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IS there something in the Miltown Malbay air that helps produce cham- joey eta

Remember way back in the 1940s when Miltown and particularly the football field was a home away from home for George Norton — he who became one of Ireland’s greatest ever rugby full-backs and who kicked Ire- land to Triple Crown glory in 1949.

And, it’s also a home away from home for another Dub who is no stranger to rugby internationals at Croke Park in recent years — not on the field but off it as a bouncer who doubles as a world wrestling cham- pion.

He’s Sheamus O’Shaughnessy — aka Stephen Farrelly — who in December became the first Irish holder of the World Wrestling Entertainment title. His grandmother is Mary Skerritt, wife of the late Tommie Skerritt of the famous golfing clan from Lahi-

eee

And, apart from his grandmother, his mother, aunts, uncles and cous- ins are also living in Miltown Mal- bay, something that has ensured O’Shaughnessy makes regular trips down to Clare.

“T used to go down the Miul- town a lot when I was young,” says O’Shaughnessy. “I loved going down there and was down recently for a flying visit. It’s great that they’re very proud of my achievements in Miultown and Clare,” he adds.

The 31-year-old, who has also worked as a security guard to the stars, such as Bono, won his world title by beating defending champion John Cena in early December. And, in winning the title in New York, O’Shaughnessy blasted the ster- eoypical view of the Irish still held by many.

‘“T wanted to get rid of of the stere- otypes of drunken Paddies and luck charms, and Irish lads and donkey

carts. | wanted to bring back a more positive image, and bring back in the day when Celtic warriors were the most feared in Europe.”

Now, O’Shaughnessy is a feared and respected name in the world of wrestling, having given up a career 1n IT to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler . “I sacrificed an awtul lot to get here,’ he says

“I worked a couple of jobs to save money. I slept in airports. I’d fly over to England on a Friday after work to wrestle, sleep in the airport and then fly back home. That’s how passionate I am about what I want to do. The most important thing for me was wrestling — always.”

It’s important to the Skerritt fam- ily in Miltown Malbay too, who are fiercely proud of O’Shaughnessy’s achievements.

TO the unobservant eye, the jerseys being presented to a group of under- age west Clare footballers are exact- ly that – a new kit with the name of a new sponsor on the front.

On closer inspection, however, these new jerseys are a symbol of the changing face of rural GAA clubs fighting to keep the game alive.

Shannon Gaels and Killimer GAA

clubs have ensured a new generation of west Clare footballers by joining forces to field underage teams as ru- ral parishes face population decline.

While the I1- to 20-year-olds of these clubs may now be taking on other teams as one, it is also impor- tant that they keep the identity of their own clubs.

For the past two years, the underage teams from Under 14 to Under 21 have been training and playing to-

gether, and now for the first time ever they have new jerseys that incorpo- rate both of their colours.

Thanks to a local contractor, a new jersey showing off the green and gold of Killimer and the red and white of Shannon Gaels has been designed.

Pat Kennedy of Pat Kennedy Con- structions sponsored the jerseys in the new colours for the underage teams.

Now the people of Killimer, Knock-

erra, Labasheeda and Kilmurry Mc- Mahon can see their own colours in these young footballers when they come to support them.

ANY body charged with coming up with a fixtures structure that suits all clubs and players across the county is doomed to fail. It’s impossible not only in Clare, but in any county across Ireland considering that club games, aS we are well aware, are likely to change at short notice given the progress of the inter-county team through the championship in sum- nates

At least the members who devised the 2010 Masters Fixtures Plan had regard of this fact. “There are many difficulties in trying to put together a workable club fixtures plan against a demanding inter-county schedule in both codes,” the structures commit- tee rightly point out.

To illustrate the point, they use the gaps between the first and second rounds in hurling and football as an example.

The senior hurling championship 1s scheduled to begin on the weekends of May 8 and May 15. The second round will not go ahead until June Re

Likewise, the football champion- ship has been confirmed to start on June 10 but after this, the champi- onship fields will remain quiet until August 7. That’s two months without any senior championship football in Clare at the height of the summer. Clubs, here, will feel under serious pressure to keep players interested in training. This will be a serious con- cern for some.

However, the committee point out that the Clare senior footballers play AW Koy mw KOK me) EL NaPso meal OMB OCoMN ent ners to play Limerick in the Munster

semi-final on June 6.

