Who is the Greatest Fingallian?

Cardinal Richelieu

Nope I am not talking about Fingallians GAA.

Counties such as Monaghan and Sligo can lay claim to Kavanagh and Yeates while Kerry and Kilkenny can lay claim to any number of multiple All Ireland Winning Greats. Listowel has John B Keane, Ballyfermot has Joe Duffy, Enniscorty has Colm Tobin, Navan has Pierce Brosnan:pac:. Fingal has...........????? So who is the greatest living or dead son or daughter of Fingal?

RobFowl

Mikey Graham

Neil_Sedaka

LeoB

The Hill Billy

Marty Whelan surely?

mccarte2

Gerry Gannon...

Cardinal Richelieu

RobFowl wrote: »

Mikey Graham

Is that a joint nomination for his worthy contribution to the world of Music and his boxing skills(allegedly)?

Neil_Sedaka wrote: »

LeoB

We need a little more than that, you need to sell us your nomination for LeoB with a little background on his achievements :DHas he won the Nobel Prize? Sang with a Boy band? The Artaine Boy Band at Croker don't count. Is he a world champion or record holder?

The Hill Billy

Serious nomination this time: Con Martin.

Cardinal Richelieu

Balbriggan

Harry Reynolds

Wiki

Harry Reynolds (born Balbriggan, Ireland, 14 December 1874, died 16 July 1940), known as the Balbriggan Flyer, was the first Irishman to win the world championship in cycling. He accomplished this at the 1896 ICA Track Cycling World Championships in Copenhagen

Other nominations could include

Swords
Doc Savage- funny man(allegedly) and joke historian(still telling the same jokes he started with). A frequent guest on the now world famous Joe Duffy Funny Friday.

Naul
Linda Martin- while not born in Fingal, Linda and her cats, horses, dogs and various other animals have become one of our own. Who could ever forget her winning Eurovision.

The Hill Billy

Skerries:

St Patrick








Beat that!

LeoB

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Is that a joint nomination for his worthy contribution to the world of Music and his boxing skills(allegedly)?

AH THIS IS THE COMEDY AWARD



We need a little more than that, you need to sell us your nomination for LeoB with a little background on his achievements :DHas he won the Nobel Prize? Sang with a Boy band? The Artaine Boy Band at Croker don't count. Is he a world champion or record holder?

I will have you know LeoB sang with a few bands (while under the influence of probably the best lager in the world)
Played in Croke Park and carried the Tri-Colour into Croke Park on Centenary day 1984
Refereed an All-Ireland final and 2 leinster finals
Was the fastest cyclist in 1988 leinster team tri-athlon held in Rush. GReat postbike it was, 3 gears and no brakes

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Serious nomination this time: Con Martin.

Bang on there HB

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Swords
Doc Savage- funny man(allegedly) and joke historian(still telling the same jokes he started with). A frequent guest on the now world famous Joe Duffy Funny Friday.

Naul
Linda Martin- while not born in Fingal, Linda and her cats, horses, dogs and various other animals have become one of our own. Who could ever forget her winning Eurovision.

I could forget and very easily;)
THIS IS WINDING US UP. HE IS BACK OK FOLKS.

Con Martin would be very hard to surpass. A wonderful sportsman whose achievement might never be surpassed. His varied playing roles in Gaelic Games and soccer North and South certainly make him a leading contender

Matt Sands cyclist. Held various nation records and UK records also. I believe were it not for political turmoil and a split in the governing of Athletics he would have been an olympian Also a top footballer in his day

On the political scene Nora Owen has to be well up there consider her role for when Minister for Justice during tentative peace talks back in the late 1900s. Mind you she told me she would never talk to Gerry Adams and when I turn on TV a few days later there they are, all smiles

Seamus Ennis for his contribution to Irish music, song and culture. Certainly world famous.

Great thread

Larianne

Was the guy who came up with Tayto from Fingal or was he a blow in?

LeoB

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Skerries:

St Patrick








Beat that!

