Word is filtering through that the following is the set up.
Football.
Manager Kevin Dowd.
Selectors.Phil Fay Junior,Mickey Molloy,Lee Mulligan.
Hurling.
Mark Nolan.
Selectors.Christy Coogan,Kevin Heffernan,Paddy Darcy.
And Tom Ryan ,former Dunderry and Meath Manager has agreed to give a hand. from time to time.
All these guys have a huge wealth of Experience under their belts and are good guys as indeed were the retiring Managers and their selectors led by Stephen O Rourke and Paddy Gorey.
It is great to see that volunteerism is still alive and kicking in Dunderry for jobs that make you either a hero ,if you succed or a knave ,if you fail.
But would we have it any other way.
Kevin would have more managerial experience at Hurling level including at County level.He is the fourth member of the 2005 team which I managed and was demoted from Senior to Intermediate to take up the challenge of regaining Senior status,the others being his brother Tommy ,Barry Callaghan and Stephen O Rourke.
I will be watching to see if he can succed where the others failed and hope that the players will give him the full loyalty he gave me.
All his backup team is hugely impressive and all were dual players so there should be a smooth relationship with their hurling counterparts.
Older Dunderrians may not know Mark Nolan and Kevin Heffernan.Mark is a Boardsmill man and married to Eunice O Brien whose mother is Mary Newman.He has been involved with juvenile hurling here for some years,Kevin is a fanatical Limerick hurling man doing fantastic work wit the juveniles.He really loves hurling and has a name that is hard to live up to.Paddy was a selector before if I am not mistaken .
Tom I WORKED WITH BEFORE.He knows his onions.
INTERESTING TIMES AWAIT US .
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Dunderry Christmas Masses 2015
Christmas Eve 24th December.
Kilbride.6.00 p.m. Carols and Music from 5.30 on under tutelidge of Aoife Stephens on trombone with Deirdre Mc Hale singer,Lauren Finnegan Harp,and David Lamb organ.
Dunderry.7.30 with Carols beforehand and during by Dunderry Church Choir.
Christmas Day 25/12/2015.
Robinstown 9.30 a.m.with Carols before and during by Robinstown Church Choir.
Dunderry 11.00 a.m.with Carols before and during by Dunderry Youth Choir.
Stephens Day.
10.00 a.m. Robinstown.
IT IS ADVISABLE TO ATTEND WELL IN ADVANCE OF STARTING TIME TO GET A SEAT ON CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY
And give a thought to Father Hornick who celebrates all these Masses and organises the shoot bang lot.No easy job that.
Kilbride.6.00 p.m. Carols and Music from 5.30 on under tutelidge of Aoife Stephens on trombone with Deirdre Mc Hale singer,Lauren Finnegan Harp,and David Lamb organ.
Dunderry.7.30 with Carols beforehand and during by Dunderry Church Choir.
Christmas Day 25/12/2015.
Robinstown 9.30 a.m.with Carols before and during by Robinstown Church Choir.
Dunderry 11.00 a.m.with Carols before and during by Dunderry Youth Choir.
Stephens Day.
10.00 a.m. Robinstown.
IT IS ADVISABLE TO ATTEND WELL IN ADVANCE OF STARTING TIME TO GET A SEAT ON CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY
And give a thought to Father Hornick who celebrates all these Masses and organises the shoot bang lot.No easy job that.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
The seagulls know.
Our land is over 30 miles from the sea,that is the part of it not covered in water from the incessant rain.Today the non submerged part was covered with seagulls picking maggots from the ground as said maggots surfaceed from the earth in fear of drowning from the upcoming deluge. I assume.
If I am right in this analysis we are in for some deluge.And these seagulls have an uncanny ability for foresight and how to turn nature to advantage.
The hoors have set up house in it and have started to squalk to me.Bad cess to them.
If I am right in this analysis we are in for some deluge.And these seagulls have an uncanny ability for foresight and how to turn nature to advantage.
The hoors have set up house in it and have started to squalk to me.Bad cess to them.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Death of J,Doonan and my tribute to,
Word is just filtering in of the unexpected death of the very well respected J,Doonan of the Meadstown Road,Dunderry,husband of the late Breda Stanley .
He was suffering from pneumonia in a Dublin Hospital ,as I understand it and died there..They had no children .
J was Down man and kicked football with them in his youth.If I remember correctly his brother subsequently played in goal for the County.He also played professional soccer in England and was interested in boxing and at one stage approached me to see would I be interested in setting up a club in Dunderry,Because of my time consuming involvement in the GAA I had to decline and the idea was stillborn.
He was a die hard Republican and spent several years in Long Kesh on remand ,never being charged with an offence ,as far as I know.
He was also a nurse by profession and worked for many years with Sister Consilio in the fields of addiction in which he was an acknowledged expert.
Indeed when one of my extended family had a habit he did all humanely possible to help and I will be eternally grateful to him for this.
I think but am not certain that no State Hospital gave him employment because of his Republican past but that Sister Concilio was above that sort of retribution ,I may be wrong in this.
Well after his retirement date he continued to ply his trade and was working until recently.
I found him to have been a decent guy and good neighbour.
I have no knowledge of the funeral arrangements yet.
Ar Dheis De go raibh hanam dilis.
P.S .J.was brought to Dunderry Church last evening at 7.30 to a good crowd of neighbours and a wider congregation of friends and colleagues and Father Hornick paid fair tribute to him and his late wife Breda Stanley,who he now joins after 9 years separation.
She too died around this time of the year and it is hard to realise that it is 9 years since she walked this earth.
They were devoted to each other and had to be considering the continuing disruption that occurred in their nursing and personal lives because of their Republican beliefs..
Long after he was able to walk with comfort because of wonky knees you would see J.on the bicycle with Breda alongside, as they prepared for the annual Dublin Marathon which they participated in until they were physically unable .I am full sure that all the funds raised were for the laudable aims of sister Concilio.
The funeral Mass took place this morning to a packed Church ,consisting of a combination of neighbours,work colleagues,Down family and friends ,Fellow Republicans and the wider GAA community from the North.including Oisin Mc Conville and several members of the Kilcoo Club ,the Down County Champions.
Orations were made at the graveside by both Joe Reilly ,Sinn Fein Councillor and Sister Concilio,who were ad idem on a number of things ,particularly that J.was an exemplary member of the caring profession and that he left a lasting impression on all who met him.
Around here we had no idea he was so sick but he himself must have known that the end was near as Sister CONSILIO said that she arranged his final confession shortly before he expired .
I called to see him last summer to thank him for all his efforts regarding my extended family member's difficulties and to inform him of the outcome.
I can say that there was no behaviour in the addiction world that would have surprised J.,HE HAD SEEN IT ALL and more.
I quizzed him about getting his memories down in writing and he said he intended to do this in due course.I hope he did, but suspect that death crept up on him before he could.
No matter.He lived his life by his beliefs and made no efforts to hide them.
Any man who has moving orations by a true blue Republican and a Sister verging on Sainthood can consider his life well spent.
Ar DHEIS dE GO RAIBH A HANAM.
He was suffering from pneumonia in a Dublin Hospital ,as I understand it and died there..They had no children .
J was Down man and kicked football with them in his youth.If I remember correctly his brother subsequently played in goal for the County.He also played professional soccer in England and was interested in boxing and at one stage approached me to see would I be interested in setting up a club in Dunderry,Because of my time consuming involvement in the GAA I had to decline and the idea was stillborn.
He was a die hard Republican and spent several years in Long Kesh on remand ,never being charged with an offence ,as far as I know.
He was also a nurse by profession and worked for many years with Sister Consilio in the fields of addiction in which he was an acknowledged expert.
Indeed when one of my extended family had a habit he did all humanely possible to help and I will be eternally grateful to him for this.
I think but am not certain that no State Hospital gave him employment because of his Republican past but that Sister Concilio was above that sort of retribution ,I may be wrong in this.
Well after his retirement date he continued to ply his trade and was working until recently.
I found him to have been a decent guy and good neighbour.
I have no knowledge of the funeral arrangements yet.
Ar Dheis De go raibh hanam dilis.
P.S .J.was brought to Dunderry Church last evening at 7.30 to a good crowd of neighbours and a wider congregation of friends and colleagues and Father Hornick paid fair tribute to him and his late wife Breda Stanley,who he now joins after 9 years separation.
She too died around this time of the year and it is hard to realise that it is 9 years since she walked this earth.
They were devoted to each other and had to be considering the continuing disruption that occurred in their nursing and personal lives because of their Republican beliefs..
Long after he was able to walk with comfort because of wonky knees you would see J.on the bicycle with Breda alongside, as they prepared for the annual Dublin Marathon which they participated in until they were physically unable .I am full sure that all the funds raised were for the laudable aims of sister Concilio.
The funeral Mass took place this morning to a packed Church ,consisting of a combination of neighbours,work colleagues,Down family and friends ,Fellow Republicans and the wider GAA community from the North.including Oisin Mc Conville and several members of the Kilcoo Club ,the Down County Champions.
Orations were made at the graveside by both Joe Reilly ,Sinn Fein Councillor and Sister Concilio,who were ad idem on a number of things ,particularly that J.was an exemplary member of the caring profession and that he left a lasting impression on all who met him.
Around here we had no idea he was so sick but he himself must have known that the end was near as Sister CONSILIO said that she arranged his final confession shortly before he expired .
I called to see him last summer to thank him for all his efforts regarding my extended family member's difficulties and to inform him of the outcome.
I can say that there was no behaviour in the addiction world that would have surprised J.,HE HAD SEEN IT ALL and more.
I quizzed him about getting his memories down in writing and he said he intended to do this in due course.I hope he did, but suspect that death crept up on him before he could.
No matter.He lived his life by his beliefs and made no efforts to hide them.
Any man who has moving orations by a true blue Republican and a Sister verging on Sainthood can consider his life well spent.
Ar DHEIS dE GO RAIBH A HANAM.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
PRAY FOR dUNDERRY BURN VICTIMS.
In recent times two Dunderry people ,one man and one woman, have received fairly severe accidental burns.The woman is way worse than the man and he is under some pressure also.
Sustained prayer wouldn't go astray.
Sustained prayer wouldn't go astray.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Down Memory Lane
I was blessed to move to Dunderry in 1986 as that was the start of the Golden decade in Gaelic Games in the GAA Club.
Tommy MC Cormack my uncle had recently retired as Chairman of the Club,having thus served for over three decades I reckon.There was never a more fanatic member .In fact he died less than a decade later and his dying wish to be visit the Pitch one last time before being buried was honoured .
I atttended my first AGM shortly after arriving and declined the nomination for Secretary proposed by Gerry Callaghan as I was of the view that one should start on the factory floor ,as it were before looking for the Gaffer's job and boy did I spend many years on said floor before the chance came around again.
At that time we had some of the foremost dual players in the County at underage level and there was no adult hurling team here and the neighbouring hurling clubs were salivating at the prospect of getting their mitts on our boys.
The men and women who had achieved this underage hurling miracle were loath to see these boys dispersed to our hurling neighbours and naturally had a preference to keep them together in our club but were very much aware that there would be stiff resistance within the Club to upsetting the footballing apple cart as it were by entering a hurling team,
So a number of them approached me and requested me to propose such a team as they were somewhat afraid to do so themselves less they be chastised.
At the appropriate stage during the AGM I put the motion to enter a team and it was just carried despite the virulent opposition of most of the top table.To say I was shocked was an understatement.
Anyhow the work went on and there was a fierce buzz around the place.a buzz grounded not only in the high expectations of success on the playing fields because of the undoubted emerging underage talent allied to the acquisition after fierce machinations at Provincial level ,which enabled Parish residents the Rennicks brothers and Pat Gibbons transfer here from Trim for whom they had played at Juvenile level and in respect of whom Trim refused transfers, but also because o the excitement of finally acquiring our own Pitch.
