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: Leo Varadcar

Hanna Sheehy Skeffingtom, Learning English in Ireland and Entertaining summer visitors

North Kerry Sunset June 2018

Photo: Mike Enright

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Will They ever Come Home?


This summer I’m doing a spot of dog sitting while Molly’s family is away. This is herself last week when they were only gone for a few hours.

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Things you learn on Twitter



When Hanna Sheehy married Francis Skeffington in 1903, they each took the other’s surname as a gesture in support of equal status for women. Good idea?

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Believe it of Not



A photograph tweeted by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Friday from the EU summit in Brussels showed him beside three of his counterparts, each of whom spent a portion of their formative years in Ireland. 

In the tweet, Mr Varadkar mentioned his “pre-dinner chat with the three prime ministers who spent time in Ireland learning English as school kids”, referring to Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez, Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel.

Source: Irish Times on line

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If you are going to the beach in the evening you must bring a hurley and sliotar. 


I love a night at The Kingdom Greyhound Track with my young visitors.



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Make Hay While the Sun Shines


Photo: Bridie Murphy

Hay and Tae in Bromore on July 1 2018. That’s Micheal Flahive atop the wynnd.

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The Barber Opening Today

July 5 2018 sees the opening of a new business at 53 Church Street.

The lovely Aoife welcomed me and my visitors inside for a quick look around. They have done a lovely job with the refurbishment

Aoife, Aisling and Carine beside the lovely feature fireplace.

The old range is looking good as new.

The long gallery will be the work area.

Visitors to this lovely place are welcomed by a flagstone bearing the lines from John B. Keane’s The Street.

Dublin in Summer 2017, Craftshop na Méar and St. Michael’s

Phlox in summer 2017

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O’Connell St. July 2017


I never travel without my camera. On my recent trip to the capital, I snatched a few quick snaps as I waited for a bus on O’Connell Street.

The GPO, historic building and symbol of our struggle for independence.

 Love it or loathe it, the spire is a symbol of the new Ireland.

In a doorway nearby, another potent symbol of modern Ireland.

And they laugh at us in Kerry when we mention fairy forts.

The Luas, modern transport in a modern metropolis

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Craftshop na Méar


I haven’t visited this lovely craft shop in Church Street for a while now. When I went there last week it had a Kerry’s green and gold theme going on.

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How Football eclipsed hurling



(Con Houlihan)



When Michael Cusack founded the GAA in 1884, his big ambition was to revive hurling. He invented a game from the the best elements of soccer and rugby and cleverly called it Gaelic football, giving the impression that it went back a long way. The ironic outcome of this was that Gaelic football almost wiped out hurling. It was a simple game to understand and, above all, it caused little injury. This was in an age when a man’s hands were important to him. Hurling can be hard on the hands.

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An Taoiseach in St. Michael’s

Fine Gael and the GAA were very much to the fore in the turning of the sod ceremony in St. Michael’s on Friday Sept 1 2017.

Photo: Radio Kerry

Leo was in Kerry for the tribute night to Jimmy Deenihan in Tralee. Earlier in the evening he turned the sod for the new technology room in St. Michael’s.  The school threw a little party for him with some excellent singing and dancing by some very talented  pupils.

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Red Hurley in Duagh




Michael Dillane met Red Hurley at the very successful concert in Duagh Community Centre.

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