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LAST Tuesday at training, Jim Gully gathered his players and faced them in the direction of reality. He said Clonlara can now rightly call them- selves a senior team and he pointed out that they have the players to cope at the highest level.

He named a couple of other clubs who had made decent progress down through the years only to eventually fall by the wayside. His point was that Clonlara should take advantage of the pool of players at their dispos- al and do their best to get out of the eaveleiey

It’s not that Gully is overly-con- fident. He rightly says that the next two or three years should be about consolodating their seinor status, but he’s optimistic enough to aim for the play-offs.

Last season’s heroics in the Inter- mediate championship and in the provincial championship are partly down to Gully’s positive approach. Players thrived under his influence and the success of last year spread much wider than winning the Inter-

mediate championship.

“It lifted the whole place, gave hurling a great foundation in Clon- lara,” says Gully. “You saw kids in school making up songs about the team. It was the kind of thing you dream about.”

This year hasn’t started too badly either. The Under 21s captured the A title in Cusack Park defeating a seasoned Nermarket-on-Fergus side and nine of those players had a role to play in the senior squad of 2007.

“People are going around saying that we’re in with a chance of win- ning the championship year and that’s the sort of thing we have to guard against. People around here think these guys are unbeatable but playing in the senior championship 1s going to be a big step-up.

“Senior teams can stop open hurl- ing easier than intermediate teams and that’s the kind of hurling we like to play. Then there’s the speed of the game. Players, I reckon, will have two seconds less to make up their minds this year. Our lads will have to think fast and act fast. Basically, you’re go- ing to have to make decisions imme-

diately and go with them.”

Gully is also pleased that unlike the last time Clonlara were a senior club, there isn’t a two-tiered system.

“We were relegated three years ago having played in what was a Senior B championship. There were eight top teams that year and 12 on the second level. So we didn’t really have an op- portunity to have a go at the big boys. The way things are this year, it’s far better.”

Clonlara’s youth factor, Gully reck- ons, means that the team may be bet- ter positioned to adapt to taking on some of the more seasoned sides.

‘Before the final last year, the young lads were going around as though it was just another hurling game where- as we [the management] were having sleepless nights. What I’d love to see is our more senior players leading the younger lads and that way, we can all adapt straight away.”

For Clonlara’s opener against Ogonnelloe, they’ll have to do with- out Darach Honan and John Conlon who are both sitting the Leaving Cert. The O’Donovan brothers are also America bound after the first

round and they won’t return until the end of August.

With typical positivity, Gully man- ages to see the bright side.

“We’re not going to use any excuse. Of course we’d love to have the lads but you show me a team that won’t have to deal with something simular. The lads we have, once they’re cer- tain that they’re not going to let this chance slip by, then I’ll be happy. We’re not the same as the likes of Clarecastle or Sixmilebridge. We don’t have a conveyor belt producing players year after year.

“We’ don’t have a large pool of players and we’re in this competition to battle and to give a good account of ourselves. Nothing less.”

Last Christmas, in the middle of the All-Ireland championship, the club took a short break from hurling. Gully recalled the panel for train- ing on January 2. Close to 30 play- ers showed up. They may have fallen short in Munster earlier in the year, but a new challenge is about to be- gin.

With Gully steering the ship, they’ll strive to break through any icebergs that come in their way this summer.

FIVE Clare women have been nomi- nated for the Champagne Nicho- las Feuillatte Women of the Year Awards. The awards will be pre- sented at a gala dinner on June 7 at the Silversprings Moran Hotel, Cork, with up to 600 guests present.

“This is the inaugural year of the awards which honour women who have excelled in whatever area they are in, whether it be business, sport, charity work or simply exceptional achievement of any type,’ said Tom

Desmond, Managing Director of Galvins Wholesale Ltd, distributors of Nicholas Feuillatte Champagne.

Quin businesswoman and founder of Conference Connections Ltd, Colette Duggan has been nominated for her role in promoting excellence in entertainment and business. As proprietor of Clare Conference Con- nections Ltd she caters for a national and international blue chip client list. She is being nominated for deliver- ing objectives over and above her cli- ents’ expectations.

Much-loved traditional musician,

Sharon Shannon is being nominated for her contribution to music.

Rita Mc Inerney, Chief Executive Officer of Ennis chamber, is also nominated. She represents the in- terests of the 250 business members from professional, retail, tourism and industrial sectors in the Ennis and Clare area, on a range of issues through lobbying and submissions on a local, regional and national lev- el. She is a current board member by ministerial appointment to the Shan- non Foynes Port Authority.

Ann Norton is nominated for her

voluntary work as manager with the Clare Crusaders Children’s Charity. The charity, which was established by the late Howard Flannery, pro- vides clinical and vital care for the children of County Clare with spe- cial needs. Ann, whose eldest daugh- ter has Cerebral Palsy, continued the dream of her late friend and over the past nine months has opened a clinic which now employs 12 therapists, providing care for more than 80 chil- dren in the county and providing over 6,000 hours of therapy annually. Ennis woman and presenter of

‘Paisean Faisean’, TG4’s highly rated fashion and dating show, Blathnaid O’ Donoghue is also one of the nominees. She is nominated for her promotion of the Irish language, particularly to the younger audiences on TG4.

The awards are being run in con- junction with TV3 and RSVP maga- zine, with TV3’s Colette Fitzpatrick and Cork’s 96FM’s Neil Prendeville presenting on the night. Nicholas Feuillatte is the top-selling cham- pagne in France and GWL are its sole Irish distributor.

ma dite councillor said these are among his priorities for the coming year.