Basically it involved the transferees thansferring to another County ,playing with a a club there and then transferring back to Meath when they could play with whatever Club they chose .
My ex club Saint BRIGIDS of Blanchardstown gave a hand in this process and I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR THIS.
By this route we eventually got these men onto our books and they contributed significantly to our unfolding success.
And Dermot Dempsey also threw in his lot with us and added his considerable maturity to the gosoons on the hurling fields of Meath and added to his considerable haul of county medals .
The Rennick transfers s sparked a rule change in the GAA and the new rule now applicable that you play with your home Parish makes those machinations irreverent today
I played a small part in the drive for the top in that I did my best for the adult hurlers on the field of play at full back for as long as my battered and ageing chassis was able to compete and picked up two Junior medals as a player and one Intermediate one as a sub,being usurped at full back by Plug Levy and more luck to him.
On the football front I turned up for training a number of nights ,fully intent of competing for a place ,but never got further than being mandated to kick the ball in between back and forwards in competing drills.
It rapidly became clear to me that anyone nearing the three o wasn't wanted and a guy of my vintage, nearer 40 than 30 was not flavour of the month.
I felt huge sympathy with lifelong and ebullient Dunderry men of the era who were thrown on the scrapheap at the time in order to make way for the emerging youth ,in what I still consider to have been premature retirement.
Anyhow what happened happened and the Club prospered,but in due course.
In 1988 the Pitch was opened to great jubilation and to the profound credit of those who had made such valiant sacrifices in putting it there,.
But not everybody in the Parish fully grasped the full extent of our achievement in the overall scheme of things GAA.
On the way to open the Pitch Tommy and Joe were stopped by a man whose hobby and job were farming exclusively and who had never darkened a football pitch ever nor never would and on being told here they were off to said"Well that's Croke Park fucked ,I hear that Dunderry is so good that Croker will get no more matches."And he genuinely meant that.
Well the pitch was opened and Meath played Cavan in a challenge to a huge crowd .I remember a guy called Cahill fielded for Cavan and I think he was related to our Phil.
Tommy had a prodigious memory and dictated an article from memory to me about the history of Dunderry GAA which i wrote down and it was published in the programme written for the opening.
He concluded by wishing that the Club would attain Senior status in the near future.
Hid wish came to fruition as we attained Senior status in football in 1990,in Hurling in 1991 and as a bonus in Camogie in 1991 also.
And all this in an era when the MEATH on the national stage GAA SPORTS WISE WAS VERY STRONG.
to be continued.
Tommy MC Cormack my uncle had recently retired as Chairman of the Club,having thus served for over three decades I reckon.There was never a more fanatic member .In fact he died less than a decade later and his dying wish to be visit the Pitch one last time before being buried was honoured .
I atttended my first AGM shortly after arriving and declined the nomination for Secretary proposed by Gerry Callaghan as I was of the view that one should start on the factory floor ,as it were before looking for the Gaffer's job and boy did I spend many years on said floor before the chance came around again.
At that time we had some of the foremost dual players in the County at underage level and there was no adult hurling team here and the neighbouring hurling clubs were salivating at the prospect of getting their mitts on our boys.
The men and women who had achieved this underage hurling miracle were loath to see these boys dispersed to our hurling neighbours and naturally had a preference to keep them together in our club but were very much aware that there would be stiff resistance within the Club to upsetting the footballing apple cart as it were by entering a hurling team,
So a number of them approached me and requested me to propose such a team as they were somewhat afraid to do so themselves less they be chastised.
At the appropriate stage during the AGM I put the motion to enter a team and it was just carried despite the virulent opposition of most of the top table.To say I was shocked was an understatement.
Anyhow the work went on and there was a fierce buzz around the place.a buzz grounded not only in the high expectations of success on the playing fields because of the undoubted emerging underage talent allied to the acquisition after fierce machinations at Provincial level ,which enabled Parish residents the Rennicks brothers and Pat Gibbons transfer here from Trim for whom they had played at Juvenile level and in respect of whom Trim refused transfers, but also because o the excitement of finally acquiring our own Pitch.
Basically it involved the transferees thansferring to another County ,playing with a a club there and then transferring back to Meath when they could play with whatever Club they chose .
My ex club Saint BRIGIDS of Blanchardstown gave a hand in this process and I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR THIS.
By this route we eventually got these men onto our books and they contributed significantly to our unfolding success.
And Dermot Dempsey also threw in his lot with us and added his considerable maturity to the gosoons on the hurling fields of Meath and added to his considerable haul of county medals .
The Rennick transfers s sparked a rule change in the GAA and the new rule now applicable that you play with your home Parish makes those machinations irreverent today
I played a small part in the drive for the top in that I did my best for the adult hurlers on the field of play at full back for as long as my battered and ageing chassis was able to compete and picked up two Junior medals as a player and one Intermediate one as a sub,being usurped at full back by Plug Levy and more luck to him.
On the football front I turned up for training a number of nights ,fully intent of competing for a place ,but never got further than being mandated to kick the ball in between back and forwards in competing drills.
It rapidly became clear to me that anyone nearing the three o wasn't wanted and a guy of my vintage, nearer 40 than 30 was not flavour of the month.
I felt huge sympathy with lifelong and ebullient Dunderry men of the era who were thrown on the scrapheap at the time in order to make way for the emerging youth ,in what I still consider to have been premature retirement.
Anyhow what happened happened and the Club prospered,but in due course.
In 1988 the Pitch was opened to great jubilation and to the profound credit of those who had made such valiant sacrifices in putting it there,.
But not everybody in the Parish fully grasped the full extent of our achievement in the overall scheme of things GAA.
On the way to open the Pitch Tommy and Joe were stopped by a man whose hobby and job were farming exclusively and who had never darkened a football pitch ever nor never would and on being told here they were off to said"Well that's Croke Park fucked ,I hear that Dunderry is so good that Croker will get no more matches."And he genuinely meant that.
Well the pitch was opened and Meath played Cavan in a challenge to a huge crowd .I remember a guy called Cahill fielded for Cavan and I think he was related to our Phil.
Tommy had a prodigious memory and dictated an article from memory to me about the history of Dunderry GAA which i wrote down and it was published in the programme written for the opening.
He concluded by wishing that the Club would attain Senior status in the near future.
Hid wish came to fruition as we attained Senior status in football in 1990,in Hurling in 1991 and as a bonus in Camogie in 1991 also.
And all this in an era when the MEATH on the national stage GAA SPORTS WISE WAS VERY STRONG.
to be continued.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
God 1.IRFU .0.
In 2010 the greed machine that is professional rugby showed its true nature when a match between Munster and Leinster was fixed for Thomond Park on Good Friday ,which as everybody knows is the date when Jesus Christ was crucified for the salvation of humanity.
Not only was disrespectful to the children of God ,which according to the last census 84 per cent of the population claim to be,to have such a match on this Holy Day ,but Good Friday is one of only two days out of the 365 days of the year when pubs are bound to close for the best part of a century.
The greed machine and its vociferous proponents adored their Mamon and insisted that the game go ahead and mounted a campaign to have the drinking laws suspended in Limerick so that the stuck up nobs that follow the game could sate their thirst that most Holy of days and to their eternal shame the ASSOCIATION that represents the publicans backed them to the hilt in pursuit of greedy profits.And a judge stretched credulity to the limit when he allowed the opening of the pubs for health and safety reasons,thus conjuring up the vision of a rampaging mob of rugby supporters breaking down the doors of the pubs in limerick IN HOT PURSUIT OF AN ALCOHOL FIX which may be accurate
And then we had the Rugby supporters of Munster waving flags and sporting jerseys that Rugby was more popular than Catholicism and denigrating the Mass.
And the mass hysteria that infests both the written and electronic medias sucked up to the professional rugby game and its proponents as though it was a divine gift and as though its over paid players and mostly Australian and New Zealand coaches were minor Gods themselves.
This coalition of the greedy and delusional talked up Irish Rugby as though they were confirmed world beaters and all they had to do was show up and claim their rightful place as the World's chosen.
Except they did what a bad horse does when the load is heavy-----it shits on the traces.
And Irish rugby did shit on the traces and not very graciously either.
I heard a guy called Trevor something sneering at Gaelic Football when he likened the hasty retreat of a rugby referee after some match to what happens in the GAA world and I heard another Star ,a Cork guy with a smart mouth and a similar contempt for the GAA ,sneering at the Junior grade of football in GAA competition,a grade in which I would bet he would not last pissing time.
And there was a guy called Shane who played minor football for Meath in his day on the panel where the latter sneer was made and he made no attempt to correct his rugby buddy.
We know now that these guys are just mouths without anything to back themselves up and we also know that the sneers who belittled God and his flock in Munster very much barked up the wrong tree.
The way Munster are playing now Dunderry Junior C team would give them a good run for their money and no amount of talking can change that.
These guys just don't get it .They have denigrated God ,the National Anthem and are doing their best to rugbify the national schools in strong GAA areas to put backbone into a sport that is short of it.
And if the GAA leaders don't wise up to this these greedy schemers will succeed.
God however just waited in the long grass and it is only a matter of time until the greed for handy money pollutes Rugby in the same way that it has besmirched Soccer,Athletics and cycling to name but a few.
Not only was disrespectful to the children of God ,which according to the last census 84 per cent of the population claim to be,to have such a match on this Holy Day ,but Good Friday is one of only two days out of the 365 days of the year when pubs are bound to close for the best part of a century.
The greed machine and its vociferous proponents adored their Mamon and insisted that the game go ahead and mounted a campaign to have the drinking laws suspended in Limerick so that the stuck up nobs that follow the game could sate their thirst that most Holy of days and to their eternal shame the ASSOCIATION that represents the publicans backed them to the hilt in pursuit of greedy profits.And a judge stretched credulity to the limit when he allowed the opening of the pubs for health and safety reasons,thus conjuring up the vision of a rampaging mob of rugby supporters breaking down the doors of the pubs in limerick IN HOT PURSUIT OF AN ALCOHOL FIX which may be accurate
And then we had the Rugby supporters of Munster waving flags and sporting jerseys that Rugby was more popular than Catholicism and denigrating the Mass.
And the mass hysteria that infests both the written and electronic medias sucked up to the professional rugby game and its proponents as though it was a divine gift and as though its over paid players and mostly Australian and New Zealand coaches were minor Gods themselves.
This coalition of the greedy and delusional talked up Irish Rugby as though they were confirmed world beaters and all they had to do was show up and claim their rightful place as the World's chosen.
Except they did what a bad horse does when the load is heavy-----it shits on the traces.
And Irish rugby did shit on the traces and not very graciously either.
I heard a guy called Trevor something sneering at Gaelic Football when he likened the hasty retreat of a rugby referee after some match to what happens in the GAA world and I heard another Star ,a Cork guy with a smart mouth and a similar contempt for the GAA ,sneering at the Junior grade of football in GAA competition,a grade in which I would bet he would not last pissing time.
And there was a guy called Shane who played minor football for Meath in his day on the panel where the latter sneer was made and he made no attempt to correct his rugby buddy.
We know now that these guys are just mouths without anything to back themselves up and we also know that the sneers who belittled God and his flock in Munster very much barked up the wrong tree.
The way Munster are playing now Dunderry Junior C team would give them a good run for their money and no amount of talking can change that.
These guys just don't get it .They have denigrated God ,the National Anthem and are doing their best to rugbify the national schools in strong GAA areas to put backbone into a sport that is short of it.
And if the GAA leaders don't wise up to this these greedy schemers will succeed.
