Youghal

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Eugene Reavey Delivers Powerful Talk at Youghal GAA

The public talk with Eugene Reavey, held at the Youghal GAA Centre on Wednesday evening, February 25th, 2026, proved to be a very interesting and informative event. Eugene spoke with great honesty and insight in conversation with GAA historian and Evening Echo reporter John Arnold, reflecting on the tragic deaths of his three brothers in January 1976 and his decades-long quest for truth and justice.

Following the talk, Eugene was delighted to meet attendees, sign copies of his book, and pose for photographs. Images from the evening were captured by professional photographer Ed Guiry.
Eugene’s visit was kindly sponsored by Youghal Credit Union, The Old Imperial Hotel, and J.J. Flavin QFA of Collins Naughton Financial Services Ltd, trading as Ballincollig Mortgage Centre.
For free consultations or quotes, contact jay@cnfs.ie or call 087 812 8236.

Source J.J. Flavin | Photography by Ed Guiry ... See MoreSee Less

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The Humble Bicycle. By Mike Hackett

Going back to the days before electric bikes and cycle lanes — we pay homage to the simple pedal bike that brought us to destinations a lot quicker and easier than walking.

When there wasn't a car in every house — in fact when there wasn't a car owner in a row of houses — then a bicycle was better than walking. People with a bicycle were lucky — they could cycle to work while their comrades walked the roads and streets. There was no cost with a good machine — only a puncture sometimes or a broken chain link that could be repaired cheaply. In those bygone days it was compulsory to have a bell on your bike and a light after dark. That encouraged the saying — "Where are you going without a bell on your bike?"

In the 1950s, you had two factories in Youghal — Seafield Fabrics and Blackwater Cottons — built by Willie Dwyer of Cork to help the town. Over four hundred were employed there and most were from the far side of the two-mile-long town. Bicycles were the main means of getting to work there. If you were walking out the Lighthouse Hill after 5:30 pm, you would want to keep in by the wall as a shower of cyclists (all across the wide road) would come roaring down on their way home from work at the factories.

Another memory comes to mind of a bill poster named Johnny Walsh who had a tricycle machine with a big box made between the two front wheels. He would carry his bills, paste and brushes in it as he cycled around town. He even carried furniture in it when people were moving house. He later got a motorised version like a three-wheel motorbike. John Hannon's bakery had another tricycle with trays inserted in front to deliver the cream buns to local shops. And not to forget the local Post Office when a very large wicker-work basket tricycle was used by the postmen to deliver parcels around town.

A funny incident concerning the P.O. version happened when postman Jim Cooney (Cork Hill) was cycling the trike around Watson's corner at Green's Quay. He was going too fast — it jack-knifed and threw him off onto the road. He was a nice man — laughed it off and walked away unhurt.

In 1957 — when I was thirteen years old — I was too young to play on the under 14 hurling team. The team had a match in Midleton one Sunday and I wanted to be there. My Dad had bought a girl's bike for £15 from his cousin Mary O'Sullivan who was emigrating to Australia. "Up on your bike" I got and cycled the twenty miles to Midleton, but then about a mile out from the town I got a puncture. Walking to the nearest garage — hoping to buy solution and a patch — I encountered a kind man (John Foley) who mended the puncture for me and would take no fee. The whole process took an hour and there was no hurling match for me that day — but it was a learning experience about how kind people can be. The twenty more miles to cycle home completed the lesson.

That was a year before I became a telegram boy (at 14 until 17) to spend three years cycling a big old black post-office bike around the town and countryside delivering all kinds of urgent messages. During those tourist seasons it meant cycling as much as forty miles a day — six days a week. As I was just the messenger, I was never told what those green envelopes contained. It could be that somebody had died in England, or a person due to arrive by train, or that the addressee had drawn a horse in the Irish Sweepstakes draw which was popular at the time.

