Anecdotal Information on flight of the Natives.

In John Newman Park in Bohermeen last Saturday evening,the main topic of conversation,apart from the game ,was the fact that in Perth,Australia ,alone that night,there were sufficient numbers of recent emigrants and footballers from Cortown and Bohermeen (the one Parish) to field a full football team.This fact was given credence by a later conversation with a Ultans member who said that about half of last year's senior team had since emigrated.
If this bears out for the rest of the country,and I think it must,we have problems of the most critical nature emerging for the  very existence of Ireland and the viability of the State.
Instead of targetting tradesmen for shakedown of even more unjust taxes,as reports in the papers indicated the Revenue intended to do,we as a country should be trying to create the conditions which would encourage these irreplacable Irish people to stay here and take a part in the rebirth of our country.
Sad to report, the emerging consensus is that people are rapidly losing faith in the ability or even desire of the new government to even marginally improve the lot of the ordinary people.
In Dunderry there is no slow down in the modern day flight of the wild geese and broken hearted parents are all over the gaff.The government,still in trall to the pied pipers who led us blindfolded into the Euro nightmare  and the European experiment ,are refusing to even contemplate that our European partners are dishing out to us the same treatment that Saint Patrick was fed on Sliabh Mish.(i.e.we are modern day slaves and it is our own fault ).
Official Ireland is like a rabbit transfixed in the headlights of a car at night .It hasn't a clue what to do ,nor the courage to stand up for its people,either against home bred bureaucrats or foreign enforcers.
When you think of it ,weren't the 1916 rebels great people all the same.They were the first colonised race to take on the might of the Empire at the height of its power in the twentieth century and had more courage in their fingernails than all the huffed up revisionists so vociferous today have between them.
Would that it were possible to clone them and let them loose presently.Now there's a thought that brings me cheer.


 

Dunderry v Kells I.F.C. John Newman Park 7p.m. Saturday 16/4/2011

Conditions ideal for football.Pitch immaculate.Fair attendance. Expectations high as Kells have not beaten Dunderry at this level for a long time in the Championship.

Dunderry team.

                                          David Jennings.

Darren Callaghan.              Darren Fay                   Colm Harte

Evan Stephens                    Kevin Slattery             David Mc Cormack

       Damian Clarke                          Peadar Callaghan

John P,Kenneally               John Kelleher             Andy Coogan

Simon Carty                        T.J.Garry                     Keith Callaghan.

On the line.Barry Callaghan(Manager),Stephen O Rourke,Con O Neill,Tommy Garry,Pete Conaty (Selectors)

Kells win throw in,send in long ball,which they win .Point within one minute.Kells win kick out .Earn free .Quickly taken to number 7,who solos towards goals.Kicks wide.Dundrry take short kickout to Davy Mac ,who sends  down wing.Intercepted by Kells number 7,Passes to number 8,passes to corner forward(13) .Shoots wide.Stephens wins kickout.Long ball in.Intercepted by Kells. Back up field .Davy Mac Intercepts .To Kelleher..Shot blocked.Kells number 7 collects,Back to goalie.Swiss intercepts .To Fay.Long ball in.Kells full back gathers.Ball worked to Kells 13.Fouled .Free pointed.Kells win kick out .Move ball to 21yard line.Free awarded.Free converted.Kells 0-3 .Dunderry 0-0.Dunderry win free from kick out.Stephens takes quickly to Callaghan.Callaghan bundled off ball.Kells work ball to number 15.Point.Harte wins break from kickout.Pass intercepted by Kells 5.Broken play.Dunderry free.Quickly taken by Stephens.Kells 2 wins ball.Passes to 9,then to 7,to 8.Long ball in .Kells point.Kells 0-5.Dunderry 0-0.IN broken play,Callaghan earns long distance free.Garry hits a ground ball across goal,breaks to Carty,shot blocked,breaks to Stephens ,to Harte.Fouled.Callaghan takes from hands.Wide.From broken play,ball worked to Carty.Scores from play.Duck broken.Pereiod of broken play.Kenneally passes good ball to Carty.Shoots wide.Period of aimless passing from both sides ensues.You would think that Kells have an extra player.From a Stephens sideline kick ball worked to Callaghan through Garry.Callaghan impeded.Ref.gives free against Callaghan for charging.Wrong call.Keith’s shot went over bar.Disallowed.More aimless passing by both sides.Kells awarded a free for foul on 15.Pointed. 06-01.Looking bad. Kenneally and Garry switch.Dunderry spectator roars at team to get with pace of game.More aimless play from both sides,culminating in a quick free to Garry ,who scores a minor.Coogan to corner forward.Kelleher to wing forward.From a good passing movement Kenneally is fouled.Ref.moves ball in 14 yards for dissent.Garry converts.Paddy Kenneally replaces his brother.After a period of aimless interpassing by both sides Garry wins throw in ,is fouled and converts a minor from his hands.0-6 to 04 in favour of Kells.Half time .Blessed to only 2 points down.We’ll take it though.

