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Bill campaigns to remember 9/11 victims

A RETIRED fireman with strong family links to Clare is spearheading a campaign to honour victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Bill Whelan was among hundreds of firemen who took part in the rescue effort when hijacked planes were flown into the two towers of the World Trade Centre 10 years ago. Over 300 Fire Department of New York (FDNY) personnel were killed in the attacks, including a workmate of Bill’s.

Now living in Florida, Bill, whose brother Jack has lived in Ennis for almost 40 years, is pledging to hon our the sacrifices made by firemen on 9/11.

As a member of the Gulf Coast Retired Firefighters Association, Bill is involved in a drive to raise money for a memorial sculpture built using pieces of steel from the World Trade Centre towers.

He explains, “It’s an American flag blowing in the wind. It’s going to be all granite, 13ft high. It’s like a wave. It’s going to be set on a map of the US. Then we have a walkway around it, like the way the Pentagon is set up. We have bricks, if anybody wants to buy a brick to memorialise a family member who is a police officer or a fireman. Doesn’t really have to be that, it can be anybody. You can buy a brick for € 100 and it will be there forever.”

A regular visitor to Ennis and Sixmilebridge, where his sister lives, Bill was off duty when news broke of the unfolding disaster at the World Trade Centre. However, the then Brooklyn-based firefighter volunteered his services and arrived at the Ground Zero site around 15 minutes after the towers collapsed

He recalls, “We were just going through the buildings that surrounded the Trade Centre. We got into the centre as best we could. You did what you could. There was total silence.”

Bill says the awful memory of the day still lives with him. “It’s there every day. Every day you think of it, especially when we get together with other firefighters. That’s tough. A lot of people are still crying. You have fathers looking for sons, sons looking for fathers, brothers looking for brothers.”

Originally from Tullamore, Bill moved to New York in the 1970s, working in the retail business before joining the Army. He joined the Fire Service in March 1970, working in one of the busiest areas of the city for 25 years.

He says, “I hated to leave. I wish I could go back. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, I don’t know if you ever saw New York in those years – Brooklyn and the Bronx, it was horrible. They were burning houses and buildings down. You could almost pick your fire when you went out on the job. You could see the smoke on the horizon. And then on your way to a job, you’d pick up another job. So there was a lot of work, an awful lot of work. And we lost a lot of guys.”

Bill adds, “Since I went on in 1970 till I got out – of course 9/11 was the big one – but we lost, I think it was 144 guys before 9/11, just on my time, line-of-duty deaths. The injuries were absolutely horrendous also. But it was a great job.”

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‘Disastrous’ vote for Fine Gael in Clare

SENIOR FINE GAEL party members in Clare yesterday described the party’s performance in the presidential election as a “total disaster”, with one party insider blaming the attempt to parachute Pat Cox into the race for “splitting the party”.

Gay Mitchell received just 2,545 first-preference votes in Clare in the presidential election, compared to the 24,524 first-preference votes received by the party’s candidate in this year’s General Election.

Shannon Senator Tony Mulcahy said that the decision to run a candidate who had been out of the public eye for such a long time was a mistake.

“The election was a disaster – I don’t see how anyone could think any different. It was a disaster for a number of reasons.

“You had Martin McGuinness, who is very high profile; Sean Gallagher who is on the TV; and then you had our man who has been out of the country for the last four or five years,” he said.

“We didn’t make an impact on this one at all. A lot of Fine Gael people I met before the weekend said that they were going to throw their support behind Michael D. That was it. If we had been closer, then maybe we would have got more of the vote? Maybe it was an anti-government thing.”

One party insider in Clare blamed the attempt to draft in Pat Cox as the reason why the party failed to per- form in the election.

“The decision by headquarters to bring in Pat Cox did not sit well with a lot of people within the party who have been working hard for the last number of years. There was huge resentment after that and that made its way down to every part of the Fine Gael campaign,” he said.

“It was a celebrity campaign. You had Dana, Martin McGuinness and Sean Gallagher and even Michael D is a semi-celebrity. Gay Mitchell was all about straight-talking to people and that didn’t connect with the people at all.

“But the Pat Cox affair split the party – it would have been very difficult for everyone after that.”

North Clare Senator Martin Conway said that the party needs to listen to what the people said in this election.

“We need to learn lessons from this and really take on what the people have said. You can go down very quickly in politics so we need to learn from this,” he said.

