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THREE Clare-based organisations claimed three of the top prizes at the National Glor na nGael awards in Donegal at the weekend.

The Ennis-based An Clar as Gaeilge was awarded third place at the ceremony in Gaoth Dobhair.

The Shannon-based Club na Sionna Irish language group won the Herit- age Council Award while local sta- tion Clare FM won the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland award for the local commercial radio station that best promoted Irish in its broadcast- ing schedule.

Speaking after the presenta- tion, Breandan MacFhionnghaile, Oifigeach Forbartha An Clar as Gaeilge Teo, which co-ordinates the competition in Ennis, said that the award was a reflection of the work that was being done to promote Irish as part of everyday life.

“The response from so many com- munity groups and statutory organi- sation has been so positive and this reflects in the success we have had in the national competition in recent years” he said. “It 1s a tribute to the hard work of the many groups that are affiliated to and support the En- nis Glor na nGael Committee, this is a true community award,’ he con- LiKe (ere

The award for An Clar as Gaeilge caps a busy month for the organisa- tion and comes two years after it won the overall Glor na nGael national AMEN KOE

Seachtain na Gaeilge, which was launched back on March 2, was ex- tended to the end of the month to take in the Féile na hInse prizewin- ners concert, which was held in Cois na hAbhna on Sunday night last.

Club na Sionna won a Heritage Council Award worth €1,500 in recognition of the committee’s work on place-names and its publication ‘Know Your Place’, which has been so popular that it is now on its third print run.

The awards were presented jointly by Liam O Maolmhichil and Liam O Cuinneagain, Cathaoirligh of Foras na Gaeilge and Udaras na Gaeltachta respectively.

Speaking at the event, Glor na nGael director, Lorcan Mac Gabhann said, “I want to congratulate Club na Sion- na on receiving their award tonight –

a great recognition for the committee and for Shannon.”

Paul Moriarty, Controller of Pro- grammes in Clare FM, said he was proud to accept the BCI Award on behalf of the radio station.

“All the staff, in both management and presentation, worked hard togeth- er to achieve this award and it shows how a co-ordinated approach can be so successful and this is something we will continue to develop within Clare FM,” he said.

CLARE’S impressive start to the year finally reaped the deserved re- wards on Sunday but they had to dig deep before finally claiming their first points of the campaign. Admi- rable displays against Tipperary and Kilkenny yielded only moral victo- ries but this time, their hard work and perseverance paid off with a confidence-boosting win ahead of their senior championship return.

Far from being comfortable though, Clare’s good work in build- ing up a five point advantage by the 49th minute was almost undone in the final moments but a combina- tion of stubborn defending and some inspired goalkeeping from Denise Lynch meant that Clare held on for the narrowest of victories.

With neither side picking up any points in their opening two games, both sides would have fancied their chances of taking all the points here and it was Dublin who started bet- ter with Sarah Ryan having the ball in Clare’s net as early as the second minute.

It took six minutes for Clare to fi- nally get off the mark when the lively Carina Roseingrave palmed a point but it was cancelled out almost im- mediately by Alison Maguire and despite playing into the conditions, Dublin appeared sharper.

Clare though, true to recent form, finally settled and holding their op- ponents scoreless for the next 22 minutes, they hit 1-3 without reply with Claire Commane grabbing the

goal and Shonagh Enright, Carina Roseingrave and Sharon O’Loughlin adding points. It could have been more only for Dublin goalkeeper Eimear Butler, who produced an ex- cellent save to deny Deirdre Murphy in the 16th minute as Clare led by 1-4

to 1-2 at the break.

GENK cicoms re) asrureUhaptiMss(omelu hie ing seat but on the restart, three wides in aS many minutes frustrated them and gave Dublin hope, espe- cially when Joeleen Hoary pointed for in the 32nd minute. In a see-saw

period, a brace of points from Sha- ron McMahon sandwiched another Hoary score and goalkeeper Butler also denied Carina Roseingrave be- fore Shonagh Enright pushed Clare three points clear with a free at the turn of the final quarter.

Debutant Rachel Costelloe did reply with a point but Clare got a signifi- cant shot in the arm when a defensive lapse saw Carina Roseingrave pick up the break and grab a goal and now five clear with only eleven minutes remaining, Clare looked to be head- ing for a comfortable victory.

Instead, Clare failed to register an- other score as Dublin hit them with everything in their armory for the remainder. In the 54th minute, Clare had to twice clear off the line after a Niamh Taylor long free was dropped into the square but the Dubs finally made the breakthrough when Anne Griffin offloaded to Alison Maguire who made no mistake with a shot to the Clare net.

