Drogheda Bay reel

No information on this, I’m afraid. From Matt Molloy’s "The Heathery Breeze".

This tune is also on Paul McGrattan’s solo album "Frost is All Over": he plays it with Paul O’Shaughnessy, who is the sorce of it. I’ve been thinkng it’s just a version of "The Ships are Sailing" but has a different first part. Thanks for a cool tune.

P.S. The place name Drogheda sounds really familiar to me. Where is it?

"B" part sounds almost identical to Ships are Sailing.
Drogheda is a town on the East coast in County Louth (40 or 50 miles north of Dublin).

Any complaints, contact M.Molloy, Westport.

"A" part of the tune is quite different from that of "Ships are Sailing," which means this should be distinguished from the well-known tune.

I might have passed through Drogheda several times when going from north to south.

T:Big Pat’s Reel
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:Michael Hynes,and Denis Liddy - Waifs and Strays
R:reel
Z:Gian Marco Pietrasanta
K:Em
BGEF G2BG|~G2AG FDDA|BGEF G2Bd|1 gefd efdc:|2 gefd ~e3f||
|~g3a bgag|eaag fddf| ~g3a bgag|fedf ~e3f|
|~g3a ~b2ag|eaag fddf|~g3e ~f3d|edfd efdc|

Watch and listen to John McEvoy and John Wynne play this tune together: http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/john_mcevoy_and_john_wynne

The two tunes are also paired by Patsy Hanly: http://www.lafferty.ca/files/flute-geezers/patsyh1.mp3
From Rich Lafferty’s Flute Geezers Page: http://www.lafferty.ca/music/irish/flute-geezers

I doubt it was composed by Johnny Moran.

Listening to a version by Leo Rowsome (from archive.org) he repeats the 8 bars of the A-Part whereas he does not repeat the 8 bars B-Part

This tune appears on John Blake’s Album The Narrow Edge.

Here’s a great rendition of this reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM0huzj4CSA

play video

This tune didn’t come up often in sessions I was at in the seventies, but if it did, this is how it was played, being referred to as "Big Pat’s".

Listen to the late P.J. Crotty of West Clare and London play this tune: https://soundcloud.com/knight-briggs-et-al/johnknighttape_158_001

In the recording, he introduces this tune as Big Pat’s and informs who Big Pat was.