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A GROUP of volunteers and home- less people will camp out in Ennis this afternoon and tonight (Tuesday) to highlight the plight of the home- less in the county amid claims that the largest national provider of emer- gency accommodation for homeless men still refuses to recognise them.

Homeless Education Learning Project (HELP) was set up last year by local woman Josephine O’Brien and two others to provide support to the homeless in the town of En- nis. To date, the service has helped a number of Polish men and members of the Travelling community to find accommodation.

Ms O’Brien said yesterday, “It wouldn’t be fair to say that nothing is being done but not enough is being done for the homeless in Ennis or in County Clare. The biggest problem is the bureaucracy and the endless pro- cedures people have to go through to get help. Also, there is a huge lack of information and someone who has nowhere to sleep has no idea who to go to or who to contact.

‘No one wants to know the people we are dealing with, some of whom are foreign nationals. The people we deal with are the real homeless and no one wants to help them. We have been to the homeless forum at Clare County Council but they tell us that for someone to get accommodation they need a PPS number. But for someone to have a PPS number, they

have to have an address. It’s a catch- 22,’ Ms O’ Brien said.

Speaking about today’s planned ac- tion, Ms O’Brien said, “We are go- ing to camp out in the People’s Park near the Courthouse in Ennis today and tonight to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless in the county and the fact that not enough is being done to find places for them. There are about eight people sleeping on the streets in Ennis on any given night, while there are dozens more depending on friends and relatives on a night-to-night basis for some

place to sleep.”

According to Clare County Coun- cil’s Homeless Unit, “At present, emergency B&B accommodation may be provided where the accom- modation needs are immediate, acute and unforeseen. Assistance in sourc- ing private rented accommodation is given through the Homeless Unit.”

LIFFORD B march on after spring- ing a cup surprise against Mount- shannon Celtic on Sunday.

The Ennis side progressed to the quarter finals thanks to two assists from goalkeeper Joe Burke and two razor sharp finishes from Adrian McDonagh.

Admittedly, Lifford were helped along the way by some very careless defending from Mountshannon.

Having been the superior side throughout the second half, Lifford still hadn’t found a way through when their fortunes turned in un-ex- pected fashion.

Lifford goalkeeper Joe Burke launched a long kick out at the Mounthshanon back four in the 77th minute.

His opposite number, Christopher Jones, rushed out but failed to hold the ball. Lifford’s Adrian McDonagh drilled home from a tight angle to give his side the lead.

Six minutes later, Lifford had one foot in the quarterfinals. The second goal was almost a carbon copy of the first with McDonagh again latching onto Burke’s goal-kick to lift the ball into the net.

Mountshannon will be sick at be- ing knocked out in such elementary fashion. Both goals were prevent- able. But take nothing away from McDonagh. Both strikes were well executed and indicative of Lifford’s

Superior cutting edge upfront. The roots of Lifford’s victory are prob- ably to be found in the decision at half time to switch formation from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2.

First division Mounthshannon had given their second division oppo- nents a bit of run around in midfield in the first half. In response, Lifford manager Lenny Franks teamed Pa Mannion, Darren Daly and Adrian Walsh in the centre of the park with

instructions to shut down Mount- shannon’s passing game.

The move worked a treat. Lifford saw more of the ball and gradually took a grip on the game.

Mountshannon, even with Cathal and John Moloney working like de- mons in midfield, rarely troubled Lifford’s well-organised defence.

The east Clare side might reflect that they should have done better with their earlier chances. 18 minutes

had elapsed when Burke got down smartly to tip away Arthur Burzyn- ski’s low drive.

Burzynski flashed a half volley just over the cross bar soon after as Mountshannon raised the tempo. Lifford’s best chance of the half ar- rived when Francis Franks teed up Stephen McGuane who squeezed a shot away from five yards that was held by Jones. Q-0 at half time and it was Lifford who seized the initia-

tive thereafter. McGuane lifted over from a tight angle in the 48th minute before Darren Daly’s drive from 20 yards trailed just wide.

