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A DEFENDANT accused of rob- bing a man of his bus pass has been refused bail, after gardai lodged an objection.

James Liddy (34), of New Houses, Clarecastle, is accused of robbing a man of a mobile phone and wallet, which contained €90 and a bus pass, at Station Road, Ennis, on November 20 last.

Ennis District Court was told on Friday that it would be alleged the accused and two others robbed the jnerenee

Judge Joseph Mangan deaclined jurisdiction of the case in the district court. It will be heard in the circuit court.

Inspector Michael Gallagher said the State was objecting to bail, based on the seriousness of the charge and the possibility that the accused may interfere with witnesses.

Judge Mangan remanded him in custody to appear in court later this week.

SIX men have pleaded guilty to af- fray, arising out of an incident in the Cloughleigh area of Ennis.

The six, who are members of two families, admitted the offence, at Ennis Circuit Court last Tuesday, re- lating to an incident in Cloughleigh, on October 11, 2007.

The accused are Christy Mongans Senior, Christy Mongans Junior and Jim Mongans, all of Shalee Drive, Ennis; Michael and Thomas Molloy,

of Gordon Drive, Ennis and John Molloy, of Clarehill, Clarecastle.

Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan, BL, told the court that the case “is part and parcel of an ongoing difficulty between various families in and around the town of Ennis”’.

He asked for an adjournment of the sentencing until next month. He said that one of the two families, the Mongans, has since moved to Cork and “there is no danger of events re- curring”.

Judge Donagh McDonagh said he

would adjourn the case if the status in place remained “and neither the twain shall meet at any time”.

“If any of you see the other coming in you direction, you turn around the other way,” warned the judge to the SPN te

Mr Coughlan informed the judge that peace has broken out and he re- plied, “I want to ensure peace con- tinues.”

AN out-of-control 17-year-old boy who is ‘running wild’ around En- nis went berserk and threatened to smash up his mother’s home last Fri- day morning, a court has heard.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, 1s ac- cused of public order offences and a theft matter, arising from two sepa- rate incidents last week.

He was on bail at the time, having been charged with a public order of- fence last month.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client was pleading guilty

to the public order charges.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court on Friday that gardai had responded to a call at the boy’s home at lam that morning.

He said that the boy’s mother was distraught and shocked after the ac- cused went berserk and threatened to smash up their home. She had col- lected him from town at 12.30am. When the boy became aware that the gardai were being called, he fled. He initially could not be lo- cated, but later returned home and screamed and roared. He was taken to the Garda station, where his ag- gression continued.

Ms Godfrey said that there have been on-and-off difficulties with her client over the past two years.

‘They have reached crisis point in the last six months. His mother has indicated that she cannot allow the situation to continue in that regard. She would be suggesting that he would have to leave the home,’ she SrHTOR

Inspector Gallagher said that while the boy has no previous convictions, he was dealt with under the juvenile liaison programme in the past.

In court last month, Inspector Gal- lagher described the public order offence, with which the boy was

charged on that occasion, as one of the worst such matters he had come across.

On that occasion, the boy was granted bail, with strict conditions, including that he abide by a curfew. ‘He hasn’t abided by the curfew. I genuinely feel sorry for his mother,” said Inspector Gallagher last Fri- day.

“The young fella is just running wild around town. He’s out of con- trol,” he added.

Ms Godfrey accepted that this couldn’t be denied.

The boy told the court that he was drunk when he committed the of-

fences last Friday morning. It was unacceptable to do it to my mother,” he said.

Asked by Judge Joseph Mangan does he take drugs, he said, “Some- times I smoke weed and hash.”

He was asked did he blame alco- hol for what had happened and said, “It’s the drink, but it’s half myself as well.”

Judge Mangan remanded the boy in custody to St Patrick’s Institution for a week and ordered that a Proba- tion report be carried out.

Free legal aid was granted, after the boy’s mother told the court she was unable to meet his legal fees.

