Hope springs for son of Moneygall

BEFORE last year, the most famous descendant of Moneygall, Co Offaly, was Papillon, the horse that won the Aintree Grand National in 2000.

But after a Church of Ireland vicar uncovered records in the home of an elderly parishioner which tied American presidential candidate Barrack Obama to the village, it has been basking in the international spotlight ever since.

Canon Stephen Neill, 39, of the 200-year-old Templeharry church, in nearby Cloughjordan, who unearthed the connection, said Senator Obama was now genuinely regarded as a son of Moneygall.