Author: admin

ano profile some of the county’s leading agri-business success stories, start- ing with Brid and Roger Fahy of Lin- nalla Ice Cream.

Linnalla Ice Cream is hand-pro- duced on the Flaggy Shore of Fin- varra by Brid and Roger Fahy using whole milk and cream from their own shorthorn cows, native to the Burren, to create ice cream free from artificial flavours, colours or preserv- atives.

The farm has been a dairy yard since the 1800s, but by 2004 they knew that they needed to adapt to survive and build a viable future for their family, and give their children a chance to continue to farm the Bur- ren.

Linnalla ice cream started produc- tion in 2006 and the speciality ice- cream is now available in shops and

restaurants in the Clare and Galway areas.

In 2005, they met Pat Shannon from the Clare Enterprise Board who en- couraged them to develop their idea. Over the next two years they had planning approved, secured LEAD- ER funds, worked with officials from the Department of Agriculture and

soon were on the way to starting a new and innovative business.

A number of information evenings will take place at Teagasc Offices around the county over the next few weeks. This evening, October 20, an information evening will take place in Kilrush at 7.30pm, while tomor- row (Wednesday, October 21) a simi-

lar event will take place in the En- nistymon office at 7.30pm.

Information evenings also take place Ennis and Scariff on October 27 and 28.

Those attending the evenings will find out how to fill in the short appli- cation form and will hear about the other great prizes on offer.

A number of Clare farmers who started their own businesses will also be there to tell of their experiences to date as entrepreneurs. The Clare Farm Idea Awards is an initiative of Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) to promote entrepreneur- ship amongst farming and fishing Leyeevenleusieley

The top prize of €3,000 is gener- ously sponsored by Clean Ireland Recycling Ltd in Cree, while other sponsors include Clare Marts, Kerry Agri-Business, Conor Engineering, Clare IFA, BIM and FBD.

For more information contact Ger- ry McDonagh 086 8544036 or Hilary Ci TNey MO com Pe Reh Tee

THERE were two Clare winners among the 39 lucky Big Money Game TV gameshow winners who jetted off accompanied by their guests last week to New York City for a six day luxury break,

They won the prize on the Nation- al Lottery’s Big Money Game TV Gameshow, hosted by Derek Moon- ey during the summer months.

Derek accompanied the winners on their fun-filled trip of a life- time and was joined by 2FM’s Will Leahy Show who broadcast live from New York on Tuesday, 13 October. €2,500 spending money each was also thrown in as part of the win.

Mary Cusack from Newmarket-on- Fergus brought her sister Geraldine with her on the trip. It’s her first trip to the USA and she said she was

“very excited at the prospect of go- ing to such an exciting place”.

Mary Gillespie, from Corofin, lives eight miles outside Ennis. Married to Michael, she has three daughters and one son and she took her daughter Niamh with her on the trip.

“Since the children were small, if something was to be decided, their names were put in a saucepan and then the winner was selected. The same principle was applied for the trip to New York,” she said.

Mary works part-time in a jewel- lery and gift shop in Ennis, and has always dreamed of visiting New York. She had plans to visit Central Park, Fifth Avenue and Ellis Island. Niamh and her mum describe them- selves as “big shoppers”.

Once in New York, the group were transported by coach to the luxurious Sofitel Hotel in Midtown Manhattan,

just a short stroll from Times Square, the Empire State Building and Fifth aN etl len

On Saturday evening, the winners enjoyed a meal at the renowned River Café in Brooklyn with a breathtaking panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline by night and Lady Liberty in New York Harbour.

The group were Broadway-bound on Tuesday night, for the critically acclaimed theatrical phenomenon

SHANNON Heritage has added a new dimension to its annual Hallow- een Holiday Horror event at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park which this year takes place on Bank Holiday Monday from lpm to 5pm. In addition to their spine-chilling programme of scary happenings, visitors can expect to be thrilled by a Michael Jackson tribute dance performance of his famous song ‘Thriller’.

Also new this year is the chance to get up close and personal with an amazing talking head!

A packed programme has been or- ganised and back by popular demand will be the 18th century swashbuck- ling Pirates of the Caribbean influ- enced show, complete with scary pi- rates, an inflatable pirate ship and a mesmerising laser lights show.

