Month: July 2008

WHEN, in the late °90s, Kilmurry Ibrickane finally found a field to call their own they set about filling the place with footballers.

The pitch established Kilmurry as a fixed presence in the community. Then they needed to recruit. Coach- es were dispatched to the five schools that serviced the parish — Quilty, Mullagh, Coore, Annagh and Scro- ude

Emphasis was placed on nurtur- ing talent and developing individual skills. Drills were devised to enhance peripheral vision and teach the value of touch and control.

The initiative was driven by men like Michael Talty, and then minor club chairman Pat Murrihy.

In the schools Murrihy and Talty found principals like Michael Brack- en (Quilty), Sean McMahon (Mul- lagh), David Dillon (Coore) who shared their enthusiasm for football. The road to success, like so many in the GAA, would start in school.

“When? – there was never a ques- tion of what time’, says Pat Murrihy who for almost 20 years now has coached underage teams in Kilmur- ry Ibrickane. “You could go in there at nine in the morning and take two classes out. That was a big, big help to the club and one complimented the other.”

A population explosion meant the schools were full of kids who wanted to play ball in the big new field. The schools won tournaments and the kids drifted, like a conveyor belt, into the club. The skills learned were implemented on the pitch and suc- cess inevitably followed.

In 1992, Kilmurry won their first under 12 title in 27 years. The club knew they were on to a good thing. There were other milestones, other signs the future would be bright.

‘Every year after that our underage structure got stronger. We started to win A titles,” says Murrihy. “We ac- tually won the under 14 Féile in Clare in 1999 and we won the under 14 championship for the first time in 27 years. That was a very good side now. The All-Ireland division one winners at the time were Salthill, they beat us by three points. They went on and won the division one title. The fol- lowing year we actually won Féile in Croke Park against Baltinglass with Shane Hickey, Noel Downes, Keith King, Martin McMahon’.

Minor A titles followed in 2002,

2003 and 2004 but it is the club’s phenomenal record at under 21 level (nine titles between 1995-2007) that is the real legacy of the work done in the early 90s.

“When won our minor champion- ships and 21s, we could always call on at least 8 of the age. Once you have seven or eight guys on the age, that’s a big thing, its easy fill the spaces after that.”

Parallel to Kilmurry’s rise at minor and under 21, was the club’s ascent at senior level. The two streams con- verged gloriously in ‘O04 when they won county and Munster titles.

Kilmurry maintained their stran- glehold on the under 21 champion- ship after 2004 even as the senior side struggled. Kilmurry were beaten in the 2005 senior decider by Kilkee, but in the last two years have failed to qualify for the knock out stages.

“What happened after 2004 is we lost probably the spine of our team. Aidan Moloney, Martin Cahill, Martin Keavey, all these guys,” says Murrihy, “I don’t care what team you are, but you don’t replace them over

night. I like the look the Kilmurry now. I like the attitude, there 1s a de- sire and a hunger there now”.

Less people live, or have reason to live in West Clare, than was the case in the early 90s and Kilmurry and the schools are feeling the effects. The number of children attending Quilty National School, for example, hovers around the 50 mark. 10 years ago that number stood closer to 140.

But Murrihy and Kilmurry Ibrick- ane persevere. The club won the under 12 B title this year and could have gone further.

“We were only a kick of the ball away from going into the A final. Lissycasey beat us in our division. We had 14 wides against Lissycasey and they beat us by three points”, says Murrihy ruefully.

“But, look it, it just shows we are progressing nicely, and its now the work begins”. And the cycle contin- Wen

THE deposit for the purchase of the €1.4 million Inis Cathaigh site in Kilrush has not yet been paid by the local authority.

In answers to a series of questions posed by Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) relating to the purchase of the controversial site for new civic buildings, Kilrush Town Manager, Bernadette Kinsella said the council must first wait for the legal formall- ties to be completed.

“As is standard in property con- veyancing practice the acquisition is subject to contract and the legal formalities/checks are currently in train,’ she said.

