Name

Michael Daniel Sweeney

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In what era were you brought up in Doaghbeg

Born in 1989, so the 1990s and 2000s

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What is your earliest memories of Doaghbeg

I remember being in Doherty's shop when I was very young and I also

remember my first day at primary school.  I would have a relatively decent

memory but nothing major stands out that would be out of the ordinary.  I also

remember my 4th birthday party at home with a lot of the younger Doaghbeg

contingent, there was a chocolate fish on the cake and I was terrified of it. 

There's photos floating about somewhere of the party.

I also remember my class mates James Moston and Patrick Durden joining the

school in high infants.  Since I was the only person in my class I was delighted to

get some company.  Patrick had the same 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' school bag as me too. 

I remember the football matches that used to happen above our homeplace where we would have between 20-30 people there.  I nutmegged Brian Joe Carr one day and took the ball around Andrew McAteer to score a goal another evening.  I used to call up to O'Briens too to play with some toys they had, Mary (RIP) was always very good to me, she always got me a birthday card as well. 

I remember washing jam off a piece of bread in the bathroom as I didn't like jam and I also remember my father Eddie forgetting me in Kerrykeel one day!

We used to play 'house' on the land behind Benny and Tessie McAteer's house and up on the 'knowe'  Those were great locations, there was almost like tunnels made through whin bushes in order to get up onto a height behind where Art Nanny has his shed and it was a great place for exploring.

I remember the day a helicopter landed in Doaghbeg after a suspicious device was found on Doaghbeg beach, there is a photo of myself, Johnny Martin and Francine McAteer on the Doaghbeg Facebook page.  I got some sweets from the shop after it.  

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Who is your immediate family (parents, siblings etc)?  Can you tell us a bit about them?

My father is Eddie Sweeney who would be well known in Fanad.  His father Daniel died in 1980 so I never got the chance to meet him.  I have fond memories of Eddie's mother Bridget, originally Bridget Kelly from Carryblagh.  She was a gentle soul and very knowledgeable.  We used to visit her regularly in her small house in Milford (as you head from the town towards the football pitch).  It was a one bedroom house but it suited her down to the ground.  A few of my school mates from the Loreto in Milford lived in an estate behind her house and said she used to give them money for sweets.  That was the type of her.  Anytime we visited she always put on a spread.  My dad used to fall asleep the odd time in the house which was funny.

My brother Christy has recently moved back to the Fanad area with his wife Aisling.  They have two boys.  Hopefully they develop an interest in local history in years to come.

Eddie has five sisters, two of which have passed away - Kathleen in 2003 and Anna in 2015.  Anna was a great laugh and she used to visit Doaghbeg with her husband Liam every summer for two weeks.  That was a very exciting time for us.  Anna was blunt but in a very funny way and had a good wit about her.  I would also have been about my Auntie Mary's house in Kerrykeel growing up and was down in Youghal twice at my auntie Anna's house. 

Eddie's other sisters - Sheila Byrne lives in Dublin, Vera in Australia and Mary (Martin) in Kerrykeel.   I also keep in touch with my aunt Sheila through the Doaghbeg History group chat.  I've only met Vera a handful of times.

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Who were your godparents?  Can you tell us a bit about them?

My aunt Kathleen Sweeney (Eddie's sister) and my uncle Gerard Begley. 

Kathleen sadly passed away in 2003 after a battle with cancer.  She was a great women.  Incredibly witty and likable and she loved her trips back to Fanad.  She died the day before Donegal played Armagh in the All Ireland semi final in 2003 if I recall correctly.  She used to take presents and food back to us anytime she visited and I remember she had Easter eggs one year but they got confiscated at the border - might have been something to do with foot and mouth or some other epidemic that was happening.  She also got me a Newcastle tracksuit for my communion.  I also remember one morning after Kathleen had a night out, I was only about 10 at the time, she asked me how I was.  I replied with 'I am grand, but more importantly, how are you?'