The home side were clearly on top and should have taken the lead in the 57th minute when McDonagh headed over from Eoghan Judge’s cross.

Burzynski made Burke work with a curling shot soon after. That was as good it got for Mounthshannon.

Minutes later Burke and McDon- agh teamed up to give Lifford the lead before the duo combined again to rubberstamp Lifford’s place in the quarter-finals and who knows, maybe a crack against their clubmates from Lifford A.

TRADING stalls at the Matchmak- ing Festival in Lisdoonvarna could be a thing of the past as Clare Coun- ty Council is preparing to severely curtail casual trading licences issued in the area this year and are to ex- amine a complete ban on traders in the square.

Following a proposal put forward at yesterday’s north Clare area meet- ing of Clare County Council, the lo-

cal authority is to arrange a meeting with local business people and the Gardai to discuss how to limit li- oiler

Speaking on the proposal, Cllr Ri- chard Nagle (FF), said that a number of tourists visiting Lisdoonvarna have had to leave their hotels in the middle of the night because of noise and disruption coming from the trad- ase

“The business community of the town need to be consulted on this.

There is a lot of noise and distur- bances from the traders and this is giving a very bad impression of Lis- doonvarna,” he said.

“T would propose that only a few licences should be given out and no licences be given in the area of the square. I know that visitors were so disturbed by the noise that they said that they would not come back to the town and demanded their money back for their accommodation.

“A meeting must take place with

the business people in Lisdoonvarna but it is important that the Gardai are at that meeting. In the past the Gardai have said that they are not in a position to move the people who are causing a nuisance on but under the new by-laws that does not seem to be the case.

“It seems that everyone who wants to come and park up in the middle of Lisdoonvarna has the right to do it. When there is an idea out there that there is no laws then people will treat

it as such.”

According to James Barry, Senior Staff Officer of the Ennistymon Area Office, new by-laws introduced last year mean that the council and the Gardai now have the power to drasti- cally reduce the number of licences and add a number of conditions to each license.

Despite this however, fortune tell- ers will be allowed to continue in Lisdoonvarna as they do not fall un- der the remit of the new by-laws.

BARON de Coubertin’s Olympic ideals of “Stronger, Faster, Higher” could well have been borrowed by the other Olympic on Sunday morn- ing — the Shannon version that is, as they sent shock waves around the county in dumping eight times cham- pions and competition favourites Av- enue United out of this year’s Clare Cup race.

“Everything clicked for us,” said manager Jason Stretton afterwards. “We put everything into it and it hap- pened for us,” added the former Clare Cup winner with Newtown.

Conversely, it didn’t happen for Avenue United as their roller coast- er form of the past month contin- ued over a depressing 90 minutes. Dumped out of the cup at the last 16 stage and facing an uphill battle to prevent Bunratty from claiming the league title, 1t could be another trophy-less year for the bluebloods of the Clare game.

Olympic, meanwhile, are now genuine contenders for the cup title, while they’re hot on the heels of cur- rent champions Rock Rovers in the promotion race out of Division 1.

This cup tie effectively turned seis- mically in Olympic’s favour in the first half — a chance missed at one end by Avenue and an amazing goal

down the other end by Olympic.

Opportunity knocked for the home side after 25 minutes when star at- tacker Mikey Mahony burst into the area — on another day Mahony would have applied a clinical finish, but on this day he was thwarted by Kieran McCarthy.

From Avenue’s point of view this miss was compounded 15 minutes later when Wayne Regan whipped a right footed inswinging corner from the left all the way into the top corner of the net beyond the flailing arms of Colin Smyth.

It was a hammer blow, but one Av-

enue looked like recovering from when they dominated the early ex- changes of the second half. Ten min- utes in Eamon O’Reilly was denied by the crossbar, while in the resulting scramble the ball was cleared off the line.

