Con Houlihan passes away at 86

[eamo]

Yeah Slim he wrote for the Evening Press. I've heard journalists saying all day that he drank in Mulligan's but his home was the White Horse on Burgh Quay .... where his wages were paid in behind the counter and he drew money from there for his daily necessities. He wrote his articles on Butcher's paper. He famously coined the phrase "the black pearl of Inchicore" to describe Paul McGrath. Needless to say..... I share his views of his fellow journalists.

On one of the few occasions I was in Mulligans he was up at the counter having a pint. I think he was a very shy man. I loved his column in the Evening Press.

[Slim Buddha]

Yeah Slim he wrote for the Evening Press. I've heard journalists saying all day that he drank in Mulligan's but his home was the White Horse on Burgh Quay .... where his wages were paid in behind the counter and he drew money from there for his daily necessities. He wrote his articles on Butcher's paper. He famously coined the phrase "the black pearl of Inchicore" to describe Paul McGrath. Needless to say..... I share his views of his fellow journalists.

The White Horse was famously an "early house". I have no idea what it is like now, but in the early 80s, it was a classic spit-on-the-floor joint.

I remember being there early one morning around then when two American tourists strayed into it as the barman was bottling up. The husband was smoking and asked where the ashtray was, since the barman had yet to get around to setting them out,

The barman looked at the American and said "You're standing in it"

It was that sort of place.

[Kev Bar]

On one of the few occasions I was in Mulligans he was up at the counter having a pint. I think he was a very shy man. I loved his column in the Evening Press.

Could have been just idle bar-talk, but I recall asking the barman why Con always spoke quietly with his hand over his mouth..and the answer
"He has terrible fooking halitosis,"

Slim: The White House was bought by Paddy McCormack of McCormacks Monkstown and was tarted up. But that was mid-Tiger, it looks like it is on the decline again.

But down at heel tack is never as good as pure honest phlegm.

[PaddyJoe]

Isn't there a bust of him outside the Palace bar? He must have spent a few happy hours in there?

[joekilgobinet]

Palace Bar - great writer's pub Kavanagh, Flann O'Brien etc.

[PaddyJoe]

Palace Bar - great writer's pub Kavanagh, Flann O'Brien etc.

Had an odd pint in there years ago living in Dublin. That and the place on Abbey St where you went downstairs to the cellar and the barman was about the grumpiest human being it was possible to imagine..ahhh...flowing tide

[joekilgobinet]

Some fine old pubs in the Capital all the same, O'Donoghues, Davy Byrnes, Mulligans, Paddy Cullens.etc etc

[Sam Lord]

Had an odd pint in there years ago living in Dublin. That and the place on Abbey St where you went downstairs to the cellar and the barman was about the grumpiest human being it was possible to imagine..ahhh...flowing tide

There was an old horror behind the bar in Keoghs that easily held that title. I was barred twice and I'm the most innocuous person on the planet. Also managed to get barred from the Bailey but that was on purpose.

My favourite Dublin pubs are Grogans, Nearys, The long Hall, Keoghs, Mulligans, The Place, and on Baggot Street, Toners and (yes.. sigh) Dahoney & Nesbit where you used to run into TD's. And the place up near the Phoenix Park gates with the square bar and McDaids. The spelling of some of those names is, I suspect, suspect.

[joekilgobinet]

Snippet from yesterday's Sunday World
"One pal also told the tale of how Con punched Eamon Dunphy in Mulligan's many years ago. They said: "Dunphy said something to Con. Next thing we all looked around and Dunphy was on the floor.To this day nobody knows what was said."


Con Houlihan and his partner Harriet Duffin


The late Con Houlihan is remembered yesterday at Croke Park

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking45.html

[Slim Buddha]

Could have been just idle bar-talk, but I recall asking the barman why Con always spoke quietly with his hand over his mouth..and the answer
"He has terrible fooking halitosis,"

Slim: The White House was bought by Paddy McCormack of McCormacks Monkstown and was tarted up. But that was mid-Tiger, it looks like it is on the decline again.

But down at heel tack is never as good as pure honest phlegm.

I take it, Kev, we are talking about the White Horse on Burgh Quay and not the White House on the Malahide Road at the bottom of Griffith Avenue.

Glad to hear it is on the decline again. It could never possibly be a trophy pub.
I imagine, however, it has some way to go before it attains the level of grime which characterised it in the 1980s.

[Kev Bar]

I take it, Kev, we are talking about the White Horse on Burgh Quay and not the White House on the Malahide Road at the bottom of Griffith Avenue.

Glad to hear it is on the decline again. It could never possibly be a trophy pub.
I imagine, however, it has some way to go before it attains the level of grime which characterised it in the 1980s.

We are, yeah.

[Kev Bar]

There was an old horror behind the bar in Keoghs that easily held that title. I was barred twice and I'm the most innocuous person on the planet. Also managed to get barred from the Bailey but that was on purpose.

My favourite Dublin pubs are Grogans, Nearys, The long Hall, Keoghs, Mulligans, The Place, and on Baggot Street, Toners and (yes.. sigh) Dahoney & Nesbit where you used to run into TD's. And the place up near the Phoenix Park gates with the square bar and McDaids. The spelling of some of those names is, I suspect, suspect.

Hmmm.
Must have insulted you to your face then.
How many years ago?
If I say sorry, will you be nice?

Oh...Ryans of Parkgate St...famously mentioned by the Dubliners when they headed off on a national tour: "No stopping for pints until we get to Ryans."

[Stanley 2]

Con used to stroll through Donnybrook and stop at Kielys for a snifter on his way to the Schools rugby matches in the afternoons, must have seen every interpro/intl player in Leinster at a young age for the last 40 years.

[Kev Bar]

First: I include myself in this.

Obviously it has been sparked off by the death of an admired figure.

But there is a sadness and a timbre of a la recherche du temps perdu of distinctly middle aged men off this thread.

But I suppose there's nothing wrong with reality speaking out.

Now that I think of it, has there been a female voice, middle-aged or otherwise, on this thread?

And kids would hardly know Con.

[Stanley 2]

First: I include myself in this.

Obviously it has been sparked off by the death of an admired figure.

But there is a sadness and a timbre of a la recherche du temps perdu of distinctly middle aged men off this thread.

But I suppose there's nothing wrong with reality speaking out.

Now that I think of it, has there been a female voice, middle-aged or otherwise, on this thread?

And kids would hardly know Con.

Would not have bothered Robert Redford in the drooling good looks stakes and whilst he had a grasp for all competitor's feelings would not exactly match modern females's touchy, feely, moody, senses.