“It is great to be able to give chil- dren an opportunity to get in some

advance scaring before Halloween night, and we are delighted that so many children and parents get into the ‘spirit’ of things each year by taking part in our scary costume competition.

“Our Halloween event is part of a popular fun calendar of events we run throughout the year for the do- mestic market. Another event which is hugely popular is our Santa exper1- ences where we transform Bunratty Folk Park into a Christmas wonder- land. This year it will run from De- cember 4-22, but it’s already book- ing up fast,’ says John Ruddle, Chief Executive, Shannon Heritage.

As part of the spine chilling, fear wrenching features during the event, visitors will be encouraged to come face to face with a tarantula spider, just one of an array of scary crea- tures making a guest appearance at the Folk Park. And their will be snakes, lizards, scorpions and owls

to add to the shivers.

There will be prizes for the best and scariest costumes and there will be free face-painting in the barn on arrival so haunting can be at it’s scar- iest as well as traditional games.

A Celtic Halloween experience through music promises to be an- other highlight of the event. Wear- ing Iron Age costumes members of Pre-History Music Ireland will dem- onstrate a variety of ancient musical instruments. They will take visitors on a journey from the first habitation in Ireland circa 8,0OOOBC through to the Early Medieval period 7OOAD. In addition to musical time travel, the group will regale children and adults with scary Halloween stories from legends.

Family tickets are available start- ing at €33.60 for two adults and two children; €35.95 for two adults and four children and €37 for two adults and six children.

THE management and staff of Pac- Net Services Europe Ltd. is celebrat- ing their joint success in meeting early targets toward absolute carbon neutrality, a plan they shared with the press and other businesses in May of this year.

Since the May launch of their Car- bon Neutral Challenge, meant to inspire other Shannon companies to enter into a little earth-friendly competition, the organisation has at- tained a healthy 20 per cent reduc- tion in its carbon footprint. They have eliminated over 50 tonnes per year. The success of the programme so far is largely attributed to a well planned, comprehensive waste re- cycling program, along with a con- centrated effort to decrease mileage in the air travel undertaken through their subsidiary, PacNet Air.

Through a well executed recycling plan, PacNet has reduced the amount

of waste going into a landfill by a minimum of 75 per cent, and the fu- ture only looks greener for the emer- ald isle, as plans are now underway to further reduce carbon output, in- cluding an overhaul of the heating system in the PacNet offices.

Another area targeted for positive change is car travel; PacNet plans to purchase a hybrid vehicle for use as a company car, and will continue with a staff commuter scheme, which re- wards staff members who choose alternate forms of travel, such as car pooling, bicycle and public transit. With environmental concerns top of mind, the staff at PacNet have iden- tified another use for the stationery and office equipment they no longer need; instead of sending it off to a landfill, they are distributing the ma- terial to local schools.

“This is a fantastic start; we are buoyed by the initial results, and we will maintain a steady pace toward our end goal of being carbon neutral

by 2011,” says R Paul Davis, spokes- man for the PacNet Services Group of Companies, “Like any long term change, this initiative requires a sus-

tained effort in order to be success- ful, and the PacNet team is prepared to meet the challenge. Everyone is on board”’.

BUNRATTY progressed to the next round of the Munster Junior cup after victory against Bridge Celtic B. Bun- ratty certainly justified their favour- ites tags with this good solid per- formance. Their preliminary round victory last week against Rhine Rovers certainly stood to them here and despite a number of injuries and a few players on Oscar Traynor duty

they still managed to grab a 2-1 win.

They dominated the first-half and looked far more likely to score com- pared to the hard working Bridge team. Bunratty launched a number of attacks but none resulted in a goal mainly due to some poor shooting and some great saves by the Bridge goalkeeper. They still continued to press though and even when this meant there was a lot more space for Bridge to create some counter attacks

neither team could find an opening OO Koam UOMO NCC EDI OOT- TEE

The second-half continued in the exact same fashion with Bunratty conveying their control on the game. Eventually after 60 minutes that first goal was found and with no Surprise it was taken by a Bunratty player. Midfielder Pat Twomey was the provider as his well judged effort bounced into the corner of the net.