‘As the Clare senior footballers are playing a quarter-final in 2010, un- like 2009 when their first game was the Munster semi-final, we have to provide for the possibility that Clare may enter the All-Ireland qualifier series at round one on June 26.”

In other words, there are a lot of permutations to consider and a lot of balls to juggle.

The committee have also aimed to keep dual clubs happy, trying to ensure that dual clubs will have at least five days between champion- ship games in hurling and football, which, they also point out, may not always be possible in the latter stages of the championship.

The county hurling final is sched- uled to take place on October 10 and the football final on October 13.

In terms of the domestic league, the committee have proposed to begin the Clare Cup at the end of March.

They point out some more difficul- ties they have encountered when try- ing to draw up an all-encompassing master plan.

“Much of the feedback in regard to the Clare Cup has centred on the late finish to the competition. However, clubs have also resisted proposals to start the competition earlier.’ Which, in effect, puts the committee some- Where between a rock and a hard place.

The Cusack Cup, Garry Cup and Division 3 will begin on February 20 to help ensure that county players are available to their clubs for each round.

The Cusack Cup final takes place on July 24, with the Clare Cup final down for August 21.

WHEN Bridget Beckley began paint- ing for this year’s ‘Art is for Every- one’ exhibition, little did she know that one of her paintings would be- come a form of art therapy and help her to mourn a terrible loss. Bridget’s life was devastated by

the death of her husband, Peter, in a horrific car accident last July on the Ennis-Kilrush road. Just before the accident, Peter had agreed to be the subject of the portrait Bridget was going to do for the exhibition.

“I knew the portrait course was coming up and doing a portrait is challenging, especially with a live

model and Peter graciously accepted the challenge of being a model and three weeks later, he was dead. I thought initially that I wouldn’t do i

After some time, though, she de- cided that painting his portrait was the best way to remember him.

“With each stage, each layer of paint I put on the page, I was trying to bring him back to life in some way and certainly with the techniques that I used, I had to use my fingers to blend the different shades and the different colours. It made it very per- sonal.”

For 10 weeks she worked off mem- ory, photographs and video footage. The result is indicative of the time, effort and emotion she invested. A fantastic piece of art that gives you a real sense of what the man was like.

“Certainly, doing the portrait has helped me a lot. You could say it was a form of art therapy really.

“The trickiest thing for me was to convey the kind of man he was, to capture his personality in his face, which 1s a difficult thing to do.

‘He was full of life and had a great sense of humour. He had a great presence about him and I was trying to get that across.”

Talking about her experience at the ‘Art is for Everyone’ school she said, “T feel really proud to be part of the art school and it’s great for the students who have never painted in their life, actually exhibiting their work and es- pecially in such a short space of time.”

You can see Peter’s portrait and four other paintings by Bridget at the ‘Art is for Everyone’ exhibition in Kilrush Library from February 18 to March 12. Opening night is Thurs- day, February 18 at 8pm in Kilrush Library. There will be refreshments served and a raffle will be held in support of the Clare Lifeboat Serv- ice. All are invited to attend.

SOMETIMES the scoreboard can be cruel and this, to be fair, is one of those occasions. Clare — playing un- der a new sponsor The Armada Hotel – didn’t deserve to lose by 13 and the concession of two late goals didn’t help. Still, considering the progress this team has made over the past while, this result shouldn’t halt the hope that surrounds ladies football in the county at the moment.

Armagh have competed well for the All-Ireland title in recent years, making the final a few years ago, and Clare’s step up to senior level means they will learn from encounters such as Sunday’s going into the champion- ship.

Armagh travelled to Shannon on SLUT ITCE- NAR OO AN OD KEESE BOSTON ce FSO played in Cusack Park before the men’s league opener is a mystery – but a handful of players made the trip on their own, somewhat later than the main crew, due to an awards ceremony on Saturday night.

It meant that the Ulster side fielded a slightly weakened side at the be- ginning of the game but when called upon in the second-half, their bench made a huge impact on the score and on the result.

Clare would have earmarked this game as one to win, considering they had home advantage and started well with Eimear Considine shaking off her marker and picking up a fine pass from Marie Considine to slot home to the net, giving them a perfect start.

