Some Dunderry News

Some Dunderrrians both male and female are under pressure health wise.Prayer is called for.

Seana  Davey formerly of Mayo Sound,was recently on RTE accompanying Mundy as a harpist ..She is some beauty and has oodles of talent.

She had agreed  to perform at the yet again postponed Confirmation Ceremony of Dunderry kids.Another kick in the face for Catholic families all over Ireland.

Maybe if we were Indians or homosexuals we would get fair play with the added bonus of supernumary foereign jobs funded by the taxpayer thrown in.Vide ex  Minister Zappone.s new junket.

The red assassin has struck again in the heart of  Dunderry. Four innocent hens and three innocent ducks have been stolen from my henhose in the Village .leaving nothing but feathers.

Bye bye to fresh eggs for the moment.

Our Claire and her husband Owen Kelly have five daughters like steps of stairs.Three of them played togeth

er on an underage ream which Claire hepls coach.

This happened with Claire and her siblings years ago ,maybe with three of Eugenes Newmans,daughters,maybe with Noel M c C ormacvs three daughters, perhaps with three daughter of Bill Carroll,probably with Sean Mulligan's daughters and definitely with the Dalys of Comnells Cross.

In my own case six of my siblings and I  played against seven Coogan siblings in a grudge match played in Conways field decades ago.

We could field six aside now if we coild walk..Robert has died.Michael Coogan has also joined him in Heaven,

A daughter of Helen Weldon and a daughter of Teresa Rattigan have won All Irelands under 16 wi th Meath Camogie...I trained both mothers decades ago .Congrats.

Lian Coogan a son of Christies and Liam Rattigan  A son of Teresas made the Meath Minor panel in H urling..Googan played at full forward.Rattigan did not get a run.

Both Barry  Callaghan and Sean Kelly got Meath under 20.s out of a hole at short notice when Bernard Flynn and his crew resigned their posts when Andy  MC ENTEE refused to release the two best under 20 players from the Senior panel to play with the under twenties.

Dublin got hard to beat them with the two players sitting in the stasnds wathching the match.I  wasn't at it but am informed by someone who was that with the two players in question .Meath coild have won.

Meath lost both matches,both Seniers and under 20's to Dublin..There must be a lesson  to be learned.

A grandson of Tony Brennan played in goal for the under twenties.He is one for the future.Tony is the only Dunderry man to manage Dunderry  to a Senior final and win it and bne sacked for that achievement.Bizzare if you ask me.He also played with Meath for several years and won ALL iRELANDS as a player and selector.

I am predicting that Barry Callaghan will manage or be a selector with  Meath Seniors within 5 years,following in the footsteps of former Dunderrians Tony Brennan ,and Tommy Dowd junior .Niall Rennicks a Dunderrian managed Wicklow and Carlow also.And Kevin Dowd id the same for the Meath hurlers.

Lar Callaghan is a selector under Cathal O  Bric for the Meath Minor footballers.I hear that 80 minor footballers were called in for trials ,nary a one being from Dunderry..No fear of any accusation of nepotisn m there .

Some achievement manegerialwise for a small rural Club ,when you think about it

I have oodles of grandchildren playing at young ages for Dunderruy at hurling ,Fool tball,Camogie and ladies football.and Claire,Mags and Evan  are involved in coaching I am glad to say.

I have always maitained that any Club worth its salt must cater for its weakest players just as much as it does for its strongest and as a President of Both the GAA Club ansd Camogie Club wili raise this issue with both Executives if I  see it happenning or if I  see  the kids of selectors getting preferential treatment.

People new to the GAA MIGHT NOT GET THIS.

I go to a lot of matches.I f I  miss one of their matches I am et.

 

George Herterich.ob.28/5/2021.

To the people of Dunderry and its surrounds George was known as Georgin Hetridge or affectionately as just Georgin.It was only those of more remote origin who called him George.

All the people of the Curragh Boreen and its surrounds ,where he lived his entire life ,called him Georgin,as did my mother's people the Mc Cormacks,who adored him .

He has looked after the mechanical needs of my Grandfather Paddy Mc Cormack,who never drove either a tractor nor a car but who was an expert on the horse,having drove horses and carts loaded with hay to Dublin's Smithfield for sale to Guinnesses or the British Army in the period 1914 to 1918.

As well as fixing horse drawn machinery for my grandfather ,including a binder ,Georgin welded a step onto the frame of a Raleigh bicycle  to help my granda mount the bike when age caught up with him well into his eighties.

