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Something fishy in rugby showdown
07.10.11
by Linda McGrory
THERE could be something fishy about Irish rugby
fans tomorrow morning as some try to hook a sneaky
drink with an all-day liquor licence.
A pub with a fisherman's licence can serve booze
from 7am but strict conditions apply. Firstly, you
have to be a fisherman to be served and secondly,
you must be on your way out to sea or have just
stepped ashore.
Greencastle fishing village has two such licences -
Kealey's and the Sean Tí. |
Long-time landlady,
Margaret Kealey, whose son Larry now runs the bar,
said while the licence did not cover Irish rugby
fans generally, it would certainly cover
rugby-loving fishermen.
"It covers you to serve one drink or a hot beverage
to someone coming in from the sea. We used to be
busy here with the licence before the salmon fishing
ended about seven years ago," she said.
"But we won't refuse a drink to anybody on Saturday
morning as long as they are fishermen coming in from
the sea - who also want to watch the rugby," she
quipped.
Traditionally, the fisherman’s liquor licence
covered 23-hours of opening |
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Margaret Kealey. |
a day, with a
'sanitation hour' for cleaning the bar and toilets
between 1am and 2am. Fisherman's liquor licences
granted to pubs recently, however, including
Kealey's, now cover the 18-hour period from 7am
until 1am.
So, if a sou'wester is hard to find and you can't
bear to wipe a herring over your hair, how else can
rugby fans get a whiff of the sea about them
tomorrow.
"They could always pull on a pair of welly boots and
some oil-skin trousers and hope the local guards
don't tackle them," offered former merchant seaman,
Seamus Bovaird, from Moville. |
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