St. Michael's Football in 1970, opening of St. Joseph's and Doe a Deer in Beaufort

Wild Garlic in Garden of Europe 

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St. Michael's County Cup Winners 1969

Left to Right 

Front :    Kieran Fitzgerald , Maurice O 'Sullivan , Mick O'Connell , Tom Lyons  , David Kissane .

Middle:  John Hynes , Tadhg Moriarty , P J Browne  , Timmy Shanahan , Jimmy Deenihan , Pat Stack .

Rear    :  Eamon O' Carroll , Maurice O'Connor , Pat Stack , Tommy O 'Flaherty, John O' Connell , Jerry Kiernan , Pat Quilter .

Tim Kennelly was also on that team but was missing ( or maybe mitching ) on the day of the photo.

Johnny Flaherty and John Molyneaux Snr. were in charge .

Kieran writes;

It would probably be hard to believe ,at a remove of 50 years , what St Michaels stood for in those days . It concentrated  on imparting a classical education through the medium of Irish with no small amount of disciplinary measures thrown in as a bonus .  Teachers took great pride and spoke often  on the success of their 'Alumni' and , in retrospect , there is no doubt that many a successful career was launched from St Michaels . 

I have a couple of photos somewhere of successful college football teams in 1969 /70 . We won both the County and Dunloe Cups which up until then was undreamed of  . Our teams included Jimmy Deenihan , Tim Kennelly , Jerry Kiernan , Tommy Fla and younger brother Pat , Tim Shanahan ( who later starred in London ) Eamon Carroll , Gerard Leahy ,  Maurice 'Toots' O'Connor and yours truly . By any standards it was a very talented group which was  marshalled firmly  by Masters Flaherty and Molyneaux Snr . I will forward the photos if I come across them .

The school was also very successful on the Athletics front at that time . John O'Connell was a wonderful athlete as was Kiernan and all the names mentioned earlier . Success at Provincial and National Level was the norm for a few years . John Molyneaux Snr and Pat Kiernan ( Jerry's father ) were the driving force . There was even an athletics track in the Sportsfield with lane markings  all around , burned onto the Grass . There were  jump pits with proper sand  and an area reserved for the high jump and pole vault . It was a hive of activity which was not welcomed wholeheartedly by some in the Emmett's fraternity . Unfortunately I have no photos from that era. 

Others I remember as being in the class are Tim Shanahan ( Clounmacon ) , John Neville ( Bedford) , Pat Hayes R.I.P , James O'Donnell  ( Ballybunionish ), Timmy Lawlor  ( The Square )  but I dont see them in the photo 

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A Forgiving Poem from Róisín Meaney

For some, it’s all about reading,
For others it’s painting, or kneading,
If it helps you come through it
Find time just to do it,
Right now, it’s our souls that need feeding.

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Opening of St. Josephs

Photos and story from Patsy Kennedy on Facebook

Opening St. Joseph’s unit in Listowel hospital 1984
First patient Maggie Nolan being welcomed by matron Sr Peter Hudson and staff

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Motherly Love

Chris Grayson took these photos in the grounds of St. Mary of the Angels. Beaufort

Christmas Shop, More Photos from THE launch and Dublin Marathon 2019

Harvest Home

This lovely display is in Abbeyfeale church.

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Christmas is Coming

Displays in Listowel Garden Centre Christmas Shop

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Memories of the Launch of A Minute of Your Time

Mother and daughter Anne and Cora Darby on stage as Anne read a reflection which was prompted by an incident involving Cora.

My old friend, Assumpta O'Sullivan came from Dublin. She is originally from Killarney.

Barbara Walshe was there on the anniversary of her dear father's death. Many of the reflections in my book are about grief and remembrance.

Brenda Enright was there.

I have known Bridie O'Rourke almost since the first day I came to Listowel.

Canon Declan read me from the altar and reminded the congregation that I was launching my book across the road from the church straight after mass.

Helena Carmody was one of many of my friends from the Vincent de Paul shop who came to enjoy the night with me.

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Chris Grayson, Wild life Photographer and Runner

On the left is Chris Grayson whose  beautiful photographs I often feature on Listowel Connection. He and his friend, Fozzy Forrestal acted as pacers in yesterday's marathon.

Tennis players in action, A Mystery Box, Olive Stack Gallery and Thumbing in Kerry in 2012

Keen photographer, Chris Grayson, is often out and about with his camera. He has a fascination for old abandoned houses. He lets the picture tell the story. It is often a very sad one.

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Coming to the end of the Tennis Photos

I have really enjoyed bringing you these photos of young people now in their thirties and forties, a cohort who dont often contact me re Listowel Connection. I hope they have enjoyed reliving their tennis days through Danny's photographs.

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A Mystery Box

While walking on Charles Street the other day, I spotted this box attached to a road sign. Does anyone know what it is?

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When an Artist has a Shop

Isn't this so stylish?

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Thumbing A Lift

In the good old safer days, thumbing was an accepted way of getting from A to B. Many motorists were obliging and usually stopped for a hitch hiker.

