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

Tag: Billy Keane Page 1 of 14

Some Local Lore

Kanturk, my hometown. was looking good when I visited last week.

A Few More from the Launch of Moments of Reflection

Billy and Owen having a chat

The McKenna family from Newbridge made the trip to be part of the event.

My old knitting club friends, Mary and Maria

Liz and Jim Dunn with their page from the book

Remember this?

I found this on the internet and there was no location given. Queues like this were once a familiar sight at every creamery in the country.

At the bookclub in Kanturk Library

I called in to tell my Kanturk friends that I will be launching my book in The Temperance Hall in Kanturk on October 24 at 7.30

A Treasure from Jer Kennelly’s Knockanure blog

HISTORY OF THE HILLS AND VALLEYS THAT SURROUND KNOCKANURE CHURCH YARD

                          By John Murphy.

The churchyard on Knockanure hill encircled by a large field affords a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. Rich in natural beauty history and local lore.

Here is a roofless church where people prayed over 400 years ago. Down by the side of the hill is friars field in Barretts land where some Dominican monks found shelter after the Cromwellian wars and lived there up to around 1804. Just a few fields away is the memorial to the three men who died at Gortaglanna. Pat Dalton, Paddy Wash and Lyons from Duagh the white cross marking where Mick Galvin was killed in the Kilmorna ambush of 1921 can be seen a short distance away.

The broad wooded valley of the Feale. ..The wood is the only thing that is left of the beautiful oO’Mahony Estate. The great house went up in smoke. Its resident at the time, Sir Arthur Vicars, was shot dead. The river Feale flows in a graceful curve before it seems to lose itself forever in the woods of Ballinruddery, the home of the knight of Kerry. The castle still stands proudly in all its ruined glory. One old manuscript relates that the river got its name from Princess Fial. Out of modesty she went into deep water to avoid a gaze of a man and was drowned. Her husband, a prince, decided to name the river in her memory.

On the hill of Duagh can be seen a grove surrounded by a ditch. This is a Killeen, a burial place of unbaptised infants. Gorge Fitzmaurice, the playwright, lived near Duagh village. His plays portray the life style of the north Kerry rural scene a hundred years ago.

In the hill beyond Duagh the river Smerla has its source. It flows down to meet the river Feale near Listowel. In 8 miles of its fertile valley, some 40 young men answered the call to the priesthood mostly in the 1920s to the 1950s period. In their youth they fished the Smerla. They became fishers of souls all over the world.

On their farm in Ballyduhig on Smearla hill lived a leader of the Wexford insurgents of 1798. His wife was Jane Foulks. She eloped with McKenna. One of their daughters married William Leahy of Benanaspug. Jane Foulks is believed to be buried in Kilsinan cemetery.

Looking east, a ring of hills enclose the valley of the Infant River Gale the village of Athea is hidden from view by Knockbawn . The Limerick border is just two miles from Knockanure Churchyard. Names such as Mullanes, Histons, Sheahons and many others from Athea townlands are engraved on headstones within the cemetery.

Pages of History could be filled of the exploits of Con Colbert who died in 1916, Paddy Dalton who was killed at Gortaglanna, the Ahern brothers of Direen who beat all comers at the Olympic games nearly one hundred years ago.  Professor Danaher an authority on antiquity, Fr Tim Leahy whose book beyond tomorrow gives a colourful account of his youth in Athea and his many adventures as a priest in China.  According to historical records the hills of Glenagraga, Knocknaclogga, Knockfinisk, Rooska must have been devastated during the Desmond rebellion of 1580. One account states that in a wood near Clounlehard three hundred men women and children were killed.  Looking towards the north we have a good view of all that was left of the O Connor heritage at the time of Cromwell from being the chief of all north Kerry the were reduced to the lands of Ballylongford Tarbert, Moyvane and Knockanure.  The remaining O Connor land was confiscated and given to Trinity College.  John O Connor was hanged in Tralee.  Teig O Connor was hanged in Killarney along with Fr Moriarty.

The Sandes were appointed land agents for Trinity College.  Outlined near the bright waters of the Shannon the battered castle of the O Connors can be seen.  When it surrendered in 1580 its garrison of about sixty were hanged. 

