Greenfield vows to focus on one game at a time in battle for title
to lend a sympathetic ear to the bereaved and work their way through the egg and onion sandwiches.
Being offered an apartment, a plane ticket and a job in New York was too much to resist and at 19 he got his first taste of America, playing football for Monaghan. He didn’t drink and would sit outside in parks, waiting for his friends to leave a bar. One day, he started running. Three hours later his friends came out. He was still going.
Eventually, he started drinking. A Cavan man by the name of Paddy Reilly once asked him if he would buy a bar, ‘Reilly and Tully.’ He went out to Queen’s to look at it.
Regulars called it ‘The Bucket of Blood.’ There were holes in the floor. A woman was at the end of the bar feeding a cat raw ground beef.
“And then she would have a handful herself!” he roars.
He cleaned it up. Set a sheet of plywood on six cases of beer and made a stage for music. Attracted Irish girls into it, and soon the Irishmen followed. And that’s what he did — 10 bars bought, revived, and sold on, with ‘The Black Sheep’ his current bar.
All those years standing behind the counter in New York have shaped him. He has a joke for every occasion, polished like a Fabergé egg.
On taking over his first bar? “The owner wanted out. So he found the donkey. He found the donkey, and he gave me the cart.” His emigration?
“My sister was a nun, she left early and went to Africa on the missionaries. Fr Sean, he went to Brazil as a Missionary. And I went to New York to pray for them all!”
The abuse of alcohol that went on for decades?
“Now I am rolling with the foam roller. There was a time I was rolling with a bottle of Bud.”
The bipolar relationship between mammoth ultra-running sessions and the carnage that would follow?
“I did all those runs. And then I would celebrate them, but the celebrations got longer and longer.”
He’ll admit to the wild man bit. He could stew in the corner of his own bar for days.
“Sir, can I have a drink?’ “Get it yourself!”
He could clear a bar out. Every bone in his own body above the waist was broken at least once. Occasionally, guns made an appearance. A light fitting would be blown off. Holes in the wall.
The very first page of his book is his mugshot from April, 2010. He drove home in his truck and cleaned out a BMW and a Mercedes. Nobody was hurt beyond his pocket with $80,000 damage and his pride.
In the resultant case, the judge ordered him to attend AA. He went for a time and believes they do good work, but his AA?
“My AA was American AA; American Asphalt!
“All the time the judge was speaking, I was thinking I could have had four or five miles done on the road. I was thinking about the road and the gym. I could have had a couple hundred situps done.”
He went looking for danger too. His curiosity led him to double-job as a blackjack dealer. Escape routes were always planned in case of a bust. Ropes were strung from tall building to tall building. He always got away.
Alcohol-free for several years now, he is running for people with addictions. He trains twice a day, three or four hours in total.
He knows the contradiction in running a bar and choosing the sober life.
“I am surrounded by whiskey and beer, I can drink if I want. I come in each morning and say hello to the bottles, I wink at them, and that’s that,” he explains.
“I have the willpower, the determination and discipline not to touch drink. Because if I do, there is a very strong possibility that within a short space of time, I would die. I have powerful strong legs, but alcohol turns them to jelly. Down I would go.
“No man knows more about addiction than Tom McGrath at this stage,” he says.
“It’s difficult for me to say that. It breaks my heart to say that. But it is my last big run and I want to get as much out as possible that there is help, you can stop and life is beautiful — if you make it beautiful.” DUNBARTON’S Myles Greenfield insists his team will be taking nothing for granted even though they are roaring towards a hat-trick of Private Greens League Division One title wins.
With only six games remaining, the Gilford boys are six-anda-half points clear of Belmont, with Ballymena a further eight adrift of the Belfast side.
Things could change after today’s fixtures as Dunbarton are due to visit the erratic Pickie, while Belmont face a difficult assignment against Old Bleach at their Randalstown base.
Even though Dunbarton are on the scent of a League and Cup double success — they meet Ballymena in the PGL Senior Cup final on August 22 — Greenfield says his team will adopt a onegame-at-a-time policy.
“It’s a matter of chalking each game off at this time of the season,” he said. “We face a tricky test at Pickie this weekend. We beat them in the PGL Cup semi-final, so they’ll be after a bit of revenge, I’m sure.
“We’ve also difficult league games against Larne, Belmont and Old Bleach on the horizon, so we’ll be taking nothing for granted.”
It’s a similar scenario at the top of NIBA Division One where Bangor hold a three points advantage over nearest challengers Whitehead, but crucially, the Seasiders have a game in hand.
But before they address that outstanding fixture against Balmoral next Thursday night, Bangor must see off the challenge of Sydenham at Ward Park today.
Whitehead will also look to remain on their tails by taking a full quota of points at Lurgan.
Meanwhile, Daniel Donnan and Lara Reaney have been handed the captaincy of the Ireland team of six boys and six girls that will compete in the Tri-Nations Series against Scotland and Wales at Belmont on August 20-21.
Ireland U18 team: Laura Craig (Rushmere Rattlesnakes), Jamie Craig (Black Mountain Eagles), Daniel Donnan, capt, (Peninsular Panthers), Peter Haughey (Rushmere Rattlesnakes), Katherine Houston (East Coast Cougars), Jayden Kyle (East Coast Cougars), Zoe Minish (Rushmere Rattlesnakes), Sophie McIntyre (Roe Valley Leopards), Lara Reaney, capt, (Rushmere Rattlesnakes), Brad Stirling (Slemish Scorpions), Josh Whitney (Leinster Lions), Chloe Wilson (Rushmere Rattlesnakes). Reserves: Amy Carruth (Leinster Lions), Kyle Dunbar (Black Mountain Eagles), Dillon McElroy (Lough Neagh Sharks), Holly Walker (Black Mountain Eagles). Fixtures: PGL Division One: Pickie v Dunbarton, Ballymena v Salisbury, Ewarts v Falls, Old Bleach v Belmont.
NIBA Division One: Londonderry Park v Banbridge, Bangor v Sydenham, Lurgan v Whitehead, Donaghadee v Dundonald. Provincial Bowling Association Senior League: Cookstown v Ballymoney, Portrush v Coleraine.
❝ While the judge was speaking, I was thinking I could have had four or five miles done on the road