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SATURDAY night’s Galway Card was an all sponsored gala fundrais- ing event in aid of the Clare Hurlers Support Group and all credit to the organisers on a most professionally presented programme of events.

One of the highlights of the night was the appearance of Irish Derby and and Champion Stakes hero Shel- bourne Aston who paraded prior to the feature event which was the Lev- el Pitch and Sleepwell Ltd AO graded apy

In this race the PJ Fahy-owned popular veteren Tyrur Lee (Brett Lee-Tyrur Dee) went to traps a warm order and he didn’t dissappoint as he stayed on dourley to defeat Swinford Mylo(T4) by a length and three parts in 31.43. The winner was headed to the opening bend by All Heart but he saved valuable ground by railing tightly and he set sail for home turn- ing down the back. Racing around the home turn Swinford Mylo began to close slightly but Tyrur Lee would not be denied as he won has first race as a father as he sired a litter of nine whelped by Tyrur Lisa the previous day.

In the A2 graded ninth contest the Johnny Maher of Kilmaley owned Clonfeigh Nikita showed great de- termination as she landed her fourth career success by three lengths over the always prominent Jackie Legs in 29.04. The winner was only a length down on Jackie Legs at the

Opening corner despite missing the break slightly. Racing past halfway the daughter of Honcho Classic and Clonmore Nikita launched her chal- lenge on the inside. Hitting the front rounding the third bend she stayed on gamely on the run home for vic- reas

There was a right touch landed in the A4 graded sixth contest over 525 yards as the Pat Curtin trained Spot The Man (Yeah Man-Own Clas- sic) who was backed from 6/4 to 2/5 came home five lengths clear of Clas- sical Moment (T3) in 29.02.

The Lawrence Meaney of Kilrush owned winner though had a little luck on his side at the opening bend where he collided with the runner up and Hard Shoulder (T4) but he managed to come off best after the loluteayey

Once he set sail for home down the back the money was always leaving the layers satchels as she strode home alone and land the touch in style and the Derby winning trainer was not finished yet as the Meaney clan were again this time it was Michael and Claire Meaney owned Ban Diamond completed a double for the kennel in the concluding A3 graded 525.

In this race Ban Diamond (Smok- ing Ban-Droopys Diamond) made just about all to defeat Ballaghboy Cool (T6) by three parts of a length in 29.11. The pair were both away well with the blue jacketed Ban Diamond railing tightly around the opening two bend s to lead by four

lengths passing halfway. Despite running wide all along the back straight though Ballaghboy Cool re- ally began to motor from the home turn but the line just came in time for Ban Diamond.

The fourth contest was an A5 grad- ed 525 and as the field raced to the Opening corner Zoies Joy (T6) led the way from Ler Nadal (T3) with Clune Hincho (T4) in third place. Rounding the second bend the John Fitzgerald of Kilrush owned Ler Nadal moved a clear second on the inside of Zoies Joy before sweeping to the front approaching the penulti- mate corner and the son of Barnane Bill and Black Shaw strode clear to defeat Cooldarragha (T2) by 5&1/2 lengths in 29.50.

The sixth was an A5 graded 525 in which the trap two runner Mine Magic showed fine early pace to lead by three lengths at the opening bend as the *’jolly’’ Montpelier (T6) found herself only fourth after a tardy Start.

Racing down the back Mine Magic led by four lengths from the Mrs Stella Flanagan of Ennisymon owned Dromoher Ferm who hails from a strong staying litter and the daughter of Spiral Nikita and Mythical Crack- er came wide up the straight to get up for a half length victory in 29.28.

The opening contest for A9 graders over the 525 yard trip resulted in a dead heat between the pace setting Mine Ruby (Tl) owned by Frank Browne of Quin and the Master John

McDonagh owned favourite Tyrone Sally (T2). Mine Ruby was smartly away and led to halfway from Ferry- side Snowey (T6) with Tyriorn Sally in third place. Still three length in front turning for home Mine Ruby tied up close home as Tyrorn Sally got up to share the spoils.

