Our columnist Frank Brandon discusses a busy weekend in sport, rising car insurance costs, Jessie Buckley’s Oscar win, and more!
It’s Sunday morning as I write, and I am still buzzing with the excitement of Saturday evening’s unbelievable finale to the Six Nations Championship. While I was still thinking that, not for the first time, the referee in the French-English game made many dubious calls that favoured the home side, my mind is drifting to other matters.
On this Sunday morning I was heading west to Castlebar where my granddaughter, Riley, was celebrating her 5th birthday. The birthday itself is on the Monday of this week but for obvious enough reasons (work, etc) the party was being held on Sunday.
No party in our family, no matter for whom it is (or where it is) can go ahead without a Molloy’s cream sponge cake, and so my first duty was to go into Roscommon Town and collect one. Shortly after that myself and my van (and the cake and Riley’s presents) left for the Mayo, arriving just after 12 noon.
When all the pressies were opened we all hit for Funsters, a children’s indoor adventure play and party area which was exactly what it ‘said on the tin’. The place was packed with parents and children, there was every type of activity possible, and a sort of cafe where the older folk (like me) could sit and relax, have a cuppa and watch the kids thoroughly enjoy themselves. Riley and her cousins and friends had super fun, ate the birthday cake and party food – and for a girl who had a fairly rough first year or two, it was very heartening to see her so happy and having so much fun.
I left Castlebar shortly after one o’clock and drove straight home, before getting ready and hitting the road again! This time it was on to Galway where Creggs Rugby Club’s men’s Firsts were playing Dunmore in the final of the Connacht Junior 1A League.
I parked at The Huntsman Inn and made my way to the magnificent new Dexcom Stadium. It was my first visit since it opened and there is no doubt it is hugely impressive.
As is their way on such club final occasions, the Connacht branch only open one stand, and as I like to watch all games in peace and quiet, myself, Fab Dinny (Monaghan) and his daughter, Amy, decided we’d try to slip over to the deserted stand across on the other side.
No sooner had we got there than a security person followed us and said that for security reasons, we couldn’t stay there. Despite our desperate pleas that two senior citizens and a young girl were hardly a major risk, we were forced to abandon our seats and sent back to the ‘proper’ side. Of course our failed attempt didn’t go unnoticed and our walk of shame was well observed and commented on by a number of our team’s followers!
Anyway, we were in place just in time for kick-off and as you will read in the sports section of this newspaper our lads won their fourth league title in a row after a terrific battle with Dunmore. High-scoring matches seem to be the norm at present (think of France and England) but this one was built on outstanding defence from both sides, with enormous commitment in the tackle. While we were the slightly better team all through, it could have gone either way and really came down to small margins.
I high-tailed it out of Galway fairly rapidly and was in position to welcome the team bus home shortly after 9 pm. The bonfires were lit and the team, subs, extended panel and management carried the cup down the (one) street, to be met by a large group of their supporters, before heading into Mikeen’s for a night of well-deserved celebration.
As someone who has been in Creggs for nearly all my life, I can’t think of any better feeling than to see a cup – whatever sport it’s from – coming into the village, to see the players and followers delight in the achievement, and to see the genuine happiness that such success can bring. In a small village, whether it’s Creggs or Dunmore, it’s all about invoking the parish spirit, and signs were on it with the great support both clubs had in Galway on Sunday.
Creggs now have a cup final against Tuam to look forward to, while for Dunmore it’s pretty certain their time to win a cup or league is coming – and I have no doubt it will be sooner rather than later.
Driving up costs
I told you recently that the insurance on my car, despite my having no claims or any other negatives, took an almighty hike this year, going up by almost €300 from €630 to €925. When I asked why, I was simply told that it was just an increase – and that was that.
I didn’t do anything about it and stayed where I was even though figures showed that premiums, on average, only rose by 9% – which was a high enough increase anyway.
All of this came into my mind a week or so ago when figures released by the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland showed that almost 20,000 uninsured cars were seized in Ireland during 2025. The new insurance database allows the Gardaí to have almost instant access to the relevant information and they can identify uninsured vehicles in a matter of seconds.
If your car is seized you have to pay €125 for the first 24 hours, plus fees of €35 for every day’s storage after that! I presume you can’t get your car back until you produce a proper insurance cert so maybe some cars are never claimed back at all.
Anyway, it seems that even with this new technology there are still almost 100,000 uninsured drivers on the road. As long as they still carry on that way you and me and all insured drivers are paying €30 to €35 every year to cover their costs.
I have to admit I have little sympathy for people who drive uninsured vehicles, and now that I know they are costing me money, I have even less.
Of course it’s also a criminal offence, so maybe it’s time the courts came down harder on those who continually ignore the law and imposed stiffer sentences on those offenders. That might make them sit up and take notice.
And finally…
After two months membership of Omniplex in Roscommon, I have to admit that it has not been the best investment of my life, as to date, after just paying my third monthly instalment, I have only seen one film.
However, as Irish people, this week we are all basking in the fabulous success of Killarney’s Jessie Buckley as she becomes the first Irish actress to win Best Actress at the Oscars. Typical of me, I decided I’d go to see the film in question – Hamnet – this evening, only to find it’s no longer being shown.
Jessie’s Oscar win is huge for the entire country, but down in Kerry, where the Sam Maguire Cup and all the club All-Ireland football titles reside, they must be pinching themselves at all of this unprecedented success. Surely one of the Healy Raes will soon be elected to succeed Micheál Martin as Taoiseach! Watch this space!
‘Till next week,
bye for now
