Dunderry V Woulfe Tones I.H.C.Kilmessan 7.30. Sat.21/05/2011.

Pitch in perfect nick.Conditions ideal for hurling.Bite in the weather.Strong wind blowing down pitch from pavilion end.

Dunderry.

                                               C.Farrell

D.Stephens                        D Mc Cormack                   D.Bruton.

D.Callaghan                       E.Stephens                         C.O.Shea

                            K.Minogue          B.Wright.

K.Bruton                           D.Geraghty                         D.Keenan

P.Gorey.                                          B.Doherty                            C.Harrington

Tones score from play after three minutes,with stong wind in their backs.From puck out Tones earn a line ball,which is well struck but works its way to Geraghty ,who does well to part to Doherty,breaking his stick in the process.Ball back out to Dunderry half back line where we earn free.Minogue takes and it lands in Tones 21 yard line .Comes back out.O Shea manages to hold on to ball and passes to Geraghty to Keenan to Harrow.His shot blocked resulting in seventy to us.Minogue hits it ,lands on 14,pulled on .Wide.Puck out to our half back line.Well gathered by Davy Mac.Tones pick up clearance.Wide.Puck out lands midfield.free against us 80 yards from our goal for chopping.From free ball won by Tones 13.Goal.Ref .gives free wrongly to Tones as two lads become accidentally entangled and Tones man falls more convincingly.Point to Tones.Finn,Red.Davy Mac deliver ball in turn  to inside forwards.Tones backs repel attacks.Eventually Gorey passes to Minogue.Wide from play.Puck out lands in our full back line.Davy S.gathers to Finn to O Shea.Dispossessed.Tones 13 gathers and scores a minor.Broken play ensues resulting in a Tones wide from play.Tones are playing ducks and drakes with us ,but overelaborate and O Shea wins ball to Bruton Kevin,hits low towards goal,breaks to Gorey who fires in and Keenan finishes to net.Finnn earns free ,takes it himself,won by Doc.Wide.Finn breaks ball to Geraghty.Fouled.Wright hits well.More broken play ends when Gorey hits wide from play.Tones fullback line are defending well.Ball worked to Dunderry end,where Tones 11 scores friom play.Finn’s free won by Gorey who loses ball then recovers and scores a fine point.Tones miss a seventy yard free.More broken play ends when Tones 13 score a minor.Tones miss another scorable chance.Stephens D. And Bruton D.Switch.Red to Wright to Gorey to Bob.Point from play.Davy Mac to Geraghty,who makes ground and barely misses.Geraghty fouled 75 yards from Tones goal.Keenan takes free.Barely wide.O Shea wins ball on second attempt,to Gorey to Doherty.Barely wide.After missing a blatant back push on Red the ref is struck by the ball( a spectator says “not half f....in hard enough “ thinking of the push on Red) and throws it in.Wide to Tones.Wright wins ball ,to Finn,Fouled .Keenan free lands on 21 and is cleared by Tones.After broken play half time is blown.Tones 01-06.Dunderry 01-02.Strong wind to come in our favour in the second half.We have a chance.

From throw in Finn fouled.Keenan scores free.DAithi S.penalised for foul on 13.Tones score free.Tones have moved 15 ( Curtis ) back as sweeper behind their half back line.Dunderry do not take him up.Wins puck out.From broken play O Shea wins ball,hits over shoulder and Geraghty makes superb catch,long ball to Doc.Point.Tones man is down ,seems greviously wounded.Tones players try to tell ref.his job.Big mistake.Makes miraculous recovery.Free to Tones.Not clear why.Red blocks to Finn to MInogue,outnumbered 3 to 1 ,Bruton gives master shoulder.Blown.Free wide.Tones score point from free after missing a chance from play.Tones score good point from play.Dunderry are not playing man to man and match is drifting away.Bruton D penalised for fair shoulder.Tones score.Period of broken play ensues,culminating in foul on Finn.Takes free himself,breaks off Doc., to Bruton K.Wide.BRuton pulls overhead on ball,Tones man goes to catch.Contact made.Second yellow and then red to Bruton.Tough call.Tougher job ahead.Swiss and Eoinie Mac are on for Minogue and Harrow.Davy Mac and Keenan pump ball into Tones full back line ,come out just as quick.Dunderry forwards outnumbered.Finn hits wide from play.Tones score two long distance points from play.After a Finn wide from play ,Swiss passes ball to Gorey who takes a minor.Tones repel Dundery attacks and are playing keep ball.Dunderry look foolish.Too many Tones defenders for too few Dunderry attackers.We earn free which Doherty buries.Ownie fouled.Keenan converts point.Tones score a minor from a free.Gorey gets possession and is fouled.Tones 13 is looking for action off the ball .He find it and falls.Umpires consulted.Play properly resumes.Point taken.Three points down.Have we time.We don’t .Full time.

Post mortem.

I think we hit seventeen wides.Wouldn’t be great.When Tones played a sweeper behind their half back line in second half we did not counteract it.There is no point in having two extra backs when playing with the wind,which we seemed to have had  for all the second half.Also some of our players will have to sharpen up on fitness.Tones deserved their victory and played way better than they did in the league.In the white heat of championship hurling the men stand out and the boys ,if they want and are interested,learn what is what.If it was played again I would give our lads and selectors the nod.All concerned will have to up the ante for the remaining matches and team selection and sideline switches ,from Goalie out will need to be ruthless.We still have a chance.