God however just waited in the long grass and it is only a matter of time until the greed for handy money pollutes Rugby in the same way that it has besmirched Soccer,Athletics and cycling to name but a few.
The only good injun is a dead one.
Do you remember those old cowboy movies that glorified the massacre of the native red injuns of the USA by the the Blue Coats when scalps were paid for irrespective of whether they were from murdered men ,women or children.Yep they were treated like vermin and massacred to the point of extinction.Not all that long ago relatively speaking.
Now while the targeting of the civilians by ISIS in PARIS is reprehensible it is worth noting that at least two hundred civilians a day are killed in SYRIA according to a recently released hostage held by ISIL --A FRENCHMAN I heard interviewed on France 24 or Euro news last night.
We have all the World's Superpowers Carpet bombing Syria and Iraq ad lib and killing God only knows how many men,women and children and fighting to be first in the queue "understandably"for revenge.
Seems to me that the so called civilised Western World has reached the same conclusion that the USA authorities reached about the Red Indians over a century ago and that the only good member of ISIL Is a dead one.
I thought that when a black man assumed leadership of the world,given the persecution that blacks suffered historically, that a more peaceful one would result.
Hasn't happened.
Does the civilised Western world want to exterminate an entire race of people men,women and children.
WITH THE SHOOTING DOWN TONIGHT OF a Russian plane by a Turkish SHELL the anti ISIL Coalition are starting to shoot down each other.
ALL we want now is for China to test out its weapons there also.
Sure maybe an atomic bomb is the answer.
Just blow the entire place to Kingdom come and be done with it.
Yep the War to end wars ended in 1918 Sir.
Now while the targeting of the civilians by ISIS in PARIS is reprehensible it is worth noting that at least two hundred civilians a day are killed in SYRIA according to a recently released hostage held by ISIL --A FRENCHMAN I heard interviewed on France 24 or Euro news last night.
We have all the World's Superpowers Carpet bombing Syria and Iraq ad lib and killing God only knows how many men,women and children and fighting to be first in the queue "understandably"for revenge.
Seems to me that the so called civilised Western World has reached the same conclusion that the USA authorities reached about the Red Indians over a century ago and that the only good member of ISIL Is a dead one.
I thought that when a black man assumed leadership of the world,given the persecution that blacks suffered historically, that a more peaceful one would result.
Hasn't happened.
Does the civilised Western world want to exterminate an entire race of people men,women and children.
WITH THE SHOOTING DOWN TONIGHT OF a Russian plane by a Turkish SHELL the anti ISIL Coalition are starting to shoot down each other.
ALL we want now is for China to test out its weapons there also.
Sure maybe an atomic bomb is the answer.
Just blow the entire place to Kingdom come and be done with it.
Yep the War to end wars ended in 1918 Sir.
Bucklepping
We own a few cattle,calves,cows and one only bull.They have a goodish life.And they have a way of letting you know what's on their mind.
Its been good year so far for cattle until two weeks ago.The grass was growing well into November and the weather was clement and the rainfall was scarce.
Plenty of grass to ate and happy cattle.
Then the rain came and boy did it rain.The Clady runs through our land and it was swollen to the top of its 20 feet depth.And then some.A fair bit of the land was waterlogged and the grazing thus restricted.But the cattle had free access to a shed full of good barley straw and they sated themselves on the grass and the straw as they desired.
And then a touch of frost,
The cattle know where the hay is stored and of a sudden they congregated at the gate outside the hay shed looking mournfully over the gate at the hay.
I got the message and brought three bales of sweet hay from the hay shed to the field where they are foddered for the time being.
They followed the tractor single file until we reached the field and then still single file they danced past the tractor in delight bucklepping as they passed by and kicking their heels into the air with delight.Bit like the bull with rider on board as he is released from the schute in the Rodeo movies if you can visualise that.
Filled my heart with wonder.
Cattle definitely feel delight and don't let anyone tell you different.
Its been good year so far for cattle until two weeks ago.The grass was growing well into November and the weather was clement and the rainfall was scarce.
Plenty of grass to ate and happy cattle.
Then the rain came and boy did it rain.The Clady runs through our land and it was swollen to the top of its 20 feet depth.And then some.A fair bit of the land was waterlogged and the grazing thus restricted.But the cattle had free access to a shed full of good barley straw and they sated themselves on the grass and the straw as they desired.
And then a touch of frost,
The cattle know where the hay is stored and of a sudden they congregated at the gate outside the hay shed looking mournfully over the gate at the hay.
I got the message and brought three bales of sweet hay from the hay shed to the field where they are foddered for the time being.
They followed the tractor single file until we reached the field and then still single file they danced past the tractor in delight bucklepping as they passed by and kicking their heels into the air with delight.Bit like the bull with rider on board as he is released from the schute in the Rodeo movies if you can visualise that.
Filled my heart with wonder.
Cattle definitely feel delight and don't let anyone tell you different.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Chilling TIMES
After watching TV this evening a chill ran down my spine.
The rhetoric of WAR is all over the place and Truth is the first casualty.
First we had Vincent Brown trying to blame religion on the situation.Even someone as hateful and vilely anti Catholic as he must surely have heard of the Commandment thou shall not kill.
Perhaps his hatred has so twisted him that he cannot distinguish between God and the Devil ,the latter's propensity for evil seems to be more acceptable to him.
Am I wrong in thinking that the main protagonists here are atheist and secular and anti religious as is generally understood.
Secondly we had a guest panellist of his demanding that an entire race of people.men,women and children be eliminated.Hitler is mild by comparison.
Then the PRIME minister of France ratcheted up the ante by declaring war on ISIS AND the military singing so redolent of HITLER'S STORMTROOPERS being sung with hatred.
There is no doubt but that ISIS is evil and must be defeated and as a Catholic I DESPISE ITS STATED AIM OF destroying Catholic Rome,but mass genocide is not the answer.
Of course there are many atheists within Europe who share the AIM OF DESTROYING THE VATICAN with ISIS and are only too glad to see them MURDERING CHRISTIANS,ESPECIALLY THOSE PROMULGATING THE MURDER OF THE INNOCENT UNBORN.
GOD HELP US.
The rhetoric of WAR is all over the place and Truth is the first casualty.
First we had Vincent Brown trying to blame religion on the situation.Even someone as hateful and vilely anti Catholic as he must surely have heard of the Commandment thou shall not kill.
Perhaps his hatred has so twisted him that he cannot distinguish between God and the Devil ,the latter's propensity for evil seems to be more acceptable to him.
Am I wrong in thinking that the main protagonists here are atheist and secular and anti religious as is generally understood.
Secondly we had a guest panellist of his demanding that an entire race of people.men,women and children be eliminated.Hitler is mild by comparison.
Then the PRIME minister of France ratcheted up the ante by declaring war on ISIS AND the military singing so redolent of HITLER'S STORMTROOPERS being sung with hatred.
There is no doubt but that ISIS is evil and must be defeated and as a Catholic I DESPISE ITS STATED AIM OF destroying Catholic Rome,but mass genocide is not the answer.
Of course there are many atheists within Europe who share the AIM OF DESTROYING THE VATICAN with ISIS and are only too glad to see them MURDERING CHRISTIANS,ESPECIALLY THOSE PROMULGATING THE MURDER OF THE INNOCENT UNBORN.
GOD HELP US.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
A week of despair on the world stage.
Here in Dunderry I seldom travel more than five miles,so I am and have been dependent on the papers and electronic media for information.
I have gone way past believing half of what I see and nearly none of what I read because I am convinced that now ,more than any time in history ,the truth has become a poor second to lies and deceit and there is nearly no reporter nor publication that doesn't promulgate lies all the time.
My week of disgust and horror had to do with the total disregard of Sovereign States and their leaders for the sovereignty of others and the impunity with which they kill, murder and maim others ,who they regard as enemies, just because they can.
The more advanced States can target and snuff out human life from thousands of miles away in the safety of bunkered or even unbunkered environments, safe in the knowledge that they are safe from retribution.
This is because they have more advanced technology and superior fire power and weapons than their protagonists.
The less advanced States the subject of these sallies from afar have long since figured that the only, puerile by comparison .way they can strike back, is by their adherents making themselves into human suicide bombers willing to carry themselves into the midst of their protagonist,much like the Kamakazi Japanese pilots of WW2.
Honour has long since disappeared into he mists of time and the more sneaky,underhand ,cunning and ruthless and murdering you are the more heroic you are painted by your own side.
The first vile and underhand act that appalled me this week was the murder of a WOUNDED Palestinian Leader in a hospital in his own country whilst being treated there for his wounds, by an undercover Israeli murder squad some of whom dressed as women to carry out their murderous mission.
From reports it seems that the Israelis regard one Israeli life as equivalent to 10 Palestinian ones and are Hell bent on maintaining this ratio.
There is little doubt ,it seems to me, that the beasts in the field are accorded a higher ranking than Palestinians in the Israeli scheme of things and that the World at large would be more outraged if such depravities were perpetrated on animals than Palestinians.
What happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis was inhumane and they are not slow to bring it up when it suits and proper order.
But that does not excuse their treatment of the Palestinians NOW THAT THEY ARE IN THE SADDLE.
The second matter that appalled me was the murder of two hundred PEOPLE in Paris by suicide bombers whom ISIL claim ownership of.
I had been thinking of this situation in the Middle East for some time back.
It seems to me that this whole scenario has its genesis in the colonial past of certain European States centuries ago and the assumption of the USA of the role of world policeman in more recent decades.
As before WW2 and Pearl Harbour the USA thought it was immune from conventional attack because of the sheer distance it was from its protagonists until the atrocity of the Twin Tower outrage ,which cost the lives of thousands of Americans,
In retribution the USA struck back AND IS STILL TRIKING BACK.
Afghanistan,Iraq,Syria,Libya,Tunisia,Pakistani,Somalia and the overwhelming majority of the ARAB SPRING STATES ,which Countries secular Europeans and others tried to model on their concept of democracy, have been turned into hell on earth by constant bombing and drones by the USA, the coalition of the willing ,which included most European States and the EU and latterly by Russia.
Now my mother used talk about TOOPHS,which I understand to mean innocents abroad or amadans as gaeilge.
Barrack Obama has played a blinder in persuading the Toophs of the EU into joining the Coalition of the Willing and setting itself up for the sort of atrocity perpetrated in France yesterday.
The USA is too far away to be hit by such an atrocity but, as witnessed every day by the massive influx of displaced peoples from the HELLHOLES of the Muslim World into EVERY European Country, we are sitting ducks.
It is hard to gauge the numbers of peoples killed since the Twin Tower tragedy but the best Estimates run into millions,mostlty Muslims.
It may be that the relatives of these people will forgive and forget but I doubt it somehow.
If retribution is sought and secured by these Muslims on the same scale that was delivered unto them then the carnage has only begun.
Within Secular Europe we have a further massive problem fiacing us in the ability to defend ourselves.
Militant feminists and atheists have for decades waged a war on our viable and unprotected unborn and slaughtered them by the million if not billion since the start of the last Century, to the extent that the population of the EU is in decline and we shortly won't have the manpower to defend our aging populations.
When that day arrives the first boot/bootees we must place in the frontline are those responsible for these vile senseless and barbaric murders of the defenceless unborn.They will then find that murdering those that are old enough and motivated enough to fight back is a different kettle of fish entirely.
I look forward to Ivana and her legions of the blabbermouths talk their way out of that one.
Finally the most ridiculous proposal I have head in this centenary year of 1916 is that of some fools who put forward proposals to tackle border smuggling by ceding to England a corridor of seven miles into the Republic TO POLICE AND OTHERS OF THE CROWN TO HAVE UNLIMITED ACCESS IN HOT PURSUIT.