In the second contest for A7 grad- ed dogs the Jerry Maloney of Doo- ra owned Ballaghboy Crash (T6) showed a huge improvement in form as he made all the running to de- feat the reserve Easter Cottage (T5) by five and three quarter lengths in 29.44 to get off the mark at the third attempt.

The winner a son of Crash and Sues Beauty was away well as he outpaced the favourite Finnigans Local (T3) to the opening bend . Clear passing halfway he was never in any danger of defeat as Easter Cottage got the better of the battle for second spot.

The A3 graded third contest the Frank Casey of Newmarket on Fer- gus owned Stonehall Pride a son of Droopys Woods and O,Garney Mist came home nine lengths clear of his rivals in a time of 29.51.

The winner trailed the pace setting Mine Cash (T3) racing to the open- ing bend but with the benefit of the inside line he hit the front turning down the back. As Stonehall Pride straightened up to run down the back the was plenty of bunching behind which allow the leader a virtual solo from halfway.

On a great night for the Banner

County one of the most popular owners from the county tasted suc- cess in the A3 graded tenth contest when the PJ O’Halloran of Kilrush owned Scattery Vier1 (Droopys Vi- eri-Cranky Criss) came a second time to lead close home for a half length success over Kilscan Teddy (T3) in 29.50.

The winner led on the run up before he was joined and passed by Glen- gar Joe(T4) turning down the back. Rounding the third bend the leader checked slightly and this allowed Scattery Vieri to challenge again off the home turn and he stuck his neck out gamely up the straight to land the prize.

STEPHEN Cunningham cut a com- posed figure for much of this county semi-final — standing on the sideline there wasn’t much motion out of him, even if he must have been put through the whole gamut of emotions over the OB eeb telecon

There was nothing to worry about in the early exchanges because Crush- een were the better team, old hands at county semi-finals these days and when they led by 0-5 to O-1 as half- time closed in, Cunningham possibly reflected on a job being well done.

Then it all changed — the pen- alty could have put Crusheen out of reach, but when it was missed and Clonlara tacked on two points before half-time it was as if Cunningham and company sensed that the black and amber tide was growing.

“The reality is,” said Cunningham afterwards, “that when you get ahead like that in a championship game as we were in the first half and you don’t punish them, you suffer. That’s what happened us and when we didn’t go further ahead at half-time Clonlara were always going to come back at Saas

And when they started coming, Cunningham was powerless to do anything about it, save throw in substitutes to try and change things around and also hope that Clonlara’s high tide ran its course.

Didn’t look like happening though.

Crusheen slipped behind when Conlon goaled, then as the minutes passed, the differential started to grow as wide as five points. By the last ten minutes Cunningham would have been forgiven if he thought that after five wins in-a-row, Crusheen’s

season was crashing in around them.

He was still composed though, and gradually as the comeback started he became more animated. And when Paddy Meaney crashed home the goal that put Crusheen ahead for the first time in 28 minutes, he raced on

to the field punching the air. Whatever his counterpart, the ani- mated Jimmy Gully can do, Cun- ningham can also do. “Credit our lads,” he said drawing breath. “They dug back in there and got the goal and got a draw when with a few minutes

it looked as if they were gone. With a few minutes left we would have set- tled for this. Clonlara are a fine out- fit, they’re on a serious roll and are very unlucky not to have come out of here with a win. We have another day out got, that’s the way we’re looking at it,” he added.

Then it was time to draw more breath and reflect some more on a tumultuous few minutes. “Things revisit you at times,’ said Cunning- ham in reference to Paddy Meaney’s missed chance in the 55th minute when he kicked the ball inches wide of Ger O’Connell’s right hand post from a distance of no more than sev- SIUM L TROLS

“But this time we had the time to come again and get another chance at goal. That famous day against Tulla we got a chance, but after we didn’t take it we didn’t have the time to come again. It means we have an- other chance. We’re still in it. I keep saying it, but the fact we’re in it is great. We’re not gone.”