Ref .Watch.

The ref.believes that hurling is a man’s game and refereed it accordingly.Had no bias as far as I could see.Aside from sly back push on Red and penalising us when legs got entangled no major complaints.Hard on Bruton I thought.Anyone who knows the man would know that it was accidental.He can hold his own but is not nor never was a dirty player. 

The Queen, The Presidents, The ex Taoiseach, The Master of the High Court, The United Nations, The European Court of Human Rights, the Rossport people and all that.

We had a surfeit of events in the last weeks.In all these things the use of language ought be studied closely and the emphasis of language considered.

Firstly what our Taoiseach did in cogging the words of Obama was just that,cogging and cannot be dressed up otherwise.Butty Mrs.Mc Cabe ,who taught in Tullaghans town a lifetime ago would have and did slap the hands of those caught copying the work of others.Might I suggest that he study the campaign of his countymen in Rossport in  Mayo ,digest the fortitude and dignity of their unequal campaign against the combined might of a multi billion corporation and an antagonistic State and address the world in the manner of Pat “The Chief “O Donnell,who earns the title  “chief “if ever a man did.The T.G.4 documentary “Pioba” was excellent and shows a degree of moral conviction that I thought was dead.

Whatever about persuading our Economic masters to be kind to us ,a matter over which he appears to have accepted he has no control, it is eminently within his control to stop the persecution of his Countymen and he should.

Now to the Queen.Firstly let me say that her predecessors could not have governed this Country and indeed many others ,without the very active support of many Irish men and women for the best part of a millennium.Indeed I read a column produced by a paper owned by a knight of the realm ,which implied  that as the murderers of the unarmed players and spectators in Croke Park were Irish members of the R.I.C. that the Brits were not fully  responsible.This is called denial.

I would say therefor that there are a substantial number of the descendants of Empire servers who have a hankering for the Monarchy and would revert to that status had they the chance and who would pay homage given approval.Indeed given the feudal droit de signeur that must have been practised here by the English landlords for centuries ,as it was in Scotland, there may well be a d.n.a connection to the “motherland” as well as a hankering.And indeed the multiplicity of informers who gave up their neighbours for centuries still seem well represented here as evidenced by the increase of this activity in these strained times.

Anyhow the ring of steel thrown about herself  and the martial law conditions applied to her in Dublin makes it clear that our leaders know full well that she was  not universally  welcome and attempts by pet commentators to  brand those opposed to the visit as immature and those approving it as mature was pure bullshit.As was the implication that history should be ignored in her regard.

The GAA had it right .It is primarily a sporting and cultural organisation and why foreign sovereigns and other competing Irish sporting organisations feel that they must perform there as a kind of right of passage is beyond me.The Ulster delegates who stayed away were dead right.It is not that long since the Sovereign’s army did all they could to intimidate the Gaels of Crossmaglen and harass those playing the games ,out of nothing but pure badness.

I particularly enjoyed Christy Cooney’s speech when he said that the Queen honoured the GAA by coming to Croke Park..Fair dues to him ,he was the only one to mention the Bloody Sunday murders there.

There must be several Sean Kellys (former GAA president .MEP and purported candidate for the Presidency) as he seemed to have his head in every shot and photograph.Talk about self promotion.

The presentation of a hurley to her husband was apt.When she goes home she might display it to her policemen ,who recently hassled a friend of mine who was using one to practise his stroke with in London.They regarded it as an offensive weapon.

The nadir of the visit for me was when our President reverted to peasant status when her Majesty used the few Irish words she did use and our Mainin not once but twice mouthed the word “wow”.After this performance by her ,the sight of her predecessort in all her finery ,the continuing drain on the taxpayer that will arise from her pension and her husband’s Senate salary and the reported £30 million her invitation to the queen to visit cost us, I think that this ceremonial  post should be abolished .The few real powers that pertain to it could be absorbed by any of the other highly paid office holders we elect.

Having said all that the queen is some woman for her age and the endless hand shaking she does for her country makes it understandable why so many of the English love her.

Personally I am indifferent to her personally,cannot see that parading her behind a ring of steel would encourage tourism from England and think that as a symbol of her race she really ought have apologised ,by saying the words “sorry “ or “Apologise” for the actions of her countrymen here over the centuries.Words are important.

 Now to Obama.Thou shall not kill is a commandment I believe in.If it is true that he gave the command to shoot Osama in the head when unarmed then he is in violation of this commandment.There is something wrong about our elected leaders cosying up to Obama on the one hand and condemning others who also broke the same commandment.What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

You will note that past memory and the lessons of history were most important in Obama’s case and no suggestion arose that it would be mature to forget his historical connection with Ireland.

Obama ,from the aspect of his Kenyan father and his Irish Moneygall ancestor is doubly marked in that that both these nations were colonised by the English.The least he could do for us is to legitimise the illegal Irish in the States and ameliorate the harsh regime applied to them.

This man has charisma and a gift with words.If he uses it for good the world will be a better place.If he doesn’t use it for good then God help us as he has the capacity to make the barbaric seem acceptable and even proper.

If he is ever at a loose end he can have a few pucks of the sliotar with Philip ,now that both have hurleys.