In the Abbey of Lislaughtin nearby three aged monks were murdered.  A tragedy of a different nature accrued here in 1830 when the Colleen Bawn was taken in a boat trip to her death on the waters of the Shannon.  On a clear day the ruins can be seen on Scattery Island.  The tallest skyscrapers in Ireland pierce the sky on the Clare coast, the chimneys of Moneypoint also the lesser ones of Tarbert. 

Ballylongford can claim one of the men of 1916 the O Rahilly.  In a low-lying part of Moyvane where floods once almost submerged his home lived Eddy Carmody he was shot by the tans in Ballylongford in 1921. His nephew is a bishop in the U.S.A. Another Moyvane bishop Collins in Brazil.  One of those green fields brings back memories of the many great football matches played there. Moyvane was the homeland of all Ireland players Con Brosnan son Jim, John Flavin, Tom Mahony and the O Sullivan’s.                                                                                            

There where the Anomaly flows to meet the Gale half mile from Moyvane village was born the father of Tom Moore, Ireland best known poet of the last century.  Having attended local hedge schools, he settled down in Dublin.  One of Tom Moore’s poems, by the Feales waves was said to be composed at Kilmorna on a visit to Pierce O Mahony. It relates the tale of romantic love, when the young Earl of Desmond having lost his way, entered the home of a man called McCormack he fell in love with his daughter. When they married, they were forced to immigrate to France.

“Love came and brought sorrow with ruin in its train,

But so deep that tomorrow I’d face it again.”

All the Moore’s are said to be related. The white Boys were active in the district during the early 1800 a suspected Whiteboy was arrested at Keylod he was hanged at Knockanure village. The upturned shafts of a car was the Scaffold. Blake lived where Lyons Funeral Home now stands. In fact, he gave his name to the cross. He was singled out to be shot.  He was usually seen through the window at nightfall reading in the parlour. It was decided to shoot him while he read. Lucky for him an informer told him of the plot. He dressed a dummy, placed it in the parlour, hid himself in a bush outside the window and waited for the Whiteboy. It is claimed that Blake shot the man who attempted to shoot the dummy in the parlour. Blake is buried here in Knockanure, no trace of the tomb now remains.

A relative of his, the most famous Kerryman of all time Field Marshall Lord Horatio Kitchener was born at Gunsboro, grew up at Crotta near Lixnaw. He was a remarkable man. One of the great generals of his time. He died at sea after his ship was torpedoed in 1916.

On crossing the fort Lisafarran the veiw westwards opens up. This fort was planted with oak in days gone by. Other forts in the area Lisnabro, Lisapuca, Lisheendonal and Lisroe. Many more forts have disappeared  over the years the large fertile land that surround the church yard was the Glebe or church lands.

Just a mile a way  spreading far and wide is the bog of Moinveanlaig.The story goes like this a troup of solders were lured into the bog by a piper hidden in a deep hole. The soldiers were attacked and most of them were killed the crying of the wounded and the dying who were left to die for days gave the name to the bog, The bog of the crying, in Irish moinveanlaig..It was thought that was to this bog that Con Dee ran for his life. He had already jumped several ditches, ran across half a dozen fields. picked up a bullet wound in the leg, ran in the front door of a house in the bog lane and ran out the back, asked for a cup of water but did not wait.When he reached Coilbee he was rescued by Donal Bil Sullivan.

A month later Jack Sheahan of Coilbee ran into the bog when he saw a lorry of solders, several shots were fired at him but missed. Finally at five hundred yards he was shot. Today a cross marked the spot Knockanore hill shut off the view of the mouth of the river Shannon. Close by in Asdee lived the ancestors of the famous American outlaw, Jesse James. Jesse finally met a violent death shot by one of his own.

THE POET SAYS:

Breathe there a man with soul so dead.

Who never to himself hath said

This is my own my native land

The pleasure of standing on a hill such as this

The pleasure of projecting associations that surround us

The events tho sad they’re of the past.

John Murphy

http://www.geocities.ws/dalyskennelly_2000/churchyard.ht

A Fact

The Lartigue monorail between Listowel and Ballybunion ceased its run 100 years ago.

<<<<<<<<

The Mona, Turf Room Heater

Listowel Arms Hotel, venue for the launch of Moments of Reflection on Saturday September 21 at 7.00pm

A Little Birthday Celebration

I happened to be in Lizzie’s Little Kitchen when Billy’s friends, Cora, Liz and Mags were helping him to celebrate his birthday.

