The Friday View 17/05
Cork hurlers are back in the game, über-publican Benny McCabe strikes again, a new secondary school gets the go-ahead for Douglas we have our round-up of what to see and do for the week ahead.
Good morning and welcome to The Friday View on T+D. Let’s get to it!
The run for one!
If ever there was a game of hurling this year - this decade - that fans of the small ball everywhere deserved to see, it was without doubt the Corcaigh vs Luimneach cluiche last Saturday night at Páirc Ui Chaoimh. Six goals, nearly 60 points and a near sell-out crowd for a game that had it all. And a pitch invasion.
Cork flew into a half-time lead, Limerick countered in the second half, and with only minutes to go it looked like Limerick would do, what this Limerick have been doing for the past half decade. Win.
But the Cork team, led by a stoppage time late, late charge by Shane Kingston did what every Cork fan in the stadium and county, living and dead, wished this team would do for so long: they went at the Limerick defence like the apocalypse was at the door, bagged a penalty converted by the ageless Horgan and went on to score another point.
By the time the final whistle came there was no containing the Cork fans who rushed the pitch like gazelles at the first sight of fresh grass in Fota. Those scenes were as uplifting as the match itself, and while we haven’t won anything yet, besides a victory over the reigning All-Ireland champions, hopefully this team will do again this Sunday against Tipperary as it’s all on the line!
Corcaigh Abú!
Which is not something you could say about GAAGO, the streaming service operated by the GAA to maximise revenue. The idea that the modern GAA leadership sees itself as anything but different to the Premier League is laughable, at least when it comes to TV rights. With GAAGO, they’ve effectively introduced a tiered system that shuts off some of the best games of GAA to a minority. Who wins in the long term? The GAA leadership should be smart and work out a deal with the raft of broadcasters in Ireland for a broadcast deal.
They can continue to go it alone, but at what cost? Sports such as rugby, which is shown day and night on TV will gain, from its exposure.
Also, who knew that Páirc Uí Rinn was used as private chopper parking ground for the match last Saturday night? The passenger? Well, clearly someone who didn’t want to watch the game on the small screen and has the means to fly inter county by helicopter to GAA games. No doubt they enjoyed the game, but perhaps not the result.
And lastly, given that Cork County Board has a grand total of 12 bike parking spaces at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, would it be worth investigating the idea water taxis running from Tivoli and the city centre to the stadium. Ferry boats once reigned on the Lee, could they again?
News in brief
It’s Benny McCabe’s town and we only live in it. The irrepressible publican has struck again, with a new wine bar on Oliver Plunkett Street in Brennans, the former kitchenware store. Benny, who once told T+D, his recipe for success was to “just add salt” (or more like stick a candle in an empty bottle) has called the new venture Old Brennans and it is his first wine bar. It’s Benny’s second time at the driving wheel with a wine bar (as a few readers pointed out, he also has Arthur Mayne’s around the corner on Pembroke St) and if anyone can make a bar work it’s Benny. And Lord knows there are so many empty premises (Nash 19, Electric) that the über-publican has his pick.
So, it turns out that acting chief exec of Cork County Council was after all only a placeholder position. Valerie O’Sullivan will be replaced by Kerry woman Moira Murrell who will be making good use of the Macroom by-pass for her commute in Killarney to her well-paid (circa €200k) new gig in County Hall as the new boss of the local authority. Like football managers, Murrell leaves the top post at one local authority (Kerry County Council) for the Cork job, and in doing so returns to an organisation she previously worked at. At least Ms O’Sullivan can still put her hat in the ring for the top job at the City Council, an organisation with which she had previous worked for.
Data released to Cllr Kenneth Collins (Sinn Féin) at this week’s City Council meeting, shows that two construction companies are bagging the lion’s share of building contracts from the City Council for the past five years. They are MMD Construction Cork Ltd and Murnane & O’Shea which between them have been awarded nearly €50 of public money in building contracts via the Council.
Building work for Cork Educate Together’s secondary school in Douglas in Maryborough Woods is likely to proceed now that full planning permission has been granted. There was, as the planning doc states, a large number of submissions “that they did not object to the proposal for a school, only the significant traffic, parking, congestion, rat-running etc implications for the area.” The proposed entrance on the Carrigaline Road will be for cyclists and pedestrians only, with the main drop off point on the Maryborough Road.
Congratulations to St. Luke’s Community Garden who this week were granted €47k to develop the garden just off the Ballyhooley Road. St Luke:s was just one of 23 community groups in the city to receive a portion of the €860,000 funding injection for climate action and biodiversity projects. It’s welcome news for the St Luke’s crew of community gardeners who had equipment stolen recently. Other organisations to receive funding include Sundays Well RFC, Civic House Trust, Douglas Street Business Association, St Finbarr's Hurling and Football Club and Churchfield Community Trust.
