turf delivered direct to
them by courier.
“The business has been
growing steadily over the past
couple of years with a strong
customer base established in
the Irish diaspora living in
England, Scotland and Wales,”
Martin McAndrew explained.
“When we first started, our peak
sales were in the winter months
and the summers were quieter,
but more and more people are
now discovering that turf is a
safe fuel for the firepit and
chiminea on the patio with the
result that this summer has
been especially busy.”
As a cottage industry
McAndrew’s Store places great
emphasis on customer care. All
the family pitch in, with the
junior members of the clan
involved in packaging and
out in the bog.
“People like that when they
phone us they don’t have to
press 1 for sales and so on and
their call is answered by a real
person” Martin said. “We take
pride in building lasting customer
relationships and repeat business.”
Martin is looking forward to
growing the business further.
“With so many people with
Irish roots living in the UK we
are confident of connecting
more people with Ireland with
our turf.”
I Chase away the winter chills
with traditional Irish turf in the
comfort of your own home. To
learn more or to order visit
www.mcandrewstore.com or
call: 00 353 868611084
THE appointment of a leader
for the new Scottish trade
and business team operating
from the British Embassy in
Dublin was announced by
Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary
for Culture, Europe and
External Affairs on a visit to
to Dublin.
Fiona Hyslop was in the
Irish capital for the European
Movement conference, and
while there unveiled John
Webster as the man who will
lead the work of the new
innovation and investment hub,
which will open in January.
Mr Webster, who is well
known in Ireland for his work
in the British Embassy, will lead
a dedicated Scottish team to
form new and enhance business
relationships on both sides of
the Irish Sea as part of the
Scottish Government’s new
efforts to support high-value
economic, academic and
innovation partnerships
between Scotland and Ireland.
Ms Hyslop (above with Irish
exporters) also used the
announcement as a chance to
reinforce the importance to her
government of continued
membership of the EU.
“The benefits of EU
membership to Scotland and
Ireland stretch far and wide,”
she said. “The EU is a vital
export market for Scottish
companies and accounted for
nearly half of our international
exports in 2013. It’s also
estimated that over 300,000
Scottish jobs are either directly
or indirectly supported by
exports within the EU.
“Investment from Ireland is
vital to Scotland and supports
around 6000 jobs. Exports from
Scotland to Ireland also support
the Scottish economy to the
tune of £920 million. The
Dublin hub will provide firms
with additional support to help
them grow. Our dedicated staff
will also have the expertise to
give them an insight into what
businesses are looking for.
“John Webster is a well-known
diplomat here in Ireland and I
welcome his appointment. John
brings a wealth of experience
to the Dublin hub and I’m sure
his team will work well under
his leadership. I look forward to
returning to Ireland next year to
discuss their achievements.”
7+(&2%%/(5
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The 17th Jimmy McHugh
Memorial Concert
ZZZWKHFREEOHUFRXN
02178(6&/26(':('7+8)5,6$7681&/26('
McAndrew’s Store
Enjoy some Irish nostalgia with a real
turf fire
SATURDAY JANUARY 9 2016 @ 8pm
WOODSIDE HALLS, GLENFARG ST, GLASGOW
PERFORMERS
Delivery throughout the UK
order online at
www.mcandrewstore.com
e: info@mcandrewstore.com
t : 00353 86861
868611084
1084
connect with us online
Play or learn to play 25, the popular Irish card game. Men,
women and children welcome.
Kevin Boyle (London/
Donegal): Piano/Guitar
Our small group play every Thursday night in Govanhill,
throughout the winter. Join in the fun, hear the local gossip
and from Ireland, it’s a great night’s craic. Usually there’s tea,
coffeee and home baking if we’re lucky.
Aisling Ni Choisdealbha
(Tipperary): Fiddle
If you’re interested call Brian on: 0141 423 2003
Seamus Meehan (Dublin):
Accordion
Tickets £15 from
Tron Theatre Box Office
0141 552 4267
or 0141 569 3557 and
07855 292062
CARD PLAYERS WANTED
Kevin Mitchell (Derry):
Singer
PERSONAL AD
Patsy Moloney (Limerick):
Flute
E-mail: mchugh@
irish-music.fsnet.co.uk
Website: www.
jimmymchugh.co.uk
Petite, attractive,
youthful lady in her 50s
seeks single gent
(40s-50s).
Please reply to:
Reference AB, c/o The Irish
Voice, Unit A12,
Whitecrook Business
Centre, 78 Whitecrook St,
Clydebank G81 1QT
Irish desire for continued partnership
6
O
THE IRISH VOICE
COMMENT
NOVEMBER 2015
Irish Ambassador to the UK, DAN MULHALL, explains Ireland’s position with regard to a possible British exit from the EU
N OCTOBER 27, I gave evidence at
the House of Lords’ EU Committee
offering an Irish perspective on the
current British debate about its
future in the European Union. I spoke
in response to questions from the committee
members. Here is a summary of the points I made.
In Ireland, we naturally take an active interest
in the current EU debate in Britain. This is
because, for Ireland, EU membership is a core
national priority to which we are irrevocably
committed. It is clearly very important for us that
our nearest neighbour should continue to be one
of our partners within the EU.
Among the EU member states, we have probably
the most intensive, multi-stranded relationship
with the UK. We are the only country with which
the UK has a land border and we have extensive,
mutually-beneficial economic links, with substantial
two-way flows of trade, investment and tourism
between our two countries. Naturally, we would
be concerned about a UK exit from the EU and its
potential implications for British-Irish relations,
which have never been better than they are today,
and for Northern Ireland.
We have experience of situations where Ireland
required an accommodation from our EU partners,
for example prior to our second referendum on the
Lisbon Treaty when we sought a response to the
public concerns that had emerged. On that occasion,
we found that our partners were willing to listen
to us and after a process of negotiation to provide
the assurances and adjustments we needed. In my
experience, the EU has a flair for achieving
common ground between the views of its member
states, even when their positions appear to be at
odds with each other.
A vision for the EU’s future can only be viable
when all member states have ownership of it.
This requires dialogue and the reconciliation of
different perspectives. Our current vision of the
EU’s mission and ethos is encapsulated in the
treaties and in the policies we have pursued together,
but these horizons can always be adjusted when
there are good reasons for doing so and agreement
can be reached.
We share a desire to see the EU function as
effectively as possible under the terms of the
treaties so as to best serve the interests of our
peoples. We will be looking to accommodate UK
concerns because we want the UK to remain
members of the union within which we have been
partners for more than four decades.
T
he desire for continued partnership with the
UK within the EU is widely shared in Ireland
—including across the political spectrum
and by a range of interest groups. Speaking in
London last month, our Foreign Minister Charlie
Flanagan said that Ireland would be supportive of
the UK in helping ‘to achieve reasonable reform
objectives,’ but that we must also be respectful of
our 26 other partners.
Ireland has one of the most open economies in
the world and we depend heavily on being
competitive in world markets. For this reason, we
often see eye-to-eye with the UK in EU discussions.
For example, during our EU Presidency, we
prioritised the completion of the single market
especially in the services’ sector, launching the
negotiations on TTIP and exploiting the potential
of the digital economy.
The phrase ‘ever closer union’ has never been
the focus of particular attention in Ireland, but we
recognise that it is a contentious issue in this
country. The UK’s concerns have already been
acknowledged by the European Council in 2014
when it was noted that ‘the concept of ever closer
union allows for different paths of integration for
different countries, allowing those that want to
deepen integration to move ahead, while respecting
the wish of those who do not want to deepen
any further.’
We are a member of the Euro Zone, but we also
attach particular importance to ensuring the
integrity of the single market. It is clear that the
Euro Zone must be able to take decisions designed
to improve the functioning of our currency, but in
Ireland we would certainly not want to do anything
to damage the single market that has delivered such
significant economic advantage to our countries.
W
e have three broad reasons for being
concerned about negative implications
of a British exit from the EU.
The first relates to the positive impact of EU
membership on British-Irish relations, which have
never been better than they are today. A British
exit could complicate relations between us, for
example in the area of trade where almost £50
billion worth of goods and services crossed the Irish
Sea in both directions last year. This benefits both
economies as our trade is relatively balanced.
Even a modest diminution of that trade would
have negative effects for Ireland—and indeed for
the UK as Ireland is one of your most important
export markets. We reckon that some 200,000
British jobs are dependent on exports to Ireland.
Our second concern relates to Northern Ireland
where the two governments have a shared
responsibility for nurturing the peace process. EU
membership has I believe facilitated political
progress in Northern Ireland. The EU has been a
steadfast source of political and financial support
for the peace process. Moreover, the single market,
coupled with the success of the Good Friday
Agreement, has enhanced contact and cooperation
between north and south in Ireland. Anything
that risks reversing that trend would be deeply
unwelcome. Any suggestion of the possible need
for a strengthened land border between north and
south would be an unwelcome development.
Our third concern relates to the positive impact
the UK has brought to bear on EU discussions
throughout the decades of its membership.
Although there are some differences between us,
Ireland tends to see eye-to-eye with the UK on a
wide range of policy issues and we would miss
the UK’s influence around the negotiating table.
Given the extent of the interests we have at
stake in this issue, we have a responsibility to
state our views clearly. The Taoiseach, Enda
Kenny (above with UK Prime Minister David
Cameron) outlined our position during a speech in
Cambridge in September, as did our Foreign
Minister, Charlie Flanagan, at Chatham House a
few days later. While completely recognising that
this is a decision for voters here to make, as
neighbours and friends we have a responsibility to
highlight the particular British-Irish dimension to
this vital UK decision on its future in Europe.
I Dan Mulhall is Ireland’s Ambassador in
London
Do you have a comment to make on IRELAND, THE UK AND THE EU? If so, write to: Letters, The Irish Voice, Unit
A12, Whitecrook Business Centre, 78 Whitecrook St, Clydebank, Scotland, G81 1QT or e-mail: info@theirishvoice.com
C
EDITORIAL
Praise for Br Walfrid, Maureen
O’Hara and our latest sponsors
ALLS to reexamine the life
and work of
Brother Walfrid
were made this
month, with the hope being
nurtured that one day the
Sligo man could be
recognised one day as a saint.
Fr Tom White of St Mary’s,
Calton—where Celtic FC
were founded—made the call
during a Mass to commemorate
the founders of the club. He
asked that the Irish community
do Brother Walfrid justice in
remembering him.
Everyone who knows
the story of Celtic knows
Walfrid’s role, but how many
know the whole story of his
work in Glasgow, and later
in London? We must be wary
of viewing him only as the
founder of Celtic, when the
greatest part of his life was
not devoted to the foundation
of the football club, but to
tireless work among the poor.
It is up to those who wish
to truly remember the great
Glasgow Irishman to make
sure the real story of Brother
Walfrid is known.
T
he Irish community in
Scotland joined their
counterparts across the
world in mourning Maureen
O’Hara this month.
Her place in the hearts of
the diaspora was secured by
her performance in The Quiet
Man, but her career deserves
to be recognised and celebrated
for much more than her best
remembered role.
However, her portrayal of
Mary-Kate Danaher in John
Ford’s classic was so iconic
that generations born after the
film was made have become
aficionados of her work.
She was a fine actress, and
will be fondly remembered
across the world by the Irish
diaspora.
T
his month our edition
has kindly been
sponsored by Maurice
Friel of M Friel Groundworks.
