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CLARE will be taking part in an immense celebration of books and reading, World Book Day on Thurs- day March 5.

Clare County Library is inviting children from primary and post pri- mary schools across the county to enter a poetry competition in recog- nition of this event.

Entries will be judged by poet and dramatist Terry McDonagh who has published several collections of po- etry, a book of letters and a novel for young people. He has written in Australia, Asia, several European countries and in Ireland where he was resident writer in Coole Park in 2006.

Now living in Mayo, Terry has toured Clare libraries during last year’s Children’s Book Festival and has presented creative writing work- shops, courses for teachers and po- etry readings for children and adults throughout Ireland.

Competitors can write a poem of any length on any subject and send it to: WBD Poetry Competition, Library Headquarters, Mill Road, Ennis. Entries must be received by Monday, February 16 and must show the name, age, school and class, home address and home telephone number of the poet.

There will be four categories for the poems to be judged under: primary fourth class and under, primary fifth to sixth, post-primary Junior Certifi- cate and under, post-primary Leav- ing Certificate and under. Twenty finalists will be selected from each category.

A reception will be held for final- ists at DeValera Library Ennis on World Book Day at 8pm when each finalist will have the opportunity to share their winning poem with an audience. All forty poems will be published in a book to mark World Book Day 2009 by Clare County L1i- brary. Copies will be stocked in all branches of the library.

KILMALEY Voluntary Housing Association and Clare County Coun- cil’s Arts Office have commissioned traditional singer, John Tunney, to work with the clients and residents of Kilmaley Daycare Centre to com- pose new songs in a traditional style inspired by the people and place of Gtr

The songs will be performed for the first time in public by John and the Daycare Centre clients at a special recital in the Kilmaley Inn at 8pm on Friday, February 20 next.

John has worked closely with the staff and clients of the Daycare Cen- tre over the last six months to create the new songs. Spancilhill photog- rapher and accordion player Christy McNamara was also commissioned to work with the Daycare Centre cli- ents to capture this unique process in photographic images.

John Tunney has been living in En- nis for the last eight years and hails from County Donegal where his fam- ily were steeped in traditional song, music and storytelling. He has been working at the Daycare Centre since September last. During this time he and the clients have been singing and learning songs from each other’s repertoire.

Christy McNamara has _photo- graphed many musicians, including U2, The Pogues and a range of tradi- tional musicians and his protographs of the Kilmaley project will be show- cased at the singing recital.

The project is funded through the Per Cent for Art Scheme which Is spe- cifically aimed at the commissioning of new contemporary art projects in connection with the development of Capital Construction Projects, in this case the development of Kilmaley Daycare Centre in 2003.

“It is one of the first Per Cent for

Art projects in Ireland to use the traditional arts — traditional song in this case — as the primary artform. Per Cent for Art projects in the past have traditionally yielded Sculptures but the Kilmaley Voluntary Housing Association Committee were very creative and now we have a beautiful project which is a prototype for other projects and artists in Ireland” says Clare Arts Officer, Siobhan Mulc-

AN OMs

Carmel O’Brien, a Day Care Cen- tre Committee member who has been working intensively on the project and a talented singer herself is delighted with how the project has developed. “The housing scheme and Daycare Centre have become a central aspect of the parish life of Kilmaley. This project has built on the community spirit among the

residents and Daycare Centre clients which we now want to share with the wider community and the rest of the county at the song recital night’, says Carmel.

that when his party leader, who was the first to take a voluntary pay cut in October, decided on this course of action he supported him and followed suite.

“The economy was in a bad way, many people were losing jobs and we shouldn’t lose sight of this,’ he said when asked why he reached the decision.

Minister for State at the Depart- ment of Agriculture and Fisheries, Tony Killeen (FF) will also receive a smaller paycheck this year. As a jun- lor minister, his €139,266 salaries have been cut by 10 per cent.

As part of the October budget cuts, the Minister for Finance, Mr Lent- han, announced all cabinet ministers – including ministers for state – would give up 10 per cent of their total pay.

At the time he said, “Other public servants in leadership and senior posi-

tions may wish to consider whether it iS appropriate for them to make a sim- ilar move in current circumstances.”

Clare TDs Timmy Dooley (FF) and Pat Breen (FG) decided against such a move. Deputy Dooley told

THE chairman of East Clare Young Fine Gael has called for texts or emails to be sent to people when they turn 18 to congratulate them and re- mind them they can vote.