TWO youths, are, between them, fac- ing 51 charges in relation to a spate of crime in east Clare and south Galway that culminated in a major search involving two dozen gardai.

One of the two 1s facing 25 charges and the other is charged with 26 al- leged offences, arising out of a series of incidents last Thursday week, April 30.

Among the charges being brought include unauthorised taking of cars in Cratloe and Gort; thefts in Sixmi- lebridge; criminal damage in Sixmi- lebridge, Quin and Gort; handling stolen property in Cratloe; trespass in Meelick and burglary in Quin.

Ennis District Court heard on Fri- day that the 17-year-old youth re- plied, “Nothing to say to any of the charges,” after he was cautioned.

His co-accused, aged 15, replied to nine of the charges, including, “I didn’t damage no door,’ “No, I didn’t burn no car,” “No, I didn’t take any car,’ and “No, why are you giving me charges when I wasn’t even caught with anything?” He did not make any reply to the other charges.

Solicitor Tara Godfrey, who repre- sented the 17-year-old, said she un- derstood the State was in a position

to deal with the case in the district court and her client “may take a cer- tain course”.

Ted McCarthy, solicitor for the 15- year-old boy, said his client was con- testing the matters.

Garda Michael McGreal outlined details of the allegations. He said it would be alleged that a car was sto- len in Limerick and driven to Gort, where the first car was burnt and an- other one stolen. That car was then driven to Quin. He said it would be alleged that the accused burgled a shop in Quin and stole another vehi- cle in the village. He said they then travelled to Sixmilebridge, where power tools were stolen from a build- ing site. A chemist’s shop was bro- ken into in Sixmilebridge and money was Stolen.

‘They drove through a garda check- point and abandoned the vehicle and travelled on foot,” he said.

He said the 17-year-old youth was arrested in Meelick some time lat- er, after an extensive search lasting more than three hours.

After hearing details of the allega- tions, Judge Joseph Mangan declined jurisdiction in the cases of both ac- cused, who are from Limerick.

Inspector Michael Gallagher said gardai were objecting to bail for the

duo. Referring to the 17-year-old, Gda McGreal said he was on station bail from Limerick when these al- leged offences were committed. He said that a large amount of serious charges have been brought against the accused, who, he said, failed to appear in court in Limerick on one occasion in 2005.

“There was an extensive search car- ried out and a considerable distance was travelled by the accused, who was attempting to evade justice,” he SP AKOE

“A lot of Garda members were involved. The area had to be sur- rounded. It took some hours, over a 10-mile distance,” he said.

In objecting to bail for the 15-year- old, Garda Sean O Murcht said this was based on the seriousness of the charges, allied to the nature of evi- dence against the accused.

‘Before his arrest he fled the scene and drove a stolen van at two gardai,” he said.

The search, he added, involved eight patrol cars, two patrol vans and the regional support unit from Lim- erick. Up to 25 gardai were involved and the incident crossed between two Garda divisions.

In seeking bail for her client, Ms Godfrey said it was likely that it

would take two or three months to complete the book of evidence. However, Judge Joseph Mangan re- fused bail for the two and remanded them in custody until later this week.

The 15-year-old has been remanded to St Michael’s Institution and the 17-year-old has been remanded to St Patrick’s Institution.

A WAR OF words has broken out between SkyCourt management and members of Shannon Town Council, over the shopping centre’s role in the St Patrick’s Day parade.

At a meeting of the local authority last month, criticism was levelled at SkyCourt, amid accusations that it had not done enough to support the parade. However, the manager of SkyCourt, Pat Kelly, hit back, in a letter to Shannon Town Clerk Tomas Mac Cormaic.

Describing the comments as “gross- ly unfair and disproportionate”, he said SkyCourt had shown huge com- mitment to the parade. He said it was “regrettable that some councillors felt it necessary to criticise SkyCourt management and staff in a severe and hurtful manner” and said that some councillors overreacted with “stinging attacks”. He said additional security staff and cleaners had been employed, while SkyCourt had or- ganised a gymnastics display in the town square.

