Month: July 2009

HE’S managed clubs in some of the biggest football leagues in the world and guided England to the quarter- finals of the World Cup but could Ennis be Sven Goran Eriksson’s next port of call’?

The Swede made a shock return to English football last week by sign- ing on as a Director of Football with Notts County.

The League Two outfit were re- cently taken over by a middle-eastern consortium in a multi-million pound deal and the sudden rise in County’s profile is also good news for one En- nis soccer club.

In March, Lifford linked up with Notts County in a venture that will see Lifford players have direct ac- cess to the English club’s centre of CoA Nes Neer

Though unsure what impact if any Eriksson’s arrival will have on the relationship between the clubs, Lif- ford’s John O’Neill said the former England manager would be very welcome in Ennis.

“Obviously we are delighted with the profile. It’s unexpected but we were delighted with linking up with Notts County before all this’, said O’Neill.

He said that the club were in con- Stant contact with Mick Leonard, Head of Notts County’s Centre of Excellence.

“IT was just speaking with Mick last week and they are very keen to keep an active link with Lifford” ex- plained O’Neill.

And on the possibility of Eriksson coming to Lifford’s homeground at Cassidy Park, O’Neill said, “2011 is our 50th anniversary. I’ve big plans for that so you never know”.

after the 2-24 to 2-18 win

over Wexford in O’Moore Park.

“Tt

that’s what Clare and the County Board wants [ll be around. I’ve al- ways been around for Clare. I want to be around,” he added in putting the onus back on the county board that has called a special meeting in Au- gust to discuss both the senior hurl- ing and senior football management positions.

“It would definitely be my last year involved with the team — I’ve been 20 long years involved with Clare teams since the minor team of 1989, so maybe we will make it a 21st an- niversary, he continued.

Two years ago the county board top table led a successful heave against Tony Considine and his senior hurl- ing management team, even though they had recorded three champion-

ship victories that year and reached the All-Ireland quarter-final.

However, Considine’s fate as manager was sealed because of the controversy over the departure and subsequent year-long exile from the senior squad of two-time All-Ireland winner and three-time All Star win- ner, Davy Fitzgerald.

Now, two years on from that Civil War, the only thing standing in the way of McNamara could be Fit- zgerald’s prodigal son-like return to Clare to take up the management reins – a job he stated as recently as three weeks ago that he wants.

However, McNamara remains con- vinced that his management team is ideally positioned to build on what has been achieved since they as-

sumed control of the team in 2007. “I would be surprised if we couldn’t build on what we’ve done,” he said.

“We didn’t have a good year, but results and performance often didn’t marry very well. I think a point or two either way in a couple of league matches could have changed our whole year.

“The flurry at the end of the Mun- ster championship match against Tipperary, one bit of luck on that day and maybe we could be in an All-Ire- land semi-final now.

‘“That’s how it goes — it’s that little and it’s that close. After Kilkenny there’s so little between the next six or seven teams behind them. All those teams could beat each other on any given day,” he added.

HUNGER is a wonderful weapon ZNO MAY Z- 0c O Olom OPM ODUB Ko EO NG oMOLe AY (oe) f these two sides on Sunday evening at county headquarters as Cooraclare landed their first Cusack Cup title in five years against a shell-shocked Kalmurry Ibrickane.

The county champions and outgo- ing Cusack Cup holders were in this state of mind because they had just tasted defeat for the first time in 40 games across the three senior com- petitions up for grabs in Clare – the Cusack Cup, O’Gorman Cup and county championship – that lasted as far back to September 2007 when they were beaten by Wolfe Tones at the county championship quarter-fi- OED MSL beXes

They lost because they kicked some very bad wides and spurned two gilt- edged goal chances in the last three minutes, but they also lost because they couldn’t summon the same hun- ger as Cooraclare.

Their raw enthusiasm for this game, from start to finish was the real win-

ner, while the backing chorus of a raucous support from the stand also helped get them over the line.

Put simply, this final meant more to the men in blue than it did to those in green and red – you could go so far as to say that it was Cooraclare’s great- est Cusack Cup performance since the winter’s day in 1992 when they beat Doonbeg in a memorable final on their home patch.

