DUNDERRY DELIVERS ON THE DOUBLE

As I have been predicting anything is possible for this improving and lucky Meath Minor Football Team.In the last outing Stephen Coogan scored a last gasp goal to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat,Today Paddy Kenneally finished to the net the goal that ensured Meath's victory,Not only that but he won a line ball that led to the penalty in which he was intricately involved that resulted in Meath's penultimate goal.To term him an impact sub would be an understatement in terms of his involvement today ,
All in Dunderry are hugely proud of our lads involvement in this team and their exploits to date and will be willing them on in the Final.Dublin or Kerry await.I,d say Dublin,but there are no such things as certainties these days in this grade,
Being a reasonably honest man I cannot let the occasion go without commenting on the standard of refereeing in this game.It was absolutely scandalous.I usually do not comment on how referees do ,but after the comical performance in the Meath /Louth  Leinster Final two years ago ,you would imagine that the GAA would appoint to an All Ureland under 18 semi final a team of officials and a referee who had a passing acquaintance with the rules of the game.
Were I a Mayo man and I am not ,I would say ,we were rode out of the game as wrong decision after wrong decision was made against them in the last ten minutes.
Apologists saying that Mayo were the authors of their own defeat due to missed chances are way off the mark,Missing scorable chances is no excuse for this type of behaviour.It may well be the last time that some of these Mayo players get on the field on such an occasion and will leave a fierce sour taste in the mouth for the rest of their lives.
Were the roles reversed I am sure that many in Meath would have much legitimate comment to make.
In this instance I think that the GAA should apologise to the Mayo players foe what happened.,
This is not to take away from the Dunderry lads ,nor young Sullivan and O Coilean,whose dads I greatly admire nor anyone in the Meath setup.
Despite all the present day coaching and assessment of referees I genuinely have to say that in general over my fifty years involved the men from years ago were far better than their present day brethern and performed on average far better.I genuinely cannot recall such bad perfirmances years ago.It may be that the men then were  more motivated by idealism to the Gaelic game .
As one who was twice floored while refeering in Meath ,once in underage hurling and secondly in Junior Camogie and who never took a penny I make this proposition with some trepidation.

Tipster heading for cannonisation.

E.82.00 back for a tenner investment.this man is inspired,

Dunderry W/O Drumree fail to field

Yesterday evening,as foul an evening as you could experience,our under 18 Camogie team travelled to Batterstown to play Drumree.Wasted journey however as Drumree failed to field.We got a walkover.Fair dues to our mentors and players.

Drumbeat Div for 25/8/2012

Time Up at 16/1 in 3.05 at York tomorrow is good value for a fiver each way.Last time out in Goodwood  he was hampered and with William Buick on board should finish in the first three.

What goes around comes around.

Its Thursday 23 August 2012,as miserable and as wintry an evening as you could imagine.On top of which I am coming down with something so my mood matches the weather.
Anyhow 1947 was a fierce bad year weather wise.It rained incessantly and all around here was flooded.My uncles told me that the Clady river burst its banks and Mrs King'  house which was beside the river at the extremity of the Curragh boreen was swamped and her life was saved  by my uncle Tommy who carried her on his back as far as Seamin Herbert's house,where the flood waters ended.
It rises in the bog at Tullaghanstown and it also burst its banks there.There was 2 to 3 feet of water on the road at the cross and it took a brave man to wade through.
The story goes that a tramp was making his way from Athboy to Navan through the cross when he met a local."Excuse me sir,is this a seaport town " he smirked.The reply directed him to "ask me gateaux"or words to that effect.
Fast forward to the present day.The O.P.W.is mending a bridge over the same river on my land in Meadstown.And let me say that four more decent,competent and pleasant men you could not meet in a long week's walk.These men are never unplugged.
Anyhow the water is at most two feet deep where they are working.There  is a sign up  saying "DeepWater"with a lifebuoy attached.I understand they are lucky not to be forced to wear life jackets.
Health and Safety reasons seemingly.
How prophetic was that tramp in 1947 and would anyone wonder why this over regulated country and continent  is fecked.This is the law,com padre.

Russians unlikely upholders of respect for religion.

The circle of hate, that in this country hates all things Catholic ,is but one such cog of a worldwide machine that adores militant secularism and feels an entitlement to tramp all over the rights and feelings of believers,particularly Christians.
In Ireland a cohort of disbelievers are set to legislate against the sanctity of confession and have cut off diplomatic relations with the Vatican.A week hardly passes without the theft of religious artifacts from Catholic and Christian Churches.The heads of various pet organisations which are State funded or have Charitable status miss no opportunity to stick the boot in.Catholics and indeed all Christians should bear these insults in mind when the collection boxes of these organisations are rattled in our faces.
Russia is a huge country.Members of the Pussy Riot deliberately choose Moscow's Christ the the Saviour Cathedral wearing balaclavas ,short skirts and tights and put on a show ,which was later spliced with lewd lyrics and the refrain "Put Putin Out" .made sacrilegious remarks about the Virgin Mary and broad cast on the Internet.
If these actions do not show total disrespect for the beliefs of billions of Christians worldwide I don't know what does.
The defendants further mocked their trial by constantly giggling and rolling their eyes when sentence was announced.A yes sure this is great craic entirely they clearly feel.
Can nobody see any similarity between this blatant disrespect of Christian's and their institutions and the brutalisation of Jews and their institutions less less than 60 years ago.Well I for one can.
I take my hat off to the female judge who found them guilty of religious hatred,,of committing a grave violation of public order and displaying disrespect for society,and am surprised at the leniency of the two year sentence.
Wasn't Sean Quinn Junior sent to six months for disrespecting effectively only one judge (the Court )and these people disrespected billions of believers with malice aforethought.The sentence was disproportionately short in my view.
European and U,S,sources have predictably denounced the verdicts as being too harsh.Presumably they think it fine to behave like this and were it to happen in their jurisdictions it would be treated as just a bit of gas and high jinks.
On a recent visit to a local Court I witnessed a defendant/with the urgings of the Gardai, having his sentence increased by six months because he shouted profanities at a Garda in Court.. By this  standard what would the Pussy Patrol have got for their in Court behaviour ?
The E.U and the USA and NATO supported the anti Qaddafi side in the Libyan Civil War and are now supporting the anti State side in Syria.Many many people have died because of this support and neutral NGOs say torture and murder by both sides are commonplace.
It would better serve these spokespeople to address these issues than to poke their noses into the misdeeds of the Pussy Patrol.
All they are achieving is the elevation of Russia into the unlikely role of modern defenders of freedom of religious practise and respect for its followers and institutions.

Tipster in horses form.

Winner all right ,easily.9/4.Is this man a genius or whaa ?

Drumbeat Dividend 18/08/2012.

With last week's tip coming in second and having drawn E.22.50 for the previous week's winner,we are opting this week for Mount Athos in the 2.30 at Newbury.He has won both his starts this year and with Ryan Moore on board can win this Group 3 at odds of about 3/1

Prayer needed.

It is hard to like everybody.God commands us Christians to love our enemies.A hard road to follow.I suppose we all think that our friends are the best.It is easy to pray for our friends but to pray  for our enemies it is far more difficult.And as for strangers ,well that is a far remoter proposition.
I don't quite know how to put this without naming the people involved but it will be easy for me to pray for a number of Parishioners who are poorly at the moment because I know them.It is far harder for people to pray for Dunderry Parishioners they don't know and who could do with God's help.
Nevertheless I am asking all who make a hit on this blog,no matter where in the world they live to say a prayer for a number of sick parishioners from this neck of the woods .
These poor feckers are ill,in strange surroundings and more likely than not very scared.Say a prayer for them.Please.
This sinner will.

Dunderry Inter Football clinging to Rim.

Last Saturday was deemed "D Day" for our Inter Footballers and the Management Team as they faced Na Fianna in the group stages in a vital match..I opined it was a "shit or get off the pot" occasion, as I expected the winners to advance and the losers to face a further year in the grade,there being no relegation to Junior this year .Indeed it would be a very sad state of affairs were a proud club like us reliant on a technicality ,like the  absence of relegation this year , to avoid the drop to Junior.
Well we were beaten by a point in a match of high quality where the result was in doubt right up to the end.And believe it or not we are still clinging to the rim of that pot by our fingertips.It has transpired were we to beat Clanna Gael by a sufficient margin in the next match and were both Syddan and Fianna to continue on their winning ways then we could hang in there.It is far from ideal that the future is not solely in our own hands.However the dream still lives.
I missed the match myself,as I suspect did any farmer who was trying to salvage hay in the one window of opportunity that presented itself this year.We had four days of reasonable weather to try and salvage hay for the first time this miserable summer and were clinging to the rim also ,trying to get the stuff baled on Saturday evening before the weather broke that night.My  men were delayed due to technical difficulties with the baler and it was near midnight before they landed instead of the seven o clock start  scheduled and the once fit hay was bailed damp with dew and is heating.I have it under cover and am hoping that it won't heat too much.It is typical of this summer that the worst day for rain and weather is today and it had to be covered were it not to be lost entirely.
I am reminded of the "Cat"and his spake that he was making hay and history in the month of November  and from seven to twelve on Saturday  was seething that I could not do substantial physical work because of the stroke I suffered.Were I able I would have cocked it and gathered up a crew to do it with me.
Even there the Cat would have had an advantage  in the help stakes ,he having  a "double barrel" to my single.
Such is life.
Back to the match itself.I have spoken to several people who were in attendance and have got so  many differing versions as to who played well and who didn't ,that I am not going to say much,except that we were beaten on a scoreline of 0-17 to 1-13.
All say this is a good Fianna team ,so therefor we cannot be too bad.
The starting team was.
                                                 Davy Jennings
Evan Stephens                           John Kelleher                                          Davy Mc Cormack

Damian Clarke                          Darren Fay                                                 Alan Garry

                           Peadar Callaghan            David Callaghan

Simon Carty                               Ivan Mc Cormack                                    Seamus Harte

 Paddy Kenneally                       Keith Callaghan                                       Stephen Coogan

Introduced .Darren Callaghan,Bob Doherty.