Dunderry pressure results in Carty being fouled.Callaghan converts.One point in it.From broken play Kenneally is fouled 50 yards out.Garry converts.Draw match.More broken play culminating in a Clarke shot going narrowly wide.Kells win kick out and ball worked to 14,who scores.Series of Dunderry passes end with Harte ,who kicks wide.More broken play ends with Kells 7 in possession.He runs most of pitch and ball ends in back of Dunderry net.Fay seems to have moved outfield before goal  and gets involved in play out the field.Kells get possession,work ball in and score a good point from play.Kells earn another free and work another point.Gary Newman and Bob Doherty replace Coogan and Garry.Broken play ensues.Kells score from play.Stephens and Mc Cormack switch wings.More overelaboration by both sides results in a close in Dunderry free which Callaghan converts.Some elaborate interpassing movements don’t advance either team and Doherty has a pointed effort drift wide.David Callaghan on for Peadar.A  good passing movement involving Darren Callaghan,Stephens ,Kelleher,and a kicked pass by Doherty to Keith results in the latter being fouled.He converts the free himself. 1-10 to 0-8 in favour of Kells.Eight minutes to play.Sustained pressure results in a converted Dunderry free.Ivan MC Cormack replaces Kelleher. 4 points in it.Intricate Dunderry passing movement ends with Dunderry wide.

At this stage my tape ran out.In the remaining time Kells kicked another point.Kells by five in my book.

Because I was Manager when we were regulated from Senior to Intermediate a number of years ago,there are those who would not be slow in saying that I am the last person who should judge our performance today.And I am slow.Been there done that and suffered plenty of acrimony.That’s the way it is around Dunderry,where most of us believe that we actually belong in the Senior ranks and many have very definite views on football.

Well here goes.Today was a bad day in the Office.Kells deserved their victory.They were the sharper team and appeared to be fitter than us.This is hard to understand.Dunderry have trained as much as could be expected from any amateurs for a long time and should not be wanting in fitness.There is a millennium of experience and knowledge,both at club and county level in the management team.There would be the universal belief in the Parish that from the 47 players training the Thursday before the match a team adequate to not alone beat Kells ,but win the Championship outright,is selectable.

I hold this belief.But scoring two points from play is not good enough.Nor is breaking even in one line only of the team(the half back line in my view) good enough.The slimmed down Keith Callaghan is a definite plus.

In my view the selectors will have to rethink the team selection policy and get the players to play to the level  of which they are capable.The players will have to play with the  confidence their ability deserves,throw caution to the wind and not be looking over their shoulders for fear of being replaced..And  give it their best shot from now on in.This set of players have underachieved and now is the time to put that to bed.

Used properly this defeat could be the catalyst for ultimate success.

Ref Report.There was no hard hitting and match was played in a sporting manner.All in all the match was refereed in a manner that feminises the game,making it less attractive as a spectator sport and frustrating those few players willing to commit to the physical aspect of the game.Nothing new there in GAA land ,where legislators seem held bent on making rugby the only  team sport  where legitimate physicality is encouraged.Wake up call urgently needed if football is not to evolve into a game for pansies.Within the prevailing health and safety mindset currently in vogue the ref did his job according to the book.

 Junior B match report is cooking.

Death of Paddy Maguire.