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All the way from Ballycar to Áras an Uachtaráin

JOHN Higgins stood looking up at the Returning Officer, Pat Wallace, as he announced the results of the first count in Clare. It was 7.07pm in the Clare Inn Hotel on Friday evening. He knew what was to come would be music to his ears.

“Higgins, Michael D – 20,828,” said Wallace to thundering applause from the Labour Party family that had gathered around Higgins. By then it had been a long day, in a long few weeks, but the celebrations had just begun.

“It’s a very proud moment,” said an emotional Higgins. “We are very, very honoured – it’s the highest office in the land and it has come to Michael D, a Clareman. There’s great pride in what he has achieved – my Dad and uncles and aunts would be very proud today.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening today. Last week we were all down in the dumps – the gap between Michael D and Sean Gallagher was unassailable as David Davin-Power said on RTE, but he turned it around.

“It was a huge move to go for the presidency in the first place – one that indicated Michael D wasn’t finished with politics. He didn’t go in the last election because he wanted to go forward for the presidency. There will Clare celebration because this is a victory for Clare and it that celebration will start with the inauguration,” he added.

And, why not! After all, it was another Clare presidential moment to park with the two terms of office each that Eamon de Valera and Dr Paddy Hillery served. A victory for Newmarket-on-Fergus, but more parochially than that, a victory for Ballycar.

“He got a great percentage of the vote in Clare with over 20,000 votes,” says Higgins. “And in Ballycar it was 73 per cent and I think it was the same in Clonmoney, which shows that closest to come they really came out and supported Michael D.

“When we came to Ballycar in 1946, Michael was five and I was four. We came from Limerick to live with our uncle and aunt. My father had got pneumonia and it was a very long recovery period because there was no penicillin. “We came out to Ballycar to give them a rest in Limerick and my aunt and uncle fell in love with myself and Michael and agreed that we would stay in Ballycar and our sisters were living in Limerick. “In Ballycar they would have been interested in politics but never went for it. They were very mindful of different politics of the time. De Valera had been in power from ’32 to ’38 and I remember the talk in the house when the Inter-Party government came into power in ’48. “After going to school in Flannan’s he got a job in Shannon and then in Galway with the ESB. There was a man in Galway, Redmond Corbett, who funded him to go to university. It was from there the he became politically mind. That’s where it started and it led all the way to Áras an Uachtaráin.”

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Kilkenny honoured in NY

THE Clare Association in New York has named Ireland’s Consul General in New York, Noel Kilkenny, as its ‘Clareman of the Year’ for 2011, the second honour that he has picked up this year, having been given a Civic Reception by Kilrush Town Council in August.

The 59-year-old diplomat was honoured at the 123rd staging of the Clare Association annual ball in New York recently. “From the very start, Noel made his mark in the Irish and Irish-American communities in New York,” Clare Association president Catherine Hogan told The Clare People after presenting him with his award. “He stepped into his new position full force upon his arrival in New York just over a year ago. In a very short time, he has endeared himself to the people of New York, and the Clare Association takes great pride in the fact that they can claim him as one of our own.

“We are grateful to Noel for his dedication and support of the Irish and Irish-American communities and are proud to add the name of yet another great Clareman, Noel Kilkenny, to our honour roll this year,” she added.

Kilkenny began his career with the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1977, after an initial three-year stint in the Department of Justice following his graduation from UCD with a law degree. Since then his career has brought him all over the world, including various stints in Holland, China, Washington DC, Bosnia, London, Estonia – where he served as Irish Ambassador, Moldova and, most recently, New York, where he was appointed Irish Consul last October.

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More cycle lanes for Shannon?

SHANNON should benefit under the government’s smart travel funding package, through the creation of additional cycle lanes.

That’s according to local Labour Town Councillor Tony McMahon, who says that the project should be rolled out across the board.

Under the initiative, various projects across the country are receiving funding for travel-related projects.

These include new bicycle stands, zebra crossings, disabled parking bays and bus shelters.

It is part of a € 2 million national package for smarter travel measures, announced by Junior Minister for Public Transport, Alan Kelly.

Cllr McMahon believes that new cycle lanes should be put in place in Shannon, while existing lanes should be further developed.

“I’m asking what did Clare County Council apply for, for Shannon? How much money is available and what have they in mind for any future funding that becomes available?” he said.

