Frank Greally's Heroes & Friends

Members of Ballymun Athletic Club out in force at the AXA Raheny 5 Mile Road Race..Frank Greally on the Irish Runner Beat!
Irish Runner Magazine

AXA Raheny 5

2025 The Great Stampede- At The Fields Of Athenry 10k...
Faces From The Fields Of Athenry 10k..3,000 entries..
Athenry AC
Irish Runner Magazine

Remembering Con Houlihan on his 100th Birthday! ..By Frank Greally

I can still see the little red Ford Anglia van screeching to a halt outside Mike Lyons’ shop in Ballyhaunis,
County Mayo on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings in the year of Our Lord, 1977.
About a half dozen of the town’s citizens, whom I would loosely describe as kindred spirited, would be gathered outside the shop in Abbey Street discussing the affairs of the day, the nation and the world. The banter
would be lively, laced with wicked wit and a searching critical analysis of anyone unfortunate enough to pass
by the gathering.
Occasionally; one of our group would walk out into the middle of Abbey Street and strain to look for a sign
that the Evening Press delivery van might be approaching from under the Railway Bridge. I can still see the
tall figure of Tom Gilmore, the painter and decorator with a razor wit, shaking his head in the middle of Abbey Street; an acknowledgement that there was still no sign of the red express.
When the red Anglia finally arrived, in a blur and with a screeching of brakes, the young man at the wheel
flung a bundle of evening papers onto the sidewalk and roared off into the evening towards Claremorris, his
next port of call.
It was usually Sean Ruane, for years the loyal farm hand at the local convent and a fox hunter supreme, who
produced the pen knife to free the bound package of its treasure. We would grab for the papers like children
at a sweet counter and, as one, go straight for the back page sports column, where Con Houlihan reigned supreme.
The individual members of our little group would only skim the column before carefully folding the paper
and branching off homeward in different directions. Con’s back page column was sacred. It could only be
read in the comfort of one’s home with a full pot of tea on the brew.
When we met again the following day at lunchtime outside Joe Regan’s Corner Bar in the middle of our town,
the Con Houlihan column was the full focus of our discussion. I remember those afternoons and evenings as
times of beautiful innocence - a period of my life when I had just reconnected with my hometown after a four
year sojourn in the hills of Tennessee.
It was my uncle, sports fanatic and lover of fine literature, Michael Mannion, who introduced me to Con
Houlihan’s Evening Press sports column and the full-page Tributaries feature that appeared in the paper every second Tuesday.
The uncle shortened many a day in the bog holding court on Con’s wisdom and his rare writing talent. “He
has a way with words, a way with words,” the uncle would repeat as he flung the sodden sods of turf at me
off his slean. “He brings you the whole game and a whole lot more. His column is better than listening to the
game on the wireless”.
On many a Winter evening during the year of 1977 I found my own delight in reading Con Houlihan’s Tributaries - that once-a-fortnight focus by Con on the life and work of some of the great artists and writers.
I was just out of University in America where literature and creative writing in particular had been my
passions. I devoured Con’s delightful and hugely insightful pieces on my favourite American writers, Walt
Whitman, Thomas Wolfe, Sherwood Anderson, James Agee, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Con’s
wonderfully crafted essays on artists like Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, L.S. Lowry and indeed Derek Hill
greatly broadened my own cultural horizons.
During those dark Winter nights in Ballyhaunis, Con Houlihan also put me back in touch with John Milling-
ton Synge, Sean O’Casey and Charles Kickham, whom I had only read in my youth. His essays brought me
to reading again the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh, Francis Ledwidge and Dylan Thomas. He opened a window
too for me, into the world and literature of Thomas Hardy, and D.H. Lawrence - now firm favourites. Years
later I could fully understand why Con once received a letter from a grateful Dubliner who wrote: “Con, you
gave me my third level education.”
When I came back to live in Dublin in the late 70s, I felt that although I had never met him, I already knew
Con Houlihan well. I’d see the gentle giant from Castleisland walking along Burgh Quay on afternoons shortly after the Evening Press had hit the street and I would often watch in awe from the wings as he held court at
the bar in Mulligan’s of Poolbeg Street.
Then one wet day in Limerick in 1979, I watched John Treacy win the World Cross Country title on a mud soaked Limerick Racecourse; that was my first real meeting with Con - the beginning of a beautiful and
enduring friendship.
The following day Con wrote about the race on the back page of the Evening Press. The piece was headlined -
The Magic Fox That Got Away. I can still recall one passage from the piece in particular:
“On and on he went until in the mist and rain he was away out in front like Tied Cottage in the first three
quarters of the Gold Cup.
And like Tied Cottage he came down - but it was only a slip at a splashy bend and in a few seconds only his
muddy knees reminded one of it.
In the last mile as the powerful Pole, Mallinowski, began to make up ground, he seemed like a leading dog in
a very scattered pack.
But the magic fox never looked like being caught - his biggest danger was the tumult of small boys that went
out like tugboats to meet him.“
As in so many of his columns over the years, Con captured completely the true essence of that great day in
Limerick long ago.
What other writer would lead-off a Tributaries piece on Vincent Van Gogh with:
“It may seem ridiculous to compare Lester Piggott and Vincent Van Gogh: each, however, was consumed by a
passion that led to sacrifices so enormous that ‘normal’ people can hardly comprehend. “
That opening paragraph immediately draws you into a wonderfully insightful essay on Van Gogh, the unquiet
spirit.
Con Houlihan has always had a wry sense of humour, but you suspect too from reading him that, although
his experience of sadness and loneliness has not been different in kind from that of other men, it has been
sharper in intensity. It may well be a key to his ability to give us such insight into the often complex world of
great writers.
I particularly love a piece he wrote about the last day he worked on the bog in Castleisland:
‘I knew it was the last day: I was about to depart for a different world. It was also the last day that I worked
with my father.
At about six o’clock we raked the embers of the fire together and quenched them with what water we had left
over and with what tea remained in the kettle. I was pierced with an infinite sadness. “
I have enjoyed many happy hours in Con’s company over the years and he has been hugely supportive of my
attempts to keep Irish Runner magazine afloat for the past couple of decades. We have spent a few Christmas
days together in Con’s house in Portobello - the place I first heard Con sing what I still believe was the best ever rendition of The Fields of Athenry, long before the song went ‘public’
Con Houlihan left his beloved Castleisland many years ago and for several decades his back page column
was the flagship of the Evening Press. It broke Con’s heart when the Press closed. Burgh Quay was his village
and his heartland. He had succeeded his great hero Joe Sherwood as King of the Back Page. Writing a tribute
piece recently in Magill magazine to that same Joe Sherwood, Con wrote in appreciation of Joe’s work: “Writing with honesty and insight, you will be respected.“
When I think back to those days in the Ballyhaunis of 1977 and my little group of friends, some now depart-
ed, I remember how, in writing with that same honesty and insight, Con earned our respect - as well as that
of thousands of readers the length and breadth of the country.❤️
Photo by Ray McManus

