Dunderry GAA END OF YEAR REPORT.

As far as I  know we are out of all competition ,with the possible exception of the Junior footballers ,who I  only saw twice.They are a tasty team.
We were beat in the final of the Intermediate Hurling,the quarter final of the Intermediate Football,the quarter final of the Junior Hurling and the Camogie had to endure a playoff to stay Senior.
Like the players I  am disappointed but I  suppose there are many Clubs with a far bigger population base who, even fielding combination teams, are much worse off.
It is only in my dotage that I  have come to realize that certain Clubs with far bigger population bases actually despise our ability to be so competitive and certain members of those Clubs  actually go to games  in the hope that we are beaten.
I am way behind in reportage on past games  but Janey Mack I  hope to put a halt to the gallop of some of these mouthpieces in Reports to come.
Before getting to those Reports I  recently experienced a view point I  had not considered before.
The Intermediate Hurling Final was played in a downpour.We lost it tamely enough,although in fairness two of our better players were badly injured early on.Jamie had his thumb broken in 5 places at the throw in  and O Shea had his shoulder dislocated.
Such is life without a wife or even with one.
Drink was drunk and tears were shed.
I was ensconced in the disabled stand at Parc Tailteann during the Hurling Final.And depressed at the end of the first half.
When who  came in only a true blue friend some of whose people played with our Club years ago.The same man is usually no great fan of sports and resides outside the Parish but ates his Sunday dinner for sure and maybe his every day dinner here with his sister who herself beautifies the Dunderry Church florally all of the time.
Remember it was pissing rain ,he hadn't seen the first half and we actually won the second half I  think.
I  was sitting next to the sister and mother of Masterson the Referee ,who is one of the best in the County and his sister and mother are the finest .
Our friend had a very unique view point on our lads."Well fair dues to them ,they turn up in the pissing rain and all weathers for training and matches and give their all for the games all of the time,as do their mentors and club officials".
"They are great lads entirely ,win lose or draw."
And so say all of us.

Brexit .Revenge for Skibeereen.

I  have no regard for the main political parties in this half country.With a few honourable exceptions they are part of an international murder machine and totally under Satan's wing.I  talk of the murder of our living unborn babies.
Having said that I  must congratulate all the Political Parties ,their combined leadership and the written and unwritten media and all the journalists who have contrived successfully to humiliate our neighbours in the U.K. over the nerve of their citizens to leave the E.U.
We have the bastards on their knees and tearing out each others throats,too good for them and about time too,
What all the Irish uprisings and the varied constitutional crusades failed to do.i.e.Revenge for all those centuries of oppression has been achieved in spades
We now have a situation where our radio and television commentators can call all the Brexiteers "liars"all of the time ,particularly Matt Cooper ,working for Sir Richard ,who repeatedly uses this appellation in relation to Boris Johnson.
Revenge in spades for caricaturing the Irish as Apes in the cartoons of the last century.

How sweet he must feel every time he opens his mouth and that is fairly often.
Let us not beat around the bush here.
The backstop was invented by our politicos to stymie the wishes of the British electorate.
We have been squealing about the sanctity of the Good Friday Agreement and the damage a solid border would do to that.Agreement.
Let us get to the essence of the AGREEMENT.
Essentially the Provos fought off the British Army,the British Police,the B SPECIALS,the Loyalists  and the Irish Army,Irish police and the judicial system ,fully aided by the Irish politicos of all denominations who  helped the Brits all they could.
When the war became deadlocked the protagonists set down their arms and the Good Friday  emerged.
Gerry Adams and Martin Mc Guinness persuaded the Prove fighters to decommission all their arms and this process was overseen by an international committee who oversaw the destruction of all the arms.
With all these ex fighters well into pension age and all the guns decommissioned ,just who is going to do all this fighting and resurrect the war  .
Certainly there are a small number within whose hearts the notion of a united Ireland remains strong,
but they are insignificant in numbers and effectiveness.
Unless King Leo brings a picture of an assault to the border.
The last true Irish patriot ,sharing a foreign parent was Dev., who had a Spanish father and who is and was ,in my opinion, the one and only true statesman that this Country has ever produced..
But even he ,brave fighter as he was,could not knock a chink in the United Kingdom   set up.
But Leo,with Simon as back up and Mickeen Martin in close support , have come up with the notion of the backstop ,gotten the total support of the 27 E.U. AStates and reduced the U.K.to a bunch of blithering idiots ,pitching Parliament against the people and the  Judiciary against the Government.
They have turned brother against  brother and sister against brother  and with the bitter and resentful Scots hovering on the sidelines spraying hatred and bile at every opportunity have created the opportunity to splinter the Kingdom.
Yes indeed our Politicos are playing a blinder and are giving it to the Brits up the arse.
Take a bow ,lads and lassies.
That the States of Europe are ganging up on the Brits and hungry for its destruction is no surprise.
The AXIS powers of Germany .Italy ,Romania were stymied by the Brits and without the intervention of the U.K we would now have a German Europe.This too is their revenge.
The remainder of the E.U.States either rolled out the red carpet to Hitler ,or like the French,didn't put up enough fight to burst a paper bag.
The descendants of   those Brits whose ancestors gave their lives to ensure freedom in Europe  and enabled the setting of the E.U.itself ,must be totally humiliated by how soon the peoples who they fought and died for in droves ,have chosen to now shite on them from on high.
Some of these Luxembourg mouthpieces  who take joy in humiliating the Brits are particularly short in memory .I  cannot remember even one fighter from this country.
A I said at the start All the politicians of this half country are well entitled to rub their hands in joy at the destruction and humiliation they have heaped on the U.k.
Now is our chance to keep them down for the next thousand years.
By the way I  don't believe any of this stuff and I  think Leo et all better pull their horns in before they put us in the shit entirely.
I have loads of solutions but a probable runner would be to turn the entire Island into a Duty Free Zone..

