Back in early January 1993, the Tipperary Under-21 Football Final between Aherlow and Nenagh was played out on a cold and windy day. In the annals of Irish culture, or even GAA history, it wasn’t much of an event , but yet, the legacy of the game lives on to this day.
Well, not so much the game as the coverage of it. As is often the case, a local cameraman videoed the match and got a local GAA fan to provide commentary. Eddie Moroney had been on the beer the night before, and was feeling a bit ropey on the day, but his passion for the game soon bucked his spirits up. His commentary was hardly objective – listen to his plea for Aherlow to get a penalty - and the quality of the recording was poor but it was funny, and Eddie’s no-holds-barred turn of phrase earned him the sobriquet Effin Eddie. Soon, copies of the video were being sent around the country [without Eddie’s knowledge], and Eddie became a cult hit, long before the age of the internet.
Around the same time, two comedians, Jon Kenny & Pat Shortt, who performed as D’Unbelievables, launched a brand of comedy that bore more than a passing resemblance to Eddie’s commentary . To be fair, Shortt and Kenny had latched onto a brand of comedy that really wasn’t catered for in Ireland at the time – rural in outlook and centred around the GAA. And both of them hailed from county Limerick, from places that had no shortage of local colourful characters [and not far from Aherlow either]. Sketches like Back of the Church and Pep Talk don’t seem so exagerated once you’ve heard Eddie in action.
D’Unbelievables were a huge success in Ireland, and after they split, Pat Shortt went on to create the Killinascully TV series, and had a number one single with the Jumbo Breakfast Roll song last year.
You can find a load of excerpts from Eddie’s commentary on YouTube or you can hear short excerpts here. Last year someone compiled a brief and funny summary and put it to animation and it is hilarious. Eddie didn’t make any money out of the vidoes or indeed, any of the comedy that he inspired, but he is selling DVDs of the match (details on where to get it here).
As it happens, Eddie isn’t the only man with a gift of the gab in his family. His brother led a walk into the Galtees during the Ballyhoura Walking Festival last year, and stopped in the middle of it to serendade the assembled hikers [it was the only time he stopped talking] – that walk began and ended in his family’s cosy pub in Aherlow. Ballyhoura is one of the best walking festivals in the country – great walks, lovely scenery and a very friendly organizing committee. As a walking club, the Ballyhoura ‘Bears’ have a reputation for setting a cracking pace and coming home first.
The Ballyhoura Walking festival is on this May Bank Holiday weekend, as is the Leenaun Walking festival out in Connemara. Spoiled for choice.