IT'S BEEN a big six months for Offaly. Having a man from the county become Taoiseach would have been excitement enough for one year, writes FRANK MCNALLY
But locals woke up yesterday to find the whole western world now revolving around an axis that runs between Clara in Offaly's north and Moneygall in the south. Never before has the King's County seemed so well named.
For some, Tuesday night's events in the US must have evoked memories of Croke Park in 1982, and another occasion that brought tears to the eyes of grown men. Kerry were going for the historic five-in-a-row back then. But the people wanted change.
And just like now, a son of Offaly was in the right place at the right time (with the help of a slight nudge on the full-back) to make that change happen.
Interestingly, it is two members of that same generation of Offaly men who - 26 years later - have risen to supreme power on either side of the Atlantic.
Only one of them made the 1982 panel, it's true, and he was later dropped. Also, if we're being technical, Barack Obama - as a Moneygallian - would be a member of Offaly's ethnic minority: the so-called "hurling community". So even if he had been born there, he probably wouldn't have been available for selection by Eugene Magee. Not only that: he'd be playing his club hurling in Tipperary, the county most Moneygallians regard as their spiritual homeland. It's a complicated world we live in, and no mistake.
Anyway, that's all by the by. There are more important issues arising from America's momentous decision on Tuesday - not least of which is how Offaly can best proceed to cash in on it. It may appear unseemly to discuss this so soon after the event. But there is no time to lose, because fame of the kind that has been thrust on Moneygall can be fleeting.
Take the example of Ballyporeen. A few years ago, I visited that South Tipperary village - home to Ronald Reagan's ancestors - and it all seemed rather sad. The day in 1984 when its most famous descendant walked down the main (and only) street, with snipers on the roofs to protect him and secret service men everywhere, was a faded memory. The Reagan Visitor Centre no longer opened automatically: you had to contact the woman with the keys. And although the pub where the president once sipped a pint of Smithwicks was still going strong, its days were numbered.
The same bar had survived being burned by the Black and Tans in 1920. But a worse fate now awaited it. In 2004, the pub's interior was bought by US interests and shipped in its entirety to California, where it is now part of the Reagan Museum, located in an
87,000-sq-ft airplane hangar, and functioning mainly as a snack bar. You can't buy a pint in it these days, apparently. Not even the Black and Tans would have been so cruel.
Locals in Ballyporeen told me they regretted not having used the White House connection to establish some sort of industry in the village. And even the visitors' centre had been stunted by the fact that the tour bus companies demanded a cut of the souvenir trade in return for delivering customers. Standard practice, apparently.
Moneygall may be able to learn from Ballyporeen's mistakes. But with Granpa Obama's hamlet in Kenya stealing all the ancestral glory so far, the Offaly village will need aggressive marketing to claim its piece of the action. Like everything else, the trade in US presidential ancestors has been globalised. It is certainly a lot more competitive than it was in John F. Kennedy's day.
As a first step, Moneygall should immediately start cobbling together plans for some sort of local industry - one to which the president might perform the official opening. I use the verb "cobbling" advisedly, since his Offaly ancestors were shoe-makers. Hint, hint.
But another thing locals might do is take their cue from the US and vote for change. Not just the name of the pub this time, like Ballyporeen. No. This time they should rename the whole village.
Apart from anything else, its current title has negative connotations in the midst of a global financial crisis, which was caused by bankers with too much money and unlimited amounts of gall. Japan already has a place called Obama - wouldn't you know? But "Barackstown" is not taken yet, as far as I'm aware. And like the cash register in the old Ronald Reagan pub, it has a nice ring to it.