Dunderry v Donaghmore/Ashbourne IHC 30/8/2019

This match was played on a grand summers evening in Ratho.
To stay in contention we had to win it,not a foregone conclusion as our form to date was patchy,to say the least.
I  had recently been at Ratho on the way back from Croker,as part of a tour paid for by the GAA for auld Gaels like myself deemed worthy enough to get the treat of the visit.
We were made more than welcome then.

The match was referred by one of the Donoghues from Kiltale.This man and his other siblings have swung the caman at the highest level at both Club and County level ,so they well know what is within the rules and what is not.
And so it went.
He was fair and consistent.
We lined out as follows:-

                                                          Mickey Dowdall.

Fitzie                                                  Feeney                                                   Wright

Bunny                                                 Peanut                                                    Fear na Gcaorach
                                            O laoghaire                      Geordie

Timber Og                                         Lukie                                                     O Seaghda

Alex                                                   Bomber                                                 Timber oG A Do.

There is a footpath about 6 inches up from the surrounding ground and maybe 6 feet across to the fence surrounding the pitch.I  parked at the edge of this path ,with the front of my car facing the pitch.I  used the bonnet of the car to rest my jotter so that I  could annote the various happenings.
We started well with  Bomber shaking the onion bag with a class goal,much to his father's and George's delight.The lead was short lived as nearly immediately afterwards they did the same on us..
They have some fine players
But the returning Lukie was easing into gear and scored a brace of points with ease.They pulled one back.It was shaping up for a good contest.
Then Alex was felled in a tackle and went down for treatment just in front of where I  was standing.A group of about 6 male Donaghmore supporters were standing  beside me and one,at least of that group started to sneer and jeer at Alex ,implying he was faking it.
Alex is a bundle of courage and does not do this sort of stuff.
I  have played hundreds of hurling matches in two counties in my lifetime and the only time I  have heard such knavish and cowardly behaviour was in Ratho that evening.I  made my feelings known to this mob,to little avail.
I don't know them but do know full well that those who involved themselves in this behaviour  know as little about hurling and the ethos of the GAA as my asshole knows about shooting snipe.
The nearest I  have seen in Meath to such behaviour was when I  saw a supposed fully mature Gael sneer at a school boy as he was about to take a sideline puck from about two yards distance.
In quick succession ,Geordie,Donnagh,Jamie and O  Shea split the posts from play,
Jamie then pointed well a long distance free before they pulled back a point.
Bomber took a brace of points ,driving his auld lad into ecstasy .Jamie took a long range free and not to be outdone by Bomber Lukie reeled of two minors from play.Jamie pointed another free and Alex gave the best possible answer to his critics by landing a great goal.
They pulled back a point from play to leave the half time score 2-13 to 1-3 in our favour.
The scoreline flattered us somewhat as Donaghmore had some fine players but not enough.
Lukie and Bomber score the first and second points of the second half before they scored a minor.
They had well shot their bolt and we rattled of score after score via-
Luki 0-1
Peabut 0-1
Lukie1-1
Jamie 0-1
Adam Kelly 0-1
Jamie 0-3.
The final score was Dunderry 3-22.Donaghmore 2-5.
Towards the end of the match one of the Donaghmore forwards went around the pitch ,behind the Referees back, swinging his hurley at every Dunderry player he encountered ,trying to provoke a fight in my opinion.
Anybody my side of the pitch could see it and were stunned.
I

Rural Ireland on its belly.

