Our man Frank on… how Shane MacGowan’s passing is the latest untimely loss of an Irish music legend; His harrowing tale of a momentous trip home from a local rugby game (with revelations on the Sideline Club); A worrying report in the Irish Daily Mail… and local issues
It’s Sunday evening as I write, and despite the extremely strong winds and heavy rain that Storm Fergus brought to Creggs this afternoon, the big rugby match between Creggs and Tuam in the Connacht Junior League has managed to take place, and our lads had a very welcome and deserved win over a Tuam side that won the Cawley Cup just the previous weekend.
That was the first piece of silverware won by the East Galway lads in a long time, meaning they travelled to Creggs with high expectations, especially as they had already beaten us earlier in the year in a Cawley Cup group match. However, on the day they came up short against a Creggs team that produced its best performance of the season.
Here in Creggs, as many readers will be aware, we have a state-of-the-art 4G pitch with a fully enclosed stand, but for some slightly deranged reason a few of us refuse to ever venture into said stand, instead watching all games from the totally exposed and unprotected sideline on the ‘far side’.
Now I have stood on that sideline in lots of different types of weather, but I have never gone home from any game as wet as I did this evening. To make matters worse, when myself and my brother Billy turned the corner at the top of the pitch to head for home, the wind we encountered nearly turned us upside down.
Thankfully, as Kevin O’Rourke had kindly pointed out to me earlier (during the game), it’s at times like this that the “extra bit of weight comes in handy”. And so, after an initial backward step or two, we managed to right ourselves and made it safely home to the lovely warm electric shower, that (much to my relief) still had power. Everything on me was soaking wet and had to go straight to the washing machine.
Carol, my long-suffering wife, suggested that maybe I might go into the stand the next time I’m at a match and there’s a storm blowing. Sadly for her, there is no chance of that ever happening, as we have our own little exclusive ‘Sideline Club’, of which membership is a huge source of pride.
Some members, like Anthony Cahill and John Joe Kennedy, are on thin ice after going into the stand today, and they may have to re-apply for membership, with no guarantee that they will be reinstated. Like when players get a red card, they may have to serve a two or three match suspension! We will wait and see.
Anyway, Storm Fergus, as I write this, seems to be quietening down, and with the exception of Leitrim Village, the area appears to have got away lightly enough. Judging by the regularity with which we get storms nowadays, we might be okay until about next week.
Big send-off for Shane, latest Irish music star to leave us too early
The weekend just gone by saw the funeral of Shane MacGowan being held, and as many, many tributes were paid to him by all kinds of musical artists, and by such diverse admirers as President Michael D Higgins and Hollywood superstar actor, Johnny Depp, it must be acknowledged that he was one of our true Irish music legends.
Funny enough, I could take him or leave him, and apart from Fairytale of New York, and A Rainy Night in Soho, I wouldn’t have been a huge fan of his music. However, as I thought about Shane and his wild and troubled lifestyle, I wondered what it is that led to so many of our Irish music legends having so many problems with drug or alcohol abuse, or both. In addition to the Pogues’ frontman, it is widely accepted that Phil Lynott, Sinead O’Connor, Dolores O’Riordan and Christy Dignam all had issues at one time or other, and each of them passed away at too young an age.
I am not saying the drugs or drink were responsible for any of their deaths, but it seems strange that they all had problems with them. Of course I don’t know why their relationships with drugs/alcohol evolved as they did, but whatever about all of that, they certainly all left a massive musical legacy behind them. Rest in peace, Shane.
Is new ‘warning’ for grandparents a cause for concern?
It’s now a beautiful Monday morning – the calm after yesterday’s storm – and myself and Carol have just come back from a lovely walk up Lenamarla. All is good in the world! That is until I pick up the Daily Mail and read the front page headline: ‘Grandparents warned: Stay away from babies this Christmas’.
I read that doctors have said that the spread of RSV (whatever that is) has resulted in more than 100 babies being admitted to intensive care in the last few weeks. As a result, they advise us older folk to stay away from children under four months of age. As proud grandparents to a four-week-old girl, Hayley, I think to myself that after more than two years of Covid restrictions, this is just another horrible development.
We had planned to go to visit Lisa and her family up in Dublin this week, but now we are not so sure! Reading further into the Daily Mail article, some doctors seem to suggest that by taking the same precautions as we took during Covid, like wearing masks, washing our hands regularly, staying away from everyone if you have any flu-like symptoms or are feeling any way unwell, we should be okay to visit.
However, there is now a level of uncertainty as to what we should do, and of course with Christmas around the corner, it couldn’t happen at a worse time. Obviously we don’t want to do anything that might cause problems for our granddaughter, so I suppose it’s a matter of waiting to see if, by taking the accepted precautions, we can go and visit her. Fingers crossed.
And finally…
A reader from the Athleague area has asked me to tell you all about the wonderful indoor markets that have recently been held in the newly-refurbished community centre in the village.
He informs me that the last Athleague Market before Christmas is taking place this Sunday, 17th of December, from 9 am to 3 pm. There is a huge array of stuff on display at every market and every type of Christmas gift will be on offer.
Don’t say you weren’t told about it – so, no excuses, please make your way to Athleague on Sunday to financially support a whole host of local entrepreneurs, while also getting some totally unique Christmas presents. If you sleep it out after your Christmas party, don’t fret, you will have plenty of time to get there up to 3 o’clock.
