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A BIRTHDAY celebration turned sour when a row broke out at a disco in Scariff and the man celebrating his birthday was assaulted.

As a result, cousins Gary Quigley (19), of Riverview, Scariff, and Keith Quigley (20), of Callaghy, Tuam- graney, were convicted of assaulting Raymond Durek, at McNamara’s dis- co in Scariff on March 20 last year.

Inspector John Galvin told Killaloe District Court that something was said to Mr Durek’s girlfriend and Mr Durek was then knocked to the ground.

‘A number of people jumped on top of him. He got struck. Keith Quigley was identified as one of those,” he said. “Gary Quigley struck Mr Durek later that evening,” he said.

He said the injured party did not sustain serious injuries.

Mr Durek told the court that he had been out celebrating his birthday that night and said he was punched a number of times.

Defending solicitor Sauls Loughnane said that while he was not trying to diminish what had hap- pened, it was at the “lower end of the scale” in terms of assaults.

He said that Gary Quigley got in- volved because he thought his cousin Keith had been under attack.

Keith Quigley had no previous convictions, while Gary had been in court previously, on a minor matter.

A one-month jail term was imposed on Gary Quigley, suspended for two years. He was also fined €1,500, while a fine of €1,000 was imposed on Keith Quigley.

NEW figures show that east Clare is the part of the county hardest hit by the recession.

Live register figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yes- terday, show that there has been a 91 per cent rise in unemployment in the east Clare area.

Overall, between February of this year and February 2008, the numbers receiving welfare in the Tulla Social Welfare Office serving east Clare has increased from 610 to 1,168.

This compares to a 76 per cent in- crease across the county where the numbers on the live register have increased from 5,072 to 8,932 in the space of 12 months.

The figures from Ennis show there has been a 74 per cent increase go- ing from 2,946 in February 2008 to 5,136 in February 2009.

The figures for the north Clare area show that there was also a 74 per cent increase with the numbers on the live register increasing from 807 to 1,348.

The statistics relating to west Clare

show that the numbers in Kilrush on the live register increased from 709 to 1,216 — arise of 71 per cent.

Reacting to the figures yesterday, east Clare councillor, Cllr Colm W1- ley (FF) said, “These figures are of real concern and it is very serious. The indications are that it is going to get worse and I don’t know what exactly can be done about it at this stage.”

Cllr Wiley said that the companies located in east Clare, including Finsa and Olympus Diagnostica, “are hold- ing their own, but Finsa would be

vulnerable as it depends so much on the construction industry”.

Killaloe-based Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) also expressed his concern over the figures. He said, “East Clare is predominantly a tourist area and, in a world recession, they are the jobs most at threat.

“T would hope now that any tour- ism projects that are being proposed would be located in east Clare. | would also call on all the support agencies to provide assistance to any people considering start-up business- es in the area.”

INDEPENDENT councillor Taiwo Matthew has confirmed that he will be running as a candidate in June’s local elections.

Speaking yesterday Cllr Matthew said he is seeking to retain his seat in Ennis Town Council.

The Nigerian born doctor made history when he became the first im- migrant to be elected to local office in Ireland in 2004.

At the time of his election in 2004, Cllr Matthew addressed his support- ers in Ennis. “You have written the name of Ennis in gold in the book of history,’ the former Nigerian asy- lum-seeker said proudly to the sup- porters who helped elect him to En- nis Town Council.

“By electing me, the Ennis people have looked beyond the colour of my skin and accepted me on my indt-

vidual merits.”

Cllr Matthew said he is looking forward to again contesting the elec- tion.

[have had a great experience in the council. I have learned a lot in these last five years. I will be running for Ennis Town Council again.”

While he says that he is looking for- ward to getting out and meeting vot- ers, Cllr Matthew admits that regain- ing his seat in Ennis Town Council is going to be a tough challenge.

“Tam looking forward to it. It was a great experience when I first ran for office in 2004 and it is a process that I am looking forward to taking part in again. But I know that it will hard and that it will be very challenging to get elected again. But as I said, I am looking forward to the election,’ said the councillor.

