Out and about in Cork with Old Cork - and some other guys (October ’19)

Episode 1.

Perhaps our first meeting with the bus driver might have been better handled.  Actually, if the driver had paid attention it might have been worse. He was waiting for our party outside Cork Airport in appalling weather and so we had to rush the gear into the bus without much opportunity for small talk. He introduced himself to El Presidente and as we settled down in our seats for the 6km drive in the semi-dark to the town centre the President told us the drivers name was Jean.

“Must be a French bloke” thought the Wing Centre, knowing that the President hadn’t paid much attention to Mrs Muirhead in the French Class back in the day and so could be forgiven for the pronunciation. Some of the others were a little doubtful.

“That’s a lassie’s name where we come from” said another of the fellow travellers which was quite a witty remark but probably would not have been made-though its wasn’t very loud-had some drink not have been taken earlier in the pilgrimage. Whether the driver heard the comment or not what is true is that he switched on his intercom and said “Welcome aboard McCarthy’s Bus.” There followed some rules and regulations about respecting the bus which would be with us for a day or two - and then he introduced himself thus.” My name is Eugene - but you can call me Gene - and I’ll be looking out for you.”  He wasn’t to know he needed to.

So there we were back in Ireland - first time for a while. But then again it is instructive to remember that Glenurquhart Shinty Club has strong ties with Ireland - so we like to think. However, while individual players including the girls have made trips across the Irish sea as members of international squads at various levels, the Club had not been across since 2006 when we made it to Dublin to clash with Whitehall Colmcille.

We ended up in Cork not because we were making a pilgrimage to the birth place of Roy Keane nor indeed even of Michael Collins (everyone knows Michael Collins but you can google up Roy Keane) because Neale Reid’s big brother Stuart is actually coaching a GAA club in the nearby town of Bandon and through him the invitations went out to the lads - and with the lads came some of the elderly and curious. Amongst them were numbered the Treasurer, Old Cork, the Women’s Manager (useful fellow to have on a lads’ trip) Old Ali Mac and Davie S. Why we all ended up on the trip remains as yet unclear but it turned out not so bad.

Now there are two parts to every shinty trip to the Emerald Isle: there is the dealing with the local culture - in Cork that meant dealing with the Slovenian desk girls and the Greek barmen - and of course the games themselves. Always the first gets in the way of the actual games. The first issue was breakfasting the next morning. 

The grub had been pre-paid for but that was difficult to prove. The Treasurer wasn’t much good because he deleted the whole WhatsApp Group with the vouchers included on them but old Cork managed to pull off a feat of technical wizardry and with a flick of his finger the nice but resolute Slovenian lady had the required authority and we were released into the breakfast room to make sport with a full Irish - which is the same as a full Scottish without the haggis.   

 

The day had been well mapped out: free morning then the Jameson Distillery and the Dogs. Such must have been based on the template for preparing for sporting fixtures as organised by the SFA circa 1974. Whatever - while some went for a walk and others to watch rugby in congenial surroundings the Wing Centre took a trip to the Crawford Art Gallery which is worth a trip for the culturally inclined. It is interesting in that in amongst the portraits of Anglo-Irish toffs from the 18^th & 19^th century, the romantic landscapes and the other stuff there were some treasures that make you realise you are in a different place. 

Entitled “The Men of the South” it shows a party of men in a “shooting brake”-the word shooting is used advisedly. In Ireland this is an iconic painting. The subjects are men from an IRA Flying Column during the Irish War of Independence (also known as the Anglo-Irish War). The men who sat for the portrait belonged to the 2nd Cork Brigade and they travelled to Dublin during a Truce to sit for artist Sean Keating.

Off then to the English Market which was filled with German and Japanese tourists - and while taking a coffee at a counter I was joined by a local man who was keen to strike up a conversation presumably because the Wing Centre was the only local looking chap there – and he was wearing a green anorak to blend in. He told me he was a Mr Crowley which meant “fierce warrior” in Irish. I agreed and told him to his face that he looked very fierce -though not really as fierce as the guys in the painting which I did not say. Nor did I tell him that the only Crowley I had ever heard about was Aleister Crowley the crazy occultist, and dabbler in black magician who owned Boleskine House back in the day and presumably fixed it with Satan for Boleskine to win Sutherland Cups in 1964 and 1966.

