The Clare People Archive

THE public will be alerted if water quality in Ennis deteriorates or the risk posed by consumption increas- oe

Town Engineer Tom Tiernan was speaking at the May meeting of En- nis Town Council. Called to defend the council’s handling of a recent En- vironmental Protection Agency re- port critical of water management in Clare, Mr Tiernan said, “When you go out with a message about crypt- osporidium, you create panic”.

Mr Tiernan said that since the in- troduction of a temporary treatment plant, “The risk has not increased, it has reduced. It is absolutely mini- mal”.

Mr Tiernan said on the day the EPA

audit was carried out 17 per cent of the water supply for Ennis did not pass through the filtration system.

Mr Tiernan said, ““We manage the risks, people get the facts if the sup- ply deteriorates or the risk increases. 100 per cent of the water supply is going through the filters for the past few weeks”.

Mr Tiernan said that while certain sections of the community remained vulnerable, the risk of illness from drinking the public water supply had been exaggerated.

He said, “I opened up a prominent tourism website and it stated that En- nis water is unsafe to drink. Some of the pictures put up there send out a scare message about Ennis”.

Town Manager Tom Coughlan said, “If there was an increased risk

the HSE would implement the boil notice. We are trying to manage the situation without provoking panic.” |

Green Party councillor Donal O Bearra criticised the council’s reac- tion to the EPA’s findings.

He said, “In a town that has had water problems for the past 16 years any EPA report should be sent to all councillors. It 1s the public interest that guides us.”

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn said, “I would agree that our image has been damaged. We should be in- formed”.

Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn said the EPA report “highlighted the benefits of external auditing”.

A pre-cautionary boil notice re- mains in place in Ennis for vulner- able groups including people with

immuno-suppression, children under five and visitors.

, Mc- Namara has put it up to his players to deliver Clare from its abysmal record in Munster in recent years.

“The players are in no doubt that this is D-day, this is the day they must deliver,’ McNamara said.

Clare have only won one Munster

championship tie since 1999, a first round win against Tipperary back in 2003. Now, McNamara is deter- mined to bring an end to that four- year losing streak.

“Our performances in the Munster championship in the last few years have been poor to say the least. We need to start levelling that out and need to start presenting perform- ances — hopefully winning perform- ances.

“We have presented players of qual- ity for a number of years now, but teams of quality seem to be absent.

It’s now time for players to present themselves as a team.

“We now have a new system in the championship — it’s two strikes or you’re out. There’s no easy passage, irrespective of performance in the last couple of years, you finished up at worst in an All-Ireland quarter fi- nal.

‘That was the old system – it’s now defunct and gone. So our best foot must be put forward on June 1, which would be unheard of for the last cou- ple of years.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Ni-

all Gilligan is winning his battle to be fit for the big game, which would be his 50th senior championship ap- pearance.

‘He has more than a 50/50 chance of making it,” revealed McNamara.

“Waterford have been the high kings, the strongest team in Munster over the last couple of years. The challenge is huge, the target is high. We have had an incredible amount of sessions put in plus commitment and courage — everything has gone in from the players. Now is the time to deliver a performance.”

MOUNTSHANNON is the place to be this week for fun-lovers and cul- ture vultures alike, with the Inisceal- tra Festival of the Arts in full swing until June 1.

The official opening of the week- long festival was performed at the weekend by Theo Dorgan, poet, writer, broadcaster and member of Aosdana and The Arts Council.

One of the highlights of this year’s festival is the family boat-building weekend, with craftspeople showing land-lubbers how it’s done.

Each family – or group – gets a kit which they put together under su- pervision, to be followed by a boat launching on Lough Derg to test how well the budding boat builders learned their craft.

With music, drama and dance per- formances from local and visiting eroups, some of the highlights of this year’s festival include musical performances by Eoin O’Neill, Orla Harrington and John Feely to name but a few.

There will be a film night, a free storytelling family event and an art exhibition, opened by well-known artist, Charles Harper.

The Fishbowl Youth Group present an acoustic evening of entertainment – music, poetry, prose and dance – in

a candlelit café-style setting. Visiting German students and young people

from The Alfa Project school will work with artists to create a sculp- tural riverside installation for the festival on the river bank from Scar- iff Harbour to Lough Derg. Free boat trips are being offered by local boat owners to see the resulting creation.

Also planned are a céili with The Four Courts Céili Band. Weekend classes and workshops will be held in sean nos dancing, traditional mu- sic and singing as well as African drumming.

