Great banter and pints for €4.50 as Rossies score Goal of the season

IT was a long trip out west for our troops this past week and the Young Commando in particular wasn’t happy.

“Can we not just visit the west and south of Ireland during the summer months and stick to Dublin, south Louth, north Wicklow and parts of east Meath and Kildare for the winter months? It’s far too miserable to be travelling this distance,” he moaned as we embarked on the four-hour roundtrip to Bellanagare in County Roscommon.

While our pubmobile has passed through this village on numerous occasions over the years, we’ve never veered off the N5 road that passes through it.

Our designated driver decided to right that wrong and we found ourselves parked outside The Goal Post bar, which looks to be the only tavern in the area.

“This is a new one for us. I don’t think we’ve ever been here before,” the Old Commando said. “Not in my lifetime anyway.”

This boozer seems to cater for everything, with a restaurant advertised as well as a B&B, although we’re lucky enough to have a teetotaller as our designated driver.

“I don’t know how ye drink that stuff every week,” he regularly says to our commandos. “It couldn’t be good for you at all at all,” he’d say as he knocks back multiple glasses of fizzy minerals.

We entered via the front bar where there was an all-male clientele and they were watching horse racing on both TVs.

There wasn’t much atmosphere, so we proceeded on to the next section of the pub, where it was a lot livelier.

In this section there was a pool table, a dart board, a TV and cigarette machine and the banter was back in forth from all the locals.

A young blonde barmaid, who looked to be in her early 20s, was on duty and we found her to be very polite and mannerly, sharing a good rapport with the locals and she was working alone for the duration of our stay.

Pints of Carling and Coors are available on draught alongside the usual options, but it was the pints of Guinness that were peaking the interest of the Old Commando. His eyes lit up with delight when the young barmaid charged him just €4.50 for his pint of stout.

“Now, there you have it – €4.50 is a great price for a pint of Guinness these days and it just goes to show you that other places are price gouging after the Covid closures,” he said.

The cream-coloured floor tiles and timber section were both very clean and the wine-coloured bench seating was in good condition too. The fridges and shelves were all fully stocked and the toilets checked out just fine, with one cubicle and a stainless steel urinal.

We always say that it’s the customers that make pubs great, and some of the characters in the second section of this boozer were certainly helping those around them to enjoy themselves.

There was an outburst of laughter every 30 seconds or so as the locals spun yarns galore.

The Old Commando admired the photo of the Roscommon footballers from 1943-1944, All-Ireland winners in both years, and also a photo of the Western Gaels footballers, which is the local parish side.

“I bet you didn’t know Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork is named after a local Bellanagare man,” one local said to the Old Commando.

“Is it not named after Pádraig Ó’Caoimh?” the Old Commando asked.

“It is surely, but he was born here in Bellanagare before he moved to Cork. So that’s our claim to fame.”

If you’re ever travelling along the N5 roadway and need somewhere to stop, you could do worse than The Goal Post in Bellanagare. We’ll be back.

Rating: Three pints out of Five

One for the road…

’Connor’s – Tulsk IT wasn’t our first visit to O’Connor’s in Tulsk and it’s always a good spot to stop off for a quick pint and pit-stop. We got a table just beside the counter as it wasn’t overly crowded during our stay.

Most of the locals kept to themselves, as did the barman, who was reading the newspaper.

We counted nine tables in total and there are plenty of barstools available too. There is just one TV in the bar and it was switched off during our stay. Rockshore, Carling and Coors are just some of the drinks available on draught, and there is a fine solid-fuel stove on one side of the bar.

Toasted sandwiches are advertised but nobody was eating while we were there, except the Young Commando, who was who munching bacon fries.

The toilets are located in the entrance hallway and they were clean, with bottles of sanitizer and soap available.

The car park is very spacious and convenient as O’Connor’s pub is located on a busy main road. We’ll be back.

Rating: Three pints out of Five