Bloody Typical. You crowd claiming him as a local! The only reason he was in Skerries was to get the rest of the snakes and he fckd that up aswell

fergal.b

Brigadier General Richard Montgomery and my MUM

Morpheus

Speaking of the Naul... Seamus Ennis!
Harry Reynolds gets my plus one
John O'Leary

Cardinal Richelieu

Father and Son

Howth & Portmarnock

Ray McAnally
While a native of Donegal he resided for many years in Howth. Actor and Snooker commentator.

Wiki

He made his theatre debut in 1962 with A Nice Bunch of Cheap Flowers and gave a well-received performance as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, opposite Constance Cummings, at the Piccadilly Theatre.
On television he was a familiar face, often in glossy thriller series like The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase and Strange Report. In 1968 he took the title role in Spindoe, a series charting the return to power of a London gangster, Alec Spindoe, after a five-year prison term. This was a spin-off from another series, The Fellows (1967) in which McAnally had appeared in several episode as the Spindoe character.
He regularly acted in the Abbey Theatre and Irish festivals, but then, in the last decade of life, achieved award-winning notice on TV and films. His impressive performance as Cardinal Altamirano in the film The Mission (1986) earned him Evening Standard and BAFTA awards. His role in the BBC's A Perfect Spy (1987) also earned him a second BAFTA award. In 1988 he won the BAFTA for Best Actor for his performance in A Very British Coup, a role that also brought him a Jacob's Award. In the last year of his life, he portrayed the father of Christy Brown (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) in the Academy Award-winning film, My Left Foot (1989).

Aonghus McAnally
Son of the late Ray, now a resident of Portmarnock, rock musician, One man show performer, childens tv presenter, radio producer and presenter, snooker commentator, magician and member of the Irish Billiards team. What hasn't this man done?

iMax

Fingal is not a county. It's an administrative area.

There's 26 counties in ROI, Fingal is not one of them.

The Hill Billy

Keep it on-topic. This thread is not about boundaries - county, administrative or otherwise.

tHB

DougalZ

It would have to be Arkle for me

LeoB

Giving this a little thought earlier and came up with Marie Keane the actress

Marie Kean (27 June 1918 – 29 December 1993) was an Irish actress of stage and screen whose career spanned over 40 years.
Kean grew up in the village of Rush, County Dublin and was educated at Loreto College, North Great George's Street, Dublin. She learnt her craft at the Gaiety School of Acting and was part of the Abbey Theatre company until 1961.[1]
Kean's leading role as the kindly matriarch, Mrs. Kennedy, in the Radio Éireann serial drama, The Kennedys of Castleross, made her famous throughout Ireland. She starred in the programme for the duration of its 18-year run.
In 1968, Kean won a Jacob's Award for her performance as Winnie in RTÉ television's production of Samuel Beckett's play Happy Days, a role she had previously performed on stage and which she described later as her favourite part.[2]
Kean's many stage appearances include performances in the plays of Synge, O'Casey and Friel. She took the lead role of Maggie Polpin in the 1969 world première of John B. Keane's play Big Maggie at the Cork Opera House [3] In 1978 she won the State of New York best actress award for her performance in what has become Keane's most successful play.[4]
Arguably her most memorable film role was as Barry's scheming mother in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. She also played a bigoted Irish shopkeeper in David Lean's Ryan's Daughter. Her final movie appearance was in John Huston's The Dead (1987), in which she played the part of Mrs. Malins
Marie Kean died in Donnybrook, Dublin at the age of 75. Her husband, William Mulvey, predeceased her in 1977.[5].

Niall Weldon also from Rush who played a major role in the development of Dublin Airport and Irish aviation in General. Niall is father in Law of actor Brendan Gleeson

Back to the stage and Rush can claim Orla Brady of Nip and Tick fame, met her up the road a few months ago.