It’s hard to see in my picture, but there is a candle on his slice of apple tart.

Happy Days!

Do you remember Bunty?

A Lesson in a Poem

From the Archives

THE ADVOCATE New York, Saturday, January 7, 1961

Mr. Jack McKenna, Listowel, and Mr. Paddy McElligott, Castleisland, were among the businessmen from all parts of Ireland who attended the trade exhibition of the new Mona Peat-Briquette Room Heater developed in conjunction with Bord na Mona by Waterford Iron founders Ltd., at the Royal Hibernian Hotel, Dublin, on Tuesday last.

HOW bogland had changed, through native development, from a symbol of poverty to a source of national wealth, was stressed by Mr. Joseph Brennan, T.D., Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, with special responsibility for the Board of Works, speaking at the Waterford Iron founders’ presentation of the ” Mona ” room heater to the Press and the trade in Dublin this week.

Eclipse, Look what my Nana did?

Róisín gives Eclipse a sneak peak before the launch on September 21.

A Fact

Penguins have an organ, near the eye, that filters salt from the water out of their system.

<<<<<<<<<

Visitors and a Concert

Schiller in The Garden of Europe in June 2024

Welcome Visitors

My three children and some of their children in John Paul 11 cemetery last weekend.

It’s lovely to have family come to visit. My grandchildren are at the stage where tennis, horse riding, football, golf, weekend jobs and other activities get in the way of weekends in Kerry. Aoife, the youngest is freer than her older cousins.

Aoife loves the library almost as much as I do.

We met a local celebrity, Billy Keane, on our walk around town. Billy had just returned to work after nipping out for a packet of biscuits to have with his cuppa. He generously shared his snack with Aoife.

We rested on the Michael Dowling seat at Kerry Writers’ Museum.

We took photos at many of the landmarks.

Aoife was unwilling to get into the o of the Lios Tuathail sculpture. She will yet.

A Poem by John Fitzgerald

This deceptively simple poem probes the dilemma faced by many, the awful choice, to treat or not to treat.

“How precious is a single day,” indeed.

I was in The Marquee

Ireland seems to be concert central this summer. My gang are going to Taylor Swift this weekend. The bracelets are made already.

Three and four concerts in a week is not unusual for the big cities in summer 2024.

The selfie went a but awry but I was trying to show that we started with our preshow supper in the Marina Market. This was a first for me too.

This is a fast food hall that started with food trucks during Covid but has now expanded into a huge indoor and outdoor food court. There is a huge variety of fast food available. Anne, who is a sometimes visitor, has her favourites among the vendors. It was really busy on the Friday night we visited.

This is Anne at The Marquee, which is just a 5 minute walk from the Marina Market.

Mick Flannery on stage. He was fantastic. I’m more used to him singing soulfully on his own or with Susan O’Neill so the big sound he brought to this show took a bit of getting used to for me.

A small gripe from my first concert. My daughter, who was treating me, bought seated tickets but apparently people with seat tickets can choose to stand nearer the stage if they like. They can wander down to the standing area and back to their seats as often as they like. Also drink is served throughout the concert and of course liquid in, liquid out, so there is a constant trek to the bar and to and from the toilets. This is all part of the concert experience, I’m told.

A Bit of History

On the 25th of March 1923 Private Hayes of Óglaigh na hÉireann/National Forces was accidently shot dead when challenged by a sentry at Newtownsandes County Kerry. Hayes was a native of Killarney County Kerry.

A Fact

The strongest muscle in the human body is the masseter, the jaw muscle.

<<<<<<<<

St. Patrick’s Day cards

Listowel Fire Station in March 2024

St. Patrick’s Day Cards from An Post

A Post have come up with a scheme that seemed to me like a great idea when I heard about it on the radio.

You go to the An Post website and you choose to send a St. Patrick’s Day card. You are given a choice of categories and then you will be given an AI generated image for your card. You write your greeting, the name and address of the recipients. Then you pay €4 and An Post will print and deliver the card anywhere in the world.

Brilliant!

I have these lovely friends whom you met here before. They are Wolfgang and Anita Mertens. They live in Germany. They love Ireland. Since I met them for the first time last year they have kept in touch and send me greetings, cards, photos and stuff.

So I set to make my greeting card for them.

