Big Picture

story and photo by Matt Mendelsohn

Irish Blessings

This is the time to be slow,

Lie low to the wall

Until the bitter weather passes.

The Irish poet John O’Donohue has been living inside Dave Cahill’s head for the past year, ever since an out-ofcontrol car came crashing into Ireland’s Four Courts in August 2022—“6:42 p.m., Friday evening the 12th,” he remembers reflexively. In that moment, Cahill knew life would never be quite the same. “I was in the back when we just heard a massive explosion,” he told a local TV station.

More than a dozen were hurt that night. The resulting inferno, jet blacksmoke rising into the air, could be seen for miles. Nine people went to the hospital, four with critical injuries. The driver, who police concluded had suffered a medical emergency, was not charged. But Four Courts was totaled. Its 44-foot bar? Charred. The fireplace? Burned up, along with pictures, signed sports jerseys, even the engraved pewter mugs belonging to regulars. “The handles just melted,” says Cahill, the pub’s managing partner. “Gone.”

Businesses don’t just spring back to life after a tragedy of this magnitude. Staff have to find new work. There are insurance claims to file and building permits to obtain. Care for the injured and unemployed must be ensured.

And that doesn’t even cover lost revenue. To an Irish bar, missing not just one, but two World Cups—the men’s tourney last December and the women’s this summer—is financially devastating. That kind of windfall comes once every four years. “We’ve got a lot of supporters,” says Cahill, who grew up in County Limerick and still bears its sweet lilt. “It’s like a mini-St. Patrick’s Day, every day for a month. So look, we missed it.”

Since the accident, O’Donohue’s poem has stayed with him. “It’s given me great comfort,” he says. “The first two verses sum up the first six months.”

Try, as best you can, not to let

The wire brush of doubt

Scrape from your heart

All sense of yourself

And your hesitant light.

One year later, bartender Mary Reilly, from County Dublin, has turned the corner. Loud noises still make her jump, but “you have to move on,” she says. “Just stay as positive and busy as you can, which is what we’re doing.”

It’s June and the staff has gathered for a quick reunion—a team photo amid the rebuilding. The sound of drilling and hammering has replaced patrons cheering, pints in hand, but optimism is everywhere. “Just counting down the days until August,” Cahill says.

After the fire, support poured in. Other pubs across the DMV collected donations, Cahill recalls, shaking his head in wonder. “We were humbled, not so much by the ‘what can I do to help?’ but rather the ‘I’m doing this to help you.’ ”

Samuel Beckett’s in Shirlington, Ireland’s Four Provinces in Falls Church and Kelly’s Irish Times in D.C. offered temporary employment to the staff, promising to give them back once Four Courts reopened. Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and DC United supporters designed and sold scarves to raise money. Longtime regular Mike De Robbio started a GoFundMe the night of the fire. Within two weeks it had raised almost $100,000.

There’s something about an Irish bar, says employee Patrick Doody. “It’s not just a bar. It’s a neighborhood place to gather. People are so looking forward for us to get back.”

“Family,” Reilly chimes in. “Family.”

When Four Courts reopens (at press time it was aiming for late August), customers will see the same faces (“90% of the back-of-the-house staff are coming back,” Cahill says); the same food (Reilly wants a Reuben sandwich); the same Guinness flowing freely from the tap.

And while 44 feet of the beloved bar may have burned in the fire, the Department of Half-Full is here to tell you that some 20 feet of mantle behind the bar was saved. On it, Cahill plans to inscribe the final verse of that John O’Donohue poem he loves so much:

If you remain generous,

Time will come good;

And you will find your feet

Again on fresh pastures of promise,

Where the air will be kind

And blushed with beginning. ■