Well known in the Irish
community for his work with
Tír Conaill Harps GAC, we
are proud to be associated
with Maurice and thank him
for his continued support of.
It is only through such
support that we are able to
bring the best of the news
from the Irish community in
Scotland and provide a
platform to discuss and
analyse the various issues
that are affecting the Irish
in Scotland, at home
and across the world today.
The views expressed in our comment
section come from informed
individuals and/or groups to foster
debate and are not necessarily those
of The Irish Voice
Contact one of our team with
your news stories/features
DAN McGINTY
GERARD GOUGH
MARY McGINTY
mary@theirishvoice.com
For general enquiries, letters to
The Irish Voice, subscriptions or to
advertise with us
E-mail: info@theirishvoice.com
Call: 07711849234
Write to: The Irish Voice, Unit A12, Whitecrook
Business Centre, 78 Whitecrook St, Clydebank G81 1QT
THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
WOMEN’S VOICES
7
Government’s financial
focus wide of the mark
F
Shannon
McGurin
LICKING through
the channels the
other day, I came
across yet another
TV show focusing on
those who receive benefits. At
first I didn’t take much notice,
as programmes such as Benefits
Britain regularly appear on our
screens, but it was the advert
that caught my attention this
time. Channel 5 were advertising
their ‘hit series’ of Life on the
Dole, showing a man whose
routine is to get up, have a
drink, collect his benefits, then
have another drink. Now, what
really gets to me is that a lot of
working people will see that
and think everybody who
receives benefits is like this.
The focus of these programmes
is on those who are abusing the
benefits system. The mainstream
media, carefully selects people to
film who will generate outrage
and anger at those who need
help from the welfare state.
I can’t help but think that
this type of TV suits the UK
Government’s agenda at the
moment. George Osborne’s
proposed plans to cut the likes
of tax credits has received a lot
of criticism—and rightly so—
but I worry that the media’s
portrayal of people on benefits
will impact people’s views. I
fear these shows encourage the
public to get their facts wrong
by promoting a false image of
people on benefits instead of
reality. This documentation of
people who abuse the benefit
system is only a small percentage
of society. There are still plenty of
hardworking people and families
who genuinely are in need.
Myself, my partner and our
son are just one of the many
families under threat of austerity
cuts. We just about manage to
get by from working a full-time
and part-time job and still need
some help from tax credits. In
our household we have a
degree and an apprenticeship
between us and are extremely
eager to find a good job, but, at
the moment, things aren’t going
our way despite putting in
every effort to better ourselves.
What annoys me is that you
don’t see situations like ours on
such programmes as producers
prefer to glamorise the minority
who exploit the benefits system.
If you did people might be
sympathetic, and this wouldn’t
suit the crippling budget about
to be put into place.
After reading a recent article
by SNP MP Mhairi Black, I
would have to agree with her
question, what are broadcasters
doing about tax dodging? Where
are the ‘Life as a tax dodger’
programmes? The UK
Government estimated tax
evasion to be £35 billion each
year, but it is thought to be
much closer to £119.4 billion.
This is an incredible amount of
money that could go a long
way to helping those living in
poverty in the UK and create a
fair social security system for
those who need support for
whatever reason. I know that
there are issues that need to be
addressed with so-called ‘benefit
cheats’ in the poorer sections of
our society, but the government
should be going after the big
earners who avoid paying their
taxes first.
Shannon McGurin is a 21year-old multimedia journalism
graduate from Glasgow
Caledonian University. She has
family in Ballintra in Donegal
and is passionate about
football, Scottish politics and
being the best mum she can
possibly be
Heritage, history and a whole lot more from the IHF
D
Isabelle Gray
ANCING has
always been an
important part of
our Irish heritage
and recently we
brought that back to Glasgow by
hosting our first ever tea dance.
Funded by the South East
Integration Network, the dance
was held in St Francis Centre,
Gorbals on Wednesday October
28 and a good time was had by
all. Music was provided by
Glasgow band Swing Sensation
and we welcomed guests from
the Crossmyloof Resource
Centre, Bankhall Court and
members of the Maureen Cope
Community Hall in Castlemilk,
whose members seemed to win
most of the raffle prizes.
Our dance was such a success
that we already have plans to
hold another one—on Friday
November 20 from 1.30-3.30pm
at St Francis Centre. Anyone is
welcome to pull on their dancing
shoes and enjoy the live music
and free catering.
Meanwhile, our history talk
series had another success on
Saturday November 5 at the
Mitchell Library, with a great
talk on Elizabeth O’Farrell by
Janey McColl—a member
of the 1916 Centenary
Commemorative Committee.
The next talk in the series
will take place on Saturday
December 12 from 1.303.30pm at the Mitchell Library
and the topic of ‘The National
Foresters Benefit Society’ and
will be delivered by Joe Fodey,
who is a historical researcher
and whose grandfather was a
member of the Irish National
Foresters in Ireland. We hope
this will be another interesting
event and is open to everyone,
so please come and join us.
T
he Irish Heritage
Foundation will also be
holding our AGM on
Saturday November 28 from
1.30-3.30pm at the Mitchell
Library.
At the AGM we will have
two presentations—one by
Martin Doherty, MP on the
work of the All Party
Parliamentary Group on Irish
in Britain and how it is
important for Irish community
in Scotland to engage with this
group. Our new Vice-Consul of
Ireland to Scotland, Ms
Anne-Marie Flynn will also
provide an insight into the
work of the Irish Consulate
based in Edinburgh. Both of
these presentations will provide
an insight to how the Irish
community living in Scotland
can engage with governments
in Ireland and at Westminster.
Also at the event, we will
have a presentation on the work
of the 1916 Centenary
Commemorative Committee
and the exciting calendar of
events which will be happening
next year. After all of these
presentations, the official
business of the AGM will
take place.
If you want to find out more
about the work of the Irish
Heritage Foundation or how
you can become involved,
please contact me or join us on
the day. We will also be
entertained by our traditional
music programme pupils from
Holycross Primary School and
Holyrood Secondary School.
There will also be a variety
of videos showing some of the
work of the Irish Heritage
Foundation on the day, which
will hopefully give a greater
insight into our work.
We will also be delivering
two consultation events funded
by the Fairer Scotland fund,
which will assist the Scottish
Government to create a fairer
Scotland in the future. So if
you want to contribute to this
consultation please join us on
either Wednesday November
18 from 1.30-3.30 pm or on
Tuesday November 24 from
7-9 pm.
Isabelle Gray is development
Manager for the Irish Heritage
Foundation
If you wish more information
on the groups at the IHF or
more about our work please
contact: isabelle.gray@
irishheritagefoundation.org
or call 0141 424 0465 or
07784083544
Kind sponsors of Isabelle Gray of
the Irish Heritage Foundation’s
monthly column
8
MAUREEN O’HARA
THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
NOVEMBER 2015
THE IRISH VOICE
MAUREEN O’HARA
STAR WAS NO QUIET LADY
F
T
BILL HEANEY and HUGH JORDAN pay tribute to the late, great Irish actress Maureen O’Hara and speak of the star’s Scottish connection
I BILL HEANEY
O
’Hara was as forthright in real life as she was
passionate on screen. She trained at the Abbey
Theatre in Dublin and was spotted, after a London
screen test by Charles Laughton. Her first film was Jamaica
I
n 2004, O’Hara released her autobiography ‘Tis
Herself. In the same year, she received a Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Irish Film and
Television Academy in Dublin and the Board of
Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences voted to present O’Hara with an honorary award
recognising her lifetime of achievement.
O’Hara loved the Irish and the Irish loved her, especially
the Irish at home and the millions who are part of the
diaspora across Europe, the US and Australia for whom
The Quiet Man has become a cult movie.
Her photograph often adorned the walls of many of the
homes of the Irish in Scotland along with their other
heroes of the 1950s and 1960s Pope Pius XII and
President John F Kennedy.
O’Hara kept a large house in Ireland, where she had
made The Quiet Man with Wayne in Connemara, Galway,
and she launched the Maureen O’Hara foundation in
Glengarriff, Cork, five years ago.
M
aureen O’Hara was the eldest of six children. Her
sister Peggy became a nun and joined the Sisters
of Charity. She worked for a time at the St
Margaret of Scotland Hospice which the nuns founded in
Clydebank over 60 years ago. The late Sister Margaret
Mary, who had her sister Maureen’s stunning good looks,
was known as Auntie Peggy to members of the family,
some of whom are still in Ireland.
Irish President Michael D Higgins, who was on an official
visit to the US, said O’Hara would be remembered as an
‘outstanding and versatile actress whose work, especially
in film, will endure for many years to come.’
O’Hara, who was awarded an honorary Oscar last year,
was not buried in her native Ireland, but at Arlington National
Cemetery near Washington, DC, next to her husband, the
US Navy pilot General Charles Blair.
Her beloved west Cork home was sold just last month
for about €1.6 million after she moved permanently to the
US to be close to her family.
The Quiet Man Bridge at Maam Cross in Connemara—
which featured in the film—was at the centre of a
planning row earlier this year when plans were revealed to
demolish it. It was saved however after a worldwide
internet petition to Galway County Council, who designated
it a protected structure.
It will now stand as a permanent memorial to Maureen
O’Hara and the other stars who made The Quiet Man, the
most popular film ever to have been made in Ireland.
I HUGH JORDAN
HE death of Hollywood star
Maureen O’Hara caused a wave
of nostalgia to sweep over the
country as we looked back
towards a more romantic Ireland.
Aficionados of The Quiet Man—those odd
individuals who know every word of the
movie script, but have never read as much as
a sentence of the Maurice Walsh novel—had
a field day. Treason was talked, sticks to
beat the nice lady with were produced and
impressions of Squire Danaher—aka actor
Victor McLaglen—were performed in pubs
and bars up and down the country.
The Quiet Man—and in particular O’Hara’s
superb portrayal of heroine Mary Kate Danaher
—put her native country on the map as far as
the Hollywood film industry was concerned.
It was the simplicity of a life many Irish
families experienced in the not too distant past
that appealed to millions around the world.
As a small child, I was taken to see the
film and for many years, I firmly believed
daily life in Ireland was just the way it was
in The Quiet Man. After all, my grandmother
Hanna Sheridan—born in Croaghan above
Rathmullen on the Fanad Peninsula in
Donegal, had been brought up in a farmstead
not dissimilar from the picturesque White O’
Morn cottage in the film. She had come to
Clydebank as a 14-year-old girl unable to
read or write, but a reasonable intellect and
hard work soon rectified that. Hanna married
my grandfather John Jordan, a riveter by
trade. He was one of a large family of boys
from Ramelton, just six miles away from
Hanna’s home place in Donegal.
Life in the west
of Scotland was
hard for Irish
immigrants in the
late 19th and early
20th centuries. And
although prospects
were better than
back in Ireland,
unemployment and
religious bigotry
were obstacles to
be endured and overcome.
Talk of Ireland and its political turmoil were
topics for discussion in many households.
My father told me he remembered listening
to Maude Gonne MacBride—the beautiful
raven-haired wife of Major John MacBride,
a co-signatory of the Easter 1916 Proclamation
—making a speech outside the Town Hall.
In the days before rock ’n’ roll, thick
Bakelite records of Irish tenor John McCormack
belted out ballads, bringing listeners back to
the places in Ireland they had known as
children. Cutting the Corn in Creeslough the
Day, Teddy O’Neill and the Homes of
Donegal were firm favourites. And The
Quiet Man was the icing on the cake. In
Maureen O’Hara, the Irish had finally
arrived and there would be no going back.
