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SIXMILEBRIDGE continued their impressive stranglehold on Clare un- derage hurling on Saturday to add a second successive Under I5A title to the Under 12, 14, 16 and 21 equiva- lents already captured this year. However, they certainly made hard work of their latest acquisition as from a position of total dominance, they were almost caught napping by a determined second half fightback from age old rivals Clarecastle.

Leading by ten points at the break, Sixmilebridge appeared to have the game wrapped up but two goals in four minutes from Mikie Casey and Joe Barry around the turn of the final quarter cut Sixmilebridge’s ten point half-time advantage to just four and with plenty of time as well as mo- mentum on their side, Clarecastle threw everything at the Bridge for the remainder.

Decisively though, instead of pick- ing off points, the Magpies went for the jugular and put all their efforts into obtaining a fifth goal but suc- cessive efforts from Gearoid Ryan, Cian Crimmins, Jonathan Griffey and Mikie Casey were all repelled by the inspired Dylan Flemming in the Sixmilebridge goal. In saying that, holders Sixmilebridge also had ampel goal chances to kill off Clare- castle with Paul Finnan in particular unlucky to see a few efforts hit the side netting but as the Magpies con- centrated in vain on hitting the net, the Bridge clung on to eventually see out the win.

It was a totally different story in the first half though as backed by the wind, Sixmilebridge settled quickest to open up a 1-5 to 0-1 advantage by the end of the first quarter. The key to the Bridge’s early advantage was

the strength of Jamie Shanahan and Brian Carey as well as an added bit of guile in front of the posts that saw the lively Brian Corry seize on a de- fensive lapse to grab his 12th minute goal.

The Magpies were visibly nervous but improved as the half went on, eventually getting their reward in the 21st minute when a Stephen Ward run Vuo nO elommacnCe(ed(omcolbnsle Mm Gur-Dem@smnenuenuners whose shot was saved by Flemming and Mikie Casey was the first to re- act to pull to the net. At 1-7 to 1-2,

it should have inspired the Magpies but crucially Sixmilebridge’s reply was immediate as from the puck-out, Corry again gathered possession and played in a ball for Stephen Mulready to flick to the net.

That see-saw pattern was to repeat itself again before the break as Ca- sey caught a Stephen Ward free and rifled a shot to the net only to see it cancelled out again when Brian Cor- ry was fouled in front of the posts and Jamie Shanahan produced an un- stoppable effort from 20 metres to

give the ‘Bridge a comfortable 3-9 to 2-2 half-time lead.

The second period started tenta- tively, with only a point apiece on the scoreboard after ten minutes of the restart but as Sixmilebridge began to misfire in front of the posts, the Mag- pies grew in confidence. In the 40th minute, impact substitute Jack Mc- Dermott set off on a solo run and was eventually fouled before Mikie Casey completed his hat-trick of goals from the resulting 20 metre free. This time though, there was no instantaneous

reply from the Bridge as a Stephen Mulready shot was saved by goal- keeper Conor Liddy and Clarecastle took full advantage by turning up the heat with a Joseph Barry goal at the back post after receiving a pass from Bobby Duggan.

Duggan and Finnan swapped points soon afterwards but having assumed the ascendency, Clarecastle’s over- eagerness to go for goal was to prove very costly. The Bridge’s wide tally was now hitting double figures but Clarecastle were unable to punish them with points and although they eventually realised their error, time was not on their side as the Bridge deservedly held on to collect their ninth underage title in two years.

BACK-TO-BACK county champions for the first time in their history, but Kilmurry Ibrickane want more — that was the message resounding around Cusack Park on Sunday after their O- 12 to 2-3 win over St Senan’s Kilkee in the county senior final.

“We make no apologies for want- ing more,’ said manager Kilmurry manager Micheal McDermott. “To win a Munster championship would be a massive achievement. It doesn’t bother me what team we have to play

in Munster. We just want to go into battle. Let’s be ambitious. Let’s look at the bigger prizes. Let’s try to win another Munster championship.

“If it’s Drom-Broadford the next day, we really owe them one from last year’s Munster final. It will take very little motivation to get our lads ready for a game against Drom-Broadford. It would be a home fixture in Pairc Naomh Mhuire and for three weeks beforehand we’ll have these lads primed for that game. That’s the one game we’re looking forward to now.

“This club is all about winning.