I don’t know about you,but I find the targeting and  killing of a man,his wife and his children extremely distasteful.It is something that the Mafia have been condemned for and  is not something legitimate countries should be involved in if they are to retain any moral authority.The use of such words as “taking out “,”neutralising””collateral damage””removing””forcing regime change”etc does not alter the nature of the deeds.    

Then again it seems to me that once you erode respect for human life ,especially the life of preborn humans ,as many so called civilised countries have done it is but a short step to rationalise the taking of other life not approved of also.I suspect that taking such life by remote control from far away is not difficult once you have no moral scruples and that such scruples as are held are mollified by the remove from the scene.

Ireland should reconsider its support of the United Nations,The European Court of Human Rights ,The European Union and all other organisations who disrespect human life so much that they are pushing our leaders to make legal the murder of perfectly viable pre born humans.In no circumstances should we join forces with those countries whose disrespect for defenceless life is spreading apace.

The death of the ex Taoiseach.There is no convenient time to die and the death of Garrett Fitzgerald is to be mourned.History will evaluate his legacy.As with all matters liberal the pet journalists of print and electronics were as effusive in their praise of him as they were of another favourite of theirs ,the late Gerry Ryan.

Unlike Gerry he had time to plan his funeral and his undoubted and much lauded intellect clearly led him to conclude that the Catholic take on life and death is the correct one,as evidenced by his burial according to Catholic rites.This despite his campaigns to directly weaken basic catholic morals enshrined in the Constitution.

His capacity for intellectual acrobatics is way above my comprehension as I heard him state that divorce and the dissolution of marriage would strengthen the institution of marriage..This appears to me to be a non sequiter.Surely if you tear apart what god has joined together you are undermining the sacrament.

One thing is certain and that is he had medical support that most of us can only envy.The list of medics and nursing staff thanked at his funeral was comprehensive and extensive.He attended the Mater Private,the standard of whose care ought be the norm for all the people not just ex Taoisigh.

 Finally the I.F.A.who were duped by the present government pre election and whose members voted over 70 to 30 in their favour now realise that  that we do live in an open prison governed by disfunctional politicians and bureaucrats.It didn’t take as long for the penny to drop as I suspected..As predicted the only difference in the change over is the number of knots on the whip and the frequency of the lash and the little people really don’t matter

 The one person who told the unadulterated truth lately was the Master of the High Court who witnesses on a daily basis the torture gratuitously  inflicted by lazy  financial institutions and State bodies on impoverished people.This stems from the disdain these instiutions hold for ordinary people and their fear to deal with them in a humane and compassionate manner.The leaders of these institutions and the new Government are blinded like rabbits in headlights of a hunters car and are convinced that it would be outlandish to trust people to make morally proper decisions.It is easier for a debtor to push a broken person through an unforgiving legal system and then say “we put him through the system and got nothing ,we can now write off the debt”,than to look at the situation beforehand ,trust the person to tell the truth, deal with it realistically, salvage what can be salvaged and conclude the matter then.Believe it or not most people are honest and genuine and many suicides and much ill health and family breakups could be  avoided were the latter to be the norm.

Finally I read a report of a Judge who complained that his salary had been reduced by £2000.00 per month.Does this man not realise that many families are living on less than his reduction and would consider his reduced salary the equivalent of winning the lotto for life.I know very little of the man but can only hope that he reduces fines he imposes to levels commensurate with the income of the offenders on whom he adjudicates.

And that concludes the vote of the Dunderry jury.

Death of Peter Callaghan.

Peter Callaghan of Boyerstown,Navan,Co.Meath died on 25th May 2011 .He had been ill for some time ,an illness he bore with considerable dignity.Manys the time this last year he took the time to encourage me in my fight to overcome my illness and in so doing made light of his own situation.That was the nature of this brave man who had a lust for life from an early age and a sense of adventure which took him and  other friends to the far off Barbados in the early 1970's in search of employment.Included with that bunch was the late Mattie Lawless ,who like Peter was called to God at too early an age.
Peter ,better known as "Leather"to his friends was a footballer of some distinction and with his brothers Henry,Michael and Gerry formed the backbone of the Dunderry Football team which won the Intermediate Championship in 1970.Tommy Mc Cormack used claim that had Peter and his group not gone away for work at the time  Dunderry would certainly have won a Senior Championship then.His youngest brother Oliver later represented the Club with distinction..
He was a tough but fair footballer and a committed supporter of Dunderry G.A.A.Club right up to the time of his premature death,and he will surely link up with his brother Henry on the playing fields of heaven.Both will have to keep a sharp eye out for Mattie,who even in Heaven would be capable of giving a sly dunt to the ribs.
He married the love of his life Carol Travers and their mutual love blossomed right to the end.She will miss him terribly as will their children Nicola ,Ryan and Seanie who had to rush back from Australia at short notice .
Peter was great company when out socially and enjoyed his pipe and few pints when in better health.I have reason to know that he feared no man and totally respected him as did all who had the good fortune to transact business with him.
His surving brothers ,sisters ,grandchildren ,nephews and nieces and in laws will miss him immensely as will all Gaels in Dunderry and furter afield,who appreciate his and his extended family's  huge voluntary committment to the G.A.A Club.
Ar Deis De go raibh a hanam dilis.
The funeral Mass is set for Boyerstown on Saturday at 2.00 p.m.

