Máire Ní Ghráinne, Dunmore's gift to the Abbey

WHEN the English writer Anthony Trollope based his novel The Kellys and the O’Kellys in Dunmore, he could never have imagined that almost 140 years later a young woman from the town would feature in a television adaptation of his books.
Trollope was a Post Office inspector who in the 19th century became familiar with Dunmore from his many visits. He stayed in the Kelly family hotel on the Square, now Jimmy Howley’s.
He is recalled in James Greaney’s History of Dunmore, and it is quite a coincidence that it was the historian’s daughter, Máire, who would feature in the BBC series The Pallisers as Mary Flood, later Mary Finn.
Máire, who uses the Irish version of her name, Ní Ghráinne, was an Abbey actress for many years, but her first experience of theatre was in her home town.

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