This was equally as memorable from Cooraclare’s point of view, pri- marily because of where this team has come from in such a short space OME BD baler

Remember, they were champion- ship chumps for five years from 2005 to 2008, but now they’re back with a bang as Cusack Cup champions for the 11th time and real challengers to Kilmurry I[brickane’s championship throne.

Once they recovered from a slow and nervy start when Mark McCa- rthy and Michael Hogan put points on the board inside four minutes, Cooraclare showed a real steel about them in bringing Kilmurry’s remark-

able run to an end.

Thomas Donnellan’s crunching shoulder on Stephen Moloney set the tone early on, while Cooraclare really settled down to their Herculean task when Sean Maguire opened their ac- count in the seventh minute pointed a rebound off a good goal chance for Hughie Donnelly over the bar.

Peter O’Dwyer burst through the middle in the ninth minute and fired over a great point to give Kilmurry a Q-3 to O-1 lead, but points by Declan McMahon and Cathal Lillis by the 11th had the sides level.

Kilmurry were now awake to the reality that this would be a real con- test and with a championship fervour about it, but they still looked com- fortable when Ian McInerney non- chalantly knocked over a free from 55 yards and when Mark McCarthy did likewise with a 45 to give them a O-5 to 0-3 lead by the 15th minute.

However, what happened in the closing 15 minutes was where this Cusack Cup final turned. Mark Tu- bridy landed two monster points by the 23rd minute – one from play and

another from the sideline to square matters.

They were maximising the chances, Kilmurry were most definitely not as Stephen Moloney, Johnny Daly and Peter O’Dwyer were all guilty of bad misses before Conor Marrinan raided from wing-back in the 29th minute to point Cooraclare into a 0-6 to 0-5 half-time lead.

You sensed that collectively all of Cooraclare believed and that went for those on the field and those looking on. And, this feeling was hammered home in the first four minutes after the restart when the sky blues took to their task of playing against the wind with gusto, landing points through Mark Tubridy and Pauric O’ Looney to move 0-8 to O-5 clear.

Kilmurry were rattled for the first DDONCoD UM OUC- Tucan SUO Cem OelemO)eloueNDOTcamOrcDEN hour against Kilkee in their 2008 championship opener, and in truth they never really recovered from this early Cooraclare blitz.

They were always playing catch-up, and though they knuckled down to this task admirably and drew level

with points from an lan McInerney free in the eighth minute, a point from play by Enda Coughlan in the tenth and another free from Johnny Daly in the 17th minute, Cooraclare were always going to come again.

They did in the 20th minute when Declan Keane pointed a 21-yard free to put them 0-9 to 0-8 ahead entering the last ten minutes.

It was then that they rode their luck, weathering the Kilmurry onslaught for seven minutes before the inevita- ble equaliser came through Michael O’ Dwyer – it should have been a goal though as he blazed over when put through by Paul O’Connor.

A Kilmurry win looked on the cards at that stage but credit the fighting qualities of Cooraclare once more, with two points from two raids VOM MaomEloOr

Substitute John O’Looney got both of them, the first from play, the sec- ond a free as Cooraclare moved two points clear in the 62nd minute.

There was still time for Kilmurry and one last attack coughed up their best goal chance of the day – Mark Killeen was one-on-one with his namesake Joe Killeen.

TM Tom eloec nee hana HOMO BU U BEDI aT- Ae as he turned the ball over the bar to keep Cooraclare ahead.

All that was left was the final whis- tle that greeted his kickout after that score.

Cooraclare’s celebrations were big- gining – Kilmurry’s great run was finally over.

It could be the making of Kilmurry Ibrickane though, albeit that Coora- clare are convinved it could be the making of their championship chal- lenge.

DAVID Browne can trace a series of events that provided him with the right amount of optimism for this year’s crop of minor ladies.

The first arrived in 2007 in Balli- nasloe. Browne was involved with the Clare Under 16s that day and watched from the sideline as his side captured the All Ireland B title. Af- ter the game, he lingered for a while to catch some of the game that fol- lowed, the A clash between Cork and DYeyterex0

The opening 30 minutes of that game provided enough evidence for Browne to conclude that his group of players could compete in the top tier two years down the line.