Meath Selector Resignation

 I have no great insight into the reasons for the resignation of Barry Callaghan and Liam Harnan from the Meath set up.I have known Barry since he was a child and coached him in the arts and skills of hurling until he was 16 years old.He was a good hurler and played underage with the County.From that age he concentrated exclusively on football and the rest is history.In 2005 I was manager of the Dunderry Senior football team ,which was then in decline.Barry was a playing member of that team and was very injury prone but very committed.We were regulated to Intermediate status then and are still trying to get back up.Barry was team manager in 2009 and is manager again this year.And for the record he does not even claim expenses.

The silver lining for the Club is that he can now concentrate his managerial and motivational skills on reclaiming Senior status exclusively for the Club again this year.

Personally and as a Dub.I am of the view that Counties should stick within their own borders when appointing Managers and selectors.Outside managers winning All Irelands  are the exception rather than the rule.It follows therefor that I would not favour the appointment of Banty in the first place.

In general the mob who lead the move to get rid of Sean Boylan were wrong and his successors were given little chance to make their mark.

Meath are in the most unique position that I can remember as less than two weeks before their Championship debut there are no natives on the selection committee.Can anyone remember it happening anywhere else?

I would have thought that were there differences between the selectors who resigned and the others  they ought to have been trashed out long before now and that resignation at this stage is drastic.Certainly the players cannot be enamoured at the carry on and its timing and they and the remaining management must beat Kildare Sunday week if their efforts to date are to get the rewards they worked for.

Any other result would be a disaster.

More on Blanchardstown ,St.Brigid’s G.A.A.Club and all that

Any of you who follow by blog will be aware of my family’s history , involvement with St.Brigids and childhood in Blanchardstown.At a most enjoyable birthday party for Sheila Hughes held in the GAA Club last Saturday evening I renewed many friendships from decades ago.A decent Limerickman,who I soldiered with on both Hurling and Football fields is now Chairman of the Club.Tongue in cheek he welcomed me to the Club and Blanchardstown and  it is no surprise to me  that  the courage he displayed on the field of play is standing him well in his present travails.Good man Fintan.

A great night was had by one and all and to meet so many old Blanchies and their converts was a great uplift.

Sheila’s father Herbie Hughes,who is just eighty years old was there with his wife Mona,a  runner in from Kildare and we shared a few bevies together.Herbie is one of the original Blanchardstown stock.He was reared on the old Ballycoolin road that ran through old Corduff to Ballycoolin and his father reared his large family from the land,mostly by growing vegetables for sale in the vegetable market in Green Street.Herbie drove horse and dray from there to the city to deliver vegetables and his father was the first man in Blanchardstown to have a pickup truck,which doubled as the transport for the football team to away matches.

Herbie’s sister was Mary Brennan ,whose son Rory is the father of Trevor the rugby player and Rory and some of his brothers and sister were there.

Anyhow we discussed my earlier article on my memories of the interaction between Blanchardstown and Castleknock College in the earlier part of the twentieth century.He confirmed my memory that a monk from the college used bring the unwanted rugby boots of the boarders to the GAA club before they were disgarded.This used happen at the summer break when they were left behind by the boarders.The monk’s name was Brother Michael.He was a Corkman and a GAA man in rugby territory.His means of transport was a Honda moped which had to be pedalled to start and his arrival with the sack of barely used boots was awaited anxiously each summer.There used be a fierce scramble to secure the best boots when the sack was tipped open.Ordinary people could not afford boots in those times.

Brother Michael used smuggle the GAA lads into the College during the summer break when the Priest teachers were away and they could avail of the use of the handball alley and open air swimming pool .More luck to him.And may God bless his generousity .Unfortunately I don’t know his surname.

Herbie’s memory is that the three pieces of sports equipment compulsory for the boarders were rugby boots,tennis rackets and table tennis bats..Vincent Brown’s people must have been loaded.

Herbie and a boy called Brian Barret,I think ,played under 14 football for Dublin in 1947 and Jonnie Brophy played hurling for Dublin that year.Barrets owned a lot of land in Dunsink ,including that which is covered by the present municipal golf course and he went on to Blackrock College to school and took to rugby ,which he excelled at.Herbie and Jonny went on to represent Dublin at minor Football in 1951,being beaten by Offaly in the semi final in Navan,where Herbie swears to this day that he kicked the winning point which was waved wide by Meath umpires.Herbie played all these matches in college rugby boots and didn’t own his own pair until he was twenty one.Remarkably these three men are still alive as far as I  know.

ON a different tack,Herbie informed me that the old Morgan Schools sports grounds,which now houses the St.Brigid’s club,was leased for three years before it was bought in 1971.I think.

Apparently a meeting was held in John Steward’s house in the late 1960’s at which Herbie,Johnnie,Sean O Siochan and O laoghaire of the GAA,Dan and Father Michael Cleary (guarantors) and Michael Staines Solicitor agreed the leases and purchase of the field.This had to be done expeditiously as Bohemians Soccer club were in hot pursuit also and the legal tenure of the club on the Priests field in Blanchardstown was dubious.The Club’s bank balance was £80.00 at the time.No shortage of balls there.

In the eighties there was a huge resession.Herbie was high up in the Council’s water service and greatly helped my family and other families from Blanch.with employment.I don’t forget such decency.Herbie was so popular then that he was under constant pressure from all the political parties to stand for election and was wise enough to decline.A true gentleman.

