Brian O’Neill – Page 66 – Slugger O'Toole

Photo of the day – Arbour Hill

Brian O'Neill on October 14, 2014, 4:36 pm

| Readers 270

Photo by Redmum, taken 12 October 2014 The military cemetery at Arbour Hill prison is the burial place of 14 of the executed leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. Among those buried there are Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Major John MacBride. The leaders were executed in Kilmainham Gaol and their bodies were transported to Arbour Hill for burial. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is …

Photo of the day – mountain rescue team

Brian O'Neill on October 13, 2014, 12:17 pm

| Readers 200

Photo by: Marty O’Connor The North West Mountain Rescue team coming of Croagh Patrick on reek Sunday. Every team on the island attends to provide cover for up to 20,000 pilgrims climbing the mountain on the last Sunday of July. The exercise starts around 3.00 the night before when the teams deploy, A team can deal with three or four causality’s on the day who are either air lifted off or carried depending on the injury involved. What your photo …

Photo of the day – “The Milky Way” above Moor Lough, County Tyrone

Brian O'Neill on October 12, 2014, 8:00 am

| Readers 478

Photo by MNM Photography, Taken on September 26, 2014 The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy some 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter, which contains 100–400 billion stars. It may contain at least as many planets as well. As we all worry about if Stormont will collapse, who can march where etc etc it does no harm to remember that we are one of 7 billion people on a little planet in the infinite universe. Is …

Ireland, 1912-1923 An Island in Turmoil & Transition A series of 7 talks and debates

Brian O'Neill on October 11, 2014, 11:34 am

| Readers 760

I love a good talk and debate, it’s like the theatre only cheaper and more interesting. In this decade of centenaries there is an abundance of talks for history junkies. Recently I found out about this series of talks happening in Belfast. I missed the first few but will defiantly be at the rest of them. Tom Hartley and Philip Orr are both very engaging speakers. Below are the details of the talks, for context I have left in the earlier talks. Ireland, …

Photo of the day – band parade

Brian O'Neill on October 11, 2014, 11:14 am

| Readers 571

An atmospheric photo by Roger Bradley of a band parade in Banbridge, County Down. Taken on September 12, 2014 Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about …

Photo of the day – Alan McBride

Brian O'Neill on October 10, 2014, 5:27 pm

| Readers 326

Photo taken by Brian O’Neill at the Ulster Museum, Sept 2014 Alan McBride is the Centre Co-ordinator of the WAVE Trauma Centre in Belfast. His wife Sharon was among nine people killed by the IRA in the Shankill bomb in 1993. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of …

Photo of the day – Nell McCafferty

Brian O'Neill on October 9, 2014, 1:11 pm

| Readers 390

The journalist Nell McCafferty at Queens University Belfast, May 2014. Photo by: Brian O’Neill A photo I took of the incendiary Nell McCafferty enjoying a smoke break. Even at 70 she is still as funny, volatile and argumentative as ever. I wonder could we get her for slugger… Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards …

Photo of the day – busker

Brian O'Neill on October 8, 2014, 9:34 pm

| Readers 142

Busker in Castle Place, Belfast – by DavyMac A nice photo from Davy. The busker seems to be the only one ‘in the moment’ while everyone else rushes around. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I …

Photo of the day – Biker

Brian O'Neill on October 7, 2014, 5:16 pm

| Readers 233

Biker by Mickey Rooney A seriously impressive beard and whiskers on a member of the Knitting Club Scooter Club getting ready for a ride organised by the Bad Samaritans Scooter Club. The photo was taken before a bike trip from Derry/L’Derry around Inishowen last Sunday. I have never been on a scooter in my life but I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Sunday than tootling around Donegal on a scooter. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site …

Photo of the day – Catalan Independence Protest At Belfast City Hall

Brian O'Neill on October 6, 2014, 2:37 pm

| Readers 466

Photo by Belfast Snapper taken Saturday October the 4th 2014 Flag protests are no stranger to City Hall but for variety here is one in support of Catalan independence. Recently 1.8 million people took to the streets of Barcelona to demand independence, more than the entire population of Northern Ireland – impressive. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend …

