MONEYGALL, IRELAND — Until recently, Moneygall's most famous son wasn't even human. It was a horse, Papillon, who streaked to the title as a long shot in a nail-biter at Britain's prestigious Grand National race in 2000.
But for months now, the modest sign marking Papillon's achievement has been muscled aside by pictures celebrating the new hero in this tiny pit stop on the Dublin-to-Limerick road: President Obama -- or, as they like to call him here, Barack O'Bama.
An out-of-the-blue call from the United States, some yellowing church records and an iPhone-toting priest have earned bragging rights for Moneygall as the "ancestral home" -- one of them, anyway -- of the leader of the free world.
How the family connection came about is the quintessential story of America as a nation of immigrants and Ireland as a land that supplied them, including Obama's great-great-great-granddaddy on his mother's side, a cobbler from Moneygall. How the tie was unearthed more than 100 years later and how news of it spread across the globe is a testament to 21st century instant communication, Obama's star power in Europe and the natural gregariousness of the Irish.
Since the discovery of its link to Obama a little less than two years ago, Moneygall (population 298) has been catapulted out of its sleepy backwater and into the international spotlight.
Camera crews from distant countries flocked to the village during the U.S. presidential race, eager to capture reaction at the neighborhood pub, between pints of Guinness, to Obama's primary and election victories. "There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama," an infectious song by a Limerick-based band, became a YouTube sensation and landed the group a recording contract.
Moneygall's merchants, including the glazier and a plumbing company, have happily seized the opportunity for some self-promotion, plastering Obama's face on their ads. Tourists from France and Germany have stopped by to pay their respects. A politician, meanwhile, wants to erect an Obama heritage center.
It's the most attention ever lavished on the village, where you can find two pubs, a small general store, an ice cream vendor, a car dealership and a single traffic signal, if you don't blink.
A cluster of neat if nondescript stucco houses lines the Dublin-Limerick highway. Larger homes dot the sprawling countryside behind, in what residents refer to as "the hinterland."