After a discussion last week about getting young people to exercise their franchise, Cillian Griffey said, “Getting more young people on the voting register was discussed and the tedious process that has to be gone through to get on the register. It was suggested that it should be linked in with the PPS system. We saw in America how they expressed so much pride in their voting rights there were long queues of people waiting to elect their leader. The voting system here should be made simpler and a more important emphasis should be given to voting. This might start to instil confidence and pride back into electing public representatives. Also, a text message or e-mail should be sent to a person when they turn 18 as a congratulatory token explaining that they can now vote.”

The east Clare branch also has elected a new Officer Board.

Elected were: Chairperson, Cillian Griffey; Vice chairperson, John Mc- Namara; Honorary Secretary, Re- becca Gregan; Joint Honorary Treas- urers, Johnny Pilkington and Sean Brody; Membership Officer, Ciaran Murphy; Organiser, Donal Carey and PRO Caimin Griffey.

“The average age of this committee is 20 years. The meeting was well at- tended and matters arising included the 23rd Young Fine Gael National Conference. This will take place on Friday, February 20 to Sunday, Feb- ruary 22 at the Sheraton Hotel, Ath- lone, County Westmeath,” a spokes- man for the group said.

“The conference is where Young Fine Gael’s policy platform for the coming 12 months is decided. It gives the membership a chance to interact with Fine Gael’s TDs and senators and it allows the party lead- er, Enda Kenny TD, an opportunity to meet with the Young Fine Gael membership,” the spokesman for the party said.

The highlight of the weekend is the gala banquet dinner to be held at 8pm on Saturday, February 21.

The party leader, Enda Kenny TD, will host the banquet and it’s planned for a number of Clare representatives to attend the conference.

Also discussed at the AGM last week were the local and European A Ceol aoe pe me NN lon

It will be interesting this year as Ennis, for the first time, will be split into two. The east Clare area of Kil- laloe will have its number of seats in- crease from four to six seats on Clare County Council.

THE Scariff Show will be celebrat- ing 65 years on the go this year, and plans are already afoot to make it the biggest and best show yet.

It’s hoped to hold the landmark event in the showgrounds again this year. A spokeswoman for the show committee said, “Most of our suc- cess is down to the support and en- couragement we receive from our sponsors and the local support of people who come on the day.

“This will be an important show because it is the 65th birthday and we have a couple of members who remember the first Scariff Show, so that will be very special.”

As well as the usual show dance, this year the committee is marking the special birthday with a dinner dance later on in the year.

“We’re hoping to make it bigger and better than ever,’ the spokes-

woman said.

There are loads of activities at the planning stage this year. Last year, the committee introduced bouncy castles, a funfair and some new trade stands along with all the old reliables. The vintage display was a particular hit last year as was the crowning of the Queen of the Plough, a compe- tition kindly sponsored by Michael Ryan of Scariff.

One of the most popular events is the dog show, with lots of novelty classes as well as the usual variety classes and the indoor section has classes for adults and children.

The horse classes include mare and foal, young horses, jumping, show hunter and working hunter, pony classes, side saddle, donkey and sheep sections.

The Donkey Derby, best dressed lady, best dressed child and fancy- dressed child as well as the bonniest baby are all great fun on the day.

FINE Gael in Clare is preparing to hold its last three conventions for the local elections within the month.

On Friday, February 20, the most talked about convention of the lo- cal elections so far will take place in west Clare as the candidates for the Kilrush electoral area will be se- lected.

It is still unknown, even among those within the party, who will run in the electoral area that will be re- duced from seven seats to six.

Meanwhile, on Monday next, Fine Gael will select its candidates for Kilkee Town Council at 8.30pm in Stella Marris.

Sitting Fine Gael councillor Michael Martin has decided not to run for the town council on this occasion.

His fellow councillor Brian Keane is expected, however, to put his name

forward.

In total, six people are believed to be considering standing for Fine Gael in Kilkee, and if all six con- tenders still wish to run on Monday, it is very likely they will be allowed to do so.

Among those thought to be in the running are former councillor Paddy Collins and the niece of former coun- cillor Frank Murnane, Karen Reilly.

Among the new faces interested are Elaine Haugh-Hayes, Joanne Dillion and Cillian Murphy.