With that Cunningham was gone — back to the dressing room to be with his players. Talk them through it, steel them for another day, start preparing for that day.

It could have been very different.

ADDITIONAL resources are _ be- ing pumped in to fight the spread of drugs in Clare, as major drug dealers are being targeted.

Resources at the disposal of the Clare Garda Divisional drugs unit have increased in recent weeks, as a major focus on stamping out the availability of drugs across the coun- ty gets underway.

Gardai are concerned about young people experimenting with soft drugs and then progressing to harder drugs which have a lethal effect on their TaVene

Superintendent John Scanlan said a major crackdown has got underway and is poised to continue.

“We have seen a significant in- crease in the number of arrests of drug dealers in the Clare division,” said Supt Scanlan.

“We have put significant additional personnel into the drugs squad in En- nis. We are very conscious there is a problem,” he said.

“We are conscious about young people who have not yet caught on to drugs getting involved,’ added Supt Scanlan.

“We have made significant seizures. There is going to be zero tolerance,’

he said.

“We would appeal to anyone with any information on people involved in drugs to contact us in the strictest of confidence,” he said.

“Drugs cause deaths. Parents in particular wouldn’t want to believe that drugs wouldn’t invade their lives. That day is gone. Drugs prevail in all elements of society,” he added.

The cocaine-related deaths of two west Clare men – as revealed in this newspaper two weeks ago – led to grave concerns about the availability of drugs.

It prompted gardai to issue a tough warning on the availability of toxic

forms of cocaine.

“We are still seizing significant quantities of cocaine, which is a wor- ry. Our advice for anyone thinking of experimenting with cocaine is not to,’ said a garda source.

“Cocaine is generally cut with other substances. People who pre- pare cocaine are unscrupulous as to what substances they use to bulk it,” he said.

“The speed at which people get into trouble with cocaine is frighten- ing. We are amazed at this. People are more likely to get into financial bother, followed by addiction prob- lems,” added the source.

highlighted the situation on the Laghtagoona Housing Development in Corofin where a number of houses were left with crumbling exterior plaster as well as dangerous road surfaces.

Last week the company behind the development, Cronan Nagle Con- Struction, announced that it was to go into liquidation. Company direc- tors called a meeting of creditors for later month when the company 1s ex- pected to be wound up.

Residents in the estate now have no way of having their houses complet- ed to a Satisfactory standard.

‘Nothing has been been done what- soever to resolve this situation. We are still in the exact same situation at we were six months ago except not it

appears that Cronan Nagle have gone out of business which means that we have no real chance now of getting the houses that we paid for,’ said one Laghtagoona resident.

“In fact the situation is actually worse now than it was back then as we have also discover a problem with our water pipes in the estate which

burst a number of weeks ago.

“It does seem at the moment that all of this is going to be left to the residents to fix. I believe that Cro- nan Nagle have paid a bond to Clare County Council in respect to this de- velopment so maybe they may come out and finish the work. We really have no idea.

“I haven’t had any communication from Cronan Nagle in the last six months what so ever. All the issues are still as bad or worse as they were before. The roadway is still is a very dangerous condition and the plaster is still peeling off the wall in a lot of the houses.

‘According to the insurance com- pany the damage with the plaster is cosmetic and not structural, which means that they will not cover it.”

In June of this year, residents of the Laghtagoona housing estate in Corofin formed an action group to lobby estate developer Cronan Nagle Construction over alleged non-com- pletion of work on the 100-house de- velopment.

THE life of one of Lisdoonvarna hidden musical treasures will be celebrated in a weekend-long free festival later this month. Accordion and box player Micilin Conlon never gained the same fame as the Rus- Sell brothers from Doolin, but the Lisdoonvarna musician was as well thought of locally in his own time.