It was as close as Avenue came to

levelling things up — the Olympic defence in which Paul O’Connor and Jan Hogan were outstanding soaked up everything Avenue could throw at them before they broke out of de- fence and struck for the all-important second goal ten minutes from time.

With centre-forward James Fit- zgerald causing Avenue endless problems, a second goal was always likely, but in the end a mistake by Eamon O’Reilly let in Ray Quigley who skipped past a few defenders be- fore rolling the ball underneath Co- lin Smyth to book Olympic’s quarter- final place.

THE parents of Roman Vysochan, the Ukrainian teenager who was al- legedly stabbed to death in Corbally last year, were present in Limerick District Court yesterday where two people were charged with the murder of their son.

The 16-year-old was found dead at the entrance of Carraig Midhe on the night of May 10, 2008 after suc- cumbing to his injuries allegedly in- flicted at a house in the estate.

John O’Loughlin, 20, with address- es at Cecil Street and Carraig Midhe, and a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be identified, were charged with the murder of the teenager. The pair are also accused of assaulting another 16-year-old boy on the same date.

Detective Garda Enda Haugh from

Mayorstone Garda Station gave evi- dence of arresting Mr O’Loughlin at an address at Cecil Street at 7.50am yesterday morning. Det Garda Haugh told the court that the accused gave no reply to the charge when cau- tioned at Mayorstone Garda Station.

The 20-year-old was granted legal aid and John Devane was assigned his defence solicitor.

Detective Garda Kieran Crowley gave evidence of arresting the 17- year-old boy at 8.l5am at Bishop Street. The teenager also made no reply to the charge after caution.

He was also granted legal aid and Ted McCarthy was assigned his de- fence solicitor.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy remanded the pair in custody to appear before the court again this Thursday, March 26.

WITH their hopes of retaining their league title all but over, the cup now becomes the main priority for New- market Celtic. The ten times winners may not have been in the winners enclosure since 2000 but they eased their passage into the last eight on Sunday with a comfortable victory over Bridge Celtic B.

Off the back of two battling results against fellow title contenders Av- enue Utd and Lifford, and barring the shock of the tournament, New- market were always fancied to easily account for the third division side as they had already beaten Celtic’s first side in the previous round. However, it did given stand-in manager Paudie Cullinan the opportunity to test out some of his fringe players and they responded with an assured display.

Still, Bridge Celtic’s second string didn’t make it easy for their Premier Division opposition and while they never really looked like breaking the deadlock themselves, they did frus- trate Newmarket sufficiently in the first half. Had they held out until the break, it would have given them great confidence but a Keith Power goal just before half-time, finally settled Newmarket and from that point on, it was only damage limitation for the O’Briensbridge side.

Eased by that breakthrough goal, the floodgates opened for Newmar- ket in the second period with two Siullery headers and a second from

Power guiding them to a 4-0 advan- tage. Worse was to follow for Bridge Celtic when the impressive Sillery was taken down in the area and Sea- mus Considine converted the penalty and Newmarket’s Grand Slam Sun- day was completed when substitute Jimmy Houlihan grabbed the sixth.

With Avenue’s surprise exit to Shannon Olympic on Sunday, New- market are now installed amongst the favourites for this year’s Clare Cup along with Lifford and holders Rock Rovers. From here on in, it will come down to the luck of the Friday night’s draw as Newmarket look to secure some silverware out of the Tere) IF

A MAN whoarrived into court drunk and repeatedly interrupted the judge has been sent to prison for a week. Daniel Higgins (50), of Woodgrove, Cloughleigh, Ennis, was before En-

nis District Court on Friday, where he faced motoring charges.

After speaking loudly from the back of the courtroom while anoth- er case was being dealt with, Judge Joseph Mangan asked was Higgins intoxicated and was told by a garda

that he was.

The judge warned Higgins not to disrupt the court again and said he would find him in contempt if he did not desist.

A few minutes later, Higgins again interrupted, asking the judge, “Are

you going to deal with my case now’? All ‘m up for is driving the car. I was insured.”