Mr Kelly said that the parade was ‘arguably the most successful parade to date’, with record numbers — more than 10,000 — in attendance.

“T welcome the one and only con- structive comment from a councillor who suggested that we meet with the parade’s committee well in advance to iron out any difficulties that might arise 1n the future,’ he said.

The chairman of the parade com-

mittee, Cllr Greg Duff (Lab), said he would have preferred if there were no negative comments made after the parade, but in reality, issues did arise. He said the negativity was not just from councillors, as people in the town also expressed “disgust” at the lack of co-operation from SkyCourt. “SkyCourt will have to change their attitude. It’s not just this year or last year, but it’s consistently with who- ever is chairperson,” he said.

Cllr Geraldine Lambert (FF) said she regretted the fact that hurt was caused but said she stood by every- thing she said at the previous meet- ing, adding, “if the cap fits…” She said she had chaired the organising committee for five years, during

which time “we consistently had dif- ficulty getting a level of co-operation from SkyCourt and from Shannon Town Centre Ltd. We had no diffi- culty getting co-operation from the individual traders.”

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that she also stood by her earlier comments, saying SkyCourt man- agement should be thankful to the organisers of the parade for attract- ing huge crowds on the day. She said that Mr Kelly should be “bending over backwards and accepting that things were wrong, besides crying, whinging in the letter.”

Clir Sean Hillery (FF), who runs a business in SkyCourt, said the extra cleaners were paid for by the traders.

THE mountain may be in their way, but Clare will travel to Tralee on Wednesday with their climbing gear ready for action. Half of the starting 15 come from outside the traditional Western belt of football in Clare and as such, the green and gold jersey on its home patch should hold less fear.

“We’ve a confident bunch of play- ers and we’ve a Serious carrot dan- eling in front of us in that if we can beat Kerry, we’ll be playing football for the summer,’ says manager Colm Collins. “The bottom line from our perspective is that our lads go out and put in a performance that does justice to the dedication they’ve shown so far and to the talent that we know they have.”

That talent of which Collins speaks was seen most vividly in a stun- ning second-half performance in the opening round of the Munster championship against Waterford in Dungarvan. Clare showed heart and ability to see off the home side on a notoriously difficult ground to get a Kone 0 |

“Tt’s crucial to have that win under our belts,’ continues Collins. “For a couple of years the work was be- ing put in but the results just weren’t coming. So the Waterford game was good for morale and not just because we won, but because we put a decent score on the board.”

Since then, preparations have con- tinued for the Munster champion- ship, despite the encroachment of exams. And injuries have also begun to improve.

Collins confirmed that Micheal Malone, Seamus Lynch, Aidan Malone, Conor King and Jan Lyons are all on the bench for Wednesday evening’s game and are fit to play if called upon.

‘There’s no doubt that this is going to be a big step up for us. But our lads feel they’re as good as anybody else and that’s half the battle.”

BurrenLIFE will continue but who will fund?

WITH only one round of the group stages remaining in the Under I4A championship, there are still two semi-final places up for grabs with Sixmilebridge, Clarecastle and In- agh/Kilnamona all vying for the coveted spots. St Joseph’s Doora/ Barefield and Eire Og have already oLereana(crel but Inagh/Kilnamona need to win both their final games against Eire Og and Clooney/Quin this week if they are to knock either the Bridge or the Magpies off their perch, If the Combo do manage to beat Eire Og on Wednesday, it will all come down to Friday’s games but crucially Sixmilebridge and Clarecastle are still in control of their own destiny and should they beat Clonlara and St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield respective- ly, they will automatically qualify for the knock-out stages.