So it has come to pass but even be- fore this, Browne was sure the graph was moving in the right direction. The win over Kerry in Kilrush at the beginning of the summer, he says, was proof that his side could turn po- tential into something tangible.

“That win gave us a lot of confi- dence, particularly coming after we were beaten by Cork,” he says. ““When we played Cork once more, we had that little bit extra. We played them down on their own home turf and though they got off to a good start, we dug in and found our rhythm.”

That good start for Cork came in the form of a flurry 1-2 early in the game but the response from Clare points to a team that has a strong backbone.

‘There was only one point between us at half time and I knew by the way the girls took to the field for the sec- ond half that they weren’t going to be beaten. They came back out before

Cro d ear TilC Meet AW KomRN EDU eri rcamyalinl purpose, they were talking to one an- other and you could sense that they were going to dig in and carve out a Then E Dn

Clare controlled the tempo of the game and at one stage led by seven points. Against a strong Cork side, though, they couldn’t allow them- selves to switch off and eventually, Cork did claw themselves back into the game. Still, Clare hung on and kept their heads to come away with a one-point win.

“In our last outing against Dublin, you could see again that we were strong. They went ahead on us by four points but we didn’t panic. When N1-

amh O’Dea blasted home a goal from 20 yards that was the turning point. The game was there for us once more in the second half and we went out and took the opportunities.”

Some of that steel, Browne says, is due to the fact that a number of the panel were involved with the cam- ogie minors who were defeated in the final last year.

‘They have shown great resilience and have bounced back brilliantly. We’ve seven girls involved with the camogie set-up this year and we en- courage them to get involved in both codes. They’ve always been available to us when we’ve needed them.”

Browne is now looking to an im-

portant week in terms of the future for the GAA in Clare.

‘“There’s a big game on Wednesday with the Clare Under 21s involved in the hurling Munster final. ’’d wish all the lads the best of luck in that and I’d hope that a win would set us up for another positive result. It would be great to get the people of Clare behind both sides.”

Islam needs to be part of society

A SPECIAL musical event is set to take place in Teach Cheoil in Kilrush on Saturday, August 8. It comes with news that renowned soprano Regina Nathan will make an appearance at the Grace Street location.

Performing French and Irish show pieces, she will be accompanied by Padhraic O Cuinneagain and the event kicks off at 8pm.

It’s something of a coup for the west Clare venue to secure the sing- ing voice of Nathan and her career in Opera, concert and recital has taken her from her native Ireland across Europe, and as far as Kuala Lumpur and New York’s Carnegie Hall.

She has appeared in opera at Ma-

drid’s Teatro Réal, Brussels’s La Monnaie, the Hamburg Staatsoper, Opéra de Genéve, Luzern Stadttheat- er, Israeli Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera de Nice, Opéra de Nantes, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Opera Zuid, Stadttheater Giessen, as well as Opera Ireland.

Nathan has sung major lyric so- prano roles throughout her career. Her repertoire ranges from the title role in Cavalli’s “La Calisto’ to the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s “The Country of the Blind’ for the Aldeburgh Festival/English National Opera. Regina has ap- peared as Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Moore’s Baby Doe, Gluck’s Eurid- ice, Verdi’s Violetta, Bizet’s Léila, Offenbach’s Antonia and Amelia in

Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera’. Her portrayal of the role of Puccini’s Cio Cio San in ‘Madama Butterfly’ for Opera Ireland and at the Stadttheater Giessen was hailed with critical ac- claim as was her role of Cleopatra in Handel’s ‘Julius Caesar’ and Norma in Bellin’s ‘Norma’.

“IT have worked with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Edo De Waart, Kent Nagano, and Frans Bruggen. Mahler’s Eighth Sym- phony has taken me to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Royal AI- bert Hall, and the opening concert of Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall; Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Mo- zart’s Exsultate Jubilate to Brussels and Israel, and Rachmaninov’s The Bells to London’s Royal Festival

Hall.”