Why stop at 7 miles .Why not give them free access the whole way to the South coast,YEP GIVE THEM THE COUNTRY BACK ENTIRELY,.
When France is sealing its borders our TOOPHS ARE PROPOSING handing control to another foreign power.
You couldn't make it up.
I have gone way past believing half of what I see and nearly none of what I read because I am convinced that now ,more than any time in history ,the truth has become a poor second to lies and deceit and there is nearly no reporter nor publication that doesn't promulgate lies all the time.
My week of disgust and horror had to do with the total disregard of Sovereign States and their leaders for the sovereignty of others and the impunity with which they kill, murder and maim others ,who they regard as enemies, just because they can.
The more advanced States can target and snuff out human life from thousands of miles away in the safety of bunkered or even unbunkered environments, safe in the knowledge that they are safe from retribution.
This is because they have more advanced technology and superior fire power and weapons than their protagonists.
The less advanced States the subject of these sallies from afar have long since figured that the only, puerile by comparison .way they can strike back, is by their adherents making themselves into human suicide bombers willing to carry themselves into the midst of their protagonist,much like the Kamakazi Japanese pilots of WW2.
Honour has long since disappeared into he mists of time and the more sneaky,underhand ,cunning and ruthless and murdering you are the more heroic you are painted by your own side.
The first vile and underhand act that appalled me this week was the murder of a WOUNDED Palestinian Leader in a hospital in his own country whilst being treated there for his wounds, by an undercover Israeli murder squad some of whom dressed as women to carry out their murderous mission.
From reports it seems that the Israelis regard one Israeli life as equivalent to 10 Palestinian ones and are Hell bent on maintaining this ratio.
There is little doubt ,it seems to me, that the beasts in the field are accorded a higher ranking than Palestinians in the Israeli scheme of things and that the World at large would be more outraged if such depravities were perpetrated on animals than Palestinians.
What happened to the Jews at the hands of the Nazis was inhumane and they are not slow to bring it up when it suits and proper order.
But that does not excuse their treatment of the Palestinians NOW THAT THEY ARE IN THE SADDLE.
The second matter that appalled me was the murder of two hundred PEOPLE in Paris by suicide bombers whom ISIL claim ownership of.
I had been thinking of this situation in the Middle East for some time back.
It seems to me that this whole scenario has its genesis in the colonial past of certain European States centuries ago and the assumption of the USA of the role of world policeman in more recent decades.
As before WW2 and Pearl Harbour the USA thought it was immune from conventional attack because of the sheer distance it was from its protagonists until the atrocity of the Twin Tower outrage ,which cost the lives of thousands of Americans,
In retribution the USA struck back AND IS STILL TRIKING BACK.
Afghanistan,Iraq,Syria,Libya,Tunisia,Pakistani,Somalia and the overwhelming majority of the ARAB SPRING STATES ,which Countries secular Europeans and others tried to model on their concept of democracy, have been turned into hell on earth by constant bombing and drones by the USA, the coalition of the willing ,which included most European States and the EU and latterly by Russia.
Now my mother used talk about TOOPHS,which I understand to mean innocents abroad or amadans as gaeilge.
Barrack Obama has played a blinder in persuading the Toophs of the EU into joining the Coalition of the Willing and setting itself up for the sort of atrocity perpetrated in France yesterday.
The USA is too far away to be hit by such an atrocity but, as witnessed every day by the massive influx of displaced peoples from the HELLHOLES of the Muslim World into EVERY European Country, we are sitting ducks.
It is hard to gauge the numbers of peoples killed since the Twin Tower tragedy but the best Estimates run into millions,mostlty Muslims.
It may be that the relatives of these people will forgive and forget but I doubt it somehow.
If retribution is sought and secured by these Muslims on the same scale that was delivered unto them then the carnage has only begun.
Within Secular Europe we have a further massive problem fiacing us in the ability to defend ourselves.
Militant feminists and atheists have for decades waged a war on our viable and unprotected unborn and slaughtered them by the million if not billion since the start of the last Century, to the extent that the population of the EU is in decline and we shortly won't have the manpower to defend our aging populations.
When that day arrives the first boot/bootees we must place in the frontline are those responsible for these vile senseless and barbaric murders of the defenceless unborn.They will then find that murdering those that are old enough and motivated enough to fight back is a different kettle of fish entirely.
I look forward to Ivana and her legions of the blabbermouths talk their way out of that one.
Finally the most ridiculous proposal I have head in this centenary year of 1916 is that of some fools who put forward proposals to tackle border smuggling by ceding to England a corridor of seven miles into the Republic TO POLICE AND OTHERS OF THE CROWN TO HAVE UNLIMITED ACCESS IN HOT PURSUIT.
Why stop at 7 miles .Why not give them free access the whole way to the South coast,YEP GIVE THEM THE COUNTRY BACK ENTIRELY,.
When France is sealing its borders our TOOPHS ARE PROPOSING handing control to another foreign power.
You couldn't make it up.
Probably the best value eating house in Ireland today.
Yesterday myself and two friends attended a funeral in Carrickmacross.We came home through through Kingscourt AND DECIDED TO STOP THERE FOR A FEED.
Paudge knows his onions and shepherded us into an eating house situate where the road from Carrick joins the Main Street in Kingscourt on the right hand side as the roads adjoin.
An entrance to the cattle mart, which was in full swing, is opposite the joint.
We had four courses of soup ,meat ,spuds ,chips and veg,succulent dessert and coffee.
Enough to fill Joe Higgins in his prime,GOD REST HIS SOUL. AND FOR FIFTEEN EURO A HEAD.
Now there's value for you.
The very best of grub.
Paudge knows his onions and shepherded us into an eating house situate where the road from Carrick joins the Main Street in Kingscourt on the right hand side as the roads adjoin.
An entrance to the cattle mart, which was in full swing, is opposite the joint.
We had four courses of soup ,meat ,spuds ,chips and veg,succulent dessert and coffee.
Enough to fill Joe Higgins in his prime,GOD REST HIS SOUL. AND FOR FIFTEEN EURO A HEAD.
Now there's value for you.
The very best of grub.
Muskaterr Carmel loses brother Benny
Today myself and fellow Muskateer Liam Dalton went to Carrickmacross to console Carmel Geraghty and attend the funeral Mass and burial of her brother Benny WOODS.Paudge Dalton accompanied us on the sorrowful journey on one of the wettest and vile days weather wise I can remember.
The ceremony was of the highest calibre and there was a large crowd from Dunderry there.
He got a fine send off.
As a matter of interest he is the third relative of our group to succumb to the blight of cancer,the others being my brother Robert and Liam's brother.
So Liam ,Carmel and myself have all lost brothers to this accursed disease.
Go deana Dia trocaire ar a Anam dilis.
To his wife, brother, sister and wider family we offer our sincerest sympathies.
He had no children.
The ceremony was of the highest calibre and there was a large crowd from Dunderry there.
He got a fine send off.
As a matter of interest he is the third relative of our group to succumb to the blight of cancer,the others being my brother Robert and Liam's brother.
So Liam ,Carmel and myself have all lost brothers to this accursed disease.
Go deana Dia trocaire ar a Anam dilis.
To his wife, brother, sister and wider family we offer our sincerest sympathies.
He had no children.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Ray DARCY A PERFEC FIT FOR ANTI CATHOLIC RTE
Ray Darcy,aka the Gnome with the Dome is the perfec fit for RTE ,through which a rancid anti Catholic hate campaign is being promulgated.
His older colleague Olivia O leary aka the Crone with the Moan is another example of this visceral hatred.
Every chance these bitter pills get they belittle and smirk at traditional Catholic values and promote pagan and atheist values.
Their narrative runs like this.The 84 percent who described themselves as Catholic in the last census are fools incapable of marking the box correctly but the 16 per cent who didn't are pure geniuses like themselves way above the rest of us in intelligence and knowledge.
Now their unquestioning sucking up to their own kind on public radiio is sickening and actually anti democratic and it is high time that someone in RTE called these little shits in and explained to them the meaning of respect.
However I will not be holding my breath as I fear that the atheists have long since taken over RTE .
MAYBE a boycott of the LICENCE FEE WOULD be a legitimate way of protest at this vicious bias.
His older colleague Olivia O leary aka the Crone with the Moan is another example of this visceral hatred.
Every chance these bitter pills get they belittle and smirk at traditional Catholic values and promote pagan and atheist values.
Their narrative runs like this.The 84 percent who described themselves as Catholic in the last census are fools incapable of marking the box correctly but the 16 per cent who didn't are pure geniuses like themselves way above the rest of us in intelligence and knowledge.
Now their unquestioning sucking up to their own kind on public radiio is sickening and actually anti democratic and it is high time that someone in RTE called these little shits in and explained to them the meaning of respect.
However I will not be holding my breath as I fear that the atheists have long since taken over RTE .
MAYBE a boycott of the LICENCE FEE WOULD be a legitimate way of protest at this vicious bias.
IABA AND CHRISTLE WIN BY TKO.
The Directors of the IABA are unpaid nor do they get expenses.
Unlike the other members of the Dail Committe who showboated their way through the farcical nonsense they promulgated on the occasion of their disgraceful performance on the T.V. lately.
And I include in this all the clowns on the Committee and all the members of the Sports Council .each and every one of whom have their snouts in the troughs of cash ,whether provided from general taxation or from the money legally skimmed from the Lotto.
But to me the most cowardly and disgusting performance of all was the green with jealousy and bitchy comments of Drimnagh boy Eamonn Coughlan on Prime time radio ,who despite serious State backing in his day and the instructions of the best foreign coaches abroad always shit on the traces when the OLYMPICS CAME AROUND.
Just like John Tracey ,another bitter pill.
As far as I know the last athletics OLYMPIC GOLD was won by Ronnie Delaney .
Now these clever dicks have had decades to pluck Gold for their own athletic cronies and have failed miserably,so no one in their right mind would let them have any say whatsoever in other sports that do the business.
By his nuanced mispronunciation of the words democracy and committee and by calling ,IF NOT BY NAME THEN BY Implication a real gentleman Joe Crystle a person of small mind and a myriad of other names SAID SHITTTER has exposed himself for the bitter and hateful pill he is.
A perfect fit for Fine Gael WHOSE NOMINATION TO THE SEANAD HE IS.
Not fit to lace Joe's boots.
Knowing Joe and his innate decency and moral code I fully back his call for an Independent investigation ,but guess what ,the mouthpieces will run scared from this lest their prejudices be established and their lies be exposed.
Unlike the other members of the Dail Committe who showboated their way through the farcical nonsense they promulgated on the occasion of their disgraceful performance on the T.V. lately.
And I include in this all the clowns on the Committee and all the members of the Sports Council .each and every one of whom have their snouts in the troughs of cash ,whether provided from general taxation or from the money legally skimmed from the Lotto.
But to me the most cowardly and disgusting performance of all was the green with jealousy and bitchy comments of Drimnagh boy Eamonn Coughlan on Prime time radio ,who despite serious State backing in his day and the instructions of the best foreign coaches abroad always shit on the traces when the OLYMPICS CAME AROUND.
Just like John Tracey ,another bitter pill.
As far as I know the last athletics OLYMPIC GOLD was won by Ronnie Delaney .
Now these clever dicks have had decades to pluck Gold for their own athletic cronies and have failed miserably,so no one in their right mind would let them have any say whatsoever in other sports that do the business.
By his nuanced mispronunciation of the words democracy and committee and by calling ,IF NOT BY NAME THEN BY Implication a real gentleman Joe Crystle a person of small mind and a myriad of other names SAID SHITTTER has exposed himself for the bitter and hateful pill he is.
