UPDATE: Just after this piece was published we received news that the great voice for tradition featured below, Séan Ó Sé had died. Laoch ar lar. Ar dheis lámh Dé go raibh a anam uasal. Comhbhrón ó chroí lena mhuintir.
On Sunday, when An Ghaeltacht won the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football final against Derry side Glenullin (Gleann an Iolair), the sounds of ‘An Poc ar Buile’ rang out in Croke Park.
The song was famously composed by Dónall Ó Mulláin from Cúil Aodha, a gifted musician, singer and songwriter who was involved in Dámhscoil Mhúscraí, and who also wrote other well-known numbers such as Na Tailliúirí and ‘Amhrán na tae’.
‘An Poc’ became – as the famed tenor Seán Ó Sé who recorded it with Seán O’Riada’s Ceoltóirí Chualann said – the first recorded hit in the Irish language, and it remains synonymous with Muscraí and with Corca Dhuibhne (the Dingle Peninsula).
It tells the wildly funny story of a goat on a rampage through Cork and Kerry to reach Daingean Uí Chúis, and the team from An Ghaeltacht i gCorca Dhuibhne belted it out with gusto after taking the Club Final crown. An West Kerry Haka, mar a dúradh ar na meán sóisialta.
And from this angle. Ná breá na hamhráin as Gaelainn a chloisteáil ar na hócáidí mhóra seo.
The musical celebrations continued in the dressing room with the team being serenaded by concertina virtuoso and fellow Corca Dhuibhne man Cormac Begley as captured by Ciarraíoch and journalist par excellence Seán Mac an tSíthigh. That’s mighty stuff. An cultúr ar fad láithreach in aon bua amhaín.
Now, three of my own very talented nephews were on the heroic Sallins side who took the Leinster crown for the first time in 20 years just before Christmas, but then very narrowly lost to An Ghaeltacht in the final seconds of extra-time in a nail-biting clash on January 3rd. Despite the disputed ref’s call in that match, it would be hard to begrudge the exhilaration of An Ghaeltacht when the subsequent final was won by the Kerrymen. Beidh lá eile ag na Solláin.
As always with Gaelic games, there’s history and personal tales and deep connections behind every win or loss.
“Among the players picking up a winner’s medal was Pádraig Ó Sé, son of the late, great Páidí who won Sam Maguire eight times during his own storied inter-county playing career, before adding a further two as manager of his beloved Kingdom,” RTÉ reported from Sunday.
And, by the power of the internet, there’s Páidí himself, suaimhneas síoraí air, singing An Poc ar Buile at the homecoming of the Kerry team in 1985 after winning the All-Ireland Football Final.
Sean Ó Sé’s version with Ceoltóirí Chualann is still widely played – and probably the most familiar to an Irish audience. The band Ispíní na hÉireann had thousands dancing to it at the CEARTA march for Gaeilge last year.
There’s also a great rendition from renowned piper Séamus Ennis with a whole crew joining in for the rousing chorus. Beidh na sean-amhráin linn go deo. Tá An Poc ar Buile – nó b’fhéidir go bhfuil sé breá sásta anois agus an corn aige.
In ndíl cuimhne ar Shéain Ó Sé a chur An Poc i mbéal an phobail.