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NO sooner had the Tommy Murphy Cup landed in Clare in 2004 than David Russell was confonted by the first real crossroads of his foot- ball career. Approached by the then Clare senior manager John Kennedy, Russell along with fellow Clarecas- tle and county team-mate Stephen Hickey were advised that it would be in their best interests for their inter- county careers that they transfer to a senior club.

It was a predicament that Rus- sell had never pondered before. His family genes were firmly rooted in Clarecastle GAA throughout the gen- erations. His father Paschal had won four county hurling championships for the club throughout his distin- guished career but while David was a dual player, football was his first love and with the game constantly struggling to stay afloat in a pre- dominantly hurling dominated club, he decided to adhere to his mentor’s advise.

News of Kennedy’s counsel spread quickly and the pair were contacted by Eire Og player-manager James Hanrahan who made it clear that they would be welcome at the En- nis club. So after much deliberation and banter from both sides, Russell, Hickey along with two others trans-

ferred across the rival divide to their near neighbours. ; ;

Russell knew a lot of the Eire Og players through his soccer con- nections and had played with Alan Malone and Cathal Shannon at county minor and Under 21 level but integration was still initally difficult but after a couple of games, even the most stubborn panelists were convinced that the newcomers were pulling in the same direction.

The key galvanising moment for Russell came in his first champi- onship season in the quarter-final of 2005 when Doonbeg knocked them out of the championship. Due to sickness, Russell didn’t play that day but watching from the sideline, he observed a different perspective, principally the aversion towards the townies by their rivals and it had a unforgetable effect on him. In fact he attributes a lot of the credit of their county final success a year later to that game as the players realised they needed to become a more resilient side if they were to finally make the breakthrough.

‘2006 was definitely a knock-on ef- fect from 2005. I realised how much most other teams had a distaste for the club and considered us soft

touches and we had a meeting only a week after the Doonbeg game and decided that we were going to have to be a stronger, fitter and harder team in 2006. And it showed as we went through the championship unbeaten and won the county final to cap off a Super year.”

Russell was a mainstay in _ that championship winning side, starting all seven games at wing-back but that elation turned to frustration last year. He was forced to sit out the majority of the championship after rupturing his medial ligament in the Clare Cup Soccer final while playing for Av- enue Utd.

“It was the worst injury I have ever had. I was out for four months and to stand on the sideline along with Michael O’Regan and Mark Kelly it was so frustrating. Fair play to the rest of the lads, the team did very well to win tough games and reach the final and I did make an appear- ance at half-time 1n the decider but it wasn’t meant to be. Personally, from the highs of 2006 to the very lows of 2007, that has really made me more determined this year and hopefully I can remain injury free and move on for 2008.”

From being a blow-in four years

ago, Russell is now captain of the side for the year, a position he could never envisaged when he first arrived at the club.

‘remember our manager Leo Ryan called me over six weeks ago and told me he would like to make me captain and even though I am from Clarecastle and had all my tuition in Clarecastle, it was one of my proud- est moments. To be able to follow the likes of Alan Malone, Peter Cosgrove and Shane Daniels last year is a huge thrill and I’m just looking forward to the first championship game. The league has never been a top priority in the club, the championship has always been where we perform and after getting to the final two years in succession and only losing one match in fourteen proves our pedigree. The motivation is back and the hunger is back to atone for 2007.”

Clarecastle men Russell and Hick- ey have played an integral part in that championship consistency. Maybe there’s some truth in the old magpie saying that ‘one’s for sorrow, two’s for joy’.

THE evolutionary rise of Ennisty- mon in recent years has not only been fueled by their senior status, the foundation for the club’s newfound optimism also lies in their emerg- ing underage structure that has borne fruit over the last eighteen months. With many clubs struggling for num- bers in the modern climate, Ennisty- mon realised that restructuring was necessary at underage level in order to pay dividends for the future of the club as a whole.

Relegation from senior in 2004 was one of the sparks that jolted the club into action but crucially, they bounced back immediately to the top flight the folowing year and since then, the young senior side has pro- gressed with every passing year.

In addition, the groundwork done by Minor board Chairman JJ Crowe and his predecessor Conor Fitzgerald at underage level means that all the signs are positive for the future of the club.