The goal came after the third minute and playing against a strong wind, it was a good foundation. However, Clare failed to score again until the 22nd minute. The second score com- ing from the lively Sinead Sexton, a newcomer to the team. And the point was a thing of pure patience and well worked build up. Clare picked up the ball deep in their own half, strung a dozen passes together, Sexton peeled

away from her marker and show- ing some cool composure, split the ee te

In between these scores Armagh registered three points from Aoife Lennon on the half-forward line and her namesake in the full-forward line.

Two minutes after Sexton’s score,

Armagh levelled things up again when Kelly Mallon pointed but the Clare response was immediate. Again, a patient build up and some good possession against the wind released Niamh Keane who scored. Now, it was clear that Clare had the ammunition to make the Armagh de- fence work hard to keep Clare shack-

led, but two late points in the open- ing half from Armagh had the home side going in one behind, but hope- ful, considering the wind to come and the damage they had inflicted on Armagh with limited opportunity.

In the second-half though, the wind died and Armagh dug deep. Aine Kelly scored Clare’s first point of

the half eight minutes in but by then, Armagh had registered two of their own.

With ten minutes left the game still hung in the balance. Eimear Consid- ine popped up with a fine point and entering the last nine minutes, three separated the sides.

This is when Armagh stepped on the gas, though. In those nine min- utes, their substitutes added a further 2-4 to their tally. Shauna O’ Hagan — the Armagh ladies footballer of the year in 2009 — tapped over a couple of points shortly after she was intro- duced and fellow substitute Sharon Reel added her second of the day. The game was now slipping from Clare’s grasp and when, four minutes from the end, O’Hagan goaled, the two points were going north.

Mags MclIlinden scored Armagh’s second goal on 60 minutes to round off an impressive final quarter from the Ulster side.

THE Kinvara Area Music Collec- tive (KAM) will open their season of concerts with their second ever Mardi Gras celebration next week- end in Kinvara.

Now in its third full year in opera- tion, the collective uses the Mardi Gras celebrations as a way of throw- ing a party for all the music lovers who have made their way to their concerts over the year.

This year’s celebration will also have a charity element, with all the money raised going to help the peo- ple effected by the recent flooding on south Galway.

“The Mardi Gras is like KAM saying thank you to all the people who have come along to our events throughout the year – it’s a party. But it’s also a charity event, and all the proceeds from this years event will go to the Gort Flood Victims,” said Rosaleen Tanham of KAM.

“One of the KAM founders, John Matryn, is very into Cajun music so the idea of hosting a Mardi Gras came from that as well. So it’s re- ally about celebrating with all of the people who enjoy the work of KAM throughout the year.”

This year’s party will feature three live bands, dancing, food, licensed bar and a fancy dress parade with eV Ae

Providing the beats this year will be Awsum Adudu, an Afro-Funk band hailing from Gort, who will be mak- ing their KAM debut at the event. They will be joined by the Kinvara- based Analogue Band, which fea- tures a bunch of well known local

musicians who have put together this country and traditional rock band.

The line up is completed by Gone To Grass, a locally-based bluegrass band, presenting a lively mix of driv- ing traditional bluegrass tunes and original Americana material.

“It’s a good platform for letting peo- ple know what is happening through out the year with KAM. We have a great schedule of concerts organised

coming after the Mardi Gras so we are looking forward to a very active year this year,” continued Rosaleen.

“We have hosted more than 50 con- certs at this stage so it’s been a very active last few years.”

The 2010 KAM Mardi Gras will take place at Kinvara Community Centre, County Galway on Saturday, February 13.

Admission for the event is €10,

with a family ticket available for €20 concessions from €8. More info, and tickets, available on www. kamcollective.com.

Tickets are available in advance from Healing Harvest in Kinvara O91 637176, Open Sesame in Gort O91 632778, the Gort Credit Union O91 631250, the Kinvara Credit Un- 10n 091 637154 and at the Gort Fam- ily Resource Centre 091 630902.

ALL things considered, Clare came away from Shannon with some posi- tives on Sunday. Leave the score- board aside for now and consider the following: Armagh are one of the most respected outfits in the country and have been for the past few years; Armagh have been training for the league for three months; Clare have just attained senior status and be- cause of the length of last season due to their success, they have only a handful of training sessions under WeColbmmo Loi

“I was pleased with our perform- ance,’ said Clare trainer David O’Brien.

“We knew going into the game that Armagh would be more advanced

than us in terms of their preparation so I would read more into our first- half performance than our second.

