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

Tag: Colm Cooper

Listowel people, Abbeyfeale church and Colm Cooper is the 2018 Kerry Person of the Year

By

On May 4, 2018

In Uncategorized

Convent door, Castleisland in 2018

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People in The Seanchaí


I took a few photos at the lecture in The Seanchaí on April 22 2018

 Arthur Caball, John Pierse and Paddy Keane

Con Kirby and John Corridan

Dolores Carroll, Vincent Carmody, Paddy Keane and Liam Grimes

Mairead Pierse and Kathy Walsh

Kay Caball, Donal O’Connor and Helen Moylan

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Abbeyfeale Parish Church



On my recent visit to Abbeyfeale, I took the opportunity to visit the church and to say a prayer. The church has some lovely mosaics but bot too many stained glass windows. You can tell a lot about the wealth of a parish but the amount of artwork in their place of worship.


This lovely grotto stands in the church grounds.


There are two sets of Stations of the Cross, one more traditional then the other but both beautiful.

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Familiar Faces at Kerry Person of the Year 2018 Event  in The Mansion House



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The Final piece of the Convent Street jigsaw is in place



Look what came to my inbox yesterday!

The little boy is Maurice Bunyan and the dog’s name is Rusty (who belonged to John Guerin).


Mary Dunne (previously Corridan)


Yes it’s an email from the lady in the curlers.

So, from left to right in John Hannon’s Convent Street photo we have;

Mary Corridan (now Mary Dunne), Maurice Bunyan, Mike Healy with John Guerin’s dog, Rusty

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The Dandy Lodge




This house, Vincent Carmody tells me, was always called The Dandy Lodge. It was the home of the Hannon family. Danaher’s house was at the other entrance to Lord Listowel’s estate in Cahirdown.



Convent Street, Pitch and Putt and Athea Mural blown down

By

On January 22, 2018

In Uncategorized

From The Irish Farmers’ Journal

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A Quiet Corner of Town undergoing renewal


This site has gone Sale Agreed so we await developments.

One is sold and the other is for sale

This is the area of Convent Street that is about to change.


These houses in Convent Street are boarded up too so it will be good to see life return to this corner of town.

And in another corner of town…

A little bird tells me that Iceland is coming to Listowel shortly.

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Listowel Pitch and Putt Club


Dave O’Sulivan, a loyal follower and supporter of the work of your blogger replied to my appeal for history of the Pitch and Putt Club.



My photos taken at different times of the year show the variety and abundance of planting in the course over the years.

Here are the cuttings that Dave found for us;

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Athea Revisited on January 19 2018




That was then

This is now

The high winds last week flattened the lovely mural with the whole history and mythology of the village on it. I have no doubt that the good people of Athea will see it restored to its former glory.

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And the Winner is



The Dublin Kerry Association have announced their Kerry Person of the year

There was a goodly attendance on the night.

Colm Cooper was revealed as this year’s choice and he got a standing ovation as he entered.

Colm was a very popular choice.

Colm Cooper with  Keelin Kissane of  Listowel, chair of The Kerry Association in Dublin


Paddy Drury, a tree creeper and a Food Trail

By

On November 15, 2017

In Uncategorized

November…a time for remembering

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A Fascinating Little Bird

Chris Grayson who is one of the best nature photographers I know snapped this little tree creeper. Isn’t he well camouflaged.

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Paddy Drury’s Epitaph


The late poet, Paddy Drury, was renouned for
his witty verses about other people. His tongue was caustic and many a one in
his time felt the lash.

Probably his best known lambast is his unjustified criticism of the lovely people of Knockanure.

Knockanure both mean and poor

Its church without a steeple

Hungry hoors looking out half doors

Criticising decent people.

Paddy composed his own epitaph

Here lie the bones of Paddy Drury

Owing their size to Guinness brewery

However, one of the good nuns in the
Killarney home where he died prevailed on him not to have it engraved on his
headstone. Paddy agreed, maybe because he was well aware that there was no
money there for a headstone anyway. However when a band of his friends, under
the leadership of  John B. Keane
collected enough to erect a gravestone to Paddy and the Drury family, they kept
to the usual conventions in these matters and put a more respectful and
dignified inscription on it.



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A Few Late Tourists Still visiting us

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Listowel Food Trail 2017

As part of Listowel Food Fair we took a trail around the town on Nov 11 and we stopped to sample some appetising fare at eateries along the wayWe started our trail at The Listowel Arms Hotel

The bar was set very high with lots and lots of delicious nibbles on offer. Like the bad sprinter who bolts like a greyhound out of the traps and then finds that there is nothing left in the tank for the last stretch, I ate way too much here. We had five more stops on our tour and I was beaten already.

On we soldiered to Allos

Here we settled down in the very comfortable back lounge while Armel told us the story of the food we were about to eat. I tasted friand for the first time.

In Café Hanna at John R.’s we had some delicious savoury and sweet treats

Our next stop was Mike the Pies and I told you all about that on Monday’s post

Then we strolled down William Street, well sated at this stage but we still had Jumbos, Lizzy’s and Gapos to come.