After a long,fruitful and exemplary life,lived as God would have exhorted ,Paddy Maguire of Swainstown,Kilmessan,passed away this morning ,surrounded by all his adoring and grieving extended family in Blanchardstown Hospital.They were lucky enough to enjoy his company for over four score and ten years and I was fortunate enough to have met this most inoffensive and gentle of men when my brother Martin had the good fortune to marry his daughter Teresa.Ar deis De go mbeidh a hAnam dilis.
His remains will arrive at Kilmessan Church tomorrow Saturday at 7.00 P.M.Burial after Mass at 12.30 on Easter Sunday.

Turning back the clock

Dan Daly,the principal of Robinstown National School and Jack Duggan,a.k.a.The Wild Colonial boy share one attribute in that they are natives of Kilmaine in County Kerry.Jack made his name in Australia and Dan is making it in Robinstown.He really should take pen to paper more often.I reckon that he has all the bardic qualities necessary to make it big,including the beard.The following article he penned in 1986 illustrates the point.It hits the nail on the head and captures exactly the flavour of the time and occasion.It was published in the Meath Chronicle on June 7^th 1986.

“On the stems of memory imiganination blossoms.”That Patrick Kavanagh line was never as well exemplified as when junior hurling recently returned to Dunderry after a closed season of exactly 50 years.Junior hurling was played in Dunderry  in the early part of the century and they reached the pinnacle of their hurling world in 1934 when they won the junior championship.

 Strangely ,by 1936,the club membership had dwindled and hurling at that level ceased to be played.

Perhaps recalling the exploits of the 30’s while watching the efforts of the young hurling generation in  Dunderry,certain people had the idea two years ago that the time was ripe to restore junior hurling in the area.It was a time of sporting resurgence in Dunderry with new G.A.A. grounds being developed and underage teams in hurling and football knocking on various doors.And so,a phoenix arose from the ash and a new generation went to emulate their seniors on Sunday 27^th.April ,exactly 50 years after the demise of the old club.They were pitched against Rossin who were also new recruits to the hurly burly of the junior league.

This is where I enter the story.As a Kerryman with some limited hurling experience ,suffered many years ago,I thought this was one field game I might make a fist of. My lengthening stem of memory was beginning to flower images of what I might yet be capable of with a hurley.This illusion was further enforced by a friend’s comments that I had a fine stroke of a hurley.

Endeavouring to forget that a “Cork Examiner”reporter had once described hurling in Kerry as a form of compulsory tillage,I strengthened my resolve,foolishly listened to the inducements and encouragements of the Dunderry mentors and rooted out my gear and hurley,which had lain idle for years ,like Don Quixote’s armour and sword.

A very sizeable crowd had gathered in Clarke’s field and team officials scurried to and fro gathering the troops.I was reminded of a time in the 60’s when the Kerry hurling manager would shout to the semi-deserted terraces at some league matches”anyone here from Kerry?”The unfortunate who responded was soon on the field to make up the numbers and standing in his Sunday shoes he would make solemn pledges about his future Sundays,if he had future Sundays. 

Much to my delight,I was given the number 19 jersey,so I had no reservation about expending the little energy at my disposal in the warm-up.Underfoot was soft and a strong wind blew across the pitch but a carnival atmosphere existed on the sidelines.

The historic throw-in was nigh.Tommy Mulligan stood between the posts,with Gerry Mc Grahan,Davy Stephens,John Joe Mc Gourty,Philip Cahill,Martin Weldon and Christy Coogan protecting him.The power house was fuelled by Thomas Mc Cormack and Gerry Doherty and the heat was applied by Tommy Dowd,Gerry Coogan,Terry Mc Donagh ,Patrick Leavy,Dermot Dempsey and Philip Cregan.

The action began with “young hurler of the year”Philip C ahil continuing to justify that title.We hadn’t long to wait for the first score and it was fitting that it was procured by Tommy Dowd,grandson of Tom Dowd who starred for Dunderry in the ‘30’s.Indeed he got the first three points,one for each of the three family generations on the field.

