The Last MatchmakerBy Willie Daly Sphere, 278pp, £14.99:THERE IS an old-world charm about Willie Daly's account of his life as a maker of matches for 50 years or so in Ennistymon, Co Clare, and in Lisdoonvarna, that spa resort synonymous with the merrymaking that leads to a happy union.
The old-fashioned quality comes from the author’s feeling for what he calls “a walking world”: a reference to an earlier time when there was no television, very few phones and hardly any cars. People lived close to each other: “there was no big wondering what was down the road 40 miles away; you could imagine it, but that was as far as you’d go”.
In his own time he prefers what remains of that world: the old cottages rather than the new bungalows; the horses he has turned into a love-orientated family business; the oil light in the kitchen; the music and the dancing in the Clare pubs; and above all the introduction of marriageable men and women to one another.
Daly’s father and grandfather were matchmakers. He was 15 when he made his first match, and is now 66. His customers at the Matchmaker Bar in Lisdoonvarna (he also has his own pub, Daly’s, in Ennistymon) tend to be easy to please. They ask him to find them a husband or a wife, and he does, and they are happy to go along with his choice. They invariably go on to have many children and come back to see him, sometimes asking him to find a mate for the next generation.
The girls are frequently dark- haired and beautiful, the men tall and handsome or small and humorous – though sometimes they are “mad little fellas” at a dance who will jump up like a jockey on the back of a tall girl.
In passing, Daly mentions that three of his daughters took part in the Lovely Girls competition judged by Father Ted in the TV series, which was shot around Ennistymon.
The stories of his matchmaking life, which, as he says, Philip Dodd has helped him put on paper, retain the flavour of the spoken word and a nice turn of phrase. His sympathy for his clients is obvious: he speaks of the girls who had “a particular gentleness about them, a bewitching mixture of shy sweetness with great loyalty”.
The tone is demure, but full of fun and an understanding of human nature. Not all of the yarns might actually have occurred at the time or place stated, such as the story of Elly, who had been going out for years with Paddy. She would often drop him a hint but to no avail. On the anniversary of their 20 years together, Elly asked Paddy, “Isn’t it time we got married?” To which Paddy replied, “But sure who’d have either of us now?”
Daly believes music leads to love, and so singing, fiddling, flute and concertina playing and dancing are an essential part of the transaction, as is the pub where it all happens and the Guinness to be consumed therein. He is not impressed by the candidate who presents his credentials as a non-smoker and non-drinker. And in a time when people can find a mate by sitting at a computer, Daly believes there is still nothing to beat the personal intervention of a matchmaker, who brings a “mixture of experience, humour and hope” to the proceedings.
It is a persuasive argument. But even if you are not looking for a better half, the book is an entertainment in itself and, moreover, a great advertisement for the delights of west Clare.
John S Doyle is a freelance journalist