Kathleen lived most of her life in Belfast and her passing was sudden in the end and very sad.  She was at my cousin Adrian Martin's wedding only a couple of months before it without a care in the world.  She is buried in Fanavolty along with my grandparents. 

Gerard was the local milkman and I used to help him the odd time when he was loading up the van at my grannies where the cold storage room was, and got rewarded with a Yazoo milkshake which I was delighted with.  I really enjoyed spending time over at my grannies place when I was younger.  She used to always have sweets in and make me coffee which I enjoyed, and it was close to Shiels' shop too and beside a busy main road which was great for nosying on passing cars. 

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Who were your closest friends growing up in Doaghbeg?  Can you tell us a bit about them?

Doaghbeg school was low enough in numbers so we were stuck with the hand we were dealt!  In my class were James Moston and Patrick Durden, both born in England.  Jerry Diver, Seamus 'Hemish' Carr and Francine McAteer were the class above me and I was close with all five.

Then you have the likes of Seamus and Jonathan Friel, along with Mark McConigley who went to Cashel school but still joined in on the antics in the evening times.  We played a lot of football and done a lot of 'adventuring'.  Doaghbeg was great, it was like having a countryside to play in.   Anthony Sweeney was a few years older but he was also there for some scrapes we got into.  In fact my first fight was against Anthony in the field above my homeplace.  I won and ran down the field celebrating after it. 

I would have spent a lot of time at McAteers and about the Doaghbeg 'town' in general when I was younger.  We used to go to Malachy's shop and buy enough to keep us going.  We played football alot and the game only ended if Art Nanny kicked the ball away or Seamie and Johnny fell out!

I remember one evening when I was about 6, myself, Johnny Friel and Fiona McAteer were having a 'strength' competition but I was being stitched up without knowing, we had to lift a crate full of stones.  I struggled to lift it but they lifted it together and maintained that made them stronger than me!!

Durden was a wild man, always up to mischief and we mostly joined in.  I used to love going around to his house or James Moston's at the weekends.  Myself and Durden used to go visiting Jerry & John McKinley in Araheera and would always get tea, biscuits and some money.  We would go down to Eamonn 'Mick' McAteers to play football and went wandering the rest of the time.  It was great.

Over at Mostons was similar, we would spend the days playing on go karts or in the nearby forest.  I would cycle over some days which was a big enough trek. 

I would have spent a lot of time about the Diver Friels in Pollaid from when I was about 10 until I was 17, most evenings in fact.  Jerry is a second cousin of mine too.  We used to go touring about in whichever car we could get our hands on too after we learned how to drive.  We would go about the local fields in a quad too which was good craic. 
For some reason, and don't ask me why, we took a dislike to any camper vans that went through the area and usually got a few eggs ready at Nannys if we seen them coming at the school brae.

We would have played a lot of cards over the years too, mostly in the Nanny household where 45 or Texas Holdem was the game of choice. 

We used to also love the days when the hay was being cut and brought in.  We would sit in the trailers of the tractors and help take in the bales.  It was fairly dangerous, sometimes the bales would be stacked too high and come tumbling down, people and all!!

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What was a typical school day in Doaghbeg school?  Who were the teachers etc.

As mentioned I remember my first day.  Katty Martin was there for two years and then Kathleen 'Phaidi' McConigley was there for my remaining years at school.  I never really enjoyed school.  I had a bit of gumption about me but never enjoyed studying or school itself.  We lived for lunchtime and the end of the day when we could break free.  We used to play football at lunch time or rounders.  

Some of the big tasks were taking out the bin (in earlier years).  I remember Noel Sweeney standing on a mouse one day he was taking it out.  Then filling the kettle with the water from the outside tap was another chore we enjoyed.  We used to take cuppa soups in 5th and 6th class with our lunch.  But to be fair I threw more sandwiches over the wall than I want to remember.

If it was a bad day outside we would stay in and play with marla or the building blocks.  There used to be an old TV in the corner and we got to watch certain things the very odd day.  I remember an old Irish cartoon called 'Corvax', it wasn't much cop but it was to help with our Gaeilge. 

