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To mark the occasion John Scally’s new book Extraordinary GAA People celebrates exceptional GAA people. 

A case in point is Brian Cody. Scally writes:

I thought for a fuller picture of Brian Cody I needed a perspective from an adversary, Anthony Daly, on an evening when sweet scents rose from the flowers in the heavy humid air:

‘My first real memory of the inter-county game from the late 1970s was when Clare won two league titles in succession and I have a slight memory of the 1978 All-Ireland final when Cork beat Kilkenny to win the three-in-a-row.

‘That was my first time seeing Brian Cody who played full-forward that afternoon. 

I have a clearer memory of him from the early 1980s when Kilkenny won successive All-Irelands with Cody captaining the 1982 team. 

You nearly always remember the captain. And then, the next time I really saw or heard about Cody was when he took over Kilkenny at the end of 1998.

‘A year later, I spoke to him properly for the first time during the All-Stars trip to Boston in October 1999. We spent a long part of that evening after the match chatting in Kitty O’Shea’s Bar when most of the questions were coming from Brian. 

Cody was dying to know what kind of stunts Loughnane was up to. Were the stories true? Were our training matches as intense as he had heard? Did Loughnane ever blow for frees?

‘When we played Kilkenny in a challenge game in Kilkenny the following May, I witnessed the real Cody for the first time. Kilkenny absolutely hammered us.

Clare had a name as the big aggressors in hurling at that time but Kilkenny bullied us off the field. The whole tone was set by Cody. All you could hear all evening was his big voice. It was like watching, and

listening, to another version of Loughnane.

‘I remember going home in the car with Seánie McMahon and Jamesie O’Connor afterwards and we were all taken aback by Kilkenny and Cody. The work-rate of their forwards was savage. 

All over the pitch, they hit anything that moved. We had seen shades of that stuff in the 1999 All-Ireland semi-final but this was a whole new level again. And this was just a challenge match!

‘I saw myself first-hand how powerful Cody could be in a dressing-room after Dublin beat Kilkenny in 2013. The Dubs were gone crazy after finally beating Kilkenny. 

I said to Richie Stakelum that that we were in danger of losing the run of ourselves with Galway coming down the tracks in eight days-time. 

Then Cody walked in the door and effectively gave our pre-match speech before the Leinster final. It was full of respect and sincerity, but the beauty was its simplicity.

‘I had plenty of run-ins with the great man over the years. I hit him a dunt in the chest during the 2004 drawn All-Ireland quarter-final, when I told Cody he may have bullied Galway in their previous game but that he wasn’t going to bully Clare and me.

‘Cody was probably taken aback by my cheek that day but when we had another set-to during a league game in Croke Park in 2011, he didn’t take it lying down. 

Yet we were laughing about it afterwards. Anything that happened on the line stayed there.

‘I always had incredible respect for the man. I’ve often had great craic with Cody too over the years. We had a couple of great nights together at the All-Stars, when a few glasses of wine loosened Cody’s tongue, and he spun some great yarns.

‘I felt there was a good empathy between us. We were at a PR event in Dublin one day when we spoke about some personal stuff. Brian’s brother had died young with a heart attack. I lost my father and my

brother to the same disease. We chatted about having check-ups, and the importance of looking after ourselves. It showed another side to Cody that nobody ever sees.

‘There have been some great managers but there will only ever be one Cody.’

Excerpt from John Scally’s new book Extraordinary GAA People which is available in all good bookshops.

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Etaoin Holahan, celebrated curator of the award-winning arts café in Upper Bridge Street, welcomed two different authors with their widely diverging but equally compelling tales to tell.

Callan man Philip Bryan left his secure nine-to-five job in the retail industry almost a decade ago after opting to break out of a cosy if demanding routine to explore other career options.

He has a passion for travel. He longed to visit a list of countries. 

So he went globe- trotting, taking in as many of his favoured destinations as he could.

He trekked across Australia, America, Jordan, Cambodia, and Israel, before setting his eyes on China.

He underwent a kind of metamorphosis during his stay in Jordan that caused him to question his attachment to a humdrum job and life routine. 

In a drastic career change, he studied via an intensive online course and landed a plush teaching position in Guiyang, a city in China’s Guizhou Province. 

He’s been plying his educational skills successfully there for the past eight years, a period that included Covid lockdowns.

That was a huge achievement in its own right, but Philip is a restless spirit and he saw another opportunity arising from his travels. 

He’d been recording his travel adventures in diaries and journals and, though he hadn’t up to that point been an avid reader, he relished the challenge of penning a book telling the world of his experience.