Could Luke Ryan the pirate be included. Fame came his way when it was discovered there was a link to Bonnie Prince Charlie (I think)

While a lot are aware of these famous people what about the people who have given a life time to Meals on wheels Fingal Ass for Handicapped? They are really great people

Cardinal Richelieu

Swords/Malahide

Ronan Keating AKA "The Swords Warbler"

Some say he is the best singing voice ever to come out of Ireland, well Swords anyway. Former lead singer of Irish Supergroup Boyzone who went on to change the World of Music. Ronan also went on to co-manage the Kings of the Cover version Westlife. He has been a Eurovision presenter, good will ambassdor, former junior athlete, cancer fundraiser and set to begin a steller acting career.

Cardinal Richelieu

fergal.b wrote: »

Brigadier General Richard Montgomery and my MUM

Putting your Mum aside, I am sure she is a great lady,whats the link between Monty and Fingal FergalB? Is it one of these Obama like Irish relative links?

Larianne wrote: »

Was the guy who came up with Tayto from Fingal or was he a blow in?

I think LeoB mention Spud Murphy use to live in Donabate so I will give you that one.

fergal.b

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Putting your Mum aside, I am sure she is a great lady,whats the link between Monty and Fingal FergalB? Is it one of these Obama like Irish relative links?




Richard Montgomery
There are 38 cities in the U.S.A named Montgomery not to mention the war ships. One would assume that the Montgomery in question was English. Not so, Richard Montgomery born in Swords Co Dublin was the highest ranking U.S officer killed in the American War of Independence, at the Battle of Quebec in Dec 1775.

RobFowl

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Balbriggan

Harry Reynolds

+1
Won the World title in 1896. Supposedly welcomed home by a crowd of 100,000. Also famously refused to climb on the podium to God Save the Queen or under the Union Jack. They had to find an alternative flag (green with a harp on it).
He used to train by racing against the Steam trains along the Skerries/Balbriggan road and also rode up The Blackhills backwards for a bet...

Lash_Alert

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Swords/Malahide

Ronan Keating AKA "The Swords Warbler"

Some say he is the best singing voice ever to come out of Ireland, well Swords anyway. Former lead singer of Irish Supergroup Boyzone who went on to change the World of Music. Ronan also went on to co-manage the Kings of the Cover version Westlife. He has been a Eurovision presenter, good will ambassdor, former junior athlete, cancer fundraiser and set to begin a steller acting career.

Voice -Not the best voice, but certainly a very good one.

Boyzone 'supergroup'? They sold over 30 million records, pretty big. During the 90's sold twice as many records as Take That to put that into perspective. Hes also gone on to have 30 consecutive top tens in the uk...mental. Its a record btw. Also, pretty much unique in the fact that when they made it big, instead of signing for Uk polydor and getting a big push behind them, decided to stay with polygram Ireland who stuck with them at the start. Meaning that all their money came into Ireland, as opposed to the Uk.

Change the world of music? No, but certainly opened up doors for pop acts in Ireland to take on the Worldwide market. Changed the life of five irish lads who werent getting a record deal, who are now very successful and have millions of fans worldwide who im sure are happy he helped them out at the start? Yes.

Co manage westlife? Not really, but did get them their record contract, and did pick the songs on the first album, which sold millions. Westlife themselves have sold like 50 million records and a silly amount of number ones, although personally not my thing.

Presented eurovision - Yup he did. Broadcast to hundreds of millions, he represented Ireland when it came to Dublin, also performing with Boyzone at the interval a song they specially wrote for that slot. Also one of the few people to present the EMA's twice. Not bad.

Good Will Ambassador & Cancer Research - Yup, for Unicef. Yes he co founded the Marie Keating Foundation, which thanks to his constant fundraising (walks of ireland, swimming irish sea, concerts etc)which now operates in Ireland, the Uk, Germany and Australia if im not mistaken. They are also partners with cancer research uk, together working hard to prevent cancer and educate women. The hard work hes done has meant that travelling centres constantly travel around ireland offering education about cancer. Since their inception, the survival rate of cancer has risen like 6% in Ireland, due to people being more aware and being diagnosed earlier. Not directly to do with MKF but they are certainly part of it.

Actor - appearing in a movie set to be realised worldwide. Not too bad for someone who has never acted before.