He fixed cars and tractors for all my uncles,Paddy,Jimmy,Tommy and Joe, for me and all my siblings and for all my kids and for my cousins.

Joe never drove a car but loved a Massey 35 ,which he was never out of and which Georgin kept going through thick and thin. Joe had absolute faith in him ,although it wavered once when after giving it to him to fix,he went over to check on his progress and found the engine to be totally dismanteled and all the parts stored in a wheelbarrow."Jasus Davey he said he'll never put it back together again".But he did and it went better than ever .

It was a rule of thumb for my Grandfather,Joe and Tommy,me and my siblings and all of my kids that we always paid him above and beyond what he asked for.

All his customers knew that he worked cheap and was not greedy.Some were so ungrateful that not only did they not pay him but came back afterwars and stole from him.

It is a fact that in his last illness some person or persons of ill breeding,probally customers ,took advantage of his hospital stay to rob his car transporter and a number of batteries,the Curse of God on them.He was mightily upset .

He was born in February of 1945 ,the last years of the Second World War.His father was German and his mother was Maureen Hebert of the Curragh Boreen .His father dropped dead when Georgin was 3 months old and his mother went to Social Welfare in Navan to got assistance as a young widow.

I am reliably informed that she was sneered at by the person she met there and told not to be trying it on.She got nathing and returned to work in the Carpet factory 

The Herberts took in Georgin and raised him.His uncle George had bought the house that Georgin eventually owned from Tommy Farrelly in the 1960,s ,which was formerly a shop.It was devised to Georgin.

The Herberts were more progressive mechanically than the Mc Cormacks in that they owned tractors before them.Not great tractors mind you and it fell to Georgin to keep them going.He told me he was fixing tractors and machinery from the age of six.This is the source of his vast knowledge of all things mechanical..

Later in life he spent an apprenticeship with Peadar Toibin's father in Navan,another genius from whom he learned a lot. 

There was no better man to reconstruct a faulty part from two or three disgarded parts saving you a fortune.For example he could rewire a solenoid or a coil no problem.,a skill learned from Toibin.

When he did go to school he went to Dunderry but told me he rarely attended,not the best of a pupil.

I  would have seen him often 1953 to 1965 when I  lived in Blanchardstown and practicall daily from 1986 until he died .

We got on a well together but were never in each others pockets.I f he was not there and I  passing I  would keep an eye on the place ,going as fas as to challenge visitors as to their business.H e had been robbed several times

Georgin once told me that decades ago a good friend had been put out of his house and had nowhere to stay and sought refuge in his house.Georgin gave it but yer man took to the bed ,bunkered in and refused to move on,despite multiple requests. 

Until he came home one night full of wine and attacked yer man's bed with a chainsaw,yer man being in it.B y the time he started on the third leg yer man was half way to Dunderry.

Georgin never married but was never short of a woman.Women liked him instinctively.The love of his life was Joan Murray from Trim and they lived together for decades.She was some character and he chose to be buried beside her in St.Lomans,where they rest together.

Their relationship was loud  but never violent.The only time I ever heard Georgin cursing was when Joan aggravated him.I f you live near St.Lomans and hear loud noised at night I have a fair idea of their source.

My uncles used tell the story of how Georgin and Joan met up and it went like this.

He was a very inventive sort of guy,for example he made a plane that flew out of scrap parts ,it could fly but he could never get the knack of landing and after a number of near death experirences he lost interest.

But he saw a chance to make a few bob painting hay sheds away from electical sources at a time when generators were scarces than hen's teeth.He invented a sprayer from a combination of a car trailer,a Volkswagon engine ,a compressor and a beer barrell.

Business was brisk and he took on a lady helper and they seemingly fell in love.

He told the Macs he was going to Englant where some of her family lived. to get married.

They waited with baited breath for their return. Home he came allright but with Joan instead of his original intended.

It became clear that she liked a jar and a smoke and it was thought that she brought a few shillings from a divorce over there.She funded a new shed to give him more comfort in his trade but he took little heed.He used the garage to  store parts and continuued to fix all in the open air,hail,rain or shine.His choice.

They settled in to life and on the whole got on well.most of the time.

The outside of the house and garage was fierce untidy and full of used parts,engines etc.Very few knew what the inside was like,but I  did.