Cllr Matthew explained that he had just moved house and was now con-

centrating his energies on the elec- tion campaign.

‘‘T have just moved house so things are very busy at the moment.”

Cllr Matthew’s election to Ennis Town Council occurred in the same year as the election of fellow Nigeri- an, Rotimi Adebari in Portlaoise. Mr Adebari made history when he was elected Ireland’s first black mayor in 2007.

In the same year Cllr Matthew missed out on election as Ennis’s first black mayor when he was defeated in a vote by fellow Independent coun- cilor Tommy Brennan.

AN action packed 94 minutes of football produced nine goals; one red card and perhaps the most dramatic victory Tulla United are likely to ex- perience this season.

Denis Murphy pounced in the 93 minute to score the winning goal for Tulla on Sunday morning after Her- mitage looked to have snatched an unlikely share of the spouls.

The home side looked done for when Tulla stormed into a 3-0 lead after 30 minutes. Hermitage, howev- er, staged a thrilling comeback and the sides were level 3-3 by the 66th minute.

Tulla didn’t stay in shock for too long and regained the lead courtesy

of Alan Brigdale’s diving header. David Moloney’s free kick looked to have earned the “Tage a point but thanks to Murphy, there was one fi- nal twist in this engrossing tale. Such a finale looked a distant and remote possibility after Tulla, aided and abetted by some slack “Tage de- fending, dominated the first half. The visitors took the lead in the 13th minute when Paudge Vaughan rose unopposed to head home Ricky Collins’ corner. Tulla’s pacy front men were asking plenty of questions of the “Tage defence and the second goal arrived on the half hour mark. Again, “Tage were found wanting from set plays. Collins’ deep free kick bounced around the 18 yard box before Shane Mason took charge by

rifling ball to the back of the net.

Seconds after the re-start, Alan Brigdale picked up the ball, un- marked and 25 yards out from goal. The striker blasted home a shot that left Tage goalie David Phillips rooted to the spot to give Tulla a 3-0 lead.

‘Tage were handed a lifeline when Tommy Leahy nodded Barry McNa- mara’s free of a Tulla defender and into the net.

Then they were a side transformed after the break. Leahy deftly flicked a looping header over Tulla goalie Trevor McInerney in the 48th minute to reduce Tulla’s lead to a goal

Alan Brigdale went close with a bullet header soon after before a re- surgent “Tage earned the eqauliser their efforts deserved.

Brendan Dobbin, who along with Declan Callinan and Seanie McGee, was at the heart of the Tage come- back, beat two defenders before ex- pertly curling home the equaliser.

Tulla lost McInerney to injury but regained the lead in the 71st minute when Colin Mason’s inviting cross was met by the diving head of Alan Brigdale.

“Tage again summoned an equal- iser when Moloney walloped home an 84th minute freekick.

The drama wasn’t yet done. Mur- phy beat Phillips to a loose ball in the 93rd minute to give Tulla the lead. The goal was hotly disputed by “Tage who claimed Phillips had been fouled.

Moloney was sent off for a second

yellow card in the ensuing protest. Remarkably, “Tage created one more chance but Callinan’s touch was too heavy, four yards out from goal.

A LEAVING certificate student from Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna will this week be- come the first Clare person ever to compete in the British version of the Young Scientist Competition.

Kilfenora student Darren O’Gorman will travel to London to represent his country in the coveted competition. His entry, which was well received at both the Irish BT Young Scientist Competition and the Northern Irish competition, involved studies into the growing patterns of buttercups in and around turloughs.

Darren’s research uncovered a marked difference in the buttercups which grew in the middle of the tur-

loughs, where the waters are deepest, than the other areas.

“I went out to different turlough sites in my area and took samples of the buttercups growing in the basin and took measurements from them to see if there was different measure- ments in the flowers,” he said.

“It really was to see what impact the flood waters were having on the leaves and growth patterns of the plants. There was significant dif- ferences between the buttercups. I found a relationship between the ac- tual area of the leaf and the distance from the centre of the flood.

