Éire Óg Greystones Give Due Credit at the Feile na nGael

By Ted Crowley

"Whe’s dat?"

"Cork boy! Where else could it be?"

To merely say that Éire Óg did Greystones great credit would be to damn them disgracefully with faint praise. They did us so proud that we cheered and cheered them on, as they marched along Pana behind the Artane Boys Band. When a Corkman goes hoarse cheering the youth of Co. Wicklow, he’s no longer an exile from Co. Cork, but a Wicklow man, through and through.

And if it wasn’t enough to be cheering the youth of Greystones, more Wicklow teams trouped past us and we cheered them with what remained of our croaking cheers, because they also are ours and we are justly proud of them. The Kiltegan Camogie team played Killeagh, Sarsfield and Carlow at Killeagh and Riverstown: the Glenealy hurling team played Éire Óg Ovens, Cloughduv and Laois at Ovens: the Coolboy boys’ handball team and the Coolboy girls’ handball team, showed their paces at Boherbue. 

Co. Wicklow could not have been better represented at Feile na nGael. It was as fine a sight as one could ever behold to see and to photograph our youngsters in their team colors marching by with their heads held high, as each young step took them giant’s leaps closer to dignified womanhood and honorable manhood, through their sporting achievements and their well-deserved pride in themselves, singing, "Ole, ole," so triumphantly, having received their trophies and their medals from the dignitaries on the stand, to a live commentary from Michael O Muircheartaigh.

I promised you live coverage of the Éire Óg Greystones hurling matches through the Wicklow Times. Wind up the volume, sit back, relax and savour the voices of the county of culture, music to the musical ear, cheering their team to victory:

"Finbar!!!"
"Cum on Mikey!"
"Stick it into them!"
"Get on, get on, come on me boyo!"
"My God you’re a boy!"
"That’s it!"
"Cum on lads, keep it going!"
"Don’t let it out!"
"Wipe it on Michael!"
"Ref! Ref!"
"A long time to go yet."
"Well done, lads!"
"All the way!"
"Ooooh! wide."
"Cum on Aghabullogue!"
"Well done, Aidan!"
(A goal for Aghabullogue - clapping, clapping, clapping).
"Get over it, pull on it!"
"Oh my God!"
"Get in there John boy!"
"Pick it up, cum on boy!"
"Don’t let him ketch it now!"
(Another point for Aghabullogue).
"Three minutes to go, stick in there lads, ye have them bate!"
"Block it, block it!"
"Well done, Denis boy!"
"Well done, Rochie boy!"
"Ye have to work for everything!"
"Spread out a bit lads, ye have the run on them!"
"Cum on lads face up the ball!"
"Well done, Dan Corkery!"
"Concentrate on the bleddy ball, boy!"
"Get down on it Mickey!"
"Yerra, Jaesus, hit it!"

And with that sort of support, Éire Óg Greystones, playing three away-matches, two in one day, against veritable Tain bulls, ‘twas tough going all the way for our lads, and yet against all the odds, playing fellas who’d ate a dozen Clonakilty (Clon) pigs’ heads in a stirabout of Macroom oaten meal for breakfast, and there’s no telling how many bags of Golden Wonders and buckets of drisheen they’d down before a game, nor how many crubeens they’d swallow whole while burying the ball in the back of the net, Éire Óg Greystones played on valiantly and improved from match to match. Mark my words, Eire Og has the measure of those country fellas and it’ll be a different story at Feile na nGael 2006.

And when I knew that I couldn’t possibly get my head around all the contests taking place all over Co. Cork, that great sub-continent to the south, I happened upon the Coolboy girls’ handball team thrashing the competition at Boherbue. 

Being still an exile myself at that stage, before Éire Óg Greystones conquered Cork City after a brief skirmish close to Beal na Blath, I asked them if they received the Wicklow Times away down on the Wicklow/Carlow border. 

"Of course we do," they replied and smiled all the more on finding a familiar and welcome link with home. The four girls included: Eimear McGlynn; Shauna Hilley, captain, world champion and All-Ireland champion under 14; Sandra Barnes and Caoimhe Barnes. Later that day, at Boherbue, Shauna Hilley went on to win the handball skills competition. It was not difficult to see that she could.

You might wonder what Aghabullogue could possibly mean in English. For what it’s worth, I’m suggesting that Agha could be a variant of Ath or Atha, as in Annamoe, Ath-na-mBo, a crossing point for cattle; Oxford if you prefer. Bullogue probably refers to the belly. Both words together could describe a ford on the river Lee where the water comes up to the belly. Anyhow, whatever it means, our lads from Éire Óg Greystones are unlikely to forget Aghabullogue, Croke Rovers and Kilbrin and they’ll be all the better hurlers for that. 
 
 

Ted Crowley can be reached at crowleyted@eircom.net