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borderroamerhttps://fisherbelfast.wordpress.comThe Northern Standard, Monaghan. Reporter.

FROM BRADFORD TO WEMBLEY

23/01/2013 by borderroamer

It was, as the BBC reporter described it, the stuff of fairy tales. Minnows Bradford City became the first League Two (fourth tier) side in English football to reach the final of the League Cup in fifty years. The last was Rochdale in 1962. Getting to Wembley is expected to earn the club £1 million pounds. Not bad going for a side who had two pre-season friendlies in Ireland (both wins) against Wexford Youths and Bray Wanderers. Shortly afterwards at the start of the season, they hammered the team I support, AFC Wimbledon, 5-1 at the Coral Windows stadium at Valley Parade in front of a crowd of nearly 9,500. On the bench that day was a young Donegal lad Carl McHugh from Lettermacaward, who had just joined the Bantams and made his League Cup debut a few days later against Watford. In October the 19 year-old defender had his Football League debut and the following month his header helped Bradford to win their FA Cup match against Watford.

Carl McHugh, Bradford City

It was another header from McHugh that helped City win the first leg of their semi-final in the League Cup against Aston Villa. Although going down 2-1 last night in the return leg at Villa Park, their home win meant they went through 4-3 on aggregate. Ironically the first leg goal by McHugh was put past one of his football heroes, Irish international keeper Shay Given, who is also a Donegal man. Mc Hugh is clearly a rising star. He began on a scholarship with Reading when he was 16, then played on loan for Swindon Supermarine and then Dundalk in the Eircom League. He has represented his country at under 17 and under 19 level.

This is the biggest achievement by Bradford since they won the FA Cup in 1911. Looking at their history, I discover that like Wimbledon, they were once in the Premiership. At the end of the 1999/2000 season, “Sunday 14th May saw Liverpool at the Bradford & Bingley Stadium (as it was then called) and Bradford knew they had to better Wimbledon’s result, who were playing at Southampton, to ensure they stayed in the Premiership and condemn fellow strugglers the Dons, who were level with City on points but had a better goal difference. A 12th minute header from David Wetherall and a 2-0 defeat for Wimbledon sent the whole of Bradford into raptures and saw Premiership football at Valley Parade for another season.” It was the finish of a fourteen year stay in the top tier for the Dons, who were managed by Terry Burton at the time and were playing their home games at Selhurst Park. It was also the beginning of the end for the club, as moves began against the wishes of most fans to relocate to Milton Keynes, sixty miles away.

I wish Bradford every success on February 24th at Wembley against Swansea City, who had a goalless draw against Chelsea tonight and won on aggregate 2-0. But I very much hope AFC Wimbledon’s form will have improved by February 16th, when their home match against Bradford is scheduled. The Dons lost to Stevenage 3-1 in the first round of the Capital One Cup in August. They are currently struggling second from bottom, in the relegation zone of nPower League Two but you can watch them in action tomorrow night against Port Vale LIVE on Sky Sports, kick-off 19:45 (weather permitting). Today a major snow-clearing operation was mounted with the help of 60 supporters and under-18 players, in order to ensure that the pitch at Kingsmeadow would be playable.

FR TONY FLANNERY

22/01/2013 by borderroamer

Fr Tony Flannery (RTÉ News)

The Vatican is threatening to dismiss an Irish priest from the Redemptorist order who has unorthodox views on the question of women priests and contraception. Fr Tony Flannery was told nearly a year ago he was suspended from his ministry in County Galway. He was advised to go to a monastery and in the Latin expression credited to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, to think with the church: “sentire cum ecclesia”. He had been a founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland in autumn 2010. Now the 66 year-old cleric who was ordained in 1975 has been given an ultimatum by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. According to the Irish Times, he told a news conference in Dublin he will only be allowed back into ministry if he writes, signs and publishes an article – to be pre-approved by the CDF – accepting that the Catholic Church can never ordain women to the priesthood and accepting all church stances on contraception, homosexuality, as well as the refusal of the sacraments to people in second relationships.

