This article is from page 86 of the 2009-09-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 86 JPG
OF course Muhammad Ali was the star turn, charming everyone with- out opening his mouth — his mere presence being enough to bring the county capital to a standstill for a few hours.
However, he wasn’t the only Ali to charm his Ennis public — Lonnie Ali also did her part to steal the show when addressing the Ennis Town Council Civic Reception in Water- park House.
“Are there any relatives of Mu- hammad here?” she asked. With that up stepped Imelda O’Grady,
Mary O’Grady-Gormley and Mary O’Donovan with gifts for “The Greatest’ — an O’Grady family crest, a ‘céad mile failte’ plaque and an al- bum of photographs from the Turn- pike.
“It’s a rare opportunity that we get to come to Ireland and especially to Ennis,” said Lonnie. “The people of Ennis, you have been so overwhelm- ing in your outpouring of love to this ynarenee
“We are sincerely appreciative and thankful to everyone of you and now that we know that Muhammad is an ‘Innisman’, we will be back.”
It was the way she said it — adopt-
ing Ennis-speak and the vernacular of a true Townie. It’s something that wasn’t lost on ‘Townies in the Town Council audience, or those in the crowd watching the telecast that was beamed onto a big screen at Abbey Street carpark.
And there was more from Lonnie.
“IT have never seen anything like this before and neither has Muham- mad. He was overwhelmed by it, re- UMAR Laon
“It was better than any medicine you could give him. He was excited and surprised by the outpouring of people, even the children who were out on the street.
“It’s interesting that when you look at Muhammad and his _ pugilistic skills and his loquacious ways, that if his great grand father were alive he’d swear that it came from him. And if he were alive today he’d be in every pub talking about it.”
The O’Gradys doing the talking on Tuesday were Muhammad Ali’s relatives — you could say they were reeling with the welcome given them by both Muhammad and Lonnie. “I can’t believe that I got to meet Mu- hammad,” said Mary O’ Donovan. “It was a dream come true for me and I was crying. We had lovely photo- graphs taken with after the recep-
nena
“I’m very emotional over it,’ said Imelda O’Grady. “It’s been a real roller coaster over the past few weeks, looking forward to the visit and now that it has happened and I got to meet Muhammad Ali is unbelievable,’ she added.
Meanwhile, Mary O’Grady-Gorm- ley was lost for words. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “To meet him, to hold his hand and be photographed with him. It must be the highlight of TUOh Yas become
Muhammad Ali and Lonnie Ali had just made their day. Everyone’s CPAs KOvMmner-limeet lito) m