Dunderry v St.Michaels I.F.C. Kilscere.7.30 sharp 14/05/2011.

Slight skid on pitch.Dull evening with sun bursting through most of time.Conditions good enough. Pitch in good nick

Dunderry.

                                                 D.Jennings

G.Newman                             D.(red )Callaghan                                 D.MC Cormack

A.Newman                              E.Stephens                                            C.Harte

                                  D.Fay                               D.Callaghan

K.Dowd                                   I.Mc Cormack                                      S.Coogan

K.Callaghan                            P.Kenneally                                          D.Clarke.

Clarke had roaming role.I  missed first score which was a Michael’s point in first five minutes.Ball moved from Jennings to Lar Callaghan to Harte to Coogan to Kenneally who is fouled 25 yards out half way between uprights and corner flag.K.Callaghan kicks from hands .Misses.Fay breaks ball to Ivan to Stephens to Lar to Kenneally to Ivan to Dowd who overplays and is penalised.Dunderry force line ball from overelaborate Michael’s attack.Dunderry work ball to Kenneally who is fouled.Keith converts free.Michaels overelaboration and good defending by Dunderry force a Michaels wide from play.Stephens wins breaking ball from kickout ,is fouled and takes quick to Coogan ,whose pass is intercepted by Michaels.They in turn are blown for a throw ball.Dowd takes free,collected by Michaels No. 2 who works to midfielder who puts over sideline.Davy Mac hits sideline to Dowd to Stephens ,who solos a while and then passes to Ivan who is fouled 25 yards out.Takes free himself. Wide.Dowd wins break from kickout,to Fay,to Lar to Coogan to Lar to Fay.Wide.Stephens receives from Davy Mac.Long delivery to Ivan to Keith to Coogan to Kenneally .Wide.Broken play.Stephens sends long pass to Coogan to Lar to Kenneally who takes on man.He slips twice but perseveres earning a free 21 yards out .Converted by Keith.Coogan fouled off ball by Michaels No.5.Dunderry free.Lar takes from ground.Micheals win ball and a complicated passing movement results in shot to Jennings arms ,who delivers to Red to Swiss to Coogan ,who is penalised for handling on ground.Jennings wins ball from free,to Stephens to Harte back to Stephens who delivers long to Keith who is fouled.Ivan converts..A good move that.Keith replaced by Andy Coogan due to bleeding.Micheals work ball to Dunderry 21 yard line and earn free.Converted.Fay breaks ball to Clarke to Dowd to Andy Coogan who runs into trouble and is dispossessed.Michaels get free which Dunderry intercept and ball worked to S.Coogan who rattles onion bag.Great goal.MIcheals win free around middle which is taken quickly and a point from play is kicked. Fatherly point.Keith back on.Micheals earn free on fifty,converted.Fouls will be punished by Michaels  No 12.1-3 to 0-4 for Dunderry.Complex dunderry passing move ends with ball in Michaels goalie who move it downfield and earn free for handling on ground.Converted.After another Dunderry wide Lar passes to Fay who makes ground and parts to Clarke who rattles net .A good move.Another good move involving Gary Newman ends with Ivan converting from play.A good  point.Half time. 2-4 to 0—5 to Dunderry.

Second half.Michaels 12 to the forty and 11 on to Harte.Referee slow to emerge from dressing rooms and some high spirits displayed by players.Fay gains possession and stands his ground against a Michaels body check.He is wrongly penalised.Harte fouls and Michaels score from free.Another silly free is  conceded by Dunderry which is converted.Broken and elaborate play by Dunderry resulted in Keith punching a goal ,which was dubiously disallowed for square ball.Stout defending by Dunderry is negative by the concession of a converted free and a yellow card.Dundrry want to raise their game or they will be in trouble.Good defending and interlinked play result in Keith being fouled.He misses resultant free.From kick out ball worked to Ivan who kicks a fine minor from play.Dunderry backs are defending well and denying Michaels clearcut opportunities.T.J.Garry and Andy Coogan on for Dowd and Lar Callaghan.After a bad miss from play Ivan more than redeems himself with a fine point from play from the middle near the sideline..J.p.Kenneally on for Keith.Michaels score a fine point from play.Kelleher on for Gary Newman.a Michaels wide from play is followed by a great point from play by Ivan who received an astute  pass from T.J. following a foul on Fay.Stephen Coogan converts a free from 50 yards near the sideline.Good score.Ball worked to J.P.whose shot is blocked for a fifty which the son of Christy converts.A narrow Clarke miss is followed by a period of sustained Michaels pressure which id well defended by the Dunderry backs.Eventually Michaels score a minor.NO more scoring.we win 2 -9 to 0-9.And deserve it.

Post mortem.

Selection was controversial but management are moving in right direction.Maybe a little more tweaking will be done.Team was more settled and Fay’s presence at midfield swung that area in our favour.A master stroke .The backs played very well, Stephens delivered some telling balls to the inside line and if conceding frees can be minimised they will be hard to beat.Subs introduced all did well and some not used may feel hard done by.Forwards played well and Ivan had his best game in years.Keith is a good ball winner and younger players showed  exceedingly well.

