Willie and Brigid,
Tramore (1970)
Willie as he was known within the
family was born at Tipper House, Naas on the 5th September 1908. He was the
youngest of five sons and seven children of Daniel Purcell and Margaret Purcell
(nee Heaphy ). Shortly after his birth his family moved to their newly erected
house at Kilcullen Road, Naas which became known as Ard Mor. He went to school
in the Convent and Christian Brothers Naas and the Domican College Newbridge. As
a boy he played tennis and loved pony riding. Much of his summer school holidays
were spent in the Commons, Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary where his maternal Aunt
Katie and her brother Patey lived in the old Heaphy family home. He had many
happy memories of those times including memories of playing handball in the old
alley located on the Heaphy lands. He used recall the exploits of " Boggan "
Healy the leading player of the time in the Commons and whose remains are buried
in the cemetery beside the Ballingarry Catholic Church. Tramore, Co. Waterford
was a favourite holiday spot for the family in his younger days. A chore he
regularly undertook while still going to school was driving his father in a pony
and trap to the railway station. In time he graduated from ponies to race horses
which he trained and rode. Friends of his early days in horses included Ned
Timmins, Ted Wright, Joe McDonald of Naas and Blessington, Mickey Keogh of Green
Avenue, Naas, his brother Doctor Michael and Michael's brother-in-law Dudley
Ireland. Men who helped him with the horses included Micksie Deegan, Billy
Burke, Walter Dempsey and Anthony Jones. Peter Cummins and his son Jackie
attended to the shoeing of Willie's horses. In the early days he took part in "
Flapper " meetings and Gymkhanas before graduating to Point-to-Points and horse
racing. Horses which did well for him included Black Mask a hard ground
specialist which won 11 races including the Rathkeale Cup and 3 of his wins were
achieved in the space of 9 days, Summer Star which he trained for Michael to win
the 1948 Leopardstown Chase at Tote odds of 96.5 to 1 and Sharp Command which
won a hurdle race in Naas on 4th September 1948. During that period he rode
Sharp Command to win a mile and a half " Bumper " Race at Naas. It is thought
that he rode some other winners but the details are unknown. King of the Isle,
Queen of the Isle, Inis Aluinn and Bishophill were animals which were successful
for Willie in the late fifties. King of the Isle and Queen of the Isle following
their respective Bumper successes at Wexford and Thurles in 1957 were bought by
Judge Wylie for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Inis Aluinn following his
Baldoyle Bumper success in 1959 was sold to Tom Dreaper who bought him on behalf
of Lord Bicester. On the same occasion Willie sold an unraced 3 year old known
as Mountcashel King to Tom Dreaper who passed him on to a new client John Glyn
who was a London Banker. Inis Aluinn went on to win many races over hurdles and
fences and for a period had a race named in his honour at Tramore. Mountcashel
King won a hurdle race at Naas on his debut on the 6th January 1961 and five
novice chases three in Ireland and two in England one at Hurst and the other at
Cheltenham. One of the highlights of 1962 was the race between Mountcashel King
and the seasons other top novice Grallagh Cnoc which the latter won by a half
length. Bishophill's clear-cut win before the home crowd at Naas in 1959 gave
Willie great satisfaction. Mountcashel Princess, Congratulations, Mountcashel
Prince, Bishoplane and Cnoc Rua all performed well for Willie in the sixties
with Bishoplane winning a Bumper race at Mullingar in 1967 and Cnoc Rua winning
a Bumper race at Naas in 1969. After being sold Mountcashel Prince won several
hurdles including four in a row when trained by Paddy Murphy of Sunnyhill,
Kilcullen. Willie maintained his involvement with horses until the early
seventies when he was no longer able to care for the horses himself. For
sometime before that he had horses with a number of trainers including Owen
McEntee, Peter McCreery, Francis Flood and Pat Casserley. His last winner was
Mr. Toby which won a Bumper at Kilbeggan when trained by Francis Flood. Mr. Toby
also won a number of Point-to-Points before being sold to England where he won
some more Point-to-Points. In 1932 Willie qualified as a Doctor and for many
years he did locums in a variety of places particularly Ballymore-Eustace where
he was appointed District Medical Officer in 1952. From 1951 until 1966 Willie
had the onerous task of bringing his children to school daily at first to Naas
and from 1956 onwards to Newbridge. This he did without complaint. Willie over
the years was noted for marking handball matches played in Ballymore and in
Matt's early years provided Matt with transport to his games all around the
country. Willie retired as Medical Officer in April 1979. As he got older
Willie's hearing disimproved and he had almost no hearing in one of his ears. In
April 1986 he was diagnosed as having cancer and underwent an operation for it
at St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin. Having recuperated for a period with his son
James and his wife Marie Willie returned home to Inis Aluinn. Even though he was
far from well somehow or another he managed to remain active and to care for
Brigid until March or April 1988 when was too ill himself to continue. For most
of his final illness he was cared for at home but shortly before he died he went
into Clane Hospital where he died on 27th June 1988. His remains are buried in
St. Mary's Cemetery, Ballymore-Eustace.
Brigid
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