Stories about the prince of storytellers

Thu, Oct 02, 2025

As next Monday is the anniversary of Pádraic Ó Conaire’s death we thought to relate some stories about him.

When Salthill was a village

Thu, Sep 25, 2025

This photograph of Salthill was taken about 75 years ago by Norman Ashe, a Dublin photographer who specialised in aerial photography. Most aerial images of the area were taken from the sea side but he chose the other direction.

St Mary’s: the class of ‘65

Thu, Sep 18, 2025

It was about this time of year, September 1910 that construction work started on the new diocesan college, St Mary’s. Our photograph shows the blessing of the school on August 26 1912, Monsignor Fahey preaching. The first students entered two days later. There were 17 day boys paying £6 per annum and 60 boarders who paid £30 per annum.

St Anthony’s and Claddagh Credit Union

Thu, Sep 11, 2025

Benny Byrne and Stephen Deveney often met in Cooke’s Bar for a pint and they invariably ended up wondering about the possibility of starting up a credit union in the Shantalla area. They were greatly encouraged by Nora Herlihy, a Cork lady who had done a great deal to spread the credit union idea. So they wrote a letter to the Galway Observer inviting interest in their idea. They got one reply, from Jack Phelan in Ashe Road. They eventually organised a meeting for the formation of a study group in Benny’s house at 20 Shantalla Place on September 26, 1963.

My happiest day in Croke Park

Thu, Sep 04, 2025

I was privileged several times to have been in Croke Park when Galway won All-Irelands but none of them compared to September 7, 1980 when we won our first hurling title in 57 years. All of those years of frustration, of being gallant losers, noble in defeat, worthy opposition, of being classed as also-rans, chokers, of being told we had some of the finest hurlers never to win an All-Ireland, were all forgotten in that never-to-be-forgotten moment when the final whistle went. All of the hard luck stories, the near misses, the controversial defeats, the emptiness, all vanished with the sweet music of that whistle. We had to look at the scoreboard to make sure it was true. Galway 2-15, Limerick 3-9. The tears. The huge outburst of emotion and frenzied celebration was beautifully captured in Stan Shields’ photograph, our first image today.

Silkes of William Street West

Thu, Aug 28, 2025

At the beginning of the last century, William Joseph Silke came to Galway from Kilconnell. He had occasion to visit the shop owned by Mrs Teresa Mannix on the corner of Upper Dominick Street and Pump Lane. She was a Macaulay from Scotland and was the widow of a Mr Mannix from Galway. They fell in love and eventually married and together, they had four children, Willy Joe, Michael John, Tess and Annie May.

Going back to school

Thu, Aug 21, 2025

This is the time of year when parents are preparing to get their children ready for going back to school, when the kids are feeling sorry for themselves, and their days of carefree freedom in the sunshine are coming to an end.

The KLM disaster

Thu, Aug 14, 2025

On this day, the 14th of August in 1958, the Dutch KLM Super-constellation airliner named Hugo de Groot crashed into the sea about 100 miles off the Conamara coast with the loss of 99 lives. The flight was on its way to New York from Amsterdam via Shannon with 91 passengers and eight crew on board. Nobody survived the tragedy. It was the worst disaster involving a single plane in the history of aviation up to that point.

Nimmo’s Pier and 'The Swamp’

Thu, Aug 07, 2025

In 1822, the harbour of Galway was very defective with only one small dock, now known as ‘the mud dock’, and two small jetties on the Claddagh shore. The outflow of the river was too great to allow sailing boats to enter safely at low tide. They had to wait outside on the roads for high tide, and even then, the entry could be tricky when the wind was strong. The merchants of Galway petitioned the Lord Lieutenant in 1820 to make improvements and he forwarded their request to Nimmo.

The Galway Races

Thu, Jul 31, 2025

Records of organised race meetings in County Galway go back to the mid-13th century when what were known as ‘horse matches’ were run under the King’s Plate Articles. In 1764, there was a five-day race meeting at Knockbarron near Loughrea. The first race day at Ballybrit was on August 17th, 1869 when contemporary records show that some 40,000 people turned up to watch the sport. The racecourse, measuring one and a half miles, was laid out by a civil engineer, a Mr. T. Waters and was described as “Covered with herbage or moss and excelling any course in Ireland for good going”.

