Month: March 2007

COCAINE use in Clare has risen sharply and is the second most used drug in the county, with its popular- ity now outgrowing ecstacy.

The use of heroin is also continuing to increase in Clare, as addicts travel to Limerick to get their fix, accord- ing to gardai.

The head of the Clare Garda Di- vision’s Drug Unit, Sergeant John Brennan, said the trends in drug use in Clare had changed dramatically over the past few years and cocaine was now widely available.

“Our seizures of cocaine would be next to cannabis. It would have been very rare, going back three or four years ago.

“It has eclipsed ecstacy and am- phetamine,” said Sgt Brennan.

“It is the demand for cocaine that is causing problems. A lot of people with good wage packets are indulg- ing in cocaine at weekends. Once there is a demand, there will always be a supply,” he said.

While gardai in Clare have not made any major seizures of cocaine in recent years, they believe that a string of minor hauls is resulting in inroads being made into its supply.

‘A lot of individual seizures are be- ing made. There has been a substan- tial increase over the past number of years in the amount of cocaine vis- ible to us anyway.

“It seems to be deemed acceptable across the board, by all sections of the community,” he said.

He said the link between cocaine use and violence was significant as people who wouldn’t generally have violent tendencies resorted to vicious assaults after taking the drug.

“It is very obvious it is responsible for violence and public order inci- CSN

“It is commonly accepted that the use of cocaine leads to violence and it has been a factor in some of the se- rious assaults that have taken place,” |ntemncy-B (em

The majority of drugs are brought into Clare from mainland Europe, via Limerick, and gardai believe that cocaine and cannabis come in Koons

A number of prosecutions have been brought to court and a number of others are still pending, relating to possession of cocaine.

Sgt Brennan said the use of heroin continued to pose huge concerns for ee KerNe

“There is still a considerable amount of it. A lot of our people are going in to Limerick to get heroin. Some of the notorious drugs gangs in Limerick are cutting back the supply of cannabis, because it is more bulky, and are replacing it with heroin,” he Sr HLGe

He said that the popularity of ecsta- cy tablets has “dropped completely”’.

WHAT goes up must come down. After the high of victory over Kerry in the under 21 grade, the low of a 13 point drubbing at the hands of a rampant Monaghan.

Standing in the grey gloom outside the Clare dressing room, the rain pouring down around him, Banner boss Paidi O’Shea picked positives out of an awful day for Clare foot- eye

“It isn’t a major setback. I haven’t seen the rest of the results yet. We’re on four points and there will be a lot of better teams than us on four points around the league. We’d think that there is a good opportunity to get an-

other two points against London and we have games to come against Of- faly and Longford, so nobody knows just yet. We’ll have a look at it and see,’ he said

“We lived on the edge for a while in the first half. We never got going and Monaghan could have punished us further. We were playing catch up after 20 minutes. We can have no complaints, they were completely better than us. We lost a shower of players through injury and any team is going to miss players. Maybe if we had Michael O’Shea a bit earlier it would have given us a bit more. We are missing other players like Alan Malone and Stephen Hickey.”

Meanwhile, his counterpart Sea-

mus McEneaney revealed the way Clare were on their last visit to Ennis was a powerful motivating force for them. ““We were determined to put right what happened when we came here two years ago,” he said.

“We weren’t treated right that day; we weren’t even allowed to warm up on the pitch beforehand. We came down early yesterday, we got here around 10.30am. The lads were re- ally focused that was the most com- plete 74 minutes of football I’ve seen from us this year.

“We came down here with a mis- sion and that was to still be top of the league after the match. Things didn’t go our way before this match either. We didn’t have a place to warm up beforehand so we had to go on a bit of land that the Council owned and then the Guards showed up to move us on. So if we needed anymore mo- tivation that was the final nail. I have waited two years to talk to you guys about what happened, and get that of my chest,” he added.

Clare could do with some similar motivation.