I'm not proud of it but myself and Durden left the windows half open a few times and went into the school in the evening time.  We didn't really do much while in, it was more to say we done it than anything.

School tours were the highlight of the year, that and Sports Days usually held in Milford.  We used to wait out in the yard for a sighting of the bus at Clementstown and then to see it coming over the top of the bray.  We went to Newry in 1995 for Katty's last year and I have vague memories of the trip including the arrival and the disco.

We used to go to Redcastle too, which was an amusement park of sorts.  We also went to Newmills Corn and Flax mills.  I felt sorry for the fellow leading us around as in the middle of it, Annemarie Diver goes 'this is so boring'.  We also went to Dunlewey another year and went out on the boat. 

I remember one of the sports days we only had three girls so Patrick Durden had to be the 4th team member. 

I represented the school at some athletics events in Stranorlar too, winning a few medals.

When I was in 6th class we amalgamated with Tamney and won a local football tournament.  We got through to play Dooish NS but got hammered.  Gary McGonigle, Stephen McGonigle, Oisin Blaney and Stephen Sweeney were the Tamney representatives.  We landed back to the school after where William McAteer was substituting at the time.  He was on crutches and let me have a go on them.

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We used to enjoy doing PE or Art at school which to be honest didn't happen regularly.  We used to hate hearing the bell to end lunch.  

The last day of school before Christmas or Summer holidays were my favorite memories.  Everyone was generally in a good mood and we didn't do any school work.  We would play games inside or spend time on the new computer we got in about 1999.

We also got a visit by the Fire Brigade one day and I had a disposable camera with me and the photos are somewhere in my homeplace.

We used to have the odd mass in the school which we enjoyed at the time.  The parents would usually come into the school for it.

I also remember Durden going 'scheming' one day at school.  We could see him in the field beside the school at lunch time. 

Another highlight for us was if a vehicle was going past the school when we were out for lunch.  We used to run to the wall to see who it was.  If it was a car - great, a tractor - even better, but if a bus went past then it was a big thing!

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I used to cycle to school and would bring my dog Yorkie with me some days. 

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Who are some of the characters you remember from Doaghbeg?

I can vaguely remember Johnny Martin and his house.  I got clove sweets there one day and I have a very very vague flashback of when he died.  I also remember seeing Art McAteer walking between his house and the shop and also remember Dan and Rosie Martin.  Rosie more so as she only passed away in 2010.  She was fairly crabbit to us young ones but now I see why!  We used to play rugby in the garden of the house next to hers and tear it to shreds.  We didn't know how to play rugby either mind you. 

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I remember being at Frank McAteer's wake and his brother Paddy walked in, Frank's daughter Francine said she thought it was her dad Frank when she first seen him.  I remember Frank well enough, he was always nice to me and I remember him making me a banana sandwich when I was very young!

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Benny John Roe McAteer used to join our card games.  He tried to use a scratchcard with a fiver prize on it as a bet one evening in the Nanny house.  He was good craic and always sound to me.  His brother John was also sound enough to us until he passed away in 2011.  I remember being in Araheera pub one night and he was there.  I used to also play the poker machines in Doaghbeg in his and Benny's company. 

Willie John Roe didn't take to us as much but we used to throw snowballs or water balloons at his tractor so that's no surprise.  

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I vaguely remember Eddie Doherty in the shop and I remember his wake, a very wet evening after we had returned from a football competition in Tri A Loch.  I also remember his wife Mary well, she only died in recent years and was always nice to us. 

 

I remember Charlie Kelly well, he passed away in 2007, I remember getting the news when we were at the Marine Harvest Christmas party.  His daughter Mary was a lovely woman, she used to clean the white gear from the Fish Farm and always stopped to chat.  She passed away in 2017.  I remember one occasion in Marine Harvest when the 'white gear' we used to wear was damaged.  Mary caught us tearing the arms off some of them one day and I overheard our boss trying to put Mary on the spot to say we done it, but she stuck to her townland loyalty and didn't name anyone!