These aspects are being dealt with by Clare County Council’s legal ad- visor, John Shaw of Michael Houli- han and Partners, Ennis.

The town manager said that work began on locating possible sites as far back as 13 years ago, and “some 17 sites in all have been considered by various administrations over the years’.

Those included were new build, greenfield and brownfield sites, re- furbishmet and lease buy options.

“More recently multiple possible options were narrowed down to four. The decision on the Inis Cathaigh site was made after having received

full professional feasibility and fi- nancial advice in various options at the following four different locations – Place de Plouzane, land at the rear of Pound Street, lease purchase op- tion and the Inis Cathaigh site.”

“The decision to purchase the site for a sum of €1.4 million was tak- en in May by the managers of both council’s following due consideration of the professional advice received. This is normal practice in local au- thority land acquisition. You will ap- preciate that for transactions of this nature it would not be appropriate to have discussions with individual members in advance,” she said.

The offer on the .49 acres Inis Ca- thaigh site was made on behalf of the council by valuer Paddy Browne and Associates.

Ms Kinsella said that she has no data available that corresponds with an offer of “7,000 square feet for €1.6 million at Quay Mills’, bought up by Cllr McMahon Jones.

“A lease buyout option was one of which professional advice was received. In considering the rela- tive merit of a lease buy out option, pricing and space data was provided by the developer of Quay Mills and clarification of the data provided was sought and received by our agent in respect of a lease buyout option at that location,’ she said.

THE evolutionary rise of Ennisty- mon in recent years has not only been fueled by their senior status, the foundation for the club’s newfound optimism also lies in their emerg- ing underage structure that has borne fruit over the last eighteen months. With many clubs struggling for num- bers in the modern climate, Ennisty- mon realised that restructuring was necessary at underage level in order to pay dividends for the future of the club as a whole.

Relegation from senior in 2004 was one of the sparks that jolted the club into action but crucially, they bounced back immediately to the top flight the folowing year and since then, the young senior side has pro- gressed with every passing year.

In addition, the groundwork done by Minor board Chairman JJ Crowe and his predecessor Conor Fitzgerald at underage level means that all the signs are positive for the future of the club.

2007 was a fitting return for all the behind-the-scenes work done in the club. In the adult ranks, they con- tested three finals at junior B, senior B and Under 21B and although the latter was their only success, the club

are quite content that they are mov- ing in the right direction. But it is at underage level that the rewards are finally being reaped. Ennistymon captured both the Under 12 and Mi- nor Division | titles last year but they also reached the penultimate stage of the Under 14 and Under 16 Division 2 championships. They have already contested the Under 16 Division two final this year and reached the Under 12 semi-final, as well as being un- beaten so far in the Under 14 cham- pionship. So what have been the key factors in this tranformation?

“First of all, we have very good structures in place” explains Minor Board chairman JJ Crowe, “and have a very good group involved from un- der 8 to minor. Every Wednesday, the under 8’s and under 10’s train and we could have sixty children in the field and that goes on from the first of May to the end of September. The club has done tremendously well at underage in recent years and each team is well organised. We also bring in outside coaches for teams at certain intervals to freshen teams up and we also get great support from the parents.”

“One major plus to us is that we have our own field and dressing

rooms now and that has given us a base to develop at all levels. I feel that overall the standards have im- proved immensely. The effort is be- ing put in and every team is com- petitive whether it is division one or division two and the fact that we have our own clubhouse and grounds, pro- viding a meeting place for everyone is a major help.”

The Minor Championship was the most celebrated title as it is the flagship event at underage level and Crowe admits that due to the con- tinuous success that their opponents in the final, Kilmurry/Ibrickane have had in recent years, winning that de- cider was a considerable accomplish- ment.

‘The minor victory gave us a great lift altogether. We were underdogs all the way but we still felt it could be our year and beating Kilmurry/ Ibrickane in the final was a major achievement for the club because we have so much respect for them for all their success at underage level. They are the model and they have been for the last ten or twelve years.”