“I though in that first-half we bat- tled well against the wind and only for conceding a couple of late points, we would have gone in ahead at the ley usr eae

He said he was also impressed by the younger members of the team.

“There were a couple of young players out there and they equipped themselves very well. We’re missing four or five players who would have added a physical presence in the sec- ond-half and that has to be taken into account as well.

“So ’m happy enough. We’ll con- tinue to blood new players in the league and build from there and hopefully we’ll pick up a couple of

points and make a semi-final.”

He said the attitude of his players was also impressive.

“They’re disappointed, which to me, says a lot about their ambition. They didn’t just accept defeat from a strong Armagh side. They feel they should have been closer in the end.

“And that’s the attitude we need at this level. We said at the start of the year that senior was a different story to intermediate. You’ll only get 14 or 15 chances at this level and you’ll have to take 80 per cent of those to win a game. At intermediate, you might get 20 chances and if you take half, you’ll win.”

last week — he be- lieved it then, but might just be im- bued with a little bit more belief on the back of his team’s second-half transformation that yielded two pre- cious points.

Certainly, he talked that way after- wards. “We should be able to beat Kilkenny and we’re two and o going into the Leitrim match and we have Leitrim at home. It’s set up nicely for us, if we continue to work hard and try improve on what we did, we should be well able to compete with any team in the division.”

He wouldn’t have said anything like this at half-time — he didn’t need to remind us of that fact, but was eager to single out Clare’s first-half failings. “It looked very bleak for us. I was very disappointed with the way we played in the first-half. The game plan wasn’t working at all.

“We did 26 training sessions, we had eight matches, three of them A v B. Everything we do is game specific — the players were put on a programme and they’re expected to adhere to the programme. In the first-half we didn’t execute what we

were supposed to do.”

But, credit where credit 1s due was McHale’s over-riding thought for this day, as he reflected on the second- half renaissance. “In the second-half we showed a little bit of spirit and a little bit of skill and got back in the game.

“We deserved to win the game in the end, even though we were bad in

the first-half, I thought we had two or three goal chances and had one of them went in it would have settled us down a bit.

“They had a lot more flair and con- fidence than we had at times. That comes from winning games — this Clare team has had a difficult four or five years and a lot of the play- ers have been around and have had

losing seasons. It’s very hard to pick yourself up, but the fact that we won today will give them a lift.

“We are approaching this league like the championship doesn’t exist. This 1s our championship right now. The county board, when they put the management team in place, wanted us to do well in the league and get out of the division. I think that’s the

only way to make progress.

“It would have been a huge disap- pointment for the players and man- agement if we didn’t win today, or at least get a draw. Now we can build from here.”

Build towards those stars, that is.

CLARE parents who paid up to €600 to have their young daughters vaccinated against cervical cancer last year will not have the cost re- funded, although the same vaccine 1s now free of charge.

However, some parents can get a percentage of the costs returned through tax returns. Provided the advice and treatment in question for cervical cancer vaccination was given by a medical practitioner, then the expenditure incurred in 2009 qualifies for health expenses relief.

This means that some of the costs in- curred can be recouped through the MEDI form as administered by the Revenue Commissioners.

Clare TD Joe Carey (FG) raised the issue with the Minister for Finance when he asked that parents be re- funded for the life-saving vaccine.

While some GPs nationally had de- cided not to charge for the vaccina- tion, for many the only way of avail- ing of the treatment was to pay.

‘Following the Minister for Health’s decision not to introduce a national vaccination programme last year, parents were forced to pay hundreds

of euro to vaccinate their daughters… When combined with regular smear tests, the HVP vaccine reduces the chance of developing cervical cancer by 70 per cent. The Government were wrong to ignore this fact last year. Because of the Government’s refus- al to roll out a national vaccination campaign many families decided to pay close to €600 to protect the well being of their daughters,” he said.

Now that the Government is roll- ing out the national vaccination pro- gramme, Deputy Carey sought to have some of their expenses recouped.

“IT am disappointed that the min-

ister in reply to my questioning has indicated that a refund will not be made,’ he said. “While I whole- heartedly welcome the introduction of the scheme this year, I don’t be- lieve that the public should have to pay for the Government’s dithering in 2009. Why should parents be pun- ished now for doing the right thing last year?” he asked.

The Clare deputy said, however, that there was consolation in the fact that some parents could recoup some of the cost through the MEDI form, but believes this does not go far enough.