SPORT is cruel. A Harty Cup medal is one of the most prestigious prize on offer in the game, but typically a hurler will only get one shot at win- UND OreaK@) alse

For this year’s St. Flannan’s side that chance materialised on Sun- day against De La Salle, but cruelly they were denied by a combination of atrocious weather conditions and some suspect refereeing decisions.

There is no question of sour grapes among the St. Flannan’s camp, but they would be well within their rights to query some of Seamus Roche’s de- cisions and why the fixture was ful- filled in the first place.

The weather was like something out of the old testament and by the end of an hour’s hurling both goal- mouths were flooded. In fact it was impossible to decipher, such was the muck, where the respective sidelines were.

“You couldn’t but praise the lads

or fault any of them for the effort they put in,’ explained joint-manager John O’Connor in the aftermath of the defeat.

“The lads were terrific especially in the second half and once we got into that three-point lead Donal (Cahir) turned to me and said if we could get one more score we would go on to win it. But that score never came and De La Salle came back at us.

“Their second goal, which brought them level, really killed us. In a match like that, in those conditions, a goal is almost mentally worth four or five points and after that all the momentum was with De La Salle.”

The circumstances that led to Stephen Power’s second goal were more than suspect. St Flannan’s led by three points in the 49th minute when Power dropped a long-range free into the Flannan’s goalmouth. The sliothar dropped among a forest of hurls before becoming completely submerged in a flooded goalmouth. Then, and inexplicably, Seamus Ro-

che penalised St. Flannan’s ‘keeper Donal Tuohy for lying on the ball. Stephen Power rammed the 21-yard free home and a critical turning point had been reached.

“Most referees, especially in those conditions, would have _ stopped play and given a throw-in,’ adds O’Connot.

‘The referee was very harsh. How the hell he figured that it was a ’21 is beyond me. The ball had literally disappeared into a puddle of water. There was nothing that Donal (Tuo- hy) could have done especially with the goalmouth so crowded. That goal absolutely killed us.”

Such a talking point should never have materialised since the game should never have gone ahead. A sug- gestion that O’Connor agrees with.

‘The referee said to us at half time that if the conditions got any worse he was going to call it off. Even if he had called it off when we were three points up we wouldn’t have minded. Both sets of players deserved better. You just couldn’t hurl in those cond1- tions. Tactics went comepletely out the window and De La Salle, for ex- ample, only scored once from play. Look it’s not sour grapes. The con- ditions were the same for both sides, but it would also have been fairer to both sides if the game had been called off.”

St. Flannan’s now await the loser of the Leinster final between Castle- comer and Kilkenny CBS before they know who they face in an All- Ireland quarter-final in three weeks time.

THE Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has said that it irritates him when people suggest that bishops and priests are out of touch with life today.

He insisted that priests were very much in touch as a result of continu- ous dealings with families in diffi- culty.

‘I think the one area where we find

it difficult is to be 1n touch with the daily lives of young people, that 1s a difficulty.

“I would say to priests regularly that it is not just us that are finding life difficult at times in this era — that despite all the material progress, parents are finding it quite difficult CNM DO New DOM DB KOR

‘Also, whether it 1s young couples coping with pressures of mortgages, very long hours or work or it 1s cou- ples coping with teenage children.”

Dr Walsh went on, “I think that we have made great progress, financial- ly, economically, socially – in many ways in recent years.

“But I often think that, for some people, the Celtic Tiger hasn’t touched them and they are finding life difficult. I think of the ones who are successful 1n economic terms, very often they are under so much pressure they can’t enjoy the fruits.

“The way our society has devel- oped, there are an awful lot of people

who are under pressure.

‘Probably, we as priests tend to see more of it. We are more 1n touch with people who are suffering. Whether it is people suffering from poverty or tragedy, priests are very much in- volved in tragic events.”

He added: “We had so many priests that somehow in the 1950s, ’60s, °70s and ’80s that we didn’t encour- age lay people to get involved in the running of the Church. I suppose that if somebody has been doing that

all their lives, it 1s not easy if you come to 70, you tend to feel that you still have to do that. I would accept that we didn’t encourage lay people to take their responsibility.

