Design by Fiona O Mahony-Conjun Box and Siobhan Bardsley
Released by Conjun Box Records
Vinyl version supported by Cork City Council

What’s The Story?
(Conal Creedon)

Just as the epic deeds of na Fianna are immortalised in the lyrical verses of Caílte mac Rónáin – the storyteller becomes the keeper of the flame and so the legend lives on.



Sean O’Callaghan, the Bard of the Northside, was one such storyteller. His lyrics shine out in a cultural stream of poets and troubadours that reaches all the way back into the mist of time. Like the sound track of my childhood – his ballads seemed to bounce off every street corner and hang in the air. But I do remember the moment I became aware of the genius of Sean O’Callaghan.



Back in 2005, I was making The Boys of Fairhill, a film documentary exploring sporting traditions of the Northside. It had been a magical summer, drag hunting with the Fairhill Harriers, or out for a score along the Blarney Road with bowlers, or just drinking tea in pigeon lofts savouring the philosophical insights of the fanciers.



Then one particular morning, I found myself sitting at John O’Shea’s kitchen table. John was in full-flight shuffling songs and stories; animated and engaging, his conversation was peppered with random verses from Sean O’Callaghan’s repertoire. In a crescendo of clarity, a most colourful tapestry of tightly-woven tales came together in one massive epic – and there, just like that, the lives of Connie Doyle, Timmy Delaney, Kathy Barry and so many others were conjured up in front of my eyes – crystalised and immortalised. Fuelled by the brilliance of O’Callaghan’s lyrics John O’Shea handed on the smouldering embers of our shared heritage and the story lived on.



Of course, O’Callaghan didn’t restrict himself to mythologising humans. Harrier Hounds have always been at the beating heart of Fairhill culture. In this particular song, O’Callaghan immortalises Ringwood, the greatest hound of them all. Such was Ringwood’s prowess on the drag, that as a mark of respect, the arch-rival Southern Hunt honoured the hound by addressing him with all due reverence as The Armoured Car.



In an oral tradition – the storyteller becomes as important as the stories they tell. Sean O’Callaghan lives on in the many interpretations of his songs by the great balladeers of our time: Jimmy Crowley, John O’Shea and Seán Ó Sé to name a few …



And so, to a new generation …

Big Boy Foolish [Liam Heffernan and Ricky Dineen] bring their own very personal interpretation to this living legacy. Legends in their own right, Heffernan and Dineen erupted onto the scene individually and fully formed in that intensely insane and high energy epicentre known here in Cork simply as – the Arc. A surge of creativity that emerged and found focus around the old Arcadia Ballroom under the nurturing guidance of Elvira Butler and Andy Foster.



It is said that life after death can be sustained for as long as the name of the deceased continues to be spoken by the living. And so I will whisper the names: Finbarr Donnelly, Mick Lynch, Pat Kelleher, Cathal Coughlan, Henry Condon, Andy Foster, Morgan the Bouncer – and so the legend lives on …