Cooraclare man flies Clare flag at Scór

A COORACLARE man will represent Kildare in the All-Ireland Scór finals, at the INEC, Killarney on Saturday night. Paul Mescal, who recently won the Kildare and Leinster recitation titles, will perform A Man’s Game, a humorous account of a son who disappoints his football-mad father.
Paul, a son of Mairéad and the late Michael Mescal, Cree, Cooraclare, is a teacher at Scoil na Mainistreach, Celbridge.
The piece, which concludes on a hopeful note after 41 years of a strained father-son relationship, was written for Paul by journalist and broadcaster Liam Horan. In 2000, amateur drama enthusiast Paul was voted best actor at the All-Ireland drama finals for his depiction of Eddie Tansey in The Salvage Shop.
“It is great to be in the All-Ireland finals,” said Paul. “Last year, I reached the Leinster final but I feel my poem this year is more appropriate to Scór. It has some familiar themes – a difficult father-son relationship, the loneliness of the exile, and the possibility of redemption. But, though all of that sounds very serious, it is most of all a bit of fun.”