‘Does It Grow Corn?’, the feasi- bility study to determine the need for a new community/arts centre for Mountshannon, will be unveiled during the festival and there will be plenty of music, craic and a family fun day with puppets and entertain- ment.

On Sunday, June 1, there will be a Green Fair at the Aistear. Hosted by members of CELT, the Irish Seed Savers Association, and the Alfa Project, this will feature demonstra- tions, information and workshops in a variety of traditional crafts includ- ing metalwork, stone carving, wood and willow skills and textiles.

THE trial of an Ennis woman, ac- cused of conspiring with an Egyp- tian man to murder her partner and his two sons, will enter its fifth day today at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.

Sharon Collins (45), of Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, Ennis, and Essam Eid (52), a poker dealer with an address in Las Vegas, deny con- spiring to murder PJ, Robert and Ni- all Howard, between August | and September 26, 2006.

Ms Collins also denies soliciting Mr Eid to murder the three men, on August 15, 2006.

Mr Eid has also pleaded not guilty to demanding €100,000 from Robert Howard, in exchange for not killing the three men at Ballaghboy, Doora, Ennis on September 26, 2006.

The three Howards, who are busi- nessmen in Ennis, are this week due to give evidence at the trial, which is expected to last four weeks.

Robert Howard (29) has _ started giving evidence, while his brother Niall (24) and father PJ (58) are also due to take the stand over the com- ing days.

According to the prosecution, Sha- ron Collins was keen to get mar- ried to her partner of eight years, PJ Howard. However, he did not wish to wed as he wanted his inheritance to go to his two sons.

It is alleged that Ms Collins organ- ised a proxy marriage through the internet without her partner’s knowI- edge. She then allegedly made con- tact with Essam Eid through email and, according to the State, they con-

spired to murder the three men.

The prosecution says _ that Ms Collins operated an _ email lyingeyes98@yahoo.ie while it al- leges that Mr Eid operated an email hitmanforhire@ yahoo.com.

It claims that Ms Collins set up the email ‘for the purpose of hiring a hitman’ and that a contract was made between the person behind ‘lyingeyes’ and the person behind ‘hitman’ to kill the three men for $US90,000.

Prosecutor Tom O’Connell said that on August 15, 2006, Ms Collins made a down payment of €15,000 on foot of that contract.

It is alleged that Mr Eid then trav- elled to Ennis, burgled the Howards’ family business and later visited Robert’s home, where he 1s alleged to have demanded €100,000 to buy O}UI MEH eToMmOrO) LB e-LOLKMNO)O MEET MBER oc MaU El allegations are denied.

During the course of the trial it has been uncovered that Sharon Collins was interested in inheritance and often sought information on this on computer websites, according to the prosecution.

Prosecutor Tom O’Connell told the jury on the second day of the trial last Thursday, that Ms Collins ar- ranged a marriage to PJ Howard, but he did not go through with it.

IN CLARE football, you live and die by what happens in May.

A few days back, Frank Doherty rightly said that Sunday’s game is of huge significance for Clare. Win and the season stays alive, lose and the Tommy Murphy is around the corner.

For all the positive talk the Tommy Murphy has received over the past two days in the wake of Wicklow’s Leinster First Round win over Kil- dare – Wicklow won it last year – Clare are still right to target a possible meeting with Kerry in the Munster semi-final.

The secondary competition, in re- ality, won’t coax the commitment and concentration levels required after Waterford next week.So Clare, simply, must beat Waterford and the feeling here is that they will.

A lot will hinge on the availability of a handful of players but that has been Frank Doherty’s lot since the league began and though Clare lost to Limerick and Tipperary in two warm-up games over the past ten days, they had turned the corner in the league with four wins back-to- eee.

True, Offaly came to Ennis with promotion secured but they didn’t come to Ennis to lose. Wicklow had openly targeted Sunday’s Leinster Opener as their priority but in both those games, Clare showed deter-

mination that they hadn’t displayed throughout the league — with the exception of the opening quarter against Waterford in Dungarvan. Right now, captain Michael O’Shea is Clare’s biggest doubt for the game

having injured his calf in that Tip- perary challenge. Both he and Dar- ragh Kelly — who slightly damaged his hamstring – travelled to Wexford to undergo two separate days of three cryogenics sessions in a bid to ensure

fitness and Kelly should be avail- able.

On top of that, Niall Considine picked up a slight knock on his calf but he too should be available for SUTIOE NA

Laurence Healy returned from in- jury and took part in both those chal- lenge games, Ger Quinlan shouuld be fit but that 1s tempered with news that Colm Dillon and Timmy Ryan both absent with continuing problems.