2007 was a fitting return for all the behind-the-scenes work done in the club. In the adult ranks, they con- tested three finals at junior B, senior B and Under 21B and although the latter was their only success, the club

are quite content that they are mov- ing in the right direction. But it is at underage level that the rewards are finally being reaped. Ennistymon captured both the Under 12 and Mi- nor Division | titles last year but they also reached the penultimate stage of the Under 14 and Under 16 Division 2 championships. They have already contested the Under 16 Division two final this year and reached the Under 12 semi-final, as well as being un- beaten so far in the Under 14 cham- pionship. So what have been the key factors in this tranformation?

“First of all, we have very good structures in place” explains Minor Board chairman JJ Crowe, “and have a very good group involved from un- der 8 to minor. Every Wednesday, the under 8’s and under 10’s train and we could have sixty children in the field and that goes on from the first of May to the end of September. The club has done tremendously well at underage in recent years and each team is well organised. We also bring in outside coaches for teams at certain intervals to freshen teams up and we also get great support from the parents.”

“One major plus to us is that we have our own field and dressing

rooms now and that has given us a base to develop at all levels. I feel that overall the standards have im- proved immensely. The effort is be- ing put in and every team is com- petitive whether it is division one or division two and the fact that we have our own clubhouse and grounds, pro- viding a meeting place for everyone is a major help.”

The Minor Championship was the most celebrated title as it is the flagship event at underage level and Crowe admits that due to the con- tinuous success that their opponents in the final, Kilmurry/Ibrickane have had in recent years, winning that de- cider was a considerable accomplish- ment.

‘The minor victory gave us a great lift altogether. We were underdogs all the way but we still felt it could be our year and beating Kilmurry/ Ibrickane in the final was a major achievement for the club because we have so much respect for them for all their success at underage level. They are the model and they have been for the last ten or twelve years.”

Still, underage titles are no guaran- tee of adult success in the future but Crowe feels that the proper frame-

work is now in place right through- out the club and that all augers well for the senior side to make a major impact on the championship in the next few years

“It is a very young senior team and now you are going to have 15 or 18 new players boosting the senior panel after this year. All of them are very good footballers and we also provid- ed the captain of the county minor team Michael McDonagh.

“In our minor side last year, we had twelve players who were under 17 so I think it 1s going to take three or four years before we hit the senior championship with a serious chance of winning it.”

Qualifying from the group will be the senior’s initial aim in this year’s championship. If they can achieve that feat, it would be the first time that the club has qualified for a quar- ter-final since the group stages were introduced. It would be a significant step in their overall development plan and set the standard for their up and coming talent to emulate.

THE deposit for the purchase of the €1.4 million Inis Cathaigh site in Kilrush has not yet been paid by the local authority.

In answers to a series of questions posed by Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) relating to the purchase of the controversial site for new civic buildings, Kilrush Town Manager, Bernadette Kinsella said the council must first wait for the legal formall- ties to be completed.

“As is standard in property con- veyancing practice the acquisition is subject to contract and the legal formalities/checks are currently in train,’ she said.

These aspects are being dealt with by Clare County Council’s legal ad- visor, John Shaw of Michael Houli- han and Partners, Ennis.

The town manager said that work began on locating possible sites as far back as 13 years ago, and “some 17 sites in all have been considered by various administrations over the years’.

Those included were new build, greenfield and brownfield sites, re- furbishmet and lease buy options.

“More recently multiple possible options were narrowed down to four. The decision on the Inis Cathaigh site was made after having received

full professional feasibility and fi- nancial advice in various options at the following four different locations – Place de Plouzane, land at the rear of Pound Street, lease purchase op- tion and the Inis Cathaigh site.”

“The decision to purchase the site for a sum of €1.4 million was tak- en in May by the managers of both council’s following due consideration of the professional advice received. This is normal practice in local au- thority land acquisition. You will ap- preciate that for transactions of this nature it would not be appropriate to have discussions with individual members in advance,” she said.

The offer on the .49 acres Inis Ca- thaigh site was made on behalf of the council by valuer Paddy Browne and Associates.

Ms Kinsella said that she has no data available that corresponds with an offer of “7,000 square feet for €1.6 million at Quay Mills’, bought up by Cllr McMahon Jones.

