THERE were some bruised student egos following the recent Ogra Fianna Fail annual beano in Bundoran, Co Donegal.
Among the prizes presented at this annual coming together of the party's young lions is the title of Third Level Cumann of the Year, a title which might have been expected to go to UCD's Kevin Barry Cumann, the largest in the country and a veritable petri dish of future politicians - student and otherwise.
Sadly, this year Kevin Barry suffered an upset at the hands of their brethren in TCD, the Erskine Childers Cumann. This was particularly galling for the UCD mob since the Erskine Childers Cumann has been suffering from the sort of schisms more usually associated with peasant led revolutionary parties.
The jaws of the UCD party; faithful hung slack with disappointment at their defeat by the city centre carriers of the Republican torch, and there were Neil Blaney-esque mutterings of unhappiness at the dinner tables.
The national chairman of Ogra is Sean Haughey TD, coincidentally he was a member of the Erskine Childers Cumann during his time in TCD in the early 1980s and a former honorary chairman of the cumann from 1989-90, although he denied that he had contributed to Erskine Childers' triumph in the awards. He described the cumann, currently celebrating its 35th anniversary, as "very active".
Given the alleged shortcomings of each cumann, though, the direction of the award might well have been described as a choice between the devil and the deeper, green sea.