This was probably the first time this year that the selectors had a near full deck to deal from so now they know who is fit for the fray and who is not and whose presence boosts team morale and whose does not.
I understand that this was a very tactical game and that our team was placed to counteract their two man full forward line and to curb the threat of Queeney .I hear it worked to the extent that you would not pick him out.However I believe that his brother at midfield was outstanding.Hard to win ,isn't it ?

Drumbeat Div.for 11/8/2012.

Fully restored to the bosom of his family after his temporary absence,the tipster advises "Go for Jet Away in the 2.55 in Haydock.Same colours as Frankel ,not as good but should be good enough to win a poor group 3."
Who am I to disagree.

Dunderry 1-10 Walterstown 0-9 JFBC. 9/8/2012

Bligh's babes committed grand larceny tonight in a  nail biting match played in a well appointed Bective pitch before an attendance who stayed right to the end.
The REAL troika hereabouts are Billy Bligh,Derek Hickey and Kevin Keaveney who run the second string footballers in Dunderry.Bligh is to Dunderry what Mick O Dwyer is to Kerry.The undisputed King.In my view he would make an outstanding director of football not only for the Club but also for the County.Derek and Kevin are no daws either.They know their football.They are coaxing good results from a mix um gathering  of lads on the way up,lads on the way down and lads who are in their comfort zone.
After a light drizzle which the forecasters had promised last weekend for next Sunday but not for today and which had many in the attendance who dropped meadows yesterday questioning the forecaster's genealogy ,the match pitch was damp but not overly slippy and the battle began in near ideal conditions.
Dunderry Team.

                                                    James Mitchell
Kenny Fay                                  Kevin Slattery                    Eoin Dempsey   

Davy Stephens                           Gary Newman                    J.P.Kenneally

                                 Conor Farrell             Liam Dempsey


Paul Bartley                                Thomas Doherty                Alan Watters                         

Darren Blaney                              Trevor Conaty                  Jordan Martin .

We started well scoring 1-3 in the first 10 minutes.The goal was a sloppy affair.Conaty beat his man and launched a well directed scud towards the goalmouth trying ,I would say, for a point.The greasy ball fell short and the goalie fumbled it,allowing it to cross the line before he could retrieve it.Trevor will claim it and well entitled to.Bothy teams played a nice brand of intelligent football and the play was devoid of dirt entirely.There was little clean fetching around the midfield area where the four tall combatants denied each other clean catches and the ball broke often.They had a few speed merchants who were hard to handle but we stuck manfully to our task,helped in no small measure by their inaccuracy from both placed and open play balls.
We failed to register for the last fifteen minutes of the half and were glad to go in two points up on the  scoreline 1-3 to 0-4.
Our knowledgeable supporters were looking with trepidation to the second half .
They needn't have worried as we started with a bang,registering two quick points in succession.Fully deserved I might say and this put us back in the driving seat.Then they proceeded to play their best football,gradually hauling us back and they went in front by a point with seven minutes to go.
Then we awoke from our stupor and rattled off four points to win by two.
They are a good team and must wonder how they left this behind.But as I said ,we are no daws either and even if a pass or two did go astray,we hammered home the nail when it mattered.
Slatts was brilliant and Gary "Rudolph"Newman was impressively aggressive.Our Davy (Sprog )
gave a masterclass in wing back play and the other backs stuck manfully to their tasks.
Mitchell was steady in goal  and the midfielders broke even steven.just about.
Bartley (Bugle) is awful sporty for a man near forty and nearly everything was channelled through him. Slight indecision crept in a few times but all in all he gave his direct opponent a torrid time.I still regret his refusal to give football a full go in 2005 when I was manager.He could have made a difference.
As a unit the forwards played an unselfish game and the speedy Mattin kicked at least one superb point in the last five minutes.They never gave up the chase,rightly as it transpired.
As the bemused Walterstown players and mentors trooped off at the end  I swear to God I saw Bligh and co.doing a little hop ,skip and jump.
No gold medals yet but the dream lives on.
Jack Devine at ninety is as avid a supporter as you could get and left with a wry smile on his face. If he hasn't seen it all by now who has ?

The dynamic duo over the Intermediate team were in attendance and were in animated discussion.The fate of the Inter.Team lies in their hands and Fianna will be no pushovers.Its shit or get off the pot time now.We wish them and the team luck tomorrow evening in Boardsmill.

 
  

Chinks of Light dispel Tumbleweeds in Dunderry

Hard work,decency,talent and application bring their own rewards.Bit like prayer really.Never wasted.Take this as read from an unholy Joe.
This August Bank Holiday weekend the grafting classes here defied the odds and withered  the tumble weeds at germination.
Not once,not twice but thrice.and counting.
First we have three lads,Christy Coogan,paddy Kenneally and Alan Garry on the Meath Minor Football panel.
On Sunday evening they beat a good Tyrone team by the minimum due to a last minute goal by Stephen Coogan,who played start to finish at full forward.He had an exceptional first half scoring four points from play.That he is here at all is a minor miracle in itself.His father Christy emigrated to America in the hungry eighties where he met Denise O Reardon ,whose family had also emigrated there from Cork.They hooked up there and drawn by the irresistible lure of the soil returned to rear their family here.I would say that they were economically disadvantaged in relocating here,but like all true  children of the soil are rooted in a community they love with a passion.
Alan Garry has two brothers in exile in Australia,two hard working goosons who would gladly work here were the economic gobshites who destroyed this countryeven half competent..He has cousins and uncles all over the globe.He is proudly carrying a family GAA tradition on his capable shoulders.He wasn't called into action on Sunday but as a team is only as good as its panel this is still an honour.
Paddy Kenneally was introduced as a sub on the forty in the second half .He played well after a thundering welcome onto the pitch from his opponent.His Kerry father will take some consolation from this victorty and I would say it  will help sooth the pain of Kerrys defeat to Donegal.This family ,who are relatively  recent arrivals to the Parish choose Dundery as their base brecause of its grounded application of the Gaelic ehtos.
Meath meet Mayo next and have realistic expectations of advancing.According to my source ,who was at the game and has been at them all,this is a good and improving team and can go the whole hog .Dublin are exceptional I am told ,but hey Kerry were bet in the Senior and Meath are improving by the new time.Everything is possible.
The presence of our lads on the team leaves a warm glow in Dunderry hearts all over the world not only here.There are toasts being raised in Australia,America,England and even the United Arab Emirates .

Secondly the high profile sports man,T.V.and print  pundit,School master and famed All Ireland winner ,Colm O Rourke ,has found time, at no cost to the Club, to put our lads through their paces this(Monday) evening,Not one person in Dunderry would make little of him for supporting the Quinn family last week ,nor would anyone here sniggeringly nor sneeringly refer to Quinn as the "son of  Brian" and sneer at Quinn nor O Rourke as was done by some of the gob shites on Charlie Bird's radio show on Sunday.Conversely we would pray that someone of Quinn's stature would come to create jobs to stop the advance of the tumbleweeds.Some of these commentators are beginning to sound like the comic character Judge Dread incapable of sprouting anything other than the "The law is the Law."They were saying the same at the time of Jesus.Around here we "get "Sean Quin and Colm O Rourke,even our own blue shirts. We also"get" Sean Boylan ,another man who backed the Quinns ,and would be equally honoured were he to show his face here again.

Finally the Club organised a barn dance last evening in Geraghty's shed.Truth to tell money is fierce scarce around here with everybody,even those lucky enough to have State jobs.Those who could afford a mini blast supported the outing in numbers enough to make it a success in today;s terms.The upside for those who like a jar is that they get a buzz now after about two drinks such is their lack of practise  due to the lack of cash.Great for the punter Id say but not so good for the publican.
But those who went made the best of it.
All in all a glimpse at the rainbow.
P.S.Val Andrews who managed Louth and Cavan is a grandson of John Newman ,after whom the pitch in Bohermeen is named.His daughter is Val's mother and her brother James played football with Dunderry at the same time as my uncles Joe and Paddy.John is buried in the Black Church in Meadstown,Dunderry .
Another Dunderry disciple you might say.

Dunderry favourite Nevin nails it.

The foresight of the GAA Club in backing winners is sometimes frightening.The star of our fight night against Trim ,John Joe Nevin (see earlier blog on the matter )has delivered where it counts. Gold and Silver beckons.Only the best for the best.

