Month: March 2011

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Sport

Nash aims for Munster hat-trick

AS THIS year’s Munster Adult 40×20 Championships come to a close, there was more success for the Tuamgraney pair of Niall Malone & Diarmaid Nash when they won the Munster Intermediate Doubles Final in Cappagh on Wednesday last, beating Cork brothers Niall & Brendan Fleming 21-18, 21-15. The Clare duo are now due to play the Connacht champions this coming weekend in the All-Ireland semi-final. A time and date is yet to be confirmed and a clash will have to be avoided with Niall Malone’s All-Ireland Senior Singles Championship clash with Cavan kingpin Paul Brady (currently scheduled for this Saturday in Kingscourt at 2pm). Nash meanwhile, having already secured the Munster Senior title, will be expected to make it a hat-trick of provincial wins when he takes on Brendan Fleming in tonight’s Intermediate Singles decider (Ballydesmond, 8pm).

Aisling Fitzgerald (Tuamgraney) was also successful, winning her Munster Ladies Junior B Singles Final in Galbally on Saturday when she beat Laura Keevers 21-9, 21-6. Coughlan brothers Fergal and Ger were in the Masters A Doubles Final also in Galbally but went down to Cork pair Stephen Palmer and Kevin Buckley.

As mentioned, the Munster championships are now coming to a close and focus shifts to the All-Ireland semi-finals which take place over two weekends (March 12/13 and April 2/3). As well as Nash’s Senior win, Clare have already secured seven Munster titles; Ladies Junior B Singles (Aisling Fitzgerald), Ladies Junior B Doubles (Sarah Loughnane & Paula Loughane), Golden Masters B Singles (John Cawley), Golden Masters B Doubles (John Cawley & Teddy O’Hanlon), Glden Masters A Singles (Pat Donellan), Golden Masters A Doubles (Pat Donellan & Mike Kelly) and Intermediate Doubles (Diarmaid Nash & Niall Malone). The two outstanding finals up for grabs are tonight’s Intermediate Singles Final and an all-Clare (and all-Tulla) Junior Singles Final between Cathal Hannon and Aidan Lynch which was postoned due to an injury to Lynch and may yet be played before All-Ireland semi-final date.

While All-Ireland semi-final fixtures are yet to be confirmed at time of writing, the following grades involving Banner County players are scheduled for this coming weekend; Golden Masters Singles (A and B), Ladies Junior B Singles (all Connacht venues) and Intermediate Doubles (Munster venue).

A host of Clare’s rising handball stars were in action over the weekend as the Munster Juvenile Championship semi-finals were played at a number of venues. Clare are through to Boys Munster Finals at Boys Under 12 Singles (Tiernan Agnew), U-12 Doubles (Gary Cooney, Owen Shanahan), U-13 Doubles (Jack Hayes, Shane Hunt), U-14 Singles (Brian Fahy), U-14 Doubles (Fergal Couhlan, Jamie Keane), U-15 Doubles (Jacob Loughnane, Ciaran Cooney), U-16 Singles (Colin Crehan) and Girls Munster Finals at U-12 Singles (Ella Donellan), U-14 Doubles (Clodagh Nash, Doireann Murphy), U-15 Doubles (Natasha Coughlan, Michelle Nihill) and U-16 Singles (Alice Akers). In U-17 Doubles, Hannah O’Brien and Aine McInerney have a bye through to the All-Ireland semi-final.

On the local scene finally, the last of this year’s Adult County League Finals was won by Clarecastle when they defeated Shannon 96-79 in the Division 3 decider in Clooney on Friday. The winning team was John Sweeney (Capt.), Jeff Coughlan, Pakie Healy, Michael Casey, Martin Sweeney and Adam Healy.

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Sport

Clare FM awarded

CLARE FM were one of the recipients at The Camogie Association Media Awards at Croke Park on Saturday night, with Clare FM’s Sports Editor Kevin McGillicuddy picking up the award for Best Local Radio. President of the Camogie Association Joan O’Flynn, Group Head of RTÉ Sport, Ryle Nugent, and Lily Dunne, wife of the late Mick Dunne, presented the awards to eight recipients who were acknowledged for their outstanding work promoting and publicising camogie.