Born in 1927, he spent virtually all of this 67 years playing music for the people of north Clare. From Friday October 24 to Sunday 26, a celebra- tion of his music will take place at the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoon.

“He essentially spent his whole life entertaining people, he was like a travelling troubadour. He played at wakes and weddings and everything in between. He played Irish music and that was his life,” said Peter Cur- tin of the Roadside.

“He loved having fun along with the music and he was always there mak- ing fun and entertaining people. He would have played at house dances in the old days before there was any formal pub scene for entertainment. He would just walk to a house in the neighbourhood for the sessions. He would walk from Lisdoonvarna up to Fanore for a house dance and he

could come home and then head off to the Cliffs of Moher for another dance after that.”

The festival will feature some play- ers who have become synonymous with traditional music in north Clare. People like Tommy Peoples, Michael Hynes, Davy Spillane and Seamus Hynes will all feature, along with Micilin’s own nephew Johnny Con- ren

‘He was a musician and his father was a musician. I can remember him telling me about coming into the Roadside on the day of his confirma- tion to play a few tunes. He lived for the music,’ continued Peter.

“We have purposely organised some sessions during the day. We want to get people to chill out a bit, and not to just head out at night and then be worried about getting up the following morning.

“Micilin was a chilled out man himself. I’d say his stress levels never got above zero in his whole life. So this is going to be more like a session than a concert. It’s about people and musicians coming in and getting into iW sTomen one

For more information on the cel- ebration of the music and life of Mi- cilin Conlon check out www.roadsi- detavern.ie.

THE bravado was back. Sharon Col- lins’ beaming smile returned to the Four Courts for a brief sojourn last week, exactly 13 weeks after her pre- vious appearance that had culminat- ed in her being led away to prison.

On the evening of Wednesday, July 9 last, Collins, aka ‘Lying Eyes’, left the building in custody, having been found guilty by a jury of soliciting and conspiracy to murder her multi- millionaire partner PJ Howard and his sons Robert and Niall, in En- nis, two years ago. Despite her de- nials, a jury found her guilty of at- tempting to hire a hitman over the internet – through an email address lyingeyes98 @yahoo.ie – to wipe out the Howard family, in order to get her hands on PJ Howard’s wealth.

At the end of the eight-week trial, She was taken to Dochas, the wom- en’s section of Mountjoy prison, where she has remained since, await- ing sentence. Her departure for the prison in July was laced with tears, but as she returned to court last Wednesday – for her sentence date to be fixed – her radiant smile had also re-emerged.

She faces a wait for her sentence – November 3 is d-day for the mother- of-two – but her mid-week appear- ance was comparable to that of a woman without a care in the world.

The 45-year-old has gained a small amount of weight while in prison. Her neat black trouser suit is less roomy, while her gaunt face has be- come plump and rounder.

Throughout her life, image – and retaining her petite frame – has been a priority for Collins. She has al- ways been eager to remain slim and even took Reductil slimming pills at one stage. Undoubtedly her weight gain, albeit slight, will not come as a source of comfort to her in the lead-up to her sentence being handed Cleni0e

Nevertheless, there was no sign of any concern as Collins displayed a healthy glow on Wednesday. Her well-groomed blond bob – which has grown in length from her high- profiled trial – and dazzling smile became the focus of attention around

the Four Courts for the morning.

Accompanied by her youngest son David, Collins chatted freely to her legal team. There was no shortage of smiles and laughter. The confidence and bravado that had dominated Col- lins’ mood during most of the trial had returned.

That trial had seen two very differ- ent sides to Collins. For the first 25 days of the case, she strolled around the Four Courts, displaying a phe- nomenal air of self-confidence. But her world came crashing down after she went into the witness box on day 26 – Tuesday, July 1. That was the day that Una Ni Raifeartaigh’’s cross- examination tore Collins to shreds. Yet, she continued to display confi- dence and mettle throughout the first bout of probing. However, when she returned to the court the following morning, for the remainder of the cross-examination, what she present- ed was a shadow of her former self. Gone was the confidence; replaced only by streaming tears. The bra- vado had evaporated and the worry emerged.