S
ixty-five years ago, in the summer just
past, the Irish Sisters of Charity came
to Clydebank. With the help of the
largely Irish community, they began fundraising
and before long, they purchased a large house
at Millbrae Crescent, where they established
St Margaret’s Hospice for the terminally ill
and dying. Today, under the guidance of its
chief executive Sister Rita Dawson, St
Margaret’s of Scotland Hospice—as it is
now known—is part and parcel of life and
death in the Glasgow area.
Every Christmas morning, Neil Lennon—
the Lurgan-born former Celtic player and
manager—visits the hospice and he spends a
few minutes with every single patient. And
Ally McCoist, the former Rangers star, is also
a great supporter of Sr Rita and her staff.
Both my grandmothers, Hanna Sheridan
from Donegal and Maria Monaghan, whose
own mother was from Lurgan, Armagh, died
peacefully in St Margaret’s. Along with the
rest of my family, I often visited them there
in their final days and hours. But what I
didn’t know, until I was informed by my
school friend and journalist colleague Bill
Heaney—associate editor of The Irish
Voice—was that one of the nuns looking
after my grannies was, in fact, a sister of
Maureen O’Hara!
Born Margaret Mary Fitzsimons in Ranelagh,
Dublin, in 1919, Sister Peggy (above left)
was one year older than her famous sister.
By all accounts she was even more beautiful
than the flame-haired Maureen.
Sr Peggy dedicated her life to the work of
the Irish Sisters of Charity. And when she left
Clydebank, she went to the US to work as a
school principal for many years. She died in
California two years ago.
I am still having great difficulty coming to
terms with the fact that as I watched the
beautiful Maureen O’Hara fight the piece
out with John Wayne in The Quiet Man, her
sister Peggy was looking after both my
grannies in the hospice. The world is indeed
a small place.
GREAT MID-WEEK OFFERS
*Terms & Conditions Apply
ILM star Maureen O’Hara, once regarded as
amongst the world’s most beautiful women,
died recently aged 95. She was the Irish-born
actress who—with John Wayne in the John
Ford film The Quiet Man and other box office
hits—filled Scotland’s cinemas to capacity in the 1950s.
O’Hara revelled in playing passionate heroines in the
golden era of Hollywood. She was one of the most talented
film stars of her generation, a huge box-office draw who
scooped up award after award during her long and
spectacular career, although she never won an Oscar. The
fact that she was awarded an honorary Oscar at the end of
her career, presented to her by her fellow stars, Liam
Neeson and Clint Eastwood, never really made up for that
oversight and was one of the very few disappointments in
her career.
Her vivid auburn hair, sparkling green eyes, glistening
white teeth, generous red lips, perfect features and hourglass figure made her the queen of newly-introduced
technicolour.
Apart from The Quiet Man—in which the chemistry
between O’Hara and her co-star Wayne was enough to
melt the ice creams of the patrons in the stalls—she made
a total of five movies with the megastar, whom she
admired and adored.
“I was tough,” she said. “I was tall. I was strong. I didn’t
take any nonsense from anybody. He was tough, he was
tall, he was strong and he didn’t take any nonsense from
anybody. As a man and a human being, I adored him.”
Other films which made her famous included How
Green Was My Valley, Jamaica Inn, The Hunchback of
Notre Dame, The Foxes of Harrow and The Black Swan.
Inn, made in 1938 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Laughton was so pleased with her performance that he
cast her opposite him in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
in 1939.
She then starred in How Green Was My Valley, which
won the 1941 Academy Award for Best Picture. Six years
later she made Miracle On 34th Street, which became a
Christmas Day classic.
O’Hara’s first love was singing and, for two decades
from 1960, she was a guest on musical variety shows with
Perry Como, Andy Williams, Betty Grable and others. In
1960, she starred on Broadway in the hit musical
Christine, for which she won a host of awards.
In 1939, at the age of 19, she secretly married Englishman
George H Brown, a film producer. The marriage was
annulled in 1941. Later that year, she married American
film director William Houston Price, but that ended in
1953 as a result of his alcohol abuse. They had one child,
a daughter, Bronwyn, who survives her mother.
O’Hara had taken out US citizenship in 1946 and she
married her third husband, American Charles F Blair, Jr,
on March 12, 1968. Blair was a pioneer of transatlantic
aviation. He died in 1978 in an air accident and she took
charge of the company.
For her contributions to the film industry, O’Hara has a
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1993, she was
inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City.
Free wine
for tables of
6 or more*
Gift for
the group
booker
Delicious
traditional
menu
44 West George street, Glasgow G2 1DH
www.waxyoconnors.co.uk
Waxysglasgow
@waxysglasgow
9
8
MAUREEN O’HARA
THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
NOVEMBER 2015
THE IRISH VOICE
MAUREEN O’HARA
STAR WAS NO QUIET LADY
F
T
BILL HEANEY and HUGH JORDAN pay tribute to the late, great Irish actress Maureen O’Hara and speak of the star’s Scottish connection
I BILL HEANEY
O
’Hara was as forthright in real life as she was
passionate on screen. She trained at the Abbey
Theatre in Dublin and was spotted, after a London
screen test by Charles Laughton. Her first film was Jamaica
I
n 2004, O’Hara released her autobiography ‘Tis
Herself. In the same year, she received a Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Irish Film and
Television Academy in Dublin and the Board of
Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences voted to present O’Hara with an honorary award
recognising her lifetime of achievement.
O’Hara loved the Irish and the Irish loved her, especially
the Irish at home and the millions who are part of the
diaspora across Europe, the US and Australia for whom
The Quiet Man has become a cult movie.
Her photograph often adorned the walls of many of the
homes of the Irish in Scotland along with their other
heroes of the 1950s and 1960s Pope Pius XII and
President John F Kennedy.
O’Hara kept a large house in Ireland, where she had
made The Quiet Man with Wayne in Connemara, Galway,
and she launched the Maureen O’Hara foundation in
Glengarriff, Cork, five years ago.
M
aureen O’Hara was the eldest of six children. Her
sister Peggy became a nun and joined the Sisters
of Charity. She worked for a time at the St
Margaret of Scotland Hospice which the nuns founded in
Clydebank over 60 years ago. The late Sister Margaret
Mary, who had her sister Maureen’s stunning good looks,
was known as Auntie Peggy to members of the family,
some of whom are still in Ireland.
Irish President Michael D Higgins, who was on an official
visit to the US, said O’Hara would be remembered as an
‘outstanding and versatile actress whose work, especially
in film, will endure for many years to come.’
O’Hara, who was awarded an honorary Oscar last year,
was not buried in her native Ireland, but at Arlington National
Cemetery near Washington, DC, next to her husband, the
US Navy pilot General Charles Blair.
Her beloved west Cork home was sold just last month
for about €1.6 million after she moved permanently to the
US to be close to her family.
The Quiet Man Bridge at Maam Cross in Connemara—
which featured in the film—was at the centre of a
planning row earlier this year when plans were revealed to
demolish it. It was saved however after a worldwide
internet petition to Galway County Council, who designated
it a protected structure.
It will now stand as a permanent memorial to Maureen
O’Hara and the other stars who made The Quiet Man, the
most popular film ever to have been made in Ireland.
I HUGH JORDAN
HE death of Hollywood star
Maureen O’Hara caused a wave
of nostalgia to sweep over the
country as we looked back
towards a more romantic Ireland.
Aficionados of The Quiet Man—those odd
individuals who know every word of the
movie script, but have never read as much as
a sentence of the Maurice Walsh novel—had
a field day. Treason was talked, sticks to
beat the nice lady with were produced and
impressions of Squire Danaher—aka actor
Victor McLaglen—were performed in pubs
and bars up and down the country.
The Quiet Man—and in particular O’Hara’s
superb portrayal of heroine Mary Kate Danaher
—put her native country on the map as far as
the Hollywood film industry was concerned.
It was the simplicity of a life many Irish
families experienced in the not too distant past
that appealed to millions around the world.
As a small child, I was taken to see the
film and for many years, I firmly believed
daily life in Ireland was just the way it was
in The Quiet Man. After all, my grandmother
Hanna Sheridan—born in Croaghan above
Rathmullen on the Fanad Peninsula in
Donegal, had been brought up in a farmstead
not dissimilar from the picturesque White O’
Morn cottage in the film. She had come to
Clydebank as a 14-year-old girl unable to
read or write, but a reasonable intellect and
hard work soon rectified that. Hanna married
my grandfather John Jordan, a riveter by
trade. He was one of a large family of boys
from Ramelton, just six miles away from
Hanna’s home place in Donegal.
Life in the west
of Scotland was
hard for Irish
immigrants in the
late 19th and early
20th centuries. And
although prospects
were better than
back in Ireland,
unemployment and
religious bigotry
were obstacles to
be endured and overcome.
Talk of Ireland and its political turmoil were
topics for discussion in many households.
My father told me he remembered listening
to Maude Gonne MacBride—the beautiful
raven-haired wife of Major John MacBride,
a co-signatory of the Easter 1916 Proclamation
—making a speech outside the Town Hall.
In the days before rock ’n’ roll, thick
Bakelite records of Irish tenor John McCormack
belted out ballads, bringing listeners back to
the places in Ireland they had known as
children. Cutting the Corn in Creeslough the
Day, Teddy O’Neill and the Homes of
Donegal were firm favourites. And The
Quiet Man was the icing on the cake. In
Maureen O’Hara, the Irish had finally
arrived and there would be no going back.
S
ixty-five years ago, in the summer just
past, the Irish Sisters of Charity came
to Clydebank. With the help of the
largely Irish community, they began fundraising
and before long, they purchased a large house
at Millbrae Crescent, where they established
St Margaret’s Hospice for the terminally ill
and dying. Today, under the guidance of its
chief executive Sister Rita Dawson, St
Margaret’s of Scotland Hospice—as it is
now known—is part and parcel of life and
death in the Glasgow area.
Every Christmas morning, Neil Lennon—
the Lurgan-born former Celtic player and
manager—visits the hospice and he spends a
few minutes with every single patient. And
Ally McCoist, the former Rangers star, is also
a great supporter of Sr Rita and her staff.
Both my grandmothers, Hanna Sheridan
from Donegal and Maria Monaghan, whose
own mother was from Lurgan, Armagh, died
peacefully in St Margaret’s. Along with the
rest of my family, I often visited them there
in their final days and hours. But what I
didn’t know, until I was informed by my
school friend and journalist colleague Bill
Heaney—associate editor of The Irish
Voice—was that one of the nuns looking
after my grannies was, in fact, a sister of
Maureen O’Hara!
Born Margaret Mary Fitzsimons in Ranelagh,
Dublin, in 1919, Sister Peggy (above left)
was one year older than her famous sister.
By all accounts she was even more beautiful
than the flame-haired Maureen.
Sr Peggy dedicated her life to the work of
the Irish Sisters of Charity. And when she left
Clydebank, she went to the US to work as a
school principal for many years. She died in
California two years ago.
I am still having great difficulty coming to
terms with the fact that as I watched the
beautiful Maureen O’Hara fight the piece
out with John Wayne in The Quiet Man, her
sister Peggy was looking after both my
grannies in the hospice. The world is indeed
a small place.
