'No matter where I am, I’ll always be a proud Killeigh man'

As part of its efforts to highlight the need for a new community centre on the site of the old Macra Hall in Killeigh, the development committee has been putting together profiles of local people from the village and beyond. John Purcell is the latest person to be featured:

"I was born in Killeigh in 1951. My mother, Mary Kelly was from Derrybeg, while my father, Pat Purcell, was from Ballinvalley. Unfortunately, my Father died in 1965, when I was 13. I have two brothers, Paddy, who lives in London, and Ben, who is still in Killeigh.

As youngsters, we spent a lot of time in Derrybeg, which was my grandfather's place. My grandfather died around 1955 but my Uncle Mattie lived there and we used to go down and help him out as at that time he worked in the Bacon Factory in Tullamore. He had a small bit of ground and a fairly good-sized bog, so summer was busy with the cutting of the turf and all that goes with it.

Electricity didn't come to Killeigh until sometime in the 50s, so the big thing growing up was the sports. We had the carnival, in what we called Matt Brien's field at the time; I see houses built there now. All the great bands that use to play there!

The carnival was started to collect a few bob to build a hall in Killeigh and then once the hall was built the carnival moved up there. The Annual Sports Day was a great day, held on the Green.

Our main effort was hurling. At that time, to win a championship with Killeigh, you really appreciated it because you only got one match, no leagues or anything.

Growing up, I go back to my brother Paddy again; he'd buy the papers and make scrap books - cutting out articles and putting them into copybooks. Even when money was tight back in the 1960s he’d still manage to buy the Sports Weekly, which he would read from front to back. Paddy had a great interest in that and I picked it up from him.

Ben didn't have much interest in hurling but picked up the art of thatching from the old people like Jimmy Carroll, Jack Dunne and Paddy Kelly.

School days were good memories of course; the hurling played a big role as we always had decent school teams. If one wanted to play football, we went over to the other side of the parish to Geashill. There was no split back then, only hurling with Killeigh and football with St Mary's. If you were good enough you got on the team and if you weren't, so be it, but there was no leagues back then, only knockout.

My fondest memory was hurling on the Green, it was always like an All-Ireland Final and when you were 9 or 10 years old, you pucked the ball into the big lads. Some might have come out of the Mission and when Mass would be over, they’d all go to the Green, where there was one hurling ball that couldn't be lost.

Our job was at the end of the ball alley side, pucking the ball back up. At times, there could be 25 or more men waiting for this ball to drop. There was no better place to practise the bit of hurling than in the ball alley; the Sheerans as well as ourselves; the Coltons; the Wrights; and, the Foys.

Sunday morning and Sunday afternoons were always busy. Joe Plunkett was a great man for the handball and also for underage hurling. I recall Joe having a mini car and he'd load up about 10 players in it before travelling to wherever the match was.

Leading on to how I got involved in the pub trade, I went to school in Killeigh and then headed to the Tech in Tullamore, where I spent three years. We had a great hurling team, and I was lucky to get on it. We reached the All Ireland school finals in 1967 in Croke Park and were beaten by a Tipperay team by a few points.

Killeigh at that time was strong at underage, great players around you; they were steady and you could depend on them. I went on to work putting up aerials with Dinny Mooney, which was an education in itself!

From there I got a job in the Golf Club in Tullamore. The Golf Club at that time was run by Peter Graham and his wife Chis and they had one daughter June. They were very good at what they did; running the business and Peter in particular running the bar, as he was trained in the Army. It was a great grounding for me and I spent two years there and then I went on to work in various pubs in Galway and Dublin for DE Williams.

In 1970, I went to Dalkey for nearly four years with the Kirwan Group, which had five pubs at the time. As people know, I got fond of the drink at that time, and I don't mind saying it, I can't butter over it.

I worked in a lot of pubs in my day; I spent 13 years in Dublin and I wasn't sorry that I did move around. When I look back, I'm 37 years in Mountrath now and in the pub trade much longer. I have met many people over the years and they’re still my friends today. I didn’t have a boring life, in the pub trade you could see anything and meet many characters.

I had a pub just up from where I am now in Mountrath. People often ask me how I ended up here, and I always say, I was walking home from Killeigh one night and I looked up towards the mountain and saw a light and I said to myself, I'm going to go and see what’s over there. Now whether the Mountrath people were lucky that I did or I didn't is another thing but here we are, 37 years later, and I'm still here!

Between 1983 and 1986, I worked in various pubs around Stradbally and Mountrath and I must mention my great friends, John Maloney and Paddy Kennedy. I worked for them back then, covering various bars around festivals and the likes; they paid me well but the only condition was they wouldn't pay me until the end of the job.

We bought this pub where we are now in 1987, and I'm here ever since, through thick and thin. At that time, the post office was next door to us, which is no longer there now. The town was busy because it was market town and had a lot of shops and as the years went on, it didn't affect us too much as we streamlined the business.

We stopped opening though the day, only in the evenings, and all the GAA clubs around supported us. I played hurling for some time with Mountrath and I won an Intermediate title as sub goalie. I even won a Junior B final at the age of 45; sure, if nothing else, it kept me off the drink. As someone once said; when I could hurl, I was drinking; and when I wanted to hurl, I was too old.

In 1985, I went back to play a Junior B final with Killeigh against Daingean in Ballinamere and the great Mick O'Rourke was over the team and they were stuck for a goalie so I stepped in. We lost by a few points but it was great craic and little did I know that I'd continue to play for another 10 years with Mountrath. The older I got, the more enjoyment I got out of it watching the younger lads develop.

I would always maintain that you encourage your players around you, no point giving out to them. Mick O'Rourke was a great clubman, a great representative to have on the Offaly team. He would never lay down and if a fella passed him, he certainly didn't pass him the second time. He gave great service to Killeigh. To get on an Offaly team at that time was a massive achievement.

In my opinion, I think Mick was a better hurler than football and I must mention his brother Billy who won a county medal in Carlow. The O’Mearas, Deerings, Mahons, Berrys, to name just a few, were also great men. It was a parish team, end of story and I would love to see it go back that away again.

The bar trade was good to me, I married Chris back in 1986 and have three children; Michelle, the eldest, lives locally with her husband, Ray. Bill and Rebecca are twins; Bill lives in Canada and Rebecca is married to Francy down in Carlow and we have one grandchild called Owen. Chris went back to college and studied to be psychiatric nurse and herself and Bill graduated the same day, mother and son graduating together on a very proud day.

Finally, with regards the development of the hall, I certainly would love to see a community centre back in Killeigh. Just the other day, I was down in Kilkenny at a funeral and I went to their community centre after. The ladies down there were serving the food and, before I left, I went up to thank them for their kindness. I would hope that in the not too distant future, we could have that in Killeigh.

To be honest, growing up I lived life and "I never took off the handbrake" but no matter where I went, I was and still am, a very proud Killeigh man."