Community notes May 14th

One Charlie to another Charlie

Readers will recall that local man Gerard Madden together with John Martin Hurley and Ogie Crowley climbed Croagh Patrick on the occasion of the charity climb embarked upon by Charlie Bird. This climb captured the imagination of the public following the emotional appearance by the former RTE correspondent on The Late Late Show. The number of participants on the climb was restricted for safety reasons and a local walk around Abbeymahon was organised the fill the void.

Ger was motivated by the bravery of Charlie Bird and he also had a more personal interest in the cause as his own father, Charlie Madden had also suffered from and battled bravely with the same medical condition – hence the name One Charlie to another Charlie. Ger would now like to thank publicly all those who participated in the local walk and donated so generously to the fund. A princely sum of €3,190 has been donated to The Irish Motor Neurone Association and €500 to Pieta House. Mile buiochas to all.

The Irish for Timoleague

Last week we reported on the erection of place name stones as one enters the village from the Bandon/Kinsale side to the east and from the Clonakilty side to the west. The script is a welcome to all to Timoleague and is both in English and Irish. The Irish version of the translation has always aroused comment, debate and mystery and there is divided opinion as to which version is correct - Tigh Molaige or Tigh Molaga. Government agencies such as An Post and Cork County Council favour Tigh Molaige as the caighdean oifigiuil with Molaige being the genitive case of Molaga, the saint after whom the village is named. Others use Tigh Molaga and this version of the name can be traced back to Micheal O’ Cleirigh of The Annals of The Four Masters fame, who visited Timoleague Abbey in 1629 to copy extracts from Leabhar Mhic Carthaigh Riabhaigh also known as The Book of Lismore.

 Maire Ni Shithigh, noted local teacher, dramatist and writer who is buried in the Abbey used Molaga. In Danta Aodhagain Ui Rathaille the Molaga form is used as it is in the Leaving Cert Anthology of Irish Poetry, Foras Feasa, a text well familiar to many of a certain age who either loved it or cursed it during their leaving cert year. Timoleague students had a bowl of odds over the rest as they were well familiar with Machtnamh An Duine Doiliosaigh, known also as Caoineadh Tigh Molaga which was a hardy annual on the leaving cert course for many years. This was a must in the national school curriculum of Scoil Molaga. Speaking of national school, the late Ard- Mhaistir, Diarmuid O’ hUallaigh was a big supporter of the Molaga version. Learned people in the Irish Department i gColaiste na hOllscoile i gCorcaigh are divided in relation to the matter, some favouring Molaige , others having a preference for Molaga. There you have it. Does one go for the caighdean oifigiuil (Tigh Molaige) or the caighdean aitiuil (Tigh Molaga)? As a rule of thumb, if a Timoleague person is asked where they are from, they will answer TighMolaga and not TighMolaige. The choice is yours.