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: Listowel Tennis Club

Holocaust Memorial, Community Fruit, Nut and Herb Garden and Juvenile Tennis in 1988

By

On July 3, 2017

In Uncategorized

This is the Holocaust Memorial in Listowel’s lovely Garden of Europe. It is made from old railway sleepers, a reminder of the railways that carried so many condemned people to the concentrations camps of WW2. The sleepers are bound together with steel bars and surrounded by chains, reminding us of the inescapable horror that faced Jews, gypsies and anyone else who fell foul of the Nazi regime.

We do well to remember these horrors lest they happen again.

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Judgement Day is Nigh


The Tidy Town judges could arrive in town at any minute so we must be vigilant. Town is looking absolutely resplendent but I read last year’s judges’ report and it would appear  now that so many towns are so beautiful that they have to find tiny little things to separate them.

 Tiny little things like a carelessly discarded plastic bottle in the beautiful riverside community garden could just make that tiny difference.

I was amused at the name of the drink as I threw it into the bin which was not 3 feet away from where it was discarded. Litter certainly won’t boost our Tidy Town mark.

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Fruit, Herbs, Bees and  a Picnic


The area beside the old ball alley is now a beautiful peaceful picnic area. The good folk of the Tidy Town committee have planted fruit trees and herbs. They have erected bee boxes and planted trees to shade the picnic tables. It is a truly lovely corner of town now. I urge you, if you are in town, to go and take a look. 

Those of you who are far away will have to make do with my photographs

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I was at the Cork Summer Show


The sign on this scarecrow said, “If you ate today, thank a farmer”

This is my family’s newest hope, EPA Murray. Here he is being ridden by the judge. His usual rider is Felicity Ward. He behaved impeccably for both of them.

Everyone was delighted when he won his first rosette.

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One from the Archives


Listowel young tennis players in 1988

Back row, L. to R. John MacAulliffe, John Finnegan, Seamus Cronin, Catherine MacAulliffe, Clodagh Finnegan, Ruth Kelly, Kathleen Cronin, Louise O’Shea, Karen Carmody and Sharon O’Mahoney

Front L. to R. Bobby Cogan, Neil O’Sullivan, Dan Browne, Declan Kenny, Anne Cogan, Maeve Queally, Fiona O’Sullivan, Ursula Carmody, Catherine Moylan, Valerie Queally and Yvonne Croghan.

A.P. McCoy to be celebrated at Writers’ Week, Liam Healy and Pres. Girls in 2007

By

On May 19, 2015

In Uncategorized

Fungi Again



photo: Fungie Forever

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Remember this?




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Racing photography at Writers’ Week 2015


This great photograph of the recently retired jockey A.P. McCoy is one of the masterpieces by Healyracing that will feature in a not to be missed local event during this year’s festival.

The Healy family have been taking  photographs on racecourses now for 3 generations. Pat Healy is the master of the art of capturing it all in one image. His photographs have appeared in all of the best sporting publications and daily newspapers in Ireland and around the world. It’s a hard job that sees him out in all weathers, jostling his way through the media scrum to capture that iconic shot. This one of A.P. McCoy is just that.

Racing strangely now combines the hard graft of the working jockeys with the glamour of “best dressed ladies”. Could there be a greater contrast than this mud spattered working man and the buffed and polished glamour pusses that grace our racecourses? Pat Healy has photographed them all and you can see them at this special exhibition in The Listowel Arms during  Listowel Writers’ Week 2015

The exhibition is a tribute to A. P. McCoy and it opens at 11.00 on Thursday 28 May 2015



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Liam Healy, Listowel man, Racing photographer and family man


 Mary Cogan and liam Healy

For the next few days I am going to bring you, in installments, the story of the man who started it all, Liam Healy.

Liam Healy, founder of
Healyracing, entrepreneur, family man, Listowel man and all round sound man.

Recently I spend a very happy hour and a half in the company of
Liam Healy. Liam is an extraordinary man who has built up a successful business
which now employs all of his family. Liam has none of the trappings of the
successful businessman. He lives a quiet humble life in the bosom of his family
in Ballygologue. He has worked hard all his life, and he is filled with
gratitude to all the people who have shaped and made him what he is today.

 Liam has fond memories of
his early life in Convent Street. He was born on June 12 1945 to Kitty and
Paddy Healy of Number 11 Convent Street. Paddy was the only son of a second
marriage so there were no Healy aunts and uncles in the young Liam’s life. This was significant
because tragedy struck the family in 1948. Kitty died in childbirth leaving
Paddy with 4 very young children to rear.

Paddy had to work to earn a living for his family so the obvious
course of action in his circumstances would have been to put the children into
care. Liam had an Uncle Gerard, a Carmelite brother in Drumcondra who begged
Liam’s dad to keep the family
together and at home with him. They had suffered the loss of their mother,
losing their home would have been an unbearable second blow.

(treasured old photos of Liam and his brothers)

Generous Listowel people rallied round and helped Paddy to look
after the children during the day. No
matter where they were during the daytime they always all returned home to
their father in the evening.