“A lease buyout option was one of which professional advice was received. In considering the rela- tive merit of a lease buy out option, pricing and space data was provided by the developer of Quay Mills and clarification of the data provided was sought and received by our agent in respect of a lease buyout option at that location,’ she said.

WHEN, in the late °90s, Kilmurry Ibrickane finally found a field to call their own they set about filling the place with footballers.

The pitch established Kilmurry as a fixed presence in the community. Then they needed to recruit. Coach- es were dispatched to the five schools that serviced the parish — Quilty, Mullagh, Coore, Annagh and Scro- ude

Emphasis was placed on nurtur- ing talent and developing individual skills. Drills were devised to enhance peripheral vision and teach the value of touch and control.

The initiative was driven by men like Michael Talty, and then minor club chairman Pat Murrihy.

In the schools Murrihy and Talty found principals like Michael Brack- en (Quilty), Sean McMahon (Mul- lagh), David Dillon (Coore) who shared their enthusiasm for football. The road to success, like so many in the GAA, would start in school.

“When? – there was never a ques- tion of what time’, says Pat Murrihy who for almost 20 years now has coached underage teams in Kilmur- ry Ibrickane. “You could go in there at nine in the morning and take two classes out. That was a big, big help to the club and one complimented the other.”

A population explosion meant the schools were full of kids who wanted to play ball in the big new field. The schools won tournaments and the kids drifted, like a conveyor belt, into the club. The skills learned were implemented on the pitch and suc- cess inevitably followed.

In 1992, Kilmurry won their first under 12 title in 27 years. The club knew they were on to a good thing. There were other milestones, other signs the future would be bright.

‘Every year after that our underage structure got stronger. We started to win A titles,” says Murrihy. “We ac- tually won the under 14 Féile in Clare in 1999 and we won the under 14 championship for the first time in 27 years. That was a very good side now. The All-Ireland division one winners at the time were Salthill, they beat us by three points. They went on and won the division one title. The fol- lowing year we actually won Féile in Croke Park against Baltinglass with Shane Hickey, Noel Downes, Keith King, Martin McMahon’.

Minor A titles followed in 2002,

2003 and 2004 but it is the club’s phenomenal record at under 21 level (nine titles between 1995-2007) that is the real legacy of the work done in the early 90s.

“When won our minor champion- ships and 21s, we could always call on at least 8 of the age. Once you have seven or eight guys on the age, that’s a big thing, its easy fill the spaces after that.”

Parallel to Kilmurry’s rise at minor and under 21, was the club’s ascent at senior level. The two streams con- verged gloriously in ‘O04 when they won county and Munster titles.

Kilmurry maintained their stran- glehold on the under 21 champion- ship after 2004 even as the senior side struggled. Kilmurry were beaten in the 2005 senior decider by Kilkee, but in the last two years have failed to qualify for the knock out stages.

“What happened after 2004 is we lost probably the spine of our team. Aidan Moloney, Martin Cahill, Martin Keavey, all these guys,” says Murrihy, “I don’t care what team you are, but you don’t replace them over

night. I like the look the Kilmurry now. I like the attitude, there 1s a de- sire and a hunger there now”.

Less people live, or have reason to live in West Clare, than was the case in the early 90s and Kilmurry and the schools are feeling the effects. The number of children attending Quilty National School, for example, hovers around the 50 mark. 10 years ago that number stood closer to 140.

But Murrihy and Kilmurry Ibrick- ane persevere. The club won the under 12 B title this year and could have gone further.

“We were only a kick of the ball away from going into the A final. Lissycasey beat us in our division. We had 14 wides against Lissycasey and they beat us by three points”, says Murrihy ruefully.

“But, look it, it just shows we are progressing nicely, and its now the work begins”. And the cycle contin- Wen

TWO directors of a Sixmilebridge- based company have been ordered to reconstruct a house on the village’s main street that they demolished without planning permission.

Clare County Council issued a warning letter under the Planning and Development Act to Patrick and Evonne Costello of Maxfern Ltd., Shannon Road, Sixmilebridge.