Rossin played with spirit and fairness but their attacks were fairly and ruthlessly repelled by the defence,ably marshalled by that full back of Viking countenance ,Stephens.The Dunderry pot-pourri was beginning to sizzle and the lively crowd cheered on expectations.The veterans of former glories cast their eyes on the scene with feelings of  admiration and I’m sure some sentiment.

With 15 minutes left and Dunderry in a very commanding position ,Johnny Coogan,Mickey Smith and yours truly got a chance to justify our sideline posturings.I was sent to the right corner position ,a devil of a spot as far as I was concerned.While trying to adopt as tough a demeanour as possible,my extremely youthful opponent seemed intent on being very friendly.

This by no means guaranteed his safety.Not that I had any deliberate intent to do him harm but it was my first game in over 12 years and whatever talent I had at that time seemed to have deserted me.

My hand was also becoming stiff with an arthritic pain and the first ball that came my direction had little to fear.We both pulled but it refused to move..Full forward Dermot Dempsey removed the offending object with aplomb.That sliotar,being ever mindful of its safety ,came to that corner on many occasions and was always greeted with the same civil reception.A very competent referee Loman Dempsey,brought proceedings to an end  with the score standing at 4-12 to 1-2 in Dunderry’s favour.

We took ourselves to a local hostelry for refreshments.

Upon entering that stalward of bygone days,Tom Dowd,began to do with his tongue what he used to do with his hurley -  damage.There he stood ,a hurling Marlowe  rattling his hurley against the counter,relishing this opportunity to expose my hurling skills.I feared the worst.As I filled out and lit my pipe,I could see that roguish glint in those wise eyes through the tobacco smoke.

His hands encircled the glass,those hands with the history of the old club etched  and sculpted on every scar and broken knuckle.” Be gor you’r better able to use a pipe than a hurley”says he.”There’s a better pull in this said I lamely.”I’m nominating you for hurler of the year” he added to unanimous approval.The carnival rolled on.

The memory of this game will no doubt produce its own imaginations and share of mirth as far as I am concerned.And from the grandeur and romance of the hurling memories  in Dunderry,new dreams may yet be realised.The ashen reapers should harvest fruitfully around the “Fort of the Oak”before long.

Post script.

Dan’s prophesy proved true.Within four years we advanced from junior C to Senior ,where we stayed for many years ,contesting a Senior Final,which we lost on a replay to Trim.

My memory is that Mickey Daly,Ned Howley and Phil Cahil Snr.were the selectors.

Many families then represented are still actively involved in the club.Tommy Dowd went on to represent Meath in football,his brother Kevin in hurling and Kevin’s kids are starting to play.Katy’s son John  Moran plays hurling for the club.4 generations I reckon.Dan’s  own children are active members and his wife’s people the Loughrans are also involved.I stepped down as Chairman of the club in December of 2009 having survived a stroke suffered in July of that year.My own seven children all played or are playing football,hurling or camogie with the club and my grand- daughter Aisling Mc Donagh  is playing camogie and grandson Cormac starting at the hurling.Terry Mc Donagh married my daughter Jacinta.Thomas Mc Cormack’s brothers played a huge administrative part in the club since then and his nephews and nieces continue to provide players at hurling,football and camogie.Including the Mc Cormacks and Stephenses  I reckon that the 5^th generation is now involved.Tommy and Jodi Weldon continue to look after all adult kit for the club,as they have done forever it seems.John Joe Mc Gourty is current manager of the hurling team.Christy Coogan has been a hurling and football selector and his kids play hurling ,football and camogie.Gerry Doherty’s sons and daughters play hurling ,football and camogie and Thomas is current club secretary.Gerry Coogan went to America but returned for a time.His son Gary played hurling and football for a while when here ,probably the only member to include baseball and American football alongside gaelic games in his c.v.Dermot Dempsey ,the first judge to have served his time in the club,has three sons and one daughter involved and the Cregans are hugely influential,Seamus being an institution. Mickey Smith is in England and was last home at the funeral of his nephew ,who died in the most tragic of circumstances.His brothers and sisters and extended family are and were involved at playing  and committee level in gaa and camogie affairs and his mother Rose stayed in camogie since her daughters started as kids.Phil Cahill Junior represented the club and Meath at both codes and is presently in Sweden.(Hello Junior!!) and Paddy Leavy played on and managed the hurlers afterwards.His brother Tommy gave many years service on the field of play and is now the driving force behind the massive effort being made at juvenile level to promote hurling.Tommy Coogan,son of Johnny and nephew of Tommy Mulligan is a current hurling selector.The Howleys and Dalys provided sterling service to the present day.