A perfect fit for Fine Gael WHOSE NOMINATION TO THE SEANAD HE IS.
Not fit to lace Joe's boots.
Knowing Joe and his innate decency and moral code I fully back his call for an Independent investigation ,but guess what ,the mouthpieces will run scared from this lest their prejudices be established and their lies be exposed.
Monday, October 26, 2015
More on Mulville ,Crystle and the IABA
To my great consternation I read more about the Sports Council's bullying of the IABA and its executives today.
Mulville said that he had serious problems with individual leaders of the IABA and that the IABA had 24 hours to reconsider the reappointment of Billy Walshe or the A SPORTS council ,which he seems to own ,would reconsider its funding of the IABA.
He had his chance to take on Joe Crystle the Chair of the IABAand most certainly one of the leaders of the IABA on National Radio last Friday but like every coward who meets his match he ran and hid for cover.
This wouldn't be the first time that Mulville ran for cover when he met real men.If memory serves me right he tried to intervene in the Cork hurlers strike some years ago but ran away when the going got tough.
Of course these Government appointed hacks feel free to bully everybody they deem unworthy and they consider defenceless.
In this they mimic the attitude of their political masters who have spewed a contempt for the populace which is the unholy child of fascist blue shirt father and an authoritarian Stasis East German type mother,which must face the murder run of abortion before it emerges,which is a serious threat to democracy.
Garrett the Good set up the LOTTO ,which denuded the plethora of voluntary organisation of finance and has made it into a political slush fund to buy up votes and has encouraged its organisers ,including the present Minister AND ITS EXECUTIVES TO BEHAVE LIKE LITTLE DICTatORS in administering money not even theirs .
Naturally the menopausal auld wans and their one trick pony panellists who deface RTE speak uno voce in favour of the Government which nourishes them.
These gob shites are so far up the arseholes of the Rugby failures that it is embarrassing to even listen to them spout total bullshit.
Just put JOE in the Ring against Melville and his sidekick Tracey.
Come on Crystle.
Mulville said that he had serious problems with individual leaders of the IABA and that the IABA had 24 hours to reconsider the reappointment of Billy Walshe or the A SPORTS council ,which he seems to own ,would reconsider its funding of the IABA.
He had his chance to take on Joe Crystle the Chair of the IABAand most certainly one of the leaders of the IABA on National Radio last Friday but like every coward who meets his match he ran and hid for cover.
This wouldn't be the first time that Mulville ran for cover when he met real men.If memory serves me right he tried to intervene in the Cork hurlers strike some years ago but ran away when the going got tough.
Of course these Government appointed hacks feel free to bully everybody they deem unworthy and they consider defenceless.
In this they mimic the attitude of their political masters who have spewed a contempt for the populace which is the unholy child of fascist blue shirt father and an authoritarian Stasis East German type mother,which must face the murder run of abortion before it emerges,which is a serious threat to democracy.
Garrett the Good set up the LOTTO ,which denuded the plethora of voluntary organisation of finance and has made it into a political slush fund to buy up votes and has encouraged its organisers ,including the present Minister AND ITS EXECUTIVES TO BEHAVE LIKE LITTLE DICTatORS in administering money not even theirs .
Naturally the menopausal auld wans and their one trick pony panellists who deface RTE speak uno voce in favour of the Government which nourishes them.
These gob shites are so far up the arseholes of the Rugby failures that it is embarrassing to even listen to them spout total bullshit.
Just put JOE in the Ring against Melville and his sidekick Tracey.
Come on Crystle.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Joe Crystle a man of total honour.
My late father was a Welshman and proud of it.As a young man his sports of choice were rugby and boxing,He tried his hand at both and I don't know how successful he was .But I do know that these sports were the sports of choice of the ordinary people in Wales.
Which is probably why he continued to attend them when he moved here.
I well remember going to the National Stadium on the South Circular Road to watch National and International boxing matches with him.I enjoyed them immensely I must say.
This was long before the Sports Council and its its obnoxious politically appointed operatives were ever heard of.
Boxing people produced world rated combatants by the dint of hard work and through amateur effort.
And not to put a tooth in it was and is overwhelmingly the sport for tinkers and working class people,not for know all toffs who know as much about it as my arsehole knows about snipes hooting.
Recent events in South County Dublin illustrates perfectly just how Governments and their pet appointees have succeeded in killing off and persecuting tinkers and their families.
They.the Tinkers,and the working classes just don't rate which is probably why Kieran Mulvey and John Tracey felt totally at ease hogging the airwaves and threatening the IABA and its democratically elected officials with all sort of sanctions if said ASSOCIATION didn';t bend to their bullying and intimidating demands.
It goes without saying that neither man has any expertise whatsoever in boxing nor its promotion and I suggest would run a mile if confronted by a togged out opponent.
Singing from the same hymn sheet they have threatened over the airwaves to -
- Review the Sports Council funding off the IABA with repercussions going forward
- See how funding is given and establish from latest review of accounts just how it is spent
-Review IABA CHIEF'S Fergal Carruths role ,We pay him and are not happy.
--We pay the administrative staff and are not happy
--The Sports Council totally funds boxing and is unhappy.
In this these little Dictators have striven to drive a wedge between the democratically elected Officer Board and the imaginary ordinary membership .
Joe Crystle is the Chairman of the Board and I know him well.
His father,also Joe I think, and his brothers founded the Ras Tailteann and made it the international success it is .Needless to say no mouthpieces like Tracey nor Mulvey nor their ilk were around to help out.
The same man,a a Guinness employee,who self educated,founded Dublin Institute of Technology to give ordinary working people ,who had not the wherewithal to go to University, the chance to advance themselves.
It was rumoured that he blew up Nelson's Pillar in 86 although this has since been claimed by another boxer of renown.
As far as I know he died of cancer some years ago in Public Ward in DUBLIN HOSPITAL. AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE, ALTHOUGH HE COULD WELL HAVE USED THE OFFICES OF HIS SONS TO SAY GOODBYE IN MORE COMFORTABLE SURROUNDINGS.
He is buried in Kilmessan.
He has three sons ,Joe,Mel a Senior Counsel.and Terry a surgeon in Navan Hospital.
To my knowledge all three held the All Ireland Heavy weight crowns at different stages and boxed professionally .
If memory serves me correctly all three appeared on the same bill in Navan some years ago.
These guys have forgotten more about boxing than Tracey and Mulvihille will ever know.
Joe is a trained barrister and has not forgotten his boxing roots.
These guys were also formidable hurlers with Drimnagh Castle School years ago and ,although a little after my time often changed epic hostilities with my younger brothers in Cumann na Bunscoile competitions.
Borth families knew how to hurl and protect themselves.
Now as stated both Tracey and Mulvey have hogged the headlines belittling ,bullying and attempting to intimidate the IABA and its officers backed up by journalists who speak uno voce in their favour and sneering at the fact that the IABA was slow in responding.
Knowing JOE and in the certain knowledge that he is the sort of guy that would not countenance anything underhand nor improper I was not surprise that he gave the other side of the story on Radio and totally routed the mumbling mouthpiece Mulvey and a disturbingly partisan Des Cahill, from the fray.
Mulviey wouldn't be the first bully to turn and run when confronted by an intellectual and physical equal who he couldn#t intimidate and shout down.
I WOULD TRUST Joe WITH MY LIFE NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
As for the SPORTS COUNCIL and its mouthpieces THERE OUGHT BE A FULL ENQUIRY INTO ITS MODUS OPERANDI AND HOW THE PREJUDICES OF ITS MEMBERS DENY NATURAL JUSTICE TO THE BODIES IT CLEARLY THINKS IT OWNS,STARTING WITH THE MINISTER.
Which is probably why he continued to attend them when he moved here.
I well remember going to the National Stadium on the South Circular Road to watch National and International boxing matches with him.I enjoyed them immensely I must say.
This was long before the Sports Council and its its obnoxious politically appointed operatives were ever heard of.
Boxing people produced world rated combatants by the dint of hard work and through amateur effort.
And not to put a tooth in it was and is overwhelmingly the sport for tinkers and working class people,not for know all toffs who know as much about it as my arsehole knows about snipes hooting.
Recent events in South County Dublin illustrates perfectly just how Governments and their pet appointees have succeeded in killing off and persecuting tinkers and their families.
They.the Tinkers,and the working classes just don't rate which is probably why Kieran Mulvey and John Tracey felt totally at ease hogging the airwaves and threatening the IABA and its democratically elected officials with all sort of sanctions if said ASSOCIATION didn';t bend to their bullying and intimidating demands.
It goes without saying that neither man has any expertise whatsoever in boxing nor its promotion and I suggest would run a mile if confronted by a togged out opponent.
Singing from the same hymn sheet they have threatened over the airwaves to -
- Review the Sports Council funding off the IABA with repercussions going forward
- See how funding is given and establish from latest review of accounts just how it is spent
-Review IABA CHIEF'S Fergal Carruths role ,We pay him and are not happy.
--We pay the administrative staff and are not happy
--The Sports Council totally funds boxing and is unhappy.
In this these little Dictators have striven to drive a wedge between the democratically elected Officer Board and the imaginary ordinary membership .
Joe Crystle is the Chairman of the Board and I know him well.
His father,also Joe I think, and his brothers founded the Ras Tailteann and made it the international success it is .Needless to say no mouthpieces like Tracey nor Mulvey nor their ilk were around to help out.
The same man,a a Guinness employee,who self educated,founded Dublin Institute of Technology to give ordinary working people ,who had not the wherewithal to go to University, the chance to advance themselves.
It was rumoured that he blew up Nelson's Pillar in 86 although this has since been claimed by another boxer of renown.
As far as I know he died of cancer some years ago in Public Ward in DUBLIN HOSPITAL. AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE, ALTHOUGH HE COULD WELL HAVE USED THE OFFICES OF HIS SONS TO SAY GOODBYE IN MORE COMFORTABLE SURROUNDINGS.
He is buried in Kilmessan.
He has three sons ,Joe,Mel a Senior Counsel.and Terry a surgeon in Navan Hospital.
To my knowledge all three held the All Ireland Heavy weight crowns at different stages and boxed professionally .
If memory serves me correctly all three appeared on the same bill in Navan some years ago.
These guys have forgotten more about boxing than Tracey and Mulvihille will ever know.
Joe is a trained barrister and has not forgotten his boxing roots.
These guys were also formidable hurlers with Drimnagh Castle School years ago and ,although a little after my time often changed epic hostilities with my younger brothers in Cumann na Bunscoile competitions.
Borth families knew how to hurl and protect themselves.
Now as stated both Tracey and Mulvey have hogged the headlines belittling ,bullying and attempting to intimidate the IABA and its officers backed up by journalists who speak uno voce in their favour and sneering at the fact that the IABA was slow in responding.
Knowing JOE and in the certain knowledge that he is the sort of guy that would not countenance anything underhand nor improper I was not surprise that he gave the other side of the story on Radio and totally routed the mumbling mouthpiece Mulvey and a disturbingly partisan Des Cahill, from the fray.
Mulviey wouldn't be the first bully to turn and run when confronted by an intellectual and physical equal who he couldn#t intimidate and shout down.
I WOULD TRUST Joe WITH MY LIFE NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
As for the SPORTS COUNCIL and its mouthpieces THERE OUGHT BE A FULL ENQUIRY INTO ITS MODUS OPERANDI AND HOW THE PREJUDICES OF ITS MEMBERS DENY NATURAL JUSTICE TO THE BODIES IT CLEARLY THINKS IT OWNS,STARTING WITH THE MINISTER.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Death of Bill Doherty in England.
