Billy Connor From Newmarket Poem by Francis Duggan

Billy Connor from Newmarket one I remember well
He used to drink on weekend nights at the Normandy Hotel
Does he still live near Melbourne or where might he be today
Or is he home in Duhallow more than half a World away? .

I last met him in the Young and Jackson pub with John Kelleher from Millstreet
John fresh in from the cold climate was feeling the Melbourne heat
And that was in the Summer of 89 I think on a friday evening after five
When the pubs and clubs in Melbourne for the weekend come alive.

Of their Hometowns in Duhallow they both had much to say
Their reasons for migrating adventure, work and higher pay
Wanderlust is addictive in ways it's like a drug
It makes you want to travel some call it 'travel bug'.

Billy Connor from Newmarket he has a heart of gold
Back there in the late eighties he looked thirty years old
You'd know he is a Corkman without he telling you
As an accent is a give away it always holds a clue.

Billy Connor from Newmarket a likeable sort of bloke
He always seems so happy and he likes to crack a joke
Does he still drink at the weekends in the Normandy Hotel?
He liked that pub in Clifton Hill as I remember well.