The dream lives on.

Membership Fee

In response to my remarks  in “International Expansion” and the proposed membership fee for the probable merger,a clandestine message was delivered to myself by non electronic means this  morning.

I understand that this is to avoid detection by the local informers who seem to be buzzing like bees this weather.The spymasters are seemingly interacting in the shadows on the fringes of the margins of the crumbs from the tables  of the troika who own us.This brown nosing is tricky as it also involves the practise of keeping the olefactory gland in situ while simultaneously hopping on command ,as where when told to jump high and they say “how high”.

To the message.”May I suggest changing the fee to a flagon of 6% scrumpy cider which can be bought for a fiver in all participating stores.

Yours in sedition,anarchy and rebellion.

The organisation formerly known as the P.L.C.

Peace and Freedom”

My intelligence Unit has no idea who sent this message ,but will forward it to the three quangos considering the matter for their deliberations.And the Competition Authority which is considering whether the merger is in breach of monopoly legislation.It may be that the Regulator may decide to keep the fee of the P.L.C.lower than my Save the Country movement and order a “make the switch”campaign to allow more competition.

 The search drags on.

Death of Brendan Tonge

Brendan Tonge,late of Dunsaughlin and formerly of BLanchardstown,with whom I kicked football and played hurling with Saint Brigids G.A.A. Club of Blanchardstown ,was buried today.He died suddenly.He was a good footballer and fair hurler.His father Tommy was a life President of Brigids in my day and a very good friend.
He unforgettably once described the former Twin Oaks Pub as "a good place to bring your mother in law on the wat back from a funeral" after an uninspiring session there.
To Brendan's wife and son and daughter,his brothers Noel and Kevin and sisters Kathleen and Bernadette,who I met for the first time in over 30 years today,I extend my sympathy.

Dunderry v Blackhall. Adult Hurling League. Dunderry 9/4/2011.

Evening overcast but fine.Ideal hurling conditions.Pitch in good nick..Throw in 6.00  sharpish.Would love to be twenty again.

Dunderry Team.                                             

                                          Dylan Keenan

Daithi Og Stephens         Daithi Mc Cormack          Damian Bruton

Darren Callaghan             Ivan Mc Cormack              Joey Martin

              Killian Minogue                     Bob Doherty

Conor O Shea                    Brendan Wright               Chris Harrington

Owen Mc Cormack           Evan Stephens                 Paddy Gorey

Not available.K.Dowd(rested).Daithi Geraghty (minding equipment for impending marriage),Kevin Bruton (Holidays).E.Maguire.

ON the line. J.J,(In love).Mc Gourty,T.Keenan and T.Coogan

Two minutes in Blackhall score a point from a free about 70 yards out.Good freetaking.Fouls will be punished.

5 minutes in Dunderry work ball to Gorey.He twists and turns and scores a good minor.

O Shea wins good ball.shoots goalwards.E.Stephens wins ball and scores another minor.

MInogue directs sideline puck to Gorey who splits the posts.

A period of Blackhall pressure follows.Good defending by the two Daithis in the full back line and Bob Doherty and a choice shoulder ,only slightly off target, by Red Callaghan results in a free to Blackhall,which they convert.When Red hits you stay hit.

Harrow wins ball and parts to Doherty.Off target.Dohert makes solid body check on opponent.Too solid for referees liking.Blackhall score resultant free from 50 YARDS.

Dunderry apply sustained pressure to Blackhall goal.Hard hurling.Ball breaks to Harrow ,who takes a fine point.Dunderry apply the pressure and earn a free 40 yards out.Owen Mc Cormack converts.Ivan Mac catches a high ball and strikes to Harrow.Ball is spilled and breaks to Blackhall who score first point from play.

From broken play BHlackhall score two points from play.