As Fr Flannery himself summed up his situation: “I either put my name to a document that would be a lie, and would impugn my integrity and my conscience, or I face the reality of never again ministering as a priest”. Fr Flannery says he believes the real aim of the CDF is to suppress the Association of Catholic Priests. But he is adamant that “no matter what sanctions the Vatican imposes on me I will continue, in whatever way I can, to try to bring about reform in the church and to make it again a place where all who want to follow Christ will be welcome”.

The letters columns in the Irish Times contains a number of responses to the situation the priest finds himself in. From another rebel cleric self-styled “Bishop” Pat Buckley from Larne came the following: “Sir, – Twenty-six years ago they came for me and no one did anything. Today they have come for Fr Tony Flannery. Tomorrow they will come for you”. A lay group called We Are Church Ireland will be staging a vigil at the Papal Nunciature in Dublin on Sunday 27th January at 3pm in support of the Redemptorist. A representative of the group also welcomed the statement from Fr Flannery’s order. They said although not all Redemptorists would accept Fr Flannery’s views on all matters, they do understand and support his efforts to listen carefully to and at times to articulate the views of people he encounters in the course of his ministry. They expressed the hope that even at this late stage, an agreed resolution could be found. Update: THIS STATEMENT TO WHICH I HAD PROVIDED A LINK HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED ON THE IRISH CONGREGATION’S WEBSITE BY A NEW STATEMENT FROM THE SUPERIOR GENERAL (see below).

One correspondent from County Dublin however poses the following question: why does Fr Tony not have the courage of his convictions by officially becoming a Protestant? The writer claims that the cleric’s views are Protestant ones, not Catholic. Fr Tony certainly finds himself now with a very difficult choice to make. Many non-Catholics might be left wondering whether the curia in Rome is more intent on expelling turbulent priests who disagree with some church teachings, rather than cracking down on the problem of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland and elsewhere, which remained hidden for so many years.

In further developments, the Rome-based Superior of the Redemptorist Order, Fr Michael Brehl C.Ss.R., has said he deeply regrets the recent actions by Fr Flannery who as mentioned earlier, had held a news conference in Dublin. The full statement by Fr Brehl in which he asks Fr Flannery to renew efforts to find an agreed solution to the concerns raised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith can be found here, replacing a statement issued earlier in the week by Fr Flannery’s confreres in the Irish Province.

In the Irish Times, Patsy McGarry reports that documents seen by the paper confirm that Fr Flannery was threatened with excommunication by the Vatican. It looks like there will be more developments in this case over the next few months.

INEZ MCCORMACK: TRADE UNIONIST

21/01/2013 by borderroamer

Inez McCormack: ICTU Picture

Sad news this evening (Monday) about the death at the Foyle hospice in Derry of the leading trade unionist and human rights activist Inez McCormack, aged 69. As a trade union lay representative in the NUJ I met her on a number of occasions. The most memorable event I connect her with is when through her work behind the scenes President Mary Robinson came to a community function on the Whiterock Road in West Belfast in June 1993 and shook hands with the Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams. The gesture was made away from the glare of the media. It was one of the moments recalled by Mary Robinson in her autobiography published last year. The significance of the event was that at the time Sinn Féin were still out in the cold, subject to censorship, and the IRA ceasefire would not happen until the following year.

Inez McCormack with Patricia McKeown, Alan McBride & Geraldine Finucane

The last time I saw Inez was at a fringe meeting in Derry in April last year during the ICTU (NIC) biennial conference. She was sharing a platform with Geraldine Finucane, Patricia McKeown her understudy and successor at UNISON and ICTU, and Alan McBride of WAVE. I wrote about it in a blog “Pat Finucane case and dealing with the past”. I recalled how as NI Secretary of UNISON Inez had helped to set up the handshake between Gerry Adams and President Robinson at Rupert Stanley College. I remembered that occasion as one when the media were kept firmly outside the door in order to ensure that no pictures of the handshake were taken. Yet it was a defining moment in the lead-up to the IRA ceasefire the following year. Here is one account of the occasion from the Independent.