The topic of cycling brings back the story about the Mill Road Cycling Club — formed in 1938. It had twelve members who paid three pence a week into a fund. However, before the arrival of the following week, some members would request a 'loan' from the fund to tide them over. It was an early version of the Credit Union. But the most amusing part was that not one of the twelve owned a bike. The neighbours’ bikes were borrowed whenever an outing took place to Ardmore or Mount Mellerary.

One Sunday the trip was to Mount Mellerary and the guys had heard about the generosity of the monks and how they always fed any traveller. So they went into the dining room to sit around the huge table. Firstly a monk brought out large jugs of milk before going back to the kitchen for plates of bread. When he appeared with the bread — the milk was all gone; and when he returned with more — the bread was gone. The poor monk couldn't keep up with the hungry cyclists. A member of the club told me later that on the table was a donation box — but he saw no penny going into it.

Another cycling club was formed in town twenty years after that one. It was named St. Christopher's Cycling Club and was great for young people working indoors in shops and factories. Trips on Sundays were made to Killeagh Woods, Ballycotton Pier and in the other direction to Glendine Chapel in the valley. More modern bikes had come around then with three-speed gears and fancy colours. Makes like Raleigh, Humber and Hercules were available. Members of the club that come to mind are: Frankie and Sally Lynch, Gerry and Noreen Kelly, Kevin Hennessy, David (Fudgel) O'Brien, Betty and Gertie Carroll, Michael and Bosco Kenefick, Brian (Josh) Owen, Tim Kelly, Eamon Goggin and Mikie Roche.

We move on to 1998 — when the famous Tour De France came through Youghal. The local tourist office brought Macnas Theatrical Company from Galway to entertain the thousands of onlookers on the street while they awaited the arrival of the race. It brought great attention to the area with roads resurfaced and potholes filled in. In the process, big steel cats-eyes were installed in the middle of the road at the Stone Bridge corner. But when a bicycle wheel would hit them — the machine would shudder. Any ordinary Joe Soap could foresee that they would mean trouble and mean shuddering for narrow racing-bike wheels to negotiate.

How true it turned out to be. As the race leaders rounded the Stone Bridge corner — the leading bunch spotted the large steel cats-eyes and started to separate into two columns to avoid them. The result pushed the outside riders to the edges and one famous cyclist crashed into the wall. Sadly that finished his participation in the race.

Before finishing this story let me pay tribute to a dear old man — Jack Shorten — who lived in the Protestant Asylum on Church Lane (now remade for retired pensioners and known as Shalome House). When he retired from his pony and cart business of bringing coke from the Gas Works to homes around town — he started a bicycle repair shop at 6 North Main Street. Whenever I got a puncture in or near town — Jack would fix it for me and never wanted any payment. You would have a job to press a shilling into his hand. He was a brother-in-law to Bill French — the sacristan at the nearby Collegiate Church. Good deeds like his deserve to have him listed in local history.

Agus sin an mead anois — (That is all for now). Buíochas mór daoibh mar gheall an scéal fada seo — (Big thanks to you for staying with me for this long piece).

Mike Hackett — February 2026

Photos —

Mill Road Cycling Club

Macnas Theatrical Company of Galway with a mock elephant passing Brown Street

The Macnas Parade on North Main Street before the arrival of the Tour de France

Tour notice at Mill Road — July 1998

The Tour de France racing on the Youghal bridge

Bicycle mechanics at work — Mike, Gavin and Suzanne Hackett

No more pedal cycling for Pat Coughlan as he graduated to a motor bike

The result of hitting a pot-hole and being thrown off the bike onto the road ... See MoreSee Less

A Country Welcome for Townies
By Michael Hackett

A kind woman lived about a mile outside Youghal in the 1940s and she loved to entertain her friends from town when they walked out on Sunday afternoons.

That was the time for townies to seek fresh air in the open countryside - away from the smog of the coal-fire chimneys. Her name was Minnie Hackett (Mrs. Ansbro) and she was my aunt.

Minnie lived with her father, husband and four children in a house at Knockatigan near “The Bush” - on the Quarry Road.

