COMMENT: Great 'quack' at Boherlahan Bingo as community celebrates milestone

Darren Hassett, Regional Editor for Tipperary and Digital Development Director for Iconic Media Group, reports on one year of the revitalised Boherlahan Bingo on Monday nights as people come from all over the Premier County for the game

Boherlahan’s Monday Night Bingo is all about time and numbers; the game runs like clockwork.

A remarkable team of volunteers behind the scenes have kept the reincarnation of the game going for one whole year and it’s only going from strength to strength.

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It starts at 8pm and finishes at 9.30pm: a far cry earlier than the sometimes 10.30pm finish pre-Covid-19.

Nevertheless, whatever time it ends, for the volunteers who run it they clock-in at 6pm to begin preparations in the Parish Hall.

Since returning on June 17 of last year, following a four-year hiatus brought on by a worldwide pandemic, the Boherlahan Bingo Night has been transformed and rejuvenated.

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Running a bingo is not for the fainthearted, once money is involved, everything needs to be treated with the utmost of care and with its newly-formed committee, the bingo night runs like a well-oiled machine.

For the attendees, who want their usual seats, they can and will arrive as early as 7pm and they’ll be fighting over seats by 8pm.

The eleventh commandment of all bingo halls: thou shalt not sit in a regular bingo player’s seat.

A packed Boherlahan Parish Hall last Monday night for bingo 

Music from a boombox speaker gently fills the hall before the game begins, a soothing, eclectic Spotify playlist belonging to committee member, Jacqueline Fogarty.

The first five games are €20 a line, €30 for two lines and €100 for the house.

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The next game after the break is the jackpot game, it’s a separate sheet that costs €3 for a single sheet and €5 for a double.

The jackpot game is €50 for a line, €50 for two lines and a whopping €300 for the house - which is a bigger prize than other bingo jackpot games, I have been told!

The sixth game boasts the Lucky 90 - a new addition to the bingo night which is a separate ticket game (tickets are €2) and the number the full house check is on in bingo game six, say it is number 36 when someone shouts check to win the full house cash prize, the winner of the Lucky 90 will be the person who boasts ticket number 36 and they are guaranteed to win €90.

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From the sixth game and all the games up to game eight, they are €20 a line, €30 for two lines and €100 for the house.

The ninth game on the book is the yellow-themed page and it is €50 for a line, €50 for any two lines and €200, which is followed by the last game of the night which is €20 for a line, €30 for two lines and €130 for a house.

The popular Boherlahan Bingo Night is celebrating one year back in action this month, on June 16.

An incredible milestone for the new committee who intend to mark the occasion with a bingo extravaganza and bigger cash prizes on the night for the games and jackpot game.

The number callers are Tony Lacey of Lacey’s Bar, Ballydine, and my second cousin, Niall Tuohy - whose late father Mossy also called the numbers at the Boherlahan Bingo.

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Niall’s late mother Pauline was sacristan in Ardmayle Church for many years.

Tony is a fastidious bingo caller, and is determined to get rid of the “quack” and “quack, quack” for 2 and 22. It may never happen, as mischievous attendees seem to enjoy the angst the quacks cause him as Tony goes “bingo loco” with each one.

Turn off all mobiles too, as Tony says: “Do they not know you’re at bingo.”

The one-year anniversary bingo is June 16, with extra money for every game on the night.

You’d hate to miss bingo in Boherlahan cause there’s great “quack” there.

Now, if only they had a shiny new hall to be holding the Bingo Night in...where one local committee has succeeded, can another?

Bingo Committee members:
Tony Lacey, Jacqueline Fogarty, Margaret Lacey, Josephine Maher, Teresa Canny, Niall Tuohy, Irene Dwan, Oliver Hassett, Mary O’Donnell, Jerry Fogarty, John Sweeney and Michael Murphy. (missing from the picture above are Jerry Fogarty, Michael Murphy and Josephine Maher)