By Jack Hennessy (1997)
It’s more than 25 years ago since Scór first saw the light of day. It all began as the brainchild of Corkman Derry Gowan. Since then thousands have been bitten by the bug, spending long nights in cold halls and community centres planning and rehearsing in the quest of ultimate honours.
I always look forward to Scór for I know that an evening’s entertainment is guaranteed, let it be in the Green Glens, Millstreet, Athlone, or even our own community centre in Asdee, where many a Scór item was born before blossoming into a county final and coming to fruition on the provincial stage.
When it comes to Scór locally, there is one name that crops up immediately; elected first Scór officer of St. Mary’s Asdee in January 1992, John Paul Galvin has done enormous work down through the years and has single handedly organized this event, making sure the club are represented in Scór each year.
Before he was elected Scór officer in 1992, John Paul took part in several North Kerry finals representing Ballylongford in the early 80’s. He was responsible for staging the first North Kerry finals held in Asdee in 1987 since the modern club was founded in 1986. Since 1992 the club have taken part each year with great success.
This year we had Mick Hennessy taking part in his second Munster final in the recitation section at Tullamore, Co. Tipperary; the previous occasion being the Forum in Waterford city in 1992.
Last year, 1996, saw the emergence of a superb ballad group of Jeanette O’Connor, John Paul Galvin, Paddy McElligott and Jimmy Quinn who did the club proud when they took part in the Munster finals held in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, just losing out to the eventual All-Ireland winners, which was held in Athlone.
Several others took part down through the years and were unlucky at North Kerry finals, county semi-finals, county finals and Munster semi-finals.
This year the club was represented at junior Scór for the first time and even though we hadn’t any winners on the night, each performed with distinction, which augurs well for the future of Scór in Asdee. All involved in Scór are conscious of the wealth of talent with each competition having its own unique aspect to it.
We can all recall great performers and performances; hilarious novelty acts, rousing ballads, nailbiting question times, stirring recitations, the rince set and figure dancing have elegance about them, wonderful solo singing and instrumental music, a very lively competition with very committed musicians and so each to their own memory of Scór. The joys and disappointments, the half time sandwiches and the post-mortems with everybody doing their best for the honour and glory of the little village.