Leitrim 2013. All matters including Mart reports here.

What a great idea, let's hit for Ballinamore. there'll be a few sponsored pints such is their exuberence......

Found on the side of the road beyond the park on the road to Swad.....Lucky for him 'twasn't a local dog that found him...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Strange .............

Leitrim ...........

strange ...........

Parouisa wrote:Strange .............

Leitrim ...........

Definately more than meets the eye here. Must be a serious back story to this.

Missing property developer Kevin McGeever, who was found wandering at the side of a rural road, was mutilated and had an insult carved across his forehead.

Mr McGeever, who is currently in hospital, has told gardai he was abducted eight months ago by armed men but he cannot recall what happened to him after that.

He was discovered in a dishevelled state near Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, on Tuesday night and had lost about five stone in weight.

He had been reported missing to the gardai at Gort, Co Galway, on June 22 last.

The 68-year-old man has told gardai that he was abducted by three masked men at gunpoint from the garden of his mansion home at Craughwell, Co Galway, last May.

He said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom for his safe release but he did not know whether a ransom had been paid. Mr McGeever said he could not remember what had happened to him in the meantime but, as he was being released, he was given a mobile phone and warned to keep it with him at all times.

Gardai said he was feeble and thin when he was found and, apart from the weight loss, he had a lengthy beard and very long fingernails.

He was taken to Mullingar hospital where he was treated for malnutrition and dehydration.

The marking on his forehead was thought to have been cut into him with a knife.

fficers are trying to establish whether he had been held across the Border before he was dumped in Co Leitrim.

Mr McGeever told the couple who found him that he had been thrown out of a van and did not know where he was.

During the boom, he ran a successful property business selling luxury homes in Dubai to wealthy Irish and British clients.

He is currently listed in legal proceedings before the High Court in a case being taken against KMM Properties, which began in 2009.

Catherine Vallely discovered the missing man on the Leitrim-Cavan border on Tuesday night.

She was on her way home to Ballinamore with her partner Peter Rehill when they spotted him in the middle of the road.

"He had red trousers that made me think it was a cone in the middle of the road.

"When the man got into our car he told us he had no shoes on. He said three men threw him out of a van," Ms Vallely said.

'Eaten'

"The man said his name was Kevin and he didn't realise he was in Leitrim. He didn't even know the month," she said.

They brought him straight to Ballinamore garda station.

"A female garda immediately invited him in for a cup of tea.

"As he was eating tea and biscuits he asked her if she had any more. He said he hadn't eaten for God knows how long.

"He had a pair of enormous eyes in a very thin face and his cheekbones stuck out.

"He was rubbing his beard with fingers that had long nails. He was very well-educated, well-spoken and polite and articulate.

"He was just skin and bones," Ms Vallely said.

A bag of curry chips was brought to him as gardai discovered that he had been reported missing to their colleagues in Gort last May by his partner, Siobhan O'Callaghan.

"We were told he used to be 16 stone. He was just skin and bones," Ms Vallely added.

Mr McGeever's lavish mansion in Craughwell was empty yesterday.

- Tom Brady, Barry Duggan and Paddy Clancy

strange ...........

Strange my arxe....Clearly the Russain's may have engraved him but his finding and finder should trigger jonsmith's imagination....

Just discovered that the buck a few hundred yards up the road is co-marshalling this set up.
Makes me wonder after ten years in this house maybe I should introduce myself to the neighbours.
Though hes a thick looking hoor

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Recent events see the term Lovely Leitrim moving further and further away from public consciousness. Lousy may now be the word of choice. This is a serious issue for Boxty and friends. A charm offensive badly needed now. Time for the bearded wonder, Dauber and all the other alickadoos to come up with one almighty scheme to move Leitrim back into positive public perception. Alas it may be a scam too far ...

[quote="Parouisa"][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Recent events see the term Lovely Leitrim moving further and further away from public consciousness. Lousy may now be the word of choice. This is a serious issue for Boxty and friends. A charm offensive badly needed now. Time for the bearded wonder, Dauber and all the other alickadoos to come up with one almighty scheme to move Leitrim back into positive public perception. Alas it may be a scam too far ...[/quote

Eurovision time

Not pleasant on the eye I must admit. Local sources pin it on a pair of Crusties below in Drumkeerin who allowed themselves be over-ran with dogs. Some of these are odd characters I must confess and indeed we have one who's taken up refuge across the lake from me as I type. I cod you not. He there about 18 months and the ritual is unchanging.

