IFI Irish Film Archive

Sports Day - Father Delany Collection

Year1934 Duration2m 18s
Summer, Killiney, South County Dublin: The CBS sports day is in full swing. A band plays and participants compete in boxing, cycling and a sack race as crowds cheer from the stands. It’s clear that a fun day was had by all. Father Jack Delany (1906-1980) was ordained in 1930 at the age of 24 and served as a parish priest in Dublin in the 1930s and 1940s. He served mainly around Seán McDermott Street (then Gloucester Street), Rutland Street and Gardiner Street. His films offer a fascinating glimpse of life at the time in inner-city Dublin and include scenes of trips with parishioners, tenement life, school children at play, religious processions, and residents of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Convent (which housed a Magdalene Laundry). With kind permission of Irene Devitt.