This was a must win match and was well won.Credit all round .A word of caution.Michaels have been badly hit by emigration and it showed.There will be sterner tests and this was a step on what may become a rewarding journey .I would say that the management won’t get carried away just yet.Competition for places should be savage from now on in.Everything is possible.

Good day in the office.

Ref watch.

Applied rules as he interprets them without fear or favour.Again physicality is being blown from the game.And contrived outrage from the line to get players sent off is underhand and unmanly.Has no place in the game and should itself be penalised.

A Banker is your only Man.

Woman visits marriage broker.."I'm in despair,been married four times and haven't yet found love.First was a farmer.milked cows three times a day,always too tired.Second a plumber.Too busy today ,will be there tomorrow.Third a politician.False promises and hot air.Never delivered.Fourth an economisit.Buckets of theory but as much practical use as tits on a bull.Any advice ?"
"Yes marry a banker,he'll ..... you every time."

Sunday May 8th 2011. Fair Day in Dunderry.

I am blessed to live in the middle of Dunderry and have a bird’s eye view of all that happens. I can’t but hear every noise. I’ve never seen more video recorders ,mobiles and digital and conventional cameras in the one spot. Today’s event is recorded for posterity on thousands (I kid you not) of visual aids. Probably aurally recorded too. How to record it in the written word? Here goes.

Woken at seven. The rumbling of motor engines,the pop of drawbar disengaging from ball joint,the clatter of steel and hammering of steel against metal and wood,,the clanking of tubular steel gates against each other as the animal keepers jostle for the best positions to showcase their wares and make secure the pens and cages. The stewards buzzing around in hob nailed boots ,waistcoats, chunky wool socks with breeches tucked in,flat caps ( that’s only the women) and badges stating their status . And the ultimate status sign. The walkie talkie prominently displayed for all to see. Constantly spoken into while rushing hither and thither. Combined with the high vis vest , it distinguishes the Maor from the Gardai,(same set up but blue vests not yellow),the Red Cross in red and The River rescue Crowd, like the Gardai but no walkie talkies.

And the sounds.Close the eyes and savour the cock’s crowing,the hens clucking ,the ducks quacking ,the geese gaggling,the pigs squealing,the cattle bellowing, the donkeys braying,the odd horse neighing and the dogs barking all at the same time. And the murmur of the crowd in animated conversation blending in with the tannoy as it belts out the “Old Dunderry Fair “, melting into the Spanish Lady’s hair wash and the Jug of Punch.Only in Dunderry.

It’s dark and somewhat overcast. Preparations are going on for months. The whole Parish have pulled together in preparation. The village is blocked off for one day ,twelve till six. This is the eight year. Thousands come to see the clock turned back and farm life of bygone years on living display. Animals and poultry of all shapes and sizes are displayed and sold. Old crafts are showcased and traders of all sort offer their wares for sale. We get one chance at this.One six hours. If it rains heavy we are snookered. We pray it won’t. It doesn’t. Showtime.

Mass is brought back from eleven to nine thirty to suit. The Mass bell rings at the earlier time. I’d say many are caught out. Somewhere a pig squeals as the Spanish lady washes the gruaig and a massive forklift moves a heavy pallet under the directions of a female Maor dressed in a crossover bib, bonnet and flouncy petticoat. The Fair Chairman pases by,a fag dangling precariously from the corner of his mouth as he contemplates the next conundrum. The tannoy announces “will the owner of car number 08 mh xxzzp ,a white volkswagon parked on the Tullaghanstown Road move it as it is causing an obstruction”. A short shower falls . The sun peeps out. The organisers breathe again. Time passes. The pre Mass  bells for eleven ring.Did the priest forget to disable the preset bells? What about it. He has a lot on his plate.one man running a Parish where two were needed just a few years ago.

Kick off time comes. Midday. Angelus tolls. The ball is in the game is on. Crowd seems big. Ate the breakfast , glance at the papers , check the pockets, tighten the ferrule on the walking stick ,don the “man bag”and hobble out the gate.Stalls to the right of me, stalls to the left of me ,stalls all over the main street and the pitch and Geraghty.s field.Barriers  blocking the roads. Adults charged .Kids free. Stalls of Shetland ponies,sheep ,poultry ,cattle ,ponies ,horses .dexter cattle,goats,ducks ,geese,boiled sweets,horse,pony and ass tack.

A ninety year old woman is making butter from a two litre bottle of pasteurised milk. A basket weaver is weaving baskets. A harness maker is stitching a leather strap to working saddle with an awl and waxed thread using a wooden vice of ingenious design. Beside him another man is making a three legged stool ,shaping the legs with the help of a wooden vice designed hundreds of years ago. A blacksmith is putting shoes on horses and asses. The smoke from their hooves bellow up as the red hot shoes are tested for size.The city people are in awe and the cameras click. The animals take it all in their stride.

Everywhere parents and grandparents show their awe struck kids how things work and the cameras click. And the teenagers strut their thing,coolness itself as they lay down their markers. Everybody is on the mobile telling those absent the wonderful craic they are missing and they clutch them tighter as the tannoy announces that there are pickpockets at large.As Molly said”there is always something to sour the sweet”. As auld Mc Cormack said “the curse of God on them”. I’m with auld Mc Cormack on this one.

