Author: admin

Categories
News

Garda honoured for brave rescue

A CLARE garda who risked her life to rescue a woman from the water at Cappa Pier in Kilrush has received national recognition.

Garda Margaret Purcell dived into the water and rescued the woman in her 60s – at St Patrick’s Day 2003. The woman was lying face down in the water and a young local woman, Ann Marie Histon, was attempting to rescue her.

On arrival there, Garda Purcell quickly jumped into the water and she and Ann Marie managed to successfully bring the woman to safety.

At a function in Farmleigh House on Friday, Garda Purcell was presented with a bronze medal and certificate of recognition, by the Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, as part of a Deeds of Bravery Council initiative which recognises deeds of bravery.

Gda Purcell, who is originally from Glenamaddy and was raised in Ennis, told The Clare People she was delighted to receive the award. “I was only 10 days into my duty in Kilrush at the time. I didn’t even know where Cappa Pier was,” she said.

A colleague, Gda Denis O’Herlihy informed her that a call had come in for garda assistance. Gda O’Herlihy drove out and the recovery plan swiftly sprung into action.

“You don’t forget it. It was a fabu- lous sunny day. I started taking off layers. Denis turned to look for a lifebuoy, but I was gone. I had a background in swimming and as a lifeguard and diving. I swam out to her. Ann Marie and myself started swim- ming towards the pier. Denis threw out a lifebuoy. We tried to keep her airway clear. The wall was high. We had to try and get up. We then lifted the woman onto the boat,” recalled Gda Purcell. “We put her into the recovery position and she was taken to hospital,” she said. The woman made a full recovery. Gda Purcell says it was part of her work. “When you are called to a scene, you have to do something and not stand by. I knew I had Denis on shore . . . I do remember afterwards waking up and reliving it, the jump and the shock of the cold. “It was horrendously cold. It would take your breath away. It was approximately 12 feet high. I had to jump that distance. She was between 50 and 75 feet out, but conditions were good. We were able to see her pretty much straight away,” she said. Ann Marie was honoured with a similar award in 2007. “It was my decision to go in but it was a joint recovery. The whole thing did go on a good while. It wasn’t over in a blink,” she said. Margaret is currently based at Ennis Garda Station and is one of two juvenile liaison officers in the Clare Garda Division. Chief Superintendent John Kerin paid tribute to Gda Purcell, saying, “There are very, very few people who get these awards. It takes exceptional bravery. She risked her life for the life of another.”

Categories
News

Women mark 16 Days campaign

THE Clare Womens’ Network, in association with the Ennis Access Programme, released 75 balloons at a function in Ennis on Friday, to highlight domestic abuse.

The balloons were released as part of the Womens’ Network’s efforts to mark the 16 Days initiative highlighting violence against women. Friday was UN Day Opposing Violence Against Women and was the first of the 16 day campaign. This was the third year that the group organised a similar initiative to mark the annual event.

“We always find some way to highlight the 16 Days of action against violence against women,” said Elaine Dalton of the Clare Womens’ Network. “We always feel it is very important to highlight violence against women. It is on the increase in the downturn,” she said.

The Network will – in conjunction with the county library – also host an exhibition highlighting the plight of Iranian women who have lost their lives or been incarcerated. The exhibition will take place in the county library from December 3 to 17.

The learners on the Ennis Access Programme have created a handmade patchwork quilt which is to be raffled to raise funds to support Clare Haven, which provides a vital service for those suffering from do- mestic violence in the community.

The fabrics used are natural fabrics and recycled materials. The quilt is constructed in the form of patchwork and applique in rainbow colours with a black background. The rainbow colours signify hope and the hearts and doves symbolise love and peace.

The learners had taken part in several workshops which were funded by the HSE, which had highlighted the increasing numbers of women suffering from domestic violence locally, nationally and internationally.

The learners on the programme have expressed the wish to stand in solidarity with abused women in County Clare and across Ireland and with organisations who are providing vital support and care to victims of domestic violence.

As part of the 16 Days campaign, a candlelit ceremony will be held at the friary in Ennis on Thursday at 7.30pm. Candles will be lit in memory of each victim. Sixteen community leaders – including a member of a sporting organisation, a garda and a community volunteer – will each bring a candle to the altar representing each of the 16 years since the initiative was established.

“It sends out a really strong message that each of their organisations are opposing violence,” said services manager with Clare Haven, Denise Dunne.

