Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN BALLYHAUNIS…
Nazis, Christy Moore, reality TV, Charlie Haughey as Antonius Block and the true story of how I bested a Professor of Thermonuclear Physics live on national radio… Yip, this is quite possibly my favourite thing I ever wrote.The photograph, admittedly, has got fuck all to do with anything. (Hey, you try finding something on Google Image that references Christy Moore, the Nazis, reality TV and/or Charlie Haughey…) This is the Ballyhaunis U-10 team, circa-1989. People who know what I look like, but aren’t from Ballyhaunis, are welcome to guess which of these handsome young bucks is me.
September 21st, 2009.
September 21st, 2009 at 11:55 pm
I’m gonna say you’re the chap in the blue nicks and the classic orange and black gloves.
I can’t remember what they were called, Micka or something. if you got them wet once, they would never again be dry.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 am
I’d say fifth from left, bottom row
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 am
Such a sensitive young man even that age… blue shorts top row
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 am
Last on the right top row, uh-huh, yeah?
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:34 am
This would be a lot easier if one of them were bald..
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:05 am
holy shit! you look the same! kind of. you still fold your arms the same way
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 am
As in my sister Josie?? If so, do you recognise the lad to my right (our left) in that picture??
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 am
I was going to say the guy in the Mayo jersey but then the Ballyhanis under tens probably all from Mayo so…no idea!
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Well rationalised there, Sean.
Actually, Adrian actually got this one correct on the very first go (which is quite amazing since I don’t think we’ve even met!)
Look at the head of hair on me. Lustrous. Its a tragedy really, not just for me but for hair itself.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Is that you between Joe Freely and Don Regan. Failing that, are you Karl Mac looking guy beside Paddy O’Dwyer?
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Are you joking? (Please say yes!)
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
joanne i don’t think would be on the internet during the day. Is that guy shay walsh?
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Oh, for the love of God. Shay Walsh is in the black jersey. And Josie isn’t in college today, she’s over in Una’s. And, on second thoughts, this is probably a conversation we should be having by email….
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:10 pm
You could have been the Derek Zoolander of Ireland with that hair. You actually look like you can play football, so sad, yer the Samson of the G.A.A.
I too had a pair of those gloves, and agree with Adrian’s comment, they seemed capable of sucking up the moisture in the air, for a 3 mile radius.
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Yeah, Adrian is right about the gloves.
Also there weren’t too many sets of jerseys in the club at the time, so it wasn’t uncommon for the u-10s and u-12s to get given jerseys that had been worn by under 16 or minors the previous evening, and had been sitting in a black plastic bag ever since.
Some memorable odours, I can tell you.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I just typed “Christy Moore, the Nazis, reality TV and/or Charlie Haughey” (without the quote marks) into Google Image and got this-
http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1/todd_313120_1%5B508101%5D.jpg
-for some reason
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Agggggh.Flashbacks.Am i right in saying there’s a Higgins brother there as well? Can’t remember if it was Keith or Pierce.The oul memory ain’t what it used to be
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
No there isn’t, Pierce would have been two years older than us and Keith five or six years younger!
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Mayo Association BBQ in Dubin. Only €25 membership, my God who knew such a thing existed
http://www.castlebar.ie/board/2009/jul09/165535.htm
September 24th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
€25 for lifetime membership, can’t say fairer than that!
September 25th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Did you go?
November 13th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Ha ha Eoin, that photo is priceless!
November 14th, 2009 at 5:02 am
I’ve another even better one of us at half time Joe – Niall Tighe is throwing a bit of a strop. Great photo – no idea who took it.
November 14th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Eoin,
Brillant photo, just saw it on facebook.
I remember the day that photo was taken, it was about 2pm on a sunday….I always remember…’mass first and then football’!!!!
P.s. love the website!
November 14th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Cheers Spuddy, it seems like only yesterday. Well, last year maybe. This is the full line up as I recall (just posted it on Joe’s Facebook page)…
Back row: David Murphy, Paddy O’Dwyer, Karl McManus, Robert Morley, James McGarry, me, Shay Walsh, David Murphy II (lookin over his shoulder), Niall Tighe, Nathan Murphy, Sean Hunt, Joe Rochford, Mark O’Sullivan, Simon McCaff, Spuddy Murphy, Michael Regan
Front row: Padraig Moran, Alan(?) Kelly, Alan Regan, Paul Webb, Choo Webb, Micheal Walsh, Karl Lyons, Padraig Murphy, Seamus Lundon, Joe Freely, Joe Rochford’s brother (can’t remember his first name), Don Regan, Michael Dillon
November 16th, 2009 at 9:42 am
You will have to show us that other photo! Spuddy is right, mass then football…was a lot easier get up and play a match at 12 on a sunday those days!