“I would imagine that they would have applied for funding.

“I think that if there is money available, Shannon should be included,” he added.

“If it hasn’t been accessed, then it would be remiss of the council,” he said.

He said that while Shannon is “fairly well catered for” in terms of cycle lanes, there is a significant interest in cycling in the town and the infrastructure should be suitable.

“If the money is there for that purpose, I would like them to advise me what is envisaged. A good lot of people use cycle lanes in Shannon,” he said.

He said that remedial works should be carried out on roads in the town, if money is available.

“According to the guidelines, remedial works are included and they could be done in Shannon,” said Cllr McMahon.

“There are frequent crashes at the roundabout at the Comp. School (St Patrick’s Comprehensive School). There are several junctions that could be looked at,” he said.

“I’m looking for confirmation that Clare County Council has availed of that scheme and that they have included Shannon in the scheme,” said Cllr McMahon.

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Townies are back with a bang

Éire Óg 1-14 – Ruan 0-06 at Clarecastle

THE last time the Townies were roaring hot favourites to take down Ruan in a county final was way back in ’59, but they failed to land the Canon Hamilton Cup on the back of yet another tour de force from Jimmy Smyth, Frank Custy, Jazzer Meaney et al.

Ruan would have needed Smyth, Custy, Jazzer et al at their pomp on this day, such was the superiority exerted by this Éire Óg team that produced a command performance to win their first ever intermediate hurling title and return to the senior ranks after a three-year hiatus.

The rains came – to Cusack Park that saw the game relocated to Clarecastle, but the downpour failed to dampen the Townies’ spirits at they hacked home through the mud like rare breeds of thoroughbreds made for the heavy going.

It was a Eureka moment for Ennis hurling, simply because this victory finally banished the ghosts of the quarter-final defeats to Whitegate and Killanena in the last two years and their relegation at the hands of Ballyea on this same Clarecastle sod back in 2008.

That they really meant business here was reflected in the 11-point margin at the end, but it was apparent from the opening seconds as a thunderous shoulder charge by captain Mark Fitzgerald spoke volumes, for the team and for the mindset.

This was for Francie Mahon, for the Town, but above all for themselves.

They were in the mood, up for the battle as well as the hurling and from there a combination of superior stickwork, physicality and work-rate powered them to their best display of the year.

It may have been a lottery at times, given the conditions, but Éire Óg’s numbers always came up thanks to an imperious half-back line of Tadhg McNamara, Fergus Flynn and Kevin Moynihan, an industrious midfield and a forward division that buzzed through the rain to notch up the points to kill this county final early in the second half.

They got the perfect start with three points inside seven minutes – David O’Halloran and Ronan Keane were on the mark from play while Danny Russell, who notched 0-5 over the hour from placed balls, landed a free.

However, it was Barry Nugent’s 13th minute goal that proved crucial. After John Punch had opened Ruan’s account with a ninth minute free, Nugent’s deft flick to the net from a long Fergus Flynn free put the Townies 1-3 to 0-1 ahead and well on their way to victory.

They only managed two more points in the half, via a Danny Russell free in the 23rd minute and a good effort from play by Thomas Downes, but it was enough to give them a 1-5 to 0-3 lead as a sterling defence restricted Ruan to a couple of points from Patrick Keegan midway through the half and another on the stroke of half-time from Aidan Lynch.

A point from Caimin Howard two minutes into the second half brought the gap back to four points, but the Townies’ response again showed their intent as points from play by Noel Whelan and Barry Nugent by the 35th minute put them 1-7 to 0-4 clear.

From there they never looked like yielding – with points from Tadhg Hanrahan and Eoin Hanrahan all Ruan could muster for the remaining 25 minutes as the Townies coasted home.

Danny Russell’s 65 in the 38th minute restored their six-point advantage after Eoin Hanrahan had pegged one back for Ruan two minutes earlier – from there it was just a matter of seeing it out.

They did that in some style, with David Ryan’s booming effort in the 39th minute putting them seven clear, while they finished the game with five unanswered points as they restricted a forlorn Ruan outfit to a Tadhg Hanrahan point in the 42nd minute.

By the time Danny Russell (2), Ronan Keane, David O’Halloran and David Ryan added points to embellish the hour, there were actual fireworks going off at the venue to the delight of the huge Éire Óg support.

Why not? It’s Halloween week after all.

