Longford hosts a special event for the launch of local authors book 'Out on Our Own'

It was a very special occasion in Moyne Community School on Friday, April 11 as renowned former teacher Benny Reid launched his new book entitled ‘Out on Our Own: A History of the People and Places of Annaly and Breifne’

Addressing the large audience, Benny said he and his wife Catherine, were particularly grateful to their former colleagues and past pupils who returned to Moyne for a very special occasion for them.

He poignantly remembered 14 colleagues who have passed away as well as the very many students and past pupils that are ‘anois ar shlí na fírinne’ (now departed).

Benny added, “We recall especially our own beloved Fr Phil McGee, the 50th anniversary of whose death occurred just recently.

And we equally remember the Ballinamuck School’s final principal and vice principal: Barry Hughes and John Gilchrist.”

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Benny opined that all of them would be very proud of the educational institution that now graces the harsh acres where the late Tony Lynch managed his premium herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle.

He added, “Tony still found time with Stevie Reilly, Joe Kinahin and myself to establish Dromard’s first schoolboys GAA club all of 65 years ago. These were all people – Out on their Own, as they say.”

‘Out on Our Own’, which is the result of nine years of research, is a history of the real people who walked these acres of Cavan, Leitrim and Longford for upwards of 6000 years from the builders of the great dolmens of the Cavan Burren, Garadice and Colmcille to the 33 percent of the pupils of Edenmore, Legga and Moyne National Schools – 1937-1975 who had to emigrate to secure a living.

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Benny, who was a member of several educational bodies including County Longford VEC and the Senate of the National University of Ireland, explained, “‘Out on our Own’ has been a long time in the coming. Inspired in many ways by our ancient ring forts, holy wells, Tobarpatrick, Ballinamuck, the Black Pig’s Dyke and Clough Oughter.

“And then there were the people; the monks who populated Inchmore, Patrick’s visit to the Ballyconnell area, Colmcille – the man and the parish around Lough Gowna – all needed to be teased out as the story of Moyne Latin School.

“We recall the hedge school masters – McDonnell and Larry Duffy and the priests that returned in numbers each summer and kept the poverty-stricken little boys in pocket money as we served as many as 12 masses or more in a morning in Moyne’s St Francis Xavier church, now seven years into its third century since 1818.”

Benny outlined that Fr Frank Gray brought much of the story into focus with the ‘Latin School’ published 46 years ago.

He said the area’s history was further probed by a series of writers from James MacNerney, Frank Columb, Fr Owen Devaney and Canon Boylan - to Bishop McNamee, Philip O’Connell, PJ Dunne, Sean and Cormac O’Suilleabháin, Liam Kelly, Brendan Scott and Fergus O’Ferrall.

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“And then there are the historical journals of Breifne and Teathbha and dozens of others – all have contributed hugely to the story of Annaly and Breifne and a people who are simply Out on their Own.”

Benny concluded, “The book effectively concludes with the Truce of July 11, 1921 – the dissolution of the Flying Columns and the death sentence reprieves of two stalwarts of the Irish War of Independence: Paddy Smith of the Lappinduff ambush in Cavan and Sean Mac Eoin of Clonfin, and several more.

“I am very grateful to the Smith families of Cootehill and Bailieboro and to several members of the MacEoin family here with us in Moyne, as I again repeat my thanks to Minister of State Robert Troy whose two young children carry the line of Laurence Ginnell, the first Sinn Féin MP and the envoy to the Americas of the first Dáil. Modern Ireland owes those people much more than has ever been acknowledged.”

* ‘Out on Our Own: A History of the People and Places of Annaly and Breifne’ by Benny Reid is available to purchase at several local outlets for €35