 

I used to be about 'Seans' a good bit when I was younger and Paddy would be there.  He died in 2008.   I recall one morning I had stayed over the night before and he made me some boiled eggs for breakfast, I was going to a GAA summer camp in Dunfanaghy that day. 

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I used to call into Mary Anne McAteer to sell Fanad Gaels lottos.  Her brother Tom Shiels would be there.  They were first cousins of my granny Sweeney (nee Kelly).  They always put on a great spread and I enjoyed calling in.  I only wish I would have retained some of the information they passed over.  Their brother Jim also lived in Carryblagh and I visited him a few months before he passed away to chat about family history and got some good information from him.  He was a very knowledgeable man. 

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I also would call into Dan and Patrick Callaghan to sell Fanad Gaels lottos and would have good craic with them.  Dan used to call down to our house for a few beers too so I have a lot of memories of Dan.  They were always in good form and I will always remember the lovely smell of a peat fire from their living room.   Dan used to always be available to help out if any farming tasks were being done and was strong as a bull. 

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Seamus Diver was another man who I have a lot of memories of, mainly as I was in Divers house every other day as a young fella.  He used to call me 'Lanky' while his wife Kathleen always threatened to kick me in the shins as a joke.  Seamus was a very slow driver and was never in a rush in general.

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I visited the McKinley brothers in Araheera and just as I write this John has just recently passed away (January 2021).  Two very civil and nice men.  Their brother Eddie also lives in Pollaid to this day.  They are first cousins of my father. 

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I remember Mary and Packie Pat well too.  Mary used to play the machines in Doaghbeg and we would meet Packie on the road at times, he used to help out with farming too in the locality.  A very civil man.  In fact I remember all the Pat Colls returning for their summer holidays.  There was always a great buzz about their house and they always seemed in good form.  A nice family.

Any summer visitors were always a nice distraction - any of the John Roe connection or Divers especially as I would be pally with them.  And of course my own cousins when they visited.  We also hosted two Spanish students in 2002 and 2003 - Inigo and Asier.  They stayed in our house for 2 weeks.

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I recall Jim Sweeney's funeral in the early 90s, I wasn't very old but I remember it being a scorching hot day and going up to Shiels' shop afterwards with my Begley grandparents.  I also remember Jim's brother Gerard well, we met him in London in 2005 and he used to also visit Doaghbeg regularly and would always throw me a fiver which was brilliant.  He died in 2008 in Nottingham. 

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I can also remember Jim Marley in Pollaid and Patrick Coll too when I would be selling Fanad Gaels lottos.  And I used to visit John 'Ralph' Sweeney in Clementstown with my father.  I was always scared of the house as it was always dark and you never knew if anyone was in when you went up to the house.  We used to get the 'Thick Tea' biscuits in there too.

And I also remember Nellie Sweeney who died in 2006, she was married to Tony and was a nice woman, originally McCarron from Murrin.  I helped paint her brother Josie's house in 2004 and remember her other brother Eddie.  My father in law Liam Callaghan, who would have lived close to Eddie, reckons anytime he seen Eddie he was either going into a drain or after coming out of one!  

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Are there any funny or interesting stories about Doaghbeg you would like to share?

We spent a lot of time in the 'town' area of Doaghbeg.  The 'knowe' was a great meeting point and the place to play 40-40, a variation of hide and seek only slightly more pulsating in that there was usually a race to the 'den'.  We played a lot of football in those days and I remember coming home some evenings covered in dirt from head to toe.  I would also have spent a good chunk of time down at the Great Arch which was below my homeplace, it was a great place to get away from it all.

I spent a lot of time at the McAteer house too when I was younger, their back garden was a great place for exploring and I remember an old blue car there that we used to play in. 