Doherty once more put out the call to the football people of Clare to travel to the game on Sunday. That such a statement has to be made by the manager is telling in itself, but that’s the reality.

Sunday matters arguably more than any game Clare have played in the last five years. If the hangover from last May is to be quenched, Clare must win. If the application that they showed in the second half of the league presents itself on Sunday, then they will. Seven months of work needs to be transferred into some- thing tangible.

THERE seems to be a magnetic draw between Tommy Leahy and the Clare Cup. A winner as a player with Corofin Harps a few seasons back, it wasn’t long before he got back to the final of Clare’s premier cup competi- tion, now as manager and sometimes player of his adopted Rock Rovers. They may be a First Division side but Rovers played like the Premier team on Saturday, remaining com- posed throughout and demonstrating to all that they were worthy champi-

ont

Leahy, the orchestrator, remained positive on the touchline even in that nervous finish and as his side entered the dressing room after the game, he attempted to express his thoughts beneath the cries of “Champione, Champione”’

“Tam absolutely delighted. In fair- ness to the lads, they totally deserved it on the day. I thought for the whole 90 minutes, the heart they showed was unbelieveable and they showed that they can certainly play football because this was a very good Bun-

ratty side.”

The key to this hard earned victory for Leahy was workrate, something he asked for before the game and his players didn’t disappoint.

“The defence was outstanding and the lads worked hard and from one to eleven, they really worked their asses off.

‘In fairness, everyone worked tire- lessly, the backs were solid and they didn’t shirk away from anything. It’s a credit to all of them really.”

Nevertheless, besides their obvious hunger, they needed a bit of luck to

settle them by means of a Bunratty own goal in the 18th minute which had a double impact on the game. After that, Rock settled and gained confidence while Bunratty became more desperate and anxious on the ball.

“The first goal kind of took the nerves off it and we knew then that we just had to push on. In fairness, we hit the crossbar twice and we just kept pushing them and pushing them. All credit to them though, they are a good side.

“They are big and physical but they

are well able to play football. In the last ten minutes, they really had us under the kosh but again our defence stayed solid and we held on for the win.”

Leahy’s ambitions don’t end there. Rock’s league form suffered as a re- sult of their various cup exploits this season and the First Division title is top of the list of priorities for next season. For the moment though, he is just happy to saviour the moment. Being a cup winner as a player and now as a manager doesn’t happen too aK

FOR Bunratty, this defeat was dilf- ficult to swallow. Normally accus- tomed to the big occasion with four cup titles in nine years, they never really exhibited the desire shown in previous rounds and nervously ap- peared more like the team who were participating in their first ever final. That was the most disappointing aspect for manager James Carrig and his team, the fact that they didn’t play to their potential. Had they played to

their maximum and still lost, then defeat wouldn’t have tasted as sour but despite being visibly disappoint- ed, Carrig was gracious in defeat, admitting that the best side won on the day.

“It is bitterly disappointing but Rock wanted it more on the day. They battled hard, they are a big physical team and we knew they could play football and for the neutral, I’d say it was a good game to watch. But they just wanted it more on the day, fair play to them and they took their

chances and the best team won. The own goal was a big boost to them. It put heart into them and they kept on playing. Fair play to Tommy and the boys, I hope they enjoy it but as I say, we are gutted.”

Bunratty are normally a good pass- ing side but even that aspect of their play deserted them on Saturday. The own goal was certainly a major set- tling point for Rock but Carrig felt that Bunratty panicked a bit after that and played into Rock Rovers’ hands.

“We never really got going. We

knew they were big and strong up the centre but we just launched balls at them instead of keeping it on the deck.

“When we did bring it down, we did get a bit of joy but we had to give them a two goal lead before we started to play. When we did eventually start to play, we grinded them down but we still never threatened the goalkeeper. Their defence was excellent tonight. They were well organised and they deserved it on the day.”

Bunratty know what it is like to

upset the odds and win the cup as underdogs.

They were a First Division side when they claimed their first title back in 1999, before going on to add three further cup titles this decade.

Considering their pedigree in the competition, they will certainly be amongst the challengers for next year’s Clare Cup.

But that’s of no consolation now as they have the summer to reflect on this missed opportunity and what might have been.