Any team I’m involved with, I want

to win and there’s a Munster cham-

pionship there for us. There’s a cam-

paign ready to start and we want to

be in there; we want to give it a real

go and try to make up for last year.” Munster be warned!

IRISH celebrities, mainly RTE Radio and TV personalities, have always had the use of courtesy cars. Now car companies are moving with the times and giving cars to young peo- ple and encouraging them to Twitter leLOltL Melos bmn ere ESE

Recently Toyota were looking for people who had blogs or who would twitter after driving their new iQ model. Actresses Tara Leniston and Amy Huberman are Ambassadors for Fiat’s cute 500 and now Ford has got in on the act by giving their new Ka to four young females or so called ‘Ka Friends’ to test.

TV3’s Anna Daly, fashion photog- rapher Lili Forberg, model Nadia Forde plus Giovanni Trapatonni’s interpreter Manuela Spinelli have all got the use of Ford’s baby car for a few months. And you can check out how they are getting on via Facebook at: FordKa Friends, Ireland.

Manuela said that she drove the original Ka and reckons that the new model is as practical and economical

as the first one.

The original Ka has been around since 1996 and it badly needed an upgrade. Ford say they couldn’t af- ford a complete re-design, so the car is based on the same platform as the Fiat Panda and the Fiat 500 and all three cars are built in the same fac- tory in Poland.

The rear end of the Ka is much eas- ier on the eye. It’s now dominated by two huge red light clusters.

I drove a blue model which defi- nitely attracted a bit of attention. Normally I am complaining about the amount of black that dominates the interiors of cars. The interior of the Ka is so bright, you would need sun glass when you sit in.

The seats are cream and the door panels are beige. The interior décor is brightened futher by a splash of blue on the front and back seats. The back seat is small and while it can accommodate two adults, ideally it’s best suited to children.

The only black featured in the inte- rior is on the console that houses the radio controls, air conditioning con-

trols and gear stick. Half of this con- sole is white which provides a lovely contrast. The volume controls for the radio are a bit small, but you do get slave controls on the steering wheel.

Not surprisingly the boot is small, but you do get a full size spare wheel, which in the case of the Ka is not very big.

By giving the car to four young women, rather than two men and two women, Ford is clearly saying that this car 1s aimed at females. Nothing wrong with that.

I found the Ka a nice city run- around and easy to park in tight cor- ners. The only complaint I had was that it was a two-door and I had to use the ignition key to open the boot. Surely it wouldn’t have been too much of a luxury to include a boot release button in the cabin. I would worry that the key might break with constant use.

Prices start at €11,535 for the 1.2 petrol, rising to €15,125 for the 1.3 diesel. Road tax is only €104. So happy motoring or should that be happy tweeting/blogging.

TENSION filled the air in Tulla on Saturday evening but in an evenly matched battle of endurance that saw the sides level on seven occasions, as late as the 55th minute, it eventu- ally came down to which side really wanted it more in the final moments. Ruan had been the ones who looked most likely to get over the line after taking the lead six times during the opening three-quarters of the match but unable to shake off Feakle at any stage, it was the east Clare men who eventually displayed the greater hun- ger and momentum when it mattered most.

A repeat of the 1988 county sen-

ior final, one that also went Feakle’s way, those halcyon days have been merely a distant memory in recent times as both clubs looked to rebuild after an interminably long period of transition. There was also the added ingredient of John Punch taking on his native club with always an under- lying fear permeating amongst the Feakle support that the script was written for the forward to score the winning point. What made this such a unique oc- casion though was the carrot of an intermediate final appearance, com- ing about after the quarter-final draw pooled all three champion- ship favourites Whitegate, Eire Og and Killanena on the one side of the draw. With neither Feakle nor Ruan expected to be in the shake up for championship honours this year, this was a huge opportunity to make the last two and as a result, a pressure cooker atmosphere magnified every touch of the ball.

It was Ruan who settled into their stride the quicker, bouncing back from a Gary Guilfoyle free to erab a fourth minute goal. Killian Ryan played a neat pass to Michael

Vaughan down the left wing and his high delivery broke off Aiden Lynch to the waiting O’ Regan to scrable the ball over the line.

Feakle meanwhile, despite having numerous chances, were guilty of some poor misses and Ruan added to their woes with a sixth minute point through Michael Vaughan.