Investigative journalism at its best.

If you want to see the nadir of puke journalism read an article by Valerie Hanley in today's The Irish Mail.On the front page the question is posed "Is Mountjoy really the place for a little girl Mrs Quinn?"
"Shock as child visits Sean Quinn Junior "it further trumpets.
On page thirteen it leads "Little girl in tow,Quinns visit Sean in jail."
Reading down the article we learn that "a little girl ,her brown curly hair tied in pigtails is the picture of innocence."She is referred to as "Maresa"and "little Maresa"
Accompanying the article is a picture of picture of three adults holding the hand of a child ,with only her face blacked out ,of about four years of age.This child is portrayed as "Maresa".
The "shock " referred to by the report is that the child was brought to Mountjoy to visit Sean Quinn.

Conversely I find it shocking that any so called newspaper should stoop so low as to exploit the innocence of a young girl to attempt to sell newspapers.I am appalled that another woman should so arrogantly and heartlessly exploit the visit to denigrate those who brought her on the visit.I am disappointed ,but not surprised ,that the privacy of an innocent child should be so readily disregarded and flaunted for the world to see for monetary gain.
Marisa,s parents ought keep this article and give it to Maresa so that she can take appropriate action against Valerie Hanley when she is of the age.
If Valerie Hanley has children of her own,and I severely doubt this ,I would ask her if she would like published the image and description of her four year old child to sell newspapers.
I would also ask the secular sisterhood to outright condemn such actions by one woman against another much younger but "innocent" woman and pose the question whether such actions advances the notion of gender politics.i.e. that anyone should be favoured for election because of the shape of their gonads.
All women are caring me arse.
I cannot understand how journalists in the same stable,Joe Brolly for example,  can continue to work for such a rag,which will never pollute my house again.

P.L.C.Founder Cracks it.

Rumour has it that the founder of the P.L.C.,who was in self imposed exile,deep in cider land,has resurrected his campaign of anarchy,is again tattooing inanimate objects which offend his finely attuned sensibilities and has cracked his way back to web land.Like James Bond,this secret agent has been shaken and severely stirred.This mine of information relays his cracked messages from his lair via his trusty lieutenant and confidant Bar the Book.
We are ecstatic at this earth shattering news.

Football quarter Finals.

I have watched all these on the telly.My reaction so far is as follows:-
None of the Armagh tradesmen  have been able to recreate the splendour of endeavour and delivery of their sole All Ireland victory plotted so well by Big Joe.Neither Geezer nor Mc Nulty have delivered.Bulking up and getting superbly fit is only half the battle.Like the Irish Rugger boys,when they meet true class they have consistently failed to deliver.Kildare have reached their plateau and must look elsewhere if they are to progress.
Laois will advance further .Until they reach the standard of Kildare probably. But like them they will have to look elsewhere to achieve greatness.This is a pity as they have some of the most natural players in the country.
Dublin were lucky.They play a grand brand of football and in full flow are a joy to watch.I feel they were lucky to beat Kerry last year and also think that winning the All Ireland this year is the only way to dispel these doubts.The job ahead is a tough one and will be hard to complete .
Mayo are still a work in progress.Their brand of football is their own and is free from cynicism.They are lacking a few hard men and will win nothing until they find them.
Down are just not good enough.They haven't enough good players.
Cork have been consistently the best team in the country these last five years and have the best ,the biggest and the strongest panel of players I have seen in years.They have underachieved .
Kerry have peaked and back to the drawing board.They will have to rebuild for the next few years.
Donegal are something else and combine a fine team ethic with some very talented individuals skilled in the arts of football.The team that beats them will win the All Ireland.
I can't stand Sinead O Connor but her song "Nothing compares to You"sums up perfectly the atmosphere generated at Croke Park yesterday at the finishing stages of the Kerry/Donegal game.All GAA people get this.The carcass pickers just don't.
I am drooling at the prospect of the Cork/Donegal game.Bring it on baby.Dublin and Mayo has it charms too ,but is a mere teaser to the main offering.
What titillating prospects await us.

Muskateers go al fresco.

Friday last the Church was locked when the musketeers turned up.The regular sacrosanct was on her holidays and her replacement closed up shop in the early afternoon.Not to be deterred the troupe took up position on the school wall beside the Grotto and proceeded apace.A few double takes were made by passers by who expecting to see a youngsters taking perhaps a sly smoke there saw instead three old farts partaking in the secularist crime of praying.
And we prayed for the release of our tipster.It worked.He was sprung on Saturday with a winning tip .
Interestingly the sun shone throughout our prayers and it kept shining even though it rained a little.Perhaps a sign of things to come.
The omens are encouraging.
Firstly I read that Maeve Binchy ,who was what I think an agnostic,was received in a Catholic Church on her own instructions.What you might call an each way bet in a one horse field.

Secondly I read that that most vituperate of anti Catholic commentators vincent brown attended the funeral in the Church.How can such a supposedly principled man swallow his principles and even enter a Church after continuously spouting such derogatory things about the Faith.

Thirdly the crowds attending Mass here are slowly on the increase.

Fourthly another Christening after Mass today.

Fifthly there is a strong probability that the tumbleweeds will be put to flight tonight  for the GAA Barndance in Geraghty's shed.

Here's to Con Houlihan ,who my friend Joe remembers meeting in Navan a number of years ago, in a restaurant of course.Not.His drink that day was brandy and milk.The milky brand kid?

Tipster resurfaces at last

Released from his self imposed exile,the Tipster sent me the following text today "The Fugue in the 3.15 in Goodwood is really fancied today and with Richard Hughes up and William Buisk picking the favourite Izzi Top to win ,the time to back him is now.Give it a lash Daithi."
"P.S.I am sending this from Ballyconnell,where I have been imprisoned alongside Sean Kelly ghost since last weekend.Could not break through the wall of the lies pedalled by the mainstream media about  Sean Kelly's presence here and the fog of smugness and veil of  snickering  by the carcass pickers and their secular cohorts."
Like Sean Quinn I took a punt on the tip.It won.Unfortunately I could not share it with you as it came too late.Had it lost I would not have blamed ye for my mortgage arrears.As I own Anglo and the other banks I went in ,said I own you and asked for a fiver.The teller is still laughing at me.All the way from the bank you might say.
All these populist shites spouting that we own the banks should see can they even got a fiver from their banks.Guess not.

Circle of hate targets the Quinns.

I have long since satisfied myself that a circle of hate,consisting of  mainly atheist journalists , spiteful feminista, pet commentators and some politicians have devoted considerable time and energy into demonising all things Catholic at every opportunity . These exact same  media luvvies are now being wheeled out to do down the Quinn family at every opportunity ,despising not only the Faith of the Quinns but also their Nationalist,Parochial  and GAA roots.Figure out who they are for yourself.

These spawn of the squaddies despise all things connected to Nationalist Ireland and are seeking to destroy and stamp out those who do not fit neatly into the professional carcass picker classes to which they owe allegiance.In particular they despise those who they fear as being the very fabric of society.

Just to get this in perspective.The Quinns did not cause the property boom that destroyed not only Ireland,but also Spain,Italy,France,Portugal.Malta ,Greece and Cyprus.Nor did they cause the  Banks Europe wide to totally destroy the Economies of Europe.Nor did they press gang the Regulators and the Politicians into causing the greatest economic catastrophe since the Second World War.
They certainly didn't foist an ill thought out  Euro currency on some European Union countries.The geniuses who did are still winging it hourly.
The actions of the Bank That efuses to say its name and the spin generated by its admirers would nearly convince you that the whole thing is down to one   family and the blood curling cries for revenge,particularly from a few screeching female journos,who never created even one job ,is disgusting.

I averred to their treatment in my article "Croppie lie down"As far as I can see they are being targeted in an effort to blacken their names and impoverish them in advance of the action they are taking for being allegedly induced into an illegal scheme by Anglo Irish Bank.

I have no doubt that Judge Kelly is a man of probity but cannot see, ,in view of the comments he has already made about the Quinns ,how they can ever get fair play in any Irish Court.I am also shocked at the extent of the Court's powers and the tactics employed by the former Anglo.Targetting his children ,his wife ,his in laws and his grandchildren are tactics we would condemn from Somali pirates and has no place in a modern democracy.

As for the gutter press.These vultures feasted on the advertisements during the property boom,embellished the wares advertised beyond all reason and reaped huge financial benefit.Publishing photos of people in jail and rejoicing in reporting that the Quinns must now apply for nappy money for their children is a new low,even for a profession that never investigated its own proprietors and their vast wealthy and whose English cousins tapped the phones of the dead.And saw  no wrong in it.

The people who rallied to support the Quinns were totally within their rights and the divide and conquer tactics of a Fine Gael Party who has its tentacles all over the GA will soon force the real Gaa men into the open.Watch this space.

Dunderry V Round Towers u 14 .F. 30/7/2012.