He developed a passion for reading and research that were almost on a par with his penchant for travel, set about drafting a manuscript, and, after a lot of hard graft, revisions, soulful reflection, and copious submissions to publishers, eventually found a home for his literary project.

His book Squat Toilets and Chopsticks is a must for anyone with unfulfilled dreams of world travel, or who’s hoping to find the courage and imagination to change career, at whatever age.

Officially launching the book, Councillor Joe Lyons complimented Philip on joining the ever-growing list of Callan authors, apart from his achievement in turning his life around in such a spectacular and stranger-than-fiction way. 

He hoped readers would be inspired by the wondrous anecdotes and observations in the book to break barriers in their own lives and reach for the stars.

Squat Toilets and Chopsticks is available from Kilkenny bookshops at  £9.99 €11.87).

Spiritual journeys…

The second book concerned travel of a different kind: The spiritual journeys of Eddie Gilmore; hailed as the intellectual powerhouse of the L’Arche residence in Callan.

Eddie, like Philip Bryan, has also travelled widely but is driven by another ambition and mindset.  

His book The Universe Provides is contemplative and full of down-to-earth wisdom.

In his capacity as CEO of the Irish Chaplaincy, Eddie was active for years in supporting Irish people in Britain, including prisoners and the marginalized.

He seeks to make this sad old planet a better place for everyone and his book might be seen as another step in his long life of service to God and humanity. 

He believes that we can find miracles and divine guidance in the most unexpected places and he fills the book with examples of these.  

His attitude to life might be summed up by a line from the Doris Day song: If I can help somebody as I pass along then my living will not be in vain.

As he travelled by foot, bus, train, and bicycle though many lands, somewhat echoing Philip Bryan’s exploratory zeal, Eddie found further evidence of the inherent worth of every human being, and confirmation that people matter more than politics, material wealth, or institutions.

In villages, lonely mountainous regions, densely populated cities and a myriad of off-the-beaten track locales…wherever his travels took him…the need for a spiritual dimension to life was always apparent. 

He shared his own spiritual insights with all those he met. Whenever and wherever possible he has sought to light a candle of hope in a world that all too often grows dark, uninviting, oppressive, and seemingly hopeless.

The Universe Provides should have a special appeal to those of a deeply spiritual or religious persuasion.

It will undoubtedly strike a chord too with the general reader…anyone in fact who likes to see the good in people in even the worst situations, and those who wish to promote communication, tolerance, and understanding, instead of division, xenophobia and sectarianism.

It’s a timely book for the fraught world of 2024, a happy and an accessible read for all who strive, whatever the odds, to look on the bright side of life.

Eddie is also a gifted singer and following the book launches he entertained the audience at on guitar, assisted by poet-songwriter Peter Brabazon

Priced at £9.99 €11.87), The Universe Provides is available from most bookshops.

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The collection titled Pictures and Poetry is by Daithi Holohan and Jim Murray, both of whom havebattled mental illness for decades while pursuing their creative dreams.

After completing his studies at the National College of Art and Design Daithi went on to enchant the city and county with his drawings. 

He excels as a portraitist but regardless of medium, theme or subject he succeeds in plumbing the depths of his own sub-consciousness and capturing the essence of whoever he’s drawing.

When he taught Life Drawing in Liberties Vocational School pupils felt they’d got a teacher who could relate to their own struggles and ‘take’ on the challenge of modern Ireland.

Daithi’s drawings are displayed in pubs and clubs around Kilkenny and his exhibitions have drawn throngs of admirers. Critical acclaim has inevitably followed him wherever his work appeared.

He’s also a poet. The drawings and poetic reveries included in the book offer an insight into a long artistic journey and a dizzying range of life experiences.

Aside from art, Daithi is known locally as a lifelong Republican and fluent Irish speaker. He has a special devotion to the legacies of Pearse and Connolly, to preserving all aspects of Gaelic culture, and is a passionate advocate of a United Ireland, “free from sea to sea.”

He contested the 2015 Carlow Kilkenny by-election and famously appeared on TV3’s Tonight with Vincent Browne programme. 

People still recall his virtuoso performance as he tackled the other candidates and put forward his own vision of an Ireland “of equals”, with the border gone and all wealth distributed fairly among the people.

Daithi spoke his mind fearlessly.

Throughout his career Daithi has managed to keep the ravages of bipolar disorder at bay, never letting it detract from his calling as an artist.