Both sides are fighting hard for supremacy.From a throw in Evan Stephens wins ball,is struck on hand and Owney converts the free.This is a good game.Gorey,s man is looking for fight.Silly,he might get it.Wright wins a hard ball,makes magnificent pass to Doherty ,who scores a fine point.Half time.Dunderry 0-8.Blackhall 0-6.

Joey Martin replaced .Joey unlucky.Dylan Keenan to his position and Bomber Farrell in goals.Wright is blown for overcarrying.His father lets the BIFFO roar.He has a point.Blackhall miss that free and after a period of solid defending by full back line Blackhall win a close in free.Converted.O Shea wins tough ball but misses narrowly.Playing well.Must be M<eath blood.Father disputes this.

Harrow penalised 70 yards out.Blackhall convert.Finn wins ball .To Harrow.Missses.

Daithi Og delivers pin point pass to Keenan,who delivers to Mc Cormack ,who misses .Scoreable chance.

Stephen Coogan on .Ownie ashore.Unlucky.End to end stuff.After a magnificient interception Davy Mac slips and his direct opponent scores.Good battles between both full backs and full forwards.

Harrow called ashore.Unlucky.Daithi Gilkinson on.Keenan gets yellow card for rough play.Blackhall convert.

Switch on Dundery team.Stephens to the middle and Wright to square.Doherty into forwards.Minogue scores from play after perceptive Doherty pass.Blackhall awarded another doubtful free after  Callaghan challenge.Converted.Finn delivers ball goalwards .Gorey persists to keep in play.Earns seventy.Ivan misses.After period of broken play ,O Shea ships hard knock but survives .Dunderry awarded free which Minogue converts.Tough period of play .Some handbagging.Ivan to Doc.To Gorey to O Shea to Wright to the onion bag.Wright senior raises grazing pheasants on bog into flight with roar.

O Shea scores from play and Coogan likewise.Positional changes and substitutions are working.Dunderry on top again.BLackhall score again from a free.Gilkinson sends accurate ball across goal and,I think Gorey finishes to net.Wright is crealed and more handbagging.one from each side yellow carded.I think Doherty.Blackhall win free in middle and drop it in .Net bulges.Unlucky.After sustained pressure  from both sides Doherty passes to Coogan,who converts.Well worked point.

Final whistle blows.Dundery win by five.

Fine game of hurling.Played in a manly fashion.Good performance from all lines on field.Without Blackhall frees Dunderry would have strolled home.Players and mentors take a bow.Don’t change style of play.Maybe,just maybe, one or two a bit slow to pass but on a learning curve.

Good day in Office. Ref was fair.Did well enough.

Navan Male Choir,Compassion and Such Matters

Went to Mass in Dunderry at 11.00 last Sunday. Maybe it’s my imagination,but it seems to me that more people are attending now than in recent years and that more young people are attending. Not in the numbers that did attend in my youth,but that is no wonder seeing that the devil successfully infiltrated some clergy (who didn’t resist to the degree required,it must be said) over such a long period and wreaked his vengeance on the innocents. In my view a self serving and smug  intellectual elite are taking full advantage of this as a stick to beat the Church wIth  for their own ends.It was always thus.

The occasion was lifted by the presence of the Navan Male Choir,whose singing made the hairs on the back of my head lift,a sensation similar to the interval act at the Eurovision ,when Riverdance was first unveiled all those years ago. I exaggerate only slightly. All in all a very uplifting occasion and Father Hornick did a great job.

For some reason Father Malachy Lynham, late of this Parish and lately deceased came into my mind. I was honoured to consider this missionary a personal friend in his latter years and learned much from him. He spent upwards of forty years in Peru, was sent home to die, but lived for years longer than was anticipated.

Had he his way he would have lived out his life in Peru he loved it so much and never got used to the cold here after the heat of Peru. He often said to me that Kilbride was no place for a white man (the cold) and unusually for a man of  his age ,he kept in touch with his former parishioners in Peru via the internet. He was particularly proud of a former student Pepe, who I met when he visited Kilbride and who I tried to bring on the beer, without success. As I understand it the same Pepe was a professor of Anthropology in Lima, having been educated in the poverty stricken parish that the Missioners ran.