Categories
News

‘No criminality’ in Italian man’s death

AN ITALIAN journalist whose body was found in Liscannor earlier this year was identified through DNA analysis, an inquest into his death heard yesterday.

The body of Paola Pisano (44), who lived in Galway, was found at Clahane, Liscannor, on March 24 last.

Ms Pisano was working for an Italian magazine while living in Ireland.

Superintendent Colm O’Sullivan told the inquest that the body was not initially identified when it was discovered. Five days later, gardaí in Galway received a report of a missing person and Mr Pisano was later positively identified through DNA.

Mr Pisano’s housemate Peter Istenes recalled, in a deposition that was read out at the inquest, that Mr Pisano moved into the house late last summer. He said that the last time he saw him in the house was March 6. On that date, he heard him on the phone in his room and he said it sounded like he was organising a meeting.

Patrick Jordan, another housemate, recalled Mr Pisano as a “quiet man”. He said that on February 14 he left for a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. He lost his personal belongings, including his passport and mobile phone. He slept in bushes overnight and the following day he phoned Mr Jordan and asked him to buy a bus ticket for his return to Galway. He said he had no money to pay for rent but Mr Jordan, whose parents owned the house where they lived, told him not to worry.

Zac Blasi, from Liscannor, told the inquest that he was out walking at Clahane Beach in Liscannor on March 24 last. He saw what he thought was a dead seal washed up on the rocks. On moving closer, he realised that it was a human body. He notified gardaí, who in turn contacted the Deputy State Pathologist Dr Khalid Jaber. Dr Jaber later carried out a post mortem examination at Limerick Regional Hospital. He concluded that death was due to multiple bodily injuries and drowning, consistent with a fall from a height into the sea.

At yesterday’s inquest, Mr Pisano’s brother Roberto praised the “professionalism and humanity” of the authorities in their efforts to establish the cause of death.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea said, given that there were no eye witnesses, “We don’t know if he fell in, we don’t know if the wind blew him in or if he was peering over the edge”.

“I am satisfied there is no criminality involved in Mr Pisano’s death. There is absolutely no evidence that Paola had any intention of taking his own life,” she said.

She recorded an open verdict and praised Doolin Coastguard, gardaí and all involved in the case.

Categories
Sport

Gaels take Peggy Kelly shield

CLARE’S latest addition to the Ladies Football calendar of events reached its conclusion last Saturday when the finals of Cooraclare’s Peggy Kelly Memorial Shield for Under 15 players were played out. In the B shield final, host club Cooraclare had a win over Doonbeg and in the A Shield, West Clare Gaels had a victory over the Banner to take the title.

The competition, co-ordinated by Cooraclare’s Joe Downes, was played out over the last three weeks and also included teams from Fergus Rovers, Éire Óg and Doora/Barefield. Peggy Kelly gave many years of service to the Cooraclare GAA and Ladies LGFA clubs and this competition in her honour is a mark of the club’s respect and rememberance.

Peggy’s brother Tommy Clune presented medals and shields to the teams and paid tribute to her memory.

Categories
Sport

Goals drive Inagh to junior title

Inagh 5-4 – Tara (London) 2-4 at Killegland West, Ashbourne, Meath

THE ROMANCE and prestige of the All-Ireland Club Championships hit home for Inagh on Sunday as they became the first ever Clare camogie side to claim a national title. That achievement in itself deservedly puts Inagh on a pedestal of their own but the real satisfaction of the victory is that this was an immense local effort transferred to a national stage where the parish of Inagh, Kilnamona and Cloonanaha combined to reach the pinnacle.

In what was a whirlwind six week period, Inagh captured three different crowns, with sheer momentum, hard work and a never-say-die attitude catapulting them from the county final through the provincial and All-Ireland series culminating in Sunday’s unprecedented success.

What seemed like romance to Inagh on Sunday could be more aptly summised as an unrequieted love affair in previous campaigns as Newmarket-on-Fergus, Kilmaley and Corofin all fell at the final hurdle. However, the difference on Sunday was that Inagh, bolstered by their near exit in the semi-final, appeared a side that refused to be beaten and were willing to leave everything on the field in the pursuit of that goal.

Of course, every final needs leaders and while this was a team effort of tireless endeavour, two players must be singled out for special mention. Centre-back Christina Glynn belied her mere 17 years to produce one of the most mature displays ever seen by a Clare player in a national final. She was seemingly everywhere over the hour, comfortable in sweeping up at the back as she was marauding forward to set up attacks

The undoubted player of the game though was All-Star nominee Fiona Lafferty who was at the heart of all things positive for Inagh. In total, she was instrumental in all but one of Inagh’s scores, grabbing 1-4 herself and through her incessant movement and incisive runs, Tara were simply not able to deal with her all afternoon.

