The Memoirs of Andy 'Sack' Mulvaney

The Memoirs of Andy ‘Sack’ Mulvaney

Andy 'Sack' Mulvaney in 1999 (Photo: Mr. Louis Fagan)

Andy Mulvaney was born in The Yard in old Balrothery, Tallaght in 1931.  He was known locally for almost 50 years as ‘Sack’ Mulvaney, not because he was one of Tallaght’s longest serving postmen, but because he was a fan of the Shamrock Rovers footballer Sackie Glenn. When not delivery post, Andy bottled beer in Molloy’s Public house and worked in a bookmakers.  When he was 48 years old he married Celine Cullen from Killinarden Hill in 1979.

Born in the Yard

When I was born in Balrothery there was very few houses there- four in The Yard, three or four down the lane to the Dodder and two or three up the road. That was it!  Mammy’s gang the Kinsellas lived in one house in the yard and my Daddy’s (Thomas Mulvaney) gang lived in another.  The Gallaghers lived between them.  Down Tymon lane lived Jack Lawlor before he got shot!

Drunk as a Lord

I went into the post office when I was 25 and retired in 1994.  I delivered 15 miles a day, part-time when I started, but it was handy enough because I was on the lowlands.  Simon Corcoran had to do all the mountains above Rathfarnham before Tom Mulread came into the post. When I started in the ‘50s the post office in Tallaght was where Gerry O' Riordan’s Hardware is now (1998) in the Village, facing the Greenhill Road.  There was never any heat in it and in the winter the frost would be thick on the windows.  At Christmas we would be in the office at seven in the morning, but there would be that much post we wouldn't get out to do deliveries until eleven.  You would be out that night until half past eight making deliveries, and because it was Christmas every house you went to would insist you go in for a Christmas drink. By the end of the day you would be as drunk as a lord!

Because I was the postman, I knew almost every person and every house in the district. There was eleven families up in Colberts Fort: Prestons, Redmonds, Finnegans, Finns, Brady, Healy, Stynes, Keoghs, Condon, Kellys and Hughes.   There was six families in the Goose Park Cottages on the Oldbawn Road:   Douglas,  O’ Brien, Hughes, Mallon, McCarville and Conlons. I can still remember almost every family in the village!

Pa Mooney’s Turnips

I was twenty-five when I went into the post-office and had left school at fourteen.  In between I worked on a lot of the farms in the area.  Before I left school I worked in the Priory picking potatoes and fruit and then I worked for Pa Mooney up in Fortunestown.  He owned all the land up there- a huge farm it was.  I thinned and snagged Pa Mooney’ s turnips for two bob a drill, which wasn't bad in the 1940s! I used to do a bit of work in Bancroft House as well.  Brendan Poynton had the auld combine (harvester) at Bancroft House in those days.

When you weren't working you would go to the dogs in Shelbourne Park or to a dance in Doyle’s Dance Hall in the village.  Almost every Saturday night myself and Oliver Noonan used to go out to the puppy derby in Shelbourne Park.  At the time the last bus to Tallaght would leave at ten o' clock, so myself and Oliver would jump on the back of an auld' hack to get home.  The fella would be lashing the whip back at us to get us off!

Andy's best friend & Priory Gardener- Oliver Noonan

Other nights you would go for a dance up in Doyle’s Hall, where the snooker hall is now (1998) in the village.  Jack Doyle had that hall for years.  But before he came up to Tallaght he was from Doddervale House in Balrothery.

A bit of a fight

If you didn't go for a dance in St. Joseph's hall in Blessington, you went to Doyle’s in Tallaght, and you couldn't have a good dance at that time without a bit of a fight!  I remember one night myself, Willie Ford and Peter Stynes went there for a dance and as soon as I walked in the door I got a lovely dig in the stomach.  The fella that was organising the dance came over and said “What happened you?”, So I said-“Your man's after hitting me a lovely dig in the stomach. What's the score?”, and he said “You're causing trouble”.  I said “Me? I want to charge your man for hitting me”.  In the meantime, my brother-in-law, Joe Muldoon gave him a few thumps.  So then your man wanted to charge Joe, but I wanted to charge him first.  At that time the Guards in Tallaght were Pat Maher, Logan and Tuite, so we sent for them to sort the whole thing out!

If you didn't dance in Doyle’s in Tallaght you would have to do up to Blessington.  At that time you wouldn't think anything of walking to Blessington from Tallaght.  

Strange Beasts

At one time I was doing a bit of work for Tom Cruise, helping him out with the cattle farm he had in Alderwood, where Springfield is now. Tom had the butcher’s shop in the village and he kept all his cattle up in Alderwood.  One day we were driving all his cattle up to Blessington to be sold, but because we couldn't get rid of them up there we had to drive them all the way back to Jobstown.  Jingler McDermott had the Jobstown Inn at that time and he had asked us if he could put a few of his beasts in with our cattle to be brought to Blessington.  So we said “No problem Jingler!”, because we had to go up there anyway.  As it turned out they were two strange cattle and spent the day running all over the place, upsetting our lot.   Myself and Tom spent the whole day running around chasing them, trying to drive them home.  When we got back to Jobstown and settled the animals in the field behind the Jobstown Inn, we went in for a drink and told the Jingler what had happened.  He didn't even offer us a drink for driving his strange cattle all the way home from Blessington!  He was very careful with his money was Jingler!  But then if you get the name of an early riser, you'll never sleep it out!  The Jingler died a very wealthy man!

It’s a Hold up!

I was in the post-office for years until I retired in 1994 and was in the office the day it was held up, in 1980 I think it was.  That morning we were all in the office and Gerry Higgins was the clerk at that time.  He was an awful man for shouting!  So of course when we heard shouting out in the front office we all thought it was only Gerry.  So I went out to see what was wrong with Gerry and when I went out what was I faced with?  Only a balaclava and a revolver in my face!  What did I do?  Only slammed the door; out the back; by the lads!  They asked what was wrong, but fear got the better of me and I couldn't open my mouth, I just kept running.  Then I shouted “It's a hold up” and ran.  A few of us got out the back way, up onto the roof of The Dragon (Inn), and we could see a fella with a revolver holding the Garda Barracks (Across the road) at bay, and another fella with a gun watching the Oldbawn Road.  One of them seen us and shouted at us 'Get down! Get down! Get down!

It didn't sink in until Monday morning that I could have gotten the head blown off myself. The worse thing about it was, we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. It was sticking out a mile away.  Every Monday night there was over a hundred thousand pound brought into that office for the children's allowance on a Tuesday. I used to work Monday nights and I would be delighted when it was over. I knew we would get held-up sooner or later!

Post Office Raided August 1982 (Evening Herald, 21st August 1982) 
 £120,000 was taken under automatic weapon fire

(Andy 'Sack' Mulvaney died on the 31st August  2013 R.I.P)

Albert Perris

(Memoirs (Edited) as set down in recorded audio interviews with Albert Perris in the home of Andy Mulvaney, Glenview Park, Tallaght, Co. Dublin in 1999.  First published by Tallaght Welfare Society in “Since Adam was a Boy- An Oral Folk History of Tallaght (Perris, A., TWS, 1999)

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