Death of Tommy Weldon ,Churchtown,Navan,

Tommy Weldon from Dunderry was as nice a man as I  ever met. 

A native of Churchtown ,he came from a family brimmming with decency and honesty. 

From a very young age I  came here on holidays to my mother's people the Mc Cormack's of the Curragh Boreen and because the Mc Cormacks were GAA fanatics I  became aware of the Weldon clan ,who wre also immersed in the GAA,then and now.

Tommy was prematurely bald and still playing and I  thought it peculiar thar such an old man was still playing.Tommy Mc Cormack soon put me right and I  looked at him with different eyes afterwards.

Both he and his family have been avid supporters of Dunderry GAA Club always.

After he retired from football himself and his wife Jody took on the washing ,drying and mending of the jerseys of all the Dunderry Jerseys.They were always presented in pristine condition being washed and ironed at home.N o dry cleaners for them.

And God help you if you lost one or gave it back in flitters.Jodi would ate you without salt.

This showed just how good a kit woman she was.

They did this for decades and saved the Club thousands in the process,.

Some people may regard this as no big deal,but my wife Agnes did it for maybe two decades for the Camogie Club and I  know that it is a big deal.

As far as I  remember Tommy worked for decades for Spicers and no more assidious employee could you get, often dragging in his kids on a weekend to do something out of the ordinary but very necesssary but without pay.

I  think that a cousin of mine Larry Mallon was C.E.O. of Spicers those years .

Tommy survived Spicers ,as indeed has Larry .

Never one to be idle Tommy took up employment after his stint in Spicers as caretaker in Dunderry National School and applied the same standard of care there as he had in Spicers.

I  would say that the then head teacher Gerry  Hatch thought the world of him..

I  well remember an occassion when Gerry Hatch wanted to see me for something .    He sent Tommy across to our house and he said to me "Master Hatch wants t you to call over to see him straight away."

My response was not very polite but when I  saw the hurt on Tommy's face I  relented.

Lots of people will remember him from his time in The School.

His wife Jody is a niece of Nan M c Cormack ,the deceased wife of my uncle Jimmy and by coincidence a sister of Mary Mallon ,widow of Sean ,a brother of Larry ,mentioned above.

I hurled with Martin and Declan ,his sons,both hardy boys.

I attended Mass with Tommy and Jodi for years in Dunderry and noted the steady progress of the cancer which took him after years.

His suffering must have been a huge strain on his loving family and extended family, and my heart goes out to them.

As honest a man as ever walked from a family of equal calibre is the best compliment I  can pay to him.

I wish his wife Jody,sons Martin and Declan,siblings ,Mickey,Sean and Brendan and all his relatives and many friends my sincsrest sympathies.

Ar D heis De go raibh a HANAM Dilis.

Funeral  Mass tomorrow Wednesday in Dunderry at 11.a.m.Burial afterwards in Boyerstown  Cemetery.

Dundery's involvement in the War of Independence.

 I am reading up on this period in history when I  have time,which is not often.I have much to do in this respect.

Purely by coincidence the preedecessor to the bungalow I  own on the Robinstown Road opposite Horans was used by Sean Boylan Senior,the father of the ex Meath Manager ,to reorganiset he Volunteers (IRA ) in 1917.

I think it was then owned by people called Stephens,who were no relation.

M y uncle Tommy  M c Cormack bought the bungalow in the early 1980's and rebuilt it.He retained one feature of the original building,an inside windowed porch wall beside the front door from that time.

The bungalow is of historic importance therfor and I  intend to mark it with a suitable plaque in time.

Further up the road ,in the same Parish ,but in Robinstown ,there stands to this day ,a closed pub called Chandelers ,which during the War of Independence,was looted and in which the occupants were terrorised .

The looting and such deprivations were raised in the House of Commons at the time and made world wide news.

Maybe a plaque ought to be erected there too.

I am gathering as much information as I  can at the moment and intend to retuern to this subject asap.

The father of my good friend Liam Dalton was arressted by the RIC/Tans/Auxiliries at the time of the raid on Chandelers.His name was Peter and he was clearly active in the movement,although he didn't say much about it afterwards..

