Listowel Connection

This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com

A Communion, A Book and a Beloved Priest

By

On May 2, 2024

In Listowel, Personal

Field of Rapeseed at Glenlohane outside Kanturk in April 2024

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I was at Cian’s First Holy Communion

On Saturday April 27 2014 I was back in the church where I was married, St. Mary’s in Castlemagner. I’m from Kanturk but from the parish of Castlemagner which stretches right into the town of Kanturk.

The church is small but very well cared for. This is the Easter altar display.

When you attend a family occasion back in your old place you inevitable meet old friends and neighbours. Will Collins came from Donegal for his niece’s communion. Will’s parents, Peggy and Willy are dear neighbours to my Kanturk family.

I met Catherine Fitzpatrick and Abbie Kelly, two ladies I had not met since my schooldays.

The man of the moment, Cian Ahern with his dad, William, and his grandad, Pat, my brother.

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Sports Writing

As followers of Listowel Connection will realise, sport is not a topic I touch on often. It is well outside my area of expertise.

Good writing is something I always appreciate. Some of the best writing is often found in sports journalism.

I love this witty snippet from Joe Brolly on the dangers of calling your child after your favourite song.

If you have no idea what Joe, from Derry, is talking about, then just move on.

I found this book in the library swap box. I only know a small bit about this ex footballer and pundit but I thought he might have something interesting to say. He does but a lot of it is delivered in a very critical tone. However, this next piece is pure poetry so I’m sharing it with you.

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Fr. Kieran O’Shea R.I.P.

from Knocknagoshel Phoenix 2007

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Babóg na Bealtaine

In a very old may custom a May Baby was fashioned from straw and decorated with rags and ribbons and used to decorate the May bush. The May Bush was never a whitethorn even though this shrub was usually in full bloom in May. The whitethorn was thought to be unlucky and people did not bring it indoors.

The May Bush could be a furze or other flowering shrub. Yellow is the colour of May and many of the flowers that bloom on May are yellow- furze, buttercups, marigolds, primroses and cowslips.

The beautiful rapeseed fields in Glenlohane are a modern take on the yellow theme.

Everywhere you look here is a sea of green and gold.

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A Fact

In 1752 The British Isles moved from the old Julian calendar to the Gregorian one. In that year September 2 was followed by Sept. 14.

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May Day

By

On May 1, 2024

In History, Listowel

Wild garlic in Gurtinard in April 2024

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Today is May 1 2024

Mayday, according to tradition is a day when the fairies are up to mischief. They might steal dairy produce or even children at this time so it was a time for vigilance.

May day was also the day for the hiring fair. Extra labour would be needed for saving the hay and cutting the turf so men in search of work came into town to meet up with potential employers.

“Im’ spailpín fánach fágadh mise

Ag seasamh ar mo shláinte…”

May was a time for the young and the strong. May poles, bonfires, May queens are symbols of this time of year.

In Ireland we have turned the tables and Bealtaine is a time for celebrating age and maturity.

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Thomas F. O’Sullivan

Who was Thomas F. O’Sullivan who trolled John J Foley in the pages of the Kerry newspapers for a short time in 1901?

In my opinion he is a man who should have known better. He let himself down badly in continuing to torment a popular local entertainer.

If you have ever taken one of Vincent Carmody’s informative walking tours you will have heard of this man. He was a very well respected journalist, so highly regarded that there was a suggestion that he deserved a memorial erected in his memory. His best known work is his history of the GAA

Here is what David O’Sullivan found about him.

O’Sullivan was born in Listowel in 1874. He developed an early interest in the GAA and in 1893 at the age of nineteen became secretary of the newly formed Listowel Temperance Football Team. In 1899 he became secretary of the Listowel GAA. He was appointed county secretary after the Kerry board was reformed in 1900. In 1903 he was appointed president of the Munster GAA council. He continued as secretary of the Kerry board until he moved to Dublin to write for the Freeman’s Journal in 1907. O’Sullivan held a number of positions for that newspaper, including a spell as parliamentary correspondent in London from 1916, until its demise in 1924. His Story of the GAA (1916) was the first ever history of the association.

O’Sullivan wrote several books and was a frequent contributor to The Kerryman.

John J. Foley passed away in 1941

Our thanks are due to Christan Bush, whose email sparked our interest in this local spat.

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Commemorative Seats in Town

Listowel, like many Irish towns has come up with ways of remembering local people who we loved and lost. One of these ways is the placing of seats in memory of the loved one in the park or by the river.

Here are a few I see regularly on my walk.

Along the banks of the Feale are these two;

My picture of the tree is dark and shadowed even though the day was sunny.

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A Favourite Poem

Mossbawn or Gneeveguilla, poet or storyteller, we all mine our childhood experiences for inspiration.

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A Fact

Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the sun.

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The Saga of Thade Kelly’s Hin (continued)

By

On April 30, 2024

In Listowel

St. Michael’s graveyard in April 2024

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Trees in the Park

This beautiful cherry blossom is in the pitch and putt course.

I met Denis O’Rourke on his morning walk. I photographed him against the backdrop of this magnificent tree.

This one will forever remind me of picnics in the park during Covid.

This fairly bare one is in the middle of the car park.

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Thade Kelly’s Hen and the furore that followed

You’ll have to go back to yesterday’s post for the text of the poem and what David O’Sullivan found about the poet.