The council has told the two that it considers the demolition of a dwell- ing house at Main Street, Sixmiulebri- dge to be unauthorised as it does not have the benefit of planning permis- sion and does not constitute exempt- ed development.

The council is demanding that the two reconstruct the house as per the original design and to the satisfac- tion of the council.

It is understood that the house was demolished adjacent to the bow way entrance to a development of four apartments and two shop units for which Mr Costello secured planning permission for in 2005.

The council has stated that before works commence on reconstructing the house, they are required to sub- mit a set of drawings showing the proposed reconstruction works, a schedule of all materials to be used in the reconstruction works and a works schedule and timeframe for the completion of the works.

The council is also demanding that the two carry out all remedial works to ensure the satisfactory reinstate-

ment of the adjoining property to the west of the site.

The council is also seeking that the Costellos employ a chartered struc- tural engineer to supervise all works to the adjoining property.

‘In the event that the unauthorised development is continued, the coun- cil may issue an enforcement notice. In this regard, officials of the council may at all reasonable times enter on

the land for the purpose of carrying out inspection.

“You may make submissions or observations in writing to the coun- cil regarding the matter within four weeks from the date of this letter.”

In the warning letter, the council warn that a person who is guilty of an offence shall be liable on summa- ry conviction to a fine not exceeding a Oe

A spokesman for the council said yesterday that Mr Costello had made oy nL eKel Ma o1 00MM eComexeLEDe Les 0 mr-TO(CME- Wp Oeletel ing was going to take place between the two sides to identify a way for- FN KOB

WE find Lissycasey poised and primed, ready for battle, prepared to defend their title. They’ve heard the word going around the county, that they’ve had a poor league, that they’re going to struggle to keep Jack Daly in the paish.

The former, they know themselves. They don’t need telling on that front. The latter? Well, they’ve plenty to say about that but they’ll keep their powder dry and allow their football do the talking between the white Thee

We find last year’s captain renewed and refreshed on the eve of the cham- pionship. James Kelly says that plen- ty has changed in Lissycasey over the past eight months. A first champion- ship tends to do such things.

There’s more enthusiasm at the club, he says. More motivation among the players, particularly the younger members of the senior panel.

“On top of that,” he adds, “there’s

a great buzz among the underage teams.” You want knock-on effects from a championship win and there they are. Foundations being built for the future, seeds being sown. For a small parish with a growing popu- lation — particularly among young families — the story of 2007 may have great consequences.

But for now, that tale is put to bed. Last year is done with. It’s time for a new page.

‘This year 1s all that matters now,” says Kelly. “Even though the seniors aren’t playing well, the champion- ship is a different story. That’s what it’s all about. We didn’t go well in the league but got to the final of the O’Gorman Cup and didn’t play well in that game either. Right now we’re preparing to get off the ground in the championship.”

From the very start of the year, Kelly felt the opposition treated Lis- sycasey differently. Carrying the tag of champions, teams were more fo- CLUSTor6 Me-Nee- UOT] MNOS OO PMRAOLoATABE-DESCoLO Mm NO COEN

game. It comes with the territory though, it’s the sideshow that win- ning the league and championship brings.

“This year, instead of playing 100%, we’ll have to play 120% be- cause teams will be trying even harder against us this year. Every team will be out to beat us as we’re up there as county champions and it’s something you’d even notice during the league.”

Speaking of which, things have changed slightly since then. James Murrihy came in as trainer at the be- ginning of the season and has since been replaced. Has that had an effect on championship preparation?

“Not really,” says Kelly, “because it’s still basically the same training. James 1s preparing for the Olympics at the moment [he plays for the Irish soccer team] and he couldn’t stay on with us. But from our point of view, it’s still basically the same train- ing and there’s a good atmosphere there.”

Other changes have come about as well. Martin Daly, man of the match in the final last October, has come on board as part of the management and Michael Slowey, an influential addi- tion to the club for last year’s cam- paign, has departed.

Two big names missing from the forwards, but Kelly reckons Lissyca- sey have the talent to push on.

‘“There’s a lot of young lads there this year from 17 and 18 years of age upwards. I’m talking about the likes of Francis Hayes who was coming along last year — he’ll be just one trying to cement a position for them- selves. A lot of the up and coming players are actually forwards. Fair enough, we’re missing the two boys but there’s plenty of competition.