I came to live in Dunderry in 1986.It was thriving then.The two pubs were flying as was the local shop.
The local GAA Club was going well.There were myriad small businesses around the place giving reasonable employment.
Above in Robinstown there was a thriving pub ,a Post Office and a grocery shop.
Now ,in deference to the many businesses that ceased to exist since then,I  will not name them.
Any person who lived through those  times will be able to list the disappeared businesses.And the disappeared people.They are all over the globe.
There is no pub in Robinstown now.There is no Post Office in Robinstown now.There is no shop in Robinstown now.There is no shop in Kilbride now.
Those people who chose to stay and hold their ground have been and are being relentlessly pursued by Banks who destroyed the economy by loaning excessive amounts to people who couldn't afford the repayments,by State authorities who drive them to suicide and worse in pursuit of taxes they cannot pay and by an uncaring Social Welfare which places them on levels of subsistence that wouldn't sustain a mangy cat.
In 1986 the wisdom was that a yard of a publican's counter was worth a hundred acres of land.
The pubs of rural Ireland are fucked now and those trying to keep them going are modern day heroes.
Drink driving laws enacted by a self righteous elite who have at their fingertips severely subsidized transport options have pontificated from their perches on what the yokels in the country cannot  do.
In Dunderry there is not,nor has never been any form of public transport.
Gardai who used hide in the ditches to catch the guys brave enough to drive on unlit roads to get home with a few on board have now resumed their former activities,now that those of their members who forged  2 million non existent breathalyser tests have time on their hands..
The pubs are deserted most nights as people are terrified to go out.
Of course when you are robbed the culprits are never found.
I  used have a good regard for the medical profession .They stood way above us mere mortals in their unending self righteousness so you would have some regard when the vehemently deplored smoking.
Now some of their members  are murdering the living unborn.
Personally I  would rather take a chance on smoking than being killed before I  had chance to draw even one  breath
In the full knowledge that Hitlers Death Camps were manned and wommaned by doctors,who by a flick of their wrists decided on instant death by  gassing or more prolonged death by starvation,brutality or torture,the penny has eventually dropped about elements of this profession.
Even today Irish medics will not testify about negligence of their colleagues and claimants have to either go abroad for expert witnesses  ,the expense of which is prohibitive for ordinary litigants.
Now ,if you want to register with a new doctor there is a severe waiting list.People are dying and will die as a result.
If you want to build a house there are so many levies and rules to be surmounted that you would lose the will to live before permission came through.
Before the Famine of 1845 8 million people subsisted here Are there 6 million now.
How come with all these advances in technology and so forth that we cannot house all our people and that over 10,000 are homeless.In the countryside thousands are having their homes repossessed,but they are utterly helpless to help themselves.
The most prolific businesses in rural Ireland is farming.
Small beef farmers,and by this I  mean farmers with under 50 acres who either farm suckler cows or dry stock are losing money hand over fist for decades and have been subsidizing the losses by holding down off farm incomes.
They art regulated in their farming activities up to their oxters by both E.U.AND Irish regulations AND LAWS and live in a state of constant fear of the Dept.of Agriculture,who have the powers to put them under by cutting off their subsidies and bankrupting them in effect.
Banks are of no help whatsoever and the State bodies do all in their power to put them out of business.
Rural farmers are living hand to mouth.
Every employee in this State has the right to strike for an increase in their wages and the State imposes minimum wage limits on all employers
Farmers and other self employed  under competition law have no right to unite  to get a higher price.
This is a load of bollix and a reason why we ought take a leaf from the book of the Brits and tell the EU where to stuff it.
What are farmers supposed to do?
Leave the Thistles,Docks and Bonan Buis take over their fields,as they have the roadsides.
Our ancestors gave their lives for these fields and we are not going to let them slip from our hands in  order to provide  cheap food for Europe and destroy ourselves by working for slave returns.
An old guy I know said that if you had a son or daughter you hated you should give him a 40 acre farm on condition that he farmed it exclusively and rear a  family on it.
Guaranteed to drive him or her to suicide.
Goodman was saved by the then Government by the enactment into law of the Examinership legislation.
He was and is a financial heavyweight.
Farmers and their families are on their knees and at their wits ends.
They are expected to rollover and wither and die.
The Government,the Beef processors ,the Courts and the judges speak uno voce in humiliating and putting down those decent farmer protesters whose identity they can establish in every way their law allows.
This is no wonder as they are all loaded and share a commonality of origin,with a huge crossover between the political and judicial and legal systems.
The existing farmer organizations are so far up the holes of the Establishment that they have long ceased to represent the interest of the small guys.
This is why they have been cast aside and this is why the ordinary decent farmers will nor  back down .
Their backs are to the wall.This is their last stand and actually the last stand of all of rural Ireland.
Support them and yourselves O  ye of the land. 

Death oh Jude O Reilly,Stamullen.

