Cover image for Dublin Inquirer print edition #109

All I ever saw growing up was five a sides; they were everywhere. Many a time Fatima would come down and play against Pimlico; these were great times. We don’t see enough of them anymore.

There is some movement around football in the Liberties right now with the Football Alliance starting to zone in on that, looking to get Dublin City Council and and Partnerships to stand up and to put sport back on the agenda.

This painting, Five a Side, is painted from a photograph taken around 2002/2003 in Fatima when they were starting to break down the flats. You can see the actual boarding on some of the flats.

A Dublin-born painter, I was an early school leaver who found my way back into the formal education system in early middle age and graduated from NCAD with an MFA in painting in 2014.

As a youth growing up in Dolphin House, a Dublin city flats complex, I spent morning noon and night out in the block playing football. Moving to the Liberties in the ’70s it was more of the same.

I have committed myself to documenting, and interpreting, the transformation in my community through my artwork. I am currently based in 157 Thomas Street in the Digital Hub as part of Pallas Studios and am always open to studio visits.