6. Father Flash.

[Directions] Now, take your time and head up towards the red brick school that you can see in the distance. When you reach the top of the road turn left and for now don't go any further than the back entrance of the church.

[Narration] Father Flash.

As you walk, let me tell you a little bit about one of the priests who served this church. His name was John Edward Kavanagh, but was known to locals as Father Flash Kavanagh.

You might be wondering why he was called this, he was given the nickname flash due to how quickly he celebrated mass. His masses were often over in 10-12 minutes. He had a friendly rivalry with Father Brown from the Christ the King Church over who can say mass the quickest.

Father Flash was a big fan of theatre and was known to attend many plays throughout the city. Father Flash is one of the people who is credited with bringing the theatre to Cabra.

Alongside Father Byrne,he played a major role in setting up the Verona Players who performed shows all around the country. However, where the Verona players were most familiar with performing was St. Finnbarr’s Hall.

Father Flash died very suddenly in 1960 which shocked the whole community. The attendance at father Flash’s funeral was huge with almost every family in Cabra attending. Even Eamonn De Valera sent his trusted aide Colonel(Curnell) Sean Brennan to represent him.

Another interesting character associated with this church is John McElroy who played the famous organ mentioned earlier. Impressively, John was also blind and had a shop called the Blind man’s shop on the nearby Carnlough road.

The road you’re walking along now is called the Dunmanus road and when you reach the top of this road you will walk along Kilkieran road. Both of these roads are named after beautiful bays around Ireland’s coastline, Kilkieran being in Galway and Dunmanus in Cork. This is a theme throughout Cabra West with the majority of roads being named after beautiful spots along the Irish coast, including Ventry in Kerry, Dingle in Kerry and Killala in Mayo.

[Directions] Just head straight and the next Story Will play.

[Music Reference] Music: “Background Ambient” by Lunemare (via Pixabay)