Jesus, at the beginning i disagreed with your statements, but no your certainly right. He gets my vote anyways, impressive CV.

Cardinal Richelieu

RobFowl wrote: »

+1
Won the World title in 1896. Supposedly welcomed home by a crowd of 100,000. Also famously refused to climb on the podium to God Save the Queen or under the Union Jack. They had to find an alternative flag (green with a harp on it).
He used to train by racing against the Steam trains along the Skerries/Balbriggan road and also rode up The Blackhills backwards for a bet...

How tough was the competition in the World Championship in those days RobFowl?

Incidentally John Pius Boland at the 1896 Olympics in Athens also refused to stand on the podium until they hoisted the green flag with golden harp when he accepted his gold medal for tennis. He went on to win a second gold medal in the mens doubles with his doubles partner Traun from Germany who was taking part in the Athletics. Unfortunately Boland was from Capel Street so not a Fingallian.

Larianne

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Swords/Malahide

Ronan Keating AKA "The Swords Warbler"

Some say he is the best singing voice ever to come out of Ireland, well Swords anyway. Former lead singer of Irish Supergroup Boyzone who went on to change the World of Music. Ronan also went on to co-manage the Kings of the Cover version Westlife. He has been a Eurovision presenter, good will ambassdor, former junior athlete, cancer fundraiser and set to begin a steller acting career.

Didn't know Bayside was in Fingal! :pac:

Cardinal Richelieu

Larianne wrote: »

Didn't know Bayside was in Fingal! :pac:

Is that what your copy of his autobiography says?:D

Lash_Alert

Larianne wrote: »

Didn't know Bayside was in Fingal! :pac:

Bayside is in Fingal....

Larianne

Lash_Alert wrote: »

Bayside is in Fingal....

Damnit! You're right.

Beasty

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

How tough was the competition in the World Championship in those days RobFowl?

... not even RobFowl's that old;)

In terms of competition I suspect most of it came from Europe in 1896 - here's the Wiki article, from which you can see all the medallists were from Europe

These were the track championships, hence although the technology has moved on considerably on road bikes, track bikes are fundamentally the same now as they were then (well the basic ones are
anyway) - no brakes, no gears and a fixed wheel

Here's Harry:


Clearly there have been some improvements to the bike, and certainly to the tracks, but given the bike was probably becoming one of the main forms of transport by the end of the 19th century, and the popularity of the sport particularly in mainland Europe, it was a pretty impressive feat

Alan Farrell

Tom Kettle

RobFowl

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

How tough was the competition in those days RobFowl?

Cycling as a sport was in its infancy then. It was a decade before the first tour de France.
Track and grass track cycling was the most popular form then with events at summer festivals the norm.
Here's a section about Harry Reynolds and his win.
Note the Harry Reynolds race is still held every year although a road race these days.