GREAT MID-WEEK OFFERS
*Terms & Conditions Apply
ILM star Maureen O’Hara, once regarded as
amongst the world’s most beautiful women,
died recently aged 95. She was the Irish-born
actress who—with John Wayne in the John
Ford film The Quiet Man and other box office
hits—filled Scotland’s cinemas to capacity in the 1950s.
O’Hara revelled in playing passionate heroines in the
golden era of Hollywood. She was one of the most talented
film stars of her generation, a huge box-office draw who
scooped up award after award during her long and
spectacular career, although she never won an Oscar. The
fact that she was awarded an honorary Oscar at the end of
her career, presented to her by her fellow stars, Liam
Neeson and Clint Eastwood, never really made up for that
oversight and was one of the very few disappointments in
her career.
Her vivid auburn hair, sparkling green eyes, glistening
white teeth, generous red lips, perfect features and hourglass figure made her the queen of newly-introduced
technicolour.
Apart from The Quiet Man—in which the chemistry
between O’Hara and her co-star Wayne was enough to
melt the ice creams of the patrons in the stalls—she made
a total of five movies with the megastar, whom she
admired and adored.
“I was tough,” she said. “I was tall. I was strong. I didn’t
take any nonsense from anybody. He was tough, he was
tall, he was strong and he didn’t take any nonsense from
anybody. As a man and a human being, I adored him.”
Other films which made her famous included How
Green Was My Valley, Jamaica Inn, The Hunchback of
Notre Dame, The Foxes of Harrow and The Black Swan.
Inn, made in 1938 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Laughton was so pleased with her performance that he
cast her opposite him in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
in 1939.
She then starred in How Green Was My Valley, which
won the 1941 Academy Award for Best Picture. Six years
later she made Miracle On 34th Street, which became a
Christmas Day classic.
O’Hara’s first love was singing and, for two decades
from 1960, she was a guest on musical variety shows with
Perry Como, Andy Williams, Betty Grable and others. In
1960, she starred on Broadway in the hit musical
Christine, for which she won a host of awards.
In 1939, at the age of 19, she secretly married Englishman
George H Brown, a film producer. The marriage was
annulled in 1941. Later that year, she married American
film director William Houston Price, but that ended in
1953 as a result of his alcohol abuse. They had one child,
a daughter, Bronwyn, who survives her mother.
O’Hara had taken out US citizenship in 1946 and she
married her third husband, American Charles F Blair, Jr,
on March 12, 1968. Blair was a pioneer of transatlantic
aviation. He died in 1978 in an air accident and she took
charge of the company.
For her contributions to the film industry, O’Hara has a
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1993, she was
inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City.
Free wine
for tables of
6 or more*
Gift for
the group
booker
Delicious
traditional
menu
44 West George street, Glasgow G2 1DH
www.waxyoconnors.co.uk
Waxysglasgow
@waxysglasgow
9
10
COLÚN GAEILGE
THE IRISH VOICE
An Teanga Beo
B
ÉIMHÍN Ó DUNAIGH
Oifigeach Forbartha, Conradh Na Gaeilge,
Glaschú
HUEL, a chairde, tá sé níos mó ná
seachtain anois ó a tháinig mé ar ais ó
Oireachtas na Samhna a bhí ar súil, i
mbliana, in Óstán CityWest in iarthar
contae Átha Cliath idir an 28ú de mhí
Dheireadh Fómhair agus an 1ú de mhí na Samhna.
B'é seo mo chéad uair riamh a bheith i láthair ag
an Oireachtas ach thig liom a rá, gan aon amhras,
nach mbeidh sé an uair deireanach!
Thosaigh an tOireachtas mar Féile cultúrtha
aon lae i 1897 agus bíonn sé ar súil gach bliain on
am sin—taobh amuigh 1924 go 1938. I ndiaidh a
aththosú i 1939 le tamaill fhada bhí sé ar súil i
mBaile Átha Cliath, go 1973. I 1974 cuirtear ar súil
é i gCois Farraige, i nGaeltacht Conamara, agus ó
shin ar aghaidh bíonn an tOireachtas ag bogadh
suímh ó bhliain go bliain. Bíonn sé ag bogadh idir
bailte móra m.s. Cill Airne, Chathair na Mart,
agus áiteanna sna Gaeltachtaí m.s. Gaoth Dobhair
agus tá cuma ar an scéal, ó thaobh líon na ndaoine
i láthair de, go bhfuil sé ag dul ó neart go neart.
Is é aidhm an tOireachtas healaíona dúchasacha
na hÉireann, trí mheán na Gaeilge, a cheiliúradh
—idir amhránaíocht, cheol, rince, scéalaíocht
agus dhrámaíocht—ag an fhéile.
Bíonn na comórtais eagsula i lár na féile, mar a
bhí siad ón am a bunaíodh é. Thig leat a rá gurbh
é comórtas Corn Uí Riada mar ‘Corn Domhanda’
fá choinne amhránaíocht ar an Seán-Nós. (Mar
nóta: bhuaigh Briain Danny Minnie Ó Domhnaill,
as Anagaire—a bhí ag Féile na Gaeilge i nGlaschú
i mi Meitheamh—an dara háít sa chomórtas sin i
mbliana.)
Bhí páirt lárnach ag an Oireachtas in athbheochan
damhsa Seán-nós fosta. Anois is iad na comórtais
sin—nó Steip mar a bhearr siad orthu—mar ceann
de bhuaicphointe na féile. Chonaic mise an píosa
deireanach den comórtas sin—an comórtas fá
choinne paistí faoi a 9 agus bhain me an sult as,
caithfidh mé a rá. Is breá liom an damhsa SeanNós fiú go bhfuil a fhios ceart agam anois—i ndiaidh trí ceardlanna—nach bhfuilim ábalta é a
dhéanamh in aon chor!
I
s dócha nach bhfuil an béim céanna ar na
comórtais anois ach sílim sin toisc go mbíonn
a bhfad níos mó imeachtaí eile ar súil ag an
fhéile na laethanta seo m.s. ceolchoirmeacha,
drámaí, oíche grinn, seolta dlúthdhioscaí, cláracha
teilifís agus ráidió á chroladh beo agus Club na
Féile—oíche atá craiceáilte ar fad! Tá an t-uafás
rudaí ag dul ar aghaidh gan dabht ar bith ach níl
As Béarla (In English)
W
EVIN DOWNEY
Irish language and
development officer, The
Gaelic League, Glasgow
ELL friends,
it’s more than
a week now
since I came
back from
Oireachtas na Gaeilge which
was held this year in the
Citywest Hotel in County
Dublin between October 28
and November 1. This was
my first time to attend the
Oireachtas but I can say—
without any doubt—it will not
be the last time.
The Oireachtas began as a
one-day cultural festival in 1897
and has taken place every year
since—outside of 1924 to
1938. After recommencing in
1939 for a long time it was
held in Dublin, until 1973.
Finally in 1974 It was held in
Cois Farraige, in the Connemara
Gaeltacht, and ever since, the
Oireachtas has moved sites
from year-to-year. It moves
between towns such as Killarney,
Westport and Gaeltacht areas
such as Gweedore, and it
certainly appears—from the
numbers attending—that it is
going from strength-to-strength.
The aim of the Oireachtas is
to promote and celebrate the
traditional Irish arts at the festival,
through the Irish language,
such as singing, music, dance,
storytelling and drama.
The competitions are central
to the festival, as they were
from the time of its inception.
You can say that the Corn Uí
Riada competition is the ‘World
Cup’ for Sean-Nós singing.
(NB: Briain Danny Minnie Ó
Domhnaill, from Anagary—
who performed at Conradh na
Gaeilge’s Feile na Gaeilge in
Glasgow in June—was placed
in the competition this year).
The Oireachtas has also
played a key role in revitalising
Sean-nós dancing. Now these
competitions—or Steip as they
called—are seen as one of the
NOVEMBER 2015
sé sin chun a rá nach bhfuil an meas céanna ar
na comórtais.
Bhí sé go hiontach, agus an-spreagúil, a bheith
a measc na mílte Gaeilgeoirí, caithfidh mé a rá.
Thaispeáin sé ‘an Teanga Beo’ agus í go maith
bríomhar. Go hairithe bhí sé ar fheabhas a
fheiceáil í labhartha ag na mílte daoine óga idir
pháistí, dhéagóirí agus mic léinn. Tá daoine ann a
shíleann b'fhéidir go bhfuil barraíocht béim curtha
ar na himeachtaí úra ach ní thig liom aontú le sin
mar is é sin todhchaí na Gaeilge dar liom—na
rudaí tráidisiúnta agus nua-aimseartha ar súil
taobh le taobh .
An rud is mó a mhothaigh mé ná gur thaispeáin
An tOireachtas taobh eile den Ghaeilge nach
bhfeiceann a lán daoine. Ní thiocfaidh leat a
bheith i láthair agus a bheith ag caint faoi ‘teanga
marbh.’ Bíonn formhór na ndaoine in Éirinn, le
blianta fada anuas, fágtha le droch-mhothúcháin
faoin Ghaeilge i ndiaidh na blianta caithe againn
ar scoil ag déanamh staidéar ar Peig nó seanfhilíocht in áit a bheith ag múineadh cad é mar a
d'fhéadfadh siad gnáth-chomhrá a dhéanamh.
Comhrá agus craic—bhí sin le feiceáil i ngach áit
ag an Oireachtas.
Sin ráite, is mór an trua mar sin nach raibh níos
mó le feiceáil faoin Oireachtas sna meáin
Béarla—bhí gach duine ag caint faoin web summit
B
faraor! I láthair ag an Oireachtas mhothaigh tú
spioráid na Gaeilge agus í go maith bríomhar.
hí go hiontach agus ní raibh go holc—chun
athrú beag a cur ar an líne sin a chloistear i
gcónaí sna finscéalta.
Ní thig liom críochnú gan a bheith ag caint faoi
dhá sheoladh dlúthdhiosca a bhí ag an Oireachtas
mar táim cinnte go mbeidh suim ag a lán daoine i
nGlaschú iontu.
Béirt as ceantar Gaoth Dobhair atá i gceist—
Sheol Noeleen Ní Cholla a chéad albam An
Mhaighdean Mhara agus Doimnic Mac Giolla
Bhríde a dara ceann Sona do Cheird.
Mholfainn go hard an bhéirt acu agus tá áthas
orm á rá go mbeidh Doimnic i nGlaschú i mí
Eanáir chun páirt a ghlacadh i gceolchoirm Gaels
le Chéile @ Ceol’s Craic, ar an 16ú mar páirt de
Celtic Connections.
Clár raidió nua i nGaeilge i nGlaschú
anois: Cluas Oscailte ar Celtic Music Radio
(www.celticmusicradio.net & 95FM), gach Dé
Céadaoin, 6-7 in
The living language
highlights of the festival. I saw
the last piece of that competition
—the competition for children
under 9—and I really enjoyed
it I must say. They were all
brilliant. I love Sean-Nós dancing,
even though it is now very
obvious—after doing three
workshops—I am completely
useless at it!
T
here is probably not the
same emphasis on the
competitions now, but I
think that is only because there
are so many more other events
at the festival these days such
as concerts, plays, comedy
nights, CD lanuches, TV and
radio programs broadcasting
live the festival club—which is
a completely crazy night! There is
so much stuff going on without
doubt, but that is not to say that
there is not the same respect
for the competitions.
