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LIFFORD B asked their big broth- ers in the A set-up for a pre-season friendly last August — the story goes that the A team declined the invita- tion, but when they then went knock- ing on Rineanna Rovers’ door they were met with a more positive re- sponse.

Rineanna didn’t bring their strong- est side to the Fair Green for that friendly, but they fielded a team as they used it as an exercise to free the cobwebs after a summer of inactiv- ity.

Rineannna were taken aback by what greeted them — Second Divi- sion Lifford B had a huge squad out and beat their Premier Division op- ponents. The game itself will have no bearing on Saturday’s cup final, apart from the fact that Rineanna are certainly taking nothing for granted.

“You look at it,” says Rineanna Rov- ers manager Colm Ryan “and you see a Premier team against a First Divi- sion team. That makes us favourites in a lot of people’s eyes, but we’re looking on this as a 50/50 game. They’ve had some huge scalps along the way — Lifford A in the semi-final, Newmarket Celtic in the quarter-fi- nal and Mountshannon Celtic before that. We’re not taking them lightly, they’ ll be very confident coming into 1d aComeeeDoatemr-00(6 mI Mere] UNG mxO Mss 10 0(o) MAUR Val adds Ryan.

It’s not a case of Ryan talking up the Opposition, more a case of treading carefully as Rineanna Rovers stand on the brink of history. For years they’ve laboured in the shadows of illustrious neighbours — around them

Bunratty, Newtown and Newmar- ket Celtic have won league and cup titles, Rineanna have been close but the eternal bridesmaids.

“Last year in my first year as man- ager we reached the semi-final and went down 2-1 when Rock Rovers got a very late goal. Five of the squad were on the 1999 team that reached the final. They were Hugh Kelly, Pa Fahy, Brian Kelly, Declan Devitt and John Earls. They’ve been around a long time with the club and given great service. It’s been a long road back to the cup final for them.

“This year we’ve done well in cup competitions. We got to the last 16

of the Munster Junior Cup where we went down to Fairview Rangers by a goal, while the previous round we had a great win against Gran- ville. Hopefully that good cup form will continue for another day,” adds Raven

Ryan and everyone associated with the club are also hoping that front- line players like Stephen and Enda Kelly, Kieran Devitt and Daithi O’Connell will be able to play, even though they’re involved in Saturday’s senior hurling championship clash between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Wolfe Tones.

“There’s be a bit of a hullaba-

loo about the hurlers, but we can’t be worried about that,’ says Rayn. “When they’ve been available for training they’ve been with us. We have a squad of 20 players and hope- fully we will be ok. We have to con- centrate on the game.

“It’s going to be a great day. Being in a cup final is something to enjoy and hopefully we will come out on top. It’s going to be hard though.”

Cup finals generally are.

, that parts of Drumbiggle had been affected by the feud, Ferdie O’Donoghue of the Drumbiggle Residents Association, said the area had not experienced any problems. “In no way has it affected our area. We had our problems in the

past but the area is settled now. There are some small things, but they are the usual things that happen in any privately run council estates. If it does come to our area we will deal with in an appropriate manner.”

The Drumbiggle area covers over 300 houses in Clancy Park, Water- park Heights, Waterpark View, Wa- terpark Court, McHugh Villas, Rad- hare na hInse, Ard Carrig and Stone Court. Mr O’Donoghue said that the actions of a “small minority” had cre- ated difficulties for residents and had given some housing estates in Ennis,

“a bad name”.

He said, “We do have sympathy with the people living in Cloughleigh and what they have had to go through. It’s terrible what a small minority of people can do to an estate. I’m sure that the residents, the Gardai and En- nis Town Council are doing the best they can to sort out the problem. If there is anything that our residents groups can do to help them, we will be more than willing to help.”

Mr O’Donoghue continued, “It’s a small amount of people that are caus- ing the difficulties. It only takes one

or two people to give an estate a bad name. 99 per cent of the people liv- ing in estates around the town are law-abiding people. It 1s that one per cent that gives a place a bad name and that’s not a fair reflection of what a place is actually like. But that’s the way it is, | suppose. All it takes is one bad apple.

“It’s important that everyone works together, the residents, the council and the Gardai. But you’ll find that as estates get older, things start to settle down. Time is a healer for all these things,” said Mr O’Donoghue.

WITH only one round of the group stages remaining in the Under I4A championship, there are still two semi-final places up for grabs with Sixmilebridge, Clarecastle and In- agh/Kilnamona all vying for the coveted spots. St Joseph’s Doora/ Barefield and Eire Og have already oLereana(crel but Inagh/Kilnamona need to win both their final games against Eire Og and Clooney/Quin this week if they are to knock either the Bridge or the Magpies off their perch, If the Combo do manage to beat Eire Og on Wednesday, it will all come down to Friday’s games but crucially Sixmilebridge and Clarecastle are still in control of their own destiny and should they beat Clonlara and St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield respective- ly, they will automatically qualify for the knock-out stages.