It wasn’t as if the opposition were substandard either as London champions Tara, likely aided by vast Irish emigration, had all the appearance of an inter-county or national side, with players from over ten different counties making up the team.

Tara had a romantic angle of their own as the three-in-a-row London champions were bidding to complete their 25th anniversary with an AllIreland in what was a London representative’s first ever appearance in an national club decider.

And they couldn’t have been handed a better platform to build on either after Grace Hamilton batted to the net for Tara in the opening minute of the game to stun the Clare champions.

However, scorewise at least, that was as good as it got for the threein-a-row London champions despite the best efforts of Bid Grennan and Angela Kenneally who were their standout performers on the day.

Instead, wind-assisted Inagh, led inspirationally by Lafferty, would keep their opponents scoreless for the remainder of the half while tacking on 1-3 themselves. The dual star grabbed the three points while she also set up the goal for Emily Lynch in the ninth minute when her delivery from halfway went over the top of the full-back line with the onrushing corner-forward applying the finishing touches from close range.

Inagh had successfully bounced back from three points down to lead by the same amount at 1-3 to 1-0 at the interval but in truth, it should have been a more convincing advantage after hitting six wides in the opening half while also seeing four goal chances repelled by a stubborn Tara rearguard.

Playing deep as a sweeper, Kilkenny native Angela Kenneally was to the fore for Tara in frustrating the Banner outfit and on the turnover, was just as instrumental back in the forward line despite her side falling six points behind after Fiona Lafferty grabbed a 39th minute goal. This time Patricia O’Loughlin picked up a break around halfway before finding Lafferty to pull to the net via the stick of goalkeeper Niamh Dolan.

It should have made things more comfortable for Inagh but instead, in what was their best period of the game, Tara responded with four successive points in a seventh minute purple patch, two from Kenneally and two from their top scorer Denise Gilligan. Inagh couldn’t have grumbled had one or two of those efforts ended up below the crossbar either as Tara began to find their rhythm and had the deficit back to just two.

However, they were to be suckerpunched, only seconds after their fourth point when a Lafferty free from 45 metres broke for Patricia O’Loughlin to finish to the net for the Clare side and still reeling from that blow, Tara conceded two more in the next seven minutes that ultimately sealed their fate.

The first came in the 53rd minute when Helen Hehir received a pass from Emily Lynch to cut in from the right and beat Dolan at the near post. And only two minutes later, a flowing move involving Glynn and Lafferty set up Hehir once more but her rasping shot crashed off the crossbar

Categories
Sport

Kilrush win the battle of the west

Kilkee Communit y College 3-9 Kilr ush Communit y School 2-8 at Coor acla r e DESPITE THE conditions, it was a cracking final between these great rivals. A strong wind dictated the flow of the game and Kilkee capitalised on this to the full in the first half.

An exceptional performance in attack by Shauna Harvey saw her rack up 2-5 (2f) before the break while Olive King contributed three points and Amy Keane took a great goal to boot.

Kilrush goalie Hazel Baumann was very good and put in several blocks to deny a very goal hungry attack. In fairness to the Shamrocks, they worked very hard to bring the game up field and some good performances through the middle via Sinead Burke, Roisin O’Looney, Aine O’Looney and Aoife O’Gorman saw a hard fought 2-2 being accumulated to keep the Kilrush girls in contention.

Aoife Carraig pointed first for Kilrush, a solid Aine Browne took 1-1 and Aine O’Looney’s rocket was palmed over by Rianna Lillis for a point to give a nine point gap when Barry Kelly called for the break at 38 to 2-2 in favour of the Blues.

After the break Kilkee went into defensive mode and Shauna Harvey dropped back to play as an extra defender.

Kilkee were to score only a solitary point by King again after 55 minutes with this strategy and decided to weather the Kilrush onslaught which did come. Kilrush lived in the Kilkee side for the most of the second half but didn’t convert.

Kilrush’s Aoife O’Gorman was outstanding as she launched several attacks at speed but Shauna and sister Grainne Harvey, Collette Keniry and Ailish Brew soaked up a lot of the pressure for the Blues. After 20 minutes of the second half, Kilrush had narrowed the gap to six points through Lisa O’Dea and Aoife Carraig who also converted a free. King was back to push the gap out to seven points for Kilkee Community College but Kilrush responded with three points courtesy of Aoife Carraig and Jenny Ryan.