Every so often something happens to lift the spirit in times of misery .And God knows we need these uplifts to sustain the spirit.This Summer League Final played in Dunderry last Monday evening defied the elements in that it was a stray day borrowed from a real summer and it helped dispel the eerie silence and despair that is strangling "Tumbleweed Ireland" as I write.Don't mind the pet journalists ,economic commentators and spin merchants ,fir breaga all,Ireland is spiralling rapidly to the point of no return.
It is only the community spirit and stoic stubborness of the Fior Volunteers in the GAA that is keeping the show on the road in rural Ireland.
On Monday the pride of Dunderry,Robins town and Kilbride took on their counterparts from Drumbaragh and Kilmainham,under the banner of Round Towers.Rural parishes all and you would know it.The only nasties I heard were from people whose accents and sentiments betrayed their non rural roots.Thankfully they were lone voices in a sea of appreciation.
This Dunderry team had the worst of bad starts to the season ,conceding a walk over in the championship and being expelled as a result.Just didn't work on the day for mentors Jim Mitchell and Darren Yourell.The latter is new to the GAA scene and has had a baptism of fire.Jim is an older hand and at the start of the year was looking forward to a well earned sabbatical.Some chance.
I stuck my oar in after the championship debacle and am trying to impart some of the lifetime experience into the gosoons.
Its a quare set up but it works.
We won out in the Shield ,are qualified for the final stages of the sevens and last Monday Round Towers stood in our way.They had beaten the Pats the only team  to beat us,so we knew we were up against it.But then so were they.
Both teams were well supported in our Pitch for the battle.
Like all small villages we never have a team on the cusp of the age.Our players ranged in size from the tiny to the tall and all stages in between.We don't do fear ,ever ,and even the smallest don't have it.The bigger lads are maelstroms of raging hormones and like all lads of that age ever born ,know everything.Well seemingly so.Takes a firm hand and loads of diplomacy for which I would be renowned!!I'd say Jim and Darren would be better equipped in this area.
We were without the services of Danny Morris ,one of the better players in the county.A surfeit of hormones recently.He was there cheering on ,as you would expect.
Dunderry team ;-

                                                    Ronan Brady
                Mark Lynch                                                Jamie (Timber ) Leavy

Shane (Gunner) Gartland             Tomas O Conaire             Calvin Coffey

                  Alexandros (Ali) Mairtinas              Conor (Tipp ) Mc Kenna

Oisin Martin                                 Jamie Darcy       Kevin Clynch

                  Diarmuid O Ciorrain                          Eoin Smyth

Subs used.ShamusO Neill, Liam Lenin O Ciorrain,Adam Keenan.


Older readers will recognise some names who  here for generations.Ronan is a son of John and grandson of Seamus,the third generation to play for the Club.Jamie's father Tommy and grandfather Paddy Kavanagh played also.Shane Gartland is Kevin' Brady's son son and his father and uncle Tommy played in the Parish.I think his grandfather Tommy did as well.Tomas is Tommy's son from Lambay also a fine footballer in his day and a first cousin of the Curran's through his mother.Calvin is Colin's son and a grandson of the legendary Tim.Ali is a recent arrival,of south African descent I think.He has it in spades as does Mark Lynch ,a quiet man and good footballer ,who gets on with the job with a minimum of fuss.Conor also excels at the garrison game and premiership trials beckon.Oisin 's father Gerry excelled with Slane and Meath and the son is following in his footsteps.Jamie is following in the footsteps of his grandfather Billy and uncles Paddy and Brian and has already wore the county colours in the small ball game.Kevin's family have been at the heart of sport here since the time of his grandfather Billy and Eoin is following in the sporting footsteps of his mother Trish and her sisters and brothers .flange is bursting with pride and the Lord mayor and Rose are  delighted.Diarmuid and Liam are sons of Colm and a good Galway woman and are good footballers,no surprise as I hear their father showed great promise but preferred the sales ring in Trim Mart,alas.Shamus has a heart of a Lion and even if a bit small at the moment has all the attributes needed .His Daddy Donal is a big man and I would say Seamus has some sprouting to do Adam is a son of Tommy and Breda Gough and the genes for greatness are there.

These guys are a work in progress.They have made rapid advances this year,playing with courage,conviction and no little skill.They now totally get the team ethic and back each other up.We have worked on free taking and would expect 100% accuracy within 35 yards and the odd fifty to be pointed.They get the necessity of back tracking when beaten and the craic of placing hands on hips when beaten is now defunct.They play an intelligent brand of football.With only one solo and one hop allowed on a full sized pitch in this competition they realise that giving the ball away is a no-no.They don't give up.
A young lad refereed the match.He did good enough.Certainly wasn't biased.He drew the ire of both sets of supporters only occasionally .Good enough for a tight well contested match ,which this was.
The teams were evenly matched in both skills,commitment and tenacity.Good hard honest football with few mistakes.They opened with a bang,two goals and a point up before we knew where we were.Our boys didn't panic and clawed our way back by half time.We probably shaded the second half but lost concentration half way through.and it took a supreme effort to kick the equalising point on the cusp of the final whistle.Either side could rue the draw as both had missed scorable chances.The attendance was enraptured.encouragement all round.Both sides were tired after a huge effort.
We marshalled our forces for the two ten minute periods of extra time.
Like a cobra we struck.Three goals and two points in the first ten minutes.Shock and awe.Half way there.
While we conceded a goal in the second period they had no way back.
Finished on a scoreline of 5-11 to 4-6.
Great day at the office.Hard luck Round Towers.
Personally I was totally enraptured ,a fact that didn't escape our Paudi ,who at four years of age shouted his heart out for Dunderry and met the teasing of our Carina and her opposition buddies with the dirtiest looks a imaginable.Takes after his Tipp Granny.
Take a well earned bow all involved.
                 

Tipster turns Turk

Unless there has been a personal disaster of massive proportions our favoured and sole tipster has done a runner and gone to ground.Not a word in 9 days.Interpol will soon be alerted.I know that his last tip is still running the same race 8 days after but going to ground was a little extreme.I lost a fiver.Not the end of the world.
Any reports of sightings will be followed up.

1973 I. F. C. Final Replay Blanch Brigids V Rush.St.Maurs.

At a Mass today in Blanchardstown to mark the death of the late Kevin Russell ,about whom more anon.as well as meeting Chew,Binks,Bawler and Leosho ,but not Foxy (guess who the family is ) and a host of other friends  I had a good chinwag with Herbie Hughes,Mattie Keane and George Brennan,gentlemen all.Was well looked after by Ben Dempsey's son, in Blanch House,where soup and sandwiches were served after Mass.He is the spit of his father and nearly as witty.Nearly I said.
I have many GAA regrets but none more so than being on the wrong side of a one point defeat to Maurs in the 1973 (I am not sure about the year but think I am right.) Inter football Final replay. As far as I am concerned we were rode out of it.Myself and the boys talked about it at length today.As they are drawing the lambs from our pen now,I think it time to write about it.Here goes.
We had a fair team those years.A clatter of Goldens from Ballycastle ,Mayo.whose brother in law Kevin Leonard was a selector, had signed with us that time and given fresh impetus to us in pursuit of the Holy Grail of the Inter Championship.We had recently been demoted from Senior in the boardroom not the pitch and had a grievance as a result .
The drawn final that year had been played in Parnell Park.where what appeared  a perfectly good goal by Gerry Nolan had been disallowed on the word of an unmpire,Even at that we were a point up on the cusp of full time but conceded  a line ball when it was not necessary and compounded it by following the ball, and handing it to them,forgetting to mark up for the quick line ball..Dennis Guerin of Na Fianna refereed I think.
Despite assurances from the County Board to our delegate Sean Spratt that Fingallians grounds in Swords would be invasion proof for the replay,our objections to playing it there were over ruled.
A huge crowd gathered and the referee was a Banba man,whose name escapes me .My memory of the team is :-

                                                          Martin Butterly

Jem Powell                                     Padraigh Golden                             Jim Murphy

Daithi Stephens                             Mattie Keane                                    Willie Gallagher
                            Eddie Melvin                         Rory Brennan

Mick Greally                              Johnny Keane                                       Robert Stephens

Noel Golden                               Gerry Nolan                                         Teddy Golden.

Johnny Keane had scored 1-13 in the drawn game and was our form player.We played fierce well the first half and were coasting at half time,a trend that continued into the second half.Then,and modern day players would get hard to get this,as the said Johnnie Keane was bearing down on goals with a goal at his mercy ,a spectator ran through a hole in the wire and gave Johnny a kick in the front of the body on the pitch.He  was followed onto the pitch by more spectators who threw further shapes as the original assailant ran back through the hole with Johnny in indignant pursuit.Despite the invasion the referee waved play on and allowed a goal scored by Maurs from the ball dropped by Johnny to stand.
My mother Peggy,my newish wife Agnes and Mary Brennan (Mother of Rory and grandmother of Trevor of rugby fame) took up position at the break in the wire with their umbrellas to stop a full pitch invasion by the so called Maurs supporters.They stopped a lot,got called many uncomplimentary names and only for them I am sure a full scale riot would have evolved.In the midst of all this mayhem ,play,if you could call it this ,continued.I was in total disbelief that this could happen,as were all our players.Maurs adapted better to the situation than we did and won by a point ,I think.
Even by the tougher standards that prevailed then what happened that day was totally unacceptable and was the worst instance of unfair play I have ever encountered.
More luck to Maurs.We didn't object ,as far as I know.It wasn't the done thing.In any event there were plenty of County Board officials present 'had thee been a desire to right this blatant wrong.
We heard that there were wilde celebrations in Rush that night and more luck to them.
However a certain sour taste remains to this day.
Putting it in perspective the death of Kevin Russell and the former Dublin great Yank Murray of Skerries,whose funeral some of the attendees at today's Mass rushed to attend, registers far higher on the Richter scale.
I am uneasy about the players I have named on the team and would stand corrected if contacted.Did Aidan O Regan play that day.I'm  not sure.

