Tipperary will be wondering what happened yesterday in Croke Park but Wexford showed that they have some powder left in their arsenal. Damian Fitz with that huge boss on his hurl buried the ball in the Tipp net from a free and the Munster boys couldn’t make it back again. After being beaten badly by Kilkenny it isn’t any surprise that Wexford came out gunning for glory against Tipp.
The celebrations in Wexford were loud and even though it was lashing rain you couldn’t stop the fans from screaming and shouting, I heard every song from “Rhinestone Cowboy” to “Swing Low Sweet Chariots” and the inevitable “Boolavogue” and “The Boys of Wexford” all murdered by the same gang of Purple and Gold clad fans, it all descended into a pseudo rebel song session with a few Elvis and Abba numbers thrown in and “The Fields of Athenry” and “The Green Fields of France” chorus sung over and over and whatever other songs they could remember, I don’t recall hearing the “Sash” however!
I’m still unsure about the Pikeman logo on the jersey, all very well and good evoking the fighting spirit of the past, and all that, it may be better than the old one, I don’t know if I like it yet. Maybe if we win a few more matches I’ll like it better, it could grow on me!
However not to put a dampener on it like the rain tried last night Kilkenny made no mistakes in the last 10 minutes of their game against Galway . Kilkenny crippled Galway with a give away goal from Eddie Brennan, jaysus lads you can’t be doing that sort of thing, leaving Eddie Brennan un-marked, you know he will ruin your day. From then on then it was all Kilkenny. Hopefully there will be no repeat of our last outing against Kilkenny when we meet them in the All-Ireland semi.
Up Wexford.
Roadsign from early on in the history of the state of Ireland. English versions of place names and their re-gaelicized or gaelicized versions.
I have even seen an angicized version of a name which was gaelicized into the literal version of the already anglicized Irish name, completely mental, a bit like ” an raibh sé tobair?” as the Irish for “was he well?”
From Wikipedia
“Today, Gaelicization is more often a pro active or deliberate process, particularly present in Ireland, whereby placenames, surnames and given names are Gaelicized, or more often, re-Gaelicized, in order to prevent the further decline of the modern language.”
From Douglas Hyde
“how it continues to apparently hate the English, and at the same time continues to imitate them”
and also from Douglas Hyde
“If Irishmen only went a little farther they would become good Englishmen in sentiment also.”
You might think that the 2 statements from Douglas Hyde were recent but Douglas Hyde was the first President of Ireland, he delivered his speech about “The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland” in 1895, he would surely be stunned at the development of modern 21st century Ireland, I read in the Indo the other day that an MP was calling for an invitation for Ireland to rejoin the Commonwealth
Where will it all end?
Back in Wexford for a few days, the first of which we went for a stroll along the narrow main street in the town. In the Bullring stands the Pike Man as a memorial to the failed 1798 rebellion of the United Irishmen, in Wexford there was some success at the time but in the end the whole rebellion was crushed. This statue was erected in 1905, in 1998 they redecorated the place, they weren’t finished in time, as one of the lads said at the time, “it’s not as if they didn’t know it was coming 200 years after the event should have been enough time” but hey it’s Ireland. These days the Bullring has a steady trade of alcoholics and is usually decorated with empty Dutch Gold cans until they get cleaned up. The punters in the Cape bar amuse themselves by superglueing a €2 coin on the footpath and watch passers by try and pick it up, eventually some one smart comes with a sharp instrument and removes it. But it is funny to watch some poor unfortunate bend down and try to pick up a coin that won’t come up, then the loud shouts from the bar and banging on the window, you’ve been framed and candid camera have nothing on this crack! The pub features in Lenny Henry’s documentary “Lenny’s Britain”, wrong country Lenny.
A real live pike from 1798, the Bullring was used as an armaments factory for the rebels and this pike head lives in the vicinity still. I had the thing in my hand, a fair weapon but fairly useless against cannons and muskets. The Swiss Guard that swan around the Vatican have something similar, hopefully they have a plain clothes unit with more modern weaponry.
The pints of Guinness (€3.70)were good in the Cape bar too, if you feel poorly you’re in the right place, the Undertaker can come and measure you up for a coffin while you slake your thirst. Vertical Bones has a better discussion on Guinness than I can manage also a trek around pubs with prices in his previous posts.
In the Cape bar the problems of the day were being discussed in lively tone, the M50 roundabout residents were being debated, I reckon the boys in the pub could solve the whole problem with a few pints of stout and a large group of men with hurley sticks, not the most politically correct solution maybe, but politically correct is a bit of an oxymoron anyway. Fortunately for the M50 roundabout residents the drinkers don’t have much political clout or sense for that matter but it was fun to hear….
On my way out of the country the other day I observed the above Liverpool & Scotland football great Alan Hansen. I was not going to make a gobshite of myself and ask him if I could take his photograph but a divil inside of me spoke up ” can I take your photo” at the same time the other thought was circulating. He said “sure” in that distinctive accent so well known from the BBC, I even complimented him on his youthful looks, then turn on my heel and away I went.
He was able to move around quite freely in the public area without any hassle apart from me and a few other men of my age group around the 40 bracket, who commented something to him. He took it all in his stride, fair play to him. I expect that Dublin airport with the very high number of foreigners both working and travelling is the ideal place to go unnoticed with the obvious exception of tours truly!
Mary mac had a bash at the Áras today to celebrate the glorious twelfth and the shared culture of our island, members of diverse organisations were present by all accounts. I wonder did the invites have “the former Vice-Regal Lodge” for the non-Irish speakers.
This is 10th annual bash in the Park, however I don’t think they will be pulling crowds like JPII managed back in ‘79 in the near future, although it is a new approach if you can’t beat them join them, or if you can’t beat them, beat them at their own game and so on.
Judging by the piles of tyres and pallets being shown on Flickr prior to burning
bedecked with tricolours and the initials KAT which means “Kill all taigs” or all Catholics the organisers are trying to broaden the appeal of the twelfth of July celebrations. To whom they are trying to broaden the appeal to is anyones guess the KKK or former Rhodesian Army officers perhaps. I guess I won’t be going up there anytime soon not with a name like Tim, which is the english version of Taig, I also happen to be Catholic by birth as it happens you don’t choose such things at the time, your life usually decides that, or you stick with the crowd that aren’t threatening to kill you and burn flags representing your country at the same time their politicians are signing peace treaties to the beat of the band, ah yes the Orange band and the Lambeg drum.
Hard to see compromise here. Send in the Greens, all that tyre burning can’t be healthy, maybe they should change their name though first.
Recent Comments