“My main finding is that as you moved away from the centre of the flood the size of the leaves on the flowers actually got noticeably big-

ger.”

Darren finished his Leaving Cert mock exams on Friday and will fly out to London for the competition on AYA(erebaTeTe rN

“The competition takes place in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre this week. I qualified for this exhibition because I got a Crest award in the Northern Ireland Competition. Five students from the Northern Ireland competi- tion were awarded Crests and we will be competing against people from all over the UK in the overall Crest Competition,” continued Darren.

“Beside the group in Northern Ire- land, there are qualifiers from all over the UK taking part. There will be something in the region of 200 projects in the Crest Competition al-

together.”

Over the last two decades Mary Immaculate Secondary School has established a strong tradition in the Young Scientist Competitions, win- ning a number of awards over the years and regularly having more than 10 projects in the final exhibition.

The schools endeavours in the com- petition are led by teacher John Sims, who has had students featured in the competition for more than 25 years.

ROCK Rovers made the journey east to Mountshannon hoping to take a big step towards promotion to the top flight for next season. Going into the game they led the divisioin by three points from Shannon Olympic with a game in hand, but by the end they were left licking their wounds after Mountshannon gave them a real les- sons — in the process the east Clare side kept their own promotion hopes alive and are now poised to strike in a chasing pack behind the paceset- ters Rock and Olympic.

It was Mountshannon’s day from the word go — the local knowledge they have of their own field was proved far to much for a poor Rock side that were shorn of the services of their top scorer Stephen Hickey.

It took Mountshannon only ten minutes to make the breakthrough — Shane Daniels’ fell to Mounthshan- nnon striker Arthur Burzynski who beat Leonard Keane with a low shot first time to the corner.

Rock came more into the game as the half wore on, but a stone wall

Mountshannon defence led by the hard-tackling and ultra competitive Raymond Cahill totally nullified the visitors’ attack.

Matters rested at 1-0 at half-time, but five minutes after the resumption Mountshannon struck for the all-im- portant second goal. This time Rock were undone by a swift Mountshan- non counter attack. Mounthshannon right back Colm Collins worked ball infield and three passes later later, John O’Brien showed his class when curling in an effort from just outside Welomre Duets P

Rock were in dire straits, but threw themselves a lifeline a minute later. They stormed forward from the tip- off and a cross from the right was blocked out by the defence, but fell invitingly to midfielder Brian Fitz- patrick who found the net with a su- perb looping volley.

Rock were back in the ballgame but in the 65th minute Mountshan- non were back in control when a mix-up between Greg Howard and his keeper Leonard Keane allowed Tommy Gleeson through for an easy tap in goal.

Fifteen minutes later Mountshan- non closed out the game when Rock were punished for failing to deal with a corner and Michael Scanlan blasted home from close range.

Consolation did come in_ the 90th minute for Rock when Marty McLoughlin was fouled just inside the Mountshannon penalty area. Greg Howard converted the spot kick.

However, Shannon Olympic’s 7-2 win over Kildysart Celtic put the seal on Rock’s depressing day.

PARENTS, children and teachers from all over Clare and south Gal- way are being encouraged to take the economic and environmental option when travelling to schools.

In the latest evolution of An Taisce’s Green School initiative, a programme has been started to encourage people to look at different ways of getting around.

Almost 200 children, parents and teachers took part in a mass walk-to- school at Inagh National School last Wednesday. The walk was organised to highlight the different benefits of children walking all or even some of the way to school.

“We really want to give every-

one an option of taking part in this programme – from the people who might want to walk or cycle all the way, to the people who want to start a park and stride – which means driv- ing some of the way and walking the rest,’ said Roisin Ni Ghairbhith, An Taisce’s Green Schools Travel Of- ficer for Clare and south Galway. “When children take part in any form of exercise on the way to school it has been shown that they are more focused and awake when they get to school. As well as this one in 20 chil- dren suffer from obesity problems.” Out of the 170 school’s involved in the Green Schools project in Clare, 15 are at present going for Taisce’s new travel flag. Each participating school is being offered funding for

professional cycling lessons for it’s students.

