All ages come together to pen new song

By Finnian Cox

It may not be national, but Mahon now has its own anthem thanks to the efforts of local schoolchildren and older residents in the area.

‘The Mahon Song’ is an example of the great things that come from the different generations working together, singing the praises of their parish and voicing pride in their community.

The song boasts fresh input from the next generation of musicians at Nagle Community College, Holy Cross-National School and Gaelscoil Mhachan.

As well as that words and wisdom were also contributed by other community groups, including Mahon’s Singing for Wellbeing group, the Coffee Morning Group, and the Mahon Women’s Group.

The idea was born at the Mahon Learning Neighbourhood, a representative network of schools, childcare providers and youth and community organisations in the area.

Students were asked to put forward descriptive words which represented Mahon for them, which saw them describing their home with pride as well as namechecking local heroes Caoimhín Kelleher and Alan Browne.

Local music tutor Rory McGovern created the music that accompanies the lyrics contributed by these groups, which he tied together to create the final product.

The song opens and closes with the voice of 90 year old local Michael Walsh, with his sections sandwiching the rapped body of the song.

Viv Saad, project coordinator of Mahon Community Development Programme (CDP) said the song aimed to represent as much of Mahon as possible by incorporating all age groups.

“It is extremely satisfying watching the project unfold from hundreds of random words being pulled together in a lyrical song and hearing it for the first time musically,” he said.

The song received RAPID funding from Cork City Council, as a part of their commitment to community education and inclusive local initiatives.

The song was originally performed as part of the Mahon Learning Neighbourhood event in April 2026, as part of Cork Lifelong Learning project. Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Fergal Dennehy invited the group to perform it in the council chambers recently.

He praised the song and its representation of Mahon, saying it displays a “keen sense of community pride and highlights the positive impact of intergenerational and collaborative work at a local level.”

“It also shows to me that the voices of the next generation are talented, loud and proud and I am delighted to give them a stage here in City Hall to showcase their talent,” he said.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.