The B championship semi-finalists have already been decided so it’s just a matter of jostling for positions for Feakle/Killanena, Cratloe, Scariff/ Ogonnelloe and Ballyea as they enter the final round of games this week- end. Feakle/Killanena take their per-

fect record to Scariff for what prom- ises to be the tie of the round against the Scariff/Ogonnelloe amalgama- tion while Cratloe and Ballyea take on bottom sides Crusheen/Tubber and O’Callaghan’s Mills/Bodyke re- spectively. All the semi-final places in the C championship are still up for grabs with the top seven sides still eligible to qualify with two rounds remaining.

Meanwhile in the D championship, Ogonnelloe eased past Eire Og’s sec- ond string in last Friday’s semi-final with a 4-5 to 0-2 win on home soil. Playing with the wind at their backs, the winners got off to an ideal start with early goals from Cian Fitzgerald Bradley and James Kiely and hold- ing the Townies scoreless for the en- tire half, they added two more goals before the break through Aaron Fit- zgerald Bradley to lead by 4-2 to 0-0. The second half was a much closer affair as both sets of defences domi- nated and this kept scoring chances to a minimum as Ogonnelloe eased into the final where they will meet St Breckan’s who edged a high scor- ing semi-final against Bodyke on a scoreline of 3-11 to 5-02.

Fleadh Nua 2009 gets underway

BurrenLIFE will continue but who will fund?

THERE’S a certain symmetry to 1996 that has caught the attention of Wolfe Tones’ Johnny Markham. Back in the mid-90s, when Clare hurling in general was riding the crest of a wave, Wolfe Tones made huge inroads in the domestic game.

In 1995, the year when the sport caught fire in this county, the club from Shannon picked up a Junior A title. It probably passed un-noticed in most hurling communities outside the airport town, which, consider- ing the summer that had just passed, wasn’t surprising.

The thing was, the club used that win not just as a foundation for the following season but used it as a springboard for the big prize.

Half a dozen players from that Jun- ior A winning side made the step up to the senior panel the following year and helped the club to their first ever county title.

This year, with a Junior A success behind them last season, Markham hopes the portents are favourable once more.

“Landing the Junior A last year certainly was a boost to us,” he says.

“Winning a title, no matter what level it’s at, does a couple of things. It gives players valuable experience in the latter stages of a competition and it gives them confidence as well. So we’re looking to bring through a few lads from last year’s Junior A side. We’d be hopeful of three or four making the move to senior and hav- ing a good championship this year.”

The Clare Cup has _ provided Markham with that platform. So far, he’s used a handful of last year’s Jun- ior As in the league and he’s been 1m- pressed with what he’s seen so far.

‘“That’s been our philosophy in the league, to bring those lads in and give them an opportunity, give them a chance to gain some more experi- ence. We didn’t start off too well in the league, but we’ve been steady since the first game. So yeah, I’d say we’ve found two or three guys who can add something to our team come the championship.”

Come this weekend, there will be a couple of notable absentees from the Wolfe Tones outfit. Given the trend towards emigration in Clare these past few months, most clubs have been affected 1n some way or another. Wolfe Tones are no differ-

ent but luckily, they’ve lost only one player to foreign soils, though it’s an influential one in the guise of Der- mot O’ Rourke.

Retirements have come by as well, Denis Riordan and Paul O’Rourke have hung up the boots and this year is the first in what seems like an age that Brian Lohan won’t tog out in the club colours.

“It’s almost impossible to replace a player of Brian’s standing,’ contin- ues Markham. “He’s been an inspi- ration and a leader to the lads on and off the field but it’s up to us to keep those qualities now. We have plenty of other lads who are well capable of being leaders and they’ll stand up and bring the younger lads through re) a

Though the club may have been quiet on the underage scene in recent times, Markham sees good work being done at root level, something which he says is both inspiring for the senior players and crucial to en- sure a conveyor belt of talent emerg- es to feed the senior teams down the line.

“We haven’t competed at some lev- els for a while, but there’s tremen- dous effort being put in, especially at

Under 8 and Under 10 level. And the hope is that this will put us in a posi- tion to get back to the top in terms of underage competition, where we feel we belong.”

As with any club, striking the bal- ance is the key — keeping a focus on the emerging talent and prodding the senior standard bearers forward. This year, a good run in the championship would ensure the younger members of the club will retain a strong focus themselves.

THE mountain may be in their way, but Clare will travel to Tralee on Wednesday with their climbing gear ready for action. Half of the starting 15 come from outside the traditional Western belt of football in Clare and as such, the green and gold jersey on its home patch should hold less fear.

“We’ve a confident bunch of play- ers and we’ve a Serious carrot dan- eling in front of us in that if we can beat Kerry, we’ll be playing football for the summer,’ says manager Colm Collins. “The bottom line from our perspective is that our lads go out and put in a performance that does justice to the dedication they’ve shown so far and to the talent that we know they have.”