On the Fairday this year our Thomas and his beau Ruth brought her father and mother and some other relatives to Dunderry to introduce them to myself and herself.
They are sound people,glad to say.
To our dismay her father Jude has died after a severe stroke.
The wake will be in their home near Stamullen from 2 to 10 on Saturday ,with the funeral Mass on Sunday in Staullen Church  at 10.00 a.m.
Burial afterwards in Garristown Cemetery.
T o his wife Marian and sons Darragh,Simon ,and Martin and their spouses and children we offer our sincerest sympathies.
As we know Ruth better than the rest we offer our most sincere sympathies and condolonces.
Ar dheis De go raibh a HAnam Dilis.

Whither the Soul.

Lately I  was honoured to help dig the grave of a neighbour in a plot that has been used for the burial of  previous family members.
In the digging we encountered bones and other such body parts from previously interred family members.
But no soul.
We as Catholics believe that death is only a new beginning to an eternity with our Saviour.And there must be an alternative of hell to accommodate the perpetrators of evil.
Ten years ago I  had a severe stroke and hovered between life and death for a long while.
I  was sure I  was dying and commenced to say an Act of perfect Contrition to God.Before I  had finished a voice from Heaven said to me that it was not my time yet.
Nor was it and that voice sustains me until the present day .
I have long since confessed my sins ,totally realize that I  am far from perfect and try to live a goodish life.
Brendan Grace had few material goods in his childhood ,left school at 14 years of age and used his God given talents to entertain and was totally beloved by all and sundry.
I saw him in action once and he was brilliant.
I  could never imagine him killing nor advocating the killing of another human being,born nor preborn.
Around the time of his death another well known man also died.
This guy had every advantage that Grace had not.He was born into a wealthy family ,was educated unto the ninth degree , was a practising barrister of the Fianna Fail gene pool and a famous social commentator.
He was an enthusiastic advocate for the mass murder of the living unborn human babies.
He and other well known politicians,academics and advocates for the murder of the unborn succeeded in convincing the electorate to legalize the murder of the unborn.
My Catholic Church is resolutely against abortion,yet the same Catholic Church saw fit to allow the funeral of this man to take place within its sacred confines.
The question I  have to ask is this.
Why did the Catholic Church allow the Sacrament to be performed  in respect of a man whose activities had helped notch up the murder of countless preborn children .
With certainty I  can say that when I  die and face my Maker that if I am sent to the same place that this guy and the other practitioners and facilitators of abortion are present and if it is Heaven I  will opt for Hell.

Ireland,the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.

If there is one thing that the Government of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail do well it is the mass murder of the healthy unborn ,the torture of the elderly and ill in their hospitals as a result of their inadequate efforts to cater for the elderly to the extent that it is only as a last resort that any sick person will go to a hospital in the near certain knowledge that they will be infected by life threatening infections endemic in nearly all hospitals.
The sickening thought  of those ,including our Taoiseach and his Ministers,revelling and celebrating the imminent death by murder of defenceless legions of unborn Irish children ,in apparent revenge for the death of Sabita ,is something comparable to the Nazi's celebration of the euthanisation of the deformed and disadvantaged before they carried it to the natural progression of the murder camps for the Jews.
The mindset of those who campaigned for the mass murder of the unborn and those who legislated  for it , has now seen its inevitable conclusions in the abominable assertions  that animal life is now seen here as more valuable than human life.
I am particularly disgusted by Ruth Coppinger who was a notable campaigner for the murderer of the human unborn in the womb,aka abortion,and clearly regards the right to life of beavers/ as superior to those of living unborn children ,in her efforts to have fur making outlawed .
Precisely the same applies to Catherine Murphy ,another legislator for murder of the unborn humans ,who is bellyaching for cruelty to greyhounds.
Both these hypocrites put the lives of animals before the lives of humans,as do the majority of their colleagues in the Dail and Seanad.
I heard today on the news that the latter wants knackeries closed down..
Another attack on rural Ireland by a gobshite who has too much to say and too little to offer on anything of substance.
She is a know all on everything and a real pain.
If there is any discontinuance of knackery services as a result of her mouthing I  suggest that all farmers near her ought consider leaving all fallen animals  they have at her gaff for disposal.
Regarding Coppinger ,she could concentrate her public mouthing nearer home.
I used live in the Constinuency she now represents as a result of hanging on to another Socialist's coattails Joe Higgin
Then it was a grand spot.
Now certain natives specializing in the drug trade are shooting each other dead for fun in her bailiewick .
Neither do they have any regard for human life either.

Death of Paddy Conway,Halltown,Dunderry.

Former Dunderry footballer ,husband,father, grandfather and brother,uncle and granduncle ,Paddy unexpectedly took a turn for the worse at home this morning and died soon after being taken to Navan Hospital.
I understand he suffered a bout of breathlessness yesterday in Navan,but appeared fine whilst in Dunderry yesterday later in the day.
He was rarely ,if ever ill during his 86 years on this earth.
He was a great friend of my people the Mac Cormack's and related ,his ancestors sharing the same grave in Churchtown with mine.
To his stricken wife Phylis his children Seamus,Pat and Jacki his siblings .in laws and many friends I offer my sincere condolences.
The Conway's are being hammered this year as it is only a few short months since his brother Fig went to meet his maker.
The arrangements are not yet to hand.
Ar Dheis De go raibh a hanam Dilis.