The persecution of Molly aged 90 years.

 Molly is not the name of the dignified person the subject of this post.I am withholding her name to preserve her dignity.

She recently turned 90 years of age,born 10 years after the ending of the War of Independence.Coincidentally I  am reading up on the local involvement on the War of Independence which ended a hundred years ago .

There was an I.R.A Company in Dunderry at the time consisting of about 25 active members.I am trying to work out the identities of just who they were.I am sure of just who  some of the gallant band were.

From 1919 to 1921 Meath Volunteers killed less than 3 R.I.C./Tans ,about a half percentage of the National total..In contrast 10 informers were killed in the County,because the IRA plans were leaked to the Peelers.

Probably the descendants of these informers or others of similar mind informed on the innocent activities of  Molly recently and deliberately spoiled her day.

As a birthday treat for Molly her loving family organised a drive bye for her.In other words she sat in a car and waved out the window as friends drove bye.

Social  distancing rules were fully adhered to in every respect.

Soon the Gardai arrived to break up the drive bye.They said they had received information and had to do it. 

A person close to the scene reminded me that they had not respoinded so successfully when this venerable old lady had been robbed in her house a number of years ago.

Nothing was ever recovered..

Between persecuting a Priest for saying Mass and breaking up the drive bye of a 90 year old this Government and its enforcers have much to answer for.

Two more true Gaels are dead

 The reign of the Prince of death continues unabated in Dunderry.Two of the nicest and most sincere people you could ever meet have been called by their maker.Molly Fay ,wife of Phil  and Tommy Weldon ,husband of Jodi  have passed away.

They join a long list of Dunderry Gaels recently expired.

They have put in some service to the Dunderry GAA Club in their exemplary lives and were Catholics of the highest  status.

Before this Country regressed to the Penal Laws days ,when Priests had to say Mass in secret ( NOWADAYS PRIESTS WHO CELEBRAT MASS IN PUBLIC ARE CRIMINALISED BY THE laws passed by the Godless Oireachtas and fined by the modern day version of the Redcoats) .I often attended Mass with them in Dunderry Chapel.

Tommy suuffered from Cncer for years and put up some fight ,alas to no avail in the end.

Molly was never the same since her only daughter was killed in an unfortunate casr accidend just beside her home place a number of years ago.

I will write more about them God willing.

Ar Dheis De go raibh  ANAMACA DILIS.

The Legend Falls.Death of Tommy Dowd Senior.

 In early January I  posted that a good neighbour was under severe pressure,He sure was and has been until early Sunday morning ,when  he was called home by God.

Greatly mourned by his wife Eithna,sons Tommy and Kevin,daughters Kathy and Dolly,brother Jimmy and sister Marie,by his close in laws ,neighbours and the whole Dunderry GAA Community ,by the broader GAA Community  in Meath,Leicester and London,his mortal remains will travel from his son's Kevins house in Dunderry Village to arrive in the local Church at 11.00 a.m. on Wdnesday 10 th March and thence to the local graveyard.

Alll his family ,especially his wife Eithna,gave him immense love,care and attention these last few months ,but the Lord wanted him so much that they had to let go.

I figure that He wants to set up a Football Championship in Heaven ,will probably make him the first GAA man to get perquisetes and present him with a celestial number 15 jersey.

He was a once off.

On behalf of my own family ,all the people of Dunderry and the local GAA club,the Camogie and Ladies Football Clubs I offer my absolute condolonces.

Ar Dheis De go raibh a HAnam Dilis.

Another shocking death of Anto Flynn ,formerly of Blanch

 It is over a decade since I met Anto Flynn.He used live in Brigid's Park in Blanch.He was younger than mise and we went to the same school in Blanch.

H e has been living in Mullingar for over 20 years,where he worked as a taxi driver.

He died in Mullingar Hospital .

He was a hard working bloke always,nothing came handy to him, as was the situation of all the Blanch.people at the time and since indeed.

The people I  believe tell me that the virus is rampant around Blanch., as it seems to be hereabouts.

It is high time that the people in power took out the finger and innoculated everybody to stop this slaughter.