Still, underage titles are no guaran- tee of adult success in the future but Crowe feels that the proper frame-

work is now in place right through- out the club and that all augers well for the senior side to make a major impact on the championship in the next few years

“It is a very young senior team and now you are going to have 15 or 18 new players boosting the senior panel after this year. All of them are very good footballers and we also provid- ed the captain of the county minor team Michael McDonagh.

“In our minor side last year, we had twelve players who were under 17 so I think it 1s going to take three or four years before we hit the senior championship with a serious chance of winning it.”

Qualifying from the group will be the senior’s initial aim in this year’s championship. If they can achieve that feat, it would be the first time that the club has qualified for a quar- ter-final since the group stages were introduced. It would be a significant step in their overall development plan and set the standard for their up and coming talent to emulate.

NO sooner had the Tommy Murphy Cup landed in Clare in 2004 than David Russell was confonted by the first real crossroads of his foot- ball career. Approached by the then Clare senior manager John Kennedy, Russell along with fellow Clarecas- tle and county team-mate Stephen Hickey were advised that it would be in their best interests for their inter- county careers that they transfer to a senior club.

It was a predicament that Rus- sell had never pondered before. His family genes were firmly rooted in Clarecastle GAA throughout the gen- erations. His father Paschal had won four county hurling championships for the club throughout his distin- guished career but while David was a dual player, football was his first love and with the game constantly struggling to stay afloat in a pre- dominantly hurling dominated club, he decided to adhere to his mentor’s advise.

News of Kennedy’s counsel spread quickly and the pair were contacted by Eire Og player-manager James Hanrahan who made it clear that they would be welcome at the En- nis club. So after much deliberation and banter from both sides, Russell, Hickey along with two others trans-

ferred across the rival divide to their near neighbours. ; ;

Russell knew a lot of the Eire Og players through his soccer con- nections and had played with Alan Malone and Cathal Shannon at county minor and Under 21 level but integration was still initally difficult but after a couple of games, even the most stubborn panelists were convinced that the newcomers were pulling in the same direction.

The key galvanising moment for Russell came in his first champi- onship season in the quarter-final of 2005 when Doonbeg knocked them out of the championship. Due to sickness, Russell didn’t play that day but watching from the sideline, he observed a different perspective, principally the aversion towards the townies by their rivals and it had a unforgetable effect on him. In fact he attributes a lot of the credit of their county final success a year later to that game as the players realised they needed to become a more resilient side if they were to finally make the breakthrough.

‘2006 was definitely a knock-on ef- fect from 2005. I realised how much most other teams had a distaste for the club and considered us soft

touches and we had a meeting only a week after the Doonbeg game and decided that we were going to have to be a stronger, fitter and harder team in 2006. And it showed as we went through the championship unbeaten and won the county final to cap off a Super year.”

Russell was a mainstay in _ that championship winning side, starting all seven games at wing-back but that elation turned to frustration last year. He was forced to sit out the majority of the championship after rupturing his medial ligament in the Clare Cup Soccer final while playing for Av- enue Utd.

“It was the worst injury I have ever had. I was out for four months and to stand on the sideline along with Michael O’Regan and Mark Kelly it was so frustrating. Fair play to the rest of the lads, the team did very well to win tough games and reach the final and I did make an appear- ance at half-time 1n the decider but it wasn’t meant to be. Personally, from the highs of 2006 to the very lows of 2007, that has really made me more determined this year and hopefully I can remain injury free and move on for 2008.”

From being a blow-in four years

ago, Russell is now captain of the side for the year, a position he could never envisaged when he first arrived at the club.

‘remember our manager Leo Ryan called me over six weeks ago and told me he would like to make me captain and even though I am from Clarecastle and had all my tuition in Clarecastle, it was one of my proud- est moments. To be able to follow the likes of Alan Malone, Peter Cosgrove and Shane Daniels last year is a huge thrill and I’m just looking forward to the first championship game. The league has never been a top priority in the club, the championship has always been where we perform and after getting to the final two years in succession and only losing one match in fourteen proves our pedigree. The motivation is back and the hunger is back to atone for 2007.”