Reposing in Fitzsimoms funeral home in Navan this Thursday from 3.00.P.M. removing at 7.15 for Boyerstown Church to arrive at 7.30.
Funeral  Mass on Friday  at 11.00 A.M.and burial afterwards in Churchtown Cemetery.

Death of Sean Mallon,Bohermeen Cross.

On Wednesday past ,29th.May 2019,Sean cast off this mortal coil.
He had died in his sleep in his 78th. year and although I  haven't yet seen him I  am assured that his demeanour is such that he died peacefully.No man deserved a peaceful death more than Sean did as he was one of natures gentlemen and I am fairly sure that he never did a bad turn on anybody.
Sean was a first cousin of my mother's Peggy Mc Cormack,his father Ned being a sister of my granny Kate Mc Cormack.
Ned's wife died when the kids were small and my mother used walk from the Curragh Boreen to Bohermeen to babysit the Mallon kids.
I am sure they are comparing notes in Heaven at this stage and I am sure that his sister Baba is joining in the conversation.
All the Mc Cormacks of that generation are dead and all the Mallons save Larry have passed over and one thing they all had in common was the gift of good conversation and a withering sense of humour.
T o put it bluntly they could all cut the boots from you if you asked for it.
I'd say that the get together around God's table of these cousins is riveting. I  suspect that even Jesus is not spared the odd cut.
Sean was a decent man,a family man par excellence and there was not a mean bone in his body.
His aunt ,my granny used feed any tinker who called to her door and it is no coincidence that the tinkers used camp adjacent to Ned's house decades ago as they were sure of a hand out or a leg up if the Mallons had it.
IT is rumoured that Sean as a kid went begging with them on occasion...
Recently he gave them full permission to draw water from his well  and loaned them his trailer as they needed it.They did not abuse this privilege.
Sean was a man of many work talents and was big in the cattle trade for many years.This came to an end when European Agricultural regulations decreed that the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of Euros would have to be made to provide overnight lairage for the cattle ,money he did not have.
Never a man to be put down he remembered a quarry in his property from his father's time and physically dug out stone and sustained himself and the dependent family members for a period until ill health overcame him.
He was a game man and a trier to the very last.
Sean was a bigger than life man as long as I  knew him.Not only was he physically big but he exuded a presence in any company that drew people to him.HE  was a great conversationalist and full of fun.Irrepressible and great company.
Of late his great friends Liam Harte and ,when he was able Georgin Herterich,were his wingmen and what a crew they were.I  often tn went on the beer with him.
We take a lot for granted in this Country presently.Just over a hundred years ago we were a slave Nation ,a colony of the Brits and certain people put their lives on the line to get our freedom.
Sean's father Ned and two of his brothers put their lives on the line as IRA members for the periiod  of the War of Independence  in the fight for freedom.
Mc Cormack's house was a safe house.Kate wasn't going to let her brothers live under the open sky while on the run.
To his people we owe a huge debt and we sometimes forget this.
The Mallon household was a welcoming one and this was and is due hugely to his wife Mary ,who serves up only the best in grub and hospitality,a welcome I  can vouch for as I  have often enjoyed it.
They were not only husband and wife but great friends as far as I  could see..
She must be heartbroken,as must be their children ,Eamon,John.Lillian ,Sandra and Maria.They were predeceased by their son Patrick just as was entering his prime of life and this left a permanent emotional scar.
Larry is his only surviving sibling ,another great man for the conversation and enjoyable company too.
His nephew Gerry Murtagh is a friend of mine and he to possesses  those qualities that made Sean such an outstanding individual.
As do his children.
To all these,his grandchildren .other family ,in laws and friends too numerous to mention I offer my sincere condolences.
His remains will be reposing in his house in Bohermeen on Friday from noon until 9.00 p.m.
The funeral Mass will be on SATURDAY AT 11.A.M in Bohermeen  and his remains will go thence to Lakelands Crematorium ,Cavan.
Ar Dheas De go raibh a hAnam Dilis.

Dignity in death.

