Author: admin

Categories
News

‘Clare supports its own’

THE PEOPLE of Clare turned out in their droves to support Newmarketon-Fergus man Michael D Higgins on his way to becoming the ninth president of Ireland.

President Elect Higgins received a whopping 20,828 first-preference votes, or 44.3 per cent, making the Banner County one of his best performing counties. This left Higgins with a commanding lead after the first count at the Clare Inn, with Sean Gallagher in second with 14,779, followed by Martin McGuinness with 4,950, Gay Mitchell with 2,545, David Norris with 1,707, Dana with 1,313 and Mary Davis with 890.

The elimination of Mary Davis and Dana saw a continuation of the theme, with Higgins receiving 745 transfers compared to 560 picked by Gallagher.

Gay Mitchell did make up some ground on Martin McGuinness, with the pair collecting 265 and 202 transfers respectively, while David Norris received 151 extra votes.

As expected, the vast majority of David Norris’ transfers in Clare, almost 60 per cent, went to Higgins, who received 977 extra votes, compared to Gallagher who received 364, McGuinness who received 213 and Mitchell who collected 125 votes.

The elimination of McGuinness and Mitchell further supported the land- slide for Higgins, who received 5,169 on the available transfers compared to just 1,468 for Sean Gallagher. This left President Elect Michael D Higgins with a commanding 27,719 votes, compared to Gallagher who took 17,171 Clare votes.

Clare voters gave a resounding ‘yes’ to the proposal to amend the constitution to allow for judges’ pay to be reduced. Of the 45,945 valid votes in this poll, a massive 37,196 or 80.96 per cent voted yes.

The same could not be said for the Oireachtas Inquiries Referendum, where less than 800 votes separated the sides. A total of 23,422 in Clare voted against the proposed change, with 22,273 voting in favour of it.

Categories
News

‘Firefighters spend their time at Ground Zero or going to funerals’

BILL Whelan was at home in Brooklyn on September 11, 2001, when he received a phone call from his wife.

She worked in a bankruptcy court in lower Manhattan and, along with a few colleagues, had witnessed the United Airlines and American Airlines planes crash into the two towers of the World Trade Centre.

She immediately phoned her husband and told him to put on the television.

Bill takes up the story. “So I put it on and watched for about a half a minute and said, I have to go. She said, where you going? I said, I’m going to work. She said, you can’t, you’re off duty. I said, no, we’re never really off duty. It doesn’t work that way. So I got into my Fire House in Brooklyn.”

He added, “My company was already working at the Trade Centre or on their way there. Then we got word just before the towers fell down – one of the first firefighters to die that day was from my company. One of the jumpers (from the Trade Centre) landed on him before they even got into the building. So he was critically injured. Another company got together and packaged him up, got him into the EMT bus.”

Bill and a group of around 100 firefighters were sent to an assembly area about half a mile away from the World Trade Centre.

Speaking in Ennis last week during a family holiday, Bill recalled the events of the day.

He said, “We walked about half a mile away and we came across this bus driver on his normal tour. We said, are you heading anywhere hear the Brooklyn Bridge? He said, yeah, are you guys going to New York? I said absolutely we’re going there. He discharged all of his passengers, put us on the bus and drove us across the Brooklyn Bridge.”

He continued, “And that was some sight. The towers had just come down. It was absolutely horrendous. Tens of thousands people coming across the bridge just to get out of New York and the look on their fac- es was just unbelievable.”

Bill retired from the Fire Department a year later. He said the impact of the attacks is still being felt by families throughout New York.

He explained, “There are three places you’ll find firefighters: one is when you go back to work in your own firehouse, the other is down at the pit at the Trade Centre. They either spend their time there or going to funerals.

“That was it. Three or four funerals a day. The hardest part of that was watching the kids – five, six, seven [years old] – coming out of church not knowing what was going on around them. The young widows. It would break your heart.”

Categories
News

The people’s president from Clare

FROM a three-roomed thatched house with no running water or electricity in Ballycar, Newmarketon-Fergus, to Áras an Uachtaráin – that’s the journey that Michael D Higgins will complete on November 11 when he’s inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland and Clare’s third Head of State after Eamon de Valera and Dr Paddy Hillery.

After topping the poll in 35 out of 43 constituencies and polling more than one million votes after the fourth count, Higgins has pledged to be “a president for all the people” and to lead “a sea change” in the values of society.

“I want to be a president for those who didn’t vote, whose trust in public institutions I will encourage and work to recover. And always in my mind, too, will be those who have gone away and I will be their president too,” he said.

In outlining his “vision” for a new Republic, the President-elect said his seven-year term would be one “where life and language, where ideals and experience, have the ring of authenticity, which we need now as we go forward.