Remarkably, Collins remained pale-faced for the remaining days of the trial and she never again regained her composure as the dramatic finale took its course.

But Wednesday showed an amaz- ing turnaround. Gone was the strain; the smiles had returned. The com- manding Collins was back; the se- riousness of the situation she finds herself in apparently to the back of the mind.

Psychological reports have been carried out on her over the summer by Dr Brian Glanville, at her new abode in the prison. These will fo- cus on her outlook in the wake of her convictions.

Dr Glanville’s reports, along with character references, will be present- ed to Mr Justice Roderick Murphy as he hands down sentence on Novem- ber 3. Collins faces up to ten years in jail on each of the six charges on which she was convicted.

THE Progressive Democrats may just live to fight another day in Clare de- spite the announcement by the party top brass last month that it would be winding up all operations.

Clare party members attended a meeting of the western branch of the party in Limerick last week in which anger was expressed at the decision of the parliamentary section of the party to unilaterally announce that

the PDs would be disbanding.

‘We had more than 100 people at the meeting last week from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary and the vast majority of the people were very un- happy at how this whole matter was handled. There was a lot of members who felt very aggrieved at how the parliamentary party had handled the whole incident,’ said Tadhg Kearney, former national executive member of the PD’s.

“The room expressed very strong

views about how this whole situation was managed. To be honest there was a lot of anger among local represent- atives about how this situation could be allowed to happen.”

The meeting was attended by party leader Ciaran Cannon who faced questions about procedural errors in how the decision to wind down the part was announced.

“They have moved way beyond their remit in making this decision. Putting it bluntly, this was not their

decision to make,’ continued Mr Kearney. “We have more councillors right now than the Green Party and yet they have decided to call it a day. There was a lot of anger in the meet- ing, in fact that is an understatement. We had more than 100 committed members who said unanimously that they want the party to continue.

“A lot of people have made this party their home. For a lot of people out there the PDs is their political church. We don’t want to give this up

without a fight. At the moment is it unclear what is going to happen.

“There may be too much damage done for us to continue on as the PD, the decision may even be made to continue on but under a different name. We are just gong to have to wait and see.”

All members of the Progressive Democrats will meet on November 8 to vote on a motion put forward by the national executive recommend- ing that the party be wound up.

THE RECESSION is having little impact on the success of start-up business. Winning sales is the key to Start-up success – that was some of the key information from an expert line up of speakers presenting on winning sales techniques to an audi- ence of 200 entrepreneurs, sales pro- fessionals and investors at the second Mid-West Entrepreneur Showcase.

Launching the showcase, Frank Ryan, CEO of Enterprise Ireland said, “While the only constant in today’s business environment is change, Irish small and medium sized companies have shown them- selves to be remarkably adaptable in managing change.

“This flexibility and adeptness has been a crucial factor in the outstand- ing success of Irish enterprises. We have witnessed the emergence of Irish companies competing in global markets and forging ahead as market leaders and innovators in their sec- tors,” he said.

Ryan said that entrepreneurs are “making real and valuable contribu- tions in every part of every county throughout the country – in terms of employment and innovative capac- ity, and through anchoring the social

fabric of their respective localities.” Frank Hannigan, CEO of Yougetit-

back.com, told those attending that

he believes that companies who

think globally are better positioned

He also believes that recessions

to survive than companies who think have little impact on the success rate

locally in terms of winning sales and developing products.

for start-ups. “Inputs cost less and there 1s still

demand for good services and prod- ucts. In spite of all the bad news around a global recession and avail- ability of funds, we should not lose heart. There are billions of dollars in Venture funds. They only make a profit if they can spend that money investing in smart start ups. If the ideas are good enough institutional investors still have to invest,’ he Se HLGE