Thinking about Anto since ,my fading memory suggests to me that although he didn't play much adult football with Brigids,he did play a match against Margarets many moons ago and was bullied by one of the ,Margaret's players when the Ref.wasn't looking.

I warned the guy and when he persisted gave him an uppercut .

Like every bully he bellyached to thew ref.The bullying stopped.Anto and he can now compare notes.

They are I  hope in the same plac,above in the presence of the Lord..

Shocking death of Sarah O Mahony.

The recent death of Sarah ,a daughter of the late Oliver Travers and Josie came as a hammer blow ,not only to her husband John,her children Shane,,Olivia, and Ciara ,her grandson Jaxon ,her siblings Alan,Linda,Jane and Rebecca,her distraught mother Josie (NEE Conaty),her cousins ,aunties and uncles ,neighb ours and a huge number of friends.

She died without warning ;no one expected it not even herself I  imagine.And at such a tender age.

It is another terrifying blow to her mother Josie ,in particular ,as well as the other family members ,who has now lost her husband and two of her children,Gary being Sarah's late brother.

There are no upsides to her death , except to pray that ,if you believe in an afterlife ,her  father and brother will be there to welcome her into Heaven.

I  sincerely hope that this is the case.

I have close connections with the wider Travers family.Oliver sold me a Honda 50 over 50 years ago to enable to get around in Dublin.My uncle Tommy paid for it.He was a good friend of Oliver's and Josies and reckoned that he paid for a fiver share in Crannach when the workers ,led by Oliver, took it over.

Later,when I  moved here I  got to know huim and Josie better,meeting them socially in Dunderry,usually in Horans,when we all had a life.Josie was and is a huge friend of her sister Marie O Brien and also Mary Creegan .

Oliwer died before his time,as did Gary and now Sarah.Totally cruel.

Me and mine got on great with Gary ;in fact me son Evan is Godfather to one of Gary's daughters ,Holly. .

Both my elder daughters ,Glenda and Jacinta were fierce tight with Sarah ,and used meet up regularly ,in pre corona rtimes ,with themselves,Dolly Dowd ,Laura and Helen O brien ,Mandy  Conaty and a few others to natter,ate sausages and support the burdens that are endemic in modern life.

In the area of sharing the burdens there was none better than Sarah ,whose hearty laugh,direct responses  and endless patience was a great support to all her close friends, especially to those in despair.

I did not know her all that well but well enough to appreciate her directness ,her sense of humour and infinite kindness.

A  number of years after my stroke a number of former Camogie players and others approached me and asked if I  would take them on to get them as fit as I  could,not too toughly.This I  did .

The group ,consisting of Sarah,her neighbour Bernadette Mc Gourty,our Glenda,Breda Keenan,Noeleen O  Neill,Pauline Maguire,Helen Smith,( the last four all Goughs from Meadstown),AmmO Neville,Trish Smith,Caroline Duffy ,Maura Walshe,Aoife Stephens,Bernie Coffey and Eileen Bruton trained assiduously for over a year  two nights a week,usually in the GAA Pitch but also in Dunderry Hall and in the Village ,wherever we could geta space.

    Life being what it was we rarely had a full turnout,but it seemed to me that a bond was formed betwen these ladies.

Certainly they all achieved their objectives of being able to put under their belts 8 laps of the GAA Pitch.

My memory is that around this time of the year there was brutal weather and we gave it up.

I  distinctly remember Sarah telling me that she would be continuing walking with Josie,a feat I  witnessed with my own eyes.

I  have ,of course .bumped into Sarah from time to time since.She still had that devilish sense of humour,the quick reparttee and unputdownable candour for which she was notable.

Ar Dheis De go raibh a hAnam Dilis.

I  don't know the Funeral Arrangements.

Repeatedly Threatening Everybody.(RTE.)

Because of the times that are in it I listen to Radio  a lot,especially RTE,the station that cannot make a profit,is described by a good person of my acquantice as a cesspool of sodomites ,presided over by divorcees with a mission objective of destroying and denigrating Christianity ,especially Catholicism ,at every turn.