In 1999 Inez McCormack became the first female President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions since its formation in 1959. She held the post for two years. She was the first woman full-time official of the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) from 1976-90. She became the first female regional secretary of UNISON in 1993. Inez was the first woman to be elected to the Northern Ireland Committee of Congress in 1980 and four years later became the first woman to succeed to the post of Chair.

During US President Bill Clinton’s first visit to Ireland, the First Lady Hilary Clinton paid tribute to her work and ever since then they remained friends. Mrs Clinton also mentioned Inez when she was in Belfast last month.

“Inez stands out amongst the extraordinary people I have worked with over the last 17 years. She inspired and motivated me, challenged me often. One of Inez’s comments will always remain with me: there are so many more ties that bind us than divide us”, she said.

A BBC Northern Ireland report recalls how in 2011, Ms McCormack, along with Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep and Mu Sochua (a Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Cambodia), was named by US publication Newsweek as one of ‘150 Women Who Shake the World’. Her lifetime work enabling women to improve their lives by spreading the values of human rights was immortalised when the Holywood legend Meryl Streep played her in a Broadway play. At the time Ms McCormack said: “It is very humbling to have your life story represented in this way and a privilege to have an Oscar-winning actress and strong female character like Meryl Streep involved in the dramatisation. I have had the privilege of spending a lifetime at the service of warm strong women, who challenged injustice not just for themselves but for the people and communities they cared for and whose only affirmation has been that of their own conscience.”

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN Human Rights commissioner:

“Inez was a remarkable woman with a remarkable capacity for friendship. It was from Inez I learned that you can achieve much more if you don’t need the credit. Her support to me as a close advisor when I served as President was invaluable, but she never appeared in photographs or in the front row.”

Mrs Robinson has also written an obituary, which appeared in The Guardian.

Mark Durkan, former SDLP leader:

“Inez McCormack was impressive and effective in all she did. She stood for workers’ rights, for women’s rights, for equality and public services. As an organiser and as an advocate she championed the right of those serving others for lower pay than they deserved. She was articulate, compassionate and steadfast. She was immensely charming as well as being intense in her convictions. Her contribution to public life went beyond her primary role as a worker’s defender as she helped to benchmark the values, principles and protections that were needed for a fair and stable society. Her positive outlook, compelling analysis and valid stances won international recognition as a standard bearer for social justice and a role model for all who seek economic emancipation.”

ICTU President Eugene McGlone:

“Her track record in women’s and human rights was unequalled. Her work in promoting the cause of labour and social justice in Northern Ireland was known world-wide. Inez’s commitment to social justice began in the ’60s when she became active in the Northern Ireland civil rights movement. She followed this on when she became a trade union and equality activist before becoming the full-time official of the National Union of Public Employees. She also held the post when NUPE was reconstituted in a merger as Unison. Her unstinting passion was recognised and she received many justifiable accolades. Her work included campaigning to organise and revalue the work and contribution of the ‘forgotten’ workers, most of whom were women. Inez also led major campaigns for strong equality laws and to assert the rights of the most disadvantaged. In 1998, she led a successful campaign for such inclusive equality and human rights provisions to be included in the Good Friday Agreement.”

Patricia McKeown, regional secretary of UNISON:

“The sad day thousands of workers and trade union members have been dreading has come and Inez McCormack, has left us – but only in the flesh. Inez will never leave us in spirit. She has touched the lives of thousands of ordinary women and men and she has succeeded in what she set out to do. She has made a difference.”

Inez McCormack recalled in the Belfast Telegraph five years ago how her participation in the famous civil rights march at Burntollet in County Derry, in which she accompanied her boyfriend and later husband Vincent, would be an inspiration to campaign for justice. Truly one of the remarkable mná na hÉireann. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. Rest in peace.

Funeral arrangements: Inez will be buried at the City Cemetery, Derry tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday 23rd January). Her remains will be removed at 2pm from her brother-in-law’s house at 18 Belmont Crescent, Culmore Road (not far from the Foyle Bridge). The death notice says family flowers only and house private.