Judge Mangan said, “I find you’re in contempt of court, the reason be- ing arriving in court intoxicated and persistently interrupting the court.”

He asked him did he want an op- portunity to purge his contempt and Higgins then apologised and was told to “sit down quietly”’.

However, moments later, he again interrupted, and was jailed for seven CRASS

BEFORE the game, Clare manager Bertie Sherlock probably would have gladly taken a six point reversal. Af- ter all, Kilkenny were the defending league champions and have captured three successive Minor A titles so the Toomevara native would have feared what a sizeable defeat could do to his fledging senior side.

In hindsight though, when pick- ing through the bones of the game, Clare will feel disappointed that they weren’t closer at the final whistle. For almost forty minutes, Clare more than matched the favourites and in- deed were 0-8 to O-5 ahead by the 36th minute, a healthy position that few could have predicted before the game.

However, Kilkenny’s experience fi- nally told and stretching their wings, they hit nine unanswered points in thirteen minutes to kill off any hint of an upset and although Clare brave- ly fought on, a 52nd minute Deirdre Delaney goal from distance finally put the final nail in Clare’s coffin.

It’s a shame really as for the second Successive week, Clare made their massive leap from junior to senior look relatively seamless. And also similar to the Tipperary game, they were level at O-5 to O-5 at the break and in fact, started the better with Deridre Murphy and Roisin McMa- hon putting Clare two points clear. McMahon’s unerring freetaking was the most pleasing aspect of this latest

Clare display, hitting nine points in total in an impressive performance.

Ann Dalton was equally as efficient from placed balls for Kilkenny and the two traded scores four times in the opening half to send the sides in level at the break.

Just as in the intermediate game, Clare used a third midfielder to pack up the centre and allow space inside for their two player full-forward line of Carina Roseingrave and Sharon O’Loughlin but that tactic only par- tially worked as Clare naively hit clearances straight down the centre to the unmarked Kelly Ann Cotterill at full-back. In fact, that tactic was actually to come back to haunt Clare

in the second half after Roising Mc- Mahon (2) and Ruth Kaiser had put Clare 0-8 to Q-5 in front.

Kilkenny copied Clare by bring- ing out Katie Power to the centre and with Clare unable to get the ball past half-way for the next fifteen minutes, Kilkenny overran Clare with nine consecutive scores, five from the stick of Dalton. At 0-14 to 0-8, Clare now needed a goal if they were to mount any sort of a fightback but similar to Sharon O’Loughlin’s first half ef- fort, a Deidre Muphy aerial double was not enough to beat the inspired Catriona Ryan in the Kilkenny goal. Instead it was Kilkenny who got the vital goal and it was a soft one re-

ally as Deirdre Delaney’s shot from distance was miscontrolled by goal- keeper Lynch. Roisin McMahon did reply with three frees but they were only consolation scores really and Kilkenny swiftly moved to the top of the group table with their second successive victory. Two encouraging displays for Clare but ultimately no points so far. Their game against the Dubs on the 29th will tell a lot more of what Clare have learned so far in their senior adventure.

PLEAS are being made in the Dail to extend time for tourism projects ap- plying for financial aid because the investors are being frozen out in the credit crunch.

Up to 30 schemes seeking tax breaks under the Mid-Shannon Tour- ism Investment Scheme were to have their applications completed by June 1 of this year.

But the credit squeeze means that most of those schemes cannot guar- antee their end of the funding, rul- ing them out of applying for the tax relief which has been built into their

oF Nerv E-haloyetcy

The Dail heard from Fine Gael TDs and senators in the mid-west that in- vestors are being hit in relation to their applications by the paralysis in the lending system.

The financial support announced in the 2007 budget was to provide tax breaks spread over seven years for new and refurbished tourism facili- ties other than accommodation.

It has been delayed for most of a year, going through the vetting proc- ess necessary with the EU.

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said it was ‘‘a major blow for those caught in the situation. It is lunacy to jeopardise

projects like these which have the potential to create jobs in an eco- nomic crisis.”