Certainly the appropriation of a programme to former President Mary Mc Aleese to enable her to top up her Presidential pension ,is a further step in this direction..She has turned her ire against all things Catholic because Catholic teaching is against homosexual practices and the Church will not change its teachings to suit the homosexual leanings of her son.

That she should have as her guest openly homosexual Tanaiste Leo Varadakar is no surprise. 

Expect more guests who have axes to grind against Catholicism in the future.

This is a thinly disguised follow up to the scuppering of the Papal visit to Ireland ,where the Repeatedly Threatening Everybody station did all in its power to destroy the attendances at the Popes visit into a shambles by the commentary of its presenters to the prominence of its biased and anti Catholic guests.

More evidence of its bias can be found in its blasphemy of Jesus in the run up to Christmas,which was only to be expected,given its form,by a West Water sketch for which former Presenter Aongus O rianna has apologised regardinfg his involvement.

I  wasn't that well on Christmas Day and listened to its coverage on the day of Christs birth.At least two contributors took the opportunity  to attack the Church of Christ voicing their hatred to the institutional Church,one a vicious female who I  had never heard of and another an actor who exudes his culchiedom a selling point.

Anyway I awake most mornings to the sound of Mary Wilson and Audrey Carville spitting bile at everybody who falls foul of their gazes.Not very pleaseant.

When things are at their lowest Coronawise and they have run the gamit of thoroughly deressing  us in the Community for being alive ,they inevitably interview a MonAGHAN one called Duffy  and a Scot called Scally to drive us through the floor.

I amsickened to hear the Scot referring the way we treated animal didease to the combatting of the corona virus.

I can well remember the sickening sights of mountains of shot cattle being incinderated to powder to contain the spread of foot and mouth.Is he suggesting that humans should be treated in the same manner.?

Given the hatred of the Greens to all cattle and their desire to cull them and the preference of the Greens to animals over humans be very very careful what you wish for.

Anyhow that one morning that irritated me in particular we had successively Alan Kelly calling for the border to be relocated five miles in to the Republic instead of where it is and the Sinn Fein calling for what is effectively internment without trial for Irish people crossing the Border.

Just a short while ago we had the Irish Government begging Joe Binden to tell the Brits to ensure tha there was no physical border in Ireland,and he did .

Now we have Labour ,who can't get a vote in the North nor along the Border look to relocate it five miles back into the Republic and tha Shinners loking to effictevily re introduce internment without trial for Irish people.

Jay Doonin ,lately of this Parish did 6 years in jail in the Ntrth ,intrned withour trial and was barred from getting a state job here because of bias ,would surely look with a jaundiced eye on Mary Lou and wonder if she has a clue what she is doing.

Time to bring back Nicky Keogh to the seat in Cabra he handed to her on a plate.

Hopeless handling of pandemic is nothing new.

 After spending most of the year jeering at the slow pace of progress in other Countries in tackling the corona virus the so called experts and politicians who have blamed us for their ineptitude in controling the virus are now coming up with with the excuses for their failure ,excuses which are woeful.

We are to believe that the computer system they have is inadequate.This nonsense is not believable.Most of the techs who produce computer technology are just a few yards from the Dail and at least one of them Apple has been adjudged to owe us 30 Billion Euros.

Did none of these knowalls think of asking for a helping hand.

Anybody who has played any sport or managed any teams,as I  did for a half century will immediately recognise as a fraud any player who tells you inadvance that he may be injured but is still available for selection.This is called "making your excuse in advance"

This is the game being played by the Public Health experts who always predict the worse possible scenario ,except lately ,when the speed of spread has taken evem n them by surprise -----it's the computer fault.

Given their ineptitude I  have in mind for them what Castro did in Cuba when he took over,slightly advanced .

Give them the unused Office space in the Docks ,abandoned by the high techs ,give them whatever they need equipment wise ,throw in all the worst of the patients with the virus,lock them in with the patients and leave them there until all the patientds are cured.

Do not accept any more excuses.

And cut their pay down to the average industrial average.

 

A good neighbour under severe pressure

 A man ye all know is under health pressure.A caring prayer to the Man above would not go astray.

When the chips are down our eu friends abandon us.