THE romance of the cup — it’s cer- tainly alive and well and kicking in Clare. Rock Rovers are the living and footballing embodiment of this sporting cliché that’s been kicked around for as long as cup football has eo EAL oee

To look at them on the field on Saturday, they smacked of a mixem gatherem crew that could have been rounded up for action that very after- noon. Their jerseys were old, so old that some of the numbers had faded away 1n washing machines down the years. As for the togs — there were many different shades of navy on pa- rade. Some had white stripes, others had logos, more had not.

Maybe the status of being under- dogs and underlings of Clare club soccer allowed them such latitude with their attire. More importantly,

maybe it lulled cup specialists Bun- ratty into some false sense of secu- wie

After all, Bunratty had every right to be supremely confident. They’d played in four cup finals since °99, winning them all. They fully ex- pected it to be five, having accounted for champions Avenue United, last year’s runners-up Moher Celtic and emerging Lifford along the way.

Thing is, Rock Rovers were reading from a different script. In the huddle beforehand captain Francis Daniels barked his final few words, before deferring to his younger brother S)ateb ales

The younger Daniels didn’t say much, but what he said hit home straight away. To grunts and bellows of approval he roared: “We’re not leaving here without a medal”.

Rock didn’t. Everyone lived up to Daniels’ battlecry, from keeper

Eric Murphy to 12

AFTER a quick turnaround summer soccer is up and running again. The schoolboys/girls leagues kicked off last Wednesday in excitng fashion.

Avenue got a glimpse of how tough it will be to re-capture the under 15 league when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Bridge United.

There was a goals aplenty when En- nis Town took on Newmarket Celtic with the sides playing out a thrilling CEO mele-Nis

The other tie from that evening was a far more comprehinsive af- fair. New kids on the block, Sporting Ennistymon, endured a tough trip to Kilrush where they were beaten 3-0 by a strong Moneypoint side.

Another new side B/C United, made a similarly difficult debut in the under 13 division one when they went down 7-0 to Avenue United. Elsewhere in that division Newmar- ket Celtic served notice of their in- tent with a 2-0 victory over Lifford in McDonagh Park.

The under 12 league kicked off on Saturday with some of the establsi- hed names flexing their muscles.

Avenue United stormed to an 8-0 win away to Corofin Harps and En- nis Town serving up a 5-1 win over Moneypoint.

There was disappointment for Av- enue in the under 14 league however when they lost 3-2 to Newmarket Celtic. Connolly Celtic caused a stir in division two by beating Burren United 5-0. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for north Clare clubs on SE TMUD KO rR

Sporting Ennistymon showed great character when they edged past K1- lysart Celtic, in an almighty tussle that ended 3-2 in Sporting’s favour.

CLARE golf clubs confirmed their quality yesterday when four of the county’s courses were chosen among Ireland’s top 100 courses.

The now established list was com- piled for the latest edition of Golf Digest Ireland and was chosen by a panel of experts.

Lahinch was deemed the leading Clare course and moved up the lad- der from eleventh position to eight due mainly to the growing impact of a major re-modelling by English golf-course architect, Martin Haw- Kron

Shannon Golf Club also received a confidence boost when it made the list for the first time, coming in at number 67. The other two golf courses in Clare to make the list were Doonbeg, which took the 29th spot, and Dromoland Castle, further lo: 1el tres) ROe

For a second-year running, the number one course was listed as

Royal County Down and Portmar- nock’s position of number two 1s also the same as last year.

Further down the order, however, there is some interesting movement in the top ten in which Ballybunion (Old) has climbed from fourth to third.

This means that Adare Manor goes down to number four, but it remains the top-ranked parkland course in the country, by a significant margin. The European Club remains fifth; Waterville remains sixth but the Co Louth links at Baltray has moved up one, to seventh place. Royal Portrush comes in at ninth with tenth place being awarded to the K Club Palmer Course, venue for the 2006 Ryder Cup.

“Movement is evident on this year’s list, due to a massive investment which has seen significant upgrading of a number of courses,’ explained Linton Walsh, managing director, Golf Digest Ireland. “After the pub- lication of last year’s list, the maga-

Zine contacted all of the courses on this island, requesting information on any work that was being under- taken. Replies were received from 53 of these clubs. A member of the panel or a PGA member inspected each of these courses and the im- provements were duly noted during voting on this year’s list.”

The top 100 were selected in groups of ten, which meant, that any course which went close to making the top ten, automatically came into consid- eration for the second ten, and so on down the list.

After a discussion on each group of courses, an individual, written vote was taken, with points being awarded to each course in order of preference, from 10 down to one. The counted votes then determined the order of preference.