Dunderry results week ended 29/07/2012.

The under 14 footballers were fixed to play Round Towers ,Kells last Tuesday in Dunganny.A sizable crowd turned up but no game was played.The rain came down in sheets and the whole place was flooded.Summer League is right.
On Thursday we player Trim in the A league in football in the pitch.Things had dried out well since Tuesday and the pitch wasn't bad.
Dunderry Team.
                                                      Thomas Doherty

Darren Callaghan                           John Kelleher                    Davy Mc cormack

Damian Clarke                                Evan Stephens                  Alan Garry

                             Peadar Callaghan                    Bob Doherty



Gary Newman                               Ivan Mc Cormack              Seamus Harte                                           

Simon Carty                                     Keith Callaghan                   Stephen Coogan.

I missed the first fifteen minutes during which Trim scored two goals and a few points,Seemingly they attacked in numbers from the half back line and caught us on the hop.For he last 15 minutes of the first half we were outscored but not outplayed as both sides played an attractive style of open football,with good periods of inter passing.I didn't take the score but would say we went in seven pints down.
Some fine football was played in the second half by both sides ,with our backs,particularly the half back line spraying passes allover the shop to advantage.Both sides excelled at closing down the man in possession,that is surrounding him if he delayed.While the Clonard referee was generally good,it seemed to both sets of supporters and indeed to me,that he was inconsistent at times,sometimes penalising the man in possession and other times penalising the tacklers.There is no suggestion that he favoured one side over another but at times you had to scratch your head to figure why a free had or had not been given.
Assisted by a deserved penalty put away with aplomb by Stephen Coogan ,we fought back to lead by two points with three minutes to go.We ended up bet by one point.Go figure.Only ourselves to blame.A draw might have been a fairer reflection of what I saw.Trim won't complain.
The backs played well,the half back particularly so.Finn and Swiss are on their game.Midfield had its moments and the forwards scored enough to win had we kept ahead.Ivan is on his game too and Carty is fast and brave.About 10 minutes after the break Lar Callaqghan replaced Gary Newman.
Final score Trim 2-11.Dunderry 1-12.Tight.
On the Camogie front the Junior Team beat Donaghmore Ashbourne by two goals I think.The under 18's were well beaten by Rathoath in a match where we had to forfeit home advantage because the pitch was warerlogged.
I swear that the children born this year have no notion of what summer looks like.

The siege of Blanchardstown

This may be a figment of my imagination but I doubt it.The events outlined here took place in ,I would guess, 1968 or thereabouts.I say this because I was still going to Brunner at the time and had to vary my time of arrival as a consequence of what happened.
First let me set the scene.As with most of my social life it was GAA related.
Those times Brigids played their matches in the Priests Field opposite Davy's Pub (now the Bell).The Priest hadn't built the Parish House now in the field,Verona hadn't acquired the soccer pitch now there,the School extension was not there,and Blanchardstown was still a rural village,a fact I was reminded of every day in Brunner ,where I was called a culchie.
We played senior football at the time,had no hurling teams at all and Tommy Phelan was Chairman.Around that time I won an under 16 and a half hurling championship with Eoghan Ruaidh as there was no Brigids team.Joey Towell ,who became a Dublin legend was a team mate.He was magic even then .I think Clontarf had no hurling team either and my memory is that a Jerry O Connor from there was also involved with the team.
Juvenile football was sporadic and I firmly remember being bitterly disappointed at giving a walkover in an under 16 final because we had no transport.Freddie Reilly and John Hynes,who used live opposite the Bank of Ireland on the Main Street, were over the team and work commitments decreed they couldn't make it.They had stepped into the breach as a result of a death bed plea from Tom Russell,as had Tommy Tonge and his neighbour Tommy Halpin.
Around that time also we had embarked on a waste paper recycling enterprise.Basically we scoured the Parish for waste paper,bailed it and sold it to a recycling company.We had canvassed the Parish and left plastic sacks to those willing to participate.In canvassing Castleknock I had got thick when asked to go to the servant's entrance and left a suitable note and a plastic bag.Nearly arrested for trespass.Lar Wade was the operator of the bailing press and we lost Pollock Hill,a good footballer from the ranks as he reasoned that we should devote more time to football training than collecting used papers.
Well the Club organised a massive Carnival in the Priest's  Field to raise funds,There was a huge marquee and top class  show bands hired each night for a week.They were good bands and huge crowds of dancers used attend,mostly from Cabra and Finglas.As the week progressed the tensions between these tribes became palpable,seemingly because a number of guys from one area were trying to get off with a the girlfriends of the other side.Now there would be several hundred dancers there every night,as there were when all hell broke loose.As it eventually did when a fight broke out between two  guys over a girl,
There were about twenty of us acting as Maors and Lar intervened to stop the fight .Big mistake .Both sides joined up and turned on Lar.We backed Lar and so it began.A little like the three hundred spartans against the African Hordes.There were about twenty of us against say four hundred of them,.I am not exagerating.The women dancers jumped up on the benches at the periphery of the tent and the band did a runner.
Charlie Collins was the main man and we tried to get all our lads into the one spot.My brother Robert became isolated and I heard him roar for help.He had his back to one of the main poles holding up the tent and was totally surrounded getting punched to pieces.
Let me say that it was all fist and an odd boot fight ,No knives nor bottles.Manly enough I suppose.Anyhow I fought my way in to Robert's rescue and we beat our way back to the rest of the boys.
We formed a line across the hall and they came at us in battallions,very well organised.As soon as you beat back a line of them another came up in support.I knocked out my first man that day totally by accident.I swung a punch at the jaw of an assailant,he ducked and another lad coming behind him ran on to the end of the swing.Down he went.Having said that I was fairly peeled myself as were all of us .Charlie Collins ,Tom Smith,Tommy Downey,Colm Brennan ,Willie Farrell .Mattie Keane I think ,Jigser Powell (then courting Patsi Wade)and I know there were more but cannot remember tham ,fought like our lives depended on it.,Which I suppose they did.Now this happened late at night and the Garda presence was minimal;.There were few Gardai in Blanch at the time,so no great assistance from that quarter,
Just when we were looking into the face of Armageddon a siren wailed and into the tent came a dozen or more of the finest uniformed gardai you ever saw.Their leader was a grizzled auld fella as ram rod straight as you could imagine.He stood at the door surveying all before him and pointed out the ring leaders to his apostles.They waded in and plucked out at least a dozen of the main protagonists.These boys could handle themselves and marched their defeated foes into a paddy wagon.Id say they got a right thumping on the way in .The mob dispersed and we brushed ourselves down.Lugs Brannigan and his crew had come ,saw and conquered.
Well not quite as it turned out.Meself and Robert headed down the main street for home.Not a chance as there were hundreds of fellas outside the garda station and they had the road blocked.We had to run back to the field and reassemble there.Over time the mob reassembled coming back from River Road to join up with the remnants on the main street and they were out for blood.
The stand odff took place in Davy Phelans car park.We again stood shoulder to shoulder.I was beside Tommy Downey ,RIP.Tommy wore glasses and he had a body coat shirt and tie on underneath.Just before they charged he took off the glasses ,put them in the breast pocket of the body coat and said here goes.As I said fists and boots.We fought for dear life and beat them off.I turned to Tommy Downey to see how he was.The body coat and the glasses were still intact.Nothing was left of his shiort and vest and he weas naked from the waist up underneath.It was some scrap.
Tom Smith the spud man had the misfortune to have put on his best suit and it was in shreds.I was in bits but still standing and again tried to get home.No luck again,as they controlled the main street.
Tom Smith said feck this and as we were going the same direction as himself placed us in his Merc and headed off towards the Greyhound.They saw us coming and tried to block the road again,Tom's response was to put the boot down.They soon shifted.And home we got.Not a word to the parents.We missed the school bus the next day.Just as well as we were told that a few lads from Cabra had got on looking for us.For about a month afterwards we had to vary the times we got the bus to school.Things soon petered out.
As far as I  know no other account of this event,which may or may not have happened ,exists.No doubt the names of the people mentioned above are fictional or are they.Check it out.

Charlie Collins died during the week and was cremated.He was the toughest defender we had that day and after awhile a heap of inert bodies piled up around him.He was one tough dude as the Kilbride team of the seventies,who we often met in Russsell Cup Tournaments in the Priests Field ,would attest.He feared no one.
Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam.

Croppie lie down.