Clarecastle men Russell and Hick- ey have played an integral part in that championship consistency. Maybe there’s some truth in the old magpie saying that ‘one’s for sorrow, two’s for joy’.

WHEN Miltown got their 2008 show on the road and started training in Hennessy Memorial Park in the depths of winter, Michael McDon- agh was always on the move.

It wasn’t cajoling his players to greater effort with ball drills or wire- to-wire runs. He leaves that to others. Some say it part of his own fitness regime, doing his own laps. Others say it was to exercise his mind for the club, whether it’s on or off the field.

Thinking about teeing up a chal- lenge against a Kerry club through his contacts down there; the con- struction of the stand that Hennessy Memorial Park deserves; how to keep the senior players off the beer during Scou Samhraidh Willie Clancy.

All difficult assignments in their own very different ways, but Mc- Donagh loves the unique challenges involved in all three. All because this is where he wants to be and in a mat- ter of fact way describes how it was always going to be.

‘““Miltown is where you come from and where you’ll end up,” he says, starting off in the third person. “I was always involved with the club — I

never lost contact. I would always go to the games, even when I was caught up with the county board. I always knew I was coming back. I always thought it almost natural that I would try to give something back when I got older, after all the club through the camaraderie had given me so much when I was younger.”

Here’s the thing — sometimes he thinks of those younger days when walking around the field on those training nights. The people who put everything into Miltown — John Rei- dy, Mickey Wilson, Noel Walsh and Michael Mahoney. The list goes on…

He name checks them, giving ex- tra weight to some of them. Michael Mahoney: “because he is what I’d call a mainstay”. Noel Walsh: “he’d come all the way from Limerick for club meetings and never miss one”. Pete Cleary: “he came from America to train underage teams”. Joe Cullen: ere tors Oe bt-D (elo eae

“When you live in a small parish, the GAA is the focal point of the community. When I was growing up the only place to go was the football field — everyone went there. It was the centre of the parish and you were brought up with that. You went there

after school, you went there at the weekends. There was always a ball, whether you were in national school or secondary school.

“You’d always watch the seniors training. They were the team of the club, the club was built around the senior team. Your year was judged on the performance of the senior team. That’s why 1985 and ’90 are remembered — because we won the championship in those years.”

The closest Miltown have come to a championship in the intervening 18 years — save a final appearance in Doonbeg and against Doonbeg in “91 — was seeing the Tulla Pipe Band parade the Lissycasey and Doonbeg footballers (1998) and the Sixmileb- ridge and St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield hurlers (1999) around their field.

At least there are some links be- tween those days and now. ‘Team trainer Michael Murray was Mil- town’s photographer on those county final days, chronicling Hennessy Memorial Park’s second coming as final venue.

Then there’s Michael McDonagh link to those times.

Those county finals, not to mind a string of National League games

in both codes wouldn’t have been played in Miltown, but for his input, not to mind the contribution made by those 100,000 or so worms that came all the way from Holland.

“Those worms,” he says, “did a great job, being a vital part of the Prunty pitch we put down. How good the project was can be gauged in the fact that a lot of clubs have followed our lead with the pitch.

“We went after those big games and we went after them hard. It was great to bring hurling back to west Clare. Before that we didn’t own our field and wanted to purchase it. John Reidy was the main driver, Michael Mahoney was another. We had great help from the community and from the Hynes family who sold us the ntatee

“Now if you went up there any night, you could have anything up to 40 or 50 young lads up there kick- ing ball. It’s great. It’s what it’s all about.”

Loves being there himself and do- ing laps of the field. Who knows, if the lads out on the field have as much passion for it, they might walk be- hind the band yet.

AND so the wheel of hurling fortune has swung around to 70 minutes in Limerick. Ould enemy stuff – Clare versus Tipp in a Munster final. Hard to believe really, because such a pair- ing seemed very unlikely just a year ago.

Tipperary were beaten by Wexford in the All-Ireland quarter-final; Clare were taken down by Limerick at the same stage. Back then you couldn’t say, with hand on hurling heart, that either team had contended.