On Tuesday next, delegates will meet in the Shannon Oaks at 8.30pm to select the Fine Gael candidates for the Shannon Town Council election.

Four names will be put forward on the night, including the two sitting councillors, Tony Mulcahy and Sean McLoughlin.

They will be joined by Michael Flemming and Mary Brennan.

AVENUE United issued a firm re- minder of their title ambitions with a convincing victory over Bridge Celtic on Sunday.

The win moves Avenue into sec- ond place, eight points behind league leaders Bunratty.

Avenue have the same amount of points, 18, as Lifford and Bridge Celtic but have two have less games played. Crucially, they have three games in hand on Bunratty.

They would rather have the points but Avenue know that if they can maintain the kind of form they showed against Bridge then they can make life uncomfortable at the top for Bunratty.

Their win also checked Bridge Celtic’s gathering momentum. John- ny Flynn’s side have been in very im- pressive form of late but looked like a shadow of the side that recently beat Lifford 2-1.

Bridge trailed to Gary Flynn’s 54th minute goal before being reduced to ten men. Celtic’s chances of retriev- ing anything evaporated when Trevor Howard was sent off.

Ciaran McManus struck twice late on to make sure of that.

McManus’ late arrival meant that Avenue actually started the game with ten players.

Not that you would have noticed. Playing upfront his own, the talented and seriously quick David Smyth caused Bridge plenty of problems.

David Russell and David Herlihy came closest to breaking the dead- lock for Avenue, the latter with a well-executed bicycle kick that flew just over the bar.

Bridge were struggling to break Av- enue down when Barry O’Connell’s through ball was intercepted by Rob- ert Forde in the 29th minute.

When goalkeeper John Healy de- cided to pick up the ball, referee Pa- draig Sutton blew for an indirect free

kick inside the Avenue box. Avenue survived when Ger O’Connell’s shot was cleared of the line.

Forde succumbed to injury soon af- ter and was replaced by David Mon- aghan. The re-alignment saw Dean Ryan move to centre back, Smyth come out to the right wing and Mon- aghan partner McManus up front.

The substitute was instantly in- volved when he played in Russell who lifted over the bar just before half time.

It wasn’t until the 54th minute that Avenue’s ascendancy was reflected on the scoreboard. Herlihy’s throw on the right was worked on by Rus- sell and Monaghan for Flynn to ram home from close range.

Bridge lost Trevor Howard in the 74th minute. Down a man and chas- ing an equaliser, Bridge inevitably left space at the back. They did and Avenue exploited it.

Herlihy released Monaghan down the right who squared the ball to

McManus to roll home in the 84th minute.

McManus grabbed his second of the game when he latched onto Brati- Slav’s flick on, raced clear and buried his shot.

UNDERAGE football development in Clare took a significant step last Thursday with the official announce- ment of the appointment of two new full-time football coaches in the county. This forward-thinking plan was initiated by the Clare Football Supporters Club, and in conjunc- tion with the Clare county board and Bord na nOg, the project proposes to divide the county into three regions, West Clare, North Clare and Mid- East Clare, each having their own full-time coach. Currently the Clare County board employ one full-time coach, former Kilkee and county player, “Baby’ John Enright but through an interview process, head- ed by Munster Council’s coaching and games development officer and former Kerry senior football manag- er, Pat O’Shea, it is hoped that three full-time coaches will be in place in the coming months.

Details of this scheme were an- nounced at a press conference held in Murty Browne’s Pub in Tullycrine last Thursday, with representation from all three parties as well as vari- ous media outlets in attendence. Pat Cotter, John O’Brien, Paudie Neylon and Martin Keogh of The Clare Foot- ball Supporters Club, county chair- man Michael O’Neill and Michael O’Connor of the county board and Anne Hayes and Liam Woulfe from Bord na nOg Peil were all present on the night as the meeting chairman, Pat Cotter outlined the evolution of the significant underage project for clubs and schools.