Memorial Service: The Londonderry Sentinel reports that a celebration for the life of Inez will be held on Saturday 23rd March at the Elmwood Hall in the University Road area of South Belfast from 2pm to 4pm. The ‘Out of the Ballrooms; Peace, Participation and Equality’ event is being organised by Participation and the Practice of Rights organisation (PPR), which Inez founded in 2006. Seats are available by registration at www.pprproject.org.

LONDON INVASION

20/01/2013 by borderroamer

I heard it first on RTÉ Radio sport: the possibility of an Irish rugby invasion of London at the start of April. And so it has come to pass. The remaining Heineken Cup pool fixtures this afternoon have deprived Ulster of a home draw in the quarter final. Instead Mark Anscombe’s team will be travelling to play Saracens on the weekend of April 5th/6th/7th just after Easter. They have been coached since 2009 by Mark McCall. He used to be in charge of the Ulster side so he will know the squad well and what to expect from the opponents. Their home games up to now have been played at Vicarage Road, the home of Watford FC. But they are about to move to a new stadium at Barnet with an artificial pitch. If they are to use the Allianz stadium at Copthall for the game, they will require permission from the local authority to increase the capacity from 10,000 to 15,000.

The other Irish side in the quarter-finals will be Munster, who will be up against Aviva Premiership champions Harlequins, coached by former Irish international Conor O’Shea. They had home and away victories over Connacht in pool 3. Their matches are normally at The Stoop at Twickenham, beside the RFU headquarters. Meanwhile the Heineken Cup holders Leinster despite a win yesterday are out of the competition but now get a place in the Amlin Cup. They will play another London side, Wasps, who play at the Adams stadium in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Stand up for the Irishmen! The semi-final draw made at Leicester this evening produced the following pairings:-

Semi-final 1: Saracens or Ulster Rugby v Toulon or Leicester Tigers
Semi-final 2: ASM Clermont Auvergne or Montpellier v Harlequins or Munster

It was also a busy afternoon in Gaelic games and at the Athletic grounds in Armagh (attendance 4155), the line-up was decided for the McKenna Cup final at the same venue under the floodlights next Saturday evening at 7:30pm. Monaghan beat Down 1-12 to 0-12 and Tyrone beat Fermanagh 2-09 to 0-07. So Monaghan will get a chance to win their fourteenth McKenna Cup if they can manage to beat neighbours Tyrone.

WILLIAM CARLETON IN DUBLIN

19/01/2013 by borderroamer

William Carleton’s Grave

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CARLETON:

Next Saturday (26th January) a group from the William Carleton Society travels to Dublin to mark the 144th anniversary of the death of the famous 19thC Irish author from County Tyrone. Carleton grew up as a Catholic, the youngest of fourteen children born to a small farmer in the Clogher area. He was educated at a hedge school near Glaslough in County Monaghan. He came to Dublin in 1819 with 2s 9d in his pocket and after trying various occupations, he became a clerk in the Church of Ireland Sunday School Office. Subsequently he would convert to Protestantism. In his autobiography (second part, finished by DJ O’Donoghue) we are told that:-

“he soon became acquainted with the Rev. Caesar Otway, who was personally a most estimable man, a very pleasant writer, an enthusiastic antiquarian, but a determined proselytizer. He was one of a very remarkable group of men in Dublin at that period — when Catholic emancipation was in the air — whose lives were devoted to the task which they described as the rescue of Ireland from Popery“.

William Carleton aged 72 living in Dublin

Otway gave Carleton an opportunity to use his journalistic talents for such proselytising purposes as satirising Catholic pilgrimages to ‘St Patrick’s Purgatory’ at Lough Derg. Further writings in the Christian Examiner & Church of Ireland Magazine led, in 1829 and 1833, to the publication of what is probably Carleton’s best known work: Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry – a tableau of the life of the country people of the north of Ireland before the famines of the 1840s altered their pattern of existence forever. There then followed such novels as Fardorougha the Miser (1839), Valentine McClutchy (1845), The Black Prophet (1847), The Emigrants of Ahadarra (1848), The Tithe Proctor (1849), The Squanders of Castle Squander (1852) in which he addresses many of the issues affecting the Ireland of his day such as the influence of the Established Church and landlordism, poverty, famine and emigration.