The guerrilla tactics of Michael Collins,the Fine Gael icon ,are reputed to have been imitated by countless generations of freedom fighters world wide since the 1920's.He figured out the tactics necessary to put a world dominant empire on the defensive and how to break its resolve.
It seems to me that his modern day political descendants have learned  well these  lessons insofar as they relate to breaking an adversary who incurs their wrath.
The bank which refuses to say its name is headed by Alan Dukes a former leader of Fine Gael.The Australian CEO was appointed with the consent of a Fine Gael Government ,headed by Enda Kenny and the head of the office of Public Works,Brian Hayes is using all the authority of his office in the international arena to pursue an agenda against a good Irish family .I cannot remember any other instance when a Bank ,the Courts and a Government Minister and a Government were so united in their determination to do any family down.
Particularly a family that created so many jobs in such neglected backwaters of the hidden Ireland without any Government support.The treatment being meted out to this family is in direct contrast to that accorded Larry Goodman in years gone by,when the Examiner legislation was rushed through the Dail to maintain employment and afford an organisation under pressure a chance to regain financial control of its affairs.
What I find particularly objectionable is the use of the natural love and affection that any decent father bears for his children and their incarceration as a weapon to force him to do the bidding of any other party and I am disgusted that any Court in this country would accede to such a request.
On the one hand we have report after report decrying situations where parents and indeed the State in their absence have neglected children to the extent of causing premature death and on the other hand the State and the Courts misusing the natural love expected from a parent to attempt to blackmail that parent to do the State's will.
In my view not only is the practice medieval but also barbaric.It is the sort of punishment one would expect from a colonial power to keep down a rebellious colony but not one I would expect a modern Republic to use against one of its own citizens and its practicality affords no moral justification for its use.To carry the thing to its logical conclusion why not incarcerate his wife and his infant grandchildren and all his other children and in laws also. And his parents as well,if they are alive..
These tactics are worthy of the mafia and are not hugely dissimilar from the tiger kidnappings where children and wives are held hostage until the ransom is paid.
These archaic powers ought to be fully ventilated in the forthcoming constitutional forum and the populace given a chance to debate them and decide whether they wish them to be part of the State's and Courts armoury.
The problem that Official Ireland ,North and South has with Sean Quinn and his family is that he sprang from nowhere and is not of the professional classes who ruled the roost here for generations and really fucked this country up.
They will not rest until they have stamped him back to the dust he came from ,whatever it takes .
Yes another croppy to be put in his place.
These guys don't get it.Sean is one of ours.

T.D.to finish the job.

Today in Kilbride my daughter Margarita and her husband Phil Kilcooley christened their second child Thomas Daithi Kilcooley.The Christening,by father Hornick,is the latest and most pleasant of a roller coaster of events and emotions experienced by the wider Kilcooley family in the recent past.
A number of months ago Phil's father Tom  was diagnosed with cancer,a form that turned out to be particularly virulent.It resisted all treatment and while the pain was well controlled and he made his peace with his god and his family,there was a considerable emotional toll on his family who minded him at home right to the end.His wife and children were exemplary but ,as I know only too well,this is a most unmerciful disease at times and extracts a huge emotional toll .
Concurrently Mags became pregnant and being Mags embarked on the most recommended of conditioning regimes for those with child.despite scan confirmation that she was carrying only one child she was huge and went into labour 8 weeks before the due date.Thomas Daithi was born to great jubilation,short lived as it transpired as that a gap existed in his digestive facilities.He had to go into Temple Street Hospital for an urgent operation and spent some time there.He is fine now.
If there is an upside to these events it is that the premature birth enabled Tom Senior to cuddle Tom junior,his first grandson, when he was able to appreciate it.
On Wednesday we buried Tom Senior.Today we Christened our grandson.There must be a parable here somewhere,
Tom Senior was over six foot six,as is Phil ,Mag's husband.
Us Stephenses are built close to the ground.T,D, is nearly as long now as I am myself.Bligh has already registered him as a Dunderry GAA  member.Midfield I'd say.He has a rake of cousins of similar age ,male and female.I hope I live to see them on the field of play and support them as I already do with Aisling ,my oldest and first grandchild.
She is Godmother.
With his initials he is a natural for the Dail.Maybe,just maybe he will finish the job I started.,
Le cuineamh De.

Hon the Meath Minors.

This coming Sunday Meath face Dublin in a double football feast,minor and Senior Leinster finals.We have four members on the minor panel.three who play with Dunderry and one who is directly descended from the best of Dunderry stock,a daughter of Tony Newman,judged by the experts to have been one of the best players ever to grace the Dunderry jersey.He currently plies his trade with Scryne.
Natives will recognise the names of Coogan and Garry,and Stephen,Christy's son and Alan ,a son of the "Bear"who are involved.Are they the first of their Clans to play for the County??Which or whether they deserve what comes their way and their families fully deserve the honour bestowed on them.They have been bedrocks of the Gaelic Game in this Parish for generations.
Emigrants might find it harder to recognise the name of Paddy Kenneally,a devout Dundrry man ,who is fielding at a wing back position.This is because he is of Kerry stock and a son of Stan,a great Clubman and a relative of the famed Kerry Kenneallys.In a few years perhaps Kerry people will refer to that branch as related to the Dundery clan.
All in Dunderry are very proud of our lads and wish them the very best on Sunday.
Being a Dub.I am in somewhat of a dilemma.As I know the young lads so well and as I don't know any of the Dubs.I have no option but to support Meath in the game and gladly do so.
To retain some vestige of dignity I am supporting Dublin in the Senior ,even though a grandson and son of proud Dunderry men,Stephen Bray ,fields with the Royals.
Apologies to the mothers involved who I didn't name .You would swear that these lads were motherless which they certainly aren't. Another article on another day.
 The members of the 1991 epic Dublin/Meath clash are being n honoured at the game.Watch for the Dunderry men involved.
On a totally different tack it really is a very small country.It transpires that Kevin Colgan,a former Dunderry great was a workmate and close friend of Tom Kilcooley.father in law of my daughter Mags,and at his funeral I met Don O Mahony who I hurled with in Brigids for years,who told me that he was a flat mate of Tom's when they first came to Dublin.You couldn't,t make it up.

Dunderry under 14 footballers live on edge.

The resurrection of the under 14 footballers continues apace.We continue to win by the skin of our teeth.Last Saturday we advanced in the seven a side competition after drawing a controversial match  with our near neighbours Clanna Gael.The match was decided on 21 yard frees ,5 for each side.We won 5 to 4.
On Tuesday we played St.Pats who had beaten us the previous week.Down one of the players with most potential in the county since shortly after half time ,we scored a goal with the last kick of the ball to win by two points,no more than we deserved I thought.Styler refereed it fairly I thought.
The players are coming along nicely since exiting the championship on a walkover and are beginning to appreciate the value of hard work, team ethic,back up of team mates under pressure and that winning feeling.
There is better to come I hope.Division 5 is not the place to be for any Club with ambition.

Dunderry V KIlmessan I.H.C.20/07/2012.

We won pulling up in a fabulous Athboy pitch on a lovely sunny summer's evening.Anthony Kirby refereed as he played,hard but fair.A Kilmessan man  got gate at the end of the first half and we cruised to a victory in the order of 1-23 to 0-9.
We were short a number of regulars between suspension and injuries.
                          Team that started.
                                        Tommy Doc

Sprog                              Finn                    Red

Swiss                            Wright                 Ivo

            Ted                       O Shea                     

Keenan                     Keith                        Jordan

Geraghty                     Bob                       Gorey

Subs,Bobmer,Gilky,Fitzie,Harrow ,Eddie and Liam Dempsey

Drumbeat Dividend 21/07/2012.

Following last weeks winner we are plumping for Sea Moon in the King George at Ascot.This rapidly improving horse won for us before and will win again.Tomorrow we judge.Three up.We will  see.

Molly Newman meets her maker.