Undoubtedly the Island of Ireland was the first concentration camp in the world during the period 1847 to 1850 ,the duration of the famine ,when laisser faire economics and pure hatred of our ancestors resulted in the wilful murder of over a million people through starvation and associated diseasezs, and resulted in the halving of the population from 8 million to 4 million through emigration.

Now the only indigenous products we manufacture are land based agriculture products which we export to england and the EU  in the main.

Farmers here are screwed by home based over regulation for the paltry few bob most of them make .

Even so and despite the shortsightness of our politicians huge amounts of beef,milk products and cheeses are exported to the U K.and Europe.

Disgracefully as an Island nation we have'nt got either a fleet of ships nor a commercial air service,so we 

depend on the Brirs to allow us to use their land to travel through to reach Europe.

When the Brits and now our French buddies refuse to let us through we are snookered,up shit creek without a paddle.

Now all of our politicians have always sucked Europe and led us to prostrate ourseves at the feet of the Europeans especially the Mc Guinness wan.

Where is she and her ilk in all parties when we need a way to get our products into our markets.No where is the answer.Fur coat and no knickers.

These so called corona virus experts would sicken your happiness

 Since the Black Plague in the thirteen century ,which killed up to 50 per cent of the population in certain places the medical profession has advanced very little,if at all in pandemic contro;.

Then they used go about in protective clothing with bird shaped beaks in front to protect themselves from catching the virus.Now  they have protective clothing but have discarded the beak shapes.

What has changed is the ability of researchers to come up with a cure.Tha nks be to God that they have.I  rejoice in it.

The haters of Boris and Donald must be chocking with annoyance.Both Great Britain and the USA ARE THE FIRST TO give out the cure.Fair dues to the boys at the helm in both countries.

The national Radio and T.V Station is RTE and their coverage of  the coursr of the pandemic is disgraceful.It is designed to frighten the shite out of those foolish ebough to listen to their coverage.

Firstly we have thre know all Claire Byrne trying to put the frigtteners on all and sundry,spending most of her time punchinmg holes in all elements of hope that emerge.Then we have the misfortunate George Lee b ambooziling himself and us with the most miserable amnd depressing statistice he can come up with.

Then we have the Public Health civil servants doing their best to make us feel that we are a disgrace just because we were born and doing their level best to drive us all into the depths of depression.and advising us to abandon our elderly to nursing homes where they can be picked off.

But if all this institutional gloom is not enough thay produce two guys in Particular to trump the depression they have spun,namely the Yacht Club  Gonk and the Scot SCALLION.

These guys must be the spiritual descendents from the Angel who invented the logo over Hell ie "aBANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE"

No craic allowed ,no laugh allowed ,no smile allowed.no meals to be shared ,nera jar allowed .no hugging you nearest and dearest, leave the windows open at all times,you might as well die of lung disease as covit.

If God were to grant  me a wish,I  swould drop these two shits down in Meadstown on a Baltic day in the nude for just five hours to follow their own advices.

Just saying.

Then I  would cut off their wages entirely and put them on piecework in a deboning hall.Would they last a half day.

Dunderry Mass times 2020

Christmas Eve

4.00 p.m Internet Mass

6.00 Kilbride.

7.30 Dunderry.

9.00 Dunderry.

11.00 Internet Mass

Christmas Day.

9.30 a.m Robinstown.

11.00 Dunderry.

12.30 Robinstown.

Happy Christmas and bad cess to the naysayers.

Untimely death of China -Vincent-Clarke

 Around tea time yesterday I  heard the unwelcome news that our neighbour and friend China Clarke had gone to meet his father,also Vincent,in Heaven.

China ,an ex hurler and footballer as a juvenile with Dunderry  GAA Club ,was widely known to have been under pressure for a number of months with the curse of Cancer but was expected to make it until Christmas.

It was not to be.

He was a well liked guy by one and all and a great man for community adornment and will be missed by those of similar bent.

He will be most acutely missed by his mother Vera,who is unwell herself,the mother of his children Helen,,by Danielle and Kate  his children,by Kevin,by his grandchildren  Leah,Aleshia and Kevins child,by his siblings Pascal,Gary,Maura,Adrienne,Vivian,Anne,Vera,Olivia and Swiss-Damian ,who too has suffered greatly in recent times.

