Dick farrellys piano back in kells theatre

The piano on which Dick Farrelly, the composer of ‘The Isle of Innisfree,’ first publicly performed the song has been returned to the Kells Theatre after an absence of around 40 years.
The Kells born musician and composer wrote the world famous theme from ‘The Quiet Man’ on a bus journey from  Dublin to Kells and it was first perfomed in public in the Kells Theatre.
He played the piano, while fellow Kells man, Joe Comiskey, sang the song on a St Patrick’s night in the early 1950’s. The Kells Silver Band always held a concert on St Patricks night and the performance took place during that concert.
Both Dick Farrelly and Joe Comiskey were gardai at the time.
The piano dates back to the early 1950’s and was used for various musicals, concerts and other events until the hall underwent a major revamp in the mid 1970’s.
The late, Philly Sheridan, a stalwart of the old musical society in Kells, as well took the piano for safe keeping.
Philly died recently, and his nephew Philly Tully decided to return the piano to the theatre.
According to John Grant of the Kells Musical and Dramatic Society, it is in good condition  although it does need tuning.
“It is fantastic to have it back in the theatre and hopefully it will soon be back in use again.
Dick Farrelly, who died in 1990, was the son of a Kells publican and when he was twenty-three he left Kells for Dublin to join the Gardai. He served in various Garda stations throughout his 38 year career, ending up in the Carriage Office in Dublin Castle.
He was a private, modest and shy man who wrote over two hundred songs and poems during his lifetime. He married Anne Lowry from Headford, Co Galway in 1955 and the couple had five children.
The song was published in 1950 by the Peter Maurice Music Publishing Company.
When film director John Ford heard the song, he loved it so much that he chose it as the principal theme of his film ‘The Quiet Man’, but the composition received no mention in the screen credits.
‘The Isle of Innisfree’ became a worldwide hit for Bing Crosby in 1952 and continues to feature in the repertoires of many artists.
There is a common misconception that the song and the famous poem by WB Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, were written about the same place. Yeats’ Innisfree was an uninhabited island in Sligo’s Lough Gill, whereas Farrelly’s Innisfree represented all of Ireland.