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AN additional 20 charges have been brought as part of an investigation into the discovery of a haul of sever- al thousand euro worth of jewellery, which was stolen from several homes in Ennis late last year.

The jewellery was discovered in November, after a major investiga- tion, “Operation Ennis’, was set up to tackle the spiralling rate of daytime burglaries in Ennis.

An Iranian national, Ali Reza Ve- layati, was charged in November with entering three houses – at Ard na Greine; Dun na R1, Tobartaoscain; and Ard Aoibhinn, Limerick Road, Ennis – as a trespasser and stealing aia oes

SU sloma eT Comey Mm NaloMn (AW o) UJ a’amr-NE (orees edly taken from the house at Dun na Ri was €1,950, while €500 worth of jewellery was allegedly taken from the house at Ard Aoibhinn.

Velayati (40), of Avondale, Kilrush Road, Ennis, was also charged with handling stolen jewellery, at Oakwood Drive, Ennis, on November 8 last.

He re-appeared in court last Friday where the court heard he had been charged with another 20 alleged of-

fences, the previous day.

He is charged with 19 counts of theft of jewellery or cash from houses on various dates between September 19 and November 8 last.

The total amount of jewellery list- ed on the charge sheets 1s €48,050,

along with 5,000 dollars.

The homes are in various parts of Ennis, including Clon Road, Shan- non Park, St Senan’s Road, Elm Park, Glensheen, Cahercalla Estate, Tulla Road, Tobartaoscaoin, College Grove, College Green, Abbey Court,

Victoria Court, Oakpark, Bramble Lane, Glenina and Inis Carraig.

He is also charged with handling €50,150 worth of stolen jewellery and €8,500 cash, at his home on No- (ole mC Ee

Garda Cyril Page told Ennis Dis-

trict Court that the accused did not make any reply to 10 of the charges after caution.

Sergeant John Cunningham told the court that in reply to the other 10 charges, the accused said, “I will talk to my lawyer.”

Inspector John Galvin told the court that the new charges will form part of a book of evidence which is due to be served next month.

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client had been “deprived of his liberty” for two months and was led to believe he would be facing up to 50 charges, when, in fact, he is now facing 24 charges.

Inspector Galvin said he under- stood the book of evidence would be ready for the next date. “This is the final chapter. These are the final charges,” he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan heard that the accused is currently on bail and said he would not mark it peremptory against the State.

IT was a comfortable victory in the end for champions Rock Rovers, but the thin line between victory and defeat was graphically illustrated in this full-blooded Sunday morning cup tie.

Rock, in their first defence of the title they won so sensationally in the County Grounds last May when beat- ing cup specialists Bunratty, were a goal down at half-time courtesy of Danny Scanlan’s brilliant finish in the 13th minute.

Throw in the fact that the Manus defence was in an uncompromising mood in that first half, snapping at the heels of their more vaunted op- ponents and not yielding an inch, let alone a clear-cut chance at goal.

But most of all throw in the fact that three minutes into the sec- ond half opportunity knocked for Michael Geraghty to put Manus into the dreamland of being 2-0 up on the cup champions and on the road to the last 16.

Geraghty was one-on-one with Rock keeper Leonard Keane — it looked easier to score than miss, but the latter prevailed when Geraghty blasted the ball wide from just inside the area.

Manus would have been full value for a 2-0 lead — they had dominated the first 35 minutes of the first half, forced six corners, controlling the midfield exchanges thanks to they physicality and looking dangerous up front thanks to Danny Scanlan.

His goal had class written all over it as he controlled Seanie Travers’

free with his left, dragged it onto his right foot and then hammered a low drive beyond Leonard Keane from

six yards. Ironically, Rock’s equaliser that came 40 seconds after Geraghty’s

miss was nearly a carbon copy of Manus’ opener. Greg Howard and Dean Gardiner worked the ball down

the right — Gardiner found Ashley Glynn on the edge of the six-yard box he controlled the ball with his left and then drove home the equaliser.

Rock were in the ascendancy from there on — they had the edge in fit- ness, but the game looked like going into extra-time until substitute Ro- nan Arthur struck for the lead goal with two minutes remaining.

The summer signing from Newmar- ket Celtic latched onto Barry Woods’ free and beat Blaise Talty from six yards. The icing was applied two minutes later when Shane Daniels’ free from midfield was headed home by Rowan Eade.