“We decided at the beginning of the year that the standard in Clare foot- ball had reached an all-time low and it was time to do something to address the issue. So under the efforts of the Clare Football Supporters Club, we

decided to redirect whatever monies we had collected towards underage football and in a lot of discussion with the county board and lots of other people, we decided the best ap- proach would be to divide the county into three — West Clare, North Clare and Mid-East Clare. “Baby’ John En- right is in place in West Clare coach- ing so the idea then would be to put a full-time coach into the other two regions as well. The Football Sup- porters Club would finance one, the County Board would finance the oth- er and Baby John 1s already in place so then we would have three full- time coaches looking after the game at a very young level, from eight up at club and schools level. That is the best way we feel we can make a con- tribution to the standard of football in Clare” |

Bord na nOg Peil’s Liam Woulfe pledged their total support to the initiative, revealing plans to com- mit €5,000 to the enterprise while County Chairman Michael O’Neill also endorsed the project but stressed the need for clubs to play a more ac- tive part to aid the coaches’ work.

“We have sat down with the lads over the last number of months in a way as to how we can help out and it’s really about everybody working together to up the standard of foot- ball in the schools and clubs. There are massive restraints on schools and clubs at the moment but we can’t be concentrating on the nega- tives, we have to look at the positives and I suppose football needs a bit of a lift, starting at the bottom re- ally in conjunction with Bord na nOg and putting in the coaching officers where we feel they are necessary, and in conjunction with the clubs. So the schools play a vital part but the most important thing as well in this is that they are not a substitute

for the clubs and we always keep say- ing that. The coaches are a back-up to anything that the clubs themselves might do and that’s probably some- thing that hasn’t happened over the last couple of years. In the past, if a coach entered a school, some clubs took it for granted that the kids were being coached sufficiently. However, one or two people would only scratch the surface at the end of the day, it’s up to the clubs to get someone in there with them. Two or three people if possible are necessary, in conjunc- tion with the school obviously and bring that back to the club afterwards or the clubs if the schools cover more than one club.”

To provide further information to the clubs, three additional regional meetings will be held in the coming week, with Pat O’Shea, also address- ing each meeting.

A HISTORIC first ever Dr Harty Cup final place awaited the winners but neither side were willing to yield as St Caimin’s came from behind to snatch a draw in Meelick on Satur- Cr MA

The stakes were high but the inten- sity never wilted and really it could have gone either way in what was a tension-filled final twenty minutes.

That nervousness probably con- tributed to the majority of the scores coming from frees, with Sixmilebri- dge’s Patrick Sheehan unerring free- taking matched by Ard Scoil Ris’ Kevin Downes and Declan Hannon. In all, the Shannon school only man- aged three scores from play while Ard Scoil only fared slightly better with six but it didn’t take from the entertainment as both sides went all out in their quest to forge history.

To add even more bite to the occa- sion, club players from the county found themselves in the unique po- sition of having to play against their club-mates with Cratloe split by St Caimin’s representatives of Enda Boyce, Sean Hynan, Padraic Collins and Joe Conroy on one side while Ard Scoil Ris had Conor Ryan and Cathal McInerney in their ranks. Equally Ard Scoil Ris’ 14 year old substitute Jamie Shanahan, had to contend with Sixmilebridge team- mates Noel Purcell, Kevin Lynch, Patrick Sheehan, Alan Mulready and Timmy Crowe.

That rivalry was empitomised by the respective captains Sean Hynan

and Conor Ryan, who were in direct opposition from the throw-in. Supporters had barely found a po- sition on the hill before St Caimin’s stormed into a early lead, grabbing 1-2 in less than three minutes. A Patrick Sheehan free either side of Alan Mulready’s second minute goal blazed a trail for the Shannon side, with goal-poacher Mulready getting on the end of a breaking ball from fellow Bridgeman Timmy Crowe to UUM romeeemiam It took Ard Scoil Ris five minutes to open their account but once Kevin Downes converted a free after Niall Kennedy had been fouled, it was the start of a fruitful period for the Lim- erick side, who had the experience of two extremely difficult ties with St Flannan’s in the previous fortnight. Six points out of the next seven spearheaded their recovery by the 23rd minute, with Downes the chief marksman with three placed balls. Now on the backfoot, Caimin’s retreated further and Ard Scoil Ris took the opportunity to strike a de- cisive blow. It came after Brendan O’Connor’s shot was blocked by cor- ner-back Colm McCaul and as goal- keeper Tommy Griffin attempted to scramble the ball clear, O’Connor stepped forward again to strike to the net. St Caimin’s reply was swift and almost as effective but Sheehan’s 20 metre free was saved by goalkeeper PJ Hall and on the rebound, Timmy Crowe had to be content with a point to cut the deficit to two at 1-7 to 1-5. That response was shortlived how- ever as Downes converted two more

frees before the break to extend Ard Scoil Ris’ to three.