I found out when they asked me in for dinner.The house was impeccable inside,.-.there were 4 courese served that day,soup ,main course of meat and veg  and spuds,desert  and cheese ,crakers and tea.

She was some cook and this was not a once off,I  got several more dinners.

Whenever the dinner was ready she used roar at a GEORGIN to come and ate it irrespective of who was in the yard.This was at times a cause of discord.

One such encounter led to a Court Appearance against him caused by her.When the judge heard the facts he dismissed the prosecution .Georgin had had enough of Joan and drove straight home from Navan,leaving her to paddle her own canoe.

That evening the Gardai landed out to him beseeching him to collect her in Navan,where she was on the tear and causing trouble .And so he did.

Mattie Lawless a former friend and neighbour of his ,along with other locals went to Bermuda in the early 80. s to make their fortune.He worked at tarmacadam and they had fierce trouble getting reliable mechanics there.H e begged Geoagin to go over,board and lodgings paid .He refused,preferring the Boreen.

He could and did fix anything from a washing machine to a digger,supertruck and would never see you stuck,ofetn traveek lling miles to get you out of a hole.

My wife Agnes has a brother in law living around London.By coincidence  brother of Joan's landed at theirs to do landscaping one day.Dunderry abu.

Any how this guy ,although of Indian and Portugese origin is very English in some regards .particularly regarding cars.He loves them.

One year while staying with us something went in his practically new Austin.I brought him to Georgin.He made the mistake of judging his machanical genius against his grease monkey appearance and the untideness of his yard.

He left the car for a day  and collected it then expecting the worse.It functioned perfectly.

Being of little faith as soon as he got back to England he went to the marque garage to get the job double checked.The answer he got was "Tell me ,did that guy patent that fitting he made yet,it improves the mechanics involved  hugely on the original fitting."

    This is true.

For a man of slight stature ,he was hugely strong,ofter balancing gear boxes on his knees. Other mechanics came to him when they were fLummoxed.

He loved his fags.Our Davy was passing bye one day and he was roaring in pain rolling around the yard clutching his knee.It transpired that he had been trying to remove thet tyre of the  back wheel of a tractor with a bar and a sledge while standing on the rim ,had slipped while swinging the sledge and busted his knee.

Davy got him up ,sat him down and asked if he wanted water ,"Just light me a fecking fag "said he.

He was avery courageous guy ,despite his small stature and was afraid of no one.Before WE moved down here to live himself,myself Joe and Tommy went to Trim for  a drink.Sitting together we were having the best of fun,when an off duty Guard came into the pub and was nasty to him.Loudly nasty and sneeringly nasty.

Pulling himself to his full height and putting his cheast out he said"Since you come all you have done is persecuted me for no reason ,now its time you fucked off."He was applauded and a chastened Guard did fuck off.

Georgin did not like Guards and certain Guards did not like him.

He was not sporty but in the 1980's himself and Oliver Travers  gave vouchers for services and  indeed money for helmets or hurleys to me for GAA purposes ,no big deal to them.Decent men that they were.

Possibly the worst golf team ever to play was for a Dunderry GAA Classic decades ago in Blighs course in Trim,Georgin,Leather Callaghan and myself.All three of us were brutal,together we were a disaster.Georgin used place himself above the ball and swing the club like a clock pendelum lowering it down progressively until it made contact with the ball ,driving iy at best 10 yards.

By the time we reached the 17th.hole everybody,including a ladied team of two over 80's had passed us by.Just after hitting off on the 18th.another ladies team roared at us rather aggressively to make way No said Leather."But ye let the last Ladies through." "But they were ladies SAID lEATHER." 

Georgin was the kindest of men.Once while a passenger of him coming up the boreen ,he suddenly braked and got out of the car.He picked up a barely feathered chick that had fallen from the branches and put it back up on a branch.He was pro life entirely and would never kill any defenceless unborn human being.

He was  not as classically educated as say Peter Boylan ,former Master of Holles Street.nor Varadkar,Martin,Ryan and all his Greena nor the mutton headed fella from Tipp who has turned Labour into a death squad for the unborn,nor that Mary Lou who has a cheek maintaining that she is the successor of the men and women who fought for Independence.

He had more nature in his pinkeen than they HAVE IN THEIR COMBINED BODIES.

He was not a great man to go to Mass but did entertain the Jehovas Witnesses.He never ran down Catholics nor other Christians. 