Donore Harriers Celebrate!
A wonderful night at the launch of - The Story Of Donore Harriers- in the Hilton Hotel, Kilmainham.

This Magnificent History is well worthy of a Book Design Award. Colin Moore, take a bow.
A Big Well Done to Maurice & Mary Ahern and Pat Casidy who compiled the club history- 20 chapters- 396 pages- An Outstanding Production.

Athletics Ireland President, Brid Golden did the club proud with a wonderful and well researched talk and Eamonn Coghlan, a former club member, was also in top form with his speech to launch the Club History. It was lovely to catch up with many old friends.. Great memories of a great club whose current day athletes are making their mark
Donore Harriers .






Athletics Ireland
Irish Runner Magazine

60 Years Of The Hollymount International Road Race- A Time To Celebrate - West Awake!

Ger Copeland!💚
A Man Of True Inspiration.
Just a few weeks after running sub 3 hours in the Irish Life Dublin Marathon- Ger Copeland has won the Lion's Head Marathon in South Africa. Ger will now run another marathon in Antarctica over the weekend. A life changing accident has not stopped Ger from still achieving amazing goals A man of true INSPIRATION! Stride On- Ger!
Ger Copeland 🍀🔥

A special Thank You to Liam Moggan ❤️ for his Great service 💚

'It multiplied. I’ve never seen so much emotion at a finish. No one was looking at the clock, some looked to the skies, others gathered in groups, remembering 🕊️ Credit to Frank Greally, who came up with the idea with the support of Athletics Ireland. It’s an event that will go on and on, as long as people remember their loved ones.' ❤️ A heartfelt thank you to Liam, who has been MC for each of the 14 Remembrance Runs, capturing the spirit of the day since the very beginning🙏 — MC Liam Moggan, reflecting on the finish of the 14th Remembrance Run 5K in the Phoenix Park last Sunday #RemembranceRun #RR5K