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A greeting from Seamus RaineyWe first met in the forties by the walls of St. Malachy's College. It seemed like prison when we stepped into that quad bounded by the wall of the other penitentiary on the Crumlin Road. I recognised a thick N. Antrim voice and when I discovered it was that of someone who came from a farm we immediately had something in common. Gerry had won a bursary on his entrance exam and in my innocence, I thought he was earmarked for the church. This held me in awe. There he was with brains and I with none and only the prayers of an Irish mother who thought that when you get your son inside those walls, wonderful things would happen. At that time the height of respectability in rural Ireland was a pump in the yard, a bull in the field and a son in Maynooth. When a ball was produced I soon discovered he was competitive but that was nothing to a hurling ball and stick. A good person to play with, but a "whore" to play against. Our friendship at St. Malachy's was theatened by the fact that Gerry would scale the heights academically while my studies were brought to a halt when it was dicovered I had been scaling walls to go to the ABC cinemas courtesy of a free from a member of the owners (the Curran family) who sat beside me in class. The following summer I played for the Dunloy hurlers against Glenarm known as the blood donors. The Glenarm team seemed to be made up of Mulvenna brothers and cousins who were aware of my friendship with Gerry and were easier on me than he would have been. That was then! Many years had passed when we met at the funeral of a mutual friend and so our friendship was renewed. When Gerry, Rosemary, Eithne and I meet, the men can indulge themselves to their hearts' content for the women do the driving! Happy birthday Gerry and many happy returns! Have a lovely evening with your family and we'll meet soon. Seamus Rainey |