Rock could be on another cup run, but the 3-1 defeat definitely didn’t done Manus justice.

A MOTORIST who panicked when he saw gardai drove through a set of traffic lights and overtook cars on a continuous white line.

Brian Murphy (27), of Rineanna View, Shannon, pleaded guilty to careless driving arising out of an in- cident at Smithstown, Shannon, on October 30 last.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Shan- non District Court that the accused drove through a set of traffic lights in

Shannon and failed to yield.

He said that Murphy, who was driving a motorbike, overtook cars on a continuous white line.

He accepted that while he overtook the cars, he hadn’t inconvenienced anyone.

Murphy also pleaded guilty to a public order charge arising out of a late-night incident at Shannon Town Centre on November 15 last.

Inspector Kennedy told the court the accused hassled security staff “‘to the effect if they laid a hand on him

he would kill them.”

Referring to the driving offence, defending solicitor Eamonn Dillon said his client had taken the mo- torbike out for a spin and panicked when he saw the gardai.

The solicitor said that his client was remorseful and apologetic for his ac- tions on November 15. He said his client had not been out for some time prior to that night and unfortunately had consumed too much alcohol.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed fines totalling €500.

COROFIN Harps secured a place in the third round of the Clare Cup with a victory that was in no way as easy as the final score line suggests.

Turnpike Rovers, to an extent, were authors of their own misfortune giv- ing away two own goals before suc- cumbing to two sharply taken Noel Mullane goals. Mullane’s pair of late strikes summed up the major dif- ference between the sides on Sun- day; Corofin made the most of their chances; Turnpike blew theirs.

In an open and exciting encounter at Lees Road, Harps took the lead after 14 minutes before Pike equalised.

The remainder of the first half flared out in a series of wasted goal chances, with both sides equally cul- pable.

Pike’s profligacy was to prove the costher. After Andy Hayes inadvert-

edly became the second Pike player to put through his own net in the 58th minute, Corofin went for the kill.

The Harps line-up had a familiar look to it with one exception as cen- tre forward Gavin Dinan stepped in as emergency goalkeeper. Dinan ac- quitted himself well. The highlight undoubtedly being his 76th minute penalty save from James Ferns.

It was Dinan’s opposite number, Marty Whelan who was first to be tested with the Turnpike goalie get- ting down smartly to stop Mullane in the 4th minute.

Pike’s best chance of the opening quarter arrived in the 10th minute When Thomas Cronin’s shot was cleared of the line. Corofin took the lead soon after. John Keane whipped a low cross from the right that came of Eric Hayes and into the net.

Pike were level by the 20th minute. Donnacha Hassett’s cross from the

left was touched on by Cronin to the unmarked Stephen Burns at the back post. Cool as you like, Burns curled a low shot past Dinan to make it 1-1. Both sides had opportunities to take the lead before the break.

Cronin missed a glorious chance when he chipped inches wide in the 39th minute before Mullane and Ja- son Tierney combined for Keane to blast over from ten yards on half mnealee

Harps regained the lead shortly af- ter when Brian Halipn’s fizzed low free kick clipped Andy Hayes and trickled to the net.

Corofin’s lead was almost wiped out minutes later when Andy Hayes touched Cronin’s drive over the bar.

Mullane put daylight between the sides when he swept home in the Sede maenselbicon

Two minutes later Mullane bur- ied Corofin’s fourth goal and with it

Turnpike’s chances. Dinan kept out Fern’s penalty as the champions of 2005 and 2006 advance into familiar territory.

The Harps could be on the move ey lerem an leyue

CREE man Dan Kelly has had plenty to celebrate in the last few months.

As well as the arrival of his second child just four months ago, he has also been presented with the inaugu- ral Massey Ferguson “Technician of the Year’ award.

Not content with beating off stiff competition here in Ireland, he then went on to represent the country in the

UK and won the overall competition.

The competition was open to all en- gineers working in Massey Ferguson dealerships in the UK and Ireland, regardless of age or experience, and despite working in the area for just two years, Dan proved to be top of aVismeee De alse

Achieving this high accolade was not easy as it required long out-of- hours work and weeks of training in the UK, away from his wife Mary

and children Aishling (20 months) and James (20 weeks).

The 31-year-old took over the fam- ily farm in the past year adding to his PLES ACE AYA

The son of Jim and Ann Kelly, Dan has always been interested in tractors and farmwork.