Dr Walsh’s Lenten Letter sends out a call on lay people to get involved in the running of the Church.

He states: “It is not a question of helping the priest, it 1s a question of lay people and the priest working together, sharing their responsibili- on

CARDS close to his chest, Tony Considine emerges from the home dressing room four minutes after he entered. His players were moving back out to warm down and Consi- dine threw his mind back over the previous 70 minutes.

The home opener wasn’t supposed to go like this. After a handy run out in Down two weeks back, Considine knew this weekend would be a step up in class but despite Wexford’s more competitive start to the year, he must have thought Clare would be sitting on top of the league on Sun- day night.

“We really didn’t play well,” he says ‘and the first half was crucuial. But as I said during the week they had two quality games against Kilkenny [Walsh Cup final] and Waterford [league opener] and no disrespect to Down, we only had the Down game. We didn’t have any hurling done and we didn’t meet a team playing like that. But I still thought we played pretty well. We’ve a lot of injuries at

the moment and we’ve a lot of young lads out there. It’s all about trying new players in the league. I’d like to have won but at the end of the day, when you don’t win you don’t win.”

After the poor first half, when Clare failed to put their noses in front with the wind, they didn’t re-start with any more spirit.

“We missed a lot of chances and maybe took a few wrong options in the forwards in the second half. But having said that, we could have sneaked it.

But the injuries are definitely a prob- lem and Barry Nugent and Declan O’Rourke picked up some niggling injuries now and I suppose when the wind is against you, it’s against you. Look, we’ve a big panel of 32 play- ers. While I’m disappointed at being beaten I wouldn’t be over-excited Vero) 0 an le

He wonders what the general per- ception of the game was and is told that Wexford manager John Meyler reckoned it was “like paint drying.”

“T agreed with him there on the sideline,’ said Considine. “It was

like a rugby match at times but it’s early in the year.

We haven’t much hurling done and at this time of the year it’s all about getting fellows fit. We hope to 1m- prove after that.”

The opportunity to take at least a point from the game was there, but Clare weren’t hungry for war.

‘Wexford were well up for it,” add- ed Considine. “When you lose your first league game it puts you well up for it the second day out. Of course you’d be disappointed [at losing] but what can you do. You’ve to take the good with the bad as well. We were there with a fair chance of winning the game and Wexford had a few bad wides. At the end of the day wed have accepted a draw but it wasn’t to oronel

FORMER Clare County Board vice- chairman Michael Lee has called for no more comments to be made on the crises that have dragged Clare hurling through the mire in recent peeved etse

In an impassioned plea to delegates at Thursday’s board meeting, Lee

said, “all this opening of wounds does not help the situation’.

And, in making his call the Tubber delegate said “the time has come to stand up and be counted as a County Board. Everyone knows very well that county hurling is bigger than club. There should be no more in- nuendo. No more media stuff. It’s killing Clare hurling. We should not

be going back to where we were 15 years ago. When we’re finished this year, that’s when to debate and find out what’s going wrong. Stop it now, for once and for all. It’s only making things worse,” he added.

However, Lee was a lone voice in calling for a line to be drawn under the controversy. “We’re the laughing stock of the whole county,” said TJ

O’Loughlin of Kilmurry Ibrickane. “IT want to know is Tony Considine answerable to the county board? Is there a liaison officer? When Tony Considine came in here last Novem- ber he said nothing about a trainer coming in for six weeks,” he added. “I think it’s a disgrace what has gone on,’ said Doonbeg delegate Michael ore

THIS meeting sizzled at times. It gave in-fighting a whole new face. Two internal rows in Clare GAA were the main reasons why the first floor ballroom of the West County Hotel housed more delegates than usual.

Robert Frost and PJ McGuane were seen as having backed away from giving their support to John Reidy at the recent Munster Council meeting. That was confrontation number one.

