Two more gone...

I've never read a word of the writings of either Maeve Binchy or Con Houlihan but having read what has been written about each of them since their deaths within the past week I very much regret that I missed reading at least some of their writings while they were still alive. Although Maeve Binchy may not have been my kind of writer the article written by Kevin Myers in the Irish Independent last week was a real eye- opener. Apparently she was a very genuine person , without pretentions , who genuinely cheered up all those she met and only her closests friends were aware of her painful condition Con Houlihan likewise seems to have been a marvellous character ( literary Michael O'Muiraracheartig ){?} and the snippets of some of his articles I've read since his death are as poetic and articulate as Paddy Kavanagh ( and generally a lot more cheerful) ,the description for example of the last day he spent on the bog with jis father , before he left home to take up his career.I had every opportunity to read Con's articles as we always 'took' the Evening Press ( I even remember Joe Sherwood ) and I often heard my brothers discussing his writings but as I had no i9nterest whatsoever in Sport I never actually read his column....not reailsing that the actual sporting content was sometimes only about 25% of the piece and the rest was glorious stuff , just like Paddy Kavanagh when he was '' film critic'' for the Catholic Standard ( Kavanagh knew little about films and absolutly nothing about nothing about film making but this did not deterr him from spending many years as film critic for thst paper. But Con genuinely loved all sports so much that when he described a sport the real fans knew that he was as keen as they were and his involvement came across in his writing. They have left us a great legacy...RIP