In her 103rd .year on this earth,the greatly loved Molly Newman shuffled off this mortal coil to the great consternation of her loving family,both immediate and extended,her neighbours and at least two parishes in this Diocese ,Dunderry and Boyerstown,a number of locations in the USA and England and a part of Holland ,in all of which locations reside members of her extended family.And these are only the locations I know about.
This lady was a Hanly from Rathmoylan,a description  I use advisedly as all who knew her would attest to and which could be evidenced in many ways ,not least in the way herself and her husband took in the infant child of her first cousin on the premature death of his mother,in times that were tough for all .Francis Bruton very properly regarded her as his mother and no natural son could do more for a woman than he,his wife Eileen and their children ,Kevin,Shane and Damian did for this lady in her ailing years.
Not only they.but everyone in this family were there when she was in  need..Her son Eugene ,his wife Anne and their children ,Owen,Jenny ,Pamela and Hazel were in constant attendance as were those of Olivers children not forced to the emigrant boat.
Her daughters Carmel and Patsi were both nurses and they spent much time in her care in latter years. Both of them and Carmel's husband Frank were regular attendees at the Vigil Mass in Dunderry in recent years and I am absolutely certain that their strong Catholic faith not only sustained them in difficult times but underlined and underscored the practical love they lavished on her .
As  I write this I hear an advertisement for liveline on the Radio concerning the latest condemnation of Christian Prayer from a Labour Councillor in  Tipperary. Like some of her family who I spoke to last night I am sick to the stomach of these people.Needless to say no Labour Councillor nor any of that anti Catholic ilk turned up to help care for her in her hours of need.Actions speak louder than words and her friends and neighbours went quietly about their works of love without spouting it on national radio.They are made of the right stuff.
Her husband Owen predeceased her by many years,38 I think and was a great friend of my mother's people the Mc Cormacks of Churchtown.I well remember them talking of Butty Thomas,who was Owen Newman's father and who I think was a relation to John Newman .GAA scion of the early 1900,s and who Newman Park in Bohernmeen is named after.
Our house in Blanchardstown was a house well known to Dunderry people and All the Newman men and Francis often called there when passing through from visiting Dublin.Francis has strong childhood memories of calling there with Molly and Owen while a young child.But then my mother and the Dundery people were like that.The best of neighbours always and no matter where.
Like their namesakes the Newmans of Tullaghanstown ,where father and sons concurrently drew the old age pension,both Molly and at least one child Thomas ,who is the most youthful 70 I ever saw,are in that category.Even I am not brave enough to suggest that any of the incredibly youthful looking daughters would also qualify.
Thomas emigrated many years ago and worked his way up from being a rigger in the oil business to the very top of the tree,to the extent of sponsoring research in an Irish University into the industry.  He played football with Dundery ,never lost his accent and was a frequent visitor home.Only a few weeks ago I met him after Mass and he knew that his mothers time was limited.
Oliver and Eugene were great friends of my uncle Tommy Mc Cormack .Oliver or "Golly " being somewhat of a boozing buddy and a partner in craic.
Many's the time my aunt Molly ate Tommy over a cache of empty booze bottles found in his car after some "outing" involving himself,Golly, probably Tommy Dowd,maybe Oliver Travers,possibly Patsi Coogan,definitively Mattie Lawless and maybe myself or Robert on the tails of the company.Great times.
Both Oliver and Eugene were on the winning Dunderry Inter Team in 1970.Golly played minor with Meath a feat replicated by his son Brian ,who captained the team .Brian played under 21 with Meath as well and I am sure that David his brother also manned the green jersey He was an intricate part of the team who developed the Dunderry Clubhouse..Father and sons were unstinting players for Dunderry and servants par excellence at under 21 and adult level and in Hurling also.Brother Paul was also in that tradition but his love of all things equine overcame his love of the Gaelic Game in his twenties and he devoted  his spare time in that direction.
Their sisters were part of an  Ultans lady's football team that swept all before them.
Myself and Eugene made our Dunderry Junior Football debuts in the Showgrounds in Navan many years ago at 16 years of age ,against Martry Harps ,I think..Eugene was a tasty footballer and his son Owen and daughters,Jenny,Pamela and Hazel graced the football,hurling and camogie fields of Meath for Dunderry  in their youth.
When Eugene lived in the village himself and Tommy Dowd for a period ran the juvenile footballers .The sole transport was Eugene's car.
Eileen Bruton is a long time member of the Dunderry Club and Kevin,Shane and Damian prominent hurlers and footballers with us.
Like all the Newmans they don't do fear,are built to the ground and when they hit you (legitimately of course) you stay hit.
Fifty years ago I used come here on the summer holidays.Hay was cocked at the time.It was drawn home by horse and bogey.A bogey was a flat bottomed dray which was tipped up and the entire cock of hay was drawn on to it by ratcheting up the cock with chains .The Mc Cormacks used make hay in Stauntons where Michael Mc Cormack now lives.Joe used drive down to Stauntons to draw the hay home and we would pass Newmans on the way.Even though we didn't know why we were drawn to the girls we passed,Assumpta Newman,Catty Lawless and the Conway sisters springing to mind.We fancied them desperately and did all sort of antics to draw their attention.Feck all good it did us.
Well I met Assumpta ,Cathy and Teresa these last few days,Assumpta for the first time in fifty years.They are grannies now and they wintered fierce well.
A massive crowd turned up for the funeral in Boyerstown Church yesterday ,with far more people outside the Church than inside and Father Brendan,a Dunderry admirer,was way off the mark when he said the burial would take place "in a few minutes,"after the attendance had a chance to sympathise with the family.Clearly he is unused to Dunderry funerals as the "few minutes " lengthened to a good hour.I.d say.
But that was the mark of the woman.
This lady has left a massive legacy of love in her wake and I'd say St .Peter met her half way up to usher her inside the pearly gates.
Ar Dheis De go Raibh a hAnam dilis.

Circle of Hate reaps reward.

The haters of all things Catholic, and we all know who they are,must be ecstatic at the news that a Church in Connemara  has been desecrated by the larceny of copper from its roof.Combined with the theft of religious artifacts from many Churches in recent times,but mainly from the time of a concerted campaign of  sustained bigotry from some hateful political and journalistic sources ,this latest outrage must really give these hatemongers their jollies.  and must afford the perpetrators the comfort of knowing that they are only wreaking revenge  on the target of the haters spleen.
Not a word now about the 120 youths dead because of State neglect in the past decade.The silence is deafening.  

Making Hay and Making HIstory.

A lifetime ago my uncle Joe Mc Cormack made his way across the fields to Meadstown to visit his mate Fred Stanley (did you know that a photograph of himself ,the Padna Kelly and a few more neighbours is on display in Mc Geogh's hardware) and in the process met Fred's brother the Cat turning hay with a pitchfork .This was unusual in the month of November,which it was."What you at Cat"said Joe.Without braking stride "Making hay and making history " said the Cat.
Withy the weather the way it is,will we have a repeat of that dose this year ?

Winner all right.Pay out.

Boom ,Boom two up in a row.6/4 is all right.Well done tipster.Can you make it three up.We hold our breath.

Drumbeat Dividend 14/07/2012,

Olympic Glory in the 2.10 in Newmarket was second in Royal Ascot and with the in form team of Richard Hughes and Richard Hannon at the helm should manage a first this time around.

Some Dunderry GAA results and Clare 1970 All Irelands.

As already reported the Inter Hurlers were beaten by Tones last Sunday.
The Junior D.s winning run came to an end against Ballinlough at Moynalty on Monday ,when the management skills of Donie Mooney and the considerable football nous of Mick Newman and Liam Og Farrell fell short of the job on hands.No shame lads .I think ye are still in the hunt.
The team the focus of my current attention ,the under 14 footballers,met their first defeat on Tuesday night against a very mature Stamullen team,going down by three points I think.I missed that game as it coincided with the blessing of the graves in Churchtown ,where my great grandfather and grandmother(a native of Headford by name Naughton )  are buried next to the Conways.
I noted a Conway death in 1845 ,the time of the famine.So these grounds are indeed old.
I am told that Cromwell knocked this church and all the Churches hereabouts.A tyrant if ever there was one.How sad that his sentiments towards Catholicism are shared by the current well known  members of the circle of hate,who decry our religion at every opportunity.
I think our under 13 Camogie Team beat Brownstown in a challenge on Tuesday .A bit of light at the end of the tunnell.
Reminds me of the late Tommy Moloney ,a fanatical Clareman and great boozing buddy and a a lover of the Gaelic game.When Clare were going bad in the early seventies at football and hurling  and a group of us were discussing this sad state of affairs he took full advantage by laying a fiver each with us that Clare had won four All Irelands that year.
He won his bet.
As memory recalls it they were:
Kilfenora won Ceili Band.
Kirby won Handball
Junior Camogie won All Irteland
and a Clareman won the frog swallowing.
And he didn't bat an eyelid.

Traffic Gridlock marks Dunderry Graves Blessings

Love always triumphs over hate.So it transpired in Dunderry today and yesterday ,when the blessings of the graves in the graveyard was split over the Vigil Mass last evening and again at 11.00 a.m.this morning.This was in response to the huge crowd that turned up last year,when many couldn't gain admission to the Church.The Church was full to capacity on both occasions and the gridlock I refer arose when the huge crowds attempted to leave the cemetery at the same time on both occasions.With everybody displaying extreme politeness the traffic took some time to disperse.And no body was complaining.
This gridlock makes a complete change from the eerie silence that pertains most evenings in the main and only street in Dunderry ,which is a direct result of the scandalous policies of the fir breaga and circle of hate clients that are doing their damnest to suck the will to live from rural and small town Ireland. Between attacking our religion at every hands turn and driving us into economic meltdown they hope to break us.No surprise therefor  to see some Government Ministers cosying up to their communist brethren abroad. They hope to realise their desire of leaving us all destitute ,financially and spiritually and qualify us for the classic definition of a communist,that is a "fella who has s.f .a and wishes to share it with everyone."
Such a good natured crowd on such a catholic and spiritual occasion lends the lie to our supposed secularism and shows that when all is said and done we respect our ancestors and our deceased friends and neighbours and firmly believe in the afterlife.
Everybody was turned out in their Sunday clothes and friends and neighbours who hadn't met for a while newed friendships.Those raw from recent family bereavements shed a few well deserved tears and those with more distant memories thought their thoughts and relived their memories .And prayed for God's mercy.
My mind was in "reprise mode "the whole weekend and I dredged up the most nostalgic of memories.All in all I wouldn't have missed a single moment of what I went through with those in the village of the dead.And I resolved to make the most of what has yet to come.My mother used say"Live your dreams ,while you can ".She was on the button there.
My uncle Tommy is twenty years dead and the realisation led me to realise the accuracy of the phrase "Tempus  Fugit".It really does.We should all  make the best of the time we have left.
There are great people around here.The grave of Mc Keown the Tramp was well tended ,although the writing on the headstone is fading.Much like the grave of my own people.To be rectified before too long. A thought .,Maybe a fitting tribute to him might be "where's his companion Mam?"
To the recently bereaved Daltons (Paul ),Coffeys (Nora) and Goughs (Nell ),who are still very raw the grace of God .

