George Plant Commemoration
The Republican Movement in South Tipperary will hold its annual George Plant Commemoration in St. Johnstown Graveyard on Easter Sunday 27th March at 3pm. The oration will be given by Michael Brown, a member of Cashel Urban Council.

New Time
The summer time is coming but the fields are not so sweetly blooming these days as all the flora, honeysuckle, buttercups and cowslips etc. have long since been killed off by weed killing sprays. Nevertheless, do not forget to put your clocks forward one hour this Saturday night, 26th March, when summer time comes into operation.

Slievenamon Under-18 Team Win in Fred Daly Trophy

Slievenamon Golf Club under-18 team had a great win in the first round of the national Fred Daly Trophy Competition played in Templemore Golf Club today (Good Friday), 25th March, against the home club. The team will now meet Tipperary Golf Club, who defeated Dungarvan Golf Club yesterday. The match has been provisionally fixed for Monday next the 28th March (Easter Monday) at Tipperary. The team are photographed above with supporters. L to R: Paddy Holohan, Declan Heafey, Ross O'Dwyer, Ian Croke, Eoin Delahunty, Brian Kennedy, James Smyth, Peter Gough, Ian Gough, Cathal Hurley and has father, John Hurley, who is team manager.

Died Recently

We record the death of Mrs Alice Keane, Knockelly, who died on Wednesday 23rd March. Alice is photographed above recently with her daughter Maureen. Burial took place at Peppardstown Cemetery on Friday 25th March.

Fethard & Killusty Community Lotto Results
The numbers on Tuesday 22nd March were: 3, 5, 14 and 26. There was no Jackpot winner and one ‘Match 3’ winner who received €150:
Gussie Slattery, Kilnockin, Fethard
The three €50 Lucky Dip winners were:
Greta O'Dwyer, Red City, Fethard
Cathy O'Brien, c/o Annie O'Brien, Main Street, Fethard
Carmel Shine, St. Patrick's Place, Fethard
Next weeks Jackpot remains at €10,000 and the Jackpot sellers prize is €1,000.

Fethard Ballroom Celebrates 12 Years

Fethard Ballroom ladies committee who look after the refreshments every Sunday L to R: Sheila O’Donnell, Margaret Phelan, Catherine O’Connell, Monica Ahearn (treasurer), Pat Horan and Breda Spillane.

St. Patricks Night is a special night for patrons of Fethard Ballroom, and this year was no exception for the large number of dancers who turned up to celebrate 12 years of success with the organising committee and their many helpers. Fethard Ballroom is now one of the most popular venues for popular dancing in the South with patrons driving from as far as Wexford, Cork and Waterford every week. The committee would now like to see more locals coming to enjoy the wonderful facility and warm friendly atmosphere generated among the many loyal followers every Sunday night. Dancing is from 9pm to midnight and admission includes light refreshments supplied by a very capable ladies committee.


Fethard Ballroom mens' committee members photographed at the 12th anniversary dance on St. Patrick's night. L to R: Seamus Barry, Gay Horan, Robert Phelan (secretary), Mick Ahearne (chairman), Paddy Hickey, Thomas O'Connell and Sean Spillane.

Twelve years ago, on St. Patrick’s night, 17 March 1993, the former Country Club Ballroom, which was originally the Capital Cinema, reopened its doors in splendour to all and sundry. The ballroom was purchased about twelve months previously, at a cost of £30,000, by the Community Council but was in very bad repair following at least five years of closure and neglect. However, community spirit came to the fore when various members of the community spent endless nights working to reinstate this building to its former glory. A Christmas draw took place to generate funds for materials and as much voluntary labour as possible was used to make the dream became a reality on St. Patrick’s Night. Most of the population of the town and surrounding areas danced the night away to the sound of the Pat Burke Band from Cahir, and enjoyed themselves immensely.

In 1994 the committee formed Fethard Ballroom Company Ltd to take over the running and financing of the ballroom. On top of the purchase price, a further £17,000 was spent on essential repairs to enable the hall to open. By 1995 the committee had the original debt of £47,341 reduced to £20,379.


Photographed at the Fethard Ballroom's 12th anniversary dance on St. Patrick's night are L to R: Margaret Heffernan, Larry O'Gorman, Terri O'Dwyer, Bill Maher, Bridget Staunton and Seamus Ryan.

1997 was a very difficult year for the Ballroom with the possibility of closure due to a large increase in insurance premium for the facility and also some insurance claims against the Ballroom. With outstanding dedication and determination, the committee tackled these problems and successfully turned around this tough situation and have never looked back since.

In the following years the committee, using mainly voluntary labour, upgraded the hall to the tremendous facility it is today, fitting out a new fully equipped kitchen, new doors and windows, new carpeting and non-slip floor covering, and vast improvements to the heating system to eliminate draughts, reduce heat loss and add to the comfort of patrons.

