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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.

CITYJET is to double its capac- ity on the Shannon to Paris-Charles de Gaulle route. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was in Shannon yes- terday to announce the new capacity and new departure times, linking up with 841 destinations.

Parent company, Air France will base its modern AVRO RJ85 aircraft in Shannon to serve the route. The aircraft will cater for 95 passengers in two classes.

Basing the aircraft in Shannon

means that the first flight will depart from Shannon earlier in the morning and the last flight will return to Shan- non later in the evening, offering a wider choice of connecting flights.

The Shannon to Paris-Charles De Gaulle flights will depart at 06.30 and 14.50 every day, arriving in Paris at 09.30 and 17.55, local time, while the Paris to Shannon flights will leave CDG at 11.00 and 18.45 local time, arriving in Shannon at 12.05 and 19.50.

Minister Dempsey said he very much welcomed the entrepreneurial approach

that CityJet and Air France have taken to ensure that the mid-west continues to have easy access to key European and international destinations.

Mr Geoffrey O’Byrne White, Cit- yJet’s chief executive, said that while this was a resounding vote of confi- dence on the part of Air France and CityJet for the hard-hit mid-west re- gion, the support of the community for this service was “vital for its sur- vival”.

Shannon Airport Director, Martin Moroney described the announce- ment as a major vote of confidence

and he called on industry and tour- ism in the mid-west to fully support it. “This is excellent news for the region as it significantly enhances one-stop connectivity options out of Shannon. We now have better access than ever to international markets from Shannon and, having fought so hard for this, we would call on the industry and tourism sectors here to take full advantage of it,” he said. Deputy Timmy Dooley said it will ‘be a boost to business in the region, providing excellent connection for business customers, despite the on- going global economic downturn. “It also shows that other interna- tional airlines view Shannon as a strategically important airport hub that is not just a destination in itself but that can also serve as a link to other flights travelling across the At- lantic and to other destinations.” Fine Gael’s Deputy Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Clare, TD Pat Breen has welcomed the news. He said, “This news 1s a vote of con- fidence in Shannon Airport and I am delighted that Cityjet has decided to follow up on their commitment to ex- pand and increase their services.” Vincent Cunnane, Chief Executive of Shannon Development, said the “development will bring significant opportunities to grow tourism and industrial business for the Shannon region and the west of Ireland.”

HISTORY in the making as St Caimin’s finally overcame Ard Scoil Ris at the second attempt to reach their first ever Harty Cup final. A ti- gerish display throughout ensured it was the Shannon side who advanced in Meelick on Sunday in a game that was low on scores but high on ten- sion.

In attempting to sum up Sunday’s game, one phrase said it all about St Caimin’s. As the players emerged for the second half, St Caimin’s cen- tre-back Kevin Lynch urged his side that ““Now is the time” and that apt philosophy was the main difference between the sides on Sunday. St Caimin’s appetite for the battle and refusal to allow Ard Scoil Ris any room to manoeuvre rather unnerved the Limerick side and it was obvious that St Caimin’s had done a lot of ex- tra homework since the drawn game.

As aresult, Ard Scoil Ris never re- motely reached the heights of their last three tough encounters against St Flannan’s and St Caimin’s and for long periods, this game somewhat passed them by. The majority of 50- SO balls were won by St Caimin’s who made up for their obvious physi- cal disadvantage by blocking, hook- ing and making life generally dif- ficult for the Limerick side and that perseverence is why St Caimin’s de- servedly prevailed.

In the first meeting between this pair, the Shannon side got off to a blistering start and again that was the formula for success here. In fact, within the first minute, they were awarded a penalty after Alan Mul- ready picked out the unmarked Sean Hynan in front of goal and goalkeep- er PJ Hall had no choice but to bring him down though Patrick Sheehan’s penalty was stopped by Shane Dowl- ing.

That frentic start set the tone for the afternoon but it was to take six min- utes for the opening score through Alan Mulready and the Sixmileb- ridge man was also involved in the second score as he set up fellow club- mate Timmy Crowe to double their lead by the 10th minute.

In contrast, Ard Scoil Ris hit four wides in the same period and in fact, took sixteen minutes to finally grab

their first score through a Kevin Downes free. St Caimin’s however, were backed by a strong breeze and made that advantage count in the final ten minutes of the half, with Patrick Sheehan assuredly convert- ing four frees, with the only reply a similar Downes effort that left the half-time score 0-6 to 0-2.

Ard Scoil Ris had yet to settle but aided by the wind, they threw the game wide open after the restart with a Superb opportunist goal from Kevin Downes. A lofty Conor Ryan lineball from just inside the St Caimin’s half was gathered by Downes who made half a yard for himself before strik-

ing a pin-point shot into the right corner of the net.

Momentum was now firmly with the Limerick side but credit St Caimin’s for digging in and refusing to lie down. They did ride their luck a little as Ard Scoil Ris piled on the pressure in search of an equalising point but four successive wides from the Limerick side including a near miss for goal after James O’Brien got a deft flick to a Declan Hannon long ball, kept St Caimin’s in front.

