Slán libh!
Dozens of Ridgites gathered for one last drink at neighborhood mainstay Killarney Pub on Oct. 9. The bar closed Thursday after long-time owner Paddy Finn sold the building to a Bay Ridge jeweler and real estate mogul. The farewell bash brought together bar regulars and patrons from the past who shared memories of the well-known watering hole.
“I saw couples who met and married from the bar — they came back to say ‘goodbye,’ ” said Elizabeth Murphy, who poured pints at the pub for 14 years and held her own wedding in Killarney Pub’s hallowed halls. “It was a bit of nostalgia.”
One patron reminisced fondly of his youth spent in and out of the bar.
“It’s a place I’ve been going to, Jesus, since I was 16 — that was before Paddy owned it,” said Thomas McGoldrick, 42, who played on a dart team at the bar for several years. “I seen a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while.”
A staffer from Rep. Michael Grimm’s office even dropped by to present Finn with a congressional proclamation.
Finn himself stepped up to eulogize the bar he had operated since 1997, telling a story about a man who collapsed due to complications from diabetes as he was putting money in the joint’s jukebox. After paramedics arrived, the man called Finn out to the ambulance to issue a stern reminder.
“Remember, I have 24 credits on that machine,” the man said.