Slowly Feakle got back into the game and after a superb lineball by Gary Guilfoyle was cancelled out by

a Punch free, the east Clare side hit the next three points to gain parity by the 24th minute. Three more times Ruan edged ahead before the break only to be dragged back by a stub- born Feakle challenge as the sides went into the interval at 1-5 to 0-8. The tables quickly turned on the resumption as again Feakle earned a free from the throw-in that Tommy Moroney converted before taking a two point advantage for the first time

in the game three minutes later when a good passing move involving Ray- mond Bane and Stevie Moloney re- leased Colin Nelson to fire over from the left wing.

This time it was Ruan’s turn to react and they did so through their inspira- tional leader Jonathan Clohessy who grabbed the first of three unanswered points by the turn of the final quarter to edge Ruan in front once more.

The seesaw battle for supremacy

continued as twice in the next seven minutes, Feakle equalised to set up a grandstand finish. It appeared to be heading for a draw but somehow Feakle found an extra gear, with sub- stitute Ronan Harrington and Tom- my Moroney scoring a point apeice in the 57th minute to push their side Q-14 to 1-09 ahead.

Cigarettes were smoked to the butts and fingernails was gnawed to the bone as John Punch cut the deficit to only the minimum with two min- utes remaining. However, a monster Gary Guilfoyle free from his own ’65 in the final minute raised a huge roar of approval from the Feakle support and it inspired them to battle admi- rably in the dying seconds before se- curing their first final appearance in SIX years.

THE father of Clare handball, Pat Kirby, has hailed the achievements of the latest world champions to emerge from the storied Tuamgraney club in east Clare — the old seat of the game in the county.

Kirby’s endorsement comes in the wake of the stunning triumph of Barry Nash and Ciaran Malone who won the Boys Doubles in the 15 and Under category in Portland, Oregon, over the weekend.

The Tuamgraney club duo stormed through the top half of the draw to tee up a west of the Shannon battle in the final against Michael Lalor and Donal Wrynn from Galway. Their toughest game on the way to the decider was against Martin Mullins and Ryan Harkin from Cork in the semi-final, when they were pushed all the way before getting home by 21-18, 21-17. The final proved to be much easier as they coasted to world glory on the back of a 21-3, 21-12 tri- vueeheee

“Tt’s a brilliant achievement for the two boys,” said Kirby, who put Tua- mgraney handball on the world map when winning his first world title in Croke Park in 1970. “I was repre- senting America back then because I was exiled in America and nearly 40 years on it’s great that Tuamgraney is still turning out world champions. It makes me very proud that this con- veyor belt is there,’ added Kirby.

And the Tuamgraney success story didn’t end there — Nash just failed to pull off an historic double after he was edged out in the Boys Singles 15 and Under category, going down by 21-18, 21-19 to Padraig McKenna in WeCom EUITAUE

Elsewhere, the Coughlan _broth- ers from Clooney, Fergal and Ger- ard were other Clare finalists — they reached the Men’s Doubles 35 and Over final, but were edged out by the US/Canadian partnership of David Vincent and John Bike.

A DELEGATION from Ennis Town Council will travel to Langenfeld in December to mark the start of a new partnership between Ennis and the German town.

Town manager Ger Dollard told last Monday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council that representatives from the office of the mayor of Langenfeld had written the council with a view to establishing a partnership between the towns.

“They are very enthusiastic about this. There have been articles in the local media, a lot about the visit by Ali. It’s presented a very positive image of Ennis. They have invited councillors to visit the town in the first week of December and I think,

given the positive image portrayed of Ennis, the council should accept,” said Mr Dollard.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) told the meeting that the council should avail of the opportunity to “build links to Europe”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) asked how much the trip was likely to cost. Mr Dollard responded by saying that the letter received from the mayor’s of- fice stated that the total cost of flights from the German airport of Weiss to Shannon, was likely to be around €60.

Langenfeld is located between the cities of Cologne and Dusseldorf in the German state of Nordhein-West- fallen. It has a population of 59,000 residents.

The link was first proposed in May

when Franz Kolzer, Town Twinning co-coordinator, wrote to Ennis Town Council, on behalf of Mayor of Lan- genfeld, Magnus Staehler.

“This year Ireland is represented in the “Wilkommen Irland/Failte Eire cultural programme, and the people of Langenfeld are getting to know Ireland better through a broad range of cultural, academic and entertain- ment initiatives,’ wrote Mr Kolzer.