But most delegates were there for the latest installment of what’s now becoming a weekly drama. The Tony Considine/David Fitzgerald stand- off. That’s essentially why the meet- ing had swelled to over twice its nor- mal size.

Just before things got underway, one wry delegate turned his head and out of the side of his mouth you could hear him say, “there wouldn’t be this many people staring at a car crash.”

At one stage, things got so bad the chairman of the board said he was considering his future as a member

of the board.

And then, just over half an hour into things, most got to hear what they came for. Michael McDonagh read a short letter written by Tony Sroyets ern sten

It prompted Paschal Russell to walk to the front of the room and in his hands he had another letter. He said he wanted everybody to hear what he was ready to read out. It was all about to unfold.

At the top of the room, the Clare- castle chairman read a two-minute statement from his clubman Ger Ward, outlining the reasons why Ward tendered his resignation and the manner in which it happened.

It was a precise, thought out state- ment and one that Ward never be- lieved he would have to pen so early into his term as Clare selector.

For the previous two weeks, he had remained silent. Despite phone calls — including several from this news- paper — he has refused to be drawn on the issue.

But on Thursday, it was time to put the whole affair to bed. He wrote of

principles and values and said his own weren’t part of the management thinking for Clare hurling at the mo- ment.

Importantly and with detail, he drew attention to his final departure from the management team and said he heard his resignation had been accepted in the media over a week later.

A meeting to resolve some of the issues between Considine and Ward was scheduled for The Old Ground on February 21 but the manager nev- er Showed up, Ward said.

The no show was sending out a clear message, just as Tim Crowe’s subsequent comments have sent out a message to those who have departed the set-up. The road back in is being blocked and the management must believe this is the best way forward.

What they won’t be pleased with is what happened next. The odd deci- sion was taken to appoint a facilita- tor in a row that the county board had already admitted it was unable to solve.

Putting a facilitator in place at this

late stage, over a month after Fit- zgerald left training, will only stoke things further. Unbelievably, the same delegates who lambasted the media for needlessly fuelling the de- bate were themselves putting timber on the fire.

If they didn’t know that, then they don’t know Tony Considine and they certainly don’t know hurling. No manager wants outside interference. Particularly a manager such as Con- sidine who has been extremely con- crete in his actions to date.

So, it continues for a number of rea- sons but mainly it continues because nobody has come out and drawn a clear line under the whole thing. No- body has pulled the plug.

What happened on Thursday night just muddies the waters even more. As it stated, the board’s role 1s to en- sure the welfare of Clare GAA. In that case, it should back off and leave Considine run the team the way he sees fit.

It should realise facilitators are for politics and this isn’t a game where men wear suits.

A NORTH Clare man died as a re- sult of smoke inhalation, after he fell asleep near a gas cooker at his home, an inquest has heard.

John Flanagan (39) died as a result of a fire at the family home, at Lis- doony East, two miles from Kilfeno- ra, on April 9 last year.

Mr Flanagan, a labourer, died at the farmhouse, which was more than 100 years old.

The fire was noticed by a neighbour who was tending to cattle, but it was not possible to get into the house and save the man.

Frances Flanagan recalled being at the family home that afternoon. Her parents, Micheal and Tess, had gone to Dublin that day, for an Easter break. She said her brother John took food out of the freezer and said he would cook it later. She and Michael later went to Kilshanny to get ciga- rettes. They had a drink there and

later, as they travelled home, the house was completely ablaze.

Her brother Michael recalled that as they were leaving Kilshanny, they received a phone call, indicating that their house was on fire. He didn’t be- lieve it at first.

He said his brother John had in- tended to cook a fry and there was a second-hand gas cooker in the house, which the family had acquired a short time earlier.

Martin Neylon met John earlier that day and said they were to move cattle the following day.

‘John’s last words to me were “See

you in the morning’,” he said.

Later, he saw smoke coming from the house. He could see the slates on the roof cracking from the heat. At that stage, the house was completely in flames and there was “no way” anyone could go near it.

Detective Garda Niall Kampff car- ried out a technical examination of the scene. He said the heat intensity was such that it caused the plaster to fall from the walls.