The threat to the tourism projects 1s the second to emerge in recent times in relation to tourism earnings from Lough Derg.

East Clare’s most important source of income – tourism – could be seri- ously compromised if plans go ahead to take millions of litres of water out of the Shannon and Lough Derg to feed Dublin’s needs.

A presentation by Dublin City Council’s consultants on the pro- posed project did nothing to calm fears in the mid-west about plans to

drain 340 million litres of water a day out of the Shannon system.

The extra water is needed to meet the projected demand from Dublin up to 2031 and beyond.

Local representatives, ecologists, fisheries groups and the ESB have all added their voices to the concerns being expressed about the project.

“We don’t have anything like enough information about the im- pact which this could have on our water-ways,” said Killaloe council- lor, Tony O’Brien.

BEATING Kilkenny at any level is a memorable feat. Beating the cur- rent All-Ireland intermediate cham- pions Kilkenny in only their second game therefore has to go down as a momentous achievement and finally gives the management, players and even the county board justification for their forward planning of enter- ing a second team.

This was as good and surprisingly comfortable as it 1s every going to get for Clare’s second string. Last time out, they perhaps lacked some leadership as Tipperary eased to a seven point victory but that fraility was rectified on Sunday with the in- troduction of six new starters. Carol O’Leary, Aiveen O’Shea, Niamh Corry, Louise Hayes, Aine O’Brien, Chloe Morey and Roisin O’Brien were all brought in to add more ex- perience and balance to the side and it certainly had the desired effect as Clare were far superior and sharp- er than their Leinster opponents throughout.

Chloe Morey, who was playing her second game in as many days, was utilised as a third midfielder and along with partners Louise Hayes

and Niamh Corry, Clare really con- trolled this tie. Another highlight was the performance of Carol Kaiser who really began to come into her own when switched to centre-back to curtail Kilkenny’s playmaker Eileen Fitzpatrick, who had got Kilkenny’s only score of the game in the 34th minute.

Aside from that scare, it was a straightforward stroll to victory as Kilkenny’s expected fightback never really materialised. Clare can only beat what’s put in front of them though and really that fear of a Kil- kenny recovery benfitted Clare who remained focused right up to the fi- nal whistle.

Clare were 0-6 to 0-0 ahead at the break, taking advantage of a slight breeze that blew towards Limerick. Danielle Sheedy opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a free and inadvertently turned provider for the second, sending in another long free that was batted by goalkeeper Siob- han Murphy to Roisin O’Brien who continued her impressive scoring run with a point. In all, the Ogonnelloe player hit four points of Clare’s to- tal, making her Clare’s only scorer from play in the league so far with Six points.

Danielle Sheedy almost secured a goal for her side in the 10th minute when she caught a Niamh Corry pass over the top of the Kilkenny defence and took on her marker before un- leashing a shot but it was saved by Murphy for a *45 that Chloe Morey converted.

Kilkenny did have their fair share of possession but a lack of a reliable freetaker and some aimless shooting frustrated them in their endeavours. Instead, Clare kept plugging away and frees from Morey, Sheedy and an injury time point from O’Brien eased Clare to a six point half-time lead.

The only real tension for Clare came four minutes after half-time when a revitalised Kilkenny attempted to grab a lifeline. Three early wides were eventually made up for when Niamh Byrne’s shot was saved by Denise Lynch and Eileen Fitzpatrick was on hand to hit the rebound to the am

Fitzpatrick was by now starting to pull the strings for the Leinster side and had another shot on goal in the 38th minute but this time Lynch was equal to the effort. It caused Clare to switch Carol Kaiser to centre-back and it proved to be the turning point

of the game as the Newmarket player nullified her threat for the remain- der.

From that point on, Clare gradually regained their confidence and the trio of Chloe Morey (2), Roisin O’Brien (2) and Danielle Sheedy were again on target as Clare eased up to victo- ry. A significant result that will give Clare great confidence for the rest of the campaign.