Clare were beginning to creak for the first time and Amy Murphy al- most took full advantage but Den- ise Lynch stood up to the effort to maintain Clare’s slender two point lead. Unperturbed by that set-back, Dublin continued to lay siege on the Clare goal and it almost earned them a full reprieve when Alison Maguire was brought down for an injury time penalty but Ciara Lucey’s effort was saved for a “45. Lucey did point in the 63rd minute but time was against them and a thoroughly relieved Clare held on for the one point victory.

While there were no knock-out

places at stake, it was still a signifi- cant result as a third successive defeat could have been a real set-back for Bertie Sherlock’s side. However, hav- ing ground out a much needed win, Clare can now approach the champi- onship with optimism and won’t be overawed by the tough challenges of last year’s All-Ireland senior finalists Galway, Limerick and Wexford.

KILMALEY are back in the final for the second successive year after finally seeing off the challenge of Whitegate on Saturday. However, in what was a repeat of last year’s semi- final, Kilmaley never had it easy and indeed were four points down mid- way through the second half after Michael Dooley had goaled for the east Clare side.

That Kilmaley finally prevailed was down to the contribution of Daire Keane, who for the second consecutive game, was inspirational for his side and managed to notch up 2-6 over the hour. With White- gate having the aid of the breeze in the first half, it took a spectacular Keane goal to pull his side level at 1- 3 to 0-6 at the break and again when things were looking bleak for Kilma- ley in the second half, he was there

again to flick to the net after getting on the end of a sideline cut into the area. That goal pushed Kilmaley two points ahead and further points from Eoin O’Malley and Michael O’Neill cemented the win and earned them a place in this year’s decider.

SCARIFF is expected to have a 24-hour ambulance service by next Monday. As the county loses its 24- hour A&E services, it is expected to gain a round-the-clock ambulance service for the east of the county.

According to Fianna Fail TD Tim- my Dooley, the long awaited 24-hour service is imminent. “I have consist- ently sought to have the service level upgraded to 24-hour-a-day service thereby eliminating the lack of cover from 7pm to midnight each day.

“Following protracted negotiation with the HSE and the Minister for Health, I am confident the service will be upgraded by April 6 as part of the increased deployment of am- bulance personnel in Clare,’ he said.

The purpose-built, state-of-the- art station in Scariff was opened in 2003, but since then it has opened for just 19 hours a day.

From 7pm to 12 midnight, the sta- tion closes. A series of campaigns lo- cally have been calling for the station to be open all night and all day.

Deputy Dooley said the upgrade of the station to 24 hours a day has come about thanks to the hard work of the HSE, the Minister for Health and the ambulance personnel. “It will take a lot of resources to bring the 24-7 service into place,” he said.

The east Clare deputy said, how- ever, that there will be “an element of on-call facilities” used to keep the service open 24 hours a day.

“This is a result of protracted dis- cussions for some time. A great debt of gratitude is owed to the local cam- paign group that worked so hard, and I would like to compliment Cora Long and her campaign members for their efforts.”

The Scariff ambulance serves a catchment area of 601 square kilo- metres, and a population of 9,220.

A HEAVY WEIGHT clash and it cer- tainly didn’t disappoint, going virtu- ally to the wire before Inagh-Kilna- mona edged home with four points to spare to assume favouritism for the 2009 Under 21A title.

The only real surprise was _ that Inagh-Kilnamona didn’t have a big- ger cushion at the end. When Sean McGonigley rattled the Newmar- ket-on-Fergus net in the 45th minute to put Inagh-Kilnamona ten clear it looked as if they’d freewheel into the semi-final.

McGonigley’s strike came 30 min- utes after Martin Barry’s goal had put Inagh-Kilnamona ahead for the first time. It was that half hour either side of half-time that won it for In- agh-Kilnamona — they put 3-9 up on the board, a tally that left Newmarket with too big a mountain to climb.

However, they still stoked up a barnstorming finish as Colin Ryan led the comeback charge with Eoin Hayes at his shoulder. In the end Rory Hickey’s final whistle couldn’t come quick enough for Inagh-Kil- namona who were grateful that Ni- all Arthur stemmed the tide towards their goal with two breakaway points near the end.

It never looked like coming to this for Inagh-Kilnamona once they set- tled into the game. They played with the aid of the strong breeze in the first half, but were slow to make the

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The Blues were first on the board with a Darren Duggan point and led O-3 to O-2 after ten minutes. Ger Arthur equalised in the 13th minute and then Inagh-Kilnamona hit the front two minutes later when Eamon Glynn’s long free was batted down into the path of Martin Barry whose low ground shot beat Ronan McCor-

netlee

It was the cue for some champagne hurling from Inagh-Kilnamona — they hit 1-4 in the next 11 minutes, the goal coming in the 19th from Damian Lafferty, while Conor Tier- ney stamped his class on proceedings with the four points.