In any event, it was great and
very exciting, to be among
thousands of Irish speakers, I
must say. It showed ‘An Teanga
Beo—‘The Living Language’
—and it did so in a very lively
fashion. In particular, it was
great to see the language being
spoken by thousands of young
people between children,
teenagers and students. Some
people think that maybe there
is too much emphasis now on
the new events, but I cannot
agree with that because that is
the future of Irish in my opinion
—the traditional events and
competitions and the modern
side-by-side.
The main thing I felt was
that the Oireachtas shows the
other side of the Irish that not
many people see. You could
not be present and be talking
about ‘a dead language.’ The
majority of people in Ireland—
for many years—have been left
with really bad feelings about
Irish after we have spent years
in school studying Peig and
ancient poetry rather than be
taught how to have a normal
conversation. Chat and craic
are what were evident at the
cnag_glaschu@hotmail.com
www.cnag-glaschu.co.uk
Oireachtas. That being said, it
is a real pity that there was not
more coverage of the event in
the media—everyone was
talking about the web summit,
alas! At the Oireachtas you
more than feel that the spirit of
Irish is alive and well.
I
can’t end without talking
about two CDs that were
launched at the Oireachtas,
as I am sure that many people
in Scotland would be interested
in them. The CDs come from
two singers from Gaoth
Dobhair—Noeleen Ni Cholla
who launched her first album
An Mhaighdean Mhara and
Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhride,
who launched his new album
Sona do Cheird. I recommend
both highly and I am delighted
that Doimnic will be in Glasgow
in January to participate in the
Gaels le Chéile concert @
Ceol’s Craic, on the 16th, as
part of Celtic Connections.
Don’t forget there is a new
radio programme in Irish in
Glasgow now—Cluas Oscailte
/An Open Ear—on Celtic Music
Radio (www.celticmusicradio
.net and 95FM), every
Wednesday from 6-7pm
cnag_glaschu@hotmail.com
www.cnag-glaschu.co.uk
THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
STORIES
11
Pride of the Parish Club
CHAPTER SEVEN: SURE I'M ALWAYS THINKING OF YOU
Playing for your GAA club can be a great thing to do...but for
Séanie Doherty (23) of Kilvara, it’s the only thing he can do
‘P
Edited GAA Comedy-Drama set in County Donegal
HEEP, pheep, pheeep!’ The fulltime whistle was blown and after
who would’ve believed it but
Kilvara, us buncha’ mountain men,
were through to the next round of
the Championship series. Even the pouring rain
couldn’t deter us nor dampen our spirits as we
leapt about the pitch in celebration following our
win against Glenswilly!
It was far from any classic affair but quite
frankly, what did that matter? A hard-gained 1-7
to 0-9 win for our boys meant that although that
the entertainment value might’ve been down a
fair bit, you still couldn’t take your eyes off this
one. The Glen boys had led by the single point at
the half, and whilst that usually could’ve been
worrying, it was far from it.
“They are one up lads and that’s alright”
Jamesie said in a most calm and collective manner
while we all listened intently. “Because the way I
see it, they’ve played their best football and this
will be our half now.” In truth, I was pretty quiet
that day but at the time when we’d been playing
trailing by two, a piece of magic unfolded.
We were awarded a free after I was taken down,
but whilst the Glen boys thought it’d probably
just be popped over for a point, two of our boys
caught them off-guard superbly. A quick interchange from the wise old man of our captain
Manus and wee Oisín, a pup of only 18 years
caught the Glen sleeping on their feet.
Wee Oisín popped a dangerous ball across the
face of goal and with diving palms, I flung myself
at it and as it hit the net, the buzz was incredible.
After a bit of tit-for-tatting on the scoreboard after
that in a frantic 11 minute spell, we would hold on
and the day was to be ours! The haters were no
doubt going to slate our defensive approach, but a
proud day for the parish is a proud for the parish.
‘O
h moy Gawd, I cannot believe you’re
with him. Isn’t he loike such a totes
bogger!” That was ‘the lovely Nadia—
Joanne’s uni-friend who’d grown up with a silver
spoon in the more affluent areas of south Dublin.
She was up visiting for a while and, of course,
already moaning about the lack of trains up our
I
way, how there was too much cattle and not near
enough pubs or night-clubs where a girl could get
a nice mojito cocktail. I couldn’t stick her!
To be honest, I don’t think Joanne was too
bothered about her either and it should be noted
that Nadia’s freeload visit to Kilvara was one she
gave to herself. Oh, and that ‘totes bogger’ she
was jarring Joanne about? Yep, that was me she
was talking about. I will admit she was a fine
looking girl, but with the personality an ox at the
same time. Shame really.
But I think the main thing that I couldn’t stand
about her though was nothing to do with the fact
that her head was up her arse or that she was being
a bit of a third-wheel about Joanne’s place when
I’d be there, but more so because of fear. I started
to realise that with Joanne, I was punching above
my weight.
When people like Nadia come along, they go
out to places where they get chatted up by all the
swankiest and clean-cut lads going and maybe in
truth, I felt I wouldn’t stand a chance against those
types of ‘Goys.’ Now of course, I wasn’t gonna
say that. Oh hell no. Stiff upper lip and haul the
fhuisht was my mantra. But in time, cracks would
appear when he came along.
“Ach, he was just a lad I kissed a few times,
Séanie. He was a friend through football of my
brothers and well it was kinda nice kissing a guy
who’d just been called up to play for the county,”
Joanne explained. Although I was trying vehemently
to deny it, I was green with envy something serious.
The conversation had come up when Nadia had
mentioned the time Joanne had been on the shift
with Greg Dunne shortly before she’d moved to
Kilvara from Letterkenny. Quite the grenade this
bombshell had left and I wouldn’t even mind but
y’on Lady Muck starts this aggro and then might
as well sit there with a bucket of popcorn watching
it unfold.
But what was more underlying is that myself
and Greg had a bit of a history together. When we
both had trials for the Donegal under-21 team, he
and I were both going for the right-half forward
position on the team and although some folk
always though it was my imagination, I’m convinced
that it was him who intentionally damaged my
Written by: Jonathan Foley
ankle during a training game, thus ending any
chance I had of playing for Donegal at that level.
“You’re not jealous… are you, Séanie? It was
before I met you!” Joanne said. As you can imagine,
I folded the arms, huffed and said I wasn’t even
though Stevie Wonder woulda seen that I was.
“He is hot in fairness, loike. I mean I dunno if I’d
stoop to it myself ‘cause I prefer the rugby goys
but d’ya know, loike!” the posh Dub muppet said!
‘S
o how’s all with ya now, son?” Dad
asked. He was back at home from the
hospital, but was still staying in bed a lot
and under a lot of medication. He was getting a lot
thinner too, I couldn’t help but notice that, but just
as with other situations that were occupying my
mind, I wasn’t gonna say that out loud.
“Same old, Da. We’ve been told we have been
drawn to play Ardara in the next round and
Joanne’s keeping well, I suppose,” I replied. But
he knew there was something more bothering me.
“And?” he asked. “Well, it’s just that... well there’s
still not a job to be had and I dunno about ... ugh,
@JohnnyFoley1984
I dunno, hiy!” was my attempt of an explanation.
That’s when Mum buts in. “Be more in your
line to be more like your brother!” I would like to
say I didn’t bite the bait and get involved in a row
here, but sure I couldn’t have myself accused of
being a liar. I think having it out in front of the aul
fella made us both feel guilty, but.
In order to pass the time—the only way I knew
how—was to park my arse at the bar counter of
Peadar’s to sup on a few Guinness and place bets
on a few horses. Deckie was alongside me and in
truth, I think I had grown a tad fond of the buck.
Sure, he was a bit of an eejit, but he was my eejit
and, as I was starting to realise, maybe my only
real friend anymore.
“So tell me this, Deckie hiy!” I slurred. “What
is it that you love about this God’forsaken hole of
a village that you call home, lad?”
“What’s not to love?” was his response.
“Well, the fact that the lake is brown, roads are
covered in cow-shite and the most exciting thing
to do on a Saturday night is hit the feckin’ bingo
hall!”
“Ah, you’re not seeing it for what it really is,
Séanie my friend. This is a place of much more
history and culture than you give it credit for.
Sure, it rarely makes people’s cover photos on
Facebook the way that places in Australia do, but
still! Here, have a wee gock at this.” He handed
me a short locally-written book about the History
of Kilvara. It became a good beermat.
A few days later, I thought I’d pop over to
Joanne and surprise her by taking her out lunch. I
was a few quid short, ya see but as I couldn’t just
enter the school grounds willy-nilly, I noticed Mrs
O’Malley, my old teacher, was outside doing yard
duty with the junior infants. I asked how she was
and if she could send Joanne out to me when she
got the chance to do so.
“Huh? She’s not in today? And she’s popped
back to Letterkenny?” I was miffed, but you
guessed it, I couldn’t let on so I played dumb. “Oh
aye, that’s right! She has to go back to see her
doctor there. I forgot she’d taul me that.” Mrs
O’Malley seemed suspicious but as I headed off,
all I could think was: “Why would she go off and
not tell me? And who was she with?”
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING
TO FRANCIE
- The Pub Resident of Peader's Bar, Kilvara, tells it like it is, hiy!
Edited GAA Comedy-Drama set in County Donegal
DUNNO what all the
friggin fuss is about,
these at all, I tell you,
hiy! I mean bearing in
mind now, I come from a
generation when men were
men and sheep, well they were
nervous, so they were, but all I
hear these days is InstaTelegram
this and Face-the-Book that. Or
whatever ya call the buckin’
thing, but dinnae’ get me
wrong now, I’m a man of the
modern world me. Why just
last month, me’self and the
grand’wean—whose not so
buckin’ grand after two bottles
‘a mineral and bagga y’on
taytos—send what he called a
‘Snappy’chat’ I ‘hink it was
called.
But why does every Tom,
Dick and Harry have to sit in
the pub nowadays with these
wee shiny yokes with them wee
earphone hingamajigs stuck in?
Maybe it’s just a phase. I
mind back in the day when I
was just about packing up my
disco-dancing and buckleapin’
days down at the Parish Hall of
a Saturday night, y’on other
phase was just coming with the
young wans of that time: what
was it called, again? Oh aye,
leg-warmers, that was it and sure
that lasted about as long as the
good weather in July, it did, hiy!
And just like, there I was
Written by: Jonathan Foley
down at the local GAA club’s
game with Glenswilly and didn’t
I overhear some young fella
saying ‘make sure you tweet
that result.’ What in the name
of sweet jaysus was he on
about? And then didn’t some
other buck—Jamesie Friel’s
young fella from up the back
road ask me to get in for a
‘shelfie.’ Y’on thing near blinded
me with the flash!
But sure I canny be an aul’
@JohnnyFoley1984
moan all the time. Football is
still football and it was great to
see the lads of the parish get a
great result against the Glen
boys the last day. That Jamesie
McGinty fella is doing alright
job as manager and as my
missus says, he can come
around her and fix her chimney
anytime. I wouldn’t mind but
sure don’t we have a backboiler fitted.
I see too that young O’Donnell
gurrier might finally be getting
his act together. Good for him,
too. That wee toe-rag had his
mother and father’s heart
broke, he did and them lovely
people too with that wee skitter.
Lord save us, he was down in
y’on Garda station so bloody
often, they were nearly gonna
take him to their Christmas
night out by the end. But sure
credit where credit is due, the
lad’s trying.