When referee Barry Kelly blew it up the score was 2-8 to 3-9 and Kilkee Community College (below) were the Clare Schools Senior C Champions.

Kilkee Community College
Rebecca Harte, Ellie O’Regan, Michaela Lynch, Grainne Harvey, Lauren Keane, Ciara McQuaid, Rachel Clancy, Olive King, Emma McMahon, Rianna Lillis, Amy Keane, Deirdre Maguire, Saoirse Maher, Rebekkah Flanagan, Rebecca Madigan, Mary Beth Downes (joint capt), Martha Hanrahan, Collette Keniry, Rose Marrinan, Shauna Harvey (joint capt), Ailish Brew, Emma Naughton, SineadWalsh, Áine Murphy. Agnes Hehir (trainer), Michael Carmody (trainer)

Kilrush Community College
Hazel Baumann, Sarah Quinlivan,Anna Hayes, Eva Hayes, Sinead Burke, Roisin O’ Looney,Aine O’ Looney, Aoife O’ Gorman,Aoife Conway, Jenny Ryan, Aine Browne, Ronya Baumann, Lisa O’ Dea,Aoife Carrig, Grainne Howard Subs: Shauna OBrien (for Grainne Howard), Carla Behan, Kayla Crowley, Stephanie O’ Donoghue, Louise Hall, Louise O’ Gorman, SarahThornton, Caitriona Crowe, Nicole Burke, Emma McInerney, Shannon Carroll, Cliona Bond

Referee
Barry Kelly (St Joseph’s Miltown)

Categories
Sport

McCarthy speaks of leaving ‘everything on the field’

“PATRICIA McCarthy, you have given such commitment this year as a trainer and player. You have been absolutely brilliant and thank you from each and every one of us.”

Joint Captain Michelle Wynne’s words of appreciation in her acceptance speech for Inagh’s most experienced player and also undoubtedly one of the most passionate.

This was Patricia McCarthy’s moment, the dream of a lifetime of playing and at 43, to finally win an AllIreland title was extra special.

“It’s an absolute unreal feeling. All year was simply surreal of how far we could bring this young team to. We won the county and we won the Munster and we knew it was in us today. From the start of the year, we said that there was only one place we wanted to be and that was in an AllIreland club final and now that we were here, we said we weren’t going to leave it behind us. We had to leave everything on the field, die for every ball and it was an absolute team effort from one to fifteen.”

Her undying belief in her teammates was summed up by her first half opinion.

“Ten minutes into the first half, I said to myself this game is ours. Now I wouldn’t say that to the girls because you have to keep their two feet firmly on the ground. We just weren’t converting the scores, we weren’t looking up and we weren’t calling for the ball and I said if we start doing that, we will take our scores. All we had to do was to put fast ball into the full-forward line and I knew we would score and that’s what we did in the second half, we came out and we scored four goals.

“I’m extra proud of every one of those girls. It was pure hunger, passion, pride in the jersey, determination, courage; you can use all these words and you have to have confidence in your own ability and the girl beside you. It’s a huge amount of factors that it came down to today and I must also say that the support today was absolutely fantastic.

“It’s going to be some celebration tonight in Inagh and for a couple of weeks to come.”

Plenty of time then to saviour the realisation of a lifelong dream.

Categories
Sport

A marathon campaign with a ‘fantastic’ result

FLAN Garvey has ran many’s the election race but probably never envisaged the marathon campaign of unprecedented success that 2011 would bring to his native Inagh when he took over the reigns during the summer. The former Mayor of Clare could be mistaken for President such was the amount of hands he was shaking at the final whistle but once there was finally a fall-off long after the presentation, he finally put his year into words.

“It’s a marvellous achievement in these my twilight years to have such a fantastic success. I was called into action on June Bank Holiday Monday and wasn’t looking for the job but the girls said they were stuck and needed someone. So I got Noel Hehir and Anne Wynne on board which made us a good backroom team.

“The girls were fantastic all year. There were some awful training days in the muck and dirt, wind and rain coming down on top of us but they slogged on the whole time under the inspirational Patricia McCarthy about three times a week. There were no prisoners taken, there was no messing. Players were told to shut up and worse when training was on, they trained very hard and they have the fruit of that training now.