In her address, President Joan O’Flynn emphasised the importance of highlighting those who are promoting the game.

“The Camogie Association and RTÉ Mick Dunne Memorial Awards are an important event on the camogie calendar each year. The awards are hugely important in recognising the enormous contribution that regional and national press and association members make to the promotion of our game. Tonight, we honour the outstanding work of those who are here to receive awards and acknowledge the fantastic work they do to further boost the profile of camogie. On this night, the eve of our All-Ireland club finals, the Camogie Association is delighted to celebrate the achievements of those, who work so tirelessly off the pitch publicising, all of the action on it.”

Clare Camogie Chairperson Orla Considine expressed her delight in this recognition of Clare FM for their coverage of Camogie in the county, whilst adding that Clare were to the fore in the publicity they receive from local media. The full list of winners were: Clare FM(Local Radio); the Offaly Express (Provincial Newspaper); Dublin Camogie Board (Website):Armagh County Camogie Board (Match Programme); Barbara Ryan (PROof theYear); Caroline Quinn (Photograph of theYear);“I Gotta Feeling” by Dean Goodison; (PublishedWork) Irish Examiner (National Coverage of Camogie). Cla r e v Cor k @ Fr Mur phy Memor ia l Pa r k, Newma r ket -on-Fer gus, Sunday 1pm

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Sport

Guess the weight Roche at the front

THERE WERE mixed fortunes for Clare’s clubs at last Sunday’s Cycling Pursuits Cup in Broadford, County Limerick. Promoter Liam Collins laid out a tough circuit with 150 metres of climbing reaching 11 per cent gradient in parts. This ensured plenty of suffering for the 150 competitors as the field got whittled down on each successive lap.

The highlight was in the A3 race, after Blarney’s Owen Cummins had soloed to victory, Damien Roche of West Clare surged through the bunch to take the sprint and an impressive second place. Dolmen CC’s Gary McDonald also grabbed a top ten spot.

In the A1/A2 race, West Clare’s Jarlath Hassett and Mike Storan were well placed at the bell but Liam Ryan (St Finbarr’s CC) and Cathal McCarthy (The Edge CC) escaped on the final lap and were not hauled back. Hassett was in the mix for the sprint, taking fourth on the line with Storan ten seconds back.

In their first year of racing, Burren CC are showing impressive form with Robert Hawes and Anthony O’Halloran taking fifth and ninth respectively in the A4 category. Gro u p 1 Doonbeg 1-8 St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 0-6 Shannon Gaels 0-10 St Joseph’s Miltown 0-06 Kilrush Shamrocks 2-8 Liscannor 0-6 Kilmilhil v Kilmurry-Ibrickane (postponed) Gro u p 2 Cooraclare 4-7 Clondegad 0-7 Lissycasey v St Breckan’s (postponed) O’Curry’s v St Senan’s Kilkee (postponed) Ennistymon a bye

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Sport

Boxers make a bang in Dublin

CLARE BOXERS made considerable progress in the Irish Youths and Ladies Championships in the National Stadium in Dublin last weekend with last year’s silver medallist Lee Sherlock showing particularly good form edging closer to his quest for gold in the 54 Kilo division.

The ladies have been particularly prominent with Kilfenora’s Caoilinn McCormack and Ennis representative Sally Carrig winning their semi-finals in spectacular fashion on Saturday and with reigning champions Antoinette Keane 63 Kg and Kayleigh McCormack 57 Kg already through to the semi-finals, the prospects of gold looks good.

Caoilinn McCormack stopped Ulster Champion Sharon Kelly in the third round of her semi-final, having led 8-2 after the second round, and Sally Carrig in her first year of Championship boxing also won inside the distance against another Ulster champ Kayleigh MacAuley from Derry. Sally nailed her oppo- nent with a big right hook at the end of the first round forcing a standing count and kept up the sustained pressure from the bell in the second for a great inside the distance victory.