Today, the Ballroom is completely paid for and self-sustaining and great credit is due to the present committee who stuck with the project, and the many others who also worked with the committee over the past twelve years. Well done!

We can show our appreciation by coming along with our friends and enjoying a dance on Sunday nights! The committee assure us a very warm welcome.

Badgers Soccer Club
There was a good healthy turn out for our AGM held in Butler’s Bar on last Friday night, which reflects a club that has grown steadily this past year. Expansion sees Philip Furnell elected as chairman, with Liam Harrington and Colm McGrath remaining on as treasurer and secretary respectively. One of the main topics of discussion on the night was, when should we return to the Community Field, and the date that was agreed was Wednesday 13th April. With the new lights installed in the field we are no longer restricted by time, so on the 13th it will be 7.45pm for warm ups and 8pm for kick-off.

Visitors to Fethard

Photographed above are return visitors to Fethard, Timothy and Cynthia McQuinn, from Monticello, Indiana, USA, with Cynthia's mother, Connie Litts (right). Cynthia's great great grandmother was Mary Dunphy from Cashel Road, Fethard, and was born 1839.

Fethard Bridge Club
On Wednesday 16th March we played for Easter prizes and the results were:
1st Gross: Berney Myles and David O’Meara
2nd Gross: Teresa Cummins and Alice Quinn
3rd Gross: Anna Cooke and Bernie O’Meara
1st Nett: Kay St. John and Rita Kane
2nd Nett: Suzanne Opray and Ellen Rochford
3rd Nett: Olive Looby and Nora Ahearne
Anyone looking for a partner contact Annie O’Brien Tel: 052 31862.

The Late Dick Wall — An Appreciation
The death of Dick Wall, Tullamaine, wile not unexpected came as a great shock and was greeted with great sadness by his many friends and acquaintances in Fethard and surrounding districts, especially those in GAA circles.

The late Dick Wall was a powerfully strong man, but perhaps his true strength was in his gentleness. Dick projected an inner quality of sincerity and kindness, qualities which he himself would be the last to admit to, which reached out and endeared him to all who knew him. It would be impossible to imagine Dick Wall utter a harsh or unkind word about anybody or anything.

Canon James Power said on receiving his remains in Fethard Parish Church, “Dick Wall was a real gentleman”, and Fr Tom Breen P.P. at his funeral mass said, “Dick was a pleasure to meet at all times”. These two statements sum up Dick Wall to a ‘T’.

Dick Wall’s great interest was the GAA. He was the stuff of which teams, clubs, and the GAA itself are made. He never wore the county jersey, never made the banner headlines in the local press, and indeed, in his over twenty years service to Coolmoyne hurling teams and Fethard senior football teams, his honours won were very few. Nevertheless, Dick Wall never missed a game, challenge, tournament or championship for which he was selected during his playing career. He always gave one hundred and twenty percent. He asked for no quarter and gave no quarter; on the playing field he would more than likely be considered a ‘hard man’. Yet in his long career, he played it hard but he played it within the rules. Players, even those with much higher reputations, never got soft scores off Dick Wall. He never had his name taken or was never sent off, although it would be true to say, if the ‘Cárta Buidhe’ was in existence in his time, he would have amassed enough to paper a room.

The verse paying tribute to Dick Wall in the local ballad, “The Hurlers of Coolmoyne”, pays the perfect tribute to his qualities as a hurler. The ballad recalls an epic encounter between Coolmoyne and Mullinahone in Drangan.

“The rugged men from Kickhams den off jostled but in vane;
For German tanks would fail to shake Dick Wall from Tullamaine.
With good old ash in every clash, he fought with courage fine,
He soon convinced the Kickhams, he was hurling with Coolmoyne.”

On his return from the playing field he was a loyal and true supporter of all Fethard football and hurling teams of all grades, up to the time of his final illness, which he bore with great faith and fortitude.

Dick Wall’s other great interest was hunting and the family farm adjoined the Tipperary Foxhounds Kennels. Dick was a regular attended at the annual Tipperary Puppy Show and was proud that Wall’s Covert was always a sure find. He also took a great interest in the Barrettstown Harriers during their short existence. He was sort of a technical adviser to a great local personality, Jimmy Looby, huntsman and master. Dick, with his great wry sense of humour, took great delight in Jim’s wholehearted endeavours in the hunting field.

Dick Wall had a great affinity with children. He followed with great interest the careers of his nephews and grand nephews on the playing fields and especially those of his niece, Annie Costigan, on the Fethard Presentation Convent All-Ireland winning volleyball teams of the seventies. Children also loved him. Indeed, this was perfectly shown by his very young grandnephew who read one of the bidding prayers at his funeral mass so well, crying bitter tears as he followed his coffin from Fethard Parish Church.

