Messages

Tony Blake used to go down in the square with a contact lens problem when we needed a minute back in the late 90s and early 2000s (and we often did ).

Is that an option these days?

Pat Spillane fell to the ground in search of his contact lense in the 1980 All-Ireland final against Roscommon and the feckin referee gave him a free. That's what you were up against in those days.

Weile Waila

A great pick too. A gruesome Irish childrens street song from the 1800s sang with great humour by The Dubliners. Often wondered where the River Saile was. The most convincing explanation I've found is that it's a corruption of either saileach (willow) or salach (dirty)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Poddle

Thanks Biggreenfield. That explains it.

Weile Waila

A great pick too. A gruesome Irish childrens street song from the 1800s sang with great humour by The Dubliners. Often wondered where the River Saile was. The most convincing explanation I've found is that it's a corruption of either saileach (willow) or salach (dirty)

Sam Hall
Free The People
A Nation Once Again

There are so many...

Sam Hall, a great shout!

My #1 too. Could go in the Dead Narrator category. "And the hangman pulled the rope, and ne're a word I spoke tumblin' down tumblin' down."

Sam Hall
Quare Bungle Rye
Marino Waltz (the peat briquette song)

Marino Waltz, great tune

Was that  the Dubliners?  I thought John Sheehan  released that by himself

Good question. While a John composition no doubt, he recorded The Marino Waltz with The Dubliners.

Sam Hall
Free The People
A Nation Once Again

There are so many...

Sam Hall, a great shout!

My #1 too. Could go in the Dead Narrator category. "And the hangman pulled the rope, and ne're a word I spoke tumblin' down tumblin' down."

Sam Hall
Quare Bungle Rye
Marino Waltz (the peat briquette song)

When Kerry are mood to kick points like that, hard to live with them. He wasn't MOTM but there's no player in Ireland even close to David Clifford. Hard luck to Armagh - worthy champions and always bring great colour to any occasion.

Pulsating last 20 minutes. Deserved win for Meath. Galway will have regrets but they looked a tired team that still did excellent to come back from 6 down. Thought they'd close it out then so tremendous finish by Meath. Morris is some player.

Donegal by 3 - Donegal should have got Sunday, but still should have enough given the Louth game was a second half stroll.

Dublin by 2 - a hesitant vote but the Jacks likely to have their shooting boots on for this one. If they don't, Tyrone will.

Galway by 3 - have been very impressed by Meath this year but they are more vulnerable to goals on bigger pitches like Croker and Dr. Hyde. Galway also have a 2001 aura about them. 

Kerry by 1 - Armagh have been the most impressive team this year. Win this and they will go all the way. But Kerry are still Kerry and will be up for it.

Sligo sharp shooter Niall Murphy.

Seami "Shaq" O'Neill - burst onto scene as 19 year Roscommon old midfielder in 2001 to surprise Galway in Connacht championship with a majestic display of fielding.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JgeAmrdL3mI

Galway later got revenge and went on to win All-Ireland.

Hurson seems determined to keep Dublin in championship.

Can someone who has access post
the full text??

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/were-not-wanted-by-britain-dup-founding-member-wallace-thompson-on-paisley-protestantism-and-what-made-him-change-his-mind-on-a-new-ireland-IBNT4MVJYBFVXBDLOMWQAF6BMY/

'We're not wanted by Britain': DUP founding member Wallace Thompson on Paisley, Protestantism and what made him change his mind on a 'new Ireland'

Wallace Thompson admits that as a 15-year-old, he "rejoiced in the police action in nationalists being dealt with" at the infamous October 1968 civil rights march in Derry.

By 1974, at Queen's University, he was "an ardent supporter" of the Ulster Workers Council strike along with fellow students Jim Allister, Sammy Wilson and Jim Wells, believing the very existence of his Protestant heritage was under threat.

Thompson's "fascination with Ian Paisley" in the late 1960s led to a long involvement with the DUP, including as a special advisor to Nigel Dodds while a minister in Stormont as well as working closely with Peter Robinson and other leading figures at the centre of the party.

But he now talks openly about the inevitability of a 'new Ireland', says he thinks Protestants could have "greater clout" in it, and adds: "The whole landscape has changed. We're not wanted by Britain; we're strangers in our own land.

Wallace Thompson: 'I'm opposed to Catholicism, but sectarianism is motivated by hatred'

"Why do we have to be demeaned like this rather than saying look, hold on, I'm an Irish Protestant and I've as much right to be respected as anybody else."