Ya Boy Ya .

10 to 3.Not so bad.Great winner.Great tipster.All is swell.Some jockey.Got head in front at right time and held it there.

Drumbeat Dividend for 07/07/2012.

We have a Nathan here.We have plenty of young bucks and a godsend wouldn't go astray.
So a fiver win on Nathaniel in the 3.45 in Sandown tomorrow wouldn't be out of order.So you think I'm wrong.Don't think so.

Nell Gough.A life well lived.

In mid May 2012 I had to attend Our Lady's Hospital ,Navan,for personal reasons.I encountered there Breda Gough and a number of her sisters ,who were present to keep vigil on their beloved mother Nell,who was poorly at the time,despite having staged a miraculous recovery  previously as a result of the  intercession of  Padre Pio,whose glove they had sourced for her benefit.
She was one lucky woman.She was never without family present there,a reflection of the love she had lavished on her family during a long and and proper life ,lived for the benefit of her husband and children.
She shuffled off this mortal coil in the early hours of May 28th surrounded by all her family,whose grief was bottomless.
Nell was from the well respected Conway family from Hallltown,one of a dozen children of Pat Conway and Mary (Garry)  and was the second eldest,having been predeceased by her eldest sister Molly (Coogan) and last August by her brother John.Her first cousin Richie (Dickeen) from Faughan Hill sadly passed away a few short weeks ago .
The Conways were reared beside my own Mother's people the Mc Cormacks and I know that in the times they were young both families got nothing easy.They were tempered in hardship and the moral fibre  implanted in them by their parents has stood them in good stead in tackling life's vissitudes and has been transmitted by them to their many offspring.There is no such thing as a bad Conway ,only good ones and better ones.Take this from one who knows.
Nell was one of the best and married the love of her life Johnny Gough  from Navan.Her sister Lily  married his brother "the Hare "and many many double first cousins were created since.
Nell and Johnny reared a large family together ,as you would expect from a married couple of their conviction and spiritual belief , a family that have immersed themselves to the advantage of the wider community in which they have settled,both here and abroad.
She was waked in the house in Meadstown,a wake I attended.It is no exaggeration to say that next to the Fair Day,there was not a bigger crowd in the Parish this year.Car parking stewards
were present to keep the traffic flowing and the road clear and a huge queue worked its way slowly into the house to pay respects to the deceased.
Of sustenance there was plenty ,bit like the loaves and the fishes and both myself and all who attended were overwhelmed by the hospitality all the family and indeed their families extended to all and sundry.
The Church was packed on Wednesday for the Funeral Mass and the majority could not gain admission.All were grief stricken and the sight of all the children ,Rosie (Allen ) and children Robbie and Duane who live in Wicklow,Patricia (Finnegan ),Hayestown,Navan and children Amanda and Ronan,son Raymond ,Kildare,and children Siobhan,Eamonn and Martin,Helen (Smith) and children Wayne and Caoimhe,Frances (Egan),Galway and children John,Helen,Liam and Naoimh,Pauline (Maguire ),Kilmessan,son Sean and children Charles,Tiffany and Michaela,son Patrick  (England ) and children John and Conor, Breda (Keenan) and children Dylan,Holly ,Adam and Ellie,Noleen (O Neill)  ,Ballivor and children Shaun,KIllian ,Harry and Ava and daughter Sinead, and their respective spouses would bring tears to the stoniest heart.
The huge extended family,her good neighbours,the entire community ,Dundery GAA and Camogie Clubs ,which have had and continue to have the playing,mentoring and financial support of the wider clan ,will greatly miss this outstanding matriarch,but none more than her lifetime spouse Johnny.
I often pass the house and am not surprised to see the cars of several of their children parked outside at all times.
As she and Johnny reaped so is he sowing.No more than you would expect.
Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam dilis.

Brolly and Hayes out of order.

Normally I give great credence to the views of Joe Brolly.He was good footballer ,won an All Ireland and is fierce well educated,earning his living as a barrister,as far as I know.Normally his views appear balanced to me.
However his dismissal of Seanie Johnson,the former Cavan player ,as a mere "tournament player"is mean spirited,vicious and below the belt.It is the sort of comment a true Gael might make about somebody amongst close friends over a few pints of stout,in animated discussion but is most definitely not the sort of comment one ought make on the national airwaves. He should do the decent thing and withdraw it a.s.a.p.
And all this nonsense in the media about public disquiet concerning the participation of the same man in a hurling match to gain eligibility is nothing more than reporters with little to do stirring up the shite.
The man is only following the rules .
Liam Hayses comments on Kevin Mc Menamin's football ability were also off the wall.He was instrumental in winning the All Ireland last year for the Dubs and again pulled the fat out of ther fire yesterday.
If I'm not mistsaken his father was Maxi Mc Menamin ,who played with Synge Street many moons ago and who was a good footballer and against whom I often played with Brigids.
Hayes should also withdraw his uncharitable comments and apologise.

Mooney's men march on.

The Junior D's played tonight in the Championship in Bective and beat Dunshaughlin by 3=8 to 2=6 on a pitch that was wet but playable.
Bective are a progressive club and have two full lenght pitches in a fine grounds.The pitch entrance is a fine affair and proclaims the name of the Club as "Bective Cannistown".Is this correct ?
In any event there are great Gaels there as a gate was collected to cover the referee,no mean feat on a hateful and wet Monday evening.And the pitch was in fine fettle.Both teams had a plentitude of players  and the referee turned up and did the business.He is still learning his trade and fair dues to the players and mentors ,they kept stum all of the of  time and only gently protested a very odd time.
I have noted Donie Mooney training this team in the pitch a number of times lately and it is a great credit to him and his co-selectors,Liam O Farrell and Mick (West ) Newman that they produced such an enthuasiastic panel of players on such a bad evening.
Donie is doing the business and the undoubted football nous of Liam and the West,.learned on the playing fields of Meath in their distant youth (I remember them playing) ,and their extensive tactitical knowledge makes this managerial combination amongst the best in the county .
Signs on it as this victory is the second on the trot and well deserved.
There were three generations of Mooneys in the field,Danny and his wife,Donies' parents,Donie and his own son Shane,who played a vital part in the half forwards in securing this victory.
Danny avoids the limelight but supports Dunderry all of the time and is ,I believe a staunch supporter of the Meath Hurling Team,both at home and away.He certainly is a staunch supporter of his own family's GAA endeavours here and rarely misses a match.A Fior Gael.
Dunderry fielded as follows.


                                                            Barry Farrell

Joey Martin                               Martin lipple                            Fergal Maguire

Stefan Clarke                            Gary Fitzpatrick                       Kevin Daly

                          Martin Mc Keever                    Eddie Maguire

Joey Farrell                               Shane Mooney                          Davy Gilkinson

Stephen Brennan                        Damian Bruton                        Paul Curtain.

Nearly all these players are home grown,even Eddie Maguire ,who didn't take up the game with relish until he landed here.One exception is the full back a Cavan man who now resides in Lamby.He is a fair fullback,and no there was no need to play him for a minute in a hurling match to secure his eligibility.
The team is a combination of age and youth ,speed and cunning and they back each other up all the time , encourage each other and do not do moaning.At a wild guess I would say that the combined age of the midfielders would exceed four score .Both men are shining examples as they are as fit as fiddles and not bad footballers either.Both played well and more than broke even.Eddie scored a point to great acclaim  and I say this ,not as his father in law,but as an accurate record of the reaction to the score.Clearly he and his older team mates are well respected by the younger members and the supporters.
Barry had a good outing in goals and this does not surprise me as I mentored him as a juvenile and he was always good.He has definite promise and is capable of moving up the ranks with practise and application.If he stays at it this time around good things may happen for him..The full back line was solid and Joey Martin is one fit man.The half back line is tough ,Gary being as strong as an ox and Stefan forged forward to score a sublime goal,top left corner.  Kevin was under a bit of pressure fitnesswise but managed admirably until something snapped.Beidh se ar ais.
I have already covered the mid field and in the half forward line Gilky was a cut above buttermilk and is only back from injury.Billy Bligh,Kevin Keaveney and MIckey Casey were present will have designs on him,I have no doubt.Shane did very well and lofted over a few slick points and Joey is hungry for football and is showing glimpses of the form that earned him a place on a Feile under fourteen hurling team 16 years ago ,when we got hard to bring him back from Confey.
 Depite missing out on juvenile football in his youth Damian was a fearless full forward and played well.Stephen,whose father Tony walked the walk with Meath,Castleblaney and Dunderry,as player and Manager ,did his bit and is slimming down well and Paul,who I remember from my managerial days at juvenile level is adapting well from thedisciplines of the Garrisson game.
Mick Keaveney,who never misses a training session ,was introduced to goodeffect as was Kevin Clarke,Stephen O Donnell and Alan Caey            .
All in all an enertaining outing.Take a bow lads.