Various of the posters along the bottom of this Ardoyne Fleadh Cheoıl (tw | Fb) mural have themselves been murals: Cú Chulaınn on the 1999 poster to the left was painted in Ardoyne Avenue the same year; Fleadh Érıu on the 1995 poster, under the go-kart’s left wheel) was painted on this wall in 1994; the Ardoyne Fleadh Cheoıl emblem (on the go-karter’s t-shirt) was used in Maıreann An Spıorad.
Kickhams is the local Cumann Luthchleas Gael (GAA club) (Fb | tw), founded 1907, named for republican writer Charles Kickham. The mural shows a football, hurleys and sliotar, and a handball.
“Mol an óıge agus tıocfaıdh sÍ”. [Praise youth and it will flourish/Youth responds to praise] Above is the Joe Cahill mural in Beechview Park, next to the GAA pitch. The mural was unveiled on September 2nd, 2013. (Images of the unveiling from An Phoblacht.) Joe Cahill (WP) holds the cup aloft. The group in the bottom left corner (see the second image, below) are Pat O’Hare, Frank Cahill, Tom Cahill, (the three Cahills were featured in the previous mural) Ned Maguire, Jr., Ned Maguire, Sr., Alec Crowe, Paddy Meenan, Tommy Crowe, Dal Delaney, and Hugh Elliot. In the crook of Cahill’s arm are Rita McParland, Sean Wallace, Paddy Corrigan, John Pettigrew, and John Stone. None of these adults is still alive; all were from the local area.
The chalet bungalows in the background on the left are gone, but you can see images of them on the Belfast Forum.
The plaque on the left names others in addition: Billy Kelly, Alice Cush, Kate Campbell, John Mulligan, Mary Mulligan, David Mulhern, Margaret Mulhern, John Clarke, Margaret Farrelly, Marie Williams, Kevin Sullivan, Michael Rock, John McColgan, Bridget Maguire, Martin Maguire, Sally Corrigan, Sonny O’Reilly, Maggie McArdle, Jimmy McArdle, Kathleen Wallace, Maragret McGuinness, John Flanagan, Maisie McGuckian, Charlie McGuckian, Anthony Muldoon, Jim Logue, Ellen Weir, Liam Mackie, Oliver McParland, Sadie McMahon, Tommy Crowe, Maddie Holden, Sarah Doyle, Jimmy Doyle, Kathleen Pettigrew, Mary Cushnihan, Bell Cosgrove, Gerry Campbell.
This is and old (2009) repaint of the mural in the Markets to IRA volunteers: They are: Tony Nolan, Joseph Downey, Frank Fitzsimons, Joey Surgenor, Paul Marlowe, Jim Templeton, and Brendan Davison.
“Ardoyne-Bone boxers have punched well above their weight. As professional we have won … British, Commonwealth, European & W.B.U. titles. As amateurs we have won 3 Olympic bronze, European Gold, Commonwealth Gold, World Junior silver, 17 Irish senior titles & an A.B.A senior title. Nor forgetting all our boxing coaches, who put in their time and effort for all our young boxers. Truly amazing for such a small area.” The wide shot below shows the whole of this new Ardoyne/Ard Eoın mural celebrating local boxers; the boxers named are Darren Corbett (WP), John Kelly (FightsRec), Paddy Barnes (WP), Harry McAuley (BoxRec), Anthony Maguire, Hugh Gilhooley (BoxRec), Eamonn McAuley (BoxRec), Freddie Gilroy (WP), Terry Magee (WP), Sean Brown, Noel Magee (WP), Barney Burns, Pat Kelly, Eamonn Magee (WP).
This image shows the replacement set of painted boards; for the originals see A Small Area.
This board to Seán Mac Dıarmada in Ardoyne details his exploits leading up to and including the 1916 uprising and his earlier connection with the local area.
Painted by Rısteard ÓMurchú.
Previously: Mac Dıarmada also appears in the Bone Staır Na Gaeılge mural.
The emblems in the corners read “Na Fıanna Éıreann Leanúnachas” or “The Continuity Fıanna”. The Irish National Boy Scouts or “junior IRA” were founded in 1909 by Bulmer Hobson and Countess Markievicz, who is at the centre of the photograph above. The Fıanna followed the Provisionals in 1969 and Republican Sınn Féın (and the Continuity IRA) in 1986 (Fianna History blog | Irish Examiner), while Provisional Fianna became Ógra Shınn Féın and then Sınn Féın Republican Youth (An Sionnach Fionn).
The tarp commemorates four teenaged members of Na Fıanna Éıreann who died in 1972 – Davy McAuley, Josh Campbell, Josie McComiskey and Bernard Fox – all four from Ardoyne/Ard Eoın. “Purity in our hearts, Strength in our arms, Truth in our lips.”
The painted emblem is on the other side of the Berwick Road.
Pearse Jordan was unarmed when he was killed by the RUC on November 25th, 1992 but in this new Éıre Nua Flute Band board he leaves his prints on an assault rifle. (previous Éıre Nua board) His killing was ruled unlawful, and subsequent inquest insufficient, by the European Court Of Human Rights in 2001. The campaign for an inquest continues (An Phoblacht).
The words on the board – “Slan [sic] go foıll [sic] moh [sic] chara, just for a while/We’ll not have your craic, your jokes, or your smiles/But in years to come, your memory’s still true/A brave son of Ireland, we will not forget you” – are the chorus of The Ballad Of Pearse Jordan (words | sung by The Irish Brigade).
The board is in Hugo Street, which is also the site of his memorial plaque, just above the Evolution Of Our Revolution.
Thomas Ashe was working as an Irish teacher in Dublin when he joined the Irish Volunteers and in 1916 served as a battalion commander in the Easter Rising, for which he was sentenced to penal servitude for life. He went on hunger strike in May 1917 and again in September when he was rearrested by the British authorities for a “seditious” speech. He died on September 25th, one hundred years ago, becoming “an chéad staılceoır ocraıs a maraíodh san 20ú haoıs” (“first hunger striker to die in the 20th century”).
In the five circles around his portrait are Countess Markievicz, Pádraig Pearse, and James Connolly – fellow fighters in the Rising – and (in the bottom left) Máırtín Ó Cadhaın (author of Cré na Cılle and IRA member interned during WWII), and the symbol of Laochra Loch Lao and more generally of An Ceathrú Gaeltachta/Gaeltacht Quarter (see previously The Big Plan and Onwards). In the middle is a march from An Dream Dearg in support of Acht Na Gaeılge (an Irish language Act) past the Bobby Sands mural on Sevastopol Street.