As far as I  am concerned he had an inate decency and always did the right thing without fear or favour

He once told me that the biggest let down he had was one Christmas DAY WHEN HE WAS LYING IN BED WITH DOUBLE PNEUMONIA ,a so caaled customer walked into the bedroom asking would he get up and fix his car.

Towards the end I  used joke with him that the gravediggers would want to fill in the grave quickly because some person might knock on it asking could he fix their car.He used grin.

Johnny Griffin ,his great friend spent three days before his death running potential customers from his yard and advising they go elsewhere.

Two days before he died I  got a premonition that he was on the way to God and went over to his half brother.s Brendan Mc  ConnellS house ,who together with his wife Marie a nursing sister and their two daughters he lived with this  last six tears and who nursed him to perfection the last 7 months of his life .

It was about mid day and he was asleep so I  left,knowing full we would not meet again.

At Georges request I  visited Joan in Hospital two days before she died.Both knew that I had the cure of bleeding and I  prayed for her.I asked her how she was."    Im dying ya fecking eejit " .I left a Rosary beads under her pillow.

I  was fortunate enough to be asked to join his entourage from the house.A crowd of neighbours had gathered at the top of tyhe lane and clapped his hearse.All of Dunderry turned out to clap him through.

Just what you would expect for a kind,deceny .well grounded  gentleman.

I  saw him last about a week before he died.H e was taking a pull on a cigarettr.H e died as he lived.

On my behalf and that of my entire family I  offer my sympathies to his half siblings,Michael,Brendan and Seamus,Mary,Margaret and Geraldine and all his inlaws and friends,and to the relatives of Alfie,who predeceased him.

As a matter of historical interest George and his current partner at the time attended the weddings of my six married children.I am proud of thiss

Ar Dheis De go Raibh a hanam dilis.

George loved his mother Maureen unconditionally all of her life.She was active until her mid nineties.She.

 was a hardy old bird and it is certain that herself and Georgin are comparing notes in Heaven.

At one stage Joan took over Georges business and launched a solo career in the car business.She had a young guy in the yard doing what she directed.He knew less about cars than she did.The venture lasted about 2 weeks.In this time she ran from the yard those she deemed to be bad payers,using the most colorful language.

Georgin had a unique modus operandi ,which can best explained by the following experience I suffered .

One winter's night,with the rain pelting  down there was a loud rap on the window of the bedroom we slept in in our Dunderry bungalow.(Our friends knew to knock on the window rather than the door).I answered to be greeted by the sight of Joan,soaked to the bone,wearing a fur coat,her makeup and miscara streaked down her face,and carrying a lady dog ,asking for shelter.Trying to contain my mirth I  asked her in and she said to me ."that little bollix I am married to fixes everybodies car in the country except mine.I was driving home from my , mothers in Trim and the car went dead outside the B and I and I had to walk the three miles since and the fucking dog won't walk in the puddles,I have had to carry him here."

We fed her and dried her and left her h home.

When I  was turning in the yarrd she instructed me to wait.She wanted to see Georgin.He might need a lift.She wnt in swinging and my friend scuttled into my car amidst a hail of crocery.I  put the foot to the metal and headed for the B and I. and towed him home.

He had ,it emerged,swapped the good battery in Jaon's car  for a bad one in the car of a customer because they needed the money and not told her..

Still he loved her and she him.Takes all types.

The ship that never sailed she never sank.

You'll never get out of this world alive.

 

 

 

Beloved Former Dunderry priest hangs up his boots.

Those of us who competed in football in the late 1960s and into the seventies in Jack Conway's field will remember with with fondness Father Casey,a curate here who fitted in exactly with Dunderry Gaels.

He woyuld land in the field ,roll up his breeches and compete with everybody for the ball,no mercy sought nor given.He would burst you with a shoulder and when you got him back he would just grin at you and invite in on again.

He was agreat supporter of the Dunderry Team and loved by one and all.

Many's the time he was asked beack to Dunderry functions after he left for Casnaross and he always turned up.He loved Dunderry and its people and would even cheer for them if playing Carnaross ,where he got fully immersed in the CAA Club down there.He mina istered in the USA,ENGLAND,Dunboyne,Castletown Fitzpatrick,,Drumraney,and Kinnegad.

I am fairly sure that I  saw him on a trip to Lourdes a few years ago.

H e was a good man and died in his 90th year.on the trhird of June.