 I have the father and mother of a flu and haven't been out much lately,at least I  hope that is what I  have.
Nonetheless I  have kept in touch with my good friend  and fellow Muskateer Liam Dalton.
He had the saddest of news three weeks ago today.
His beloved daughter Louise and her husband Russell Dersley had the huge misfortune to give premature birth to two identical twin boys Jack and Harry a few day's earlier.They knew this was coming and even though it happened at twelve weeks the sadness was nevertheless palpable.
They gathered in Dunderry Churchyard to bury the boys in the family plot.
It was a private ceremony and I  went out of friendship and even though I was too sick to get out of the car I  am glad that I  did.
The entire family ,especially the parents and the only sister of the twins ,were devastated.
The ceremony and prayers were lead by Father Hornick,the grave was opened and in the most dignified manner possible the twins were interred in a white coffin not the size of a shoebox.
Tears flowed copiously and why wouldn't they.
The Daltons are decent and true Catholics so decency is in their DNA.
Ar  dHEIS dE GO RAIBH A Hanam dilis.
This event effected me hugely as it brought back personal memories of events of decades ago ,when my own sister went to full term carrying dead children and they too were buried with her husband's ancestors  in Kentstown after a ceremony officiated over by the local Priest.
May they too rest in peace.

Death of Fig.Conway.

It was a grand Spring day in Dunderry,weatherwise.I am just after poking my head out the door and it is invigorating and would make you feel good to be alive.

dunderry drumbeat

I am therefor saddened in the extreme to be the bearer of the bad news that my great friend Phil Conway died at c.1.00 a.m. this morning in Beaumount Hospital where he had been languishing these few weeks back.
I last saw Fig about a week before last Christmas and although shook he was well with it and had no contemplation nor expectation of imminent death.
He had recently come home after a 5 week stay in the Mater where he had been treated for swelling of the body.
He was told that the dreaded cancer was not back and that the medics could find no reason for the swelling.Having seen about 50 doctors he could get no answers and came home.
I  had arranged a few pints for myself and a few others a few days later and asked him to come.He was delighted and promised that he would.He never landed.
I knew then that things were not good.
Shortly afterward he was admitted to Beaumount and the inevitable followed.
There are indelible ties of friendship between the Conways and the Mc Cormacks ,my, mother's people ,that defy time and space,that have their genesis in hardship and history.
Fig's uncle Jack was an important and brave participant in the War of Independence.H e was active.
For years in the 1960.s and 1970,s Dunderry GAA Club used his field for matches and training at  time when my uncle Tommy Mc Cormack was Chairman.
It had by far the best playing surface of any pitch Dunderry ever used including the present one.
It is no coincidence that an active participant and patriot in the struggle against imperialism should help out another and more enduring perhaps movement for sovereignty ,the GAA,in furthering the common  ideal.
Fig was a life member of Dundery GAA Club and was upset that he did not  receive a notification of last year's AGM,a matter of considerable concern to him at the time.
I  was glad to be able to sooth his mind on this omission.
Eaten bread ought not be forgotten.
I am proud to be related to Fig,although this link is buried in the mists of time.
I will explore this link further but am assured that my grandfather and Fig's walked to Longwood for the funeral of  Pappy Conway ,another great GAA man in the 19th.century and that he was related to them equally.
We called to the house today.Anne was there.She is a great friend of my wife Agnes and they both lost another great friend Eileen Mc Nally recently.
Liam Harte and his wife Bernie,Anne's sister and a brother of theirs and his wife  were up and about and in a state of shock.
His sons were resting after their recent vigils by his bedside.
Liam and Bernie have been on hand these last weeks and have done more than anyone could to help out.
His grand kids were all there and it is common knowledge that he adored them and they him.
His mortal remains will be resting in the Chapel of Rest ,Old Johnstown from 3.00 to 5.30 on Friday ,leaving to arrive in Dunderry Church at 6.30.
Funeral Mass is at 11.30 on Saturday ,with removal after wards to Dunderry Cemetery.
To his wife ANNE,his sons Anthony,Sean and Philip ,his grandchildren Cillian,Clodagh and Daniel and his surviving siblings Paddy ,Seamus and Richie and sisters Sheila ,Lily ,Phylis,Teasie and Imrlda we offer our sincere condolences.
Ar Dheis De go raibh a hAnam Dilis.

A random Sunday.

