Ballyshannon Horse Race made National News on Falgarragh Race Course

Site of Racecourse at Falgarragh now St. Benildus Avenue. Falgarragh Park was opened in 1936 by Minister Sean T. Ó Kelly who later became President of Ireland. ( in the centre on the right under the umbrella)

Sunday 5th April 2020. The story of one of the most unusual horseraces ever in Ballyshannon and in Ireland is in today's blog.  Read about horseracing and more at Falgarragh race course now the location of St. Benildus Avenue. Includes opening of Falgarragh Park and two verses of "The Flight to Falgarragh" by local man  Dan McCauley, a popular ballad in the 1940s. 

Horse Racing Dispute in Ballyshannon  Made National News

The green’s ahead: Now, now the red!

Now neck and and neck they ride

  Like flying meteors on they come

  Adown the green hillside.

                             Francie Daly. 

                             Ballyshannon poet

A popular venue for horse racing in the town was the area now occupied by St. Benildus Avenue which was called Falgarragh Park until recent times. The verse above from Ballyshannon poet and character Francie Daly captures brilliantly the excitement of a horse race and no doubt he attended races in Ballyshannon in his day.

In a race held in Ballyshannon  in the 18th century, two horses were to race each other. Both horses were to leap a stone wall on the course but a boy who rode one of them as a “feather weight”, on coming to the wall, got off, leaped his horse over, climbed the wall and mounted again, and came in first. But his right to the race was contested because his horse did not carry him over the wall. The final decision was left to the Turf Club who ruled that the result was valid, as the horse had a saddle on its back when it jumped the fence and that this was sufficient as a “feather weight”. This incident was reported in The Freeman’s Journal of June 13th, 1793 and indcates that racing was held in the town  well over two hundred years ago.

 The White Hill at Sheegus and Rowantree Hill on the Belleek road were also popular  horse racing venues .

90 Years ago. Ballyshannon Races were held on Monday 5th August 1929 on the old Falgarragh Horse Racing Course.

This was in the days before the current houses were erected in 1936 and races were frequently held on this site.  The five race card had a prize fund of £80- a sizeable sum 90 years ago. The racing programme was as follows:

1.        2 o’clock. – The Assaroe Plate. (Open Handicap.) Value £15. Distance, 1^1/₄ miles. Entry Fee, 10s.
2.        2.30 o’clock. – The Farmers’ Plate. Value £10. Distance, 1 Mile. Entry Fee, 7s 6d. (Catch Weights).
3.        3 o’clock – The Traders’ Plate. Value £25. Distance, 1^1/₂ Miles. Entry Fee, £1.
4.        3.30 o’clock. – The Erne Plate. Value £15. Distance, 1^1/₂ Miles. Entry Fee, 10s.
5.        4 o’clock. – The Ballyshannon Plate. Value £15. Distance, 1 Mile. Entry Fee, 10s.
The Farmers’ Plate was for horses the bona-fide property of Owners (Farmers within a 10-mile radius of Ballyshannon for three months prior to the date of the races.)
Forms and full particulars about all the races were available from the Secretary. Special Reduced Fares on the Great Northern and Donegal Railways and all buses.

These house in the Back Street were tossed when the new houses with modern amenities were built in Falgarragh Park. Families like Tom Gallagher's moved from the Back Street to Falgarragh.

Falgarragh Park Opened in 1936

The second largest housing scheme in the Ulster counties of Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan was opened at Falgarragh Park Ballyshannon by Sean T.O’Kelly, Minister for Local Government and Public Health  on Monday 9^th March 1936. Mr. O’Kelly had played an important role in the 1916 Rising, twenty years before, and was later to become the second President of Ireland. On his visit he firstly inspected the new housing scheme at East Rock which had recently been built on the site of the Rock Barracks. Fr. Timoney blessed the houses and the Minister inspected and complimented the workmanship in their construction. He then visited the Mall Hosiery where the proprietor Mr. Swan presented him with a beautiful cardigan made in the factory. He also visited the Mall Quay and surrounding areas where he praised the new seating, shelter and dance platform recently completed as part of the Town Improvement Scheme. He also visited the Mall Laundry where he was welcomed by the proprietors Mr. & Mrs. M. Ward. 

Official Opening of Falgarragh Park (now called St. Benildus Avenue)

At 12.30 Sean T.O’Kelly attended the official opening ceremony of the 80 houses at Falgarragh park which he described as “the most beautiful he had yet seen”. The Minister remarked on the numbers of houses that needed to be replaced all over Ireland to stop the spread of tuberculosis and infant mortality and welcomed this new housing development in Ballyshannon.  Present with the Minister were local clergy Dean McGinley, Fr. McMullin and Fr. McGroarty who blessed the houses. Also present were Cecil Stephens, Town Clerk, Mr. Lysaght Commissioner in charge of the Town commissioners, M.F. Irwin C.E. Clerk of Works, W.J. Doherty architect of the scheme, reps. of contractor Kilcawley, Maloney and Taylor Ballisadare Co. Sligo, Dr. Gordon, Major Myles T.D. and Brian Brady T.D. The tape of number 77 was then cut by the Minister who inspected the house.
(A fuller account of the Falgarragh Housing Scheme and the East Rock Housing Scheme are contained in the book “Ballyshannon Genealogy and History” available in local shops. see below for details.)

The following two  verses from a poem called "The Flight to Falgarragh"  which has twelve verses and a number of verses are parodies of William Allingham’s “Adieu to Ballyshanny”. The poem was written by Dan McCauley who had fought in World War 1 and whose family, were one of a number of families, who left condemned houses in places like Bachelor’s Walk and the Back Street to live in the new houses which had all amenities.

The Flight to Falgarragh

‘Twas in an old thatched cabin

With its walls as white as snow,

Where mother dear, (God rest her soul),

Some forty years ago-

Told me of some noble deeds,

How the great Red Hugh did turn

The Saxon from Tirconaill

On the Winding Banks of Erne.

And now we have a Housing Scheme

To brighten up the town:

We’ll clear out all slum dwellings

And pull the old shacks down,

A brand new house they’re giving us,

              And its Finn Hill turf we’ll burn,

Away in grey Falgarragh

By the Winding Banks of Erne.

Limited edition quality hardback with dust jacket as above available when things return to normal in A Novel Idea and Local Hands Ballyshannon and Four Masters Bookshop Donegal Town. Also available for postage from anthonyrbegley@hotmail.com