“We initially set out to win the county championship. We knew Truagh/Clonlara had beaten us in the League final, we knew we threw it away so we wanted to prove the point, win the final and get back to where we should be. And we did win it, in a tough game we won it well and then went straight into a Munster final against An Rinn. We expected to win that believe it or not and we did win it easy as they didn’t score in the second half.

“The next one was not an easy one against Four Roads. We got a major fright that I think in hindsight won us this All-Ireland today. They frightened the life out of our girls and to say that we didn’t score for 25 minutes, I just couldn’t believe it but by God today, they got it right even though Tara got off to a good start.

“When we beat Four Roads, we knew that they were the All-Ireland champions so surely to God, we were as good as what was there in the championship. And we knew we were as good as Tara, we thought we were that bit better and we proved that today.”

And the added bonus of being the first Clare camogie club to ever win an All-Ireland title just seems to top off an already perfect day.

“It’s mighty. We are a small parish. I mean the whole parish of Inagh, Kilnamona and Clounanaha is roughly 1,700 people. How many of those are girls and then how many play camogie? It’s fantastic and it will be a while before we realise how fantastic it actually was.”

He’s now got the rest of the winter to let it sink in.

Categories
Sport

Tide turns in favour of Na Piarsaigh side

SEAN Stack lifted the Munster Cup in Thurles back in 1984 – at the end of this game he knew his Na Piarsaigh side were inches away from bringing the same cup back to Caherdavin for the first time.

“We had chances,” he says. “We had a couple of chances to win it and pulled a few saves out of Donal Tuohy, while our keeper was idle for a long time. We had a few point options that finished up inside in Tuohy’s hands.”

Those missed chances aside, Stack was happy to be still standing, after being out-gunned for long periods and under the vice-like grip of the Crusheen backs before Shane Dowling’s frees helped bring them back from the brink.

“We needed a second green flag to ask some real questions, to put doubts in their mind,” he says. The lads will know themselves that they didn’t play to the top of their game. A few underperformed. That was due to their markers too.

“Cian Dillon is a fabulous centreback. Cathal Dillon a super player too. It’s difficult to play against guys like that. We’re as good as we’re let.

“We had targeted Cronan Dillon a bit, but he had a great game and four players went in on him. Crusheen have a fair outfit. Any inter-county forward line would struggle against any of those six backs and we did.”

Still, you sense a creeping confidence in Na Piarsaigh – according to Stack they’re not overawed about have to face those backs once more.

“Maybe the tide is turning in our favour,” he says.

“We’re really confident because we know that half our forward line did not perform to the best of their ability.

“It’s going to be a bruiser and it’s going to be who comes up with the best mental attitude that will carry the day. Who gets it up for next week will be the team that will come out on top.

“The prize is huge – Munster club champions and facing into an AllIreland semi-final against Loughgiel Shamrocks. The prize is enormous. Who gets their head around it this week, that’s the team that’s going to win.”

Categories
Sport

Browne looks to learn

“SWINGS AND roundabouts,” says Michael Browne when summing up the first episode of Munster final drama served up by Crusheen and Na Piarsaigh.

An episode that saw influence and dominance drift this way and that before Johnny Ryan’s long whistle meant that they must do it all again.

Browne goes through each phase meticilously.

The slow start: “We started ok in the sense that we were playing reasonably ok, but we weren’t putting away the scoring chances we created, running out over ball and stuff like that. That would appear to indicate that there was something in the minds of the players.

“Maybe too much significance was attached to the occasion and as a result we made those few little slips early on. Early on in that game we could have been four or five points up had we taken the right options and the right choices.

“The magnitude of what we were trying to do was probably at fault, even though we had worked hard at trying to keep it as low-key as we could, but still it’s inevitable that little things like that happen.”

The second half when they surrendured a four-point advantage and then drifted behind with three minutes remaining: “It shows that the further on you go in these competitions, the higher the standard of the opposition is,” he says.

“Na Piarsaigh had the ability to put us under a bit more pressure and get those couple of scores to comeback. They came back into it and that’s what you expect when you get further and further into the competition.

“I had great confidence that we could get the ball up to the forwards and get that score (equaliser). I was still hoping it was a game we could have snapped at the end.

“You have to give the lads credit. They worked so hard right throughout that game. We were up against a quality team with quality forwards who were capable of getting excellent of scores.”

The replay: “The reality is that which ever team learns the most and comes out and performs best on the day will win.”

Teacher Michael Browne will be going to school in the next week with his team.

Then again so will teacher Sean Stack.