This almost lifted a burden off the

Bunratty players as they now seemed to play with an even greater sense of confidence. They now doubled the work load of Bridge’s defence who were really at this stage just hanging on and hoping they could find some way back into the game. Unfortu- nately for them it was going to get a lot worse. With seventy five minutes gone they finally secured the vital second goal. This time it was sub Declan McDonald who proved to be a capable goal scorer. With one of his first major touches he doubled his team’s goal tally. He remained calm and slotted home his shot past the falling keeper. The heads of the Bridge players would surely drop now.

Bridge though had different plans. They still were going to fight on until the very end and hope they could finally pierce the Bunratty rearguard. They took their time and wasted two or three chances before they eventually did with five min- utes of the game remaining. Again it required the touch of a substitute as Jamie O’Gorman finally gave his team something to cheer about.

They went up the field now des- perately trying to find an equaliser but they just ran out of time. Overall Bunratty deserved this one and de- spite the wonderful efforts of Bridge at the end they just were not strong enough to win. Bunratty were more clinical and their two goals half way through the second half were the ul- timate difference.

THIS year has seen a large increase in people taking up cycling — some- what attributed to the government scheme – and the increasing number of events in the county and Ireland has provided an excellent platform to enjoy the sport with many events scheduled around Clare.

Events, including the An Post na- tionwide sportive series and the high profile Race Around Ireland meant that events ranged in scale from tens to thousands of participants over hundreds of kilometres to leisure events.

With this in mind, Clare cycle club Dolmen CC are building on this and see 2010 as a bumper year for cycling in Ireland and in the region.

“If you are aged 16 or over and would like to engage in cycling as a sport drop by the West County ho- tel on Wednesday 21st October at 8.30pm and chat to members of the club about our plans for 2010 and beyond and how you can take part,’ said martin McDonnell of Dolmen CGF

He also pointed out that 2009 has been an active year for Dolmen.

“In addition the very many leisure cycling events attended throughout the country and indeed internation- ally, Dolmen were part of a team that broke the record for the fastest Mizen Head to Malin Head non stop cycle, completing the cycle in under 19 hours.

“Dolmen has an embryonic and erowing racing team with good achievements in 2009, participating in National Road Races, Time Tri- als and Mountain Biking, and will be expanding the team for the 2010 season,” he added.

SIXMILEBRIDGE continued their impressive stranglehold on Clare un- derage hurling on Saturday to add a second successive Under I5A title to the Under 12, 14, 16 and 21 equiva- lents already captured this year. However, they certainly made hard work of their latest acquisition as from a position of total dominance, they were almost caught napping by a determined second half fightback from age old rivals Clarecastle.

Leading by ten points at the break, Sixmilebridge appeared to have the game wrapped up but two goals in four minutes from Mikie Casey and Joe Barry around the turn of the final quarter cut Sixmilebridge’s ten point half-time advantage to just four and with plenty of time as well as mo- mentum on their side, Clarecastle threw everything at the Bridge for the remainder.

Decisively though, instead of pick- ing off points, the Magpies went for the jugular and put all their efforts into obtaining a fifth goal but suc- cessive efforts from Gearoid Ryan, Cian Crimmins, Jonathan Griffey and Mikie Casey were all repelled by the inspired Dylan Flemming in the Sixmilebridge goal. In saying that, holders Sixmilebridge also had ampel goal chances to kill off Clare- castle with Paul Finnan in particular unlucky to see a few efforts hit the side netting but as the Magpies con- centrated in vain on hitting the net, the Bridge clung on to eventually see out the win.

It was a totally different story in the first half though as backed by the wind, Sixmilebridge settled quickest to open up a 1-5 to 0-1 advantage by the end of the first quarter. The key to the Bridge’s early advantage was

the strength of Jamie Shanahan and Brian Carey as well as an added bit of guile in front of the posts that saw the lively Brian Corry seize on a de- fensive lapse to grab his 12th minute goal.

The Magpies were visibly nervous but improved as the half went on, eventually getting their reward in the 21st minute when a Stephen Ward run Vuo nO elommacnCe(ed(omcolbnsle Mm Gur-Dem@smnenuenuners whose shot was saved by Flemming and Mikie Casey was the first to re- act to pull to the net. At 1-7 to 1-2,

it should have inspired the Magpies but crucially Sixmilebridge’s reply was immediate as from the puck-out, Corry again gathered possession and played in a ball for Stephen Mulready to flick to the net.