The B championship semi-finalists have already been decided so it’s just a matter of jostling for positions for Feakle/Killanena, Cratloe, Scariff/ Ogonnelloe and Ballyea as they enter the final round of games this week- end. Feakle/Killanena take their per-

fect record to Scariff for what prom- ises to be the tie of the round against the Scariff/Ogonnelloe amalgama- tion while Cratloe and Ballyea take on bottom sides Crusheen/Tubber and O’Callaghan’s Mills/Bodyke re- spectively. All the semi-final places in the C championship are still up for grabs with the top seven sides still eligible to qualify with two rounds remaining.

Meanwhile in the D championship, Ogonnelloe eased past Eire Og’s sec- ond string in last Friday’s semi-final with a 4-5 to 0-2 win on home soil. Playing with the wind at their backs, the winners got off to an ideal start with early goals from Cian Fitzgerald Bradley and James Kiely and hold- ing the Townies scoreless for the en- tire half, they added two more goals before the break through Aaron Fit- zgerald Bradley to lead by 4-2 to 0-0. The second half was a much closer affair as both sets of defences domi- nated and this kept scoring chances to a minimum as Ogonnelloe eased into the final where they will meet St Breckan’s who edged a high scor- ing semi-final against Bodyke on a scoreline of 3-11 to 5-02.

LIFFORD B asked their big broth- ers in the A set-up for a pre-season friendly last August — the story goes that the A team declined the invita- tion, but when they then went knock- ing on Rineanna Rovers’ door they were met with a more positive re- sponse.

Rineanna didn’t bring their strong- est side to the Fair Green for that friendly, but they fielded a team as they used it as an exercise to free the cobwebs after a summer of inactiv- ity.

Rineannna were taken aback by what greeted them — Second Divi- sion Lifford B had a huge squad out and beat their Premier Division op- ponents. The game itself will have no bearing on Saturday’s cup final, apart from the fact that Rineanna are certainly taking nothing for granted.

“You look at it,” says Rineanna Rov- ers manager Colm Ryan “and you see a Premier team against a First Divi- sion team. That makes us favourites in a lot of people’s eyes, but we’re looking on this as a 50/50 game. They’ve had some huge scalps along the way — Lifford A in the semi-final, Newmarket Celtic in the quarter-fi- nal and Mountshannon Celtic before that. We’re not taking them lightly, they’ ll be very confident coming into 1d aComeeeDoatemr-00(6 mI Mere] UNG mxO Mss 10 0(o) MAUR Val adds Ryan.

It’s not a case of Ryan talking up the Opposition, more a case of treading carefully as Rineanna Rovers stand on the brink of history. For years they’ve laboured in the shadows of illustrious neighbours — around them

Bunratty, Newtown and Newmar- ket Celtic have won league and cup titles, Rineanna have been close but the eternal bridesmaids.

“Last year in my first year as man- ager we reached the semi-final and went down 2-1 when Rock Rovers got a very late goal. Five of the squad were on the 1999 team that reached the final. They were Hugh Kelly, Pa Fahy, Brian Kelly, Declan Devitt and John Earls. They’ve been around a long time with the club and given great service. It’s been a long road back to the cup final for them.

“This year we’ve done well in cup competitions. We got to the last 16

of the Munster Junior Cup where we went down to Fairview Rangers by a goal, while the previous round we had a great win against Gran- ville. Hopefully that good cup form will continue for another day,” adds Raven

Ryan and everyone associated with the club are also hoping that front- line players like Stephen and Enda Kelly, Kieran Devitt and Daithi O’Connell will be able to play, even though they’re involved in Saturday’s senior hurling championship clash between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Wolfe Tones.

“There’s be a bit of a hullaba-

loo about the hurlers, but we can’t be worried about that,’ says Rayn. “When they’ve been available for training they’ve been with us. We have a squad of 20 players and hope- fully we will be ok. We have to con- centrate on the game.

“It’s going to be a great day. Being in a cup final is something to enjoy and hopefully we will come out on top. It’s going to be hard though.”

Cup finals generally are.