St Malachy’s (tw | Fb) is a junior (i.e. 2nd division/B-tier) GAA club established 1936 in the Markets area of south Belfast. It is not known who the six portraits are of (there were originally only the four at the corners – see M08137) or who the four players are. Get in touch if you have any information.
With sponsorship from Pulse, Belfast City Council, New Belfast Community Arts Initiative, the Housing Executive, and ?Brighten Belfast?
A young girl wearing an adult’s pushes a pram in the first of a dozen panels from the new ‘Fáılte go dtí Ard Eoın’ mural in Ardyone Avenue. The image is perhaps based on the (unattributed) photo, shown below the images of the mural.
2-3: The woman on the right is a spinner – her job is to ensure that the fibres of threads being wound together to make a strong thread do not break. The occupation of the man on the right is unknown. Please comment or send an e-mail if you recognize his occupation.
5-6: Two panels featuring boxers, possibly Freddie Gilroy and Eamonn Magee — leave a comment or e-mail if you can identify either.
8: Holy Cross church on the Crumlin Road.
9: A British soldier patrols the streets while a girl walks home from school and a boy plays hurley. This is one of the panels in the long mural at the shops on Ardoyne Avenue.
10-11: Two go-karters appear to be brandishing bottles as they ride while, to their left, two (rather stylish?) youths appear to be banging bin-lids.
“Is fearr Gaeılge brıste ná Bearla [Béarla] clıste” means “Broken Irish is better than clever English”.
Paddy Barnes fights India’s Devendro Singh Laishram in the light flyweight gold-medal bout at the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow. Barnes won gold, successfully defending his title and adding to his collection, shown in the second image (below) and listed at the bottom of the mural (third image, below). Barnes sparked controversy when he remarked, as the Londonderry Air/Danny Boy was played as the Northern Irish “anthem”, “That’s not my national anthem.”. The mural is in Barnes’s home area of Ardoyne/Ard Eoın and was painted by Lucas Quigley and Mickey Doherty.
Cliftonville FC are 2013-2014 NI Premiership and League Cup champions thanks in part to player of the year Joe Gormley who scored 37 goals during the season – a club record. He is shown here breaking an LP record.
“Weavers To Winners” – Linfield Football And Athletic Club was founded in 1886 by workers at the Ulster Spinning Company’s Linfield mill and they became Irish League champions in the 1890-1891 season. The names of the players in the photograph are given in the shot of the information plaque, below. The work was designed by Ross Wilson.
This new Albert Street mural in the lower Falls celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Frank Gillen Centre and the 70th anniversary of Immaculata Football Club. The figure on the right is current Cliftonville player Liam Boyce who grew up in the area and played for Immaculata as a youth. The team’s logo appears to the right of Boyce’s outstretched hand. (If you know the local player on the left, please leave a comment or send an e-mail.)
The piece was painted by Mickey Doherty and Lucas Quigley. Detail of the players in the lower right below.
Martin O’Neill takes Neil Lennon home after his haircut at Hoops Barbers on the Falls Road. Both are from Northern Ireland – Lennon is originally from Lurgan, O’Neill from Kilrea. O’Neill was manager of Glasgow Celtic when Lennon was a player. O’Neill now manages the Republic of Ireland squad and Lennon is now (since 2010) manager of Celtic.
CLG Mac Daıbhéıd/Davitt’s GAA club is named for Mícheál Mac Daıbhéad/Michael Davitt, famous for leading the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Land League. Mac Daıbhéad himself had his right arm amputated at age eleven after it got caught in the cogs of a spinning machine. The murals shown today are in the grounds of the social club on Clonard Street and celebrate the centenary of the club, 1912-2012.
“Our youth, out culture, our community, our future”. Above is a new Ross Road mural celebrating gaelic games (football, hurling, and handball) and in particular Michael Davitt’s (green, white, and gold strip) and Sean MacDermott’s (yellow with green stripe) GAA/CLG clubs. The banner on the low wall is bookended by images of St. Peter’s cathedral and the fountain in Dunville Park, which are detailed below.
Jon “Ugg” Clifford died in 2011, having founded Tristar Boys FC (web) in 1974. Bull Park in Creggan has been renamed in his honour and this new board mounted above the park.
Extramural Activity 