He has known poet Jim Murray for years and is delighted at the prospect of a book that weaves together drawing and poetry.

Jim Murray has survived one of the worst illnesses to afflict the human mind: Schizophrenia, and like Daithi he has stubbornly refused to capitulate to what he sees as a sustained attack on his existence. 

He believes that writing as a therapy has helped him as much in his fight for wellness as any medication or stint in a psychiatric hospital. 

Some of his poems reflect or hint at his long incarceration in that ‘Gulag of the Sou’ from which the pen has mercifully and magically granted him relief.

His poetry explores every conceivable theme… life, love, death, war, nature, marriage, the medical profession, the solar system, the afterlife, and the multitude of alternative scenarios offered by religions of all kinds. 

He’s at his lyrical best when he sets forth the depths to which humans can sink in betrayal of their own kind.

Jim has hundreds of notebooks full of poetry and ideas for composition. He could be sitting in a café sipping a cup of tea when inspiration strikes. 

He jots down the words immediately before they vanish like a wisp of smoke.

Or he might get an idea in a dream and then record it on awakening. Not a day passes without him gifting a poem to the world via Facebook, Thousands follow his poetic meanderings online.

His previous works Orchestra of Poems and his short story collection Digging a  Hole on the River which  received popular and critical acclaim, hailed the triumph of compassion over darkness in his own life and the world in general. These are still on sale locally.Poetry and Pictures will be launched at the Butts Hall at 7pm on July 3.  Everyone welcome.

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Sale includes collections from The Nelson Bell Collection – The Bell Gallery, Belfast; The McDowell-Mahon Family, by direct descent;
The Russell Family, Seafield, County Waterford; The Burke Family, Clonmel, County Tipperary; Selection of items from the Estate of Peter Cavan, Belfast; Collection of pub memorabilia and mirrors from Clancys Bar, Cork City; and  Property from other executors and private clients

Viewing is available this week – contact Brigid 056-4441229.

Viewing: Sunday May 26: 1pm – 5pm; Monday May 27: 10am – 5.30pm.

Enquiries about the sale: George Fonsie Mealy – info@fonsiemealy.ie | 056-4446200; Fonsie Mealy – info@fonsiemealy.ie | 056-4446200

Live bidding and online Bids: easylivauction.com | the-saleroom.com

Absentee and telephone bidding at 056- 4441229 info@fonsiemealy.ie

Printed Catalogue Now Available: €20. View the catalogue online at www.fonsiemealy.ie

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William Nolan was the author of the truly local offering: Fassadinin: Land, Settlement and Society in Southeast Ireland 1600 – 1850. 

Rare and Antiquarian Books will include the residue from the Library of the Late Dr Philip Murray, Sligo and select items from other private clients.

Nolan’s book has illustrations throughout and also up for grabs will be Kilkenny History and Society (Geography Publications).

The first item is a presentation copy to local academic and historian, Tom Lyng, with many of his notes used for compiling ‘Castlecomer Connections.

The Boer War (1890 – 1902) medals should attract countrywide interest. 

There is a set of four miniature Army-issued medals with original bars for Transvaal, South Africa 1901 and 1902 and ribbons, joined, as a set.

A rare Three Candles Publication from Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbours is a souvenir programme for a visit of the directors… for inspection of the Irish portion of their undertaking from May 28 to 31, 1938.

There are illustrations throughout of Irish scenes and a mock up copy of same with original pencil sketches.

For those with a particular interest in photography there is a collection of over 120 large pictures of Ireland, some original, some modern copies of Lawrence, some aerial views, Armagh, Antrim, Donegal, Dublin, Wicklow, Galway, Limerick, Cork, Cavan and Sligo.

There are many press samples, including one album as a collection.

The sale is live for bidding up until 11am on Wednesday, April 24. There will be approximately 700 lots on offer.

Included are modern English and Irish First Editions, Signed and limited copies, periodicals, history, travel, science, science, pamphlets, ephemera, maps and boxed lots.

The auction rooms are in Chatsworth Street in the North Kilkenny town and in-person viewing is available.

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This is the latest in a string of honours bestowed on Fennelly’s and though it came as no surprise, it has boosted local morale and again catapulted Callan onto the national stage as a town to be reckoned with.

Since Etaoin Holahan acquired the former pub and waved her magic wand it has proven a runaway success, injecting new life and vitality into a street ravaged by the downside of 21^st century progress.

For decades Margaret Fennelly had run the pub that doubled as a grocery and thriving farm enterprise right in the middle of the town. 