Éire Óg
Kevin Brennan (7), Cathal Whelan (7), Cormac O’Regan (7), Marc O’Donnell (7),Tadhg MacNamara (8), Fergus Flynn (9), Kevin Moynihan (8), Noel Whelan (7) (0-1), Mark Fitzgerald (8), Danny Russell (8) (0-5, 4f, one 65), David Ryan (8) (0-2), Ronan Keane (7) (0-2), David O’Halloran (7) (0-2), Barry Nugent (7) (1-1),Thomas Downes (7) (0-1).

Subs
AdrianWalsh (6) for Noel Whelan [56 Mins], Ronan Cooney (6) for Cathal Whelan [61 Mins].

Ruan
Patrick Roughan (7), Gary Bell (7), Niall O’Connor (7), Leon Quirke (6), Killian Ryan (6), Jonathon Clohessy (7), Darragh Roughan (6),Tadhg Hanrahan (7) (0-1), Eoin Hanrahan (7) (0-1),Aidan Lynch (7) (0-2), Colin O’Donoghue (6), Michael Vaughan (6), Patrick Keegan (6), John Punch (6) (0-1f), Brendan Lyons (6).

Subs
Caimin Howard (7) (0-1) for Roughan [8 Mins],Alan Bell (6) for Punch [42 Mins].

Man of the Match
Fergus Flynn (Éire Óg) Referee Johnny Healy (Smith O’Briens)

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Back to the future as Éire Óg roar again

WAY back in 1980 Éire Óg hurling really started to roar as the mercurial Martin Nugent enjoyed his finest hour when bagging 3-3 in a senior county final win over the storied Newmarket-on-Fergus Blues.

Now, along with younger brother Tony, who was also a key member of that Éire Óg Dalcassians team winning team 31 years ago that ush ered in a great era for the game in the county capital, he’s brought the Townie roar back to life.

Who knows? Another great era, could be at hand!

All because such was the cacophony of sound that greeted this com- prehensive county final success, the enthusiasm and the language afterwards, you know this was just a start.

“We wanted to get Éire Óg back up playing senior hurling,” roared Martin Nugent above the din and beside the rolling maul – it would have done the All Blacks proud earlier in their World Cup final day in Auckland – that was just starting to gather momentum.

“We met in the Queen’s Hotel in January with all the guys. That’s when this started. We just laid out a plan that this is where we wanted to be – to be in the county final and winning it and to be back up playing senior hurling.

“They key for us this year was that everyone believed in one another. Everyone on the panel believed. We really believed and we kept the focus on hurling. It was hurling all the way, all year.

“We had to have experience with youth and that’s the way we set up. The likes of Fergus Flynn, Tadhg MacNamara, Marc O’Donnell, Barry Nugent had the experience – then the younger lads like Davie O’Halloran, Tommy Downes and more added a huge amount.”

Nugent wasn’t bothered by the change of venue from Cusack Park to Clarecastle that was confirmed just after 11am, something he revealed was drilled into the players all the week and something they were prepared for.

“It’s a game of hurling,” he said. “It’s on a pitch. It doesn’t matter where it’s played. This pitch is as good as Cusack Park and we didn’t mind where the game was played. We were ready for the game anywhere and that showed early on.

“We said it to them before the game that ‘we’re going to take it to Ruan from the opening minutes’. We weren’t going to wait for Ruan to start hurling. We were going to do the hurling and start well.

“We had that drilled into them, that we were going to determine the pace of the game we wanted to play. From the word that’s the way they did it. They did what we wanted.

“We have always said that we take our games in half an hour stages. The first half – we said ‘let’s go out and see if we can win that half’.

We got them in the dressing room and we said ‘let’s go and see if we can do the same’. We did that and it’s great to be back up playing senior hurling.

“There are a lot of people that need a lot of credit for this. You have the likes of John Russell, Colm Mahon, Deccie Coote – lads that were there before we came in this year. They were there and were unlucky not to get them up before this, but we’re up now and we’re going to enjoy it.”

They were enjoying it already.

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Chaplin: ‘Maybe you have to lose one to win one’

AS A player, Christy Chaplin was on both winning and losing sides on county final day. But even though his young squad made considerable strides this year to contest their first final in nine years, it doesn’t make defeat any easier to swallow.