William Carleton Junior © Glenn Carleton

Carleton married Jane Anderson in 1820 and they had several children. Seven were born in Dublin, the first being Mary Anne in 1821. One of them, William Carleton junior, born in 1826, emigrated to Australia and was a known there as a poet. We are still not sure when and where his second daughter Jane Carleton was born. We know that she lived for time at Balham High Street in South West London, close to Tooting Bec. Deputy director of the summer school Frank McHugh reported on his research on the family tree at the 2012 event in Clogher. Thanks also to Glenn Carleton and Paul Brush in Australia, the William Carleton Society has been able to build up further details of Carleton’s genealogy.

COACH TRIP

On Saturday 26th a coach will be departing from Enniskillen at 7:30am and picking up passengers at Clogher, Aughnacloy and Monaghan (at the entrance to St Macartan’s College. 8:15am) for the trip to Dublin, which will cost £10 and will include membership of the William Carleton Society for those who have not yet joined. There will be a stop at Lusk services on the M1 before travelling into Dublin using a route which will give us an opportunity to see some of the sights, with Dr Frank Brennan as our guide.

“Frank Brennan will conduct a tour through Phoenix Park with its numerous historical monuments and associations going back hundreds of years, travel along Dublin’s quays, Four Courts, Guinness’ brewery, Dublin Castle, the two cathedrals, Jewish area and into Ranelagh which developed as a genteel middle class suburb after the Act of Union. At Sandford Church we will be addressed by a local teacher, who is a member of the congregation, on the history of Sandford church and its connection with Carleton. The Ranelagh Arts Society will then provide a talk by Susan Roundtree, an architectural historian, on the development of 19thC Ranelagh and the connection with the Plunkett family, who played a major role in Irish history.

We then go to Mount Jerome cemetery for a short ceremony (2pm) to commemorate the 144^th anniversary of William Carleton’s death. A member of the Ranelagh Arts Society will then conduct a short tour of the graveyard. We travel to lunch (4pm) at O’Briens at Sussex Place, Upper Leeson Street, one of Patrick Kavanagh’s haunts, which as a 1900’s grocery and bar reminded him of Carrickmacross. The journey to lunch will take us through Dublin’s two Georgian squares and past Government Buildings. Finally after lunch (which participants will pay for themselves) Frank Brennan will bring us past the Grand Canal Theatre, National Convention Centre, and some other of the better relics of the Celtic Tiger before our return home.”

SANDFORD CHURCH RANELAGH DUBLIN 12:30pm

Those joining the event in Ranelagh should assemble at the church at Sandford Road Ranelagh (junction with Marlborough Road) around 12:30pm. The group from the bus is hoping to walk from the site of Carleton’s now demolished former residence at Woodville, Sandford Road (beside the entrance to Milltown Park) to the church, weather permitting. Our thanks to the Reverend Sonia Gyles, Rector of Sandford and St Philip’s Milltown, for making the church available. Admission to the talks is FREE but membership of the William Carleton Society (€5) will be available for those interested.

Woodville Ranelagh

It promises to a be stimulating and interesting day. The coach will return to Enniskillen by 9pm. Please contact us by email, if you are interested or telephone me at (048 code from the Republic) 9066 2945 as there are a limited number of places available on the bus. The William Carleton Society is a partner in the Shared History, Shared Future project run by Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council through the EU funded South West Peace III Partnership Programme and this activity is being delivered through it.

POPE’S NEW MAN IN ARMAGH

18/01/2013 by borderroamer

Monsignor Eamon Martin (right): Photo Irish Bishops’ Conference

More than two years after Cardinal Seán Brady made a request to the Vatican, Pope Benedict has appointed Monsignor Eamon Martin from Derry as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh (an assistant with the right to succeed to the post of Archbishop). I have not met him but he came across in television and radio interviews as a very capable and enthusiastic clergyman. He made clear the Catholic church’s position regarding abortion and the ongoing discussions in the Republic about the “X” case. He also spoke about his upbringing in Derry as one of a family of twelve (six boys and six girls). Monsignor Martin is expected to be ordained as Coadjutor within a few months.