When he left school, he went to the Athenry Agricultural College, before spending nine years as an apprentice and technician for Aer Atlanta in

NJerveveeyee

He then worked on the A380 for Airbus UK in the south of France.

Two years ago, he joined the MF dealership at Joseph Whelan Trac- tors. This is the second award for the Kilrush company. In 2005, Joseph Whelan (Jnr) won the European salesperson of the year award.

Dealer principal Joe Whelan praised Dan for his hard work and Yo su teaiea0 slo OL

“His previous experience, com- bined with numerous AGCO Acad- emy training modules, has led to Dan emerging as the top agricultural di- agnostic technician he is today,” he said.

“On top of that, Dan experienced a steep learning curve in the workshop with help from the workshop team, sO we were all overjoyed at having won the inaugural MF “Technician of the Year’ Award and we congratulate Dan on his wonderful achievement.”

Massey Ferguson International was also impressed with the west Clare yrarenee

‘The winner demonstrated an ex- ceptional all-round performance, in terms of hard work, attendance, team-working, appropriate use of technical knowledge and contribu- tion to dealer standards,” explained Jason Burbidge, AGCO’s Training and ‘Technical Assistance Group Manager.

PREMIER League on.

That was the word in Avenue Unit- ed’s corner just before lpm on Sun- day after they threw the destination of this year’s title into the melting pot thanks to their second victory over Bunratty in the matter of a week.

Bunratty’s recent woes continued with this defeat — after only taking a point at home to Burren Utd two weeks ago and then dumped out of the Clare Cup race by Avenue, they needed to get their season back on track by taking something from this game.

No wonder they were very vocal at half-time of this potentially season- defining game. ‘Win today and we win the league’, was one line. ‘This is the league title if we want it,’ went another.

They wanted it alright after a fine strike from Pat Twomey, who cut in from the right and drove the ball to the net from a tight angle, had lev- elled matters five minutes before nee abe slon

Avenue had taken the lead 22 min- utes in through David Smythe. The fleet of foot teenager showcased his wonderful skills when outfoxing the Bunratty defence before chipping the

ball nonchalantly over Darren Whe- lan to the net from eight yards.

Avenue were the better team in that first half, but the complexion of the game altered drastically after Twom- ey’s equaliser and the departure with an ankle injury of Avenue keeper John Healy.

With no recognised replacement keeper in their ranks, substitute cen- tre-forward Bratislav was forced to take over in goal. However, it tran- spired that the 6 foot 5 inch stand-in had a relatively easy time of it in the second half as Avenue never looked back after being gifted back their lead only two minutes in.

Eamonn O’Reilly floated a long ball forward and with Ciaran McManus and David Herlihy putting pressure on Noel Collins, he headed the ball into his own net from just outside the six-yard box.

Bunratty never really recovered from this sucker punch and in the 78th minute Avenue really turned the screw thanks to Mikey Mahony who made a cameo appearance as a sub in the second half in his comeback game from suspension.

Picking the ball up in midfield, Ma- hony outpaced the Bunratty defence before laying the ball off to Ciaran McManus who tucked away the all-

important third goal.

Bunratty, who are beginning to look like the Lifford team of three years ago that got caught in the head- lights when the league looked under their control, did set up a grandstand finish when sub Terry Duggan forced the ball home from close range in the 88th minute.

However, Avenue held on for the crucial three points.

THE introduction of short-time working hours at the Element Six plant in Shannon, originally planned for January, has been deferred until opts)

Management at Element Six are meeting with workers’ representa- tives this week after workers staged a sit-in at the factory last Friday.

Workers were protesting against the planned introduction of short-time working hours, which they claim would cut the wages of up to 180 workers at the plant by 50 per cent.

A compromise 1s believed to have been reached, whereby short-time would be introduced for a defined period of time and not indefinitely,

The new working arrangements were due to be introduced earlier this year but workers rejected the propos- al on the grounds that no negotiation had taken place between manage- ment and unions. Workers believe cost-cutting measures are not being introduced on an equitable basis.

The company announced last De- cember that it was seeking 150 re- dundancies as part of a group-wide Savings programme and sustainabil-

Tava) e-b ee

That figure has been reached through a combination of voluntary and compulsory redundancies.

One member of staff, speaking anonymously, said workers remained confident that union representatives would be able to negotiate a package that will share the financial burden in an equitable manner.

