Latest news with #Nenagh
Washington Post
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
‘Heart, Be at Peace' is the perfect title for this Irish gem
Donal Ryan has set his novels chiefly in and around his native Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland, filling them with characters whose stories become the background of subsequent books. 'Heart, Be at Peace,' winner of last year's award for Irish Book of the Year, however, is a sequel. It picks up from his first novel, 'The Spinning Heart,' a short, brilliant work set in the aftermath of the collapse of the property boom of 2008. Set about a decade after that book ended, 'Heart' explores how contemporary problems — social media, drugs — affect this small town. Like its predecessor, the story emerges gradually, as each character contributes a confessional strand to the tangled connections among them.
Irish Examiner
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Kevin O'Flaherty hopeful Nenagh can handle step up
The dust has just about settled on Nenagh Ormond's celebrations following their historic first promotion to the Energia All Ireland League's top flight but captain Kevin O'Flaherty is determined his club holds their own with the big boys in Division 1A next season. Much will depend on Nenagh's home form as they mix it with the established heavyweights led by newly-minted champions Clontarf and if the 2024-25 campaign was any guide, New Ormond Park will not be a venue away teams will relish visiting. Back-rower O'Flaherty, the Energia AIL Division 1B player of the year, has now led Nenagh to successive promotions and this season's Munster Senior Cup. Their elevation to 1A behind title winners Old Belvedere was secured with a dramatic play-off final win at home over Munster rivals UCC in front of more than 1000 spectators, and he believes the backing of the wider community in a traditional stronghold of Tipperary hurling will be just as crucial for the step up in class as the club becomes their county's first top-flight representatives. 'That's the thing, our crest is a castle and we speak about ourselves that we need to protect our castle,' O'Flaherty told the Irish Examiner. 'So that's what we think about when we play at home, you never want to lose there and we're starting to do that. We only lost one game at home this year and that was against Old Belvedere who were deserving champions. We took scalps off the likes of Cork Con, Highfield, Shannon, renowned teams. 'The community itself, we're in the heart of hurling country but if you look at the play-off final, all the hurling teams were out to support us, and they had games that evening at 6:30pm but there was three or four parishes of hurling teams out to watch the first half and I think a good few of them got the end in too. 'In a small community it's all about everyone helping out each other, from businesses supporting us to families in general coming out to support. Getting people through the gate is a big thing.' The sense of community behind Nenagh Ormond was underlined by O'Flaherty's visit this season to Youghalarra National School. 'An ex-player of ours is principal and he asked me to come in with the Senior Cup, and it was amazing to just go in and see the amount of people that are playing rugby in a school which would be mainly a hurling school. Our head coach (Derek Corcoran) did the same, went to his local school where he's a teacher (Nenagh CBS primary school) and the reception he got was exceptional and it's probably half the reason why he's still playing. He's 41 and he has coached us in every single promotion that we've achieved and I think he's played in every one of them as well. He's a credit to the club.' O'Flaherty credits back-to-back promotions for Nenagh to both the loyalty of local players and the work of the coaching team led by player/head coach Corcoran with assistants James Hickey, Dan Fogarty and S&C coach Colm Skehan. 'It was kind of down to a core group that stopped there for a lot of years. They've always been the ones to drive the standards but once the coaches came in they put more emphasis on the rest of the team to match that core. Everyone had to be working as hard as everyone else, it's the same as anything, like in defence, you're only as good as your weakest man. 'So we tried to make sure that our weakest man was one of our strongest and if you can guess a squad all playing off of that you're onto a winner, because you look other years, we probably had that main 15 and it probably let us down, like if you look at three years ago when we played in the Senior Cup against Young Munster. We were there or thereabouts with them for probably 60, 70 per cent of the game but once people got tired and once the bench came on it probably wasn't as effective as it has been this year. 'So we really put emphasis on getting as fit and as strong as we could. We knew if we could stay fit and keep going for the 80 minutes, you bring on subs and if they can do the same thing you're always in a good place.' That paid off in spades with their last-gasp play-off final victory over UCC, coming from 33-24 down with three minutes left on the clock to win 36-33. It capped a dream season for the club while O'Flaherty finished the week collecting the 1B player of the year award at the Energia AIL awards in Dublin. 'It's a nice accolade to get,' he said. 'It's a really nice way to top off the last few years and for me personally, I've been playing for 14 years so to get acknowledged is always nice. 'But if you look at the standard in 1B this year, it's been excellent. Like Calum Dowling (Old Belvedere), he was nominated and was very much deserving of it. Alex Molloy (Old Wesley), Conor O'Shaughnessey (Blackrock College), they'd be the same, but even going back to our team itself, you could pick any one of our players to be nominated for that, and they would have been deserving of it as well. So as much as it's a personal accolade, you're only as good as your team. 'As long as everyone can play to a high standard, anyone is capable of doing that and last year Willie (Coffey) who was in it for 2A, he was exceptional again this year, and there was no reason why he couldn't have got it. 'In terms of promotion, then, it's a pinch yourself moment, really. You're looking at going up to… and I was talking to (former Ireland international and Nenagh native) Trevor Hogan, he congratulated me after the win and he just said he never thought he'd see the day when Nenagh went up against Clontarf. 'I think for a lot of us, we celebrated the win but we're still in dreamland. Once those fixtures come out and we see ourselves playing against those big teams, all the Dublin teams coming down to Nenagh, that's when the fun really begins.'
Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Book Review: Donal Ryan's spellbinding sequel in 21 voices continues the saga of a small Irish town
In 2014 Donal Ryan published a novel in the U.S. called 'The Spinning Heart' about a rural Irish town after the 2008 financial collapse. It was narrated by a chorus of voices, one per chapter, and at the center was a good-hearted contractor, Bobby Mahon. Ryan's latest book is a spellbinding sequel, 'Heart, Be at Peace,' that works just fine on its own. It chronicles the changes that have buffeted Nenagh, County Tipperary, in the decade since the recession. Once again, the story is told by 21 townspeople, including one who has died, and Bobby is at the center. Over the years he has done well for himself with a 'kitchen the size of a soccer pitch' and a 'marble island in the middle of it that you could feed an army at,' as one envious frenemy grouses. But recently Bobby has been having panic attacks because a compromising picture of him at a stag party in Amsterdam has been making the rounds. Also, he is worried sick about the drug dealers lurking around town in cars with blacked-out windows, posing a threat to the children, including his own. Another member of the chorus is Lily, who describes herself as 'witch by training' and prostitute by inclination. She learned her magic from a Roma woman who settled in the town, 'caught roots' and married a local. Lily adores her beautiful granddaughter, Millicent — her long legs, blue eyes and 'the shine off of her like the sun on the water of the lake.' They go for long walks in the meadows, gathering wild garlic, dock leaves and sorrel, but lately, the girl has fallen under the spell of Augie Penrose, the ringleader of the drug dealers, and Granny knows in her heart it will not end well. Bobby, Lily, Millicent and all the others see the town and its residents, including the newcomers from Eastern Europe, from a different perspective. Together, they narrate a gripping story that is heartbreaking, funny and occasionally raunchy of a beaten-down but resilient community that embodies the best and worst of humanity. The book ends with a monologue from Bobby's preternaturally wise and forbearing wife, Triona, who is puzzling over a dramatic plot development in the last chapter. 'There's more to that story, a lot more I'd say, but it'll be told elsewhere, I'm sure.' If she is right, then perhaps Ryan is already planning the third installment of a trilogy. What a gift that would be for readers everywhere. ___ AP book reviews:
Irish Examiner
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Dream days for homegrown Nenagh Ormond as they make history for Tipperary rugby
There have been good days at Nenagh Ormond RFC down through its 141-year history but none have come close to the celebrations that broke out at New Ormond Park on Saturday as the club became Tipperary's first to reach Energia All Ireland League Division 1A. Twenty years after graduating from the junior ranks to senior status, Nenagh have completed back-to-back promotions to reach the height of Irish club rugby's pyramid, capping a stellar season which also saw them lift the Munster Senior Challenge Cup for the first time and their seconds lift Tipperary's Mansergh Cup. Promotion to the top flight was achieved in dramatic fashion on home soil. Nenagh had finished second in the league table behind champions Old Belvedere and then beaten third-placed Blackrock College RFC in the play-off semi-finals. That set up an all-Munster promotion play-off final with UCC and College were three minutes from victory and return to 1A when the hosts turned the tables. Speaking 24 hours later, after receiving an IRFU Service To Rugby award as one of 100 club volunteers invited to Aviva Stadium on Energia AIL finals day, Nenagh Ormond committee member and two-time former president Fergal Healy described the history-making moments for his club as they came from 33-24 down to complete a famous 36-33 victory. 'Three minutes to go, Nenagh get a penalty try under the posts,' Healy said. 'So now we're back to it within four points and the rest is history. 'We take a clean kick-off, there was a break right up the middle, two committed tackles and we score under the posts. Amazing. It's a great feeling. 'I was president during covid, I gave two terms and on both occasions we should have been relegated from 2B. Lucky enough, a few of us got together and we just saw what we had and we went from there and here we are today, 1A. "I remember when we went from Junior up to Senior (in 1985). We've had good days, won the Senior Cup for the first time ever also this year and our seconds have won the Mansergh Cup. Beaten in Senior Cup (final) three years ago by Young Munster but won the semi against them this year and beat Crescent in the final. So an amazing season." There was added pride for Healy, given one of his sons, John, was openside flanker in the team that secured promotion at the weekend. A younger son is former Munster and now Edinburgh and Scotland fly-half Ben Healy. The former president paid tribute to John and others for staying true to their roots and continuing to represent Nenagh in their 2A days when they could have been playing 1A. 'I'm a farmer myself, I'm in the heart of GAA, I've hurling all around me and yet most of that Nenagh team started playing their rugby around Nenagh. 'I'll mention my own son, John, I'll mention (centre) Willie Coffey, the two O'Flahertys (club captain Kevin, a lock, and No.8 John) all those lads could have played senior 1A when we were back down in 2B, 2A, and they decided they were playing their rugby in Nenagh and that has paid off. So, for those lads, yesterday's achievement for me means most of all. 'You'd have to attribute a lot of (the club's success) to our coaching staff. The nucleus of players we have there, they're homegrown lads, all from Nenagh. Okay, we are picking up fellas from Newcastle West or wherever, but when I wanted to play senior rugby I had to go to Limerick. Now they're coming out to Nenagh and we're doing a very good job, a very good committee, very good underage structure. We could be in Nenagh on a Sunday morning and have 130 kids. It's a dream, an absolute dream.'
