Hard to be faithful as Offaly struggle to stay relevant

The journey to the summit took them more than a decade, with many a setback along the way. Thing was, they never stopped believing.

Sheila Gallagher was coming home from school one day in 1976 when an individual she’d never met before stopped her on the street in Tullamore. “Would you ever tell that man to get sense?” the stranger demanded. “He’ll never make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”