The Ball Alley
This is the old ball alley today. Listowel people, particularly men of a certain age, remember this place with great warmth. I have gleaned Junior Griffin’s memories of the place already and you can read them if you put Ball Alley into the search box on the blog. John Fitzgerald’s poem about the great handballers he watched in this spot is worth a revisit.
The Alley
Standing on the dead line
I
Face the pockmarked wall,
it hides the bridge above me
fond memories I recall,.
The side walls mark the theatre,
the concrete floor the stage,
four players take their places
the finest of their age.
The cocker’s hopped and
hardened,
Junior’s feet fix solidly
he contemplates the angle
of the
first trajectory.
His swinging arm begins the game
the ball’s hit low and fast,
a signal to John Joe and Tom
this will be no soft match.
Dermot standing by his side
sees his neighbour win first
toss,
a simple game to twenty one
no
ace is easily lost.
I watch them from the grassy
mound
behind the dead ball line
hear the cries of older boys
cheer each one at a time
and in the space of half an hour
the ball has weaved its way
through every nook and cranny
in this battlefield of play.
The long ball to the back line
the close one to the wall
the deadly butted killer
seemed
to hit no wall at all
and in end the four of them
take leave just as they came
and beckon us to take our place
and learn more of their game,
the game that gave such
pleasure
the game I got to know.
when I was young and full of fun
in the Alley years ago.
The foursome mentioned in the
poem are Junior Griffin, Tom Enright and Dermot Buckley from the Bridge Road
and John Joe Kenny from Patrick Street.
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Listowel Garden Centre is the Place to Come to for Christmas Decorations this Christmas
Sections of the shop are divided according to colour. These are some of the white decorations. They look really impressive.
These two photos are of the same tree.
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Healyracing Get to Work in some beautiful places
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Lyreacrompane, a Living Community
A meitheal of local men came together to relay the path which was damaged in last month’s storm.