Harry Reynolds the Balbriggan Flyer

This Tuesday sees the running of the Harry Reynolds Memorial race in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Coming from the town, this is a race I would have liked to win, not just because it’s my hometown, but because of the man in whose memory the race is promoted.
While most people know that both Stephen Roche and Mark Scanlon were world champions, not many know that Harry Reynolds was Ireland’s first, ever, cycling world champion.
Harry Reynolds was born in Balbriggan on the 14th of December 1874, the eldest son of Julia and Robert Reynolds. Both parents died when the Reynolds family were still young, and the children were raised by their relatives. At the age of 18, Harry developed an interest in cycling and joined the local Wanderers Cycling Club along with two of his younger brothers Bob and Jack.
It didn’t take long for the youngster to start winning and in 1893 a weekly sports newspaper imaginatively titled ‘Sport’ stated that “Some smart novices were unearthed in the Wanderers race on Wednesday, notably Mulheir and Reynolds. Who would ever think that Reynolds would administer a thrashing to Lord for the Time Trophy. This time, 38’50”, leaves one to fancy that great things may be expected of him in the near future.”
The young Harry rode in a number of races that summer and at the end of July won a Three Mile Handicap at Skerries Sports. He was also second in the Five Mile Handicap. A week later he won the Three Mile Handicap at Balbriggan Sports by a couple of inches and in September went on to win both the Three and five Mile Handicaps at the GAA Championships in Jones’ Road, Dublin. “Reynolds is likely to have a brilliant future” read the pages of Sport.
A brilliant future he had. 1894 saw him win the One Mile Scratch race at Dublin Metropolitan Sports, both the Three Mile Handicap and the Scratch race at Dundalk and the 10 miles Championship of Ireland.
In 1895 Reynolds won both the 5 Mile and 50 Miles championships of Ireland and decided to try his luck in England. That summer he entered and easily won the 100 Guinea Cup at the Kennington Oval, London, against 25 selected riders over a distance of 10 miles. He was awarded the gold medal but would have to win the race two years in succession to take home the coveted Cup.
On Whit Monday of the next year, Reynolds won three events at the Waterford Sports – The One Mile Handicap, the 10 Miles Scratch for the Gold Shield and the Five Miles Open Handicap. The following Saturday, he rode in the 10 miles scratch race in the Ulster Championships in Belfast and had lapped the field after six miles!
Reynolds was on form to defend his 100 Guinea Cup and hoped to bring the trophy home with him to Ireland, but the British Cycling Union announced that he was “ineligible”, and refused to give any explanation as to why.
The Irish Cyclists Association decided to send him to the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark instead.
Harry trained on the Catford track in London and arrived in Denmark in August 1896. He won two warm-up races over distances of one kilometre and 3500 metres. In the latter he defeated Rodolfsen and Kundmelson of Denmark, despite both of them having a 30-metre start on him.
In the One Mile Amateur Championships of the World, on Saturday 15th August, 1896, Harry Reynolds was drawn in the seventh and final heat of the first round. Harry won, in the third fastest heat, beating opponents Niebbing of Holland and Oslund of Norway. In the second round he beat Johnsen of Sweden and Marseth of Norway by ten yards after leading from the gun and found himself in the final.
Reynolds later became the first Irish World Cycling Champion when beating Schrader of Denmark and Guillaumet of France by the narrowest of margins, after a slow tactical start to the race.
Having become World champion, Reynolds was stepping onto the podium to be presented with his medal by the King of Denmark when the band started playing “God Save The Queen” as a Union Jack was hoisted alongside the podium. Reynolds threw down his bike in anger, called the officials, pointing out that he was Irish and would not have his victory accredited to England. At his request, The Danes lowered the Union Jack, replacing it with a green flag and the band played an Irish song.
News of Reynolds victory spread like wildfire in Ireland and his reaction on the podium, helped turn him into a national hero. The Irish Daily Independent, 25th August 1896 reported that a reception committee would be waiting in the Irish Cycling Association offices in D’Olier Street. It stated that Harry Reynolds would arrive by Mail-Steamer at Kingston Dock at five o’clock on the Sunday evening and would be escorted to the reception. The escort was to be accompanied by a number of bands and a reputed 150,000 people turned up to welcome the new world champion, only to find that he had missed the boat!
At an ICA meeting on 2nd of September, it was decided that a banquet should be held in Reynold’s honour and a track meeting to be held in either Jone’s Road or Ballsbridge. The reception secretary announced that he had received atelegram from Coventry announcing that the world champion would definitely arrive the following Thursday evening at 5.00pm.