He continues, “Langenfeld has been searching to initiate a partnership with an English speaking town for a number of years, but has been so far unsuccessful in this regard. What could be a better result for our Ire- land year than to find a partner town in Ireland? For this reason Ennis has come to our attention.

According to Mr Kolzer, “The

town of Langenfeld would envisage a multifaceted exchange, including at schools level, between sports teams and on a private basis, and we would be delighted if the town of Ennis SJ aT-Nacre Mr mCyBO OBOE: Duma (oA. VA

Ennis is already twinned with the American city of Phoenix and the French town of Saint Paul de Fe- nouillet.

Ennis has been twinned with Phoe- nix, Arizona since 1988. A special Ennis/Phoenix Twinning Board has been in existence since this time with the aim of strengthening the links between the two communities. A successful Student Exchange Pro- gramme is organised annually, which allows students from both communi- ties the opportunity to learn about the others region and country.

TO say this was pedestrian stuff is putting it very mildly to say the very least. A senior county final of sorts, but in name only such was the tame nature of the spectacle that unfolded over an hour of largely forgettable football.

There were the exceptions though — little nuggets that lifted the dross from a tepid encounter, the fielding ability of Timmy and David Ryan, the industry of Mark O’Connell in the full-forward line and six of their points that came from play.

It was just as well that these lit- tle moments of magic came from

Kilmihil, because Ennistymon were truly awful, save a semi-circling of the wagons in the last 20 mintues when they put a scoreless first 40 behind them by putting four points on the board. The wonder is how En- nistymon were able to peg it back to a three-point game with five minutes remaining.

That they ultimately came up short had nothing to do with great defen- sive work on the part of a Kilmihil team, but more to do with Ennisty- mon’s wide tally of the second-half that numbered six.

Two of those bad wides came in the final five minutes when only a goal separated the sides — had they been

converted to bring this game right down to the wire, and had they some- how grabbed a remarkable victory it would have marked this one down as a travesty of football justice.

It never happened, but still it was much too close for comfort for a Kilmihil side that dominated this game for the first 50 minutes. The 2008 intermediate champions led by O-4 to no score at half-time, having taken up where they left off against Lissycasey when they held them scoreless for the hour.

A brilliant opening point from left- half-back Rory Mohally after good work in the build up by David Ryan and Declan Downes had Kilmihil on

their way in the seventh minute.

Nineteen minutes passed before there was another score, but Kilm1- hil then finished the half with a flourish of fine points from play by David Ryan and Karl Downes before Timmy Ryan floated a free over in the 30th minute to give them a com- manding lead.

After Timmy Ryan thumped over the score of the game off his left a minute after the re-start and David followed up with another six minutes later, captain Mark O’Connell could safely start rehearsing his cupla fo- cail in his head.

Maybe that’s what happened, be- cause from there Kilmihil suddenly let their guard down and a point from Joe Dowling from a 40-yard free in the 40th minute broke Ennistymon’s duck and was the cue for a spirited display in the final 20 minutes.

Shane Mangan’s point in the 46th minute had Kilmihil 0-7 to O-1 ahead but from their the backed off into de- fensive and flirted with throwing this game away. Three Brian Conway points between the 52nd and 55th minutes brought it back to three.

Then there were Ennistymon’s wides, before Laurence Healy and

Timmy Ryan were red-carded before the end.

CLARE County Council is using a Dublin debt collection agency to ob- tain development contributions from individuals – some of whom may al- ready have paid their debt to the lo- cal authority.

It emerged at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council that the lo- cal authority has employed a Dublin agency to collect contributions for a range of small scale development and one-off houses stretching back for more than a decade.

It has also emerged however that the local authority may not have any documentation to prove that the con- tributions have not been paid.

‘Tam surprised that the council has not heard about the uncertainty out there as to who has and who has not paid,’ said Cllr Patricia McCarthy COND}

“The big problem here is that we don’t know. We can’t prove that they haven’t paid, they can’t prove that they have paid. When we are not 100 per cent sure we should have taken a softer approach to this instead of

going down the heavy-handed route of going to a debt collection agency. It shows a terrible lacking in the sys- one

According to Clir Pat Keane (FF), some people have received bills from contributions due more than 10 years ago which are now dramatically more expensive then they previously had been.