The Seminar and Showcase event was organised by the Enterprise Ac- celeration Centre (EAC) at Limerick Institute of Technology as part of Limerick City Business Week and consists of a half day Seminar and Showcase featuring clients of the EAC and the Limerick Enterprise Acceleration Platform (LEAP) par- aes Oye D OL Ace

The objective of this year’s Mid- West Entrepreneur Showcase event was to present business people with key techniques, tools and real life experiences on how to win sales in order to drive the development of early stage businesses from start-up to international business success.

AS the main throng of summer tour- ists begins to die down at the Cliffs of Moher, the centre has organised a number of new ways by which the lo- cal community can use the facility.

From this month until the end of May, a number of different artistic and community events will be hosted at the Cliffs of Moher. Starting with an exhibition of paintings this week, the centre will also have children’s events, concerts and a whole host of other special occasions.

The first of these events, an exhibi- tion of paintings by local artist Philip Morrison, opened over the weekend and will run until November 30.

“This is the first exhibition but our plan would be to do a series of events like this throughout the winter. We have a great space here so we are looking at a host of different things that we can do here when the place isn’t packed out with tourists,” said Geraldine Enright, marketing man- ager at the Cliff of Moher visitor centre.

“We’d really like to bring in local people and give them an extra rea- son to come and visit the cliffs. We are very excited about the exhibition – it’s the first exhibition that we have had at the cliffs so we really hopeful that it will go well.”

The Cliffs of Moher Centre will host a number of special event for

Oi elcommshw elle (ore

“On Halloween night from 5pm to Spm we are inviting parents and kids to come. We are going to have a night of ghost-stories and games. Everyone here will be dressed up as different characters so it should be a lot of fun,’ she continued.

‘Separate from that we will be run- ning Samhain at the Cliffs of Moher over the whole bank holiday week- end. That will include face painting and all the traditional Halloween games.

“We have also been inviting groups of active retired people to the cliffs. We have a special package for them with a lecture, a guided tour and a meal.

“This year we are trying differ- ent things to see how they work out. There really are endless possibilities with the space that we have here. It’s such a great space so it’s really out aim to make it somewhere that is fully used by the local people.”

For more information or _ to book contact 065 7086141, e-mail bookings @cliffsofmoher.ie or check out www.cliffsofmoher.ie

SENTENCING in the Ennis con- spiracy to murder case will take place in three weeks’ time at the Central Criminal Court. Sharon Col- lins and Essam Eid appeared in court last Wednesday, when a date for their sentencing was set.

Collins (45), formerly of Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, Ennis, was found guilty by a jury in July of so- liciting to murder PJ Howard and his sons Robert and Niall.

Eid (52), a native of Egypt and for- merly of Las Vegas, was found guilty of demanding €100,000 from Rob- ert Howard to cancel a contract on

his life and the lives of his father and brother. Eid was also convicted of handling stolen property.

At the end of the eight-week trial on July 9, sentencing had been adjourned as psychological reports were to be carried out on Collins and medical reports were to be made available in the case of Eid. The three-minute hearing last Wednesday was told that psychological reports on Collins were ready, but medical reports in the case of Eid were not yet available.

Collins’ barrister Paul O’Higgins SC, said there had been some confu- sion in the matter. He said that the Courts Service had acquired a psy- chologist to see Collins the week

before. This, he said, caused confu- sion as the defence had previously arranged with the Department of Justice to have Dr Brian Glanville see her. He pointed out that Dr Glan- ville’s psychological reports were at hand. However, David Sutton, SC for Eid, said he was having difficulty assembling medical reports for his client and he was seeking another four weeks to complete this. Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL for the prosecution said the State was ready to go ahead with the sentencing.

Mr Justice Roderick Murphy fixed Monday, November 3, as the date for the sentencing to take place.