Every Sunday Gerry and Rita Doherty drive Gerry's 92 year old mother down to 11.00 a.m.Mass in Dunderry ,ensconce her in the side isle and return to the main body of the Church for MASS themselves.She is,I would guess ,around 90 years and fully in possession of all her faculties.
She has outlived her late husband and one other son who died in England some years ago.Today her son Bill was prayed for in Mass.
I can remember him and his wife at times,coming on holiday to Gerry and Rita when they lived in Father Flood Park years ago and remember meeting him a number of times.He was a nice guy.
Well seemingly he went for a fairly routine operation in I think Blackpool where he lived with his wife and children about a week ago and died unexpectedly there last Wednesday.
Bill emigrated in the mid 1960's
.He previously worked in Leonards of Athboy Gate alongside Pat Leonard and Ted Murtagh selling clothes and footwear, a crew he can reunite with now within the pearly gates and recite with the Angels "Shine up your button with Brasso,it's only three halfpence a tin ,and if you can't get it on the Black Market you'll get it in Leonard's of Trim",
Afterwards he worked in Navan Carpets.
To his devastated mother, sister,brother ,wife ,children and grandchildren and all who held him dear,including Thomas,Bob,Rachel and especially his mother and Gerry and Rita we offer our sincere condolences.
Ar Dheis De go raibh a Annam Dilis.
And I hear that Johnny Gough ,a neighbour who knew Bill,went to the funeral in England,a fair journey for a 88 year old man.
She has outlived her late husband and one other son who died in England some years ago.Today her son Bill was prayed for in Mass.
I can remember him and his wife at times,coming on holiday to Gerry and Rita when they lived in Father Flood Park years ago and remember meeting him a number of times.He was a nice guy.
Well seemingly he went for a fairly routine operation in I think Blackpool where he lived with his wife and children about a week ago and died unexpectedly there last Wednesday.
Bill emigrated in the mid 1960's
.He previously worked in Leonards of Athboy Gate alongside Pat Leonard and Ted Murtagh selling clothes and footwear, a crew he can reunite with now within the pearly gates and recite with the Angels "Shine up your button with Brasso,it's only three halfpence a tin ,and if you can't get it on the Black Market you'll get it in Leonard's of Trim",
Afterwards he worked in Navan Carpets.
To his devastated mother, sister,brother ,wife ,children and grandchildren and all who held him dear,including Thomas,Bob,Rachel and especially his mother and Gerry and Rita we offer our sincere condolences.
Ar Dheis De go raibh a Annam Dilis.
And I hear that Johnny Gough ,a neighbour who knew Bill,went to the funeral in England,a fair journey for a 88 year old man.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Lourdes 2015- an appreciation.
It's 4.00 a.m.Myself and she who must be obeyed are sitting in a queue of cars in Navan Hospital awaiting a bus that hopefully will bring us on the first leg of our journey to Lourdes.I haven't slept a wink all night afraid we might sleep it out and miss the bus and am in a daze.
It's funny the thoughts that slip in and out of the tired mind at that time of the morning.One irreverend thought I have is that Leo's enforcers of the latest tax on sickness,that is the clamping of cars of the sick and indigent in Navan Hospital for the release bounty of E.90.00 ,will swoop and steal our vehicles.From what I hear I wouldn't put it past them.
To go back a bit and explain how I came to be on this journey I must revert to July 1 2009,when I was stricken with a stroke and made the uninformed and life changing mistake to go to Navan HOSPITAL ,AN INSTITUTION singularly ill equiped to handle stroke patients.in that it had neither the MRI SCANNERS to determine the type of stroke suffered nor the medication to dissolve the clot responsible for my particular stroke..a situatuion subsequently rectified when I ran for office and shamed the authorities into treating the people of Meath with A modicum of respect and rectifying these shameful and life destroying omissions.
Since then I have serious issues with the left side of my body.But I am grateful for the good bits left to me and can live alife of some normality unlike many destroyed or dead from the official neglect caused by the apalling lack of the amenities outlined above.I sometimes wonder whether those responsible ought be charged with manslaughter at a minimum.
When I eventually emerged from Hospital a brother of mine offered to run a few functions and send me to Lourdes but not being in the best of form at the time I declined.Since then I have become involved in a prayer group and one member of that group,Deirdre Clinch,who herself went to Lourdes ,has been encouraging me to give it a twist. This year I decided that I might as well and made contact with Jennifer Reilly from BOHERMEEN ,who is the nearest thing to an earthly Angel you could hope to meet and she set the whole thing up via the Meath Diocesan Pilgrimage.I subsequently learned that she is also a volunteer at the female bathing area of Lourdes ,no small job for such a slight girl.
.I had ,among other tasks, to get a Passport ,this being my first time out of theses ISLANDS and also attempt to conquer my fear of flying.
I have recently had cause to severely question my judgement of character when activities of the most unsavoury type came to my attention and again was gobsmacked when discreet assistance towards our pilgrimage came from a most unlikely source.Those involved will know of what I speak and to the latter a most sincere thanks.
A few night before our departure Mass was celebrated in St.Oliver's Church in Navan and afterwards tay and light refreshments were provided.It was there when I met such a preponderance of GAA people that I knew I was among friends.There were Bennets and Boylans and King Administrator for Navan and former Chair of Senchaelstown GAA club and Ardbraccan native Tom Mulvaney and family.The essence of decency.
Soon the coach arrived and suitcases were deposited at the entrance to the hold of the bus.And a clatter of people dressed in blue coats proceeded to load the cases onto the bus.
I subsequently learned that these blue coated men and women are volunteers from all walks of life who take a week off work ,pay the cost of the flight and accommodation and help out the sick and ill pilgrims free gratis for the week.Unheralded heroes from hidden Catholic Ireland and ,as I subsequently observed, the essence of kindness.
We were loaded onto the bus in the kindest way possible,a mixture of pilgrims with the whole range of physically apparent and not so obvious illnesses ,a corp of voluntary nurses and a troop of voluntary doctors ,the most dedicated contingent of blue coats and a group of Priests and nuns and headed for Dublin Airport.
We stopped on the way at Garlow Cross ,at Ross Cross and at Dunshaughlin to pick up more pilgrims .
Ger.Gordon,wife of Jack the referee and daughter of Tom Mulvaney, head nurse on our bus, recited the Rosary and sang a Hymn,All joined in with gusto.My people .Unashamedly Catholic AND PROUD OF IT .
And sandwiches and sweets were passed around and we were advised to whet our hunger,free snacks not being available on the plane.
We reached the Airport in due course and made our way to the plane.I overestimated my capacity for walking and had to seek wheelchair assistance to finalise the journey.It's a fair step.And having long hair and a beard I got a fair shake up by security who relented somewhat when I was unable to raise my left arm for frisking because of my stroke.
We had to descend two floors to get to the departure gate and with many people being wheelchair dependent and unable to walk the presence of a working lift was essential.And wouldn't you know it,the lift packed up and stayed that way.With fierce grunting and groaning and huge and kind handling by carers and the blue coats and nurses and docs ,everybody was transferred down the two flights of stairs and we made it onto the plane.
I don't like flying and my sense of insecurity was heightened when I saw that the name of the Airline was Titan.Just add an "ic" and the omens are catastrophic.
Up ,up and away as the plane climbs higher and higher until we reach 37,000 feet and I chance looking out the window.We are above the clouds and they look like a bed of cotton wool below us into which you imagine you could jump and be softly embraced.But that is an optical illusion.You would plummet like a stone to 37,000 deaths.
In no time at all we land in Lourdes Airport.And wouldn't you know it,there are Dublin volunteers working there to make you feel welcome and assist in every way possible and help load you on a bus for forward transportation to the Resort.
We are loaded onto single decker buses and each seat has a seat belt which must be belted before we set off.As we pass through the countryside I am anxious to compare and contrast France to Ireland .The countryside is just the same as in Ireland,the grass is the same colour but there are no cattle or sheep to be seen anywhere,just field after field of tillage ,predominately maize as far as I could see.And the roof tiles are different than ours,seem to be mostly orange clay based. And they drive on the other side of the road.
In no time at all we are in the Hospital where we will be based for the week.Agnes is my carer and we are assigned a double room with two beds,a wet room and a separate bathroom ,where I notice a hose beside the toilet bowl which emits water and am told it is not for washing your feet.First class set up thank GOD.
I am bushed and take to the bed and miss the dinner ,which is cooked by the French staff but served up by the Irish volunteers who are kindness itself.
Not only do they ensure that we are watered and fed but they assist many patients, who are immobile through sickness, from the rooms to the dining room and to table and so on.There are volunteer nurses and doctors on hand to help the distressed and as you would expect there are many seriously ill people around.
The first discovery I make is when my wife goes for a smoke is that there is a designated smoking area for smokers at the base of the building and that she and others are not mentally whipped and humiliated by the authorities into dragging themselves outside the confines of the hospital to light up.There is much talk about bullying in this country but by far the most despicable form of it is that of the anti tobacco lobby and the way they humiliate sick and dying people in denying them a smoke which is indicative of the derision the medical and political classes feel for ordinary people.The French have a much more civilised approach.
The second thing that becomes obvious is that there area substantial number of pilgrims with us from Weastmeath and Offaly.This is because the MEATH Diocese covers Meath,Westmeath and a large chunk of Offaly,We forge strong friendships with two cats who suffer from M,S.one from Meath and the other from Biffo Country , whose bravery in the face of this disease is awesome and inspiring.
It seems to me that the most common illness are cancer and M.S. followed by Autism in the very young.But the list is endless.
Over the week it becomes clear that the Faith displayed by these sick pilgrims and their belief in the Mother of God and the solace the Lourdes experience gives them is only awesome and totally uplifting.
There are about 30 priests from the Diocese on the Pilgrimage and the Bishop of Meath Michael Smith heads up the Delegation.Two Franciscan Nuns from a USA based Order ,temporarily based in Drogheda are vivacious,devout and bursting with the joys of Catholicism,
An English born nun informs me that there is no major tradition of Catholicism in England but that those who practise the Faith do so because they really want to,the Church there being small but united.On the issue of Catholic schooling there admission to Catholic Schools is way oversubscribed and uniquely Muslims are by far the biggest non Catholic applicants.
Since I came home I listened aghast as a female member of the INTO tried to justify the introduction of non Catholic concepts on transgender ,homosexuality and alternative lifestyles as the norm for Catholic families to children as young as 5 years in Catholic Schools on the instruction of Jan Sullivan a Labour Party Minister ,whose Party is aggressively hostile to Catholicism .
I am not surprised at this, as I remember of one of the homosexual pressure groups boasting shortly after the results of the Referendum that the schools would be used precisely in this way and for this purpose ,
The man who lectured the Pope and shut down the Irish Embassy in the Vatican guaranteed that this State interference in the Catholic ethos of Catholic Schools would not happen.As in the area of eviction ,where he promised it would not happen on his watch Enda's words were valueless.
French cook the food and meals are at 7.00 a.m.,noon and 6.00 p.m.There is no such thing as a fry for the breakfast ,which consists of either porridge or cornflakes and a bread roll with either coffee or tea.It's hard to bate Irish brown bread and it becomes a firm favourite when it appears.
Likewise the French spuds just don't compare to the ours.You would actually kill for floury Irish spud after a few days and by far the best meat served was Irish cooked ham when you could get it.And what made every meal was the good humour of the Irish serving staff which was par excellence ,even the lady whose face cracked when she rarely smiled.
Now this is not to denigrate the French cooking ,but to a guy reared on floury spuds and marrow bone soup,home cooked brown bread and fresh eggs its too late in the day to change tack and I fully admit that I am a gastronomic pleb.