He's living in an ancient Ford Transit that obviously got him there prior to collapsing. He's pitched about 8/10 yds. from the waters edge almost directly underneath the abode of Hero, encamped on a kind of no mans land although it technically belongs to Hero.
He's about 50 from looking at him in the distance, an early riser whose day starts with a plunge in the lake. He has eel-lines out all year round and fishes about 3 days a week. Hero informs me that he sets snares for rabbits and evidently is trying the life of a free spirit. His beard is a work of art, about 3ft. long.

He hits the town on Friday, walking, shops and has a couple of aisy pints and a few games of pool against himself. He rarely converses.
The Dauber kept a vigilant eye on him as he went about his shopping duties in the early days. Dan thought he might have been Osama Bin-Laden or Bin Layden to use the surname colloquially until the US declared his eventual capture. Each to their own but I'd say he won't be paying the property tax, the septic tank charge (for sure) or adding a water meter. Each to their own I guess.

I'll try to fit in a photo of the set-up if I can, only in Leitrim ....

Edit, I can't find a photo that includes the Transit but that's the location all right. Hero lives in the middle of the trees at the top...

Carrick-on-Shannon marks 400 years-Leitrim County Manager Jackie Maguire

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Item on today's News at One! The charm offensive begins here ....

Parouisa's early warning and subsequent advice - all given free of charge - may yet save this fast sinking county .....

Come to think of it 3 trophies in 400 years ain't bad .....

Parouisa wrote:Carrick-on-Shannon marks 400 years-Leitrim County Manager Jackie Maguire

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Item on today's News at One! The charm offensive begins here ....

Parouisa's early warning and subsequent advice - all given free of charge - may yet save this fast sinking county .....

Im down there next Friday night for a porters meeting
Hoor of a spot to get a hotel.

OMAR wrote:

Im down there next Friday night for a porters meeting
Hoor of a spot to get a hotel

Most likely a porter meeting. If stuck OMAR get back to me. I'm sure the surviving Joe Dolan (prop. The Bush Hotel) could find a billet to accommodate you once the County Board puts in a friendly word on your behalf, they sponsor the County team and I'm sure a guest with such acclaimed credentials as yourself may be granted celebrity status.

Don't delay, we're expecting Nanny's godson to shovel off the mortal coil below in Cork so I may not be around to assist with pleadings.

Boxtyeater wrote:

OMAR wrote:

Im down there next Friday night for a porters meeting
Hoor of a spot to get a hotel

Most likely a porter meeting. If stuck OMAR get back to me. I'm sure the surviving Joe Dolan (prop. The Bush Hotel) could find a billet to accommodate you once the County Board puts in a friendly word on your behalf, they sponsor the County team and I'm sure a guest with such acclaimed credentials as yourself may be granted celebrity status.

Don't delay, we're expecting Nanny's godson to shovel off the mortal coil below in Cork so I may not be around to assist with pleadings.

Stayed in the Bush about 10 years back and havenon too fond memories of a 6 ft 4 nightporter/bouncer from eastern europe who never heard of the concept of rfesidents bar and took a dim view of Omar doing a loaves and fishes with a bottle of smuggled JJ. She threw me out !

Cryans have.come to rescue 99 for a twin berth. Any port in a storm.

OMAR wrote:[
Cryans have.come to rescue 99 for a twin berth. Any port in a storm.

Just don't mention Revenue settlements or that kind of stuff.......

Boxtyeater wrote:

OMAR wrote:[
Cryans have.come to rescue 99 for a twin berth. Any port in a storm.

Just don't mention Revenue settlements or that kind of stuff.......

Rendevous time is circa 2pm ish
A lap of Lough Allen on the rothars to work up a hunger/Thirst
A steak in the Oarsmans circa 5 ish
And ready for battle shortly after 6pm

OMAR wrote:

Rendevous time is circa 2pm ish
A lap of Lough Allen on the rothars to work up a hunger/Thirst
A steak in the Oarsmans circa 5 ish
And ready for battle shortly after 6pm

Any report from this soiréé. I'm confident the Oarsman's steak was top notch and maybe a smooth brace of creamy ones in Lynch's of Kilclare on the return from Lough Allen would have also been memorable.

Meanwhile here's the most recent effort at the County jersey, a cool €62 snots.....

OMAR wrote:[We had two pints in leitrim village.
There is a small bar/ snug inside door, bar on right, lounge to left - you go through door beads into snug that hints of a house of much poorer repute. The stout exceeded the quality of entrance.