Also by all his nephews and nieces and great nephews and grandnieces and a huge circle of friends and neighbours who hold him in the greatest esteem .

Personally I  found him to have been a respectful anf decent neighbour ,one of the best.

At 50 he was too young to go.

AR DHEIS dE GO RAIBH  hAnam dilis.

Funeral Mass is at 11.00 a.m.Monday morning in Dunderry followed by burial in local graveyard afterwards.

The funeral went well,was attended by a lone piper and the GAA Club members and neighbours  formed a socially distanced guard of honour outside the Church after the ceremonies.

It was moving.

Death of Paddy Gorey,Kilbride,Trim.

I had heard of late that Paddy was not well and hospitalised,with a variety of complaints.I didn't think that death was imminent.But what do I  know.

He went to God yerday in Hospital.

Paddy was one of nature's gentlemen.He farmed all his life and loved it.

He was an avid GAA follower and a huge supporter of Dunderry GAA Club.No more so when any of his children were playing,especially Paddy Junior who was an exceptional footballer and hurler ,who represented both Club  and County in the small ball game,despit his small stature.

Paddy is a trainer currently of the only Senior team in the Parish ,the Camogie Team who got to the semi final .

 I don't know whether Paddy played himself but imagine that if he did he must have been fairly good,as it is not from the ground that his own kids and his nephews and nieces  the Kelly's of Meadstown licked their talet.

Like himself I  had the pleasure of supporting his children in the playing pitches of Meath from juvemnile to adult level,and was a mentor of teams on which Paddy and David played.

My memory is faiding but I  think that Carmel playe Camogie for a time as a child.nearly everyone her age did at the time.

Paddy and his devoted wife Patty went everywhere togeher .It was unusual to see one without the other.

They socialised together from time to time and over the years. I  would have shared a jar with them in Geraghty's in the main.

Not that either they nor me had enough to be on the tear too often.

Paddy was a lovely fella and will be missed.

He will be going to Kilbride Church on Monday at 11.00 a.m with burial  after to the adjoining Cemetery.

Ar DHEIS dE GO RAIBH A Hanam dilis.

Virus strikes hard in Parish

 Word has just filtered in that the virus has attacked a well liked and embedded older  couple lately.

She is at home.He is in Hospital.We all hope they recover soon.

Abuse of Trump and his supporters continues on RTE.

 I am so sickened by the partisan abuse of Donald that I am now turning off the prejudiced reportage that does not pass as news disseminated by RTE..

In order to divest themselves of the claims of bias the producers and reporters are now inviting well known guests to appear under guises of non political interests and then springing the question about their feelings about Trump,knowing full what the response will be,

For example Joseph O Connor is  well known writer and journalist and he was an invitede guest  to speak about his latest book.

At the end he was asked aboit Trump.He spewed his hatred of Trump as fully expected.

No question concerning the hurt suffered by Catholics by his sister Sinead in desecrating a photograph of the Pope,.an act of bigotry if there ever was one. nOR NO PUBLIC REBUKE FOR HER.Too close to home.

Neither he nor similar guests are ever asked about the torture in Guatanimo nor the violation both secretely and r obviously of Pakistan's sovereign status by bombing and murdering unber the leadership of Obama with Biden in tow.

Didn't Omama  remotely give the order for the non judicial murder of Bin Laden ,in front of his wife and kids and deny them the opportunity to mourn him properly by scattering his ashes to the four corners.

Unlike Obama and Biden Trump did not not initiate any new wars and I  doubt if Trump is as hated in the Arab world as much as they were and are.

Many Irish emigrants to the USA are not Biden supporters at all and much prefer Trump AND his policies to Biden' s but this is never reported either by RTE or the journalists they have embedded in the USA.

Hard week on families of Dunderrians.

 These last few days have seen the deaths of three Dunderry people viz;-Mrs Doherty 97 yeays old,MRS keaveney 92 years old and Francie Tuite 93 years old..

Each death has lrft large resevoirs of grief.

Sad death of Francie Tuite.