Recently in The Leinster Leader a journalist called Robert Mulhern recounted his exploits with this method of getting around. Here is an extract from the piece which tells of his experience in Listowel...

Travelling from London to Listowel for the races in 2012, I realised upon landing at Kerry Airport that there was neither a bus nor a train to Listowel, or anywhere else it seemed.

It was a beautiful late September evening, so I stood out the front of the terminal considering my options, when a woman I’d been chatting with on the plane recognised me and stopped.

“I’ll drop you to the cross, about five miles away,” she said. “You’ll get a lift easy enough from there.”

When we got to the cross, the first car I hailed pulled in. It was a jeep actually.

“Where ye for?” said the driver.

“Jet O’Carroll’s,” I told him, “near the Main Street.”

On the drive in he told me he was the general manager of Listowel Racecourse.

Then he dropped me right to the door of Jet’s, and threw in some complimentary tickets for the next day’s racing.

Of course this way of getting around is long out of fashion.

But I’ve long thought that, with its low carbon, energy efficient stamp, this thumbing lark is the very transport solution that would be front and centre of any environmentally conscious transport strategy.

Robert Mulhern is a London based journalist contracted to RTE's The Documentary on One. To contact him, email mulhernrobert@hotmail.com

Group Cert English, Listowel people at Raceweek and Peggy Rorke's cure

Robin on bramble Photographed by Chris Grayson

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Group Cert English paper 1963

The Group Cert was an exam that was taken by pupils in Vocational schools. There used to be a segregation of pupils into academic schools which taught subjects like Latin and Greek as well as the core subjects, and vocational schools which prepared pupils for the world of work. These vocational schools alone had an exam after two years called Group Cert. Many pupils then left to take up apprenticeships or to go into jobs.

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...And Lion

This iconic piece of stucco is being refurbished.

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Raceweek Back in the Day

Seamus Buckley's photos show spectators watching the barmen's race during race week sometime in the 1950s or 60s


Yesterday's Raceweek photos brought this response from Gerard Leahy;

Great memories Mary, and you are correct, all of us emigrants cast our minds back to Listowel during Race Week. I loved seeing the old Race Cards. Stuart Stack ( Damian Stack 's father) used to distribute bundles of cards to us kids on Race morning and we would sell them up and down the street, the square and the pubs for a shilling, making 100% profit. So many memories of Race Week but Jimmy Hennessy, King of the Wrenboys will always stand out!!!

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Did Her Sister make a Miraculous Recovery?

I photographed this headstone in the nuns' graveyard at the Nano Nagle Centre in Cork. The Nano Nagle Centre, which is well worth a visit, holds the graves of both  Presentation and the Ursuline sisters. It is on the site of the old South Pres. I'll be coming back to it here because I made a second visit there recently and was fascinated by the marvellous work of preservation and information that The Presentation Sisters have done at this site which is a museum, a peaceful garden and a visitor centre. I'll have to go back a third time because, by bad timing, I missed the guided tour by Sr. Bride Given, formerly of Listowel whom I am told is an excellent guide.

Back to this child, Anne Rorke of County Dublin who was buried with the nuns.

Dave O'Sullivan did a bit of research for us and the story he found refers to Anne's sister but sheds enough light for us to  surmise about Anne and her fate.

The Andrew Rorke referred to in this cutting is obviously Anne's father. In 1840 he belonged to the 'Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty",  was a follower of O'Connell's and obviously wealthy enough to be able to send his daughters to the Ursuline Boarding School  in Cork to be educated.

The next newspaper story is the fascinating one.

For those of you who have difficulty reading the newspaper cutting, here is the gist of it;

Margaret (Peggy) Rorke of Tyrrellstown in Co. Dublin contracted measles while a boarder in the Ursuline Convent School in Cork. This is 1823 when an outbreak of measles could result in deaths in a crowded community. Anyway Margaret was in a bad way, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat,  could only sit in a chair because to lie prone would have resulted in her lungs filling up with fluid.

In this state she is attended by the nuns and is preparing for death, when they send for a famous priest and miracle worker to give her the Last Rites, then called Extreme Unction or Holy Viaticum (Bread for the journey to heaven). 

This priest is Prince Alexander Leopold Franz Emmerich of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst

He performs the last rites on the dying girl, she spends some time in prayer and, lo and behold, she throws off the covers and walks for the first time in three months. She is completely and undeniably cured.

The newspaper comments

"Peggy Rorke's cure will ne'er be forgot

By those who were there and those who were not"

From this story we can surmise that her sister Anne died of some complication of measles in 1815.  Because they had suffered the loss of one daughter, the family would have done anything to save the life of Margaret, including bringing a miracle priest from Germany. Daniel O'Connell may even have had something to do with it.

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Sunday at the Races

Sean and Killian were with me in Kerry for the weekend. We went to The Island on Sunday and we had a great time. Not too much luck with the horses but a good time nonetheless.

There was a great crowd in attendance.