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There was one evening we were throwing water balloons at the one or two cars that went through Doaghbeg and it happened to be a slow driver in the area who wouldn't have chased us regardless, but I legged it down a dark field and sprained my ankle before landing into a load of briers just beside the Tailor Kellys old homeplace.

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We used to love snow days and go far and wide to do some sledding.  One Christmas, maybe 2000, there was  a huge snowfall which wasn't common in Doaghbeg with us being so close to the coast and there must have been 20+ people in the field past our house.  It's probably in Pollaid on the map and there's a holiday home there now.  The field was steep and we managed to get the seat cushion from a caravan and it was lightning quick due to its smooth surface.

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Myself and Durden went swimming in Araheera one sunny afternoon.  Durden had no swimming trunks so his boxers done the job!  That was until the water took his trousers out to sea and he had to make the long walk home in his boxers, including walking past the Lighthouse Tavern where we got some odd looks.  

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We used to steal Anthony Sweeney's hats and they would inevitably end up in a barrel of water after a chase.  We also partook in something called 'Hedge Diving' which was exactly what it said on the tin.  Find some shrubbery and jump head first into it.  That ended up in us getting into bother with the law!

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Moston and myself went trick or treating in Halloween 2000, I had a terrible Frankenstein mask and he had a fairly realistic mask of an old man.  My brother Christy tried to charge us for driving us about but we stood firm. 

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Mark Sean would have had a short temper and this boiled over on a few occasions.  We were on one of the small islands on Doaghbeg beach wrestling and Mark got hurt and blamed me.  He reached for one of my shoes and threatened to throw it overboard.  He quickly dropped it when I told him he would be going in to get it if he did!  

He also chased Seamie Nanny with a stick before cause he wouldn't stop singing. 

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As we got older we got more involved with the WWE (Wrestling) and fireworks.  We used to buy loads of fireworks at Halloween and basically throw them or aim them at each other.  Absolute madness.  There was also one night we accidentally set a pile of freshly cut whin bushes on fire beside Ballinacrick chapel, the night before Rose Mary Coll's funeral.  There was still some smoke coming from it the following day.   The German man who lived nearby gave us a chase that evening as he did a lot of the time. 

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We used to wrestle a good bit too (all fake wrestling) and broke more caravan windows and wardrobes in doing so.

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As the years went on we used to drive about Doaghbeg and Fanad in whatever cars we could get.  We had a few smashes along the way too, I make it that I was in 6 car accidents in my time.

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We used to play 40/40 when we were younger, a variation of hide and seek.  We put a coal bag over Conor McConigley one time so he could hide, he came out with his face covered in coal!

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We were in the technology generation too and spent a lot of time on Playstations or Gameboys etc.  But that didn't stop us from staying out till all hours too. 

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We had an old Mazda 626 back in the day and I got it stuck in the garden of a holiday home near Drumnacraig.  Anthony Sweeney towed us out in a tractor. 

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We also had a selection of old prams that we used to race down a field in Pollaid.  Jerry Diver had one with small wheels and mine had huge big wheels.  That was great craic and very dangerous. 

I remember if we were going touring in the cars, I could hear Jerry Diver leaving his house in a VW Jetta as the exhaust was gone on the car.  Jerry got into plenty scrapes and I met him walking in his lane one day with a massive gash on his leg.  He made out he cut it on rocks but it turns out he got it trapped on the back of a tractor or something. 

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In later years, I got a summer job laboring with Arthur Lynch and used to get lifts to work with either Aidan McAteer or JP Diver.  That was great craic.  We used to go for a few pints in the Stores Bar on Friday evenings even though I was only 16.  JP would try give John Den Donnell McCarron's dog a wee nudge with his car when driving past.  We would head to the Fanad Lodge on the Friday evening where it would be hopping. 

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All in all it was an adventorous upbringing in Doaghbeg.  We had an entire countryside to ourselves whether we were up at the cliffs in Pollaid or up on Drumnacraig hill, or out the Cassan at Paddy Nolas and Paddy Rosies.  We survived to tell the tale.

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