It Occurs To Me: Rory, Drumshanbo and the Masters!

Watching any sports event from a high stool gives you a very different perspective, particularly if the buck next to you has elevated himself from barroom bore to co-commentator. 

You know the type. Rory McIlroy put us all through the emotional hoops. It was squeaky bum time, to use an Alex Ferguson phrase, but what a wonderful outcome. 

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The buck fornenst me, however, was not enamoured by the fact that everybody went ballistic with joy, thus drowning him out, so he waited…and waited.

When there was a wee lull, he blinked at me and rasped: “Did you know Drumshanbo is a big Trump fan?”  “Drumshanbo?”, I queried. “Aye, that boy Bryson Drumshanbo!” he helpfully informed me. There was an explosion of laughter and one ecstatic lady at a table added: “And there was me about to buy a bottle of DeChambeau to celebrate!” 

The buck was not impressed, pursed his lips and squinted in that timeworn way that signifies drunken annoyance.

Just to ensure a modicum of civility and to distract him, I responded: “Aye, you’re right…sure wasn’t Drumshanbo at Trump's victory speech in Florida after being re-elected, and appeared on stage wearing a Make America Great Again baseball cap. He also has a Trump logo on his golf bag?” 

‘Rory McIlroy put us all through the emotional hoops’

Your man turned toward the DeChambeau bubbly lady and through his teeth, growled: “Now, didn’t I tell yis?” I don’t know if longtime Drumshanbo resident Charlie McGettigan will read this, but in the event that he does, would there be an ould song in it? In the heel of the hunt, and to celebrate Rory’s magnificent achievement, the champagne lady decided to have a Gunpowder Gin instead and I had a Single Pot Still Whiskey…both made in DeChambeau! 

Do you know what…I nearly took to singing:

“Last night I had a pleasant dream. I woke up with a smile.

I dreamed that I was back again in dear old Erin’s Isle.

I thought I saw Lough Allen’s banks in the valley down below.

It was my lovely Leitrim, where the Shannon waters flow.”

                                The death of Patrolman Fitzpatrick

On a sadder note about the Lovely Leitrim song, it was written by Philip Fitzpatrick who was born in Aughavas, Co Leitrim in 1892, and who emigrated to America in the early 1920s, and joined the NYPD in 1926, and became a patrolman, assigned to Mounted Squad 1 in Manhattan. 

While off duty on Tuesday, May 20, 1947, with his good friend Patrolman George H Dammeyer, Shield No. 3823, Patrolman Fitzpatrick was having lunch at a tavern at 1703 Third Avenue and East 96th Street, on the Upper East Side.

Two career criminals, armed with pistols, entered the tavern shortly after the officers had sat down for lunch.

These criminals had just robbed another location nearby and had pistol-whipped their victims. The criminals then announced that they wanted everyone's money and valuables, pointing their pistols at the customers and staff.

At great risk to themselves, Patrolman Fitzpatrick and Patrolman Dammeyer attempted to arrest the criminals, and Patrolman Fitzpatrick was shot twice in the stomach and grievously wounded while grappling with one of the perpetrators. Both criminals were shot and killed by Patrolman Dammeyer.

Patrolman Fitzpatrick succumbed to his wounds, and died in Beth Israel Hospital on May 26, 1947, leaving his grieving widow Mary and five sons to mourn his passing.

He was given an inspector's funeral and was awarded the prestigious NYPD Medal of Honor posthumously in a ceremony at City Hall held on May 25, 1948. Commissioner Arthur William Wallander and Mayor William O'Dwyer (himself a former police officer) presented his widow Mary with the medal and the deep gratitude of the citizens of New York for his making the ultimate and heroic sacrifice. Patrolman Dammeyer was presented with the Combat Cross Medal for his heroism.