He never lost his love of hurling despite his lengthy exile and gave sterling service to the Club as long as he could. I worked with him and there is one generation of Kilbride youths who once described his driving as” lethal’. Still no harm came to him or those he carried.

He came from a Westmeath family and his father fought on the Republican  and losing side in the civil war. As a consequence many of that side went to various Countries in South America after the civil war to escape the hassle from the victors. Argentina was the most popular choice and there are a whole diaspora of Westmeath descendants there who still speak English with a Westmeath  accent. Maybe it is one of these who hit on my blog from Argentina from time to time.

He told me that hurling was played in an Argentine hurling club (H.C.) until the second world war,when the importation of hurleys became impossible and the club took up soccer instead. Unfortunately I have forgotten the name of the club but he assured that one of the most successful soccer clubs in the Argentine still maintains the initials H.C. in its title. Anyone to fill in the blanks?

Could you picture Malachy in your mind’s eye the fact that he had a black lick of hair on his forehead surrounded by a head full of silver hair was very striking. He swore to me that the silver hair grew overnight when he was under surveillance by secret police for that night, such was his terror of what they might do to him. The bit of black left was a constant reminder of that night.

The thunder and lightening Leinster Final of 1937, I think, and its replay when the County was flooded with sandwiches, was a favourite memory of his, as was the innocence of himself and his brother cursing into a well in order to have sins for his first confession

During my friendship with him I met a former acquaintance who asked me in company whether I knew the Irish for paedophile. I innocently said no and he thought it the height of wit to say” sagart”. What a shit. This shit was a leftist activist and Catholic hater and no, he hadn’t been molested himself, nor anyone he knew. He just thought it funny.

Which leads me nicely to the next topic that I wish to bring up .i,e. the proposed decommissioning of catholic ethos from our schools by the Minister of Education,a proposition that appears  to have the active support of many media celebrities, particularly those who divorced and don’t like the catholic  ethos on that issue and prominent non believers like Vincent Brown, who practically  spat out the word “sheep” in describing the faithful  in an anti catholic rant and  biased discussion he chaired on television lately and was only short of foaming at the mouth with vitriol at Catholicism.

I was tempted to enquire whether the feet of some of those involved had been checked to ascertain if they are cloven and whether there were any cunningly concealed pointed tails present.

An attempt on the programme to also blame the banking crisis on catholic teachers also was made. Which goes to show the puerility of the level of opinion expressed. It’s not that long since another religion was blamed for the economic woes of a fellow E.U. member and the world suffers the consequences still.

This blog has long accepted  that irrespective of who won the election the only variation would be in the frequency of the scourge and the number of knots on the lash. I was and am still prepared to give the Taoiseach the benefit of the doubt. He seemed genuine when he said the compassion would play a part in making this country a better place for families and a good place to grow old. I think that the new crowd have sussed the desperation of everyday life better than their predecessors and have an element of compassion that was formerly lacking.

How horrifying therefore to see newspaper reports of Rory Quinn’s comments on stripping the Catholic orders of their assets. Aside altogether from the fact that State law operated for the entire period of the abuse and that his party must have been asleep for decades not to have noticed what was going on, he intends, because a debt is owed to the State by the religious orders and they are  shy of cash, to strip the schools from the orders for the benefit of the State to the Dept of Education.

This he would do because “ownership is Power”.

Now this same Dept. headed by successive Ministers of Education was tasked with inspecting the schools where the abuse took place. They failed miserably. And he wants to give them unfettered power over the schools!

Can you think of anybody or any country who has made an agreement it cannot honour? And which is rapidly running out of cash. Suppose these creditors were directed towards the  Cromwellian and Henry the Eight school of debt recovery.

Taoiseach, before  we are overrun by the Stasi  who understood only too well that” ownership is power” and who suppressed religion with the fervour of the fanatic, call this man to heel before the IMF and the European Bank take the type of action against us that he proposes against the religious. Maybe we could cede Sandy mount and say Meath in part satisfaction as a conciliatory offering and damn it why not throw in Connaught as well.Connaught to Hell. Why not?

If you don’t call off the hounds I would say that there are quite a few Mass goers and Fine Gael supporters in this Parish who will be disappointed.