12
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Ireland is a winter wonderland
T
HE Emerald Isle is the perfect
destination if you dream of cosy
evenings in craic-filled Irish pubs,
bracing, but deserted Atlantic
beach walks, log-fire nights in
guesthouses free from the crowds of summer,
or even that special Christmas break.
Sure, it can be a chilly-ish time of the year
to visit, but off-season pricing on airfare,
food and accommodation across the country
also makes winter the best value in Ireland.
Plus, there is so much to do that the weather
can be of little consequence.
Value for money may be reason enough to
put Ireland on your list of winter destinations,
but throw in the raw natural beauty of places
like the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry,
ranked by National Geographic Traveler
magazine as ‘the most beautiful place on
Earth’ then it becomes utterly compelling.
Situated on the Emerald Isle’s southwest
coast, the peninsula is bounded on three sides
by the Atlantic Ocean, its scenery the stuff of
wonderful wintertime getaways for families,
groups, couples, and any soul who yearns
for peace and quiet. No matter where you
gaze, walk or drive, the views of the hills and
mountains, the rugged cliffs, the secluded
strands, gorgeous harbours and inlets, and
the ever-present stone field boundaries range
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Winter is a good time for authentic encounters
with the real Ireland and genuine Irish
characters. And in and around Dingle town
—population 1000—there’s plenty of
opportunity to meet the locals.
Pubs abound. Choose from large and
modern, or some where five’s a crowd. A
couple of nights pub hopping is a must. A
pint of the black stuff or a warm whiskey,
some hearty pub grub and a bit of craic at a
traditional music session are a lovely cap to
a winter’s day exploration of the peninsula.
Boats crowd the waterfront, where fresh
seafood is landed every day. Even in winter
you can catch a boat and head out to Dingle
Bay to see Fungie, a locally famous dolphin
who has lived in the waters outside the town
since 1984. Or explore the back streets with
all types of shops, pubs, cafes, restaurants,
book and craft shops.
A full range of accommodation is available
to rent both in the town and in attractive
outlying ocean-facing locations. In winter,
rates are cut, and rental periods more flexible.
Christmas and New Year are especially
good times to visit.
Christmas in Ireland
DONEGAL—GLASGOW—DONEGAL
Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday (June-October)
Wednesday-Saturday (October-June)
EXTRA DAyS ADDED FOR HOLIDAy PERIODS
PICK-UP AND DROP-OFF POINTS GLASGOW—CAIRNRyAN—GLASGOW
NOVEMBER 2015
THE IRISH VOICE
Speaking of Yuletide, as winter experiences
go it is pretty hard to top spending a Christmas
in Ireland encamped at your own cottage or
even nestled into a hotel with somebody else
taking away the stress of having to prepare
a lunch or a dinner to die for.
Sean Leamy, a second generation
American from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
spent last Christmas based in a cottage in
Westport, Mayo with his family.
“We got jokes about being the only
Americans in Connemara in December, but
everywhere we went we were celebrities
because we had come to Ireland at Christmas,”
he said. “The big bonus was that bustling
attractions like the Cliffs of Moher to the
south and Yeats country to the north in Sligo
were virtually our own. We got real close and
personal to the attractions and to the locals.
“Exploring the back lanes of Connemara
on Christmas Day, when we were the only
car on the road, jamming a massive turkey
into our cottage’s tiny oven and the sing-along
with the holiday crowd at Matt Molloy’s
pub in Westport on St Stephen’s Day, as the
Irish call the day after Christmas, was
unforgettable.”
If you fancy something a bit more lively,
in the run up to Christmas, Belfast puts on
its wonderful Christmas Continental Market.
The fabulous City Hall gardens are transformed
into a bustling alpine village providing a
great foodie and shop-around-Europe
opportunity in the heart of the town famous
for giving the world the Titanic.
It’s definitely worth booking an overnight
stay and making a break out of a shopping
trip, checking out what else is on offer in the
area you’re visiting.
Most Irish hotels offer special Christmas
season and wintertime packages. If you
need it, many can arrange a visit by the
rotund red-dressed man from Lapland on
Christmas Eve. Log fires, mulled wine and
a magnificent Christmas feast are de rigueur.
Outdoors
Even in winter, Ireland rarely gets cold
enough to halt outdoor activity. Most things
can be done with just a couple of layers of
clothing on—and that includes going
horse-racing, a big Irish tradition during the
Christmas holidays. The biggest festival
takes place at Leopardstown Racecourse
near Dublin, starting on St Stephen’s Day.
For the truly adventurous, winter
mountaineering over the peaks of
MacGillycuddy´s Reeks, Ireland’s highest
mountain range, is on offer in County Kerry,
while the North of Ireland’s landscape—
truly spectacular in the winter—provides a
picture perfect backdrop for walking and
exploring the natural environment in its
pristine beauty.
Of course, in the frosty season tours of
Irish castles, historic sites (above) and other
cultural centres around Ireland can also still
be appreciated in cities and out in the country.
“At home we get temperatures down to
−11°F (-24 °C) so a winter in Ireland is really
no big deal for us,” Sean Leamy added.
“Even on gloomy or wet days there’s sure to
be a museum, a castle, a pub, or musical
event right next to you. Vacation deals are
plentiful in the Irish off season. Go right
ahead and take advantage of ‘em.”
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MAIN STREET—DUNGLOE—COUNTy DONEGAL—IRELAND
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THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
TedFest returns to Malones Irish Bars
SLIP on your habits and
dust off those dog collars,
TedFest returns to Malones
Irish Bars across Scotland
this November.
Father
Ted—voted
by
Channel 4 viewers as the No 1
in C4’s 30 Greatest Comedy
Shows—first aired in 1995 and
seems to have spawned a fullyfledged cult following, with
themed events popping up
across Ireland, the UK and even
as far away as Australia.
Born in a storm of drink,
fancy dress and Craggy Island
inspired events, the Scottish version of the festival has been running for five years in the
country’s capital and Scottish Pub
of the Year, Malones Edinburgh.
This year Father Ted fanatics
will be treated to a night of
entertainment with special guest
appearances from Joe Rooney
and Michael Redmond (above
right). They are best known as the
unforgettable Fr Damo and the
mind-numbingly boring Fr Stone,
and more recently for their
roles in Irish TV programmes:
Killinaskully, The Savage Eye
and Naked Camera.
Festival-goers are encouraged
to dress up as their favourite
characters and can participate in
CLASSIFIEDS
Classifieds
51 Old Rutherglen Road,
Gorbals, Glasgow, G5 9DT
0141 429 3944
SHARKEY’S BAR
13
Live music every Saturday.
Lunches served daily.
Lounge available for private
functions.
THE VICTORIA BAR
The Dancing Priest competition,
Lovely Girls Contest, A Song
for Europe and perhaps fancy
participating in some welly
throwing. There will also be live
music from local bands, and a
performance from Rhythm Jig
Irish dancers on the night.
The TedFests are a fantastic
way for the Irish diaspora and
fans of the comedy across
Scotland to find some friends
from the old country and contribute to some worthwhile
charities in the process.
Anyone looking for some
Father Ted-themed mayhem, or
some entertainment and nostalgia
should get along to Malones
Irish Bar Aberdeen on November
26, Edinburgh on November 27,
and Glasgow on November 28.
There is a suggested charity
donation of £5 at the door.
So prepare yourselves for
gallons of tea—and perhaps
pints—hills of sandwiches and
mountain ranges of cakes.
457 Sauchiehall Street,
Glasgow, G2 3LG
0141 332 9482
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ONeillsSauchiehallSt
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Live music every Saturday
and Sunday
400 Victoria Rd,
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0141 423 3303
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Live Music after all Celtic games
10-12 Craigton Road, Glasgow, G51 3TB
0141 445 5177
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WHISTLIN KIRK
Live music after all Celtic home
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Friday of each month.
5 Greendyke St, Glasgow, G1 5PU
0141 552 7851
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Open 7 days 11am-1am, Saturday
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Singalongs/Karaokes
8 John Street, Coatbridge, ML5 8EJ
01236 421282
Merchant Square
Food Served till 10pm every day.
Live music every Friday and Saturday.
Go to www.oneills.co.uk for more information.
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14
THE IRISH VOICE
GAELIC GAMES
NOVEMBER 2015
All-Ireland exit for Dunedin ladies
DUNEDIN Connollys
welcomed the ladies of
Glenamaddy-Williamstown
to their home at Granton
Road in Edinburgh as they
contested the All-Ireland
Intermediate Football
Quarter Final.
The Galway side came into
the tie highly rated, but after
dropping out of the competition
at the same stage last year—
when they fell just short against
an excellent Castleisland side
—the Connollys ladies were
full of hope that this year could
see them advance to the semifinals and perhaps further.
With spectators braving the
damp and slippery conditions,
which made it a tough day for
football, the girls knuckled down
in the hope that they could
grind out the necessary victory.
However, despite leading by
three points at one stage, the
home side began to sense that
it was not to be their day when
a fine effort by Sue Sullivan
crashed off the bar only for the
visitors to quickly capitalise by
rushing up the field and scoring
a goal of their own.
Once they were in the
ascendancy, the Connacht side
never looked like relinquishing
their advantage, and with some
vital scores in the second half
doing just enough to dampen
Connollys’ dreams of a comeback,
it was Glenamaddy-Williamstown
who eventually advanced to the
semi-final, running out winners
by a scoreline of 1-8 to 1-6.
However, despite the
disappointment on the day
Connollys (above) were quick to
congratulate their guests,
reflecting themselves on a
season in which they showed
great resilience after a poor
start not only to win a Scottish
League and Championship
double, but also to go on and
lift the British title and even to
supply many of the Scotland
Ladies Squad who had the honour
of representing their county in an
All-Ireland final in Croke Park.
Connollys men come up short
in bid for All-Britain success
DUNEDIN Connollys saw
their dreams of another AllBritain Final dashed in
Manchester as they travelled
south for their semi final clash
against Sean MacDermotts.
The make-or-break encounter
at Old Bedlans saw the Edinburgh
men make the now familiar trip
across the border in the search
of honours, having once again
secured the Scottish title after a
hard-fought season and a stiff
challenge from Glaschú Gaels
in the final, which could easily
have seen Connollys dethroned.
Coming into the crucial
British Championship tie battle
-hardened may have given
Connollys hope that once again
they would be fighting it out to
life the title, but on the day it
was not to be and they fell to a
two-point defeat, 0-7 to 1-6.
The taste of defeat is not a
T
I KEVIN DAWSON
familiar one for Connollys and
they are even less used to it in the
fashion it arrived. Usually it is the
Edinburgh men who can make
the pressure tell in the final
minutes of games, but this time
it was MacDermotts who made
the final minutes count. Going
into the last ten, the match was
tied at 0-7 to 1-4, but Connollys’
customary strong final surge
deserted them at the crucial
moment and their opponents
took advantage, knocking over
two vital scores when the match
looked like it could end in a tie.
The long journey back north
was a disappointing one for
Dunedin Connollys, but having
seen their championship hopes
slip away by the slender margin
of just two points they will be
determined next season to make
up for this year’s setback by
going one step further next year.
