Hello and welcome
to Ireland’s Own.

In this week’s cover story, Seán Creedon talks to Jacqui Hurley, the leading sports broadcaster who in 2009 became the first ever female anchor of Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio One. Jacqui is also author of the award-winning Girls Play Too children’s books, the second of which has just been published.

In her Pioneering Irish Women series, Mary Angland profiles Maureen Cronin, ‘The Legendary Trailblazer from Rockchapel’. Dan Conway remembers the ‘Tenor with a Tear in his Voice’, while in ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ you can read about a violent murder by a ghostly gunman.

In ‘Pete’s Pets’, Pete writes about how foreign bodies can get stuck inside pets’ ears. In his Role of the Irish in WWII Series, Con McGrath tells the story of Irish-New Zealander ‘Dan Davin’, the renowned writer who served as an intelligence officer in Crete. In part 31 of the Ballad Sheet series, Eugene Dunphy links a County Offaly man to a foot-tapping song called ‘The Kerry Dance’.

In her gardening column, Aileen Atcheson says it’s time to ‘lift, prune and transplant’ while Marjorie is baking a Hallowe’en Brack. Liam Nolan concludes his look at the life of boxer, Sonny Liston, and this week’s classic film is ‘Scent of a Woman’.

Eamonn Duggan continues his ‘Witness Statements’ series, telling the story of Oscar Traynor while this week’s original short story is ‘My Angel’ by Carrie Hewlett.

We have all this for you to enjoy alongside your regular favourites. We hope you enjoy reading this week’s issue, and I will look forward to talking to you all again next week.

                                                                                                         Best wishes,

Seán Nolan, Editor, Ireland’s Own