“Last week in Inagh we all walked the 600 metres from the church to the school as part of the programme. We had a great time; the children and teachers did a great job. It may not seem like a lot but even that small walk can have a great impact,” con- tinued Roisin.

“We estimate that people drove around 70 kilometres less because of the walk. For every kilometre less a car drives it mean the equivalent of 13 large balloons, filled with carbon dioxide, that won’t be released into the environment.

‘So even this small thing can make a large change. If people take even a small bit off their journey it can have

a big impact. It also makes great eco- nomic sense. With the high costs of fuels these days it just makes sense to drive less.”

Participating schools will take part in WOW Days over the next few months, where children, parents and teachers will be encourage to walk or cycle to school on one day a week.

For more information on_ this project check out www.greenschool- sireland.org.

THE Kilmurry Ibrickane train is moving again.

Many of their marquee names might still be in winter/spring hiber- nation or even devoting themselves ot other codes, but their strength in depth is such that they could have to be missing a raft of players and still win this season opener with some- thing to spare.

Kilmurry won by nine in the end, but it did flatter them somewhat. Co- orclare’s first half profligacy when they failed to build on Joe Considine’s midfield dominance and a storming finish from the champions when they outscored their opponents by 2-2 to Q-1 in the final 15 minutes put such a lop-sided look to the scorecard.

Aided by a cracking Thomas O’Connor goal on the stroke of half- time, Kilmurry enjoyed a 1-5 to 0-2 interval lead.

Others on the mark in the half for Kilmurry were Enda Coughlan, Michael Hogan, Johnny Daly and Stephen Moloney (2).

The six point deficit should have broken Cooraclare’s resolve, as they dominated large tracts of the half, only to spurn a host of scoring op- portunties. Cathall Lillis was left to rue a number of missed from some very scoreable frees.

It left the Aidan Moloney managed Cooraclare with a mountain to climb but they stuck to their task admirably in the opening quarter of the half.

A Padraig Looney goal dragged

them back into contention and left matters delicately poised going into WeComNOT-UmOLUT-Na tose

Kilmurry led by 1-7 to 1-5 and the force seemed to be with a resurgent Coorclare side – no doubt they were still smarting from hammering that a shadow Kilmurry team handed them

out in a challenge game the previous week.

However, when the hour was at its greatest, Kilmurry’s pedigree shone through in the final 15 minutes as their forwards upped their game con- siderably and closed out the contest with the clinical efficiency of cham-

OKO Ie

In this regard, Michael Hogan was the man apart over the hour. He only bagged QO-2 in comparison to the |- 2 hauls of both his full-forward line colleagues, Johnny Daly and Noel Downes, but his overall industry and workrate made him the real engine

OM ONE LEOentce

A brilliant strike for a goal by Noel Downes with ten minutes remaining was the defining score of the game, while Johnny Daly applied the gloss in the final moments when convert- ing a penalty at the second attempt.

Kilmurry had started where they left off in Clare in 2008 – on a win- ning note.

They seem determined to defend that unbeaten run through Clare.

ON Sunday, March 15, Kilrush will witness one of its biggest St Patrick’s Day Parades ever.

With more than 30 floats, 500 chil- dren dancing and a number of bands and musicians, organisers now have their fingers crossed for good weath- oe

The parade will take place two days before the patron saint of Ire- land’s allocated day, for a number of reasons.

Last year the parade was held on Sunday, which proved popular with families and visitors alike.

This year St Patrick’s Day falls close to the weekend, making Sun- day an ideal day for the festivities again in the west Clare capital.

Sunday will also accommodate floats and acts hoping to take part in the parade in Ennis, or people who wish to go to more than one or two local parades.

The Tulla Pipe Band is an exam- ple of such an act. On Sunday it will help lead the Kilrush parade, while making itself available to other Clare town’s on Tuesday, March 17.

Hell for Leather will also provide a special act to the proceedings in Kil- rush this year.

Celebrating its 25th year, the John Fennel-led dance school will march at the end of the parade. The 500 dancers will then perform in the town square for the awaiting crowd.

