Cullen Legend Con Houlihan Brings Home The Gold

Above: Congratulations to Pipe Major Con Houlihan taking Gold in the Clasp Grade 1 Piobarieachd Contest held in Glasgow Scotland Thursday, August 11th. This is one of the most significant wins of Con’s Piping Career. Like a good wine getting better with time. Above: Grade 1 overall winner, Daniel Johnstone with Finlay MacDonald, Con Houlihan, and Robert Russell who won the Grade 1 MSR and Hornpipe and Jig.

By Pat Fleming, Sliabh Luachra Musician

On August 11th, Cullen Pipe Band celebrated Con Houlihan’s win of Grade 1 piobaireachd at the CLASP Grade 1 world amateur solo piping competition in St. Aloysius Convent Chapel. We’ve reminisced about Sliabh Luachra’s music in recent issues of Discover Duhallow, but Cullen Pipe Band is the perfect example of diversity of the culture of Duhallow.

Founded in 1941, they’re a staple in Duhallow’s musical landscape. They have played a major role in the local community throughout the years and they have maintained an incredible standard of lessons and performance. Band members are distinguished in both band and solo performances, and they continue to teach young musicians.

The band was born in the home of Paddy Fitzgerald. In the early days, many hours were spent in Dineen’s hall, learning and practicing. Thanks to Crowley’s in Cork, most of the equipment became available. Aside from the drums, one of which was gained, according to their own website, in “controversial circumstances”.

Uniforms came a few years later - most were from cork city, a few from Newmarket, and a some were made by Paddy Fitzgerald himself. The uniforms made their debut in 1943 and were blessed by Fr. Griffin.

In their vast history, demand for performance has come for every sort of event, but one of the most notable was in 1951, when Eamonn DeValera was running an election campaign in Kerry. The band led the parade into Killarney, Killorglin, and by that same night, Caherciveen. In the beginning, travel for events was done in the back of Michael D. Murphy’s lorry, though eventually a bus became available.

Between the mid 60s and early 70’s, the band were inactive. But this rare silence couldn’t last forever. Teddy Goulding and the late Johnny Fleming contacted former members, a meeting was held, and on St. Stephen’s day, 1971, the first steps towards reestablishment were made.

It wasn’t until 1971 that the dishevelled but delighted band struck up their first tune in nearly a decade - during St. Laitiaran’s day, a mid cork by election, and with former taoiseach Jack Lynch in Cullen, they returned with new uniforms, new drums, new pipes, and from there, they’ve only grown.

Classes have kept up, competitions have been enjoyed, and they’ve become local heroes. Con has been a driving force and inspiration to the band and musicians in the area. Massive congratulations to Con and best of luck to the band going forward!

The Tunes Heard Around The World

Cullen Pipe band has been invited to participate in festivals all over the world.

In 1995 at the invitation of Narraghmore Pipe Band Kildare, some members travelled to Spain for the Europead Festival in Valencia and later that same year, to La Corũna in Southern Spain, and played in a parade in the Depertovo La Corũna Stadium before La Corũna played Real Madrid.

In 1996, the band visited Monte Sant’Angelo in Southern Italy and performed in the town along with a concert in Foggia for over 1000 people.

In 1997, the band travelled to the Interceltique Festival in Lorient, France, and in 2002, returned to France to perform in the Menton Christmas Festival.

In 2001, during their 60th anniversary, they played in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York.

Celebrating 40 years of competition

Grade 2 is the 2nd highest grade in the pipe band competing world. During the band’s time in Grade 3 and 2, many players from the Munster region and beyond came in to play with the band and made a huge contribution to the standard. Since 2014, they have been concentrating on young members competing in grade 5. Over the years, the band has competed and won a whole host of awards in competitions around the country and annually competes at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow.

1995 Grade 4 - Champion of Champions

1998 Grade 4 - All Ireland Pipe Band Championship

2007 Grade 3B - World Pipe Band Contest

2012 Grade 2 - All Ireland Pipe Band Championship 4th place - Scottish Championship

2016 East of Ireland Championship

The Cullen Pipe Band website is a treasure trove of photos from the group’s 80 year history - these are only a sample of what’s available.