52-year-old Monsignor Martin has been Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Derry since November 2011 and the two former Bishops Seamus Hegarty and Edward Daly have welcomed his appointment. Speaking at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, Cardinal Brady welcomed the man who will take over from him in due course. He described Monsignor Martin as a man of great gifts and great generosity who he said would know how to use those talents in the education of people, young and old.

St Columb’s College Derry

A former pupil of St Columb’s College in Derry, he was ordained in Maynooth in 1987 aged 26. He later became a teacher at St Columb’s and was promoted to President of the College in 2000. He is a director of the National Board for Safeguarding Children, which was established by the Catholic church following revelations about clerical sex abuse in a number of dioceses.

STRABANE COUNCIL

17/01/2013 by borderroamer

Anyone who has reported on council business will know how important it is to have access to different sub committees and minutes of meetings, as well as to the full council meetings. Increasingly, some councils attempt to keep sensitive issues private by discussing them in committee. The role of the media to report on democracy in action and although district (or local) councils have limited powers, the press have a duty to report on the actions of councillors and to take them to task when necessary. I was therefore surprised to see that there is a proposal by Strabane District Council to restrict the attendance of press representatives at its weekly committee meetings. According to the interim chief executive Daniel McSorley

Daniel McSorley (Council photo)

(for whom I have a lot of admiration following the excellent job he has done during often difficult times in Omagh) quoted in the Strabane Chronicle, the proposed change in committee proceedings “would lead to more openness and transparency”. He added that no decision has yet been taken. I for one hope that the council does not decide to go down this route. I am glad to see a statement on the issue from the President of the National Union of Journalists, Barry McCall.

Michael Fisher & NUJ President Barry McCall

Mr McCall says that any attempt to exclude the press from council matters is “an attack on democracy” and he has vowed to take it up with Mr McSorley as a matter of urgency. He said any plans to ban the press from local council committee meetings would be a direct attack on democracy and an attack on press freedom. They are repugnant to an open and democratic society, he said, and would be strongly resisted by the NUJ. The union will raise its concerns with the District Council immediately.

Strabane Chronicle reporter Conor Sharkey said the paper had not submitted an objection at this stage but would probably do so. He told Hold the Front Page:-

“It would be a big deal for ourselves as a newspaper but I think it would be a bigger deal for the ratepayers. The issues that are being discussed are not national security, it is bread and butter issues such as waste management and leisure. It is ordinary issues that affect the men and women in the street. I think the ratepayers have a right to know about them. It is a huge concern to us. We pick up a lot of news stories from these meetings.”

Only eight local authorities in Northern Ireland are believed to restrict access to such committee meetings at the moment.

MICHAEL FISHER is Chair of the NUJ Irish Executive Council Northern Ireland sub-committee

DR MCKENNA CUP

16/01/2013 by borderroamer

Power NI Dr McKenna Cup competition

Driving back to Belfast tonight along the M1 I saw a strong white light emanating from the direction of the Castleblayney Road near Dundalk. It was the floodlights from Pairc Grattan at Inniskeen, County Monaghan, a ground which has been developed in recent years to accommodate county team matches. Monaghan were playing neighbours Fermanagh in their third Dr McKenna Cup match in Section A. Victory by 1-12 to 0-07 meant that the home side has qualified for the knock-out stages. Their next opponents will be Down, at the Athletic Grounds Armagh at 2pm on Sunday. I passed Newry as they were seeing off the challenge from their neighbours Armagh by 2-11 to 1-10 in Section B. In other matches, a weakened Donegal side narrowly beat St Mary’s 1-14 to 2-10 and in Section C, Tyrone easily beat UUJ 1-18 to 0-09 and Derry drew 1-13 apiece with Antrim. So the other semi-final on Sunday will see Tyrone meet Fermanagh, the best runner-up.