However Mr Crowley from Cork seemed a pleasant fellow - he turned out to be an optician on his dinner break and he proved his professional worth by pointing out that “the spectacles that yourself is wearing are in need of a polish” and in fact he duly polished them which allowed the Wing Centre to find his way towards the Welcome Inn in Parnell Place where the squad had promised to gather for a pint. 

There they all were standing in the pavement getting ready to go on to visit the Jameson Distillery when a random punter came up to the party and shouted, “You lot are sh***. Kinlochshiel are much better” which wasn’t true even in Ireland.

“Come over here and say that to my face” said Old Cork.

But the guy trotted off down the side of the river- and was never seen again. It was an Irish experience for which there is no explanation other that that he was a MacGrath.

In Episode 2 we visit the Jameson Distillery and go to the Dogs.

free website counter

The season that never was-2020

When you look back on it dispassionately there is one school of thought (perhaps it’s the Wing Centre’s alone) that sees Season 2020 as the most successful one that the Glen have ever had. The first team played two games and won a cup and never lost a game: the second team played one game and won it ; the women’s team won the Maclennan Cup– and by anybody’s reckoning that has to be up there as a successful season.     

But of course, it wasn’t because this past week the prospect of the normal season going ahead later was more or less completely ruled out. There might be something later in Stage 4 but given shinty is an amateur sport it will be more difficult and perhaps too costly for shinty clubs to deep clean pavilions and changing facilities as often as will be needed. Doubtless an effort could be made and since the attendance is usually small in numbers and informal it should not put people at too much risk, ever bearing in mind that the shinty crowd does tend to be slightly older that an average football crowd.  

Whatever happens, however, the present situation will definitely put the kybosh on the post-match socialising that used to too occur (It has been declining anyway, sadly)

The major problem – apart from the financial hit to clubs (and to club makers) is that the longer shinty is shut down the more likely it is that a generation of players will be lost completely to the sport. Those youngsters in their aborted last year in school will most probably be off to College and University without ever getting the chance to play for their community. Also spare a thought for C.A. President Keith Loades who has had his last year as President blighted by the fact that the game has gone dormant- and there is a very real case for having another season in the hot chair. He may not thank the Wing Centre for this thought -its not an easy responsibility to hold and like many another man before him he may feel the hassle is not worth the trouble-but the suggestion is out there and the clubs would do well to think upon it.

Moving back to what actually happened in this season it is probably only fair to start with the Macdonald Cup triumph which took place from a standing start with Storm Denis -trust the Met to call it after a Strathglass man- wrecking all attempts at friendlies.

The result was a Glenurquhart win but it wasn’t without its moments for Strathglass who certainly looked stronger under new manager Allan Macleod. After an even opening spell it was Strathglass who broke the ice with Darren Reid’s strike in the 35th minute putting the visitors in the lead. Glenurquhart seemed to get more urgency at this point and they finished the half the stronger with captain Michael Fraser and James Macpherson both coming close to forcing an equaliser.

After the break Glen had the better of the contest making an excellent start to the second half with Michael Fraser levelling on 50 minutes with an excellent finish from close range and when he struck again  on 76 minutes to give the hosts a 2-1 lead things looked signed and sealed. ‘Glass were not to be written off however and drew level on 86 minutes when Scott Douglas nipped in to beat Glen keeper Stuart Mackintosh from close range. A draw was enough for the Glen to retain the trophy but they pressed on and on the hour mark James MacPherson struck a bouncing shot which somehow squirmed its way past Strath keeper Adam Toye for the winner the Glen just about deserved.

The only note of disappointment for both teams happened right at the end of the game when Strath youngster Ruairidh Strachan was forced off with a broken collar bone.