Lee Sherlock has been showing good form this season, and he came through to the semi-finals on Friday with a good win over last year’s champion Paudge McDonagh from the St Francis Club in Limerick. The Ennis southpaw displaying all of his defensive skills limited his onrushing opponent to a single point over the three rounds while scoring nicely with his lightning right jab for victory. \ His semi-final opponent, Patrick Bradley from the Errigal club in Derry was easily the toughest of his opponents to date, and their battle for gold or silver was a cliff hanger with fortunes fluctuating, and the tenacious Sherlock holding out for victory. Bradley led by a single point coming out for the third and final round and he clung to the tenuous lead right up to the final seconds when nailed him with a perfect right hook to the chin to bring the score to parity and force a double countback on the computer for a score of 4-1 to the Ennis fighter. His Ennis clubmate Wayne Danagher was not so lucky however in his quarter final; having led all the way in his 70 Kg battle with Sean Collins from the Smithfield Club in Dublin’s inner city he was caught with a left hook with just ten seconds remaining and lost the initiative, losing out 11-10 in the end.

And so, with the ladies stealing the limelight, all five will battle for glory on Friday and Saturday next, and hopes are high for a brace of titles. Sherlock’s opponent in the 54 Kg final will be Dubliner Jamie Stokes from the Mulhuddart club, and both fighters are waxing lyrical about their prospects of victory in this prestigious final.

Ennis coaches and mentors Tommy Lyons and Sean Carrig were proactive in the judging and refereeing of these championships and will again be in action come next weekend. EnnisTournament 2nd March 2011.

Boy 1 36 Kg JimMcDonagh (Ennis) Bt Timmy Casey (OLOL) 42 Kg Conor Doyle Bt Alan O’Donnell 48 Kg Luke Carmody lost to Martin Mongan 65 Kg Caimin Doyle lost to Danny Harty Boy 2 42 Kg Diarmuid O’Gorman lost to Paddy Keenan 52 Kg Brian McDonagh Bt Terry Harris 57 Kg Ml Galbraith lost to Muiris Mongan Boy 4 57 Kg Simon McDonagh Bt Geoff Mulqueen 63 Kg James Galbraith lost to Ed O’Donoghue Youth 2 75 Kg Martin Keenan Bt Ben McNamara Heavyweight Mark Fitzgerald drewwith Ml P. Mongan

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Sport

Teeing off for Clare tourism

CLARE tourism is set to benefit on the double from a major golf competition to be staged in the county over a six-month period that will showcase what the county has to offer to golfers around the country.

The Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge is set to attract a big nationwide entry bringing in much sought after golf tourism, while proceeds of the event will also be used to finance a marketing campaign to be formulated for the county for the 2012 season.

In the only competition of its kind in Ireland golfers must play at least five of Clare’s ten golf courses between April and September, after which the top ranking teams will compete in a final to be held at the Greg Norman designed links course in Doonbeg on October 25.

Other participating courses include Lahinch, Dromoland, Ennis, Woodstock, Shannon, Spanish Point, Kilrush, Kilkee and East Clare.

Joe Russell, Chair of the Clare Tourism Forum and General Manager at Doonbeg Golf Club said, “The 2011 Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge offers golfers the unique opportunity to play all ten Clare golf courses, including two of the world’s top 100 ranked courses. This initiative will help secure the continuation of the successful and effective marketing and promotional activities carried out by the Clare Tourism Forum.”

Clare Tourism Forum marketing executive Maureen Cleary commented: “It was wonderful to have had so many golf clubs throughout Clare and surrounding counties represented in the inaugural event in 2010. The standard of golfing also was high and contributed to what has been a hugely successful first year for the Challenge. We hope that this year’s event will once again generate funds that will be injected into much needed marketing and promotional activities during 2012”.

“The Clare Tourism Forum is very grateful to the participating golf clubs, without whose support this event would not be possible,” she added.

The 2010 Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge winning team included team leader Des O’Brien (Kilrush GC), Sean McGuirk (Limerick GC), Bill Hanley (Charleville GC) and Brendan O’Keeffe (Ballykisteen GC), who won the final with a score of 88 points.

Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge entries may be made online at www. clare.ie/golf.

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News

Lahinch aquarium could face closure

THE multi-million euro aquarium at Lahinch Seaworld will be forced to close later this month because a lack of funding will prevent it from gaining an operating license. The Clare People understands that the aquarium faces its final license check on March 24 and because of damage to stock levels over the winter months, and a lack of funding, it will not be in a position to have its license renewed.