Photo of the day – Betsy on Bearnagh

Brian O'Neill on October 5, 2014, 3:54 pm

| Readers 335

Photo by Billy Mol A nice spiritual photo for Sunday. Billy Mol perfectly captures the sun breaking through the rocks in the Mournes. Slieve Bearnagh (from the Irish: Sliabh Bearna) is a mountain in the Mourne Mountains. Its summit is crowned by a number of rocky tors. The Mourne Wall crosses the summit of Slieve Bearnagh east to west. Paths lead to the cols on either side of the mountain, namely Pollaphuca (“pool of the púca”) to the west and …

Photo of the day – Tony MacAulay Booklaunch

Brian O'Neill on October 4, 2014, 12:01 pm

| Readers 135

Tony MacAulay reading from his new book ‘All Growed Up: What Breadboy Did at University’ at No Alibis Bookshop Belfast – Sept 2014. Photo by Brian O’Neill All Growed Up is the third book in Tony’s popular series about growing up in Belfast during the 70’s and 80’s. It is the sequel to Paperboy and Breadboy. If you have not already done so, the books are well worth a read. Also worth plugging is the excellent No Alibis bookshop, which …

Photo of the day – Golden Girls

Brian O'Neill on October 3, 2014, 11:36 am

| Readers 233

Photo by Alan Hopps – A herd of jersey cows graze contentedly on a hillside in Jerrettspass I was tempted to call this ‘cows take over the Windows XP desktop’. As we lumber from one political crisis to the next and it is doom all round it is nice to concentrate on the things we are good at. Ireland North & South produces the best diary products in the world, all that rain gives us lush green grass and happy cows. It is well …

Photo of the day – Tango in St Anne’s Square

Brian O'Neill on October 2, 2014, 7:00 am

| Readers 86

This is one of the photos I took at this year’s Culture Night. The Belfast Argentine Tango Society was putting on a demonstration in St Anne’s Square. I don’t think the Free Presbyterians would approve but the crowd on Culture night was appreciative. To quote the recently departed Rev Ian Paisley “The dancing of the world, hugging the other sex, set to music, is sensual, and clearly caters to the lust of the flesh” – indeed. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger …

Photo of the day – Lough Neagh at Sunset

Brian O'Neill on October 1, 2014, 7:00 am

| Readers 255

An idyllic Photo of Lough Neagh by Charles Murray Lough Neagh is the largest lake in Northern Ireland, supplying forty percent of its water; the biggest on the island of Ireland, the biggest by area in the United Kingdom, and the biggest by area in the British Isles. With an area of 151 square miles (392 km2), it is the largest lake on the Island of Ireland, the fifteenth largest freshwater lake within the European Union and is ranked thirty-first in the List …

Photo of the day – Puppy Love…

Brian O'Neill on September 30, 2014, 10:20 am

| Readers 184

Here is a photo to melt the heart of even the most cynical slugger commenter. Rodney Harrison took this lovely photo last Sunday on the East Strand in Portrush. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I …

Photo of the day – The Duke of York Bar

Brian O'Neill on September 29, 2014, 6:35 pm

| Readers 1241

This is a new feature from Slugger where we will be showcasing the best in local photography. This is a lovely photo of one of Belfast’s most famous watering holes. Gerry Adams once pulled pints here as a barman, and many a journalist, student and politicians have propped up the bar over the years. The owner Willie Jack made it through the bad times and now he is getting his reward, the place is rammed every weekend. Willie has expanded his …

New feature highlight: Subscribe to Slugger by email

Brian O'Neill on September 8, 2014, 2:27 pm

| Readers 166

One of the features we added to the site in the recent revamp is you can now subscribe to Slugger by email. To use this feature just add your email address to the subscribe box on the right side: Once registered we will email you every time a new post is put on Slugger. We email you the full content of the post so it is very useful for catching up with the site when you have a few …

Welcome to the new Slugger website!

Brian O'Neill on July 9, 2014, 3:11 pm

| Readers 1185

Hi folks, I have been working with Mick to revamp the site. Don’t panic: we have kept the general look and feel of the site. The changes are mostly under the bonnet. New features include: Responsive design: the site will now scale to your screen, so you can now easily read slugger on your mobile. New comments system: the old system was getting extremely difficult to manage, so we have switched over to disqus to power the comments. Disqus has …

Sisters receive 'death by knife' threat

Brian O'Neill on March 22, 2005, 12:00 am

| Readers 0

Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.