Tribute: Knocknagree publican Dan Connell a true pioneer

It is often painted as one of the universal symbols of Irish affability and need to congregate in a place where conversation, music, dance and spirits are all to be found in the one venue.  No matter where you go around the world, it seems there is an Irish pub which attracts imbibers and pioneers (if the food and the craic are good enough). 

While there are plenty of new places opening all the time -- some of them trying to look very old -- the fact is that many of the authentic country pubs in Ireland are dying out, and with them many of the old famous old publicans (owners) with them who rendered such a valuable service in keeping the culture alive on many levels. 

This hit home to me when I heard of the passing of Dan Connell, the Knocknagree publican who passed away on Sunday at the age of 88.

It wasn’t just the allure of a pint or alcohol that attracted people to attend some country pubs like Connell’s place there in West Cork before it closed for good a few years ago when health and advancing age ended a glorious history there.

Not too long after he purchased the license for the pub near Mallow and in the heart of the Sliabh Luachra area, he decided he wanted it to be a house for traditional music and dance.  So he hired Denis “The Weaver” Murphy and Johnny O’Leary to play music in the old house dance tradition back in 1964, some 20 years before the set dancing revival got fired up. 

In fact, the existence of a rural pub specializing in the polka sets and the musicians who played for them was a critical component of the revivalists who reveled in their visits to the source at the well of the tradition.

It wasn’t long before the pub in Knocknagree became synonymous with the music and dance of Sliabh Luachra and the Mecca for those who enjoyed its lively spirited style that was in sharp contrast to the Clare sets that got more attention as the Willie Clancy Summer School stoked the revival in the 1980s.  

In fact my first exposure to the polka sets and Dan Connell himself were at Willie Week in 1984 when Hennessey’s Pub on the Lahinch Road became an outreach clinic for the music and dance of Sliabh Luachra craic all week. 

Watching Dan dance in an animated set with Timmy “The Brit” McCarthy, who learned his craft at the Knocknagree shrine to set dancing, and the stately Dan O’Keefe and other assorted partners in such a tidy space in the crowded pub was always a highlight of the week. 

Connell may have carried a few more pounds than the aerobically dynamic McCarthy, but it didn’t seem to diminish his own leaping ability or timing as his own athletic past made him well able to keep up with the upstart Brit. 

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Nster.com