'Marooned' Westmeath senior footballers find a way through!
By Bernie ComaskeyOn Tuesday we heard the there was well over a 100, 000 Irish and British travellers stranded in Spain.Chaos reigned at points of entry to ferries and the Channel Tunnel as hordes of people anxiously tried to get off the continent.The large Irish contingent of visitors, golfers and holidaymakers to La Zenia, on Spain's Costa Blanca, milled around Paddy's Point pub and the offices of Comaskey Properties desperately seeking any bit of information which would signal when they might get away. All seemed somewhat bemused by these strange events which had stranded them a long way from home.Among those on a short visit to La Zenia was a Westmeath contingent of "high intensity value", one might say!The Westmeath group (pictured outside the office of Westmeath man, Ian Comaskey) had just been presented with a plan: Sean Sheridan and his wife, Mary, chose to wait until Thursday, when Ian had organised a bus to Cork, via Roscoff.Some ingenious methods have been used for getting out, but none better or more efficient that that of the Westmeath lads.The four footballers hired a car in La Zenia and shortly after the photo was taken headed off for the twenty hour drive to Calais: at the same time, Alan Mangan's father, Sean, left Westmeath for Calais in his car. When they meet up, they will exchange cars, with the lads taking the Mangan car home and Sean heading to return the hired car in La Zenia. Nice one lads!But even better news was received over the weekend, in an exclusive interview, when Denis Glennon told me he is now ready to return to the Westmeath panel. It gets even better; whilst we shall let other players speak for themselves, Denis is confident that other high profile players will be returning.Other travellers did not get home as easily. Paddy's Point and Comaskey Properties organised a bus to London for Wednesday and one to Cork on Thursday and were constantly endeavouring to book as many escape routes as possible.The Irish Embassy in Madrid advised us to encourage people who could stay to do just that. They could only offer us assistance in the case of real emergencies. At time of writing we are told of some more limited availability on the Cherbourg to Rosslare ferry.The good humour of the people stranded in La Zenia was nothing short of amazing: great acceptance of our fate and nobody angry or giving out. There will be anecdotes and funny stories told around the pub for a long time. Well known Oldcastle auctioneer, Martin Shortt, decided on Tuesday morning he was going to drive home in his "old holiday car". To much fanfare he sat in and turned the key; nothing happened..... battery dead!! Someone eventually "jumped" the battery and he is currently on his way to Oldcastle, armed with my set of jump-leads!The Irish spirit of good neighbourliness is alive and well.This week in Spain, money has been lent to total strangers; people you met last night for the first time are now living with you.Rory, Hazel and their staff; Ian and his staff have come back into work for as long as it takes, for no other reason than to help people.It often takes a crisis just to show how good people are!