The Blues did score a breakaway goal from Colin Ryan in the 27th

minute but still found themselves in arrears by double scores at the break — 2-8 to 1-4 for the Combo.

Points inside two minutes of the resumption from Conor Tierney and Damian Lafferty sign helped Inagh- Kilnamona serve notice, while a fur- ther 1-3 by the three quarter-stage had them coasting to success.

But credit the Blues, they never did

die and Colin Ryan’s goal in the 48th minute teed up a grandstand finish. The Blues thundered forward, look- ing for Ryan to pull victory from impending defeat and points by Eoin Hayes and Darren Duggan brought it back to a goal as the game entered PON LUUMYAnB bee ee

A goal would have saved the day, but it was Niall Arthur who had the final say to finally kill off the Blues’ challenge with a point in the Olst minute.

O’Curry’s made the long trip to a rain-soaked North Clare over the weekend and almost came away with the two points. In the end, they might have settled for a draw but with time running rapidly out on their chal- lenge and having missed a couple of chances to reel in St Breckan’s, O’Curry’s were presented with the chance to win the game.

In the final minute, Sean Haugh latched onto a ball close to goal. His shot was somehow kept out by Daniel Collins and his defence but in the en- suing confusion, O’Curry’s felt that they were entitled to a penalty kick.

Overall, though, referee John Han- nah was in control of proceedings at a wet and slippery Lisdoonvarna.

The conditions provided one of the main talking points in the game and playing with those conditions, St

Breckan’s set about creating a lead that would stand to them for the sec- ond-half.By the time they went in at the break, they had forged ahead into a three-point lead at O-5 to 0-2 and had done most of the running for the previous half hour.

O’Curry’s — who were missing influential midfielder Ger Quinlan — didn’t take that deficit lying down, however.

Thanks to some good work around

the middle of the field, they played themselves back into the game with Ollie Quinlan providing another di- mension going forward.

They had managed to limit St Bre- ckan’s to just two points over the sec- ond-half and had got back to within one point when Haugh had that shot on goal.

It didn’t ripple the net and O’Curry’s left North Clare without anything to show for the journey.

BOTH went into battle searching for their opening points of the campaign — in that regard both went home rela- tively happy as honours were shared in this Sunday afternoon encounter that saw the initiative ebb and flow both ways.

It was Kilrush who held all the aces in the first half when playing with the wind and at one stage they built up a commanding five-point lead, but a goal before half time and then an 1m- pressive second half display moved the Ennis side to win touching dis- tance of the two points.

They led by two points entering the final five minutes, but Kilrush de- served something from the game and hit back with late frees from man- of-the-match Alan Daly to secure a share of the spouls.

A point after three minutes of play from midfielder Donal O’Sullivan got the Shams off the mark — thereaf- ter they dominated and pinned Eire Og back into their own half for most of the 30 minutes.

The Townies did manage two breakaway points from __left-half- back Marty Whelan and corner for-

ward Darren O’Meara, but further Kilrush points from Alan Daly (2), Jim Young, Eoghan O’Kelly, Patrick Clancy and David Moran moved them 0-7 to 0-2 clear on the stroke of half-time.

There matters should have rested, but before half-time Tony Burke’s decision to play a ball that seemed to be going wide ended up with the concession of a penalty that Stephen Hickey, in his seasonal debut, ham-

mered to the net.

It gave the Townies a huge boost, something they built on in the second half as Darren O’Meara goal 13 min- utes into the second half to give them the lead. Alan Daly did knock over a

free for the Shams but two pointed frees from Stephen Hickey seemed to seal the points for the Townies en- tering the last five minutes.

That was until Alan Daly stepped up to get something for the Shams with two late frees, the second of which was the last kick of the game.

A 64-YEAR-OLD man has appeared in court, accused of eight alleged of- fences of a sexual nature.

The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of six charges of indecently assaulting a fe- male in the 1980s. He is also facing one charge of sexually assaulting the female in 1991.

He is also charged with indecently assaulting a male in the 1980s.

Garda Donna Egan told Ennis Dis- trict Court last Friday that she arrested the accused that morning and charged him with the alleged offences.

Defending solicitor Gearoid Howard was granted free legal aid. Inspector Michael Gallagher said there would be no objection to bail for the accused and sought an adjournment until May, for preparation of the book of evi- dence. A number of conditions were attached to the bail, including that the accused surrender his passport and re- side at his current address. He was or- dered to notify the State if he changes address in the interim.

