BALLYCONNELL FAIRTwo brothers bold called Mick and Pat who lived near Derrylin,
They had a darlin' springing cow that they called Mary Jane.
But hay was scarce and cash was scarce and both their suits threadbare,
So Mary Jane, she had to go to Ballyconnell fair.The morning of the fair arrived - a shocking fog and mist,
Came rolling down the hills of Doon, you couldn't see your fist.
Says Pat to Mick, "You walk in front, and I'll bring up the rear,
With Mary Jane between us both, to Ballyconnell fair."At Gortaree now Mary Jane, she played an awful trick,
She slipped into a by-road there unknown to Pat and Mick.
She ate a feed from Drumm's haystack and then she made her lair,
While Pat and Mick they welted on to Ballyconnell fair.They reached the Green at half-past eight approaching daylight,
The fog had lifted all at once the drovers hove in sight.
Says Pat to Mick, "Where's Mary Jane, I can't see her no where?
By the Holy Lord, it was me you drove to Ballyconnell fair."Now both men's dead, God rest their souls, but still the story's told,
Around the fires in Derrylin, enjoyed by young and old.
And children ask when going to bed, and dashing up the stair,
"Was it Pat drove Mick, or Mick drove Pat to Ballyconnell fair?"
Source: "Cut the Loaf: Irish Children's Songs," Carmel O Boyle, Mercier Press, 1986.
"Ballyconnell Fair" was written by Sandy McConnell of Bellanaleck, Co Fermanagh in the early 1960's.@Irish @kids
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