The Irish Daily Independent reported the homecoming under the headline “Harry Reynolds Welcome Home – an unparalleled demonstration!” This is how it read.
“Last evening despite the wet, which was of the most sullen Scotch mist type and generally disenchanting character, there was a very large crowd down in Kingston to welcome the Irish champion of the World.
About the pier, the assemblage was nothing like that of last Sunday when fully 150,000 people attende only to be disappointed, as was Mr. Reynolds, by the eccentric imperfections of the Mail Service. The uncertainty about a repetition of this, doubtless kept many people away. At the start last night, before the mail boat Munster arrived, there was a goodly company. This did not give the slightest indication of what was to come, as every minute brought a fresh volume of admirers. On the jetty, were members of the reception committee, Messrs. Tiernan, Hon.Secretary, L. O’Neill, Joseph Kennedy, President ICA, John Mason, Harry Connolly, Hon.Sec ICA, L.DeGroot and F.J Allen.
The Balbriggan club, in which Mr. Reynolds graduated as a cyclist, was represented by R.S Gorman, Hon. Secretary, J/Derham, Treasurer, D.Ellis and T.Healy. There were several other prominent citizens present. At about 5.15pm the mail boat Munster drew alongside. A Mr. T. Keane, a particular friend of Reynold’s who had crossed to meet him, being sighted on deck was saluted with shouts of “Have we got him this time?” Mr. Keane replied “Yes it’s allright “ and a mighty cheer went up. Reynolds was the last to appear, hoisting high his trusty Osmond, with which he won all his great triumphs. He was quickly deprived of this by a willing esquire and nearly torn asunder by congratulatory admirers. It was just as well that he did not arrive on Sunday, when there were myriads more of them!
Conducted by the reception committee, Mr. Reynolds was conveyed in a finely-horsed brake to the Royal Marine Hotel, where some supper was supplied and the Hotel string band played most pleasingly throughout. The Dublin Metroploitan Police Cycling Club made the best show of mounted cyclists, with 25, and then came the R.I.C CC with 22. Iolanthe, Wanderers and other clubs were well represented. Before leaving, Mr Reynolds was decorated with a medal from Balbriggan Cycling Club.”
“The scene on the way home was simply incredible. All along the streets of Kingston the people of all classes came out and cheered for al they were worth, the ladies waving their handkerchiefs and cheering to, being the most demonstrative. Reynolds tried to hide himself in the hold of the brake, but it was no use. The public, who had now made the traffic impassable, shouting for him to stand up and show himself.”
At Blackrock the procession had to stop because of the crush and several hundred cyclists had to dismount and walk, several bikes were damaged in the melee. At Blackrock, the people got so carried away that they wanted to take the horses out of the brake and tug Reynolds along themselves. Their efforts were in vain as they couldn’t open the straps in the throng of well-wishers.
Bands played along Baggott Street, and another halt was called outside the Shelbourne Hotel, where all the lights were on and every occupant stood out on their balconies waving handkerchiefs. It was the same the whole way to the ICA offices where Reynolds sought refuge amongst friends.
Later Reynolds was to turn professional and raced in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, winning many races. His gold, world champions medal is now lost. Having given the medal to a friend to keep safely during the Sack of Balbriggan, when the Black and Tans burned almost the whole town to the ground, Reynolds returned to find his friend dying and unable to remember where he put it.
Harry Reynolds is a legend in Balbriggan. It is common knowledge that he used to race the steam train from Balbriggan to Skerries for training. Renowned for his brutish strength, he also rode up Barnageera Hill (between Skerries and Balbriggan, under the railway tunnel on the way to Ardgillen Castle) on a fixed wheel, backwards – for a bet – which he duly won! (Don’t try that at home!)
There is a plaque dedicated to Harry Reynolds on a house in Hampton Street, just past the square on the way to Skerries, on the site where he was born. The last real connection to Harry is the Reynolds sweet shop, located in the centre of the town, beside the Milestone Inn and run by two of his nieces.
An extraordinarily talented cyclist, Harry Reynolds died on July 16th, 1940 and is buried in Balrothery graveyard, just south of Balbriggan.
Each year Balbriggan Cycling Club hold a race in his name, the Harry Reynolds Memorial, a race which any Irish cyclist should be proud to win.

Cardinal Richelieu

Sounds like the Worlds was better organised than the Athens Games cycling event.

Pathe has a film from Herne Hill in 1923 which shows early track racing. The outfits don't appear changed too much from what Harry Reynolds is wearing in his photo. If LeoB and Beasty ever decide to have a race off perhaps in the interests of fairness they should use the penny farthing bikes:D

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=20129