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: UCC

Honan Chapel, UCC, Race week 2018 and style from Ladies’ Day 2018

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On September 19, 2018

In Uncategorized

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Honan Chapel, UCC



On my recent walking tour of UCC I visited the Honan Chapel and I learned about a Listowel connection.

 The magnificent mosaic of the River Lee teeming with fish was executed by the mosaic artists of the firm of Oppenheimer, the same company which did the mosaics in our own St. Mary’s.

The much admired stained glass windows are the work of two artists, the great Harry Clarke and the lesser known Sarah Purser. Harry Clarke’s work  totally overshadows Sarah Purser’s windows. The Clarke windows, while magnificent in themselves, are dark and leave in very little light. They are characterised by their deep deep blue glass. Purser’s are refreshingly lighter  and in my humble opinion function better as windows as in they allow light into the building.

St. Gobnait is the patron of the nearby village of Ballyvourney. She is depicted in her window surrounded by bees.

Sadly, beside the door there are two blocked out windows, victims of the penal window tax.

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Upper Church Street, Race Week 2018



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Ladies’ Day Sept. 14 2018



Some of the ladies I spotted as i made my way around the course.


Not all fun and games. Helena Halpin was off to work when I ran into her.

Niamh Kenny looked every inch a winner, but she didn’t win.

The lady on the right with her gorgeous Aoife Hannon headpiece was the first runner up.

This lady was also a top 10 finalist. Isn’t her hat fabulous?

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Credit Where It’s Due 



Yesterday I had some photographs of this seat with its verse to the memory of the late Paudie Fitzmaurice.

I have since learned that the verse was written by his good friend of many years, John (Junior) Griffin.

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Possible Identification



The first black and white photo looks like it was taken at Buckleys. If my memory is correct the boy at the back is Buckley and the girl on the right  was his sister. They had a bar, and I can remember that they sold ice cream. I would love to know if I am correct

Is Maria correct?




UCC, Cork, Finesse RaceWeek Window, Paul and Gary O’Donovan’s win and Jack McKenna’s autobiography

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On September 17, 2018

In Uncategorized

Fuchia in my garden in Autumn 2018

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Town and Gown


Recently I took a trip down memory lane to UCC. It’s a very different place nowadays to when I was a student many moons ago. It is a place very aware of its history.


This hovel which has been erected at the Gaol entrance to the college gives us an idea of the great divide that existed between students at the then Queen’s College and the ordinary folk of the surrounding city in 1845 when the college was founded.

The V under a crown on this finial stands for Queen Victoria and this angel greets you on your arrival at the arch into the Quad.

Irish harp, English Lion and Welsh dragon. I think they thought that the Irish and Scottish people were all the one and so covered by the harp.

 There were certainly no cranes on campus in my day but the college is continually expanding nowadays.

 The statue of Queen Victoria has been replaced with St. Finbarr, in line with the motto of the college; “Where Finbarr taught, let Munster learn.”


These photos were taken in the president’s garden. This was walled in and off limits to students in the 1970s  when I was there.

There is still a rift between town and gown in Cork. While in town I also saw the other side of life there.

I snapped this homeless man sleeping in daytime outside the city library.

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Finesse Window at Race Week 2018


The ladies at Finesse devoted their entire window display in tribute to their friend, Mike Lawlee R.I.P.



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World Champions

The charming self deprecating O’Donovan brothers, world champion rowers…no specific Listowel connection that I know of but all Ireland loves them. They represent the best of us.

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Races week 2018



I took lots of photos but it will take me a while to recover the energy to process them all. Here’ a taster.

It was Ladies’ Day and there was a party going on a bus stop .

Throw me down something. No humans, just ducks in The Feale

Security was tight. Anyone underage and to show that they had no alcohol on them.

This is Cliona McKenna who used to sell race cards here in the good old days when you could get a card and a biro for €1.50

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An Invitation to a Book Launch



One for everyone in the audience

You are all invited to The Seanchaí on Wednesday next at 7.30 p.m. for the launch of an important book, telling the story of an extraordinary Listowel man. The man is Jack McKenna who has reached his 100th year and has led a varied and interesting life.


Harvest thanksgiving in St. Mary’s, Mayor Kennelly of Chicago

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On October 31, 2014

In Uncategorized

Evening in Ballybunion


Lovely evening sky Ballybunion Angling and Coastal Views

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February 1951

Michael Kennelly’s caption “First Rome reunion social in The Lake Hotel, Killarney, Feb. 1951”

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Thanksgiving for the Harvest in St. Mary’s Listowel




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Chicago mayor with Irish roots

    Martin H. Kennelly was elected in 1947, and worked with the City Council to create modern superhighways, an airport and subways. His diplomacy enabled many projects.

    One year later, he supported Chicago censors who banned Jean-Paul Sartre’s play, “The Respectful Prostitute.” Kennelly declined an invitation to a private showing saying: “I do not like the play. I do not like the title. The title alone would be enough to ban the show, as far as I’m concerned.”

    Kennelly established the tone of second term with these words from his Inaugural Address on April 19, 1951: “The pattern of adherence to sound moral values in government has been established. Its basis is efficiency, economy, integrity, impartiality—and the service of only one special interest—the general welfare. There must be no deviation from this standard.” He maintained this standard.

    Some of his mayoral successes included extensions for Wacker Drive and the Outer Drive. Congress superhighway and the Congress Street Bridge were constructed. The sewer construction program and the Chicago Skyway were completed. Plans were initiated for extensions to the West Side Subway, the Northwest superhighway, the South Outer Drive and O’Hare Airport.

    He was defeated in the 1955 Democratic Primary by Richard J. Daley. He retired and concerned himself with community affairs. He assisted his alma mater and other organizations.

    Martin Henry Kennelly died on November 29, 1961, and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Evanston. He lived his life according to the lines he quoted from Edgar Guest in his First Inaugural Address on April 15, 1947: “If freedom shall new splendors reach/ And not be dragged into the dust/ This to our children we must teach—that/ Public Service is a trust.”

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    Didn’t he do well




    Ger. Greaney with his proud parents at his conferring in UCC last week

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