The St Patrick’s Day Parade will begin in Kilrush at 4pm. The theme this year is ‘Irish Legends’. Music will begin in the square from 3pm. For further information, please con- tact Vincent 086 0854834 or Karen 086 8091410.

Meanwhile, the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Miltown Malbay will take place on March 17.

This year’s theme is ‘Memorable Moments – Ireland from the ‘50s to

the Naughties’.

Registration for this popular parade is free or charge. Those taking part will assemble in the GAA car park at 2pm and the parade will start at P10

There will be nine prizes in total – first, second and third in the floats section, in the walking section and for the adjudicator’s prises.

Prizes for marks are allocated for each element of the float and group including colour and volume, theme, preparation, and entertainments.

The emphasis of this year’s parade is on participation and a great family day is guaranteed.

UNDER the illuminated night sky of Doonbeg on Friday, it was the home side who fired the opening shots of the new season with a relatively com- fortable victory. In truth, aside from a battling third quarter from the new- ly promoted side that sparked a mini- revival, Doonbeg were in control of this tie and it simply was a case of two sides in contrasting stages of preparation.

Granted, key players were missing, it was only the first game of a long campaign and with a month’s recess until the next round of the compe- tition, there is still a lot of ground work to be undertaken but a lean and sharp Doonbeg are already showing the benefits of their pre-season train- ing while Shannon Gaels battled hard but ultimately couldn’t afford the loss of their key performers and were always playing catch-up

Only securing manger Josie O’Shea in the previous week, it was under- standable that the Gaels would be more sluggish and so it proved as they coughed up possession too many times and Doonbeg, under the assured guidance of David Tubridy, unsympathetically punished on the

scoreboard.

It all could have been so much dif- ferent however had Declan Power converted a 12th minute penalty, with the score at only O-2 to O-1 to the home side. Two beautifully stroked frees from Tubridy opened the scoring before Shannon Gaels settled with a Michael O’Shea curl- ing free and with the Gaels starting to find their feet, a Noel Kennedy ball over the top was caught by David Neylon who was hauled to the ground by Richie Vaughan. How- ever, Power’s resulting penalty went straight down the middle to the wait- ing Keith Egan.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Doonbeg upped the ante until the break, turning the screw with supe- rior movement, and seizing on Shan- non Gaels mistakes to push home their advantage. It was county senior Tubridy who was an integral part of all their unanswered 1-7, converting four placed balls, finishing off two more impressive passing moves and setting up a further 1-1 for targetman Colm Dillon. The full-forward had already fired a warning shot in the 20th minute when he got a fist to a pinpoint crossfield ball from new re- cruit Shane O’Brien but although it

beat goalkeeper Ryan, the post came to the Gaels’ rescue.

However, that luck deserted them only six minutes later when another teasing ball over the top, this time from ‘Tubridy, was misjudged by Ryan and Dillon was the first to re- act to dive in and flick the ball to the am

Trailing by 1-9 to Q-1 at the break, Shannon Gaels regrouped and now backed by a sizeable breeze, they re-emerged a more characteristically battling unit and it surprisingly dis- rupted Doonbeg all too easily. Two early Gaels wides followed by a goal opportunity for Francis Cleary, that was only snuffed by an outstanding last gasp block from Padraic Aherne, demonstrated their renewed threat and as Doonbeg began to lose their shape, the Gaels principally led by Brian Cunningham, hit four succes- sive points to cut the deficit to seven lol elem PanlemneuDOeinen

Doonbeg were now in a rut and it took several tactical switches to dig them out, with Shane O’Brien mov- ing to midfield while substitute Brian Dillon was utilised as an extra de- fender. It had the desired effect and once O’Brien grabbed his first point of the evening in the 48th minute,

it reopened the floodgates and quenched the Gaels rebellion. Points from Tubridy, Frank O’Dea, Shane O’Brien and Jamie Whelan followed to retore their commanding lead and although Shannon Gaels never gave up and even secured the final two scores through Cunningham and Shane Tubridy, they were only dam- age limitation measures as Doonbeg eased to the final whistle.