He feels "more and more Irish and less British these days", although he's first and foremost a Protestant and believes he could retain his British identity while not living in the United Kingdom.

His belief that unionists should engage in the conversation about possible change has brought the ire of some of his erstwhile colleagues, who've called him a Lundy.

"I've called people a Lundy in the past," he smiles.

"One person suggested my autobiography should be called 'The journey of a demented turncoat'. People thought I'd taken leave of my senses, it must be old age."

He adds: "A kinder interpretation was that this man has lost his marbles, as he's got older he's forgotten.

"I haven't forgotten anything about what happened before, that I once held different views."

Indeed, throughout our interview, Wallace Thompson shows good humour, grace, openness and a sharp intellect in articulating his changed position.

Before, it was a case of politics and spiritual matters being intertwined.

"It's a reflection not only of my mindset but of those particular times when your Protestant faith and your unionism were bound up because they were two sides of the same coin. Protestantism was the raison d'etre behind separating off from the rest of Ireland.

"It was a package and Ian Paisley encapsulated both elements of that cause," says Thompson, who adds: "In those days the heat was on, you were under threat. The world was crashing down around us."

Wallace Thompson with Ian Paisley
Wallace Thompson with Ian Paisley
With the 1960s moving towards ecumenism, the onset of the Troubles brought further fear for people like him that Protestantism was under attack.

"Ian Paisley's utterances seemed to reflect that worry, that panic."

And yet when Thompson got to know the outwardly "robust and rumbustious" Paisley, the man he knew was "full of humour, full of personality, there was a very considerable warmth".

Paisleyism was then viewed as virtually a cult by establishment unionism.

"We were seen as weird, awkward, narrow-minded. The mavericks, the outsiders. But we rejoiced in it. Being younger, we all thought it was great craic.

"My Granda Thompson, a working-class man from Ballymoney who wore a wee flat cap, was an anti-establishment figure but I remember him saying to me, 'Son, don't follow Paisley'."

From those early days, the time eventually came for the Paisley the maverick to become the establishment figure when he entered power-sharing with Sinn Féin, the party he once promised to smash, and the feeling among many was that he cynically went into government for the personal glory of being First Minister.

The DUP and Sinn Féin became the leading parties in unionism and nationalism in the 2003 Assembly election, allowing Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness to lead a power-sharing executive four years later
Ian Paisley agreed to share power with Martin McGuinness and Sinn Féin, with the pair becoming known as the 'chuckle brothers'

Thompson says: "In fairness to the man, he may have had his own desires to be remembered in that way. But I think there was a genuineness about it that came across in his work with Martin McGuinness. It wasn't all for the optics, it was substantial.

"I just wish it had come five or 10 years earlier when he was more 'at himself', as we say. Like they said about William Gladstone, he was an old man in a hurry, but I wouldn't criticise him for that."

Despite warnings of "a battle a day" with Sinn Féin, Thompson says he never saw that and while it was a big moment having to work face to face with people who had served prison sentences, he found it "enriching".

But from his early "no surrender" days, what was the catalyst for the huge change in Wallace Thompson's stance on a united or 'new' Ireland?

"Boris Johnson's nonsense on the Irish Sea border," he says firmly.

The then prime minister famously assured the DUP conference he would stand by the union, before abandoning the party to strike a deal with the EU.

Boris Johnson was guest speaker at the DUP annual conference in 2018. Picture by Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press

Boris Johnson was guest speaker at the DUP annual conference in 2018. Picture by Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press

"Brexit had been a big factor. Friends in Fermanagh were more aware of the complexities and voted to remain, but we were foolish in believing we could achieve a total break easily. We began to realise that it was not that simple, but then came Boris's betrayal.

"I began to think of the past and it was betrayal after betrayal. Every time unionism was on the back foot, we lost ground by crying 'not an inch'.

"Down through the hundred years of Northern Ireland we kept losing ground. The 1974 strike and Sunningdale, with the violence being so severe in 1972 and ′73, all seemed a bridge too far in the heat of battle.

"We said we can't compromise, but perhaps that was an opportunity that should have been taken. Then we opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 and lost seats, and we opposed the 1998 Belfast Agreement. Then had to accept the principles of it were going to be the foundation of whatever we did," he says.

"Every time we said no surrender, not an inch, while losing inches. The final straw was this nonsense from Boris.

Former DUP special adviser, Wallace Thompson speaks to The Irish News.
PIC COLM LENAGHAN
Wallace Thompson in the grounds of Parliament Buildings, Stormont. PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN

"Plus," he says, "the changing face of religion within the British Isles.