A river flows through the site.On one side of it are a number of hospitals like the one we inhabited and a number of Churches and this area can be cut off from the opposite side by closing off the bridges.On the other riverbank is the Grotto itself ,the baths ,the Basicilla ,another underground Church ,another Church and above them the town of Lourdes,which has many shops and hotels and restaurants and the usual service enterprises you would see in any other town .
The volunteers stayed in a Hotel in the town and this was the place for the craic,singsongs and a few jars if you were so inclined and I was for one night only, but Agnes and the two ladies made it a for two nights.
There was a schedule of services and religious events for each day and if you were able you could attend.Now many Pilgrims from Ireland who were not on the Meath Diocese Pilgrimage booked into the Hotels in the town for the week and would join the rest of us early in the day.
High Mass was celebrated every day in one or other of the Churches,the chief celebrant being Bishop Smith whose stamina for a man of his age is amazing.And upwards of 25 priests from the Diocese con celebrated with the Bishop.Now the wheelchair users were pushed each day from the hospital by the volunteers to whatever service was being played out and chariots ,which are a cross between a tricycle and a rickshaw were also pulled along for people like me whose mobility is limited.
Now I would have to say that I strongly suspect that some people who took to the chariots were no more disabled than Sonia O Sullivan and all they were short of was a corgi to hold on their laps as they waved to one and all.
The wheelchair users and the charioteers were placed at the front of the Churches and the able bodied to their rear and the ceremonies were highly impressive and emotive.
They were hugely enhanced by the Dunboyne Choir.whose singing was out of this world.Such was the atmosphere generated that if you closed your eyes during the Hymns you could easily imagine that this is what Heaven must be like.
The Grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette is a stone cave and the very spot where Mary appeared is marked with a life sized statue of Her.Beneath the statue is a recess where I guess water over the ages has hollowed out the rock and above the recess is a massive column of rock which forms the foundations of one side of the Basicilla which towers above the Grotto.
There is a continuous queue of pilgrims who file past the Grotto and touch the rock or kiss it and much of the rock is black from human contact.Beside this again are holders for candles and you can light as many as you like and voluntarily pay for them.Adjacent to this also are containers for petitions and donations.
Now the baths are beside these and I bathed twice in them.
Before I travelled out there I discussed the impending trip with a tinker friend of mine ,who had visited Lourdes several times.He had informed me that the water there did not wet him.I found this incredible and was inclined not to believe him.
So I tried it for myself.
It works like this.There are separate individual baths for each pilgrim.The operation is managed by mainly French guys ,for the men anyhow,who help you disrobe in a cubicle for six men ,down to underpants level .When your turn comes you are escorted through a curtained doorway into another cubicle where a sunken bath accessed by three steps is located.There you discard your underpants and these guys place a rubber sheet around your waist to preserve your modesty ans escort you down the steps into the coldest water I have ever felt.In my case a man held me each side and helped me down the steps and holding each arm told me to sit down into I guess three and a half feet of water ,whilst praying.
This I did and I was well dunked up to chin level whilst being firmly held backwards and well immersed in the water.
I exited the water with their help ,soaking wet and immediately dressed without drying myself in any form or fashion.Within three minutes BOTH I AND MY CLOTHES WERE AS DRY AS A BONE.I SWEAR TO GOD.
And it happened two days trotting.
I am unaware of any scientific explanation for this and consider this a miracle.I am not unique in this experience I am told.It happens millions.
As you can imagine all sorts of diseased bodies are immersed in these baths and I am told that there is no contagion either .
By far the most impressive and moving aspect o the Pilgrimage for me was the nightly Processions in which tens of thousands of Pilgrims worldwide participated and during which many languages were used,including I am proud to say,Irish, on the night the Meath Dioceses led the procession.
Many of the Continental languages ,including Irish are far easier on the ear and much more maleficent than English ,which is sterile by comparison.
The sight of unlimited thousands of people ,including the sick and disabled,cared for as they are by able bodied carers ,as they file past with lighted candles protected from the wind by cardboard surrounds and raised to the Heavens as the Hymns praise the Mother of God ,on their journey to the front of the Basilica,is extremely emotive and awesome and reduced this Pilgrim to tears of joy.
An experience not to be missed.
There were several connections to this Parish on the Pilgrimage--Paudge Dalton and his wife,Davy Gilkinsons ma and sister and her child,Paddy Kavanagh and Mary,Phil Smith and his wife,Shamus Boylan and his wife,Father Macken from Bohermeen,Father Casey who was in this Parish in the 1970's and who is,as far as I know the sole surviving selector of the Intermediate winning Football Team of 1970,the others being Tommy Mac Cormack,Jimmy Coogan and the Major Cregan all of whom have gone to their eternal rewards.
Father Casey is 85 years young and still very active and is 60 years a Priest this year.I would hope that the GAA Club and the Parish he so gracefully served see fit to honour his achievements.
Also there were many people I had met through the years through the GAA including Harry Connors from Trim,Joe Murphy from the Hill of Ward ,Sean Bennett from Bohermeen and a lovely Stalwart Volunteer from Drumconrath whose name escapes me and a Kells chap who works in Mullagh.
Interestingly.a Priest I met who once hurled with Ratoath is from Rosemount in Westmeath and was greatly influenced by Father Malachy LYNAM in his vocation And wouldn't you know it Megan Garry,a grand daughter of DOT and Vincie Rattigan was there as a youth volunteer .
Damian Englishe's brother was there as a most enthusiastic Priest and it is a terrible pity that this blatantly anti Christian Coalition don't take a leaf from his book and give due respect to the Church and its adherents
I met several people who have been there multiple times and asked why they kept returning when no miracle was worked for them.
To a man and woman they said that the ability to cope with their particular burden for a while longer was their personal Miracle.One jolly lady put it best perhaps when she explained that she went for a top up in Faith to lessen the pain she experienced daily as a result of losing three of her children to bizarre accidents within a three year period.
I will return D.V.
On the issue of numbers of Pilgrims per annum it is generally accepted by those I spoke to that c.6 million visit yearly but that the recession resulted in a decrease .
There is also a firm view THAT THE iTALIANS IN PARTICULAR HAVE DECIDED TO BOYCOTT lOURDES IN THEIR MILLIONS BECAUSE OF THE ANTI RELIGIOUS STANCE OF THE FRENCH ON THE JE SUIS CHARLIE ISSUE.
It's funny the thoughts that slip in and out of the tired mind at that time of the morning.One irreverend thought I have is that Leo's enforcers of the latest tax on sickness,that is the clamping of cars of the sick and indigent in Navan Hospital for the release bounty of E.90.00 ,will swoop and steal our vehicles.From what I hear I wouldn't put it past them.
To go back a bit and explain how I came to be on this journey I must revert to July 1 2009,when I was stricken with a stroke and made the uninformed and life changing mistake to go to Navan HOSPITAL ,AN INSTITUTION singularly ill equiped to handle stroke patients.in that it had neither the MRI SCANNERS to determine the type of stroke suffered nor the medication to dissolve the clot responsible for my particular stroke..a situatuion subsequently rectified when I ran for office and shamed the authorities into treating the people of Meath with A modicum of respect and rectifying these shameful and life destroying omissions.
Since then I have serious issues with the left side of my body.But I am grateful for the good bits left to me and can live alife of some normality unlike many destroyed or dead from the official neglect caused by the apalling lack of the amenities outlined above.I sometimes wonder whether those responsible ought be charged with manslaughter at a minimum.
When I eventually emerged from Hospital a brother of mine offered to run a few functions and send me to Lourdes but not being in the best of form at the time I declined.Since then I have become involved in a prayer group and one member of that group,Deirdre Clinch,who herself went to Lourdes ,has been encouraging me to give it a twist. This year I decided that I might as well and made contact with Jennifer Reilly from BOHERMEEN ,who is the nearest thing to an earthly Angel you could hope to meet and she set the whole thing up via the Meath Diocesan Pilgrimage.I subsequently learned that she is also a volunteer at the female bathing area of Lourdes ,no small job for such a slight girl.
.I had ,among other tasks, to get a Passport ,this being my first time out of theses ISLANDS and also attempt to conquer my fear of flying.
I have recently had cause to severely question my judgement of character when activities of the most unsavoury type came to my attention and again was gobsmacked when discreet assistance towards our pilgrimage came from a most unlikely source.Those involved will know of what I speak and to the latter a most sincere thanks.
A few night before our departure Mass was celebrated in St.Oliver's Church in Navan and afterwards tay and light refreshments were provided.It was there when I met such a preponderance of GAA people that I knew I was among friends.There were Bennets and Boylans and King Administrator for Navan and former Chair of Senchaelstown GAA club and Ardbraccan native Tom Mulvaney and family.The essence of decency.
Soon the coach arrived and suitcases were deposited at the entrance to the hold of the bus.And a clatter of people dressed in blue coats proceeded to load the cases onto the bus.
I subsequently learned that these blue coated men and women are volunteers from all walks of life who take a week off work ,pay the cost of the flight and accommodation and help out the sick and ill pilgrims free gratis for the week.Unheralded heroes from hidden Catholic Ireland and ,as I subsequently observed, the essence of kindness.
We were loaded onto the bus in the kindest way possible,a mixture of pilgrims with the whole range of physically apparent and not so obvious illnesses ,a corp of voluntary nurses and a troop of voluntary doctors ,the most dedicated contingent of blue coats and a group of Priests and nuns and headed for Dublin Airport.
We stopped on the way at Garlow Cross ,at Ross Cross and at Dunshaughlin to pick up more pilgrims .
Ger.Gordon,wife of Jack the referee and daughter of Tom Mulvaney, head nurse on our bus, recited the Rosary and sang a Hymn,All joined in with gusto.My people .Unashamedly Catholic AND PROUD OF IT .
And sandwiches and sweets were passed around and we were advised to whet our hunger,free snacks not being available on the plane.
We reached the Airport in due course and made our way to the plane.I overestimated my capacity for walking and had to seek wheelchair assistance to finalise the journey.It's a fair step.And having long hair and a beard I got a fair shake up by security who relented somewhat when I was unable to raise my left arm for frisking because of my stroke.
We had to descend two floors to get to the departure gate and with many people being wheelchair dependent and unable to walk the presence of a working lift was essential.And wouldn't you know it,the lift packed up and stayed that way.With fierce grunting and groaning and huge and kind handling by carers and the blue coats and nurses and docs ,everybody was transferred down the two flights of stairs and we made it onto the plane.
I don't like flying and my sense of insecurity was heightened when I saw that the name of the Airline was Titan.Just add an "ic" and the omens are catastrophic.
Up ,up and away as the plane climbs higher and higher until we reach 37,000 feet and I chance looking out the window.We are above the clouds and they look like a bed of cotton wool below us into which you imagine you could jump and be softly embraced.But that is an optical illusion.You would plummet like a stone to 37,000 deaths.
In no time at all we land in Lourdes Airport.And wouldn't you know it,there are Dublin volunteers working there to make you feel welcome and assist in every way possible and help load you on a bus for forward transportation to the Resort.
We are loaded onto single decker buses and each seat has a seat belt which must be belted before we set off.As we pass through the countryside I am anxious to compare and contrast France to Ireland .The countryside is just the same as in Ireland,the grass is the same colour but there are no cattle or sheep to be seen anywhere,just field after field of tillage ,predominately maize as far as I could see.And the roof tiles are different than ours,seem to be mostly orange clay based. And they drive on the other side of the road.
In no time at all we are in the Hospital where we will be based for the week.Agnes is my carer and we are assigned a double room with two beds,a wet room and a separate bathroom ,where I notice a hose beside the toilet bowl which emits water and am told it is not for washing your feet.First class set up thank GOD.
I am bushed and take to the bed and miss the dinner ,which is cooked by the French staff but served up by the Irish volunteers who are kindness itself.