He said it seemed likely that flames from the gas cooker spread to the curtains and then to the wooden ceil- ing, before spreading throughout the house. “It has been suggested to me he may have fallen asleep. I suggest that he did.”

Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy, who carried out a post-mortem examination on the deceased’s body, said death was likely to have been from smoke inha- lation. Coroner Isobel O’ Dea (above) said she was satisfied that the cause of death was accidental.

THE ATHLETICS Association of Ireland in association with Sligo AC will stage the National Senior and Junior Inter Club Cross Country on Saturday, March 10.

There will be four races on the programme starting at lpm with the junior ladies 6,000 metres, followed by the junior men’s 8,000 metres, at

1.30 pm, the senior ladies 8,000 me- tres at 2.15pm the final race of the afternoon will be the senior men’s 12,000 metres at 2.45pm.

The senior ladies will see a big number of new names 1n action with local athlete, Mary Cullen, Sligo AC, taking on the new up and coming star, Fionualla Britton, Sli Chulainn AC, Wicklow. She was the European U23 silver medal winner in Spain

last December and she will be the big pre-race favourite.

Also contesting the title will be Jolene Byrne, Donore Harriers, Rosemary Ryan, Bilboa, Marie Mc- Cambridge, Dundrum South Dublin, Niamh O’Sullivan, Riocht, and Orla O’ Mahoney from Ennis now running with Raheny Shamrocks, Dublin.

The senior men’s race will be the highlight of the day with all the

top middle distance athletes going to the starting line. Mark Christie, Mullingar Harriers, will start as fa- vourite along with Garry Murray, St Malachy’s, David Kelly, Sligo, Mark Kenneally, Clonliffe Harriers, and two former national champions, Seamus Power, Kilmurry Ibrickane/ North Clare, and Peter Matthews, Dundrum South Dublin, also look- ing for top spots.

ADARE 10k Road Race and 10k fun walk will take place this Sunday, March 11, in the village of Adare starting at 1.30pm with the fun walk and road race at 2pm.

This race is organised by West Lim- erick AC and entries will be taken in the village hall from noon. There will be t-shirts to the first 250 entries with spot prizes and refreshments af- ter the race. Race entry will be €5 for juniors and walkers and €10 for all senior athletes. Any queries can be directed to Willie Costello, West Limerick AC, at 061 396532.

There will be big number of Clare athletes taking part and the course record is 30.34mins and that was set in 2003 by Seamus Power, Kil- murry Ibrickane/North Clare, and the ladies course record is 34.34mins and that was set by Valeria Vaughan, Blarney/Iniscarra.

Clare athletes have been very suc- cessful at this venue with James McIntyre and James Liddane, Tul- la, again expected to be among the leading contenders along with Gerry Ryan, Galway City Harriers, Dermot Galvin, St John’s, Jason Fahy, Olym- pic Harriers, Brian Murphy, Mar-

ian, Thomas Walsh, Tulla, lan Egan Galway City Harriers, with Eugene Moynihan, Marian, contesting the masters title along Michael Harvey, James Kenny, Kilmurry I[brickane/ North Clare, Pat and Mick O’Shea, Iveragh in Kerry, Jeffrey O’Looney Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare,

and Gerard Mullane, Bilboa.

In the team competition Galway City Harriers will once again do bat- tle with Bilboa, Tulla, Desmond Cur- rans, Ballynonty, and the host Club West Limerick.

The ladies contest will see Valerie Vaughan, Blarney/Iniscarra, who set a course record of 34.33mins a few years ago, challenge Rosemary Ryan, Bilboa, and Clare athlete, Ve- ronica Colleran, Ennis Track Club, for the title.

The Clare Cross Country Champi- on could be the athlete to cause a big surprise here and not too far off the pace will be Marie Foley, Limerick, Mary Sweeney, and Mary Murphy, St Finbar’s, Mary Sheehan, Blarney, along with Tracy Guilfoyle.