HE awards season is in full
swing with the GAA/GPA
All-Stars award ceremony
taking place recently. As
expected, All-Ireland winners
Dublin and Kilkenny led the way in both
codes, with seven players represented
on the team of the year. The footballer of
the year was guaranteed to go to a
Dublin man and it was wing back Jack
McCaffrey who took the prize, winning
his first All-Star and Player of the Year
in the same season. His pace, energy and
athleticism were key to a superb Dublin
defence that improved dramatically
this year, reflected in the fact that he is
one of four Dublin defenders on the
All-Star team. Kerry took four awards,
Mayo claimed two, while Mattie
Donnelly of Tyrone and Conor
McManus of Monaghan complete the
team. Mayo’s Diarmuid O’Connor
followed in his older brother Cillian’s
footsteps by winning the Young Player
of the Year award.
In hurling, TJ Reid of Kilkenny won
Player of the Year while also claiming
Scotland lead Hurling/Shinty series
I DAN McGINTY
AFTER a heavy defeat in Inverness,
Ireland have called in the big guns for
the second leg of the annual Hurling/
Shinty International.
The Irish went down 24-14 in Bught Park
after a fine performance from their hosts,
but will be hoping it’s all different in Dublin
as some elite hurlers are drafted in for the
match in Croke Park.
Among those selected is All-Star and
Hurler of the Year TJ Reid of Kilkenny, who
will be joined by Clare’s David McInerny
and Waterford’s Maurice Shanahan in the line
-up as Ireland look to turn over the ten point
deficit and emerge from the series victorious.
The side—which will be captained by
Matthew Whelan of Laois—features a
whole host of players fresh from a season’s
competition in the Christy Ring Cup, and
the match will provide an opportunity not
only to represent their country, but also to
enjoy playing at a busy Croke Park.
With Ireland taking on Australia in the
International Rules fixture immediately after,
the hurlers will be hoping that a strong GAA
crowd will be there to roar them on to victory.
However, Ireland aren’t the only ones
able to call on a big name for inspiration in
the return leg, with Scotland managed this
year by a veteran of the fixture—with a
clutch of international goals to his name—
in Ronald Ross.
The Kingussie man was delighted with his
charges in the first leg, and will be hoping
they can continue their dominance in the
return fixture, despite Ireland calling in the
cavalry. Whatever the outcome when the sides
meet in Dublin, though, Ross was content to
soak up what was one of the finest Scotland
performances in the history of the sport.
“That was probably the best first-half
performance I’ve seen from a Scotland team
ever,” he said after the match in Inverness. “We
were fantastic at home here, played some great
shinty and got the ball down and passed it.
“In the second half we knew Ireland would
come back at us since there was a strong wind,
but we had some heroic displays today and it’s
great for our sport as well. It was a fantastic
performance and I’m delighted for everybody.”
The full squad is as follows:
Eoin Reilly (Laois), Mickey Burke (Meath), Bernard
Deay (Kildare), Paul Divilly (Kildare), Damien Healy
(Meath), Zane Keenan (Laois), Shane Maloney
(Galway), Neal McAuley (Antrim), David McInerney
(Clare), Derek McNicholas (Westmeath), Bryan
Murphy Kerry), Pat Kelly (Kerry), Shane Nolan
The sideline ball
(Kerry), TJ Reid (Kilkenny), Eoin Price (Westmeath),
Maurice Shanahan (Waterford), James Togher
(Meath), Matthew Whelan (Laois).
GAA fans will be hoping that an Irish
victory in the small ball game can inspire
the footballers to go on and do the same in
the International Rules match which takes
place immediately after, and the squad will
feature some of the finest Gaelic footballers
playing the game today as Ireland seek
revenge for a disappointing defeat down
under the last time the two sides met.
The full squad for the International Rules
match is as follows:
Niall Morgan (Tyrone), Colm Begley (Laois), Gary
Brennan (Clare), Bernard Brogan (Dublin), Eoin
Cadogan (Cork), Mattie Donnelly (Tyrone), Eoin
Doyle (Kildare), Peter Harte (Tyrone), Darren
Hughes (Monaghan), Lee Keegan (Mayo), Paul
Kerrigan (Cork), Jack McCaffrey (Dublin), Ciarán
McDonald (Tipperary), Philip McMahon (Dublin),
Conor McManus (Monaghan), Rory O’Carroll
(Dublin), John O'Loughlin (Laois), Aidan O'Shea
(Mayo), Michael Quinn (Longford), Donnchadh
Walsh (Kerry), Diarmuid Connolly (Dublin), Paul
Cribbin (Kildare), Paddy McBrearty (Donegal)
A monthly column on Gaelic football and hurling from our tough-tackling Tipperaryman
his third All-Star award. The sharpshooter was deadly accurate all year
and his general game doesn’t have any
weakness. Kilkenny’s dominance is
reflected in the fact he is their tenth
winner of the award since 2000.
Waterford’s Tadhg De Burca took the
Young Player of the Year gong. His
intelligence playing the sweeper role
was key to a team whose defensive wall
many teams struggled to break down
this year. League champions Waterford
had three players selected, beaten AllIreland finalists Galway had four,
while Munster champions Tipperary
claimed one through Seamie Callanan.
It continues a poor trend for Munster
champions in recent times. Over the last
four years only Callanan and Ritchie
McCarthy of Limerick have claimed
All-Stars from a Munster winning team.
Once again, the latter stages of the
Championship have played a key role
in the selection process with league and
provincial performances having very
little influence. the spread of counties
is quite small, five counties represented
in football and only four in hurling. This
wasn’t always the case and you would
think since the introduction of the
qualifiers there would be more chances
for players from different counties to
claim awards, but it seems only the
action from August and September
counts. While those two months should
be important, earlier performances
from the year should not be totally
forgotten about.
C
lub activity is to the forefront at
the moment and the 11-point plan
has recently been released to help
tackle the chaos that comes with GAA
fixtures and improve the streamlining of
club matches. Some recommendations
include abolishing the U-21 Football
Championship, re-grading the minor
hurling and football competitions (ie
U-18) to U-17, players who are not
included in the match day panel of 26
being made available to their clubs on the
weekends of League or Championship
action, bringing forward the AllIreland Football and Hurling Finals by
two weeks and playing extra time at the
end of all drawn games, as well as
introducing a calendar year fixture
schedule that would see club activity
finished by the end of the year instead
of extending to St Patrick’s Day.
Suggestions like this have been made
before so I won’t hold my breath. I
don’t agree with all of them, particularly
abolishing the U-21 grade, which has
been an excellent competition in recent
years and gives players the platform to
go and achieve success at senior level,
while the promotion opportunities of
late August and September will be
greatly reduced if the All-Ireland Finals
are brought back. Some of the other
points will help if introduced, while
there is also much more that could be
done that is reasonably practical.
However, we have heard these types of
suggestions and reports numerous times
before, will anything actually change?
D
avy Fitzgerald appointing
Donald Og Cusack as a selector
for the Clare hurlers next year is
an interesting decision that has caused
excitement in the hurling world. Cusack
was a wonderful goalkeeper who
always thinks deeply about the game,
which his subsequent career as an
analysist on The Sunday Game went on
to highlight. It could prove to be a
masterstroke, but both Cusack and
Fitzgerald are fiery characters, so what
happens when they disagree on tactics or
player selections? We await with interest!
Questions to answer, both on and off the park
THE IRISH VOICE
NOVEMBER 2015
FOOTBALL
In Barcelona it took a goal 45 seconds from
time to see the home side pull back to win 2-1
after an early Georgios Samaras goal gave Celtic
the lead, while the story of the match in Glasgow
needs no explanation.
The two matches showed that despite a huge
gulf in budgets and the talent at their disposal, not
to mention the respective qualities of their national
divisions, Celtic were able to compete with the giants
of European football if and when the conditions
were right.
matter is Celtic’s difficulty in defence—with Tyler
Blackett, Dedryck Boyata and Efe Ambrose all
exposing their lack of composure at various times
in the Europa League—allied with a wastefulness
in front of goal that sees Celtic require themselves
to create numerous chances for each one that they
convert. But even this does not provide a full
explanation.
Some will look to the manager, but such a
change would not address any of the attritional
elements contributing to Celtic’s regression on the
European stage (left)—an inferior income, a stale
domestic competition, difficulty in attracting
quality footballer. In short, Celtic face a number
of issues if they want to continue to improve and
develop as a European side, and while—of course
—the club can still qualify from their group, this
season’s European fixtures have mainly been
illuminating for all the wrong reasons.
To compare this situation with that of Celtic’s two
group stages against Molde is a little unfair—
Molde have probably been greatly underestimated
by both the sporting press and public, while Celtic
have undoubtedly diminished in quality since
2012—but the more recent disappointment in
which the Parkhead club were cleaned out home
and away by the Norwegian side does tell of the
loss of the ability to make the Celtic first team
greater than the sum of its parts.
On the contrary, in 2015 there have been occasions
—the games against Molde conspicuously among
them—on which Celtic have looked comfortably
less than the sum of their parts. Why this has
occurred and how to alter it are not questions to
which answers are readily available.
While the squad is evidently not what it once
was, it still brims with international footballers
There is one other issue for the Glasgow giants to
think about just now though, and that is the ongoing
saga from across the city at Ibrox. The storm that
began several years ago brought the whole Scottish
game into disrepute, led to the liquidation of the
club, unveiled murky contractual arrangements,
launched criminal investigations and most recently
brought the Scottish footballing public news that
from 2001-2010 the Ibrox club evaded tax, using
those savings to improve their playing squad and
ultimately win honours.
For those clubs who competed against Rangers
in that period it is a fairly simple bit of news—the
playing field was not level. Though many will
attempt to undermine this bald and simple fact by
muddying the waters or by pleading that Rangers
—whose supporters, now loyally following the
successor club that claims Rangers’ history, count
DAN McGINTY
ONLY three years ago, in the Champions
League, Celtic took on the might of FC
Barcelona in the group stages and over the
course of two fixtures, emerged not only with
great credit, but also with a handsome win at
Celtic Park.
Looking for answers
Tainted titles
and Celtic supporters can be pleased with the
young talent that the club has at its disposal, so
the lack of quality cannot solely be blamed.
Likewise, Celtic’s league form this year has been
exemplary—unbeaten in seven matches, with eight
wins from their last 10 games and only one
solitary defeat in their 14 matches so far this
year—so an inability to win matches is clearly not
the cause either.
Probably what gets closest to the crux of the
every single one of those trophies won as part of
their historical honours—should not see titles
stripped as they have ‘been punished enough.’
The only clubs punished were those who lost out
to a Rangers side which was filled with players
paid in an unorthodox manner designed to increase
their remuneration while illegally neglecting the
tax due on such contracts. The notion that using an
illegal scheme to pay for footballers a club could
otherwise not afford is irrelevant to the results
achieved by those same players ‘on the park’ is an
insult to the intelligence of football fans in this
country.
If a club has cheated they must be held to
account, not only for the integrity of the game in
this country, but out of respect for the supporters
of those other clubs—Celtic among them—who
saw honours slip from their grasp in competitions
in which their opponent’s first team was filled
with players paid through illegal loans, with ‘side
letters’ hidden from the game’s governing body.
What occurred at Ibrox is a sporting scandal
without parallel in Scotland, and consequences
must follow.
Celtic launched a statement of their own in
response to the calls by supporters of several
Scottish clubs that Rangers be punished for their
financial scheming, saying: “In 2013, we
expressed surprise—shared by many observers
and supporters of the game—over the findings of
the SPL Commission that no competitive or sporting
advantage had resulted. That remains our view.”