“At half-time, we thought we were well in there. It was only four points to three, only a point in it but we had scoring chances and didn’t take them in the first half. Crusheen then for a ten minute period got four or five scores and that was the difference.

“Even when we got the ball down at our end, they closed us down well and they won the rucks. Physically they came out with ball and we could make no inroads but look, we have no complaints because we were beaten by the county champions. We gave it a go and it wasn’t good enough today.

“On another day, things might have gone differently. We got the penalty in the first half and it went over the bar but for a lengthy period in the second half we didn’t score for a long, long time. Gilly proably had a chance early on for a goal in the second half but it didn’t come off and they just tacked on the points so we can have no complaints.”

Chaplin need only look to his opponents to realise how difficult it is to win your first final with a new team. After all, Crusheen missed out in the 2007 decider to Tulla but once they got back there last year against Cratloe, they were doubly determined not to let another opportunity slip by.

“Maybe it’s true what they say that you have to lose one to win one. We’re young but at the end of the day, we came up here today to win it and we didn’t so we will just have to start again at the bottom and hopefully we will be back.”

With an average team age of just 24, you can take that as a given.

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‘All our lives waiting for one, now two in a rush’

BEEN there and done that in 2010 where this Canon Hamilton thing was concerned. Now they’ve done it again in 2011.

Last week Michael Browne wondered aloud whether they’d have the hunger – you know he never doubted his team, but anyone who did got their answer with a performance that must rank as Crusheen’s greatest.

“In the sense of a real fought battle and fighting for every ball, yes it was a great display,” said Browne minutes after the final whistle. “We have played better hurling in games, but how could you play good hurling today. It was a great team display.

“Ten points today is about the equivalent of 4-20 on a good day. It was fantastic. I thought they were brilliant. From one to 15 they were brilliant, so much so there were three subs warming up that we were dying to bring on but it was too hard to take anybody off.”

As he spoke he was busy shaking more hands than a presidential candidate would on a busy day on the campaign trail. It’s because Browne is the man, the Messiah who picked up this bunch of players from the low of a county final defeat to a Tulla team in coached in 2007 to the high of putting back-to-back championships together.

“I’m so happy for the team because we worked so hard all year. We kept it low key coming into the final and just focused on the 60 minutes. The conditions were terrible, but the lads really dug in and fought for every ball.

“They had the hunger. They had it themselves. We focused on perform- ance, the lads giving their absolute best out on the field. It was a case of forgetting about first titles or second titles, it was just about the performance on the day, getting on with it and giving our best and not to be coming off on the field and players saying ‘if I only did this and I only did that’. They have no regrets coming off now.” It’s the way with all Michael Browne teams. Tulla said it in 2007. Crusheen said it in 2010 and now they can say it again in 2011. “It’s amazing to win it again,” added Browne just before breaking away to rejoin the celebrations. “We’re all our lives waiting for one. Now we’ve two in a rush. Thanks be to God.” Thanks be to Hurling he’s saying at the same time. The game is Crush- een’s God these days, and long they want it to continue.

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Cian is county final colossus

County finals call for big game players and after deservedly earning the man-of-the match in back-to-back county deciders, they don’t come much bigger than Cian Dillon. Still only 22, Cian was one of five Dillon brothers on the panel with elder siblings Cathal and Cronan also playing their part on Sunday in this historic second ever title for the club.

The centre-back was simply immense throughout, so much so that some supporters wondered how he was able to glide through the rainsodden pitch while practically every other player was hampered by the underfoot conditions.

“We are thrilled. Our focus from the start of the year was to get back here and once we got here, we knew we weren’t going to let it go so it shows the character we have in the team from one to 31. There were some serious men out there and we battled right through.

“It was tough out there and wasn’t a day for fancy touches or anything like that but we showed out true character, we supported each other, we encouraged each other and we were just not going to let this go today.”

And the main ingredients of Crusheen’s remarkable turnaround in the last two years?

“Ever since Michael Browne got on board, he changed a lot of things about our play. One was discipline, two was workrate and our forwards worked right into the backs and viceversa and we support each other as much as we could. And it paid off because we are delighted to get the Canon Hamilton back.”

However, his ambitions don’t end there.

“Hopefully now we will have a good shot at Munster now. We have the Cork champions coming up so we will take a few days and then we will get back and start preparing for it. And hopefully we will be able to put up another good show there.”

With Cian in this type of unstoppable form, it will take a very good team to stop them.