Parliament Bridge, built in 1806, was damaged early on Wednesday morning when a car crashed into it. The two occupants of the car, a man and a woman, were hospitalised with non-life threatening injuries. Approximately 8 metres’ length of stone parapet on the bridge was damaged and removed. The bridge is the second oldest in the city, after the South Gate Bridge, and an important route for cars and pedestrians travelling from the southside to the city centre. Councillor Mick Finn urged the council to “seize this opportunity” and refurbish the bridge, and presented a motion to the council yesterday, asking: “Given the need to repair Parliament Bridge, can Cork City Council source funding to do a complete refurbishment, conscious of its near 220-year-old history?” Before all that happens the City Council might see if they can do anything about the fact that now pedestrians have to step on to a very busy and narrow road if they are using the footpath. Accident and waiting to happen spring to mind.
A planning application sent to Cork City Council last week proposes a change of use for a new, or maybe extended, bar on Washington Street. The application, sent by ‘Westside Leisure Ltd’, proposes the change of use of a former electronics shop, Digilog, and former solicitors offices, to licenced premises. The application also proposes to connect the bar with existing bars at 1&2 James Street and 1 & 2 Courthouse Street, which most recently was Brewdog. The site sits beside the former Brewdog and Alibi, both owned by Mutual Enterprises. We could see another megapub on Washington Street.
Staying in that part of town, the Cork City Council road closures website, which is now a map, now says that a road closure is in place on Crosse’s Green until May 2025, to facilitate the construction of a bridge. More prep for the events centre?
Out + About
The Cork International Poetry Festival is underway until Saturday night, and many renowned Irish and international poets and writers made the trip to Leeside for readings and discussion. This evening, a reading and discussion will take place with André Naffis-Sahely, a British poet who focuses on themes of history, migration and exile. He is joined by Tom Sleigh, an American poet who has won the Paterson Poetry Prize and appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Threepenny and Poetry. Tomorrow evening, renowned American poet Fatimah Asghar, the author of If They Come For Us, who has featured in Time, NPR and Teen Vogue. They are joined by fellow American Sally Wen Mao for a reading and discussion at the CAT Club. Tickets and information for the festival is available here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Friday May 17 and Saturday May 18, Cork Arts Theatre, Carroll’s Quay, Cork.
Inchworm is the pseudonym of talented local songwriter Sam Cullen, who last year released his debut album, 4.48. He is joined in The Roundy on Sunday afternoon by Fergus Costello and Andy Wilson for a Fuzzy Pockets daytime gig. Expect an acoustic masterclass. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 3pm, Sunday May 19, The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork.
Ger Wolfe is a local folk musician, based in Macroom, who has been active for the past twenty years. He plays in L’Atitude 51, which was formerly his old stomping ground when it was The Lobby Bar, on Wednesday, with support from fiddler Edel Sullivan and composer Paul Frost. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Wednesday May 22, L’Atitude 51, 1 Union Quay, Cork.
Film of the Week: Henry Glassie: Fieldwork is a documentary film by Pat Collins about folklorist Henry Glassie, who has been doing in depth studies about communities and their art. The documentary immerses the viewer in the rituals and rhythms of working artists across Brazil, Turkey, North Carolina and Ireland that Glassie has studied. It screens at the Triskel on Tuesday, tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8:05pm, Tuesday May 21, Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street, Cork
Denilson Baniwa is a Brazilian artist from the northwest of the Amazon region of Brazil, and is a member of the Baniwa people. Currently based outside Rio de Janeiro, his exhibition Paje Jaguar, takes place at Sirius Arts Centre, and features two sets of works in which the artist embodies a Baniwa shaman called Pajé Jaguar. The exhibition comments on commercial agricultural practices in Brazil, which promote extensive deforestation, and protests the broad lack of Indigenous art in museums. More information here.
Time, date, place: Saturday May 18-Saturday September 7, Sirius Arts Centre, Westbourne Place, Cobh.
The first instalment of the City Council’s “Open Streets” kicks off this weekend with a dance fest on Corn Market Street below the yellow ball sculpture. The Open Streets Initiative kind of implies that the city’s streets are not always open, and for many streets that is the case: it’s cars all the way down. But, not this Sunday for “Around the World in 80 Dances”. Even if you don’t like dancing, you can enjoy a car-free street for the afternoon.
Time, date, place: 1pm-5pm, Sunday May 19, Corn Market Street, Cork City.
UCC planning school and the Irish Planning Institute are hosting a public talk this coming Monday with the ambitious title escaping from the housing cycle. Under current government plans we need to be building around 33k homes a year between 2021 and 2030. We’re way behind. Dr. Nicholas Mansergh is the keynote speakers and will be drawing from his recently published book ‘The Irish Construction Cycle 1970 – 2023: Policies and escape routes’. Responses to the lecture will be given by Mr. Michael O’Flynn CEO of the O’Flynn Group and a prominent commentator on construction and development in Ireland and by Professor Cathal O’Connell, who has a long track record of research and publication on housing and social policy. Free entry. More info here.
Time, date, place: 6pm - 7:30pm, Monday, May 20, Aula Maxima, UCC.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View.
Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via at tripeanddrisheen@substack.com. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch. Have a lovely weekend.
Benny already owns Mayne's, which is also a wine bar.