‘In general, there’s good competi- tion for places and that’s positive because it should push fellas on. The young lads coming in will drive on the older lads to try and hold their place and we’ll have to all fight to keep our place on the team. Things seem to be coming together right now so hopefully once the champi- onship comes around, we’ll all be ready for road.

“We’ll be in there with a shout.”

THE number of adults unemployed in Clare has jumped by more than one third in the last year, and by 9.3 per cent in the past month accord- ing to figures released by the Central Statistic Office.

As many as 5,505 people were sign- ing on last month in County Clare, 1,375 people more than during the same month last year.

The number of people on the live register in the Tulla area has in- creased by as much as 52 per cent from June 2007 to last month.

Unemployment in Ennistymon has increased by 40 per cent with 806 people signing on the register.

In the county town of Ennis there are now 32 per cent more people un- employed than this time last year, as 3,293 people are signing on.

In Kilrush the unemployment in- crease is the lowest in the county, but it has still increased by almost 20 per cent.

There are now some 1,067 more men unemployed in the county than i (eyenles tb

Fine Gael TD Pat Breen said this was only the tip of the iceberg with more Clare workers set to join the dole queues over the coming months.

“For the past twelve months jobs have been haemorrhaging from County Clare however in spite of nu- merous warnings this Government have sat idly by while the crisis de-

veloped,” he said.

“Unemployment in Clare has grown by 33.3 per cent in the year from June 2007 to June 2008 and especially worrying is the fact that the number of those unemployed under 25 has increased by 46.6 per cent from 759 in June 2007 to 1,113 in June 2008,” the TD added.

“The truth is that ordinary workers are bearing the brunt of this Govern- ments economic ineptitude and this is especially true here in County Clare. We are also now witnessing how the lack of connectivity from Shannon to

London Heathrow is adding substan- tial costs to local businesses as a re- sult of the Government’s failure to act to secure the service,” he said.

“My call for a regional strategy to address this crisis has fallen on deaf ears. In fact this Government has sleepwalked it’s way through much of this crisis. Next week following months of not recognising that there is a crisis, the Government will out- line to the Dail how they intend to deal with the current crisis.”

ENNIS based politician Paul O’Shea is heading for Baghdad to take up a humanitarian mission with the Unit- ed Nations.

Mr. O’Shea, who is standing as a Labour party candidate for next year’s local elections in Ennis, de- parted for Jordan on Sunday.

He will travel to Iraq this week to work on a humanitarian mission with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Mr O’Shea, who is a member of the Department of For- eigen Affairs, Rapid Response Corps is to be the first Irish aid worker to be deployed with UNICEF. Mr O’Shea will spend six months working in the region.

The Rapid Response Corp is part

of an additional initiative designed to respond to emergencies. There are currently 10 Irish members deployed in Ethiopia, Kenya, Darfur, Demo- cratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka and Iraq.

There are an additional 50 people with specific skills on the register who are trained to respond to emer- gencies who are ready to be deployed within 72 hours.

Mr O’Shea will work as part of the child protection unit aimed at reach- ing out of school children, youth, working children, street children and other vulnerable children. Working with Iraq ministries in Baghdad and Erbil as well as non governmental organisations and local partners, the project aims to get children back into to educational programmes.

In co-ordination with a rehabili- tation team, UNICEF will provide necessary school equipment, teach- ing materials, health and hygiene kits. Mr. O’Shea completed a two week security awareness training programme organised by defence forces at the United Nations Training School at the Curragh.

The programme included a naviga- tion and radio communication, 4×4 driving, hostage taking, land mine clearance and first aid.

Despite working in politically un- stable regions, Mr O’Shea admits Baghdad will be a totally new ex- perience. He said, “This will be my first mission to the middle east, hav- ing worked in Africa and South East Asia for a number of years. I expect it will be very different culturally”.

The situation in Iraq has calmed somewhat in recent months though Mr O’Shea and other members of the UNICEF mission will receive armed escort when traveling around the oltielsa’s

Mr O’Shea said the training he re- ceived in the Curragh was first class and but is hoping he won’t have to put all of his new skills into practice.