That see-saw pattern was to repeat itself again before the break as Ca- sey caught a Stephen Ward free and rifled a shot to the net only to see it cancelled out again when Brian Cor- ry was fouled in front of the posts and Jamie Shanahan produced an un- stoppable effort from 20 metres to

give the ‘Bridge a comfortable 3-9 to 2-2 half-time lead.

The second period started tenta- tively, with only a point apiece on the scoreboard after ten minutes of the restart but as Sixmilebridge began to misfire in front of the posts, the Mag- pies grew in confidence. In the 40th minute, impact substitute Jack Mc- Dermott set off on a solo run and was eventually fouled before Mikie Casey completed his hat-trick of goals from the resulting 20 metre free. This time though, there was no instantaneous

reply from the Bridge as a Stephen Mulready shot was saved by goal- keeper Conor Liddy and Clarecastle took full advantage by turning up the heat with a Joseph Barry goal at the back post after receiving a pass from Bobby Duggan.

Duggan and Finnan swapped points soon afterwards but having assumed the ascendency, Clarecastle’s over- eagerness to go for goal was to prove very costly. The Bridge’s wide tally was now hitting double figures but Clarecastle were unable to punish them with points and although they eventually realised their error, time was not on their side as the Bridge deservedly held on to collect their ninth underage title in two years.

TENSION filled the air in Tulla on Saturday evening but in an evenly matched battle of endurance that saw the sides level on seven occasions, as late as the 55th minute, it eventu- ally came down to which side really wanted it more in the final moments. Ruan had been the ones who looked most likely to get over the line after taking the lead six times during the opening three-quarters of the match but unable to shake off Feakle at any stage, it was the east Clare men who eventually displayed the greater hun- ger and momentum when it mattered most.

A repeat of the 1988 county sen-

ior final, one that also went Feakle’s way, those halcyon days have been merely a distant memory in recent times as both clubs looked to rebuild after an interminably long period of transition. There was also the added ingredient of John Punch taking on his native club with always an under- lying fear permeating amongst the Feakle support that the script was written for the forward to score the winning point. What made this such a unique oc- casion though was the carrot of an intermediate final appearance, com- ing about after the quarter-final draw pooled all three champion- ship favourites Whitegate, Eire Og and Killanena on the one side of the draw. With neither Feakle nor Ruan expected to be in the shake up for championship honours this year, this was a huge opportunity to make the last two and as a result, a pressure cooker atmosphere magnified every touch of the ball.

It was Ruan who settled into their stride the quicker, bouncing back from a Gary Guilfoyle free to erab a fourth minute goal. Killian Ryan played a neat pass to Michael

Vaughan down the left wing and his high delivery broke off Aiden Lynch to the waiting O’ Regan to scrable the ball over the line.

Feakle meanwhile, despite having numerous chances, were guilty of some poor misses and Ruan added to their woes with a sixth minute point through Michael Vaughan.

Slowly Feakle got back into the game and after a superb lineball by Gary Guilfoyle was cancelled out by

a Punch free, the east Clare side hit the next three points to gain parity by the 24th minute. Three more times Ruan edged ahead before the break only to be dragged back by a stub- born Feakle challenge as the sides went into the interval at 1-5 to 0-8. The tables quickly turned on the resumption as again Feakle earned a free from the throw-in that Tommy Moroney converted before taking a two point advantage for the first time

in the game three minutes later when a good passing move involving Ray- mond Bane and Stevie Moloney re- leased Colin Nelson to fire over from the left wing.

This time it was Ruan’s turn to react and they did so through their inspira- tional leader Jonathan Clohessy who grabbed the first of three unanswered points by the turn of the final quarter to edge Ruan in front once more.

The seesaw battle for supremacy

continued as twice in the next seven minutes, Feakle equalised to set up a grandstand finish. It appeared to be heading for a draw but somehow Feakle found an extra gear, with sub- stitute Ronan Harrington and Tom- my Moroney scoring a point apeice in the 57th minute to push their side Q-14 to 1-09 ahead.