This morning ,a Sunday,I  was tied up until noon when I  was able to face the world,which I did.Venturing out the gate I  observed a knot of people at the front of the Church.
Included in this knot was the Hormone and John Daly.Given that the 11.00a.m.Mass was long over I  asked the Hormone who was getting Christened."No one said he,twas my fathers anniversary Mass today."
It is hard to believe that Mickey is a year dead.
I  loved Mickey .He was a true gent.Uniquely all his sons and himself are life members of Dunderry GAA Club and he devoted a lifetime to promoting it.
Elsewhere I  have called for prayer for two beloved people who are suffering greatly.They too are life members, a man and a woman.
From there I went up to the pitch to get the end of an Intermediate football league match between ourselves and  Ballinabrackey.
With about 15 minutes to go it was a draw at 1-5 a piece.
The final 15 minutes were fought out fairly competitively ,overwhelmingly with hand pass after hand pass after hand pass from both sides and with kicking as rare as hens teeth.
Ballinabrackey levelled with the last kick of the game.
What I found more enlightening was a conversation I  had with a young lady from Iskaroon.She is based in AUSTRALIA,was in Spain on business's for her Australian employer and flew home for the weekend to see her folks.
She was in the company of her brother ,who is a chemist working on cancer treating chemotherapy preparations in a Dublin Hospital,who was educated in Scotland.He lives in Dunboyne and had his infant son with him at the match.
Like every child his age he found the biggest puddle there to jump in and soak himself.
The Dunderry team was short its only County player Paddy Kenneally ,who is away in New Zealand and his brother John Paul is away in Canada  at opposite ends of the world so to speak.
Both are reputed to be bursting with brains.
Talking of which I am given to understand that up to 5 Dunderrians will be studying medicine next year.
Lord we are some cosmopolitan village,with talent to beat the band.
Thence I  went to Mass in Johnstown,a Tridentine Latin Mass,where I  go now and again,WHEN i don't go to Dunderry.
The Mass is entirely in Latin ,you have a book with the English translation and the only non Latin language used is the" Kyrie"which is Greek.
So this morning I  heard English,Latin ,Greek ,Irish,"those gosoons are horrid young to be playing adult football"and Dunderrian "horrid young".
The attendees at the Tridentine Mass are far more religious than me and are Catholics in the truest sense.They abhor this Government and all the Parties who pushed through our Constitution the abortion laws which they equate TO  the Mass MURDER OF THE DEFENCELESS AND INNOCENT UNPROTECTED.
They consider themselves to be on the right side in this matter,a position on which I  agree.
Like myself they are dismayed with the watery defence of unborn life offered by our Bishops ,save Bishop Doran.
Personally I think that parts of the body politic are in thrall to  Satan and subject to Demonic Possession and that time will bear this out.
Regarding the football,we are at a crossroads,we picked up our first point today out of a possible 6.
There young lads have a hard road ahead of themselves and have to breach a gap in football nous ,which will be very challenging.
As I  understand it there is no relegation this year,but next year 3 teams will be coming down from Senior.
The Inter Championship will then be very hard to win,so its now or never maybe.
The County team is perking up with Andy Mc Entee at the helm.I  met him when he was over Dunboyne in 2005 and he is a sound guy.
His brother Gerry gave a great hand out to Brigids my former Club for years and made them a respected force in Dublin football when he was in charge.
Given the population of Meath it is time that a more solid marker was put down in football circles.
 

Prayers urgently needed.

As I write at least a brace of well regarded and loved Dunderrians are suffering the ravages of that most hateful of diseases and need all the support and prayers they can get.Oremus.

Current member of Irish Cabinet reputed to be a witch.

Search for the name of a female Irish Minister and the word "Witch "on your search engine.
The results will shock you and explain a multitude.

A modern Miracle.

On 15th August 1996 an elderly Eucharist minister let the Host fall on the ground whilst giving out Communion.in a Church in Buenos Aires.As it was dirty he asked the Priest to pick it up,which the Priest did and placed it in a recepticle with water in it and put it in the Tabernicle to dissolve it.
He checked it out a week later but instead of dissolving it had grown in size and was covered in red splotches.
In short order the red splotches increased and multiplied until it looked like a piece of flesh.
A sample was taken by a Lab. in the City ,where red blood cells,white  blood cells and haemoglobin were identified  and were found to be moving and beating.
Three years latera a  scientist named Dr Richard Gomez was asked to perform a more robust examination and sent a sample to a New York Lab., not disclosing what it was.
They diagnosed it a a living human heart muscle.
In 2004 a Doctor named Frederick Zugibe ,whose speciality was identifying the cause of death from an examination of a sample of the heart muscle of a deceased ,examined a sample of the matter involve and wothout knowing whence it came ,concluded that the person had been tortured to death.
He was acutely perplexed as to how the sample ,apparently from a dead person ,had cells that were curently moving and beating.
As they say in Mass "This is my Body and this is my Blood".

Dunderry First Team GAA Management for 2019.

All is changed utterly.
Football Manager is David Callaghan,Mickey's son and his Selectors are Con O Neill and  Padraic Travers.
David played up to minor level in football with St.Ultans and thereafter with Dunderry.He was on the 2005 team that went back from Senior to Intermediate and of which I was Manager unfortunately.He follows in the footsteps of Barry Callaghan , Kevin Dowd ,and Stephen O  Rourke,who played with that team,Tommy Dowd and Con O Neill who have had their hands on the tiller since and a variety of selectors who have tried and failed to win the Laurels.
David was a selector with Kells for a year and they are now Senior.
He played in the USA in his day and maybe in England,I  am not sure.
Con has since stepping down from adult football been involved with the juveniles and they are making good progress.
Padraic is a Bohermeen man but has the saving grace of being married to a good Dunderry woman Stephanie Coogan.
We wish them well.
The Juvenile Club have at last got their act together and are turning out fairly decent players at minor level.
It will be interesting to  see how these guys gel these minors into the Intermediate set up.
We wish all the best in the year to come and thank those who gave their time selflessly in the year gone.viz Kevin Dowd,Evan Stephens,Lee Mulliganand Phil Day.