This comes after Lahinch Seaworld received a negative pre-license audit after an inspection earlier this year. The aquarium will be forced to close its door to customers from March 24th and it is unclear right now when it will be able to reapply for a new license.

Clare County Council, who contribute more than € 60,000 to the running of Lahinch Seaworld each year, have declined to comment on loss of the aquarium license.

“Lahinch Seaworld is a private company. The council contributes annually towards its operational costs.

“It would not be appropriate for the council to comment on the current financial status of the company,” said a spokesperson from the local authority yesterday.

Seaworld Manager Ian Taylor also declined to comment on the financial situation at the facility but did call on all local people to get behind the project.

“We are making changes here and things are slowly improving. We are aiming high, but with little support we will always struggle. What we need now is for all of the people to get behind us.

“We have some great facilities here, a fantastic new restaurant, we have just brought in a new pricing structure which will make it very attractive for people to use our pool, gym other facilities.

“What we really need now is for all the community to get behind us.

“We are getting involved with the local people and inviting them to become a much bigger part of what we do at Seaworld,” he said.

According to the latest annual accounts lodged for Lahinch Seaworld and Leisure Centre PLC, the company made of loss of just over € 97,000 in 2009.

According to these accounts the facility had received € 1,905,000 in government grants up until the end of 2009.

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News

Ballyvaughan boil notice until April

A BOIL notice will remain in place in Ballyvaughan until the new multimillion Ballyvaughan Water Scheme comes on line later this month. The Clare People has learnt that Clare County Council plans to bring the new € 5 million scheme on line within the next two weeks. The development was originally due to come on line before the end of 2010, but a number of small delays have delayed completing the project until this month. Once the scheme is fully connected, the local authority will then enter into a period of consultation with the Health Service Executive (HSE) with a view to possibly lifting the boil water notice.

This latest boil notice came into effect at the beginning of February and is the third boil notice to be put in place in Ballyvaughan in the past nine months. A spokesperson from the local authority confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that the boil notice would not be stood down until the connection to the new water supply is completed.

However, even if the new scheme becomes operational before the end of March, it could be mid to late April before the boil water notice itself is lifted.

“It is anticipated that water supply from the new scheme will be made live in the next fortnight. Once commissioning is complete we will meet with the HSE with a view to removing the boil notice. This may take a further number of weeks at which point we would officially advise consumers,” said a council spokesperson.

The new € 5 million project will connect the Ballyvaughan water supply with the local Ennistymon water supply drawn from Lickeen Lake. A number of local groups in Ballyvaughan campaigned against the development, requesting instead that measures be put in place to improve the existing water supply in the village.

Clare County Council also confirmed yesterday that it still taking numbers from north Clare residents who wish to be informed via text message if there is any future disruption in the water supply.

The innovative new text service was introduced in Ballyvaughan earlier this year after a number of local residents and businesses complained at not being informed that their water was not fit for human consumption.

The current boil water notice effects all homes on the Ballyvaughan Public Water Supply including the Muckinish, Gleninagh, Gregans, Knocknagrough and Newtown group water schemes.

Anyone who receives water from these schemes is asked to boil all water used for drinking, cooking, making ice-cubes and brushing teeth before using it.

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News

Doolin Pier decision in days

THE Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard has thrown its support behind Clare County Council’s plans for a € 6 million development of Doolin Pier.

The planning department of Clare County Council has received more than 30 submissions from members of the public in relation to the project, which is due to be decided in the coming days.

Plans for the pier had been opposed by local surfing groups on the grounds that the development would damage two world renowned waves located at Crab Island and Doolin Pier.

A decision on Clare County Council Part 8 planning permission was due in December last but the elected members of the council asked for more time to be allowed for submissions to be made. A final decision is due to be made at next Monday’s March meeting of the local authority.

In his submission to Clare County Council, Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard said that the new proposal would make the pier safer for use.

“It will make it much safer for commercial craft to use the new pier while Doolin Coastguard will have the space it needs at the existing facility with reduced congestion,” he said.