I d say that it broke his heart to hear all the Political Parties and other secularists queue up ,teeth dripping with hate against Catholicism,seeking to maxiimise the number of unborn and defenceless babies they could murdrer .to satisfy Satan.and his minnions.

I have no doubt but that he will ask Jesus to send them to the pit of Hell for eternity.

Ar Dheis De go raibh a Hanam DILIS.

Death of Molly Fay on 23/03/2021

The matriach of Dunderry GAA Club and  A PURE LADY died on 22/03/2021 after being persecuted by the virus I underatand.Her funeral was delayed for a fortnight as a consequence.

The earliest memory I have of Lawless Cross and its environs is somewhere in the early 1960's and is of a game of Dunderry handball being played at the Cross.

The unique rules of this game was that the court was about 30 yards long the width of the road with a dividing line in the middle..

Like tennis there were serves and the hand was used to proplel the ball.The number on each Team was variable and there was money at stake.

The idea was to strike the ball into thre opponents half by hopping it there and the skill was to do it in such a way that they could not return it to your half ping it within your lines.

There was little trafic then and any that did come during a hotly contested game had to just wait until a break in service..

Even at that young age I  was impressed with the seriousness of the game and totally aware that the most sarious honour a GAA Player could attain was to represent his County..Phil Fay who lived at the  Cross was and is Dunderry's favourite Longford man.

I remember that he was selected for Longford in a Navan match on  certain Sunday and was invilved in a handball game the same Sunday which ran up against match time.

He finished the handball game behore he headed off ,running the match time a very slender time gap.

It was probably the this code of honour which lead to a successful conclusion to his courtship of Molly Costello who was at the match and undoubtedly noticed his athlethic prowess

.Lawless Cross was the epicentre of Dunderry GAA at the time.You had Phil Fay ,the Newmans,the Callaghans,the Lawlesses ,the Fatleys,the Cregans ,the Conatys,the Conways,the Healys, ,the Mc Cormacks,the Nallys,the Dufftys  and Tom ;Lawless and Dolly and Thomas Duignanall withih a mile of the Cross.

Jack Conway gave the Clugb the field for games.All the Mc Cormacks for at least two generations back played with Dunderry,my uncle Tommy being Chair for three decades at least.

Tom Lawlesses' daughter Mary  ,the closest friend Molly ever had married Paddy Kavanach ,a fine player who refeered

n All Ireland Final after wards.Their son is Chairman of the Meath County Board.

Mary stayed in our  house in Blanch. as a child on holidays.

I learned my football in Conways field and made my Junior debut with Eugene Newman against Martrty in Navan  aged 16 years.

Lawless Crosx was indeed a Shangrs La for all about it and central to it was the calming and utterly goodness of Molly Fay.

She had a geat heart ,was as honest as the day is long ,as calm as you would like ,a great listener and she could spot a spoofer a mile waway.

Her and Phil were the first I  always visited and sought advice from when I suspected odd things impinging on the Club.They were the souls of discretion and wise totally.

For years now Molly and Phil attended Dunderry Mass ,he praying at one side of the Church and she at the other.Just so.

I would say that she didn't miss a Dyunderry Match for decvades,Phil brought her everywhere to attend.He always parked at a place with a good view ,as she took it all in and could discuss it with knowledge.

She was a great friend to Josie Travers ,Marie O Brien ,her cousins and Mary Cregan.They were well able to skull a few ladylike pints when in form and I  often met them out.

When I  came here to live in 1986 her son Phil was such an outstanding footballer and hurler  so that when he played well,which was most of the time,dunderry played well as a team.She did not miss any matches then nor afterwards and never bragged about either the feats of either her son nor indeed her husband.

Her daughter Marina was killed in a car accident near her home and Molly carried this burden until she died.

Not only she but her brother Joe ,were totally immersed in the GAA.

 Before I  came here I  saw Joe with an Ultan's team in St.Brigids my former Club.

Purely by coincidence ,or maybe not,her niece married anothe Fay,Darren ,probably the best footballer to play at full back for Meath.

I know her son Phil fairly well .All the qualitied both she and her husband posses are present in spades in him ,his wife Edel and his daughters Tara and and Eimear ,who ply thrir Camogie trades with my daughter Mags in O  Mahony's.

On behalf of myself,my extended familly,Dunderty GAA Club,of which Phil is a trustee and President all the Gaels of this Parish and indeed further afield I  exptend my fullest symparthies.

Ar Dheis De go raibh a hANAM dILIS. 

 

 

 

 

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.