Cigarettes were smoked to the butts and fingernails was gnawed to the bone as John Punch cut the deficit to only the minimum with two min- utes remaining. However, a monster Gary Guilfoyle free from his own ’65 in the final minute raised a huge roar of approval from the Feakle support and it inspired them to battle admi- rably in the dying seconds before se- curing their first final appearance in SIX years.

TO say this was pedestrian stuff is putting it very mildly to say the very least. A senior county final of sorts, but in name only such was the tame nature of the spectacle that unfolded over an hour of largely forgettable football.

There were the exceptions though — little nuggets that lifted the dross from a tepid encounter, the fielding ability of Timmy and David Ryan, the industry of Mark O’Connell in the full-forward line and six of their points that came from play.

It was just as well that these lit- tle moments of magic came from

Kilmihil, because Ennistymon were truly awful, save a semi-circling of the wagons in the last 20 mintues when they put a scoreless first 40 behind them by putting four points on the board. The wonder is how En- nistymon were able to peg it back to a three-point game with five minutes remaining.

That they ultimately came up short had nothing to do with great defen- sive work on the part of a Kilmihil team, but more to do with Ennisty- mon’s wide tally of the second-half that numbered six.

Two of those bad wides came in the final five minutes when only a goal separated the sides — had they been

converted to bring this game right down to the wire, and had they some- how grabbed a remarkable victory it would have marked this one down as a travesty of football justice.

It never happened, but still it was much too close for comfort for a Kilmihil side that dominated this game for the first 50 minutes. The 2008 intermediate champions led by O-4 to no score at half-time, having taken up where they left off against Lissycasey when they held them scoreless for the hour.

A brilliant opening point from left- half-back Rory Mohally after good work in the build up by David Ryan and Declan Downes had Kilmihil on

their way in the seventh minute.

Nineteen minutes passed before there was another score, but Kilm1- hil then finished the half with a flourish of fine points from play by David Ryan and Karl Downes before Timmy Ryan floated a free over in the 30th minute to give them a com- manding lead.

After Timmy Ryan thumped over the score of the game off his left a minute after the re-start and David followed up with another six minutes later, captain Mark O’Connell could safely start rehearsing his cupla fo- cail in his head.

Maybe that’s what happened, be- cause from there Kilmihil suddenly let their guard down and a point from Joe Dowling from a 40-yard free in the 40th minute broke Ennistymon’s duck and was the cue for a spirited display in the final 20 minutes.

Shane Mangan’s point in the 46th minute had Kilmihil 0-7 to O-1 ahead but from their the backed off into de- fensive and flirted with throwing this game away. Three Brian Conway points between the 52nd and 55th minutes brought it back to three.

Then there were Ennistymon’s wides, before Laurence Healy and

Timmy Ryan were red-carded before the end.

THE celebrations were far from wild, but when Kilmihil manager Mick Darby took a few minutes out to reflect on some more silverware heading out the Kilrush Road, be- fore hanging a right at Downes’ pub, skirting by Knockalough and on its way to Declan’s Bar, he was keen to reflect on what had been another mission accomplished for his emerg- ing side.

“We are a couple of years away from being a real force at senior lev- el,” he admitted, “because we have a lot of young lads coming through but I believe that it will happen for us in due course, so it’s about trying to improve with every year and this win is part of that.

“The lads themselves made the de-

cision that they wanted to stay train- ing. We had two games to play to try and win this Senior B title and we did that. It’s about keeping up the momentum for this Kilmihil team after winning the intermediate title last year and winning the Senior B was important.”

Just as important was being part of county senior final afternoon for the first time in nearly two decades. “It’s a long time, 19 years since the Kilmi- hil club has been here in Cusack Park on county senior final day,’ reflected Darby, who was manager back in 1990 when they were beaten by St Joseph’s Miltown.

“It meant this was a big day for the club and an occasion for the players. They needed to settle in and they did that in the first-half when get- ting those points near the end of the

half to go in with a good lead at half- time.

“The two Ryans caught great ball and kicked great scores, but I wouldn’t be one for singling out in- dividual players because everyone on the panel has worked hard. It was a panel effort, just like it has been all year.

“Mark O’Connell had a problem with a groin injury, but that wasn’t the reason he was moved in. He was moved in for a different reason and he’s a hard player to stop when he’s on form and going forward.”

Kilmihil are going forward them- selves.