Mr Howard said that as his client was an elderly man, it was important that the matter be advanced as early as possible. Judge Joseph Mangan re- manded the accused on bail, to re-ap- pear in court in May.

IT’S doubtful if Cusack Park in its storied 73-year history has witnessed anything quite like this. There was a lone piper and two drummers behind the wire on the near the Clare dugout — Mayfield and Blackpool boys they proudly proclaimed.

The drums were beating while the piper played, and talked as they tried to get on the other side of the wire. “Is Frank Murphy your boss,” the piper roared when Clare County Board officials moved quickly to close the gates from the VIP section onto the field.

The pipes stayed playing, and the drums stayed beating, as the May- field and Blackpool boys planned their next move.

Meanwhile, out on the field Con- sidine clasped Donal Og Cusack by one hand, and threw the other hand around him in congratulations. This

was Tony Considine, not stand-in Cork manager John Considine.

SURI ENC BNIBeIr DIEM che BWM lool! away explaining away a remarkable recovery. “A great win. Six points down, it was as if the lads made up their own minds that they were going to win. I had an armchair ride when they kicked into gear in the last ten minutes.

“TY couldn’t do much, I didn’t have to do much, the lads did the business. We had only two nights with them and in that limited time we couldn’t get them any fitter, any faster, we couldn’t do any hurling, couldn’t change any game plan — we just pulled them together.

“In fairness today the lads did what was required. They started badly in the second half, only one score in the first 15 minutes, but we found our rhythm near the end and maybe Clare took their foot off the pedal.”

Donal Og meanwhile was giv-

ing another interview, as was Ben O’Connor, while the drums and pipes could still be heard in the back- ground. “This is what we wanted,” said O’Connor. “We wanted to be hurling and playing the top teams in the country. This is the first step back, and, hopefully, we will be able to drive on from here. We don’t want to talk about it anymore. We are back doing what we want to do now, which is playing hurling.”

Then they moved off, but as they drew closer to the dressing room the noise grew louder. You guessed it — the drummers and pipers had breached the county board defences and were outside the Cork dressing Kelson

Others supporters were there too — forming a human tunnel to let Ben, Donal Og and Considine through. Roaring and backslapping as they travelled.

You could call it a tunnel of love.

THE mid-west branch of the Con- struction Industry Federation (which includes Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary) has backed a recovery plan put forward by construction employers to save jobs, generate in- creased government revenues and kick start economic recovery.

The CIF recently held an emergen- cy meeting that brought together all of the major construction employers, including the major material sup- pliers, representatives of the archi- tectural, engineering and surveying professions, major contractors and house builders.

Conor O’Connell from the CIF Mid-West Branch has outlined the key issues contained in the recovery plan drawn up by the CIF. According to O’Connell “infrastructure spend- ing 1s the key to saving jobs, increas- ing exchequer revenues and provid- ing a platform for economic recovery for the mid-west region.”

“In the mid-west, construction cur- rently employs in the region of 15,000 people directly, which is down by almost 10,000 people in two years. This does not include the thousands of people who are employed indi- rectly. The sector in the mid-west also supports thousands of induced jobs in the shops, restaurants etc. where construction workers spend WeCoJD MAYER Xo ee

“It was agreed as part of the recov- ery plan that urgent action is needed within the next month to protect these existing jobs. The prospect of thousands of job losses in construc- tion throughout the mid-west and the entire country is real unless the pipe- line of projects increases.”

“One of the major fears for con- struction employers in the mid- west region relates to infrastructure spending and the possibility of fur- ther cuts in labour intensive projects arising from the upcoming budget- ary measures.

It is the view of the mid-west Branch that this would be the en- tirely wrong thing to do from the economy’s perspective resulting in increased social welfare costs and undoing any savings from upcoming budgetary measures.”

“As it 1s, 75 per cent of infrastruc- ture spending is already committed to ongoing or contracted projects and even a minor cut in spending would mean that virtually no new projects will start over the coming months. In addition, spending on the pre-tender design, engineering and surveying has been significantly cut meaning a reduction in ready to go projects over the coming 12 months.”

‘Now is the time for the Govern- ment to take advantage of the com- petitive tendering environment and to place an emphasis on labour inten- sity and projects that are vital for the local economy in the long term.”

“Doing nothing is not an option for the economy. The cost of stimulat- ing the industry is less than the cost of doing nothing, including social welfare costs, loss of productivity and the wider recession caused by doing nothing.”