This I cannot resist!!

UP TIPP! Come on TIPPERARY, watch the puck-out!!

"Slievenamon" is the Tipperary Anthem and is roared with gusto at every Tipp hurling match. Hurling is our national game and our national religion. We are Catholics by accident and Hurlers by choice. Tipp is one of the foremost and most famous hurling counties and this song is our sacred song.

Dominic Behan was a great man but he also liked to put his own personal touch to "facts". Slievenamon comes from the Irish language; Sliabh-na-mBan or to give it it's proper full title "Sliabh na mBan Feimhenn" or "the mountain of the women of Feimheann"
"Sliabh"; pronounced shleeve means "Mountain"
"na"; pronounced na (believe it or not) means "of the"
"mBan"; pronounced mon means "Women"

White Mountain would be "Silabh Bán" or "An Silabh Bán" and Behan may have been genuinely mistaken as the "Whith Mountain" myth has been fooling people for some time. In fact Sliabh-na-mBan and the surrounding area figures prominently in the many of the legends of "Finn McCool" which predate Christianity and in fact the highest point of the mountain is known as "Suí Finn" or "Finn's Seat".

Here the words of Slievenamon as written by Charles J. Kickham. Local legend has it that the song was inspired by his cousin Catherine Carew. The line "To see our flag unrolled"... is very significant this year as it is the 150th anniversary of the flying of the Irish Tricolour, our national flag. It was unrolled for the first time on Slievenamon on the 16th July in 1848 by Thomas Francis Meagher at an enormus protest/rebellion meeting. The flag was inspired by the French Tricolour and signifies peace "White" between the "Green" nationalists and "Orange" the followers of William of Orange or Unionists.

THE MAID OF SLIEVENAMON

Alone, all alone, by the wave-washed strand
All alone in the crowded hall;
The hall it is gay, and the waves they are grand,
But my heart is not here at all.
It flies far away, by night and by day
To the times and the joys that are gone-
Ah! I never can forget, the maiden I met,
In the valley of Slievenamon.

It was not the grace of her queenly air,
Nor her cheek of the rose's glow,
Nor her soft black eyes, not her flowing hair
Nor was it her lily white brow; 'Twas the soul of truth, and of melting ruth,
And the smile like a summer dawn,
That sold my heart away one mild May day,
In the valley of Slievenamon.

In the festive hall - by the star watched store -
My restless spirit cries -
"My love - Oh, my love - shall I never see you more?
And my land - will you ever uprise?"
By night and by day, I ever, ever pray -
While lonely my life flows on -
To see our flag unrolled, and my true love to unfold
In the valley of Slievenamon.

Charles J. Kickham

Sing and enjoy and once again: UP TIPP!

Frank McGrath
Nenagh Singers Circle (Nenagh is in Tipperary)