Damien served us turkey burgers and tacos. His butcher, Larry was on hand to verify the provenance of the ingredients. If you thought Jumbos was just beefburgers and chips you’d be wrong. This visit was an eye opener for me.

Lizzy is now a nationally acclaimed cook and her restaurant is one of the most popular in town. Food here was top class.

Lastly we went to Gapos. This is one of my favourite restaurants so I knew the food would be good. It was lovely to meet the chef and hear his story as well as tasting some of his native Armenian dishes.

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V.I.P in town on Friday




Colm Cooper will be signing copies of his autobiography in Woulfe’s Independent Bookshop at 5.00p.m. on Friday next November 17 1017

And

A little birdie told me that Mickey MacConnell will be one the Late Late Show with his ballad of Lidl and Aldi.

St. Patrick’s Day 2017 Part 2

By

On March 21, 2017

In Uncategorized

Doctor Foster went to Glouster

in a shower of rain

He stepped in a puddle

up to his middle

and never went there again.

Dr. Foster’s reaction always seemed a bit drastic to me. If he came to Listowel on March 17 2017, we definitely would have seen the last of him. It rained relentlessly all afternoon, but I soldiered on and snapped away to bring you more scenes from the parade.

I make no apologies for the overload of photos of rain soaked children. The least they deserve is a moment of recognition for their efforts.

The marching band is still going strong after 20 years.

The green fingernails are on the hand of Anne (O’Connor) Brosnan who teaches the music and drills the band year after year and you must remember that, unlike other bands, a school band is constantly losing valuable personnel and gaining new inexperienced members. Anne is a treasure in the town. She deserves more recognition.

Some familiar faces on the reviewing stand.

You can see determination written on the faces of these poor girls who had the unenviable task of holding flags aloft in the teeth of driving wind and rain

The Tidy Town crew were followed by Listowel Emmetts.

After the Emmetts we had scores of pupils from Presentation Primary School with a message for all of us.

I’ll have more tomorrow from rain soaked Listowel on St. Patrick’s Day 2017

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Meanwhile in Toronto




Bernard O’Connell shared this photo of the Kerry contingent in the Toronto parade.

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Your Help is Sought


Dear Listowel Connection,



Do you or any of your many subscribers have any old photographs of the staff of the Listowel Railway circa 1900’s. or from any musical society circa 1900’s.





Yours sincerely,



Thomas Sampson

16, Druids Court,

Druids Glen,

Newtownmountkennedy A63 CR68

County Wicklow.


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Sporting History was Made


 I know very little about football but I know a good photo when I see one and this one is priceless. It appeared on the front page of the Irish Examiner on Saturday March 18 2017 and it shows Colm Copper ,filled with delight as he races to embrace his trainer. Colm added the one medal that had eluded him throughout his career when he won a club championship medal with Dr. Crokes.

 John Stack, Billy Keane, Karen Trench and Eoin Liston were in good company at the match in Austin Stack’s Park, Tralee.                                   John Stack shared the photo on Facebook.

I don’t think so…..not on Saturday evening anyway.

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Meanwhile in Cheltenham


Healy Racing of Listowel got the very best picture of the great A.P. McCoy as he attended the unveiling of a statue to himself at this year’s Cheltenham festival of racing.

Summer 2015, Corpus Christi Procession and Listowel Castle

By

On June 15, 2015

In Uncategorized

It’s Summer !



Some scenes from summer 2015


 T.J. MacSweeney was out photographing cattle.

 Jim MacSweeney was in the Saltee Islands  photographing puffins.

 Colette Nolan O’Connor was at the Mallow Garden Festival.

Jason of Ballybunion Prints wass bringing us lovely Ballybunion Beach scenes.

Meanwhile in Kenya, Jack ORegan and Yolanda Chakava are planning their September wedding. Lisdoonvarna has nothing on Niarobi when it comes to dowry negotiations. Jack has posted a video of the dowry negotiation party. It looks like it was a lavish affair akin to a wedding reception.

If you read Jack’s account of this traditional ceremony, prepare now to see for yourself in the video.

Dowry negotiations

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Corpus Christi Listowel June 7 2015







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Carpets of daisies




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Respect (on Twitter)  from a Fellow Sportsman

Shane Lowry 
✔@ShaneLowryGolf

Great to see this man back in action. Definitely making it my business to go see him in action this summer.

3:39 PM – 14 Jun 2015

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Poem for Fr. Pat Moore



Someone called Victor has penned this poem for Fr. Pat Moore who undergoes an operation for the removal of a cancerous tumor today.

Colosseum (For Pat Moore)



Ragged and weary, he takes up the sword 

And hacked wooden shield, 

Flung at at his feet as a mercy

In the dust of the Colosseum.



As once he did before.



Drawn,

Short-strawn,

to face the trident, net and mercenary gaze 

of the feared and chiseled Nubian,



The thudding wooden gates

Send forth the drooling lions

And the hush.



Let it begin. Again.



The Colosseum Christian knows,

that spill his blood he must,

As it was on the Cross.



Only then the ancestors

Who quietly crowd the stalls, 

like wind-blown prayers

May spirit him to safety



As they had before,



And will again.

The thoughts and prayers of all of North Kerry and beyond are with Fr. Pat at this time.

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