The project also received supportive submissions from a number of local organisations including The Russell Centre and Doolin Tourism, while a large number of submissions were also received from local and national surf organisations.

In a submission lodged by Cliodhna Fawl of the West Coast Surf Club in Lahinch it is claimed that the pier will be a “serious danger” to surfers in the area.

“Apart from the damage that the proposed work will undoubtedly do to the world famous wave environment, the design poses a serious and significant health and safety threat to the surfers accessing the waves at Doolin Point and Crab Island,” she says.

“Surf tourism is a highly important and valuable income stream for west Clare, throughout the year, and to proceed with the proposed works without any assessment of the impact on these waves or without any input from surfers sends the wrong message not only outside of Clare but also outside of Ireland.”

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News

Clare lags behind in job creation

COUNTY Clare is lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of job creation, with the recession now likely to linger in the Banner County when job growth returns in other areas.

New figures releases from the Central Statistic Office (CSO) revealed that 10,814 people signed on the Live Register in Clare last month, the second highest amount recorded in Clare since records began.

The number of people signing on the Live Register nationally has fallen by 22,624 or 4.51 per cent since the peak of the unemployment crisis in August of 2010. However, the number of people signing on in Clare has actually increased by almost one per cent (0.81 per cent) over the same period.

This means that the rate of change in the numbers signing on in Clare is more than 5 per cent worse than the number signing on in the rest of the country.

According to CSO figures, 10,814 people signed onto the Live Register in Clare last month, a drop of 69 peo- ple from the January figures.

More than half of all those people signing on were located in Ennis, where 5,998 people signed on last month. This represents a small drop of 0.34 per cent or 21 people since January.

Similar small drops were recorded around the county with offices in Ennistymon, Tulla and Kilrush reporting 1,747, 1,568 and 1,501 people signing on respectively.

While the news is bad in Clare, Seán Murphy of Chamber Ireland believe that the figures indicate a stabilisation of the unemployment levels nationally.

“The seasonally adjusted Live Register figures provide another indication of an ongoing stabilisation in the economy. While this suggests that we are slowly turning our economy and jobs market around, clearly much needs to be done to reduce unemployment levels further,” he said.

Chambers Ireland has called on the new Government to abolish Employment Regulation Orders (ERO) and Registered Employment Agreements (REA) as a means of prompting jobs growth.

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News

No place in the Cabinet for Clare

FOR only the second time in the history of the State, Clare will be without a full cabinet ministry, while having three government TDs elected in the county.

This state of affairs will be confirmed on Wednesday when Enda Kenny becomes the country’s 13th Taoiseach and selects a Cabinet that won’t have any Clare representation.

The only other time when a government with three TDs in Clare failed to win a seat at Cabinet was during the ill-fated 1992-94 coalition between Fianna Fáil and Labour.

Now, almost two decades on, Clare’s failure to win high office is being blamed locally on “internal Fine Gael politics” that came between the party and a history-making haul of three seats in the constituency.

“The fact is,” one Fine Gael councillor told The Clare People this week, “that had Fine Gael shown the ambition to win three seats and blow Fianna Fáil out of the water altogether and then gone out and done it, Clare could not have been denied the right to sit at Cabinet.

“This is what Fianna Fáil did in 1997. They had a vote strategy and managed their vote brilliantly rather than having a situation where every candidate was out for themselves and as a result they won three seats. The reward was a full ministry. Fine Gael could have that now,” the councillor claimed.

Now Fine Gael are clinging to the hope that a junior ministry will come the county’s way, but both Pat Breen and Joe Carey could be left disappointed as the massive majority that see the combined Fine Gael/Labour numbers at 113 means huge competition for Minister of State positions.

“We have returned three Government TDs here tonight and three Government TDs can make a difference. I would hope also that the Taoiseach would take the opportunity to give one of us in Government a ministry,” General Election poll-topper Pat Breen told The Clare People last week.

However, Clare’s failure to gain any type of post would leave former TD Dónal Carey as the only politician from the Fine Gael or Labour benches to have held down a government ministry, having served as Minister of State during the lifetime of the Rainbow coalition from 1994 to ‘97.