Following the match Glenurquhart President Garry Mackintosh presented the Macdonald Cup to Glen Captain Michael Fraser.

The other presentation of the day was that Strathglass captain Josh Fraser received the “Bella” trophy to take back over the hill. A joint Glen/Strath side actually won this in Kiltality at last years Belladrum

Earlier in the day Glen’s ladies team picked up the MacLennan Cup with a convincing 4–0 win over Strathglass on the Astro with goals from Abbi Stoddart (2) Eilidh Peteranna and Hazel Hunter

To be fair it was a tighter game than the score suggests and Strathglass should really have manged to get something on the scoresheet. It was not to be and, in the end, it was a delighted Glen captain Julie Macleod who picked up the trophy on behalf of her team-mates.

The Wing Centre sometimes forgets details and until taken to task he had a report about the retaining on the Ali Ban trophy-the second team competition. It was in his memory a comfortable 3-1 victory he was about to write up with two goals from Brad Sneddon -both nicely taken with a single from big Calum “Smudger” Smith to finally seal the tie. He also had a goal down from Strathglass and it was granted to Lewis Douglas.

Apparently, this particular contest never happened so why is it that the WC remembers Brad scoring two goals and Smudger must have at least scored one in his life.

After he had been told that this game had never happened the Wing Centre went back to check the photograph files to find that there were no snaps of this match at all. It would therefore seem that if there are no photographs of a game then did the game ever happen? Probably not.

One second team game that did happen was the opening game of the season against Inverness. This game did actually happen and Drew MacNeil was at the heart of things for Inverness- and until he ran out of steam there was every chance, he would make things happen. He would have been helped however if Danny Polombo had been more accurate in forint of goal especially early on when the game was tight. In the end it was a neat pass through from Jed Stoddart to Dixie Maclennan in 26 minutes which put the Glen into a 1-0 lead that they were just about worth. Ten minutes later a nice piece of play from Charlie Macleod set up Jed Stoddart to get his own name on the scoresheet and he finished well from a narrow angle. To tie up matters Jed Stoddart got his second goal of the afternoon when his bouncing shot in 70 minutes got the Glen off to a solid 3-0 win in their opening competitive match of the season.

Later on in the afternoon with Oban’s Alex McVicar as referee the Glen first team played host to Inveraray. Its been a season or so since ‘Ary played at Drum and it was good to see our old friend Joe Fyfe back up the road. Joe has been a good servant to Inveraray and it’s guys like him that make shinty what it is.

Inveraray made a good start, enjoying much of the play for the first 20 minutes but, with heavy underfoot conditions restricting their style of shinty, Glenurquhart slowly worked their way into the game.

There were few efforts on goal in the first half with both full backs – Glenurquhart’s John Barr and Ross Montgomery for Inveraray - having good performances.

With Glenurquhart applying more and more pressure, the match became more physical and Inveraray bosses Ruaraidh Graham and Joe Fyfe took Lewis Montgomery from the centre and pushed him back into his usual role in the forward line.

Both teams continued to work hard and the closest to a goal was a Glen effort from Ryan Porter which came back off the woodwork.

As the second half got underway, there was little between the teams as both struggled with the conditions. A strike from James Macpherson just after the break  tested ‘Ary keeper Scott MacLachlan

The game’s decisive moment came on 56 minutes when referee Alex MacVicar awarded Glenurquhart a penalty and James MacPherson stepped up to score from the spot.

There were efforts on target at both ends during the remainder of the second half but both keepers – Stuart MacKintosh for the Glen and ‘Ary’s Scott MacLachlan – were in fine form so there was no further scoring and Glenurquhart’s 1-0 victory was enough to earn them the win.

Glenurquhart certainly needed to take both points at home if they were ever to seriously feel about making a return to the Premiership. Inveraray on the other hand will feel frustrated that they didn’t manage to capitalise on periods of pressure

And that was that…. the season over. There were no further games. There is no excuse for it now. The next blog will have to be about our larking about in Cork and District.

free website counter