David discovered a very interesting joust in the papers between Foley (poet) and OSullivan (journalist) as to the merits or demerits of the ballad of the hen.

Here is some of the marvellous commentary in the newspapers of the time, mainly The Kerry Sentinel.

In October 26 1889 Foley got a good review from his own Tralee paper,

In March 1901 at a big Listowel Concert, Foley was going grand while he was singing familiar songs by other composers. However his encore, his own composition, Thade Kelly’s Hen, drew the ire of a local journalist who was prompted to write (anonymously) to the paper. Foley took offence and replied in his own defence.

Back came ” Your Correspondent’s” reply

The boys were going at it hammer and tongs in the local paper when, from beyond the Ganges, a retired Captain O’Sullivan enters the debate. He launches his scud at the poor hin while writing at a temperature of 105 degrees

But who was this Thomas F. O’Sullivan who took such exception to poor Foley’s attempt at local humour?

Dave found that out too and I’ll tell you tomorrow.

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May Eve

In the old Celtic belief, the new day began a sunset, so Bealtaine began on May Eve, April 30. Bealtaine celebrates the return of the light after the dark days of Winter. It is the first day of summer and traditionally it was celebrated with dancing and feasting.

The Christian tradition built on the old Celtic one and May became the month of Our Lady. May altars were built and decorated and processions were held in honour of the Blessed Virgin.

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A Fact

In some parts of Ireland where a lot of store is set by folk cures, a man who had never seen his father was thought to have a cure for many ailments.

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A Poet’s Hen, a Memorial and some Gaeilge

By

On April 29, 2024

In Listowel

Centra and Circle K in Cahirdown

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Gaeilge

Irish on Listowel Streets from a TY project in 2007

Gaeilge ag Seachtain na Scríbhneoirí 2024;

An Satharn Meitheamh 1

Cúirt Filíochta: Irish language poetry event. Filí na Gaeilge ag léamh a gcuid filíochta. Eagraithe ag Matt Ó Maonaigh, cléireach na Cúirte, i gcomhar le Seachtain na Scríbhneoirí, le Glór na nGael Lios Tuathail agus le tacaíocht Oifig na Gaeilge, Comhairle Co. Chiarraí.

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Thade Kelly’s Hen

A man called John Foley lived in Tralee at the turn of the century.

“It seems John J Foley was also an established painter and decorator based in Moyderwell, Tralee. In 1901 he was aged 34 and lived with his wife Martha (Knowling) and family. He died in April 1941, obit attached listing his active part in the town’s social activities including choirs, musical and philharmonic society.(account from 1889 attached). He is buried in Rath Cemetery, Tralee. He appears to be well established performer and famed in amateur circles for his performances.” David O’Sullivan.

One hundred years later a lady called Christan Bush in Georgia in the USA is doing a doctorate on Victorian literature. Her professor encourages her to study “unknown” writers from the period. Christan loves Ireland so she decided to research an unknown Irish poet.

Here the two stories converge. John J. Foley, as well as a performer was a writer of comic verses.

Where does Listowel Connection come in?

Every now and again Jer. Kennelly sends me snippets from old newspapers. One such snippet contained an account of a concert in Listowel in 1901 at which John Foley recited his poem, Thade Kelly’s Hen.

Christan found the text of the poem in an old Cork Examiner and here it is….

Now Christan had the poem but nothing about the poet. Enter our good friend and super researcher, David O’Sullivan.

Thade Kelly’s Hen garnered an amount of notoriety in these parts between March and April of 1901 due to a correspondence in the newspapers between Foley and Thomas F. O’Sullivan of Listowel, who took exception to the poem. David has researched it all for us and I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.

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Lest We Forget

Heads bowed in reverence, a staggering 1,475 giants now stand among the fields of the British Normandy Memorial, overlooking Gold Beach. 

: S. Frères / Normandy Tourism 

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A Fact

The time around Bealtaine was regarded by the Celts as a liminal time, a time when the spirit world and the earth world were close. At this time people who were in league with evil inhabitants of the spirit world could invoke their help to harm their neighbours. This belief was known as Piseogs.

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The Pen is Mightier

By

On April 26, 2024

In Listowel

KDYS Young Centre in April 2024

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Maurice Walsh Memorial Event in 1995

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Gaeilge ar Sráideanna Lios Tuathail

A 2007 school project

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A Soldier of The Great War

This is the flag of The Royal Munster Fusiliers

Eamonn Dillon found this Listowel man on a Fusiliers internet site.

2nd LT. EDWARD JAMES KEANE, 8th BATTALION
Joined the 8th Battalion as a 2nd Lieutenant in France on the 27th of August 1916. Wounded at the Battle of Ginchy, on the Somme, 9th September 1916. We do not hear of him with the Munsters after this but a Lt. E.J. Keane was placed on the Royal Air Force ‘unemployed list’ in December 1919. His home address, on his medal index card, was ‘The Square, Listowel, Co. Kerry.’

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Ballyseede Castle

I was in Ballyseede Castle for lunch last week. What a treat to feel like an aristocrat for a few hours.

It’s a beautiful place inside and out.

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A Fact

Before Christianity came to Ireland in the 5th century A.D., the year in Ireland was divided into quarters. This is often referred to as the Celtic calendar. The first days in these quarters, February 1, May 1, August 1 and November 1 were referred to as “gale days” and were the days on which the rent had to be paid.

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