Location: Ballinamore

Margaret McNiff Locke – Melodeon Player

Image courtesy of Old Time Records Margaret McNiff appears in the 1901 census, living in Cornamucklagh North in Drumreilly – she was 15 at the time. Eleven years later, she would marry Michael Locke, also from Drumreilly, in Boston and they set up home in New Hampshire. Margaret was a […]

Tom Creamer – Ballad Singer

Article from “Leitrim’s Republican Story” – Cormac O’ Súilleabháin Tom Creamer – Lahard Fr. Dan Gallogly interviewed Tom Creamer of Lahard, Ballinamore when Tom was 84 years old and only days before Tom passed away. We are left with a lovely store of songs that paint a picture of Ballinamore […]

Mae Reynolds Malone – Ballad Singer

 The name “Mae Reynolds” appeared very often in local newspapers and publications, particularly during the 70s when she sang in establishments all over the country – usually with Cloone musician and singer, Paddy Kelly.    But if you go back to the 60s, she headlined at various events, billed as […]

Scór Liatroma

Competitions Scór competitions were established by the GAA in 1969 “to promote Ireland’s traditional pastimes and culture while offering club members the chance to meet up, have fun and represent their club during the winter months while Football and Hurling had ceased.” There are eight events in Scór that cover […]

Phil McGoohan – Poet and Ballad Writer

Born in June 1877 in Aghoo to James McGoohan and Margaret O’ Donnell, Phil McGoohan was a well-known writer of ballads and poetry who composed many songs that give us a little insight into life in the early 1900s that we don’t often get from more formal history books. One […]

Leitrim Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann – Fleadhanna Ceoil

Fleadh in Mohill – Pee Fitzpatrick on fiddle Picture courtesy of Val Fitzpatrick Mullingar – where it all began! It happened, that in January 1951, representatives of the Thomas Street (Dublin) Pipers’ Club went to Mullingar for a meeting with traditional music enthusiasts from County Westmeath, i.e. Cáit Uí Mhuimhneacháin, […]

Joe Mooney & the Joe Mooney Summer School

The name “Joe Mooney” is probably best associated today with the renowned traditional Irish music summer school that takes place in Drumshanbo each July, but the man behind the name was involved with many other organisations that furthered the cause of traditional arts in Leitrim at a time when the […]

Tomás Ó Máille – Irish Spoken in Leitrim

Ó Máille, Tomás (1880–1938), an Irish scholar and professor of Irish at University College Galway , was born 30 March 1880 in Muintir Eoin near Leenaun, Co. Galway. He was the first professor of Irish at University College Galway from 1909 until his death in 1938 Find out more  Ó […]

Leitrim GAA – Songs & Ballads

Come All Ye Gallant Sportsmen “Come raise three cheers for the Hugh O Neills That brave and gallant band. And double three for the captain bold Who holds them in command. Of all the Irish Gaelic boys Of stalwart limb and frame The Bornacoola slashing team Has earned the greatest […]

The Narrow Gauge

The Cavan & Leitrim Railway “The Cavan, Leitrim & Roscommon Light Railway & Tramway” opened in 1887, to serve the more remote parts of those three counties. Owing to the withdrawal of support for a “baronial guarantee” from the Roscommon Jury, “Roscommon” was dropped from the original title and the […]