Class night for boys and girls of ’77

THE class of ’77 at Dingle CBS produced a crop of lads who went on to become teachers, businessmen, farmers, council workers, an accountant, a surgeon, an editor, a fisherman… But possibly their greatest achievement is that they are in fact still going on – 40 years later they’re all alive, well able to enjoy a pint and recall schooldays that are now in the distant past.

They did exactly that on Saturday night in the Marina Inn, where they were joined by some of their contemporaries from the convent’s class of ’77 for a reunion that started early-ish and continued until bar owner Jackie Kavanagh reluctantly observed the clock and sent his former classmates home.

Of the 44 students who started out together in the CBS, 19 sat the Leaving Cert there – the others having left to go to ‘The Tech’ or various boarding schools. The most dramatic departure from the class was when Mike Murphy’s education came to an abrupt end at the age of 14 or 15 after he responded in kind to one wallop too many from a heavy-handed Christian Brother. David Lovett demonstrated how memorable – and generally admired - that event was when he walked into the reunion, saw Mike Murphy for the first time in many years and declared: “How’re you Mikey? You floored Brother Dowd. You were ahead of your time!”

Mike, who travelled from London for the reunion, was one of the relatively few emigrants from the class. Another visiting emigrant was John Moore from Green Street, who is at the top of his game in the business world, lives in Windsor and has the queen of England as a neighbour. With two British Army battalions stationed nearby, he reckons it’s a very safe place to live.

The reunion was organised by John ‘Diony’ O’Connor, Liam Óg O’Connor, Gearóid Mac Gearailt and Seamus Mac Gearailt who, in the brief speech that punctuated the flow of conversation, noted the inevitable truth that time flies. He recalled when their teacher Caoimhín Ó Cinnéide told the Leaving Cert class ‘this year will go slow, but every year will go faster after that’. “Ceapas, ‘cén sórt stail amadán atá ansan’, but they do,” he said.

It means there won’t be long to wait for the promised 50th reunion when, “le cúnamh Dé” all will still be alive, drinking pints and looking back on the good (and even older) old days.