Dick Wall, a strong and silent man, will be sadly missed by his brother Jack to whom our sincere sympathy is extended, nieces, nephew, and those of us fortunate enough to have known him and been his teammates.

We may have great men, but we’ll never have better,
Glory O, Glory O, to Coolmoyne hurling men.
(E.A.N.)

Another Fethard Character lost
We record the death of another well-known likeable Fethard character, Paddy Ryan, who died peacefully on Tuesday 22nd March. Following the notification of his death by Mary and Brendan Kenny, who were with him when he died at St. Patrick's Hospital, Cashel, a minute's silence was held in Lonergan's Pub.

Paddy's remains left McCarthy's Funeral Parlour at 6.45pm on Wednesday 23rd March to Holy Trinity Parish Church Fethard.

Burial took place at Calvary Cemetery Fethard on Holy Thursday following prayer service at 11am.

Cheltenham Cheer
National Hunt racing has got a passionate following in Ireland. And the Cheltenham Festival is the battleground where the ‘cream of the crop’ battle it out for the top honours every year. Ask any owner, trainer or jockey what they wish for in the racing game and you will almost always get the same answer — a win at Cheltenham. It’s the pinnacle of the sport.

Last week, a gap of fifteen years was bridged by Mouse Morris and his team when they returned home with another Cheltenham winner, “Fota Island”, owned by J P McManus, trained by Mouse Morris and ridden by Paul Carberry, claimed the honours for Fethard. The celebrations, which started in Cheltenham, continued in Fethard where the successful team were joined by friends and well wishers, which included Nina Carberry, younger sister of Paul, who rode her first winner on her first mount in the festival this year. Well done to all concerned.
(N Gawe)

Cheltenham's Dinner for Jimmy (report by Philippa Coady)
Cheltenham without Jimmy Ryan?  Not possible I hear you cry.  Well sadly it happened this year.  Even the hotel staff missed him!  He may not have been there physically but he was first and foremost in a lot of people’s minds.  I was there for the four days and I never met anyone who didn't either know him personally or who had not heard of him and many regrets were expressed at his absence. Exchanging pleasantries at the bar with complete strangers, several said, “We're from … and before you ask, yes, we did know The Buck.”  Such was his notoriety and a fitting tribute to him!

Sixty of his close friends attended the memorial Mass on Wednesday morning in the Queen’s Hotel during which, Father Breen, who frequently bantered with Jimmy, said “Let’s say a prayer to Our Lady to look after him - after all she was a woman and we all know how Jimmy liked the women!”  A lighter moment in what was a sad occasion.

Dinner on Wednesday evening was attended by 44 people - a number which could easily have been tripled but space in the Queen’s was at a premium during the Festival and many people were unable to take part due to lack of space.

A PowerPoint presentation ran showing moments captured with Jimmy - always in his favourite position - standing at the bar with a pint and the dinner menu, especially printed in his honour, showed him in full colour propped up at McCarthy’s (where else!) and on the back page with ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ at Coolmore. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD PDF OF THE 4-PAGE MENU (1.7mb)

Jimmy’s favourite Irish Ballads were played during the evening (and would you please tell Jimmy Hayes if you see him that the CD he “stole” will only play on a CD player that reads MP3 or on a computer!)

The evening, as you can imagine, degenerated into something that Jimmy would have been proud of.  Whether the tables at the Queen’s will ever be the same again, leaves much to the imagination! But happily Jimmy’s sister left before that happened!

The following morning began with: “My wife says I was out of order last night and that I owe everyone an apology …”

Jimmy couldn’t have said it better himself…

In Remembrance of Jimmy (Buckie) Ryan

God's laughing in Heaven because Jimmy's his best mate
Yer man was found knocking at the door of the Pearly Gate
"Open the door, Peter, for goodness sake" said God with a frown
"This one's special and if we don't let him in he'll tear the place down".

"A thousand Irish welcomes" said Pete opening the gate wide,
"You've done your penance and earned enough points", he cried,
"About time" said Jimmy "I've been waiting a lifetime to come in here,
And during all those years down there I had to pay for my beer!"

"Well, welcome anyway", said God, "I'm glad you've arrived at last,
I can see from your face that you've atoned for your past.
Drink all that you can", said God generously, "and it's limitless at that,
But give us the gossip", he said, "let's share in the craic".

Yes, God’s laughing in Heaven listening to the craic all the time
And teaching Jimmy a trick or two he’d learnt with the wine,
And from his position on high above,
Jimmy can see all his friends and share in their love

You’re sadly missed Jimmy but you’ve found a soul mate
And we’re glad for you as we know you didn’t have to wait
So rest in peace Jimmy, - you’re remembered here on Earth
By all of your friends and particularly those of the turf.

(Philippa Coady - March 2005)