Not only do they ensure that we are watered and fed but they assist many patients, who are immobile through sickness, from the rooms to the dining room and to table and so on.There are volunteer nurses and doctors on hand to help the distressed and as you would expect there are many seriously ill people around.
The first discovery I make is when my wife goes for a smoke is that there is a designated smoking area for smokers at the base of the building and that she and others are not mentally whipped and humiliated by the authorities into dragging themselves outside the confines of the hospital to light up.There is much talk about bullying in this country but by far the most despicable form of it is that of the anti tobacco lobby and the way they humiliate sick and dying people in denying them a smoke which is indicative of the derision the medical and political classes feel for ordinary people.The French have a much more civilised approach.
The second thing that becomes obvious is that there area substantial number of pilgrims with us from Weastmeath and Offaly.This is because the MEATH Diocese covers Meath,Westmeath and a large chunk of Offaly,We forge strong friendships with two cats who suffer from M,S.one from Meath and the other from Biffo Country , whose bravery in the face of this disease is awesome and inspiring.
It seems to me that the most common illness are cancer and M.S. followed by Autism in the very young.But the list is endless.
Over the week it becomes clear that the Faith displayed by these sick pilgrims and their belief in the Mother of God and the solace the Lourdes experience gives them is only awesome and totally uplifting.
There are about 30 priests from the Diocese on the Pilgrimage and the Bishop of Meath Michael Smith heads up the Delegation.Two Franciscan Nuns from a USA based Order ,temporarily based in Drogheda are vivacious,devout and bursting with the joys of Catholicism,
An English born nun informs me that there is no major tradition of Catholicism in England but that those who practise the Faith do so because they really want to,the Church there being small but united.On the issue of Catholic schooling there admission to Catholic Schools is way oversubscribed and uniquely Muslims are by far the biggest non Catholic applicants.
Since I came home I listened aghast as a female member of the INTO tried to justify the introduction of non Catholic concepts on transgender ,homosexuality and alternative lifestyles as the norm for Catholic families to children as young as 5 years in Catholic Schools on the instruction of Jan Sullivan a Labour Party Minister ,whose Party is aggressively hostile to Catholicism .
I am not surprised at this, as I remember of one of the homosexual pressure groups boasting shortly after the results of the Referendum that the schools would be used precisely in this way and for this purpose ,
The man who lectured the Pope and shut down the Irish Embassy in the Vatican guaranteed that this State interference in the Catholic ethos of Catholic Schools would not happen.As in the area of eviction ,where he promised it would not happen on his watch Enda's words were valueless.
French cook the food and meals are at 7.00 a.m.,noon and 6.00 p.m.There is no such thing as a fry for the breakfast ,which consists of either porridge or cornflakes and a bread roll with either coffee or tea.It's hard to bate Irish brown bread and it becomes a firm favourite when it appears.
Likewise the French spuds just don't compare to the ours.You would actually kill for floury Irish spud after a few days and by far the best meat served was Irish cooked ham when you could get it.And what made every meal was the good humour of the Irish serving staff which was par excellence ,even the lady whose face cracked when she rarely smiled.
Now this is not to denigrate the French cooking ,but to a guy reared on floury spuds and marrow bone soup,home cooked brown bread and fresh eggs its too late in the day to change tack and I fully admit that I am a gastronomic pleb.
A river flows through the site.On one side of it are a number of hospitals like the one we inhabited and a number of Churches and this area can be cut off from the opposite side by closing off the bridges.On the other riverbank is the Grotto itself ,the baths ,the Basicilla ,another underground Church ,another Church and above them the town of Lourdes,which has many shops and hotels and restaurants and the usual service enterprises you would see in any other town .
The volunteers stayed in a Hotel in the town and this was the place for the craic,singsongs and a few jars if you were so inclined and I was for one night only, but Agnes and the two ladies made it a for two nights.
There was a schedule of services and religious events for each day and if you were able you could attend.Now many Pilgrims from Ireland who were not on the Meath Diocese Pilgrimage booked into the Hotels in the town for the week and would join the rest of us early in the day.
High Mass was celebrated every day in one or other of the Churches,the chief celebrant being Bishop Smith whose stamina for a man of his age is amazing.And upwards of 25 priests from the Diocese con celebrated with the Bishop.Now the wheelchair users were pushed each day from the hospital by the volunteers to whatever service was being played out and chariots ,which are a cross between a tricycle and a rickshaw were also pulled along for people like me whose mobility is limited.
Now I would have to say that I strongly suspect that some people who took to the chariots were no more disabled than Sonia O Sullivan and all they were short of was a corgi to hold on their laps as they waved to one and all.
The wheelchair users and the charioteers were placed at the front of the Churches and the able bodied to their rear and the ceremonies were highly impressive and emotive.
They were hugely enhanced by the Dunboyne Choir.whose singing was out of this world.Such was the atmosphere generated that if you closed your eyes during the Hymns you could easily imagine that this is what Heaven must be like.
The Grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette is a stone cave and the very spot where Mary appeared is marked with a life sized statue of Her.Beneath the statue is a recess where I guess water over the ages has hollowed out the rock and above the recess is a massive column of rock which forms the foundations of one side of the Basicilla which towers above the Grotto.
There is a continuous queue of pilgrims who file past the Grotto and touch the rock or kiss it and much of the rock is black from human contact.Beside this again are holders for candles and you can light as many as you like and voluntarily pay for them.Adjacent to this also are containers for petitions and donations.
Now the baths are beside these and I bathed twice in them.
Before I travelled out there I discussed the impending trip with a tinker friend of mine ,who had visited Lourdes several times.He had informed me that the water there did not wet him.I found this incredible and was inclined not to believe him.
So I tried it for myself.
It works like this.There are separate individual baths for each pilgrim.The operation is managed by mainly French guys ,for the men anyhow,who help you disrobe in a cubicle for six men ,down to underpants level .When your turn comes you are escorted through a curtained doorway into another cubicle where a sunken bath accessed by three steps is located.There you discard your underpants and these guys place a rubber sheet around your waist to preserve your modesty ans escort you down the steps into the coldest water I have ever felt.In my case a man held me each side and helped me down the steps and holding each arm told me to sit down into I guess three and a half feet of water ,whilst praying.
This I did and I was well dunked up to chin level whilst being firmly held backwards and well immersed in the water.
I exited the water with their help ,soaking wet and immediately dressed without drying myself in any form or fashion.Within three minutes BOTH I AND MY CLOTHES WERE AS DRY AS A BONE.I SWEAR TO GOD.
And it happened two days trotting.
I am unaware of any scientific explanation for this and consider this a miracle.I am not unique in this experience I am told.It happens millions.
As you can imagine all sorts of diseased bodies are immersed in these baths and I am told that there is no contagion either .
By far the most impressive and moving aspect o the Pilgrimage for me was the nightly Processions in which tens of thousands of Pilgrims worldwide participated and during which many languages were used,including I am proud to say,Irish, on the night the Meath Dioceses led the procession.
Many of the Continental languages ,including Irish are far easier on the ear and much more maleficent than English ,which is sterile by comparison.
The sight of unlimited thousands of people ,including the sick and disabled,cared for as they are by able bodied carers ,as they file past with lighted candles protected from the wind by cardboard surrounds and raised to the Heavens as the Hymns praise the Mother of God ,on their journey to the front of the Basilica,is extremely emotive and awesome and reduced this Pilgrim to tears of joy.
An experience not to be missed.
There were several connections to this Parish on the Pilgrimage--Paudge Dalton and his wife,Davy Gilkinsons ma and sister and her child,Paddy Kavanagh and Mary,Phil Smith and his wife,Shamus Boylan and his wife,Father Macken from Bohermeen,Father Casey who was in this Parish in the 1970's and who is,as far as I know the sole surviving selector of the Intermediate winning Football Team of 1970,the others being Tommy Mac Cormack,Jimmy Coogan and the Major Cregan all of whom have gone to their eternal rewards.
Father Casey is 85 years young and still very active and is 60 years a Priest this year.I would hope that the GAA Club and the Parish he so gracefully served see fit to honour his achievements.
Also there were many people I had met through the years through the GAA including Harry Connors from Trim,Joe Murphy from the Hill of Ward ,Sean Bennett from Bohermeen and a lovely Stalwart Volunteer from Drumconrath whose name escapes me and a Kells chap who works in Mullagh.
Interestingly.a Priest I met who once hurled with Ratoath is from Rosemount in Westmeath and was greatly influenced by Father Malachy LYNAM in his vocation And wouldn't you know it Megan Garry,a grand daughter of DOT and Vincie Rattigan was there as a youth volunteer .
Damian Englishe's brother was there as a most enthusiastic Priest and it is a terrible pity that this blatantly anti Christian Coalition don't take a leaf from his book and give due respect to the Church and its adherents
I met several people who have been there multiple times and asked why they kept returning when no miracle was worked for them.
To a man and woman they said that the ability to cope with their particular burden for a while longer was their personal Miracle.One jolly lady put it best perhaps when she explained that she went for a top up in Faith to lessen the pain she experienced daily as a result of losing three of her children to bizarre accidents within a three year period.
I will return D.V.
On the issue of numbers of Pilgrims per annum it is generally accepted by those I spoke to that c.6 million visit yearly but that the recession resulted in a decrease .
There is also a firm view THAT THE iTALIANS IN PARTICULAR HAVE DECIDED TO BOYCOTT lOURDES IN THEIR MILLIONS BECAUSE OF THE ANTI RELIGIOUS STANCE OF THE FRENCH ON THE JE SUIS CHARLIE ISSUE.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
RSA and RTE a thundering disgrace.
In the run up to the All Ireland Final today I was watching RTE 2 with one of my three year old grand daughters sitting on my knee playing with her play dough.We both had half an eye on the TV and the other half eye on the play dough.
Then an ad by the Road Safety Authority came on the telly,It showed in graphic detail the result of a car crash where little is left to the imagination of the horrific results.
This was screened at 2.30 today when viewership was at a premium and was so timed to terrify shock and traumatise as many viewers as possible.
It certainly traumatized my three year grand daughter as she shook with shock and terror at the images broadcast.
I must say that I find this pornographic display of wanton violence by two organisations out of taxpayer's money disgusting, indecent and obscene and shameful.
They seem bent on terrorising even babes at arms and those responsible. if they have even a shred of decency in them ,ought resign in my opinion.
It is of course fully in keeping with the fascist nature of this Government who are already engaged in wholesale eviction of families in a level unprecedented since the foundation of the State,the false branding of at least one innocent Priest as a paedophile and the incessant attack of all State bodies on Christian values and structures.
It is no wonder that their limitlessly powered minions take their cues from their political masters and treat with disdain the ordinary citizens who they clearly despise.
Then an ad by the Road Safety Authority came on the telly,It showed in graphic detail the result of a car crash where little is left to the imagination of the horrific results.
This was screened at 2.30 today when viewership was at a premium and was so timed to terrify shock and traumatise as many viewers as possible.
It certainly traumatized my three year grand daughter as she shook with shock and terror at the images broadcast.
I must say that I find this pornographic display of wanton violence by two organisations out of taxpayer's money disgusting, indecent and obscene and shameful.
They seem bent on terrorising even babes at arms and those responsible. if they have even a shred of decency in them ,ought resign in my opinion.
It is of course fully in keeping with the fascist nature of this Government who are already engaged in wholesale eviction of families in a level unprecedented since the foundation of the State,the false branding of at least one innocent Priest as a paedophile and the incessant attack of all State bodies on Christian values and structures.
It is no wonder that their limitlessly powered minions take their cues from their political masters and treat with disdain the ordinary citizens who they clearly despise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)