A devoted recitalist, Regina’s talents also embrace everything from classic Lieder to traditional Irish song. She has enraptured audiences throughout Ireland, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room, the Théatre du Chatelet in Paris and famously with Placido Domingo in a sold out audi- ence at Dublin’s Point Theatre. Her recordings include Britten, Complete Folk Song Arrangements (Hyperion), Mahler’s Symphony No.8 (BMG), Donizetti’s Maria de Rudenz (Op- era Rara) and of course Faith of our Fathers, alongside Frank Patterson. She has also recorded two solo CDs,

UNDER the terms of the An Bord Snip Nua report, town councils across Clare would be for the chop under a radical restructuring of local government that would see all execu- tive power and authority centralised under the umbrella of Clare County Council.

The mere suggestion of town coun- cils in Ennis, Shannon, Kilrush and Kilkee being surplus to requirements has already resulted in howls of pro- tests from interested parties in all four authorities, but at least they can say in Kilkee that they’ve never been adverse to wanting cutbacks in local government.

All of 50 years ago, a call for the abolition of Kilkee Town Commis- sioners came from within the local authority itself. It came from long- standing Fianna Fail commissioner, Tom Stapleton, who said the practi- cal and economic thing would be to abolish the Commission and what function and role it had taken over by Clare County Council.

“The Town Commissioners are performing no useful function,” he blasted. ““We meet here monthly and the county manager has to travel from Ennis for our meetings, but what we have to do here is senseless.

‘We are more or less a mutual ad- miration society, but it is a costly one for the ratepayers who are paying an extra 5/ in the pound to have us here. With the limited money at our disposal, we should ask the county

council to take over the town’s public affairs. We could not be much worse that we are now,” he added.

Commissioner Stapleton’s motion didn’t receive the support of the other eight members of the local authority, but one famous motion about cut- backs that received majority support came in 1956 when the Kilkee coun- cil lost its only phone.

Commissioners controversially voted in favour of disconnecting the telephone service at the town clerk’s office in order to save the sum of £20 a year.

The fate of the Town Commission’s link with the wider world was decid- ed by the casting vote of the chair-

man, Commissioner Michael Mar- rinan. Commissioner Michael Nolan led the call for the commission to disconnect the telephone.

“Many of us have to have a tel- ephone, but a lot of us would be pleased if we could get on without one. I propose we discontinue the tel- ephone service as the Commission- ers are able to discharge their duties without it,” he said.

The cost of having a telephone in the town clerk’s office was £10 rent a year and the call charges for the year were estimated at another £10.

“There is a lot we could do with that money and we should apply it to a better purpose. There are people in many towns, including business peo- ple, who have given up the telephone Service,’ added Commissioner No- Ete

“Having no telephone would be like put an iron curtain around Kilkee,” countered Commissioner Stapleton. “All of the time the telephone was installed, we thought it absolutely essential to retain the status of the town. Taking it out now is penny wise, pound foolish.”

Alas, the telephone was discon- nected and was no more – Kilkee Town Council will be no more if the An Bord Snip Nua report is imple- mented.

THE diocese of Killaloe is mourning the loss of two long-serving priests who died at the weekend.

Fr Michael McNamara was parish priest in Doora-Barefield and served as priest for the Killaloe Diocese for 40 years. He died on Saturday morn- ing at University College Hospital, Cre NA

Rev Neil Campion SPS, Knock- erra-Killimer, died on Saturday, July 25 at Regina House Nursing Home, Kilrush. He served as a priest in Kil- laloe Diocese for nearly 15 years.

Fr Neil was a native of Tralee, County Kerry where he was born in 1934. He studied for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College, Kiltegan where he was ordained in April 1960. After ordination he went on Mission to the diocese of Ogoja in Kenya, where he worked until 1991. He then retired from overseas missionary work due to ill health. He served in the Diocese of Elphin for one year and in the US for one year. On return to Ireland, in late 1994, he began his ministry in Killaloe diocese, serving in the parishes of Cooraclare, 1994 – 1996 and Kilmurry Ibrickane 1996 – 1998. From 1998, Fr Neil continued to serve in a variety of west Clare parishes as a resource priest. Since 2002 he acted as administrator, first in Killballyowen parish and, in re- cent years, in Killimer-Knockerra.

Concelebrated funeral Mass for Fr Neil was held yesterday at Knockerra

burial grounds.

