Open Agenda

A poem extolling the beauty of Islandeady, the birthplace of Taoiseach Enda Kenny, written by an Islandeady woman, was quoted by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon in Washington on St Patrick¹s Day. The House Speaker, John Boehner, was paying tribute to Enda Kenny on his election as Taoiseach.

Melvine

gaelic-football-aTHE Regency Hotel in Dublin was not a particularly joyous place to be on Sunday night.

Of course, had the guest of honour, Sam Maguire, turned up it would have been a different story, and credit to Henry McGlade, MC for the evening, for trying his best to turn a wake into a party. But this was an evening when words were not necessary, emotions communicated by a glance which showed the pain being experienced in the soul.

The feeling of disappointment ran deep and coursed through the veins of the players and the supporters who have been down this road so many times before.

But we danced and had a few jars and tried to talk and reassure ourselves that worse things could befall us other than losing an All-Ireland. It could be worse. It might have been Cork or Kerry we lost to. Now that does not bearing thinking about. What else could we do? Get on with it. That is life.

It is a tribute to their endurance and faith that they keep coming back for more.

However, if there is one thing we know about in Mayo it is actually parties and wakes and we often combine both and with equal gusto.

It was never going to be easy for a team to make the grand entrance and full credit to the 1,000 or so guests who gave the team and management their support on a night when they needed it most.

The one good thing about the evening was the shortness of the speeches, while it was good also to see that no excuse for the defeat were being proffered by way of blame.

The best team won, end of story.

I suspect there was no need to pile on the agony on a team and supporters who were already suffering and in some distress after the trauma of what unfolded hours earlier in Croke Park.

Oliver Kellegher

REGULARLY we get updates from various agencies that promote employment and business in Ireland.

We seem to go out of our way to report on the establishment of ten or twelve jobs created in some business sector.

These reports often insinuate that we have an upturn in the Irish economy when in fact it may be to the determent of existing jobs in the immediate area.