Bouncy castles,swing boats ,balloons,all nature of fairground rides and contraptions,stalls selling treble glazed windows and all nature of thermal  contraption. Walking sticks,tools ,chains and chainsaws. Everyone haggles over everything bar the food. Lovely smells of curries,fish and chips,hot dogs,burgers,bundies,fried onions ,that German sausage I can’t spell but can smell. Sandwiches,teas,coffees,buns ,cakes,ice creams,chocolates,fudge,mashed spuds,rice. No shortage of foodstuffs as hard pressed stallholders and voluntary groups are squeezed to the limit by our political masters. Not one of them in sight. Wonder why.

The GAA club selling ducks for the duck derby at a fiver a go, the juvenikle club selling tickets for its draw and the facepainting. All for good causes. For a few hours we can forget our misery.

The horse whisperer does his thing. Amazing.And a good few throw caution to the wind and down a few jars and sing the songs of Ireland. And Matt Leavy and his people are brilliant as they warm up for Crystal Srping,who strut their stuff as our Molly jives to the music. And our Emily has her photo taken with them. She is four months. And the ceili band and dancers play away around the corner and a piper pipes away to his heart’s content. All at the same time. We are spoilt for choice. There is no sound like it anywhere i’d say.God bless Dunderry.

The vintage car owners and the guys who own the horse caravans start to pack up. The matchmaker closes for business and the traveller who has been told by the vendor of a mare ass that she is young enough to breed tells him that the ass is similarly closed. No sale there. The carnival winds down and a most personable lady who had been showcasing a dog as a baby and a pig as a man on behalf of the autistic and most special of children gives yours truly a few buns as a present. Good luck down in Westmeath via Drumbarragh

And a special thanks to Fergal and Kevin who carried my purchases home for me and to the good friends, men and women, I met again today and who we had the chat with.

Till next year D.V.

And how’s it going Sean o Cearbhaill in Milton Keynes.

Fir Breaga Mark 2

I am overwhelmed by the wisdom of my ancestors.Of formal education they had little ,of decency they had tons and of honesty their store was immeasurable.My uncle Tommy Mc Cormack told me a short time before he met his maker that he never told a lie in his life.I can remember him setting the broken leg of a new born lamb with splints,scrim and tar so that the lamb might live.(AS the bone grew the tar would expand and allow circulation as opposed to plaster of paris which would not allow expansion).It would never enter their heads to kill any animal if it could be avoided.The expense was irrevelant.
I contrast this with what is unfolding on the world stage where weasel words are used by all sides to justify  barbarism.Secularists stand up please and explain the source of your morality.
Blessed John Paul 23 pray for us.
And my ancestors I did listen to ye when ye lived .Ye had it sussed .The fir breaga are winning.(see earlier post on the subject).WE badly need a new Messiah.

Father Carney, Fred Farmer, Mick Cleary and Blanchardstown.

I grew up in Blanchardstown (then Baile Luindin, se mile o lar na cathrac ar an taobh thuaidh den cathrac, but later revised to Baile Blainseir) in the fifties and sixties.There’s one thing sure and that is that children then had to be responsible at a much earlier age than today.And lest it becomes the consensus that the Catholic Church was a brooding evil presence,as many revisionists maintain these days,as far as I am concerned it was anything but.I would say that there are millions like me who served as altar boys ,played Gaelic games as boys and men,went to the Christian Brothers,had loving and decent parents and who never experienced the shocking sexual abuse which it seems was around at the time.Nor even heard of it.It appears to have taken place in an arena that I never visited nor came into contact with.I suppose that I was lucky and didn’t know it.

I was an altar boy in Blanch from about 9 years of age to ,I would say, 14 years.The Mass was then in Latin and you had to learn the responses by rote,which you did even though you couldn’t fully understand them.It was only when I learned Latin in secondary school,through Irish,in Brunswick Street,that the meanings became clear to me.You learned the words from a leaflet and the other facets from the older hands with whom one served an apprenticeship of sorts.You learned when to ring the bell,when to go for the cruets of water and wine,when to put the altar cloth over the altar rails for communion and when to get the article ( I can’t remember its name) to catch any fragments of the host that might fall from the Priest’s hands when giving out communion.If you got up by mistake, the best tip was to bow and return as the congregation hadn’t a clue either.

Much like today,I suppose,except that the Latin has gone and very regrettably there were no altar girls.(Will the next Church scandal relate to the interaction of altar boys and alter girls.If it does the Church can’t win-if it doesn’t have altar girls it is anti woman and if it does and improper things happen between the sexes  it will also be condemned by the usual suspects.)

After a while you graduated to Funerals and weddings,much looked forward to because you got a few bob in most cases.And the same surplice and sutane (are these spelled correctly),which your parents bought and laundered had universal use.These vestments were owned by yourself and were costly for working families to buy.When you retired from the job they could be passed on to your younger brothers ,if you had any,or sold to new recruits if minded well and in good condition.

When you mastered all these aspects of the job you became fit for your turn to do the weekly church clerking.This meant that for one week (Monday morning until the following Sunday evening ),you looked after all aspects of the Church .This involved opening the Church at seven thirty each  morning,serving first Mass at eight a.m.,ringing the Mass bell fifteen minutes before that,ringing the Angelus bell at twelve and six,serving  devotions and all weddings and funerals that fell into your shift.You also served Sunday Mass and Devotions and then handed over the Church keys to the next fellow on the rote.It fell to you to keep the Church neat and tidy for your week.This you did from the time you were in fourth class ,say ten years of age, and we took it in our stride.