[/quote]

Was this Vera Donnellan's of old??

ps What is this fever for a fried egg on a county jersey. First Tyrone, now Leitrim ...

Leitrim 1-16
Carlow 0-12

Poor fare. Outplayed all day by 2 big lads Murphy and Foley at m/f. Carlow deployed their f/f as a sweeper behind the c/h/b throughout (that was until the chb got a straight red on 36m).
Clarke was plain stupid, threw a harmless box and walked. Mulligan on fire all day scored 8 pts (5 from play). Brendan Flynn in goals with 2 point blank stops. We missed about 6 goal chances. Manor Glancy with 1-02. His confidence is rattled and his first touch is shocking. Same applies re: first touch for McDonald. Top performances from Flynn, Paddy Maguire, Williams and Paul Brennan. Forwards moving nicely but the killer punch lacking between over-playing it or poor selection. Conor Beirne with a cameo appearance ( he's wintered well). Work to do all round.
Flynn 8. Beck 7. Egan 6. Maguire 8. Clarke 3. Brennan 7. Williams 8. McKeon 7. B.Brennan 6. Conlon 7. Mulligan 9. Hickey 7. Reynolds 6. Glancy 6. McDonald 7.

One of the most common questions I was asked when, year after year, I returned to the fold of the Leitrim senior football panel, was ‘why do you do it?’

It’s a question I never fully answered, or, at the time, had the answer to. I guess I was just going on instinct for the best part of 15 years. It just felt like the right thing to do. I was drawn to it. I yearned for it. I loved it. It was three years ago last week that a devastating injury meant I would never play for Leitrim again. Now I miss it. Not in a way that leaves me empty; at 34 I was nearing the end of a long, fulfilling career. It’s more akin to the sensation you feel when you awake from a beautiful dream and try to recall the details, but it drifts away, leaving you with a little smile of residual happiness and a nostalgic wonderment at where that sensation came from, and where it went to.

The last three years have offered me the opportunity to reflect in more depth on why I, like so many others across Ireland, felt the need to respond to an often-irrational compulsion to put my life on hold and my body on the line to represent my county. For me it was always about identity. Two distinct and separate manifestations of identity, but nonetheless connected. The experiences I amassed playing for Leitrim allowed me to bind my identity together and made me feel more alive and true to myself than at any other time of my life back then.

I was aware how important the first element of my identity was to me from an early age. I loved a challenge and pushing myself to my limit, and I found the best way to focus that was through sport. It became a way for me to channel my seemingly endless energy and drive. Being the eleventh of twelve children, with five big brothers who all excelled in their various manly pursuits as farmers, hunters, builders, mechanics, bikers, and even a rock musician, sport was to prove my niche and my way to shine. In addition, my late father Oliver was one of the best-known characters in our part of the country, known across Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal and Fermanagh as a crazy medley of Grizzly Adams, the Bull McCabe, Ronnie Drew and Father Christmas. Unbeknownst to myself back then, there resided in me a great hunger to make him proud in my own way.

One of the great thing about playing county ball meant I was home a lot, and readily available to assist Dad while he delivered turf to the houses that freckled the high roads and byroads of the north-west; his customers, more often than not, great old characters whose country cottages offered an open gate to an Ireland that is now all but lost. We Regan boys were differentiated by our deeds by many in our area (easier to remember than names or similar faces), and when Dad and I sat down in front of their open fire to share the warmth of a chat and the turf, they would ask, ‘Is this the footballer?’ We would often discuss the most recent game they had listened to on local radio and it dawned on me just how passionate these people were about their county team, despite perhaps, never having seen them play.

The second element of identity that fueled my drive was a slower burner and really only matured as I did. As I said, it is separate to my inherent love for the challenge offered by sport. (And I use sport in the broadest terms because I tried every sporting challenge I could, from hockey and tennis to cross country and badminton. And while it was a close thing between soccer and the GAA into my late teens, once I tasted inter-county competition Gaelic football would become my passion.)

The second element of my identity that found expression through playing for Leitrim was related to my place in this world. I come from a townland called Derryloughan, a few miles inland from Tullaghan, Leitrim’s tiny costal village. Our local club, Melvin Gaels, brought me into the local community in a new, intrinsic way. I witnessed how the club gave this small, forgotten outpost on the edge of the Atlantic an identity, and how the community came together to express themselves through their club. The men who drove the club back then (and now still) were the fathers of the lads who played with me: Terry Tiffoney, Jimmy Phelan, Brendan McGowan, Dessie Sheridan, and Joe McCarron amongst others. They used to think nothing of driving the hours to and from Raphoe in Donegal, where I was in boarding school, to bring me to an underage match somewhere in the wilds of Leitrim.

