THE CASTLE

“Don’t move Alan” and with that, Irish Independent Press Photographer Sean O’Neill rested his long lens camera on the shoulder of fine leg fielder Alan Hughes and snapped the action photo with Malahide Castle in the background.

The occasion was Malahide CC v LCU President’s XI on 1st June 1975 celebrating the opening of the new Clubhouse in the Village. Alan recalls chatting to Sean on the boundary as Dougie Goodwin was running into bowl when the pressman made the sudden request.  

Sean was a Malahide man himself and left arm seamer Tom O’Neill’s dad.

51 years later another Malahide snapper, young Peter Langan, captured the same scene from more or less the same angle.  The aspect of the wicket has changed in the extended international ground but the focus of the camera is similarly lined up with “the Castle”, as it is known locally.  Sadly, the magnificent centuries old structure is now blocked by a line of trees.

The 1975 game was a grand occasion with “a star-studded” Leinster team and lots of dignitaries including the Honourable Rose Talbot who was the Patron of Malahide Cricket Club and then resident and owner of the Castle.  

The Castle was sold to the Irish State in 1976 ending near 800 years of continuous ownership by the Talbot family.  The 1975 photo continues to have pride of place in the Clubhouse.