An education on what makes Kilkenny tick

You would hardly mistake this corner of the newspaper for the social and personal page, but we couldn’t let this morning pass without sharing a classic ‘seen about town’ moment.

Apparently in the midst of Kilkenny’s annual Arts Festival, which was held last week, a novelist noted for his high-brow (trans: pretentious) tomes strolled into a well-known establishment in the South-East and sat at the next table along from a gentleman most readers here will be familiar with.

The difference between them? Enda McEvoy has done the state some service with his new book, Fr Tommy Maher: The Godfather of Modern Hurling. The man at the next table in Tynan’s? Not so much.