That talent of which Collins speaks was seen most vividly in a stun- ning second-half performance in the opening round of the Munster championship against Waterford in Dungarvan. Clare showed heart and ability to see off the home side on a notoriously difficult ground to get a Kone 0 |

“Tt’s crucial to have that win under our belts,’ continues Collins. “For a couple of years the work was be- ing put in but the results just weren’t coming. So the Waterford game was good for morale and not just because we won, but because we put a decent score on the board.”

Since then, preparations have con- tinued for the Munster champion- ship, despite the encroachment of exams. And injuries have also begun to improve.

Collins confirmed that Micheal Malone, Seamus Lynch, Aidan Malone, Conor King and Jan Lyons are all on the bench for Wednesday evening’s game and are fit to play if called upon.

‘There’s no doubt that this is going to be a big step up for us. But our lads feel they’re as good as anybody else and that’s half the battle.”

THE likelihood of a Crusheen stop being included in the Western Rail Corridor now looks unlikely in the short term following the omission of a platform from a new planning ap- plication lodged by Iarnrod Eireann.

Late last month the rail company lodged a planning application with Clare County Council for the con- struction of a bridge over the Limer- ick-Galway Railway line at Crusheen along with a new agricultural access road, site clearance, earthworks, bridge and pavement construction.

The omission from this application of platform works now makes it very unlikely that Iarnrod Eireann plan to develop a stop in Crusheen in the near future.

The Crusheen stop on the Western Rail Corridor was mentioned at last month’s West on Track AGM and lo- cals are still hopeful that a stop will be introduced sooner or later.

“As far aS we are concerned the campaign continues. We keep in regular contact with the relevant authorities and ministers and at the moment there is no update on the sit- uation. But we are still hopeful,” said Mike O’Doherty, chairperson of the Crusheen Development Association.

“It was mentioned at the West on Track conference last month and we are committed to continuing the campaign. We do recognise that we are now in very different economic times than we were just a short time ago, but we also recognise that the

need for a stop at Crusheen has not declined.”

Last month the rail company indi- cated that it would be pressing for- ward with the instigation of the Gal- way to Ennis section of the rail line this summer, even if the Gort rail station is not completed on time.

Jarnrod Eireann later confirmed that it did expect the Gort station on time.

Meanwhile, a number of critical factors must be put in place over the coming months to ensure that the maximum number of passengers take-up the Western Rail Corridor.

According to Lisa McAllister, Chief Executive of the Western De- velopment Commission, quality park and ride facilities are essential to the Ube ENE eots

“Schedules and timetables must be devised to meet consumer demand. Quality rolling stock, good park and ride facilities, and creative pricing and effective marketing to promote the new rail services will be the final ingredients in delivering a service that caters for customer demand,” SJ alemcrenten

A WAR OF words has broken out between SkyCourt management and members of Shannon Town Council, over the shopping centre’s role in the St Patrick’s Day parade.

At a meeting of the local authority last month, criticism was levelled at SkyCourt, amid accusations that it had not done enough to support the parade. However, the manager of SkyCourt, Pat Kelly, hit back, in a letter to Shannon Town Clerk Tomas Mac Cormaic.

Describing the comments as “gross- ly unfair and disproportionate”, he said SkyCourt had shown huge com- mitment to the parade. He said it was “regrettable that some councillors felt it necessary to criticise SkyCourt management and staff in a severe and hurtful manner” and said that some councillors overreacted with “stinging attacks”. He said additional security staff and cleaners had been employed, while SkyCourt had or- ganised a gymnastics display in the town square.

Mr Kelly said that the parade was ‘arguably the most successful parade to date’, with record numbers — more than 10,000 — in attendance.

“T welcome the one and only con- structive comment from a councillor who suggested that we meet with the parade’s committee well in advance to iron out any difficulties that might arise 1n the future,’ he said.

The chairman of the parade com-

mittee, Cllr Greg Duff (Lab), said he would have preferred if there were no negative comments made after the parade, but in reality, issues did arise. He said the negativity was not just from councillors, as people in the town also expressed “disgust” at the lack of co-operation from SkyCourt. “SkyCourt will have to change their attitude. It’s not just this year or last year, but it’s consistently with who- ever is chairperson,” he said.

Cllr Geraldine Lambert (FF) said she regretted the fact that hurt was caused but said she stood by every- thing she said at the previous meet- ing, adding, “if the cap fits…” She said she had chaired the organising committee for five years, during

which time “we consistently had dif- ficulty getting a level of co-operation from SkyCourt and from Shannon Town Centre Ltd. We had no diffi- culty getting co-operation from the individual traders.”

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that she also stood by her earlier comments, saying SkyCourt man- agement should be thankful to the organisers of the parade for attract- ing huge crowds on the day. She said that Mr Kelly should be “bending over backwards and accepting that things were wrong, besides crying, whinging in the letter.”

Clir Sean Hillery (FF), who runs a business in SkyCourt, said the extra cleaners were paid for by the traders.

Ennis schools lose two principals