McGrath, An interesting aside on The Bould Thady Quill. I heard an account of the song on RTE Radio a number of years ago and the person relating the story knew the Thady Quill of the song. He went on to say that the song was a skit on Thady as he was the direct opposite to the hero of our song, being a big inoffensive person.This kind of ironic humour is to be found in a few irish songs. And how about Johnny Thompson, this song was written after the accidental death during a match of the Glagow Celtic Goalkeeper. This happened around the mid 1930`s. Slan Ard Mhacha.