Celtic supporters—and others—will be hoping
that such a statement hints at more to come if the
Scottish footballing authorities once again fudge
their responsibilities and allow the liquidated club
to escape the consequences of their actions.
United front needed to avoid the drop
ROBERT McGLONE
AFTER a disastrous run of
results that sees United
lodged at the bottom of the
Premier League table, the
message is out there that the
time has come for the club as
whole to pull together.
Fans help Hibs revive title challenge
GERARD GOUGH
HIBS manager Alan Stubbs
has said that the backing of
the fans has been key in
helping his side go on a sixgame winning streak in the
league and advance to the
semi final of the League Cup.
The Hibees are unbeaten in
the league since defeating
Raith Rovers 2-0 at home on
August 29 and the Edinburgh
side continued their recent
excellent run of form, and fired
themselves back into the title
race, by recording wins away
to Falkirk and Raith Rovers,
while also pinning back league
leaders Rangers win a 2-1 victory
at Easter Road. Hibs followed
that up with the resounding
defeat of SPFL side Dundee
United in the League Cup
quarter final, before trouncing
St Mirren 4-1 in Paisley.
Speaking after his side’s
defeat of title rivals Rangers,
Stubbs said: “The fans have
been unbelievable since I came
in, and it’s great to be able to
put on a performance today to
reward the ones who are here
and try to bring the ones who
aren’t here back.”
“I wanted to make a statement
that we were in there and that
we’re going to chase Rangers
as much as we can,” Stubbs
added. “They have had an
unbelievable start, but we are only
five points behind and that tells
you how good we have been.”
The Hibs boss was similarly
delighted after seeing his team
dismantle Dundee Utd in the
League Cup Quarter Final—
thanks to goals from David
Gray, top scorer Jason
Cummings and Lewis
Stevenson—and set up a semifinal clash with Tommy
Wright’s St Johnstone.
“We really took it to Dundee
United,” Stubbs enthused. “The
lads have been immense.
“We’ve got a really talented
group of players. We’re going
to need everybody throughout
the season. We’re just delighted.
The dressing room is absolutely
buzzing.”
Indeed the form of some
players within that talented
group at Hibs has seen them
rewarded with international
call-ups.
John McGinn, Jason
Cummings (above) and Liam
Henderson—on loan from
Celtic—were called into the
Scotland U21 squad for the
Euro 2017 qualifiers and they
all put in a strong showing, in an
albeit disappointing 2-2 against
the Ukraine, in a match in
which Cummings also scored.
Despite the disappointment
of drawing the match, Scotland’s
Under-21 manager Ricky Sbragia
thinks Hibernian pair John
McGinn and Jason Cummings
have the potential to step up to
the full national squad.
“There’s a maturity about
John,” Sbragia said. “There’s
leadership. There’s a discipline.
“There’s also Cummings
and, if you have that bit of luck
and keep away from injuries, it
can happen.”
15
Therefore, it came as no
surprise that an open meeting at
Tannadice recently brought
supporters associations, manager
Mixu Paatelainen, chairman
Stephen Thompson and the
board of directors all together to
try and do just that. As a result,
an agreement has been reached
for a ‘winter treasure chest’ for
the big Finn to help strengthen
his squad inherited from previous
manager Jackie McNamara.
Paatelainen revealed to the press
that the transfer budget for the
season had already been spent
before his appointment, but
desperate times call for desperate
measures and the board have
accepted that fresh faces are the
only way of giving him a fighting
chance of pulling the club away
from its current situation.
Paatelainen has already began
a player cull with Dutch striker
Mario Bilate being showed the
exit door by a mutual agreement
to terminate the player’s contract.
In the coming months, it is
inevitable more will follow as a
squad of over 50 players is
simply too large for a provincial
club. As it stands, United are too
soft and easy to beat, they lack
aggression, experience and self
-belief.
There were signs of fight in
the recent welcome victory over
Ross County, which gave United
their first home win of the
season, however poor decisionmaking, individual errors and a
lack of organisation have proved
to be the team’s downfall in four
of the managers other games to
date. Defeats to Hearts, Aberdeen
and a 5-0 mauling by Celtic have
been hard to take, but more
worryingly the 3-0 League Cup
exit to Championship side
Hibernian really set the alarm
bells ringing for what were
described as the ‘toothless terrors’
on the night.
After the humiliation at Celtic
Park—which the manager
described as ‘disgraceful’—he
pulled no punches indicating
players who don’t want to give
100 per cent to the cause can
look elsewhere for a club.
“When you work all week on
the training pitch on a game
plan and no-one puts it into
practice on match day, what’s
the point in coming to training
in the first place?” the manager
(above) added angrily.
There is no doubt Mixu has a
tough task ahead of him and
injuries to key personnel such as
Paul Paton, Chris Erskine and
Callum Morris have not helped
the situation either. Getting these
players on the road to recovery
could well be a key element in
this season’s campaign.
He also warned the players of
the need to realise the seriousness
of the precarious situation they
find themselves in and that there
are some tough times ahead in
what could prove to be a long
winter.
Paatelainen is hoping to secure
the signature of experienced
Japanese international Eiji
Kawashima. The goalkeeper,
who has over 70 caps for his
country and has played at the
World Cup Finals will add
strength and experience to the setup at Tannadice and hopefully
will be on board by the time St
Johnstone come to Tannadice
for the next home game. The
move is, at present, subject to a
work permit being granted and
has been made possible through
personal contacts of the manager
himself. Kawashima would have
no guarantees of being handed
the number one shirt but his
experience would certainly go a
long way to helping both young
inexperienced keepers currently
on the books.
Former centre half Gavin
Gunning has been training with
the United squad this week after
his release from Birmingham
City and looks set to rejoin the
club. Gunning last played in the
Scottish Cup Final defeat to St
Johnstone in 2013 before heading
down south, which saw his
opportunities limited due to
injury. United face competition,
however, from Gunning’s old
employers Motherwell and York
City, now managed by his former
boss McNamara, who is said to
be keen to link up with the big
Irishman again.
United were given no respite
during the international break
either as Paatelainen implemented
double training sessions to try
and help turn things around.
Fans will be hoping these
measures will provide them
with something to cheer about
in the next few games at least.
16
THE IRISH VOICE
SPORT
I
NOVEMBER 2015
First past the post
A monthly insight into the world of horse racing from our man in the field
EDWARD BRADY
Do Ireland have a foot in France?
DAN McGINTY
IRELAND took the first
part of what may be their
final step to the European
Championships in France
next summer with a 1-1 draw
with Bosnia-Herzegovina in
Sarajevo in the first leg of
their play-off.
At the time of going to press,
Ireland were preparing for to
host Bosnia-Herzegovina in
Dublin for the second leg, with
manager Martin O’Neill refusing
to claim that the advantage was
with his side after scoring a vital
away goal in a foggy Sarajevo.
The goal came courtesy of
Robbie Brady (above) in the
82nd minute, and although
Ireland’s advantage didn’t last
for long—being cancelled out
by Edin Džeko’s effort for the
home side just three minutes
later—it crucially gave them
something to defend in Dublin.
“I don’t think the advantage
is with us,” O’Neill said after
the match. “Bosnia are capable
of scoring a goal.
“We are a bit disappointed
with the result, but I have to
admit that we didn’t play well,
perhaps because we weren’t
composed enough.”
Despite the caution of his
manager, Irish defender Ciaran
Clark spoke of his satisfaction
at bringing back an away goal to
defend in Dublin and the need
to concentrate to finish the job.
“It was a good performance
defensively, but this game is done
now and we have to concentrate
and get ready for the game on
Monday night now,” he said.
“We are confident we can go out
there and get a result. It’s going
to be a tough game for both
teams for sure, we have got the
away goal.”
T WAS great to hear the
announcement of a €65
million redevelopment
plan for the Curragh
racecourse. Once gain the
Agha Khan is involved and it is
only fair to acknowledge the
extent of what he’s done for
Irish racing.
His largesse of more than a
decade ago showed that he
bore the Irish people no ill will
for the appalling disappearance
and death of 1981 Derby
winner Shergar. He thought
that he had paved the way for
the Curragh revamp only to see
the project held up by planning
delays and the economic climate
back then.
Now in 2015, the plans are
back on as announced by the
Irish Government recently, when
they spoke of the investment
by the Agha Khan, JP
McManus, Derrick Smith,
Michael tabor, Eva Maria
Bucher-Haefner and Godolphin
Ireland. So we can all look
forward to seeing the new
Curragh in the future!
I
t was pleasing to see Found
winning in the Breeder’s
Cup at Keeneland. As I said
in a previous column, he was
unlucky in the Prix de l’Arc
de Triomphe and would have
finished a lot closer with a couple
of breaks. Since then, he ran
second in the big Champions
Millions Race in Ireland and
then won the Breeder’s Cup in
Keeneland, beating Golden
Horn who ran well in ground
that he doesn’t enjoy.
I
t’s getting exciting on the
jumping front with some of
the big races coming up.
Paul Nichols’ Saphir Du Rheu
is my fancy for the Hennessey
Gold Cup at Newbury at the
end of November. He ran a
great race at Carlisle recently
and given that he had missed a
month’s work, he ran beautifully. He’ll receive 9lbs from the
Gold Cup winner Coneygree
and he’ll have a great chance. I
like what Nichols said about
him: “He has the pace of Kauto
Star and the stamina of
Denman and we all know how
good they were.”
One of Nichols’ other horses
that is a favourite of mine is
Silviniaco Conti, who won
three big races last year. After
his recent pipe opener over
hurdles at Kempton I think he’s
on target for the Betfair Chase
at Haydock Park later this
month and then the King
George VI Chase at Kempton
on Boxing Day, where he’ll
likely meet Vatour, Don
Cossack, Cue Card and maybe
the aforementioned Saphir Du
Rheu. What a race this will be!
It will be good to see Annie
Power back at the end of
November in the Hatton Grace
Hurdle at Fairyhouse. He was
very unlucky at Cheltenham
when he came down at the last
after having gone well clear.
That fall will have saved the
bookies a fortune.
I
t was very sad to hear that
Pat Eddery (above left)
passed away after a long
illness. He was one of the great
jockeys, riding 4633 winners—
including 14 classics and four
wins in the Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe. He was also Champion
Jockey 11 times. He was only
63 years old, which is no age at
all. I’m sure he will live on in
many of us as we recall his
great rides and numerous wins.
The Peter Howson
Brother Walfrid
Walfrid
Limited Edition Art Boxed Set
The Nine Muses are del
delighted
ighted to present
the Peter Howson ‘Brother Walfrid’
limited edition boxed set. The box
comprises an A3 museum quality art
print, signed by Peter Howson and
numbered, an accompanying numbered
hologrammed certificate of authenticity
and a unique 60 minute documentary DVD, narrated by Peter
Mullan, following the life and times of Brother Walfrid. Packaged
in a deluxe printed box, this set comes in an edition of only 1,888
for only £600 (Plus £10
£10 UK P&P).
Walfrid:
W
alfrid: A Saint in the Making
The story of how the painting h
has
as re-ignited the debate to h
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ave Broth
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er
Walfrid ccanonised.
anonised. Find out more soon at: www.
the9muses.co.uk
www.the9muses.co.uk
Original fine art also available. Visit our site
or for more information call:
call: 0141 280 1932
www..tthe9muses
www
he9muses.co
.co.uk
.uk

File - The Irish Voice

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