 Word has just filtered in of the sad death in his 93rd year of Francie Tuite formerly of Tullaghanstown of this Parish.

I knew this total gentleman ,not that well ,but well enough to know that he was the real deal.

As far as I know he was the oldest Dunderry GAA player still alive.He played with my uncles Paddy and Joe Mc Cormack and they often spoke of him,always with the highest respect.

He was a totally honest player,played in the forwards and went full bloodedly for every ball.After a match you knew from the bruises unintentionally inflicted on you ,if you were an  oppenent ,that you had been in a competitive match.

When he was growing up there were few,if any companions around to practise with.He honed his catching skills by hitting a ball up into a tree and lepping to catch it as it cascaded down through the branches.

He was a brave man.Well into his late sixties I  met him at his brother,s Tommy;s house.He was struggling to walk with two walking sticks to the extent that you would wonder what kept him at the attempt to walk ,such was the obvious pain endured in the effort.

Whether it was a result of his boisterous footballing career of whether the determination he had in competing at football kept him going I  don't know but he underwent surgery with miraculuous results, disgarded his crutches and could walk nearly perfectly.

Some men are so elegantly religious that you would say they were cut out to be priests.Francie was one such.That is not to say that he was not the most perect of husbands and fathers and grandfathers.He was.

When his nephew Thomas was killed in an accident some years ago ,his funeral Mass was in Dunderry.I  was sick at the time of the Mass and my better half ,by far ,went to the Mass.She was in total awe at the quality and sincerety of the homage the Francie paid to Thomas in the Mass to the extent that she rememnbers it to this day.

He was a geat man for the Rosary and I  have seen a photograph of him praying with members of the Travelling community as a young man.

His nephew Brian is a friend of mine and shares many of his uncles traits ,excluding the fiootball side of things.

His mortal remains will arrive at Rathmore Church this Saturday evening at 5p.m. and the funeral Mass is at 2.00 p.m.tomorrow ,with burial afterwards at the adjoining cemetery.

To his wife Vera ,his daughter Edel ,his son in law Martin cCooroon,his grandchildren and extended family I  offer my sincerest sympathies.

Ar Dheis De go raibh Anam an Fior Gael suid.

The DunderryGAA Club formed a guard of honour,of which Iwas glad to participate, for this devout member of the Legion of Mary on his arrival at the Church.

HATREDOF tRUMP BY RTE AND IRISH PAPERS IS RACIST

I get my news mostly from RTE Radio and Television ,but also look into the BBC and ITV .

I admire both Trump and Boris Johnson.They are nor afraid to put their necks on the chopping block.They have many millions of admirers in their home countries and further afield.

However with Trumph in particular the Irish nedia both electronic and paper based are so biased against him that it is embarrasaing  to  just listen to them spew pure hatred against him and his supporters all of the time.

The bowsie from Ballier ,the slaphead correspondent fot RTE  in the States,the oither non entity whose name I  forget and who is entirely pro Democrat,the Mc Keown wan of the Business Post ,Carol Coleman ,Ryan Tubridy,the blonde from Laoise ,the yoke from Monaghan who thinks he is hilarious and is so unfunny that the only laugh he can raise is when he imitates someone else,the morons who work for the RED TOPS  The saccarine blond and all the pro Democrat commentators ,all of whom never had the balls to run for office themselves ,spew vitriol and sneering hatred at every opportunity at the Republicans and fawningly accept without question whatever  angle the Democrats put forward.

As the Court determined and a subsequent investigation found when the hopelessly run RTE  had to fork out hundreds of thousands to pay for the defamation of a totally innocent Priest there is a poisionous element of group think there.

The thing that binds them is their hatred of a man who values life, in my opinion.

They have a preference for the killers of the living unborn and prefer the culture of death over the culture of life.

Biden is a man for the Plorables rather for deplorables as Hillary described Trumps followers.,

Biden has nothing under his belt and I  sympathise with the States if he wins.

It will be war again all around the world,both on he living and the unborn.He professes to be a Catholic but no Catholic could condone abortion as his Democratic Party does.

I  predict that the World will spiral downhill under the stewardship of him and his allies.