Milestone birthday celebration for Liam as Tinryland man hits the 'big nine-oh'

IT was an afternoon of great celebration and mighty craic on Tuesday 26 November, when Liam Delaney celebrated his 90th birthday at his home in Roncalli Place, Rathnapish, Carlow.

Liam is a proud son of Tinryland and the front room of the Delaney home was festooned in a blaze of blue and white balloons for the party in his honour – those being the colours of his beloved Tinryland Gaelic Football Club. There was a large gathering to mark this significant landmark in Liam’s life, with people coming and going all afternoon to wish him every good wish on his big day.

The Delaney family was joined by extended family members, neighbours, friends, together with former sporting and work colleagues of Liam, while ‘The Man Above’ was represented by Fr Tommy Dillon, CC, Askea-Bennekerry-Tinryland.

Fr Tom Little, PP, had called earlier in the day to the Delaney home to offer his congratulations to Liam.

Liam worked for 38 years as a technician in Carlow with the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, now Bord Telecom Éireann.

He married Margaret Moore from Graiguecullen on 16 October 1958 in St Clare’s Church, Graiguecullen and they went on to have a family of six: four girls and two boys.

Liam’s brother Joseph (Joe) Delaney came to the party from Drogheda, where he has lived since 1965. Another Delaney brother Michael (Mick) arrived from Kilkenny, where he lives after a lifetime of service to An Garda Síochána in the Marble City, where he was a hugely popular figure within the local community. Clem, the youngest of the Delaney brothers and former long-serving typesetter with The Nationalist, was also present for ‘big brother’s’ party.

After handshakes all around as people arrived, the gathering was treated to some lovely food served by members of the Delaney family And there was, of course, the special birthday cake, a highlight of any such family celebration.

Liam Delaney was, man and boy, deeply devoted to his native Tinryland. He wore the blue and white with distinction during the 1950s and also made his way on to the county senior football team. Centre-forward or midfield were his regular slots and he was a formidable opponent, well able to fight his own corner.

Liam thinks he was aged about 21 when he played for Carlow against mighty Kerry in Cahersiveen during the mid-1950s and, to his memory, the Scallion Eaters drew with The Kingdom on that occasion.

Liam was also part of the Carlow team of 1958 which made the Leinster SFC semi-final against Dublin in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise. Carlow put up a plucky performance against the Dubs that day and there was no disgrace in defeat – Dublin went on to win the All-Ireland of that year, fielding legends of the game such as Kevin Heffernan, Des Foley, Cathal O’Leary, Carlow-born Johnny Boyle and Paddy Farnan, who worked in Carlow for Allied Irish Finance.

While a Carlow senior football championship eluded Liam in his playing days, he is the proud holder of a county senior football league medal won in 1961, when the wearers of the blue and white hoops defeated great rivals Éire Óg by 4-4 to 2-6 in the final. 

The celebrating nonagenarian was no slouch on the tennis court either, Liam being part of a tradition of tennis in the Delaney family. Liam’s sister Tess McLoughlin was an outstanding tennis player, and Clem was also a talented tennis player.

Paddy Delaney from Tinryland, a nephew of Liam’s, arrived to the Roncalli Place party with his guitar and proceeded to entertain with a grand selection of songs throughout the afternoon, many of them oldies, with his audience joining in the choruses.

Paddy and Liam combined for a mouth organ duet to set the music session going.

Then there was the presence of that proud Carlovian, troubadour and Rambling House host Bernard Jennings. There was particular appreciation for Bernard’s rendering of The Carlow song, written by travel writer Brendan Harding, a native of Tullow Street, now residing in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania.

Bernard belted out a number of songs, finishing up with the oldie The big rock candy mountain.

A fine singer, Paddy sang and strummed to a medley of songs, including The Wild Rover, Red is the rose, The green fields of France, The Boston burglar and The boys from the County Armagh and others too numerous to mention. He, too, is a former Tinryland and Carlow senior county footballer, playing generally at left forward and possessed of an educated left foot.

Mary Griffin, Liam’s daughter, another excellent singer, kept the melodies going with two favourites – My Irish Molly and You are my sunshine.

And not to be outdone, Fr Tommy proved he has a fine singing voice when he rattled off The Cobbler, made famous by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

The Delaney family pet dog, a Shih Tzu named Bubbles, muscled in on the party, making her way onto her master’s lap, thus providing a lovely photo of the occasion for posterity.

As the music ‘scaled’ down and the guests made their exit into the night air, it was only left to Liam to open up his many presents and see what gifts had fallen his way on his special day.

So roll on 26 November 2034, when hopefully there will be an even bigger party to celebrate at the Delaneys’ Roncalli Place home!