Wolfgang is a scholar in the field of Anglo Irish literature. His special field of interest is the work of Listowel’s Bryan MacMahon. So the first category I chose was “literature” and the above card is what AI generated. Not so much literature. Lots of Paddywhackerry…rainbow, pots of gold, four leaved clovers masquerading as shamrocks. It was just short the leprechauns. I was definitely not choosing that one.

So next I chose the category St. Bridget’s Cross. The AI bot who made the above didn’t know too much about Saint Brigid since she numbered a pot of gold, a guitar and tricolour among her assorted artefacts at the foot of her very elaborate high cross. I rejected this one too.

I settled for my third and final choice, green landscape. Not very Irish but very very green. I thought I detected a few camels at the foot of those pyramids but who am I to question AI?

An Post had better up its game or I won’t be going there for my Easter cards.

I met Two Famous Men

At lunch in Behan’s last Thursday I ran into Billy Keane and Michael Healy Rae having a chat. I disturbed them to bring you this.

From Pres. Yearbook 1988

1987/88 was a great year for sport in the school. There were many exceptionally talented basketballers and footballers among the pupils.

A Very Grim Fact

1740 to 1742 was the longest period of extreme cold in modern European history.

With rivers frozen, coal could not be delivered to ports, Animals and fish died. Birds fell dead out of the sky, having been frozen to death in flight. Starvation and hypothermia killed thousands of people.

<<<<<<<

Winners

Main Street in July 2023

<<<<<<<<<<<<<

A Piece of GAA History with a Listowel Connection

A gaelic football team from New York, composed entirely of US-born players, won the All-Ireland Junior Championship on July 16 vs. Kilkenny. The captain of the team, Danny Corridan, is the son of Listowel native, Richard Corridan. Rich is the son of the late Dr. Robert & Ella Corridan of The Square, and he emigrated to New York in 1983, where he still resides.

Rich was one of the early members of Shannon Gaels GAA, a Queens-based GAA club which was started in 2004 and for which two of his (now adult) sons have played since they were little. Danny, now 25, has played GAA since he was 6 years old and has played with other New York teams that have travelled to Ireland over the years, including the Feile football team when he was 13, the College team, and the World Games team, in addition to the New York Junior team.

After the big win, Danny and his girlfriend Erin spent a few days in Listowel visiting with aunts, uncles and cousins. He paid a visit to John Bs where Erin was briefly a guest bartender and also fitted in a climb of Carrantuohill, Killarney races, and a visit to Skellig Michael.

Dan is a frequent visitor to Ireland and even spent a semester at UCD while studying for his degree in Civil Engineering.

Rich and his American wife, Marge, have three sons and one grandchild and live in Queens.

New York players and staff celebrate their All-Ireland Junior Football Championship final win over Kilkenny at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

The “county ” anthem on the day was Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York.

Richard is a credit to the Corridan family and their great love and respect for Irish history and traditions. The loyalty and sacrifice of all the families involved in bringing all of these young men to this level of footballing skills is admirable. This is thanks in no small part to Richard and Robert Corridan of Listowel. You have achieved a truly amazing feat.

<<<<<<<<<<

A Few More Names

Muireann O’Sullivan has been studying the photo of her old classmates and she has a few more names for us.

That class picture is a blast from the past!! Not sure of the year but we finished primary school in 1974!! How time flies! I am definite about some of the identities and those I am no fully convinced of I will denote with an *. Hopefully you will receive lots of replies and definite names.

Front row: Audrey Sheehy, *Eleanor Browne, *Christine O Driscoll
Middle row: Marie O’ Halloran. *Avril O Driscoll ……, Eleanor Costello *Ann Kennelly ….. Mary Daly – Margaret Stack ….. Annette O Gorman – Phyllis O Mahony
Back row: Norma Doyle, *Kate Kennelly ….. Noreen Canavan, Helen Daly, Máire Óg Hourigan, Dana Mulvihill, *Joan McElligott RIP …. Muireann Moloney, Ann Gammell

<<<<<<<<<<<

Volunteering for Saint Vincent de Paul

The ever smiling Helen, Mary and Eileen were minding the shop on the day I called.

<<<<<<<<<

August 15 2023

August 15, always a red letter day in Ballybunion’s calendar. Let’s hope this year is dry.

<<<<<<<<<<

Back chat

<<<<<<<<

Page 1 of 14

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén