The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

Uncle Owen and his
cousin Peter
Gallagher walk
past the remains of
Peter's old
Cornaroya home in
1992. Their fathers
raised families next
door to each other
in the early part of
the 20th century.
It was on that same trip, somewhere between
Eugene’s and Uncle Owen’s homes, that young Angie
learned a stinging lesson about Irish nettles when she
ventured into the roadside weeds to rescue a kitten. If Rick
had committed a transgression during the water fight, he
redeemed himself by bringing home a snapshot of a framed
picture that Uncle Owen kept in a prime location on his
fireplace mantle. It was of a young Patsy O’Brien, who was
delighted to confirm the connection with her uncle.
IN THE PUB
During Pat’s visits with his uncle, they would
sometimes go out to eat or grab a pint. It was one of those
times when Uncle Owen shared a lesson in how he might
earn himself a drink in a bar when he was short of cash.
Uncle Owen said he would take out a small coin, maybe 2p
– as long as it was less than the price of the drink – and
brag to the person next to him that he could down that
man’s drink without touching the glass. If he couldn’t,
Uncle Owen said, the man could have the coin. If the
fellow took the challenge, Uncle Owen would quickly pick
up the glass, drink the beverage and admit he had lost the
bet. He added it was wise to choose someone with a sense
of humor, or at least someone smaller than you.
During another visit to a small pub in town, Pat
learned another useful lesson about the Irish. On a Sunday,
Uncle Owen told him, it was required that bars shut down
for an hour or two in the early afternoon. The idea was that
patrons would take the time to go home for dinner with
their families. When the time came that Sunday afternoon,
the closing was announced and the doors were locked, but
no one left. That was generally how it worked, Uncle Owen
told Pat as they ordered another pint. Rather than heading
home, patrons accepted they were locked in the pub for the
next hour or so.
The next story takes us from the pub to the
graveyard. Uncle Jim had at times dug a grave or two to
oblige the sisters at the Convent of Mercy. And Uncle
Owen was no stranger to the shovel himself. He told Pat
that his Aunt Maggie Sheridan wrote to him (maybe in the
1950s) asking if Owen would dig her grave, probably at the
Abbey Cemetery. Uncle Owen complied with the request
for Maggie, who was his mother's sister and had never
married. It was not the only grave work Uncle Owen did.
He remembered another time he was digging one and found
a skull with a hole in its back. He thought it might have
been the remains of a brother of “Peter Gallagher Next
Door.” That cousin of Uncle Owen’s father, who also
happened to be named Owen, fell to his death from a
ladder while repairing his sister Anne King's thatched roof,
hence the chance the damaged skull was his.
DIFFICULT PARTING
The stories Uncle Owen shared with Owen and
Lynn on their 1993 honeymoon were not so colorful. He
did mention that he and a friend had once put out a fire in a
chimney at the Convent of Mercy, averting what could have
been a real disaster. And when he rode with Owen and
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