“During a long campaign, which for me was almost 14 months since I first sought a nomination from the Labour Party, I saw and felt and feel the pain of the Irish people. I recognise the need for a reflection on those values and assumptions, often carelessly taken, that had brought us to such a sorry pass in social and economic terms, for which such a high price has been paid and is being paid.

“I recognise the righteous anger, but I also saw the need for healing and to move past recrimination. I love our shared island, our shared Ireland and its core decency. I love it for its imagination and its celebration of the endless possibilities for our people.

“This necessary transformation which has now begun will, I hope, result in making the values of equality, respect, participation in an active citizenship, the characteristic of the next seven years. The reconnection of society, economy and ethics is a project we cannot postpone,” he added.

In January, Higgins marked his last official function as a member of Dáil Éireann by returning to Clare, telling The Clare People “that some of the major experiences in my life are associated with County Clare”.

In taking part in a poetry reading in the Burren College of Art and surrounded by family and supporters, the Newmarket-on-Fergus man launched his presidential campaign when saying “the president of Ireland is a president for the people and not for any political party” – a pledge he is set to follow through, with the announcement that he will be leaving the Labour Party when taking up office in November.

Categories
News

Trappatoni on the edge…of the Cliffs of Moher

GIOVANNI Trapattoni proved to be a man of his word when finally fulfilling his commitment to throw his weight behind the Cliffs of Moher’s campaign to be designated as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World on Friday.

The Irish soccer manager and his assistant – World Cup-winning hero from 1982, Marco Tardelli – visited the Cliffs on Friday, nearly four months after he postponed a visit that was pencilled in as part of the FAI annual general meeting in Clare, because of industrial action being undertaken by SIPTU workers at the tourist resort.

“I have heard a lot about the Cliffs of Moher,” he said.

“I am very familiar with long campaigns and hope that November can be a month when Ireland achieves success in both the Euro 2012 playoffs and the new 7 Wonders of Nature campaign.

“It is fantastic. I was also in America [at the] Grand Canyon. It [Grand Canyon] is different but this is very, very beautiful. I think these cliffs are very, very spectacular,” he said.

The Cliffs of Moher was shortlisted in the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition in July 2009, along with 27 other sites, from more than 440 participants representing 220 countries. Among the other shortlisted sites are the Amazon Rainforest (South America), Table Mountain (South Africa), Black Forest (Germany), Vesuvius (Italy), The Great Barrier Reef (Australia) and The Grand Canyon (USA).

The official New 7 Wonders of Nature list, which is subject to a worldwide poll, will be declared on November 11, 2011 – the same day that Clareman Michael D Higgins is inaugurated as Ireland’s ninth president.

Categories
News

OPW donates flood funding

JUST under € 300,000 has been allocated by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to Clare County Council for the construction of a pipe connecting a turlough in Ballyvaughan to the Atlantic Ocean.

The funding has been made available under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works Scheme which was set up in August of 2009, just before the unprecedented flooding which took place in October and November of that year.

This latest allocation brings the total amount of Clare funding received under the scheme since 2009 to € 1 million.

Clare still lags behind other flood hit counties in allocations received from this scheme with both Galway and Cork County Councils receiving in excess of € 2 million each from the Minor Flood Mitigation Works Scheme.

This is the second allocation of funding to be made to a Clare flooding scheme this year following a grant of € 99,000 for flood relief works to be carried out at Roughan in Kilnaboy in April of this year.

The Ballyvaughan flood works follow extensive flooding of the area during November of 2009. The main road between Ballyvaughan and Kin- vara was impassable for a number of days during the flood, while a large number of smaller local roads were also submerged.

The € 270,000 allocated by the Office of Public Works represents 90 per cent of the total costs of the work with Clare County Council required to invest the remaining 10 per cent, or € 30,000.

“This is welcome news for the people of Ballyvaughan. Severe flooding was experienced on the outskirts of Ballyvaughan during the winter of 2009 and the works proposed will help to alleviate flooding on affected roads,” said Clare TD Pat Breen (FG).

“This funding is allocated to Clare County Council under the Minor Flood Works Scheme and represents 90% of the monies sought by the Council so it is a sizable investment in reducing future flood risks in Ballyvaughan.

“This funding allocation confirms this Government’s support for the implementation of flood prevention measures even in these tightening budgetary times.”

The scheme is still open for local authorities to put forward local projects for funding and Clare County Council is understood to have a number of projects currently working their way towards securing funding.

Categories
Sport

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)

Categories
Sport

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.

Categories
Sport

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.

Categories
Sport

‘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.

Categories
Sport

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.