They just made up the numbers.

What a difference a year has made though. From the ashes of contro- versy Mike McNamara and Liam

Sheedy have worked furiously at their craft — their greatest achieve- ments thus far being to have sent out teams that are marked out by their unity of purpose.

There are no sideshows which over- shadow the real business of playing the game — those fulminous contro- versies like Considine v Fitzgerald, Babs Keating v Cummins, or to a lesser extent Babs Keating v ‘Man Wonder’ himself Eoin Kelly.

Instead, McNamara and Sheedy have moulded teams in their own 1m- age — hardworking and honest, with fitness levels that Waterford, Limer- ick and Cork could not match up to when the heat came on in the final furlongs of games.

And, both managers have served their apprenticeships before land- ing their big jobs. McNamara with every Clare team from under 16 level right up to senior, not to mention stints with both Offaly and Galway. Sheedy with the minors and inter- mediates, plundering All-Irelands in both grades.

It’s definite advantage Tipperary if you re going on the 2008 year so far. Unbeaten in Waterford Crystal and National League competition and winning both. Then their comeback against Cork showed how far the team have travelled in a year.

Last year Tipperary couldn’t close out games when they had Limer- ick on the rack at various stages

of their trilogy. This year they’ve grown stronger as the games have progressed: Kilkenny in the league semi-final, Galway in the final, the aforementioned Cork game.

What of Clare? These few days are the most important of their lives. So far the breezy outlook of everyone involved has been the most striking feature of their season. They’ve been told all along by McNamara that ris- ing to the challenge in Munster was all-important.

They’ve done that and now must close the deal. That brings with it way more pressure. Munster quarter- finals and semi-finals are a lot differ- ent to finals — for one thing the stay- away supporters will have jumped on

the bandwagon by Sunday, packing the Ennis Road to overflow. They’re expecting.

Such expectation has suffocated Clare teams in the past — the chal- lenge for McNamara and his sideline team is to ensure Clare leave it out on the field.

If they do they can win their seventh Munster title; if they don’t a 37th title awaits Tipperary.

THE lifeblood of any community is its people. Over the last three decades, photographer Peter Rees has docu- mented the lives and times of his peo- ple — the people of Kilnaboy. From the unique vantage of his truck, Peter has marked births and deaths, matches and marriages, the dying of the old and the dawning of the new. From joyous election nights to days of conflict on and off the sports field,

Peter has been there, armed only with the unjudging eye of his camera and a thirst to take the picture that tells the Story.

Of the tens of thousands of images captured by Peter since 1980, just 1,500 have been chosen for an exhibt- tion in the Kilnaboy X-PO.

‘An Udder View – Documenting a Community’ runs until July 13 and of- fers not just a collection of enthralling images, but a family photo album for a whole community.

THERE could be some welcome news on the horizon for Clare beef farmers with indications last week that Saudi Arabia might be on the verge of opening it’s borders to Irish beef once more.

Irish beef exports have been banned from the Middle Eastern country since the first outbreak of BSE around Europe in 2000. However, recent ef- forts by Irish politicians, including an official state visit by then Minis- ter for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan

last June, coupled with a consistently improving BSE record has made the reopening of trade a real possibility.

So much so that last Wednesday, Clare TD and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, with special responsibility for Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Kil- leen expressed confidence that Irish beef exports to Saudi Arabia will resume in the near future.

His comment follows an announce- ment by his ministerial colleague Brendan Smith, Minister for Agri- culture, Fisheries and Food, that an

agreement has been reached on ex- port conditions for Irish beef going to the Middle East.

‘Agreement in principle to resume exports was reached in October 2007 and was subject to the approval of plants and export conditions,” said Minister Killeen.

“This was followed by a visit by a veterinary delegation from Saudi Arabia in March this year to inspect plants and discuss the terms under which exports could take place. In the meantime there have been related contacts and discussions between the

two countries.”

The junior agriculture minister said that the agreement paves the way for the resumption of beef exports to this important and valuable market.