“It was very good and pretty inten- sive. We were given courses in four wheel drive, communications, sat nav even hostage taking. Obviously I’m hoping not to encounter any situ- ation like that. But definitely, it will be an interesting experience”.

Mr O’Shea also recently worked in Kosovo as the Irish long term elec- tion observer with the council of Eu- rope.

ENNIS student Noel Whelan has won the engineering award at the 3rd annual Wood Marketing Awards held in Enfield.

Noel represented Galway/Mayo IT Letterfrack with the project entitled ‘When Ash Meets Cowhide’. His project addresses the current prob- lems faced by hurley makers in the country and it is aimed at finding solutions to ensure that GAA hur- ley manufacturing industry remains in Ireland, tackling the problem of insufficient native ash supplies and high labour costs.

Noel was presented with his award by RTE presenter Duncan Stewart.

Reaching the final represented a ma- jor achievement for Noel given that over 100 projects were entered in the three categories of engineering, ar- chitecture and design by third level students from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. A sec- ond project presented by a County Clare student made it to this year’s jnbeeeD Ese

Cork IT student Seamus Moroney, from Clogher, O’Callaghan Mills, was short-listed for his project “Mo- ment Connections in Timber con- struction’, in the engineering section. Fifteen Students were drawn for the finals from universities nationwide, including DIT Mountjoy Square Dublin, Bray PLC, Southern Region-

al College Lurgan, Galway Mayo In- stitute of Technology, NUIG, Queens University Belfast, Cork IT, UCD and the University of Ulster Jordan- stown.

Speaking at the awards, Duncan Stewart spoke of the high standard of entries which had been received and thanked the WMF, all the students and their lecturers for their commit- ment to the competition.

“This year’s competition has been incredible. We have seen 15 projects at a very high standard and all the projects here today deserve to be winners,” he said.

The students assembled at the start of the day and set up their presenta- tion stands. Models were created by

all teams and these were backed up by PowerPoint presentations and Al posters and other supporting litera- ture.

The students were interviewed for RTE’s Nationwide during the day with the actual award ceremony tak- ing place at 3.30pm. The WME in- stituted this all-Ireland award to pro- mote the use of wood as a design and building material.

AN Ennis man’s mission to climb some of Ireland’s highest peaks has raised over €7/7,000 for cancer re- search.

Jim McMahon from Ennis along with Chris Whythcombe, living in Tulla but originally from Kerry un- dertook the The reeks challenge in Kerry.

This challenge took place in mAT and consisted of climbing the 10 peaks in the McGillycuddy Reeks in County Kerry.

The purpose of the climb was to raise funds for The Friend’s of St.Luke’s Hospital for cancer cure,

control and care.

The climb raised €7,700 and the cheque for same was presented to a representative of St.Luke’s in Ennis on last Friday.

At the presentation the climbers thanked all those who contributed to the fund and paid special thanks to Jacko McMahon who organised two major fundraising events, a soc- cer match and a motor bike night. Thanks was expressed to Avenue United FC, Wheels within Wheels Motorbike project and Clare Adult Education Centre for assisting with these events.

The two me also helped organised a series of other events in prepartion

for the challenge such as the Wheels Within Wheels motorbike project.

The event included information on bike building, racing, grass track rac- ing and motorcross racing. Speakers at the event included Keith Meere, a local successful motorbike racer, Clinton Tully, chairman of the Shan- nonside Offroad Club, who spoke on motorcross and grasstrack, and Pas- cal Shanahan explained the process of bike building.

The Friends of St Luke’s Hospital was established to raise funds to en- hance the care, comfort and manage- ment of cancer patients at St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin. 27 years later the hospital has a vibrant network of

supports all over Ireland. St Lukes depend entirely on the goodwill of the people of Ireland who work tire- lessly to raise funds for the hospital. To date over €25million has been raised. The goals remain the same and that is to generate the funds to ensure that St Luke’s Hospital con- tinues to be a warm, friendly, com- fortable and well-equipped facility for patients to undergo treatment in achieving a cure for their cancer.

Mr McMahon said he was delight- ed to be able raise money for such a worthy cause. “It was tough alright, but worth it in the end. It was great to be able to help out St Lukes, which does fantastic work for people”.