As his fellow Leitrim man and retired NYPD Chief Denis McGowan reflected:  “Many people did not know that Patrolman Fitzpatrick was also a poet, and had written an eerily prophetic poem about a policeman's life, referring to his fellow officers as "soldiers of peace," and including the sad lines, "when he kisses his wife and children goodbye, there's the chance he will see them no more. Our brave Philip never did get to return to Ireland, but he will never be forgotten by his fellow officers, his Brother and Sister Hibernians and the sons and daughters of Leitrim. May Almighty God grant rest to his good soul. A devout Catholic, he was also a member of the NYPD Holy Name Society and the Ancient Order of Hibernians."

Patrolman Fitzpatrick is remembered by the NYPD in a memorial on the walls of their headquarters at One Police Plaza, but shall always be remembered for the great song about Leitrim he authored. 

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As Larry Cunningham recalled many years ago: “I was only a year going on tours to the US when one night in the City Centre in New York the bossman came in a half hour before we went on stage to say there was  someone to see. That wasn’t unusual at the time but as it turned out this wasn’t just another fan. Into the bandroom came a small woman and two big men with her. As we shook hands I asked her who she was. She said her name was Mrs Fitzpatrick. I said: ‘Are you anything to the man that wrote Lovely Leitrim?’.

"It transpired that Phil Fitzpatrick was her husband and the two burly men were her two sons. She appreciated meeting the man that made her husband’s song famous and she gave me the original piece of paper that he wrote the song on with a pencil. There were six verses but I only used four of those verses.”

                                           Larry and Clonmany

The late Hugo Boyce was the mastermind of Ireland’s longest running festival, which celebrated 50 years back in 2017.

I interviewed Hugo for Irish TV in 2014 and remarked how I’d heard a number of versions of the Larry Cunningham festival story over the years, so could he enlighten me? Hugo was a wonderful character and he shook with laughter when he recalled the festival in 1968, then in its infancy.

“I heard Larry Cunningham was going out with a girl from Urris, so we knew he’d have to come back through Clonmany on his return journey. We had lookouts posted and begod, Larry was sighted in a fine motor. He was already a big star, but his car was going very slowly through the crowds, so I made damn sure he wasn’t getting out of town! To tell you the truth, we more or less hijacked him and the next thing he was on stage! We never looked back!” 

One of Donegal’s longest living transplant recipients, he highlighted the importance of organ donation and sadly passed away in 2021.

All the big stars paid him huge compliments, including Nathan Carter who said: “Hugo gave me one of my first ever festival gigs in Ireland at the famous Clonmany Festival and was a huge part of the festival since the start. RIP Hugo.”

                                    The letter writers

I see where the Indo featured interviews with 10 of their chief letter writers, including Mary Stewart from Donegal Town. 

“While she wouldn’t agree with Donald Trump on everything, she supports his stance on the ‘woke agenda’ and his America First approach. She also believes that if he’d been president in 2022, ‘Putin wouldn’t have moved against Ukraine’.

This is the same Trump whose reaction to the horrific Russian bombing of Palm Sunday Mass goers in Ukraine was to say it was a “mistake” and that  it was “Biden’s War”. How can any professed Christian support this convicted felon and serial sinner?  Martin Bell, the former BBC international correspondent and independent MP, composed this last week: 

“His tariffs were imposed on every nation

Regardless of their size and population

His people sang a plaintive song

The penguins have abused us for too long.’”

It’s not only the penguins who are in a flap, but mercifully, Bernie Sanders and millions of decent Americans are fighting , as regards Trump’s religious beliefs, here’s a quote from his White House spiritual advisor, Paula White: “There’s someone that God is speaking to, to click on that donation button by minimizing the screen. And when you do, to sow $1,144. It’s not often I ask very specifically but God has instructed me and I want you to hear. This isn’t for everyone but this is for someone. When you sow that $1,144 based on John 11:44, I believe for resurrection life.” 

She is known as a millionaire televangelist who “speaks in tongues”. Pity her boss can’t speak in one!