Piobaire nabPluc

(Banard)

Piobaire nabPluc, a nickname which he disliked intensely, was the Father of Tomás Rua O’ Suilleabháin. On one occasion he was engaged by a dancing-master in Cork. On the last night of the term the dancing-master as was customary gave an exhibition on the top of the table. Piobaire na bPluc was not wholehearted in his praise of the bout. The enraged dancing master bet him £5 that he had never seen anyone in his own district dance as good. Not having the money, O'Sullivan wagered his pipes. Tomas Rua, it seems, besides being a poet and a fiddler, was also a dancing-master. His father sent him a letter bidding him come to Cork on the following Sunday to engage the Cork dancing-master. The letter did not reach Tomas at Banard in Derrynane until the Sunday morning. Nevertheless he set off for Cork danced at sixteen different gatherings on the way and arrived exhausted the same night. He asked to have the match put off for a couple of days but the Cork man sensing victory insisted on the appointed hour. Tomás danced and was acclaimed the winner. He spent the next seven days in bed from the pains in his bones. Had the dancing-master agreed to postpone the contest, he would in all probability have been the victor by default since Tomás most certainly would have been stuck to the bed with his pains.? Father Diarmuid a' Phriúnsa, new to the parish, wishing to make the pipers acquaintance and recognising him from the pipes under his arm, innocently addressed him thus:

‘Vise, an tusa go dugaid siad Piobaire na bPluc air?' duine agus a' duine deireanach a thug oram él' Togann dacine dro-mihuint" oram earsan piobaire, "agus go mbeirie an dial leis an chead.’

 That ended the conversation. The priest went one way, the piper the other.