Category: HERITAGE
-
Dunboyne St Patrick’s Day Parade 2025
Brief highlights of the first St Patrick’s Day Parade in the village since before the Covid-19 Pandemic. As Grand Marshall of the first Dunboyne parade back in 2013, it was a source of great pride and entirely fitting for yours truly that our local Special Olympics hero Emma Costello was Grand Marshall for the town’s…
-
The page of history turns in bid to Folly Master(s)
A nondescript handicap, curtain raiser to a mundane midweek card with a €6,000 cut to the winner is unlikely to remain in the minds of many for long. Yet it provided a moment of history. The turning of a page. Beginning the next chapter in the most glorious anthology in the history of Irish sport.…
-
Irish eyes smiling in sunny Spain
It could probably be fairly safely ventured that there is some sort of organised GAA activity in most corners of the world at this stage. And as has been stated on numerous occasions in this space over the years, these things are always more relatable when a bit of a personal connection – however tenuous…
-
The seat of the High Kings – but no room for this seat
Tara – mere mention of the place sets the senses alight. Especially if you happen to be a subject of the Royal County. From Paddy Reilly’s haunting rendition of The Harp That Once to Sean Boylan’s legendary training sessions on the Hill, a golf club that’s one of the great sporting institutions in the county…
-
The Man Over The Bridge
I’ve been here before. Different computer, but the same scenario. Cursor flashing ominously on a blank screen. No idea where to begin. The intended subject matter is the same. Albeit in a different context, yet no less emotionally difficult to do. Now read on… Perhaps ironically, it’s nearly 15 years to the day. An occurrence…
-
Green shoots should stave off kneejerk reactionism
Whenever a person passes to the great beyond, there’s a period of reflection. If one happens to close to the deceased, everything gets magnified. Personally, there’s been far too much of it over the last year or two. Those close to me will know the ones which have taken the biggest chunk out of the…
-
Honouring the past while motoring towards the future
Tradition – and to be more specific the upholding thereof – is key to the life of any community. And to ensuring communities survive and prosper from generation to generation. Recently, an article was encountered detailing the history Tory Island in Co Donegal has of producing talented artists. Think also of the match making in…