The Saudi Arabian market was closed to Irish beef following the disclosure of BSE in Europe in 2000. Exports in the previous year amount- ed to 25,000 tonnes, which is valued at an estimated €33 million to Irish farmers.

Minister Killeen added the agree- ment indicated “an international confidence in our product”.

THE possibility of expansion in the milk sector could be made very dif- ficult for Clare farmers if a proposal discussed at last week’s European dairy farmers meeting in Strasbourg iS passed.

The proposal involves instigating a moratorium on milk quotas as a means of building up milk prices across the EU. This proposal was put forward by the Deputy President of ICMSA and Chairman of its Dairy Committee, John O’Leary.

O’Leary argued that a milk price of 43c/litre has been set by the member associations of the dairy farmers’ as-

sociation, the European Milk Board, as the rate necessary to provide for increased costs and fund a viable family farm income.

“It is vital that the Irish dairy in- dustry does not sleepwalk itself over a price cliff. The present level of on-farm investment by farmers will never be recouped by sales at world prices, or by prices approaching that level,” he said.

‘The deep and detailed analysis be- ing presented at the three-day Stras- bourg conference by fellow Europe- an farmers is in stark contrast to the kind of third-hand, casual observa- tion and chat that is brought forward as research in Ireland.

“The research we’re having pre- sented to us here points to an unmis- takeable conclusion on the question of increasing quota and trying to achieve a specific price.

“Irish farmers are queuing up to outbid each other on the quota in- crease they desire and it is rapidly becoming clear that this is not only ill-advised but but quite reckless.”

O’Leary said the moratorium should be introduced even if it means ‘pulling’ the future direction of the milk quota off the agenda at the cur- rent Health Check discussions.

‘Unlimited production scope is not possible if we are to achieve 43 c/litre and build our sector and our incomes

on a solid and rational basis.”

“The ICMSA therefore believes that Ireland should now seek a mora- tor1um on any further quota increas- es until the European dairy markets have absorbed the current produc- tion increases and there is a return to higher and sustainable milk prices that can measured, verified, and most importantly, maintained.

“The challenge to Minister Smith is not expansion for the sake of expan- sion, but expansion in a manner that rewards adequately the investments and expertise of the people who are the bedrock of the whole industry and who are the starting point for everything else.”

SOURCES close to the woman who dodged jail by saying that she had caught her mother in bed with her husband have confirmed that she is pregnant.

And those who know her say that Fiona Porter 1s in “a world of trouble” after accusing her mother, Bernadette

Garvey from Clarecastle of having an affair with husband, Hugo.

The 24-year-old’s solicitor, John Devane, told the Limerick District Court that when Porter was found behind the wheel and over the drink- drive limit on June 28 last, she had fled the house where she found her mother and husband in bed together.

Passing sentence on the Castlecon-

nel mother of three for this, a second drink-driving offence, Judge Aeneas McCarthy took the tale of the trau- matic discovery into account and suspended a four month jail term.

Mr Devane told the judge that his chent’s world had been “shattered” by the betrayal of the two people she trusted most.

But the plot thickened over the

weekend when grandmother, Berna- dette Garvey (47), lashed back at her daughter’s accusations, denying that she had ever had any liason with her son in law and saying in media re- ports that she doesn’t even like him.

She told reporters she has “no time” for Hugo. “He would not have been my choice as a son in law,” she said.

And it has been confirmed that Hugo Porter was actually in prison serving a six month sentence on the night it was claimed he bedded his mother-in-law.

The mother of three now says that the incident cited in court as being the trigger for her jumping in the car and driving off actually happened a week before that night but had “only hit her” then.

She has accused her solicitor of getting the story wrong in court, an accusation while he vehemently de- WN Corse

In media interviews, Porter said that she had instructed Devane that she discovered the alleged affair a week before the drink-driving offence but that she was still upset about it on that night. “He had the notes written down on my charge sheet, word for word. He had it all correct before- hand,” she said.

But Mr Devane rejected that claim. ““T have never told a lie on behalf of a client and I have always been honest, open and forthright to the courts in accordance with my instructions.”