Then there is Michael McGowan. If the rest of the men involved in the club were the guardians, Michael was the Godfather. At one stage in the late ‘70s Michael (who represented Leitrim and Connacht in football and hurling) was the Leitrim county chairman, and the senior, U21 and minor team manager. A former Brother who left the order and married May relatively late in life, he was a father figure for countless young Leitrim and Donegal Gaels (the De La Salle in Ballyshannon was a veritable academy for Tir Chonaill teams during his days as principal). He chauffeured me and every other Melvin Gael who played inter-county, up, down and around Leitrim and across the country so many times that at one stage of my life I knew him better than my own father. But they weren’t just trips to and from games and matches; they were an education in life. Michael was (and remains) captivating and the perfect entertainment on a long drive. It didn’t matter whether he was telling you about how he waited 25 years to return, with interest, a sly blow he once received in a game (Michael played club football into his late 40s), or explaining why we were pulling into a bothareen outside a house in Drumkeerin to collect Mayflowers for the windowsills and doorsteps of our houses as the sun set on the last day of April.

What I’m trying to say is that men like Micheal and my father helped imbue in me a great love for the land and place I came from. It was only when I discovered John McGahern’s writing that I really realised how deeply it resonated with me and I fully appreciated the pleasure that can be derived from the simplest of such connections. Leitrim is part of who I am, as it is for so many from our county. Playing for Leitrim is akin to playing football for your family, with your family crest on your jersey. Our county team is akin to a small, local club. The players know each other’s families and friends and neighbours. Now don’t get me wrong, we’ll still tear lumps out of each other at club level, because club supercedes county. But you admire them all the more for that. Just like you, they’re fighting for their wee patch too. And when you come together under the banner of your county you see they’re just like you, and very different, in many more ways, too.

These are the reasons why I played for my club and county. Why year on year I returned to see where the new struggle would take me. This is why I was willing to break bones, and create friendships, shed tears of sorrow and generate tears of joy, rip up relationships and weave new ones, destroy joints, fall flat and try again, curse it all to the Heavens and defend it to the depths of hell. Each player’s reasons and motivations will be personal, but whatever the reason representing your county remains one of the great privileges a young man or woman living in Ireland can experience. We live in an age when identify is becoming a homogenised haze of bland; when marketeers tell us what we should look like and upon what brand we should hang our flag of allegiance. Playing for your club and county offers an antidote to that disease by allowing you to forge your own identity while simultaneously affording that identity an outlet.

We Irish are tribal people, whose identity is intrinsically linked to the place of our birth, our county, and the ground on which our homestead stands. Few get the opportunity to become the physical embodiment of an identity shared by 25,000 or so people. That was what playing for Leitrim offered me. The fact that opportunity came through a game that permitted me to explore my desire to push my body and mind to their physical and mental limits created the perfect storm. Why did I do it? More like, how could I not?


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

RMDrive wrote: In addition, my late father Oliver was one of the best-known characters in our part of the country, known across Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal and Fermanagh as a crazy medley of Grizzly Adams, the Bull McCabe, Ronnie Drew and Father Christmas. Unbeknownst to myself back then, there resided in me a great hunger to make him proud in my own way.

Evocative as ever from Colin. A great pity, given his years of service, he wasn't able to line out with Melvin Gaels when they annexed the Fenagh Cup last Sept. His Dad, the intrepid Oliver (pictured) was some character...RIP Oliver.
Colin nicely summarises all that we're about really, a top lad....

Jaysus if ye lads in Leitrim could express yerselves a bit more on the pitch like ye can on a keyboard ye'd have bucketloads of medals.

Emlyn mulligan The recipient of a gob full of Offaly blood

Sickening stuff. Life ban is the only answer for this. Scum.

Parouisa wrote:Sickening stuff. Life ban is the only answer for this. Scum.

P as i asked last week how do you enforce a life ban?????

The Tyrone County Board have apparently handed out some form of punishment to the guy who spat at Karl Lacey last weekend and yet they have refused to name who he was!!!!! Were is the sense in that?????

Unless the folk are identified there is no way a ban could be enforced. I bet the Tyrone fan responsible for the despicable act last week was at yesterdays game too ....................

bocerty wrote:P as i asked last week how do you enforce a life ban?????

But this is a player Boc ........ so name and shame too!