The capacious courtyard once echoed to the sound of hens clucking as Margaret kept locals well supplied with eggs.

As if that weren’t demanding enough, she also ran an undertaking business, so you might enter the yard some days and find hens casting beady eyes at freshly-crafted coffins, or darting aside to avoid being run over by a hearse. 

Late night card games often turned fowl when the back door was blown in and hens came fluttering into the lounge. 

Aces and jokers were dispersed into the smoke and pipe-filled air and many a glass had to be refilled when the hens departed.  

The closure of Margaret’s pub prompted an attitude of resignation in Callan. Expectations of any revival of the great Fennelly’s tradition were dashed and dereliction looked a real prospect.

Then Etaoin arrived, with a vision of a lively arts centre to fill the vacuum. The venue began its new life as an artistic oasis where painters and sculptors exhibited, poets recited, puppeteers entertained, story-tellers weaved yarns and musicians of all genres regaled.

Occasional productions of major plays also featured. Then Etaoin took Fennelly’s onto a whole new level by opening a café on the premises, though one which would continue to serve as a creative hub for the community.

The café has been at the heart of Callan’s artistic forays from day one, including the mammoth Bridge Street will be drama, in which the ghosts of Callan past re-emerged from the buildings and spell-binding fantasies were spun around a mixed heritage of dark, comic, and occasionally riotous episodes.

Fennelly’s was to the fore again when a zany adaption of Tom Kilroy’s The Big Chapel was enacted in Callan, with the infamous true-life face-off between a rebel parish priest and a stubborn bishop transferred to a dystopian futuristic society.

Apart from running the café and hosting a range of dramatic and musical events, Etaoin is devoted to safeguarding our precious biodiversity. 

She was part of a tree planting project on the historic and picturesque Moat Field and leading conservationists have given talks at the café.

The day after the conferral of the much-coveted award, Etaoin returned to her beloved café where she and her highly motivated staff continue to extend a warm welcome to customers. 

Visitors keep coming back to savour what’s reputed to be the streakiest bacon for miles around, a variety of old fashioned Irish stews, wild garlic sourdough, homemade cakes, a cheesecake to die for, and an assortment of fresh fruit from the district, to mention a few attractions.

Etaoin thanked growers, farmers and producers who nominated Fennelly’s and The Irish Restaurant Awards for the accolade. 

She makes a point of supporting local produce and availing of sustainable ingredients…her own contribution to saving the planet.

Whatever about climate change and its ill-effects, Etaoin has helped to change the social climate of Callan for the better with her Café from Heaven.

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The spectacular event is in aid of Mental Health Ireland. There will be a Complimentary Welcome Drink for all, finger food and bumper raffle.

The organisers guarantee a great night of singing and dancing. Tickets are available at the Hotel Reception for €25 a ticket with all proceeds going directly to Mental Health Ireland. 

Mental Health Ireland is the longest established Mental Health charity in Ireland. Throughout its history, Mental Health Ireland and the Mental Health Associations have played a central role in reshaping how people understand, protect, improve and maintain good mental health. 

All work with individuals, families and communities to increase knowledge and reduce stigma of mental health challenges.

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On their way across the Atlantic are talented singers from the United States, courtesy of the International Music Exchange

The  youngsters are pupils from the Sacred Heart High School, Connecticut.

The visit is part of the school’s ‘American Celebration of Music Concert Series in Ireland’.

Yet more good news is that the concert which promises to be a lunchtime delight is absolutely free to lovers of music and song.

The Upper School Chorus and Madrigal groups will sing a range of sacred and secular music from traditional to pop.

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It is a privilege to be included in the beautifully presented publication that has a series of interesting articles including stories on old Kilkenny and its people, tales of notable Kilkenny men of the past written by Kilkenny men and women of the present and yet another little treasure, the story of Johnswell Gaeltacht.

The book is superbly edited by John Lucey, a man of good taste, lots of talent and tons of nous who along with other volunteers puts his hearts and soul into the historical challenges he and others face in Kilkenny Archaeological Society.

To be included with famous people and places, treasured buildings of the past that will hopefully have bright futures I am truly grateful  and my thanks goes to Editor John Lucey and his team, including my good friend and former workmate, Peter Seaver, not only for being so kind to me and my writing but for their fantastic dedication to Archaeological Kilkenny and all of its peripherals.

The Old Kilkenny Review is on sale at the Parliament Street headquarters of Kilkenny Archaelogicial Society and will shortly be available in local bookshops. Trust me it is a great read.

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