The life and times of legendary Mayo publican Mick Byrne

by Dr. Richard Martin

In Tsundoku, Japan, they have a word to describe the practice of buying and storing books and never reading them.

The books just lie there waiting to be opened and tell their story.

My bookcase and Mick Byrne have a lot in common, for Mick is a man of stories. Raconteur. Seanchaí.

Known the width and breath of this island. Larger than life. Yarn upon yarn. A walking library waiting to be opened.

Memories stretching back over 60 years and a wide repertoire of stories to tell, and only a finite amount of time to tell them.

I meet Mick regularly in Caroline's, Market Square, and I asked him if he’d meet me for a chat in Castle Street. He duly obliged.

Mick was a former student in St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, and won a Hogan Cup medal in 1974. We started there.

RM: What was Jarlath’s like?

MB: I enjoyed it. I made great friends there, you know. There was a man on that team called Padraig Jordan.

RM: I was a close personal friend of his nephew Andrew Verity – a gent.

MB: Padraig’s father was a sacristan – Pat Jordan - who was a great character in Castlebar.

Padraig could run so fast that he couldn't solo the ball. He had to stop to solo the ball. I'm telling the truth when I say this.

He had to pop the ball at an angle away from him to keep the ball in motion.

The greatest I seen coming out of Jarlath’s in my time there was my good friend Henry Gavin.

RM: The greatest?

MB: Henry Gavin was class. Henry Gavin captained Jarlath’s in 1974.

He also captained the Science Cup team, which was the All-Ireland athletics team. The Science Cup was an athletics cup for colleges. And Jarlath’s were the only team ever to win the Science Cup and the Hogan Cup in the one year. He was the great servant of Castlebar Mitchels as well. He played with Castlebar Mitchels for the best part of 20 years.

I mean, you talk about the Mitchels team in 1978. Like he was instrumental in that winning team. They were beaten the year before in ‘77 by Ballintubber. First round of the championship by 17 points.

The following year we beat them. Tom Blake, Lofty Walsh, Henry Gavin. James Quinn was class. James Quinn was stylish. He won a minor All–Ireland in 1971 with Mayo. He was that good.

Of course, you had Paul Gavin, Leo Doherty, who later went on to manage the team, and become chairman of the club. There was Jody Munnelly, son of the legend Josie, who in my opinion was one of the greatest of all time.

Ray Flaherty, who is over in Boston now at the minute. Jumping Johnny Kelly was class. As hard as nuts. Believe me when I say that.

You know, that final will live long, in my mind, for the simple reason, we were given no chance that particular year.

It was a wet September Sunday when we played Claremorris at MacHale Park. I think the final score was 0-8 to 0-6. We went into that match as complete underdogs and came away with our 24th senior title.

The one thing about that team is the memories. Because, believe me when I say that, it's the memories that are precious. And this is nearly 50 years ago now.

I am very passionate about Castlebar Mitchels.

I was privileged to be chairman for five years. I was there in the’ 90s.

But I can go back to the mid ‘60s, when Ray Prendergast captained the team. They were county champions in 1969 and 1970.

There were serious players on that team. Serious players. And then, of course, you had Gerry McDonald in the complex.

Gerry McDonald was instrumental in building the complex and getting the complex ready in 1978. Unfortunately, he passed away the following year.

RM: Martin McMenamin. Did you know him?

MB: Oh, Martin was one of the die-hards. Martin, Jerry Henry, Gerry McDonald.

We were privileged to have so many people like that. That's why sport in Castlebar is so good. You look at Castlebar Celtic last year.

Castlebar Celtic celebrated a brilliant centenary in 2024. You have the rugby club celebrating 140 years this year. Three weeks ago, we had a brilliant rugby match here in Castlebar.

I mean, you look at the Nines Football Festival, we had a very successful Nines competition.

Only over the last couple of days, 32 or 36 teams playing. 600 people coming to Castlebar. It was massive for the town. This wouldn't have happened years and years ago. But the clubs are going from strength to strength in the town at the moment.

RM: What do you make of the rugby?

MB: Unbelievable. I thought the rugby was unbelievable....I mean, the craic and the build-up. Like, people were talking about it since Christmas. To have 28,000 people in MacHale Park. At a rugby match. I have never seen it before in my life.

It was one of those occasions where the whole of Castlebar got behind it.

RM: Talk about Castlebar.

MB: Castlebar is very, very special to me.

RM: I know that, yeah.

MB: I grew up in Castlebar.

We had a reunion in 2003 of the Main Street residents in the Welcome Inn Hotel. I think 210 people attended that reunion. Now, on the Main Street in Castlebar, only five of the old stock are living on the Main Street in Castlebar.

RM: How do you feel about that?

MB: I feel very, very sorry about that. I feel very sad about that. I grew up in Castle Street.

To me, Castle Street is special. I grew in Ducksie Steward’s. For 12 years, Steward’s Corner at the top of the street. Where the barbers is now.