They weathered the storm though and with Lynch’s words perhaps still ringing in their ears, they did seize the moment, hitting three successive

points to restore their four point lead. Two well-worked scores from Padra- ic Collins and a John Guilfoyle point put the Clare side 0-9 to 1-2 ahead by the 49th minute but Ard Scoil Ris were not finished yet and after Dec- lan Hannon converted a 65, substi- tute Jamie Shanahan burst through on goal but had his shot tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Tommy Grit- neon

Now only trailing by two, Ard Scoil Ris upped the ante and St Caimin’s had Griffin again to thank for keeping out a Brendan O’Connor pull in the 52nd minute. Some great defending from Enda Byoce in par-

ticular kept St Caimin’s heads above water and as Ard Scoil Ris became more desperate and pushed players forward, the Shannon side cleverly picked them off on the break.

In the 54th minute, the ball broke inside the Ard Scoil Ris half where Timmy Crowe and his marker To- mas Nolan were isolated and when Crowe won the race to the ball, No- lan had no option but to pull him down, receiving his second yellow as Sheehan easily converted the free. A similar incident only minutes later involving Padraic Collins and goal- keeper PJ Hall saw Sheehan hit the insurance point for St Caimin’s and create history for the emerging side to reach their first ever Harty decider. The reward for the Shannon school is a clash with Thurles CBS in Nenagh on March 8, a repeat of their first round clash in which the Tipperary side came out on top. However, after coming through these two bruising encounters St Caimin’s won’t fear their more illustrious opponents in their determined charge for success.

DESPITE the ever increasing scourge of drugs among young peo- ple, the Killaloe area has just one addiction counsellor who is paid to spend just one hour with one client a week.

The Killaloe/Ballina Family Re- source Centre gets funding for the hour of counselling but it is totally inadequate to deal with the problem, Tracey Doyle, a community worker FMW Oet tA KoMESY- BLOM

The resource centre offers counc- selling services from a voluntary councillor and a student counsellor but their paid counsellor is funded for just one hour per week by the Department of Family Affairs.

‘Addiction is affecting young peo- ple of about 15 upwards but we have to rely on the counsellors’ good will to give us hours for free. Otherwise we would not be able to offer any level of service,” said Tracey.

Other counsellors offer their time voluntarily, but don’t have the spe- cific qualification needed to counsel addicts.

“We don’t have figures for the number of people who are suffering addiction in the area but the numbers who are caught in possession are high, so considering the number who

aren’t caught, that’s a big figure.”

In her work with the Family Re- source Centre, Tracey makes contact with families when youngsters fall foul of the law because of drugs.

“We also talk to the probation and welfare officer in the court and we had considered putting it out to the judges that this service is avail- able but we couldn’t do it. We’d be swamped.”

Other areas that are not covered by counsellors with the specific quali- fications are domestic violence and child abuse.

“We’re hoping to make a very strong case for increased funding for the service for next year but, in the meantime, we have to play on the goodwill of our counsellors, who give a lot,” said Tracey.

And the need extends beyond Kil- laloe, the community worker pointed out.

“Go down the road to Scariff and there is no addiction counsellor at all. Yes, people have the option of going private but what happens to people when families can’t afford a private counsellor?”

The Killaloe/Ballina Family Re- source Centre is now up and running in its new premises on Main Street in Killaloe and counselling and other activities are going ahead again.

A TWO-YEAR Clare bid to ensure seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong travels to Ireland paid off yesterday when it was offi- cially confirmed that the Texan will take part in the Tour of Ireland in PaUUaU ee

It comes on the back of a long cam- paign by Clare hurler Tony Griffin to entice Armstrong, one of the most recognisable faces in global sports, to the country.

Almost two-years to the day that Griffin firet visited Armstrong at his home outside Austin, Texas, and first suggested the trip to Ireland, the cy- clist has confirmed that it will hap- pen later this year.

It’s also highly likely that Griffin will play a major part in Armstrong’s visit as at present, Griffin is in the final stages of establishing a unique Irish company that will cater for the training and logistical requirements for amateur and elite athletes and teams visiting Ireland.

“It’s highly possible that Lance

Armstrong will be one of the first clients of the company and we will have a professional attachment to his visit” Griffin said yesterday, “but at the moment, we’re just apprecia- tive that he’s coming to Ireland in the summer. It’s a huge coup for the country in general.

“T have been in regular contact with him since we first met in 2007 and over a series of emails, it was be- coming ever more clear to me that he was, at last, going to come to Ireland. Not only will it raise the profile of cycling in this country, it will help in this country’s fight against cancer.”

Griffin’s relationship with Arm- strong goes back to his cycle across Canada, which raised funds for can- cer research, €400,000 of which go- ing to Livestrong, Armstrong’s own charity which also seeks to battle cancer.

Four weeks ago, Griffin met with the Livestrong Chief of Staff, Mor- gan Binswanger, at a private meeting in Dublin and at that stage, it was be- coming clear Armstrong would take part in the Tour of Ireland.

“Lance is going to use the Tour of Ireland as a launching pad for a ma- jor event, the first Livestrong Global Cancer Summit, which takes place in Dublin. Ireland overcame a strong bid from France to secure Dublin as the location for this and I remember speaking to Lance on the first day we met and him saying he was delighted we had led the way in fighting can- cer by banning smoking in public places.”