"The Republic is no longer a Catholic country. Britain has lost its Protestantism, and the empire, which our forefathers fought for, is gone. It was said that Protestantism was the cement that held the empire together. That has crumbled and the whole thing has fallen apart.

"The whole landscape has changed. We're not wanted by Britain. The illustration is the unwanted child in the house. If you moved into a different house, there would be those who would question our being there and want to put us in our place. But I think the majority would welcome us.

"I've been brought up to be British but I'm feeling more and more Irish in one sense. I'm an Ulsterman, an Irishman and a British citizen and I'm not quite sure at the sequence. First and foremost, I'm a Protestant, that's the main one."

He said unionists in a Dáil chamber would make up a much bigger minority than at Westminster where "you're hardly even noticed".

"I wonder would we not have more direct clout in an Irish set-up, however it's done, whether it's devolved through the regions or unitary state.

"People say that's all very well but once they get you in there's no guarantee, you could end up in very difficult territory.

"I've moved considerably on this. I'm at a tipping point."

So, it's time for a conversation, and he feels that refusing to talk about change is "unionism all over. Events may overtake them and it just comes in on them like a tsunami".

"There's an inevitability that some sort of constitutional change will take place. When, I don't know. It is some way down the road, but we need to discuss it, we need to prepare for the possibility of it. We need to talk within our own groups," he says, referring to within unionism and within nationalism.

IRELANDS FUTURE
Wallace Thompson with Leo Varadkar and Gerry Adams at an Ireland's Future event at the SSE Arena in Belfast. PICTURE: Mal McCann

He accepts that the word "inevitable" caused some difficulty, but there is a trajectory of travel and getting involved in the discussion is a way of changing the destination.

"I don't see that conversation taking place. The southern government is not showing much direct interest beyond broad principles. The only ones pushing for it are Sinn Féin and we don't know what version of change they want to achieve. Other nationalists and unionists need to be involved.

"There needs to be internal discussion and then a reaching out. We need to achieve some form of reconciliation within Northern Ireland first," says Thompon, who says a lot of people tell him privately that he's right in what he's saying, including "surprising sources at times".

"It's a challenge but a positive challenge. There has to be a discussion at all these various levels."

Throughout his political and religious life, it's been clear that Wallace Thompson has never been afraid to stand out from the crowd if he believes in a principle.

He adds: "It's been a very challenging thing for me, and yet I'm actually quite enjoying the journey."

Amazing the number of influential musical artists born in GB that were of Irish heritage.

Cemetry Gates
Girlfriend in a Coma
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Is the Hodson Bay nicer than Kilronan castle?

It's a nicer drive to the Hyde anyway! Those are very winding narrow roads up in Turlough O'Carolan country.

McGuinness is a moaney aul bollix

It's all mind games and siege mentality to get an extra edge with his own players - everybody's against us, even the ones making the fixtures.

It helps when the CCCC chairman aka Roscommon CB chairman is making silly comparisons about the distances the respective supporters had to travel!

But yeah, Jim is obviously just looking for an edge.

He had a point about the distance of supporters but giving out about not finding a hotel in town was a bit much, when they stayed in the nicest hotel in Roscommon (yes it's in Roscommon, despite the Westmeath address), which is only 25 minutes at most from Hyde Park. However, the other grounds were not easy options due to other counties involved over the weekend. The grounds people are amateur volunteers who you can't expect to be stewarting while their county is playing knockout football elsewhere.

The Euro bid was proposed by the FA, FAI, IFA, SFA and the Welsh FA so really it was their plan to host games at Casement more so than the British government. It should be noted too that it was the IFA hierarchy who were willing to have NI's games at Casement.

Sunak and Varadkar signed the final proposal that included Casement. The final submission to UEFA is still viewable online (although slow to load).
https://ukandirelanduefaeuro2028bid.bylder.io/?link_id=7#!/admin/slideshow/presentation/3/chapter/2/slide/1

Of course the troglodytes of the DUP and TUV weren't happy about Casement for sectarian reasons but to say they swayed the decision of Labour to not give hundreds of millions to Casement is rubbish.

That may be, but once Unionists, and NI Supporters and may others made Casement a subject of controversy (which they did with a zealous intensity), it made it easier for the UK government to pull out. It began with Sunak talking about 2.6 billion in socio-economic benefits to the UK, and ended with no money to renovate Casement.