The national school was within a few minutes walk of the Church so there was no problem getting to ring the Angelus bell at twelve.The six o clock bell was more of a challenge ,especially if you had to play a schools match in the fifteen acres in the Phoenix Park after School.To get to the matches itself presented a challenge.Only one teacher went to the matches in my time ,Paddy Murray a good one,and his car would only bring a few.Most of us used get the bus to the Ashtown gates and walk from there past Aras and the American Embassy to the fifteen acres.There we would meet up with the others and play the game,hurling or football depending on the season,tog back in and make our way back to Blanchardstown by the same route.More often than not you would have to run most of the way back to the Ashtown Gate if you had to ring the six o clock Angelus bell .And we did and thought nothing of it .No wonder we were fit.

We were in constant company of all the clergy of the Parish all the time and apart from the odd bout of contrariness from one of two of the curates,nobody ever interfered with or molested us.On the contrary,I have the most pleasant memories of those times.The Parish priest of my tenure was Father Carney,a thorough gentleman.He lived in the Parish House with his servant Essie a most formidable and decent woman totally devoted to him.It was to his house we repaired after Sunday devotions to watch the Flintstones on television and to be treated to tea and the best of buns baked by Essie,when none of us had televisions.It was him who brought us to Croke Park to watch intercounty matches and on drives and holidays whenever he had the money.

Every Christmas he bought from his own pocket the same number of gifts from Mc Birney’s that there were altar boys and on Christmas eve all the boys would assemble in the Parochial House,with the longest serving having first pick of the gifts and so on.Believe me when I say that even the worst of these was at least equal to what Santy brought us.

I well remember when the vernacular replaced the Latin.I lay claim to serving the first Irish Mass celebrated in Blanchardstown by Father O Keeffee,another gentleman.Another favourite of the servers and indeed of all the Parishioners was Father Brown ,the curate in Porterstown,who could say a Mass in fifteen minutes flat,sermon and all.Full house always guaranteed for his Mass.At that time the only Churches in the Parish were in Blanchardstown and Porterstown.Aside from Castleknock College ,which ordinary people like us had no truck with,Mass was also celebrated in Blanchardstown Hospital,James Connolly hospital.But the Blanch servers had no involvement there.

When I say there was no truck between Blanch people and Castleknock College,I am not fully accurate.There was interaction on two fronts.One was that a monk there was a GAA man and he used smuggle to Brigids GAA Club the used boots of the boarders before their rugby playing owners threw them out.Secondly the College had a working farm and working horses.A Blanch man who shall be nameless had a horse’s cart ,a crosscut saw,a few healthy sons ,feck all money and a desire to sell logs.This he achieved by “borrowing” a College horse at nightfall from the College,walking it to Blanch.,yolking it to the dray and heading to the woods surrounding the Hospital at night with the crosscut and sons and felling timber for the night.The timber would be drawn home and the horse returned before dawn.Many’s the time the farmhands in the College scratched their heads in wonderment at the exhaustion of their steed after small effort for them the next day.And manys the time his kids fell asleep in school the next day.But nobody ratted.

Incidentally I have criticised  Vincent Brown and some of his guests,who never let an opportunity pass to either dig at the Church directly or as slyly as they can get away with.I understand that he was a boarder at the College at the time I am writing about.Had he experienced life on our side of the fence his outlook might be different.

One more thing needs rectifying and this I gladly do.Father Michael Cleary was a  Blanchardstown man.His people owned the Greyhound Bar.We all drank there.His father paid the fines if we were caught for breaking the “bonified “drinking ban.He played football with us and if I’m not mistaken also with Dublin at Junior level in 1959 and won a Junior All Ireland.His family were and I’m sure are the most decent and respectable of people.I played football with him ,although he was a bit older.I was Cairman of Brigid’s when we helped him organis hairman of Brigid’s when we helped him celebrate his silver jubilee of the priesthood in a huge tent in the Club.It was the same weekend that a fellow called Liam Skelly won an unexpected bye election for Fine Gael,after Charlie’s stroke in appointing Richard Burke a Commissioner failed. I know this because we were asked by Fine Gael to keep on the tent for an extra night to accommodate victory and we did.They paid and the Clubhouse was an inner sanctum where Garret Fitzgerald and the top boys received the chosen few from the main tent that Garrett wished to see.An innocent civil servant at the time who believed that politics was divorced from public service ,I was flabbergasted to see many serving civil servants paying homage.They wouldn’t have copped me as I was dressed as a toilet cleaner,which I was for the night.

I can say that Mick Cleary was as decent a man as I ever met.He was subsequently found to have fallen to human weakness and fathered three children while still a priest.He should have left the Priesthood,if this was what he wanted to do but didn’t for whatever reason.As events have panned out his transgressions were relatively harmless and there is no way that he or his family deserve the opprobrium heaped on him by certain commentators,one of whom I heard on Christmas Day a few years ago talk of him as though he was the devil incarnate.He was anything but and anyone from Blanch .,who knew him would agree I’d say.

Finally I send regards to Fred Farmer ,another Blanchie who I bumped into in a Station above the station we were used to recently, and whose memories in this article mirror my own.Except that he rang the Angelus bell on Good Friday.