One hundred years of golf at Blackrock/Pollnarooma

Thu, Jul 24, 2025

In December 1923, the committee of Galway Golf club, then based at Barna, decided to explore the idea of acquiring the late Col O’Hara’s estate at Blackrock and on April 24, 1924, they bought the West Lodge and the land at Pollnarooma for £4,750 plus £237 auctioneer’s fees. Messrs Tighe, Kennedy, Lenihan and Quinlan were appointed to oversee the laying out of the new course and the renovation of West Lodge which had been Col O’Hara’s house.

Galway Golf Club, the Barna course

Thu, Jul 17, 2025

On May 9, 1905, there was a meeting held in the Royal Hotel of golfers that had been banned from membership of the Gentian Hill club by the landlord there, Sebastian Nolan. They decided to form a new club under the presidency of the Hon Robert Dillon. It was reported that on that day a committee had accompanied Larkin, the Bray professional, over a promising new course on Mr Marcus Lynch’s property at Barna and were happy about the suitability of the ground for a nine-hole links.

The first Galway golf courses

Thu, Jul 10, 2025

The first golf course in Galway was constructed by Lieutenant Colonel Jourdain, the last Colonel of the Connaught Rangers, on military grounds at Renmore Barracks, between the rifle range and Cromwell’s Fort, in 1893. Play was originally confined to military personnel, but then some members of the public were invited and it took off so well that the colonel and his friends were invited to lay out a course on Knocknacarra Hill.

Celebrating 50 years Of Druid

Thu, Jul 03, 2025

On this day, 50 years ago, Druid Theatre Company opened their first production, ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ in the Jesuit Hall on Sea Road. The following evening they staged “It’s a two foot six inches above the Ground World” and on the third night it was “The Loves of Cass Maguire”. It was an ambitious beginning.

Celebrating 50 years of Druid

Wed, Jul 02, 2025

On this day, 50 years ago, Druid Theatre Company opened their first production, ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ in the Jesuit Hall on Sea Road. The following evening they staged “It’s a two foot six inches above the Ground World” and on the third night it was “The Loves of Cass Maguire”. It was an ambitious beginning.

Spires House and Fort Eyre, Shantalla

Thu, Jun 26, 2025

On this day, June 26, one hundred years ago, the Sisters of Jesus and Mary bought Spires House in Shantalla. Three of the sisters in the order had come to UCG the previous year to study for a degree and while they were in Galway, Mother Stanislaus looked for a suitable premises for a house of studies for them and finally purchased this premises. The house dates from the 1840s and got its name from the two unusual spires you can see on the roof. The building was used by the sisters as a hostel for secular students as well as their own nuns and these nuns became known locally as ‘The Spires Nuns’.

The Lazy Wall

Thu, Jun 19, 2025

The Lazy Wall was a feature of life in old Salthill. It was situated opposite the Grand Hotel and beside the old RIC barracks. It would be roughly where the west-bound lane opposite where the BonBon is today. It consisted of a long concrete seat, boarded on top, backed by a stone wall. It was not very comfortable but it attracted lots of people, mostly tourists, most of whom were country people.

The fishermen of the Claddagh, 1853

Thu, Jun 12, 2025

An important ethnological study of the fishermen of the Claddagh appeared in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology in 1853, written by someone who signed themselves J McE. In it, the author describes the people of the area as being purely Irish, of the most ancient Celtic type. There is no Spanish influence to be seen in their features.

The oldest pub golfing society in Ireland

Thu, Jun 05, 2025

In 1965, the Galway Arms Golf Society was formed in the pub of that name on Dominick Street with the blessing of the owners, Jimmy and Nancy Coen. The idea of forming a society was Tommy Donnelly’s who, for his troubles, became its first secretary. Jimmy Coen was elected the first president, Finbarr O’Mahony as treasurer and Paddy Noonan as club captain.

Pat O’Shea

Thu, May 29, 2025

Catherine Patricia Shiels O’Shea was born on January 22, 1931, the youngest of five children, known locally as Patty Shiels. Her father Patrick was a carpenter who built one of the first radios in Galway, her mother Bridget a homemaker. They lived in Bohermore. Her mother died when she was very young, leaving her elder sister Teresa to care for the siblings and their elderly father. Pat went to national school in the Presentation Convent and to secondary in the Mercy Convent.

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