John Spillane and The Streets of Ballyphehane

See current films by Myles O'Reilly on   / mylesoreilly  

It has been a huge ambition of mine to catch up with the legendary songwriter John Spillane to film a song of his for Arbutus Yarns. We met in a graveyard in Ballyphehane, Cork, which used to be a rough part of town. It's better now, and has a tall story to tell. I think John successfully gets that story across in his words, and hopefully I have magnified his intent with my images. He pointed out to me during filming, that his father and grandparents were buried in the graveyard, so poignantly he also performed the song to them before we left. All in all, it was a gorgeous meeting, albeit surrounded and immersed in death, the spirit of commemoration was large in our hearts and hopefully comes across in this film.

Thank you!

DVD Tier Patrons


Lisa Jackson

Cindy Reich

Michael Kennefick

Judy L.Fritz

Jamie Crotty

Brian Flood

Sharon Moroney



Betacam Tier Patrons


Peter GW Sumadh

Ren Nickson

Anthony at Anaolog Records

Steve Wickham

Landy Manderson

Conor Quirke

Lorraine Kennedy

Colin Louth

Brían Mac Gloinn

Kerry Yates 

Chris Spring

Brad Hurley