Ulster Council GAA

This year there has been controversy over the decision by some county managers to include QUB students in their squads. It has led to the withdrawal of Queen’s University from the competition, as they believed they were being put at a disadvantage. The competition has a very interesting history. The cup is called after a fomer Bishop of Clogher Dr Patrick McKenna from Truagh parish in County Monaghan, who presented it to the Ulster Council of the GAA in 1925. The first competition was in 1927. Monaghan are the most successful side in the tournament with thirteen wins, the last being 2003. Maybe they can make it fourteen this year! For two years, 2001 and 2002, the competition was not held but it was resurrected in 2003. Since 2007 it has been sponsored and the latest company to do so is Power NI, formerly NI Electricity, appropriate now that (as I observed at the start) many of the matches like tonight’s are played under floodlights!

Monaghan GAA Crest

GEEL DISCOVERY

15/01/2013 by borderroamer

Extraordinary discoveries in Geel (Het Nieuwsblad)

St Dympna is the connection between Tydavnet (Tigh Damhnait) in Monaghan and the town of Geel in the province of Antwerp in Belgium, with which it is twinned. I have visited Geel on a number of occasions, most recently in August last year. So I was interested to see an online article in the Belgian paper Het Nieuwsblad about an important archaeological discovery showing evidence of prehistoric remains, including a large graveyard from the Bronze Age. The find was made in the area called Sint-Dimpna, close to the church of that name, I think, at a site being excavated to make room for a new sports centre. I have used Google to attempt to translate the article, to find out a bit more about the discovery. This is what the report says, give or take a phrase or two!

Extraordinary discoveries in Geel (caption for photo).
Unique archaeological traces at St. Dympna:
Geel Historical Society has worked with the city archives to organise a lecture on the results of the excavations at St. Dympna. The archaeologists will explain how their research was done, what traces were found and what they mean. The excavations were carried out for the construction of the new sports and play park. During the investigation many archaeological traces from different periods came to light. The researchers found four main buildings from the Iron Age (circa 800-50BC), a yard from the Middle Ages (10th-12th century AD) and numerous smaller outbuildings or nails that served as storage for food. There were also some wells found (dating from) the Middle Ages. Besides these traces of habitation there were also traces of a large graveyard from the Bronze Age (2000-50 BC) that came to light. And it is this last discovery that makes the archeological site so unique and interesting. Finding such burial sites is extremely rare for archaeologists in Flanders. “The combination of the cemetery and a settlement is truly exceptional. In Geel everything was also very well preserved, “said Connie Leysen from the Geel city archives. The lecture will take place on Friday 25th January at 8pm in the Winery.

GRAFFITI

14/01/2013 by borderroamer

Corragh hall

Driving past a small orange hall in a rural part of County Monaghan at Corraghbrack near Tydavnet on Saturday night the car headlights revealed two offensive words “F**K YOU” had been painted on the gable wall and came up very clearly in the car headlights. The hall is used infrequently and does not have any sign outside and I have been past it many times before. My initial reaction posted yesterday and now corrected here was that this could be described as a sectarian act, possibly in reaction to the flags row in the North. Going back to visit the scene in daylight hours, the offensive slogan was not as apparent, depending on what angle you looked at it. But the wall showed signs of previous acts of graffiti having been painted out. Damage was done to the windows and front door of the hall in 2005, when a nearby hall in Glaslough was also attacked. On that occasion the local parish priest in Donagh, Fr Sean Clerkin, spoke out strongly at Mass against the attack.

Hopefully action will be taken to remove the unwanted graffiti. Further enquiries have revealed that the paintwork (which at the time seemed fresh to me) is not recent and there are no slogans accompanying the crude message to suggest it is a political act. It seems it is not intended in any way as a sign to the people who own the property. As I stated previously, Tydavnet and other parts of Monaghan generally have very good relations between Catholics and Protestants. It is to be hoped that this unsightly work will be attended to in due course and that the good relations between all sides of the community will prevail.