The young Liam was taken under their wing by a neighbouring
childless couple, Hannie and Garrett Carey. Liam speaks of them and of his time
spent with them with great fondness and abiding gratitude. Garrett was a
painter and Hannie was one of the Mixum Hennessey family. Liam was very well
looked after and he was happy with his new arrangement, returning home every
night to his father and his brothers, Pat & Michael and sister, Margaret.

The Careys were betting people and they used to send Liam with
the money for their little wager to Moriarty’s Betting Shop, which was on William Street in a shop that is now
part of Damien Stack’s
Arcade. Liam credits those early trips to the turf accountants with sparking
his interest in photos of horses. The man behind the counter in Johnny Moriarty’s shop was Roddy O’Sullivan and he was always kind to the
young Liam. Liam was fascinated by the photos of horses on the pages of the
newspapers that lined the walls. Because he was anxious that the youngster would
not be seen to linger too long in the shop, but recognizing Liam’s genuine interest in the photographs,
Roddy agreed to keep the papers for him. Liam remembers especially The Sporting
Life. It was a newspaper devoted to Horse Racing and little did he know Healy
Racing would supply them with photographs in later life.

(More tomorrow)

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Listowel Tennis Club




The Listowel Tennis Club’s Facebook page is  Here

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School Memories




Pres. girls with the Heiniken Cup in 2007

Fond memory brings the light……..

By

On February 3, 2015

In Uncategorized

Memories, Memories….





Time brought me many another friend

That loved me longer.

New love was kind, but in the end

Old love was stronger.

Years come and go. No New Year yet

Hath slain December.

And all that should have cried, “Forget!”

Cries but-“Remember!”

(Mary Coleridge)

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Valuable record of Listowel’s forefathers

This old treasure came to light over the Christmas holidays.

It shows the boys of 6th class in Scoil Realt na Maidine in 1930/31

There were hand written names with the photo but they were much faded over time. This was the best that could be made of them. Apologies for any errors or omissions.

Back Row: 1,  ? Behan 2. Gerard Relihan 3. Liam Stack 4. Sean Connor (Driscoll?) 5. Tom Canty 6. Andrew Hartnett 7. Seoirse O’Callaghan . ? Neville

Third Row: 1. Johnny Wilmot 2. Patsy Moloney 3. J McMahon 4. Mick Mc Carthy 5. Fintan McGrath 6. Maurice Stack 7. ? Dunphy (Guard’s son) 8. Sean O’Dell

Second Row: 1. ? McAuliffe 2. Michael Murphy 3. J O’Connor 4. Paddy O’Connor 5. Paudie Fitzmaurice 6. P Banbury 7. Vincent Rowan 8. ? Guerin 9. Martin Quigley 10. Jackie Moore

Front Row: 1. ? ?    2. L O’Brien 3. Sean Kirby 4. Cyril Collins 6. Francie Chute 7. Sean O’Sullivan 8. Roly Chute 9. John Corridan 10. Tom Flavin 11. Gerard Murphy 12. D Joy

If anyone recognizes a relative, do get in touch. It would be great to name them all.

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Obituary from The Kerryman, 1961




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Remember this?




Before McDonalds there were Wimpy Bars. They served no alcohol as far as I remember, just pocket -friendly fast food. This is the Tralee branch of the franchise.         Photo from Kennelly Archive.

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From Denis Carroll’s old negatives

Listowel tennis courts in the 1980s

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Look up…it’s Aer Lingus

(souce; Findmypast on Facebook)

Will the brand soon be a thing of the past?

Keep looking for the pony.

By

On January 12, 2012

In Uncategorized

Today I have a little moral tale for you. I hope it gives you encouragement in these hard days of January when so many people seem to be struggling.

A family had twin boys whose only
resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the
other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other
claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an
eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist.

Just to see what would happen, on the
twins’ birthday their father loaded the pessimist’s room with every imaginable
toy and game. The optimist’s room he loaded with horse manure.

That night the father passed by the
pessimist’s room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.

“Why are you crying?” the
father asked.

“Because my friends will be
jealous, I’ll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with
this stuff, I’ll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get
broken.” answered the pessimist twin.

Passing the optimist twin’s room, the
father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. “What are you so
happy about?” he asked.

To which his optimist twin replied,
“There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!”


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Now another photo from St. Patrick’s Hall

Does anyone know the history of this club?

Is the St. Michael’s referred to St. Michael’s College?

Might be one for Vincent.



 There are names under the men in front but they are hard to decipher.

Vincent has shed some light on my photo.

The club is St. Michael’s Cycling Club.

The officers of the club in front are:

Ken Dermody,Jerome Murphy,Gene Moriarty, Johnny Landers, Sean O’Brien and Michael O’Brien

The names of the members will be known to many so you might email them to me to save me typing them all out.


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And now a more recent photo for my younger followers


Winners of Listowel Tennis Club’s boys juvenile competitions 1986


Back John Finnegan, Brian O’Shea, Tom Doyle, John MacAulliffe and Seamus Cronin.

Front: Des O’Sullivan, Bobby Cogan, Mikey Whelan and Nigel Quinlivan (or is it Sean Quinlivan?)

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