It would get worse before it would get better for St Caimin’s as Ard Scoil’s Shane Dowling made it I- 10 to 1-06 by the 38th minute, after Sheehan and Declan Hannon had ex- changed frees.

However, they dug in superbly and upping their challenge a gear over the next seventeen minutes, they held their opponents scoreless on their way to cancelling out the lead with four unanswered Sheehan placed balls by the 55th minute.

The final score came after Padraic Collins blocked goalkeeper PJ Hall’s clearance and the ball broke to Tim- my Crowe whose shot for goal was somehow defected for a ’65 by Meel- ick’s Eanna Mulvihill

The tension was almost palpable now as Kevin Downes hit two frees wide and they needed some inspira- tion to reignite their challenge. That spur came from wing-back Cathal McInerney who played a one-two with fellow Cratloe player Conor Ryan before hitting a monster point from half-way.

From the puck-out, Kevin Downes, now operating deeper, gathered and hit it back over goalkeeper Tommy Griffin’s head and now two points clear entering the final minute of nor- mal time, it appeared that Ard Scoil were heading towards the final.

St Caimin’s refused to be beaten though and after Patrick Sheehan held his nerve to point a free from half-way, up stepped Wolfe Tones’ John Guilfoyle to save the day with

a point on the run. St Caimin’s did have two late chances but after com- ing from behind, a draw was argu- ably the fairest result in the end. Mock exams, football commit- ments and a mid-term break mean that the replay will now take place on Saturday week, with the final against Thurles CBS down for March 8.

HE’S GOT his back to the unplas- tered wall outside the dressing room door and is, by now, changed out of his match day clothes. Addressing the assembled media and playing ab- sent-mindedly with a pair of glasses, Mike McNamara resembles a poet philosophising to a group of stu- dents. His zen-like reaction to the 70 minutes of hurling just passed simply re-enforces his status as laureate-in- chief of Clare hurling and he’s not getting overly-excited by an open- ing game that promised two league points but delivered defeat.

“You know what,” he says, “there’s a difference between the Crystal Cup and a game in the league in the Gaelic Grounds against our friendly neighbours. They’re two different Web eetSace

In the cold gloaming of an early February Sunday, perspective is as valuable as foresight and McNamara takes us back to last year, when Clare travelled to Limerick and returned home, tail firmly between legs.

“The last time, we came out of here with something like a nine or ten point drubbing, maybe going no place, maybe drifting aimlessly to

wherever people drift to,” he said, cryptically enough. “So we’ll take the positives out of today. It was a strange game but when you come to Limerick, as we know to our cost, you can’t just expect to win. It’s a very difficult place to win and that has been proven over the years.”

As for the Clare comeback in the final stages of the game, McNamara was inclined to give little away, say- ing simply that they sat down at half- time, drank a cup of tea and vowed to plough on.

“Maybe we’ll have a closer look at the first half as opposed to the second half. We were twelve points down with 25 minutes to go, but we showed the character we’re looking oe

“We might have made a few mis- takes. We might have introduced some of the newer boys who had been showing well. But we decided we’d go with the full array of strength and take it from there. We were looking for opportunities to introduce some of the young fellas as the match went on but it really didn’t transpire, with the exception of John Conlon. We’d have liked to have used Caimin Mo- rey but he has the flu with the last two weeks.”

With regard to the omission of the injured Niall Gilligan, he said on an- other day he might have been risked.

“If this was the championship, maybe we’d have forced Niall out to play. On a day like this, we took the caution of not playing him.”

And the goals’?

“They were unusual things. We got some of those breaks last year, so we’ll take the bad with the good. We’ll mix it all up. They come and they go. We would have to look at it ayer HOO

“If we were Manchester United we’d look at it with in-depth analy- sis. We’d see where the goals came from. Maybe have a look at the pay- packets of some of them. We haven’t that luxury.”

And Waterford next week?

“Me old buddy Davy and myself back again. Maybe they’re in a deep- er hole than us. It’s a difficult thing to come away from an All Ireland final like that when you know you didn’t play well and the opposition played to the maximum. That’s a difficult thing.