“It is unfair to be going back over ten years to people looking for this money. These people are getting a bill that might have been £170 or £180 at the time and now they are

getting bills for €1,500. I know for sure that there are a lot of people out there who paid in cash at the time and do not have the receipt and may now be receiving letters from debt collectors.”

A spokeswoman from Clare Coun- ty Council said that any confusion over who owes the money will be handled quickly.

‘Tam not aware of any issue around the uncertainty with regards pay- ments. If there are issues around un- certainty of who has and has not paid I will deal with that as a matter of

urgency, she said.

“The provision in our budget this year for the collection of debt collec- tion is €1.5 million and the collect so far is €1.25 million. So it would appear that we are on target so far to meet these projections.

“We took a twin approach to debt collection, some were pursued through Houlihans [county council solicitors, Michael Houlihans] and some were pursued by an outside group, and that was just to maximise the collection of money. I must stress that this money is legally due to us.”

GARDAI in Shannon are being asked to investigate the origin of fireworks which are in circulation in the town, after a firework was put through the letterbox of the local family resource centre.

The call from Labour Council- lor Tony McMahon came during a debate by local elected representa- tives on how Halloween should be celebrated in the town.

The idea of holding a party, to in- clude a fireworks display, bonfires and games for children, was raised by Fine Gael Councillor Mary BIKINITADOR

However, Independent Councillor Gerry Flynn said while he would support the idea, he could not back the suggestion to organise a bon- nae

“IT cannot support bonfires. It’s against the legislation,’ he said.

Labour Councillor Tony McMa- hon asked could special permission be obtained to have a bonfire.

“While they are nice to look at, fireworks are dangerous. Some ani- mals are badly frightened by fire- works,” he said.

He expressed concern about the easy availability of fireworks.

“They are supposed to be ille- gal and yet there are a lot of them

around town. They are going off al- ready. It is only a matter of time be- fore a child loses an eye or a limb or something. They should be treated a lot more seriously than they are,” |ntemncreBLOe

He called on gardai to investigate Where the fireworks have come from.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy (In- dependent) said that a firework was inserted into the letterbox at the family resource centre in the town KAN

“All of us are vulnerable if fire- works get into the wrong hands. There is no control. I’d ask that peo- ple be vigilant. We hear every year

that people are getting seriously in- jured,” she said.

Labour’s Greg Duff said that a small minority of people engage in anti-social behaviour around Hal- OW (eroe

“We have to work with the legisla- tion, but I’d hate to see it losing the momentum that we started in previ- ous years in working with groups in the community,” he said.

The mayor of the town, Councillor Sean McLoughlin said a fireworks display could be arranged success- fully, if handled by professional people.

“We definitely should have some- thing for Halloween,’ he said.

THE celebrations were far from wild, but when Kilmihil manager Mick Darby took a few minutes out to reflect on some more silverware heading out the Kilrush Road, be- fore hanging a right at Downes’ pub, skirting by Knockalough and on its way to Declan’s Bar, he was keen to reflect on what had been another mission accomplished for his emerg- ing side.

“We are a couple of years away from being a real force at senior lev- el,” he admitted, “because we have a lot of young lads coming through but I believe that it will happen for us in due course, so it’s about trying to improve with every year and this win is part of that.

“The lads themselves made the de-

cision that they wanted to stay train- ing. We had two games to play to try and win this Senior B title and we did that. It’s about keeping up the momentum for this Kilmihil team after winning the intermediate title last year and winning the Senior B was important.”

Just as important was being part of county senior final afternoon for the first time in nearly two decades. “It’s a long time, 19 years since the Kilmi- hil club has been here in Cusack Park on county senior final day,’ reflected Darby, who was manager back in 1990 when they were beaten by St Joseph’s Miltown.

“It meant this was a big day for the club and an occasion for the players. They needed to settle in and they did that in the first-half when get- ting those points near the end of the

half to go in with a good lead at half- time.

“The two Ryans caught great ball and kicked great scores, but I wouldn’t be one for singling out in- dividual players because everyone on the panel has worked hard. It was a panel effort, just like it has been all year.

“Mark O’Connell had a problem with a groin injury, but that wasn’t the reason he was moved in. He was moved in for a different reason and he’s a hard player to stop when he’s on form and going forward.”

Kilmihil are going forward them- selves.