“No members of the management have taken their fair share of the fi- nancial burden. It has all been tar- geted at floor staff and that is why we were protesting.”

A meeting between staff and gen-

eral management is expected to take ECO AN KIL c1o).@

Element Six manufactures and dis- tributes industrial diamonds and su- per-hard materials and its products are mainly used in the manufacture of tools for such applications as drill- ing, sawing, cutting, grinding and polishing of different materials.

Element Six, which was established in the Shannon Free Zone in 1960 as De Beers, currently employs just un- Caen eee

The company is co-owned by South African diamond giant De Beers and Belgian company Umicore.

IT’S only the second week of the sea- son but Ballyea are already making waves in their first ever minor league campaign. Last week, they surprised Newmarket to prevail by three points and on Saturday, they took another scalp in the form of St Joseph’s Doo- ra/Barefield.

Now it’s early days and most sides are still adjusting to the new season but the most impressive part of this Ballyea side so far is that they are a very young side. Half of their start- ing line-up on Saturday are still un- derage for Under 16 this year, having built up a winning mentality from their Feile na nGael excursion two years ago.

In contrast, St Joseph’s, off the back of a battling two point victory over Eire Og, were a totally different side and never got to grips with their livlier opponents over the hour. Bal- lyea were sharp and incisive while St Joseph’s, depsite having the physi- cal advantage, were unable to find space and appeared quite toothless Vom BKeysle

Even a lack of nets or lines couldn’t knock the home side off their stride and in fact, neither goalkeeper had to make a save, which made umpiring duties all the easier. Instead, Ballyea were content to pick off their points, with Tony Kelly’s unerring free-tak- ing punishing St Joseph’s repeated indiscipline. Wing-forward Kelly converted fourteen points, thirteen of those from frees and his reliability from placed balls was a real source of confidence for his side over the telene

St Joseph’s started with the aid of a significant breeze and in fact were Q-2 to 0-1 ahead after seven minutes with a great Niall Deloughery score on the run from halfway and a Shane O’Connor free cancelling out Kelly’s

opening free. However, it was to be Doora/Barefield’s last score for 44 minutes as Ballyea finally settled. Instead, the home side hit six suc- cessive first-half points, four from the stick of Kelly to lead by O-7 to Q-2 at the break and it could have

been much worse only for some good defending from Kieran Clune and Conor Lyons.

Ballyea were equally miserly in de- fence though and as Doora/Barefield totted up six first half wides, Ballyea had impressive displays from Paul

Flanagan, Jack Browne, Gearoid O’Connell, Martin O’Leary and Kel- ly. The second half continued in the same fashion with Kelly converting four more frees along with one from play through Martin O’Leary before St Joseph’s would score again.

The change came with Kieran Clune’s switch to the forward line but some last gasp defending from Cathal Doohan and Declan Keane ensured that Doora/Barefield could not pierce their defence. Leo Duggan did finally put over for the away side in the 51st but by then, the game was clearly beyond them and four more Kelly frees and some quick think- ing from Gearoid O’Connell to set up midfield partner Stan Lineen for the final score rounded off a hugely impressive afternoon for Ballyea.

With one foot already in the semi- finals, a win against Eire Og this week will guarantee their place at the penultimate stage. Considering that they were unsure of whether even to enter the tournament at the start of the year, it has certainly been a beneficial first foray into a Minor A competition.

Shannon’s Gallic flavour doubled

HAVING taken on board some north- ern influence last year in the shape of All-Ireland winning manager Mick- ey Harte from Tyrone and Seamus McEneaney from Monaghan, Clare football champions Kilmurry Ibrick- ane have already begun their quest to defend their county title by looking north once more.

Over the weekend, Tony Scullion, an All-Ireland winner with Derry in 1993, visited the West Clare club and laid some foundations for what could be another hugely successful season. His visit came a week before the be- ginning of the Cusack Cup and re- inforces the fact that the West Clare side will be the obvious team to beat throughout 2009.

Scullion was widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers to play for Derry and is among the few play- ers who won four All Stars over the course of their career. It’s not as if Scullion lacks any sideline knowl-

edge though.

He was part of Ulster’s backroom team during last year’s Railway Cup and it was for this and for his well- known ability as a motivator that he made the long trip to the West of Clare to kick-start Kilmury Ibrick- ane’s season.