Fr McNamara was a native of Kil- maley. He studied for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth and was ordained in Kilmaley Church in 1969. After ordination, he was ap- pointed to the staff of St Flannan’s College, Ennis, as Dean of Studies.

In 1971, he was appointed tempo- rary Assistant to Shannon and in 1973 he undertook a course at Swan- sea University, Wales on Youth and

Community Services. In July 1974, he was appointed to the staff of St Patrick’s Comprehensive School, Shannon. Since July 2001, he has served in the parish of Doora-Bare- field, first as curate and, since 2005, as parish priest.

Fr Ger Nash, Diocesan secretary, described Fr McNamara as a man hugely committed to his parish.

Fr McNamara was also well known in Clare GAA circles. He served as

both vice-chairman and chairman of the Clare County Board and was actively involved with St Joseph’s Doora Barefield GAA club.

Heyes eeelrcemalnlonVM\V Ew COan ale McNamara takes place at 3pm today in Sts Peter & Paul Cathedral, Ennis followed by burial in the grounds of Barefield Church.

Mr Di Lucia is now an agent for the sale of the house and speaking recently, he said that Harris took special care in deciding how to look after the house.

“Dickie did it up and spent a lot of money doing this. Most of the fur- nishings and fittings were bought in London and shipped over because his wife at the time and sister did all the interior design for the house,” he added.

De Lucia and his wife moved into the house two years after Harris pur- chased it and filled the role of care- takers, subsequently opening a qual- ity restaurant there.

SU Com Re ae er luet sold the house and since then, it has changed ownership on a number of occasions. Ten years ago, the house was sold to its current owner for £350,000. Its age 1s 1n excess of 120 years old and is in a much sought af- ter location in the seaside town.

The house is currently listed for sale at €550,000 for the auction. This will take place on August 21 at the Stella Maris Hotel in Kilkee.

AS MAYOR of Kilrush, and on be- half of Kilrush Town Council, I am delighted to welcome you to Kilrush, which has been a very progressive town over the past number of years.

There are a large number of attrac- tions for Kilrush for both locals and visitors alike.

The Vandeleur Walled Garden and Visitor Centre is attracting many visitors to the area. The trees and plants in the garden area have matured and the summer bedding plants are currently in full bloom, giving great colour to the gardens. There are many plants for sale here, including a number of rare and exotic species. The coffee shop serves food all day. The centre also takes orders for homemade cakes for special oc- casions.

Outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy walks in Kilrush Woods which ex- tends to an area of 420 acres. The Heritage Trail which identifies his- toric landmarks in the town will be in place in a few weeks. Visitors can follow the trail from Market Square right out to Cappa village.

Once again, Cappa beach main- tained its Blue Flag status for 2009. The beach is a hive of activity for the summer. Swimming and life saving classes take place at the pier. A new safety surface has been installed at the playground at Cappa as well as the upgrading of some equipment there, making it a safer place for chil-

dren to enjoy.

The marina area is used by sailing enthusiasts who enjoy the sheltered waters of the estuary. Also located in this area is the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Centre where visitors can see dolphin displays. Boat trips can also be taken from here to see over 90 dolphins that live in the waters of the estuary. Tourists can also walk

the Dolphin Trail which begins at the Market Square and leads to Ayleva- roo Head, which overlooks an area of the estuary regularly frequented by the dolphins.

From the marina, tourists can to take a boat trip to Scattery Island which is one of the oldest monas- tic sites in Ireland. The ruins of six churches are here, as well as a Round Tower which is approximately 120 feet high, making it the tallest and one of the best preserved in Ireland. This is a trip that no visitor should miss and is one of the best kept se- crets in west Clare.

The success of achieving gold med- als in 2007 and 2008 in the Tidy Towns competition is testament to the great work done by the Tidy Towns committee and FAS Scheme work- ers and participation by residents of the town and Kilrush Town Council. The colourful floral displays and well kept streets and pathways add to the picturesque beauty of Kilrush.

For golf lovers, Kilrush has an 18 hole golf course located on the En- nis Road.

These are to mention some of the amenities you can enjoy on your visit to Kilrush.

We look forward to seeing you vis- iting our town and enjoying these PNP ONL Alone