And it was a funny thing. John Kelly's grandfather, Thomas Kelly, started in Stewards in 1932. Along with the sweet shop.

There were great characters from Castle Street like Patrick Lavelle, Tom McHugh, Hughie McGartland and Mickey, of course. Mickey P. was legendary.

You had Seanie Kilcoyne, Seanie Kelly and Eoin Morgan. Peter Dever's Shop.

RM: Do you miss that now? People have moved out of the town centre?

MB: In times past, I'd be walking from Castle Street down to Main Street, down to my mother, Margo. And it could take me an hour to walk down. You could be in a hurry to bring a message back. The next thing you know, you'd meet somebody. That's what I miss about Castlebar.

RM: Do you think though that there should be more of an incentive to build up to Main Street and get people back living there?

MB: Yeah, I genuinely do. I mean, the problem with the Main Street, the traffic, the footfall isn't there. There's nothing huge to attract the people in.

We're lucky enough at the moment that down on our end of the Main Street, we have two very, very big developments, opening shortly, thanks to investments by Dermot Fadden and the Swift family at Bridge St.

And we have Vaughan Shoes and Unit 7 that came in there a couple of years ago, which have helped us immensely.

RM: I've heard this story about yourself and Skinty McEllin in 1983. Did you land an aeroplane up the street?

MB: No, what happened was we towed the airplane.

You see, people have this misconception.

RM: Yeah. I thought you drove it and had the wings up.

MB: No, no, no. We towed it.

Because the wings were taken off the aeroplane.

Yeah. But there was murder over it.

RM: Was there?

MB: Murder over it.

RM: You took the wings off?

MB: No, the wings were off it because a storm two months previous.

So we towed it up the street after a rugby dinner. That's about six o'clock in the morning. And there was somebody who was just after getting up, seen this plane on the Main Street and said, they’d seen it landing. But it never landed.

The story was that the plane landed on the Main Street.

RM: And was it a bet?

MB: No, it was just a bit of devilment.

RM: The All-Ireland final of 1996, Tom Tom Denning and the Byrne’s Babes. Tell me about that?

MB: Aah, class. ‘96. Tom Tom Denning and the Byrne’s Babes. We got to number five in the Irish Top Ten with a song called ‘Sam Maguire's Coming Home To Mayo’. And we were on Up For The Match.

RM: How did it start?

MB: It started with a bit of devilment. We had this Volkswagen Beetle painted. It was never seen before. He parked it outside the pub about a month before the All-Ireland final.

And we were invited to every new supermarket and shop in the county that was being opened at the time.

And we'd go down for the craic. Tommy Staunton, Mickey P., myself, and Tom Tom, of course, was the main man.

And you'd be going into schools. And the craic. The week before the All-Irelands were… ah, the memories are precious.

RM: Tell us about the old festivals.

MB: The Castlebar Song Contest. And I have to mention Paddy McGuinness on this. He was instrumental in the Castlebar Song Contest. Paddy McGuinness is one of the greatest men to organise anything. The GMIT in this town. Now they can talk about politicians as long as they want, but to me, McGuinness was special. And still is.

He is a great friend of mine.

We had the Blues Festival that went on for 10 or 12 years. I mean, these were all something special.

And they had their own kind of identity. Like the Occasion at the Castle. They had Madness, Thin Lizzy, The Boomtown Rats. The problem is the people stayed in the town and not out on the site at Rehins.

RM: I heard that.

MB: And I had never seen Hare Krishnas in my life before until I seen them that time. They were coming down the Main Street.

There were 10,000 people on the Main Street. The pubs. We ran out of drink. We ran out of glasses.

RM: Tell us about Byrne’s Pub.

MB: Byrne’s Pub started 120 years ago. We are the oldest family run pub in the town.

When I was growing up, there were 74 pubs in Castlebar. Now there's, I think, just 17 open now.

My grandfather ran the pub for years and years. My father Michael John took it over then in the mid ’50s. Sadly, he passed away in 1960. My mother Margo then took it over from 1960. She sadly passed away on September 4, 2023.

RM: When did you take it over?

MB: The mid ‘70s. I took it over then. And believe me when I say this. I've had quiet days, but I never had a bad day.

Thankfully, I never had a bad day. I don't think I could have been anything else.

It's the memories...

RM: Yeah.

MB: ...that are precious.

All the characters, all the stories, the football matches. The GAA has been very, very good to me.

The people at Castlebar have been very, very good. Not just to me, but to my mother and to my father.

And I mean, that's why I love Castlebar. That's why Castlebar is special to me.

I just want to give something back for everything that Castlebar has given me.

....

Everything must end.

All things must pass.

Even a conversation with Mick Byrne.

I was struck by his loyalty to his old comrades and friends and his deep genuine love for the Mitchels and the town. Micky P. Tom Tom. Skinty. Paddy McGuinness.

There is depth, humility, humanity and simple decency.

For me it was a deep privilege and an honour to sit and listen to him reminisce about the town I love and the great characters that have trod the streets before us.

Castlebar is imprinted on this man's heart.