Hurling Manager is Timber Leavy and his selectors are Kevin Heffernan,Derek Hickey and Damian Martin.Timber has been up  to his oxters in Juvenile Hurling this last decade as have Derek and Kevin.
I played with Timber many moons ago and acted as a selector when he was still a player.
He was a nifty wing forward and fairly useful.Derek too gave it diddy as long as he played.I  didn't see Kevin in action but being from Limericj k cannot hurt.
Damian is an All Holding Goalkeeper from Offally and there is no higher honour.
Timber and Co.have done the trench work at juvenile level and are ideally placed to ressurect the Club's honour at adult lever.
We wish them the best and thank Mark  Nolan and Co.for the magnificient work done in recent years.

I have no idea how many adult teams we have and who is over them.
As soon as I  find out I  will let ye know.

Political Leaders are pure spoofers

In the last debate on RTE  before the 2011 General Election the Leaders of the Political Parties had the following to say on evictions.

Mickie Martin."Increase mortgage interest relief and in no circumstances take the roof from over their heads"

Enda Kenny."Guarantee  you won't lose your home."

E.Gilmore".Head off the Bailiffs"

F.Gerry Adamms"No evictions in Ireland."

G.John Gormley."Don't take the roof from over their heads."

Last week decent people in Roscommon ran bailiffs ,who had put evictees on the side of the road as  the Gardai stood silently bye,just the same as the Redcoats did in Famine and colony times.
And our great leader Leo took the side of the Bank and decried the decent people who defended the evictees.
No wonder that he defended the Bank.He himself is a supporter of the Bank of Mammy and Daddy as are his Cabinet.
To use the law as a shield for this behaviour by the Bank is nothing new.Precisely the same excuse was used in Famine and Colonial times.
This stuff is going on daily in every Court and County in the Country and many people have had their lives destroyed and have indeed taken their lives as a consequence.
The political leaders and parties have betrayed the people of Ireland.
Hell is not hot enough for them to roast for eternity.

The bushy tailed assassin still loose.

Last Saturday week the Meath Hunt arrived in Dunderry.I  was glad to see it .Maybe now I  thought that the hounds and hunters would capture the assassin who had killed and ate my innocent ducks and captured and ate all my neighbour's hens .
Not a word of it.The assassin is still on the run .
I  am comforted however by the old saying that "no matter how fast the fox runs ,he is always caught in the end."
Of course this saying has application to all sorts of illicit activity.
Oremus.

The dog,the Deer and the Crocodile.

A family member recently visited Sri Lanka.While visiting a nature reserve alongside a lake she witnessed the following horrific sequence of events and captured it on video.I have seen it and proves to me that dogs and crocodiles are related in viciousness and depravity.
What happened was that a wild dog chased a deer through the brush forcing the misfortunate animal to jump into a lake to escape and swim for it.The dog gave up the chase and the poor deer thought it was home and dry.
Not so.The crocodile appeared out of nowhere ,was a far superior swimmer than the deer ,crushed it in its maw ,dragged it underwater and killed and devoured it.
I  was wondering why God saw  fit to let  me in on this scenario and it has finally clicked.
The dog can be equated to the political  gloaters,yahooers ,dancers,Judas goats  and abortion facilitators who  weep with joy now that they have succeeded in enabling the baby haters to murder said babies before birth,the deer can be equated to the most innocent of the preborn babies on the run from these blood thirsty excuses for humans and the crocodile can be equated to those sub human medics and so called health professionals into whose maws the misfortunate preborn kids are chased for disposal.
We all know that there is a commonality  between the dog and the crocodile as the most ardent promulgators of abortion are now actively acting as persuaders to recruit  human crocodiles  so that they can get rid of the human deer.

The Bushy Killer prowls Dunderry again.

Last May I bought two baby ducks at the Fair.Myself and all here minded them well.They thrived and were grand innocent creatures,totally inoffensive and quacked with joy daily.
They laid the nicest of eggs which we all ate,either boiled,fried in an omellete or in the cup.
Last Thursday herself told me that there had been a kidnapping,that the two ducks were missing.I am friggin' raging.
All that remains is  a heap of feathers.
I  have compared notes with a neighbour ,all of whose hens and chickens have likewise been lifted.
I m quacked enough to start  society for the protection of ducks and for the elimination of the ginger assassins the bushy tailed Reynards.
Any takers.