She never seemed to mind how many came to visit her and there was a welcome and a seat for all. It was real Old-Ireland style.

There was one thing missing from the house - and that was running water. It had to be drawn in buckets from a stream about fifty yards away and it was pure and cold. It came from a spring up in the nearby field where a “pattern” day was held once a year in bygone days.

Granda Hackett had a donkey and cart to transport vegetables to town - mainly potatoes and cabbage - and then to bring back provisions for the house. Granda would get the donkey hitched to the cart - but it was usually Minnie who went with it to town. She was very popular in the middle of town with her donkey and cart.
Saturday was shopping day and the kids of the town - who had no school - would pester Minnie for a spin. If they helped her to unload and deliver the potatoes and cabbage - they were allowed to sit up on the cart and steer the donkey up the street. Then Minnie would call to my mother for a cup of tea and a chat or to Kathleen Whyte. She had a choice of more houses - because she looked after them all well when they walked out to Knockatigan on Sundays.

Friends, relations and walkers that come to mind from those years of the 1940s and 50s - are Mary-Anne Smyth of Sarsfield’s Terrace - Hanny Kelleher (nee Hackett - another aunt of mine) of Mill Road - Mary Nevin and Anne Donovan both of Mill Road and Reenie Murphy (nee Bradley) of Copperalley.

Most remarkable was how she fed everybody - mothers and kids - who had nice appetites after their walk. In the large living room/kitchen was a big open fire with a crane hanging over it. There was ample sticks and timber to ensure a roaring fire to cook whatever would be in the pot hanging on the crane. Then to cook the contents evenly - more fagots (hot embers) would be piled onto the lid.

Minnie had her own free-range hens running around the garden and that meant lots of eggs available for any cake. Sunday afternoon always saw a bastable cake in the pot - getting ready for the visitors. The smell was enough to make anyone hungry. Then when it was cooked - it was cut while red-hot into chunks and buttered with salted country butter.

Rosaleen and Angeline Smyth (whose Dad was owner of Youghal Brickyard) lived nearby and made the country butter for the shops in town. All the adults sat around the big kitchen table - telling yarns about the happenings of the week - while the kids ate their chunks of bastible cake playing outside.

The fun lasted until around six o’clock before the first guest began to move to go home. Then it was just an easy stroll back into town after an enjoyable day at Minnie Hackett’s.

Picyures: The cover of 'Discover Youghal' - Granda Hackett cutting the grass at Heathfield Towers - and the Burke (Chemist) children : Mary and Aidan - on board ready for a spin in the donkey and cart ... See MoreSee Less

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Cork County Council Crews Restore Storm-Damaged Pilmore Shoreline

Work is well under way on the repair and restoration of the rock armour at Pilmore, Youghal, following the recent storm that wreaked havoc along this exposed stretch of coastline. A section of the narrow road collapsed into the beach, leaving the access route to Pilmore Cottages difficult and, at times, precarious for local residents. Today, council workmen could be seen carefully rebuilding the defences, with heavy machinery and fresh rock armour being positioned to reinforce the weakened shoreline.

The force of the waves during the storm was clear to see, having breached the topsoil and torn away the grass bank above the beach. Huge clumps of grass sods now lie scattered along the strand, a stark reminder of how close the sea came to claiming more of the roadway. In response, outflow pipes are being laid beneath the tarmacadam surface, helping to manage water run-off and reduce the risk of future wash-outs along this vulnerable strip.

Coming on the back of unprecedented rainfall in recent weeks, the damage at Pilmore highlighted just how exposed this section of the coast really is. It is therefore heartening for locals and regular walkers to see this breached area being brought back to normal so quickly. The combination of new rock armour, improved drainage, and the steady, methodical work of the council crews offers reassurance that vital access to Pilmore Cottages is being protected, and that this much-loved shoreline is being given every chance to withstand whatever the next storm may bring.
By Michael Hussey ... See MoreSee Less