Pat took over office from council- lor Colm Wiley (FF) at the last area meeting of the council.

“I’m very pleased with the progress that’s been made in areas such as the

Scariff sewerage scheme but I want to see these facilities rolled out for other areas. In parts of east Clare, there has been little or no develop- ment because of the lack of this type of infrastructure and we must keep on working to provide and upgrade water and sewerage schemes for eve- ry area of east Clare.”

Cllr Hayes said that he 1s also con- cerned that there has been a huge fall-off in angling tourism in east Clare, a slice of the market which played a major role previously.

‘There was a time when a lot of people made their living solely from the angling tourism trade. Now that

has fallen off the page entirely,’ Cllr Hayes said.

The councillor said that he ap- plauds the work being done by the East Clare Tourism organisation: ‘But we need to be part of a bigger promotional picture and we also need to integrate cultural tourism into the picture. If you look at the east Clare area in the coming months, we have a myriad of different festivals with a cultural emphasis.”

Pat wants to see a meeting of the key people involved in tourism and tourism promotion to set out a plan of action. The newly elected chair says he is also anxious to see more

co-operation with council colleagues in neighbouring areas, including Tip- Oe DAA TIOm Or NAVE hs

He is hopeful that when the elec- toral boundary commission unveils it’s plans in the coming weeks, east Clare will remain intact.

“Rural and urban areas have differ- ent needs and places like Scariff and Tuamgraney need representation on different issues to developed urban areas.”

The councillor said he will also be placing a lot of emphasis on road up- grades “particularly main link roads such as Limerick through Broad- ford’, he said.

CLARE children with intellectual difficulties will remain forgotten and neglected because there is no dedi- cated intellectual team for children in the county.

According to the 2007 Mental Health Commission Annual Report, a consultant psychiatrist visits the county just once a month to provide a mental health clinic for 120 children.

In between these visits, all clinical problems – including prescription of medication – are dealt with by phone.

The commission’s report into men- tal health services in the country showed that there were no nursing

staff, psychologist, social worker, oc- cupational therapist, speech and lan- guage therapist or any other facilities available to these children in Clare.

The report carried out by the In- spector of Mental Health Services found that since the last report in 2006, there had been no change in provisions for services for adults and children with an intellectual dis- ability who require a mental health service.

“There was a need for the HSE to take a lead role in organizing the de- velopment of this specialist service based on a catchments population model,” it said.

‘The child and adolescence service

in Limerick, Clare and north Tipper- ary remain under-resourced. None of the multidisciplinary teams had a full complement of core staff.”

The report stated that there was a part-time consultant psychiatric post designated to children who at- tended the Daughters of Charity, but observed that early intervention teams set up in the region do not see

was in contact with staff who had not received the required Garda clear- ance.

“The staff had also not received training in the care of these children. “Appropriate accommodation, in- cluding segregated sleeping areas and bathroom areas, were not avail- able in the unit.”

The annual report also. stated,

children with more that two develop- “Children admitted to the unit did not

mental delays.

Meanwhile, the report into mental health practices in Clare was critical of the admission of a child to the psy- chiatric unit at Ennis General Hospi- tal in November 2006.

The report revealed that the child

have access to appropriate educa- tion provision. The unit has a written operational policy and protocols in relation to the admission of a child but this did not include a policy and procedure in relation to parental con- sent.”

TRACE a finger over 2007 and you’ll find that the season for Scariff could and should have held more promise. By the end of June, they had two wins under their belt — against Ogonnelloe and Smith O’Briens – and were mov- ing in the right direction.

Two months passed before the next round of the championship and by then, Crusheen, who had three points from a possible four, were standing in wait. A win would have given Scariff the edge to progress from the group. As it was, they ended up five points off of Crusheen in a low scor- ing game. It set up what was effec- tively a straight-knock out with even- tual county champions, Tulla. Scariff were blown away by 13 points and

the early promise of June had faded by the middle of September.

Strangely, three of those four teams now occupy Scariff’s group this year — Tulla being the exception – and the opportunity to apply the lessons learned towards the end of the group stages of ’07 presents itself.

It won’t be easy, though. Mark McKenna – one of the club’s finest hurlers before his recent retirement — was one of two selectors last year. Now, he has taken the reins from Ger Rodgers but McKenna points to the Clare Cup campaign to date — Scar- iff have lost five from five — and says securing a couple of early wins won’t be as easy this time round.

“Don’t get me wrong,” says McK- enna, “every team will be fighting to come out of the group and Scariff

will be no different. Since the draw, everybody’s been saying that every game for Scariff will be local derby and that’s true. It’s up to us to cope with that.”

In a sense, it’s how best they can cope with the pressure that comes with playing their neighbouring teams that will dictate whether or not they can go one step better this year.

Over the course of the Clare Cup, they’s used 25 players in those five games but not once — mainly because of injuries — have they been able to pick a team from their strongest ornate b

Last week, the treatment table was in full use. The likes of Pat Moro- ney, Johnny Colleran, Shane Corry and Michael Rodgers are all carry- ing worrying knocks so the fact that

Scariff have a bye in the first round could be of benefit.

‘We have the bare pool of players and in that situation, when you pick up injuries it tends to have more of an effect. So the break at the start of the championship is welcome. It will also give us the chance to assess how other teams are going in the group, SO We won’t complain about not hav- ing a game the first day out.

“On top of the injuries, Brendan McNamara and Martin Hartigan have both retired and a couple of lads have also gone to Australia. In a way, this will be as weak a Scariff team as we’ve fielded in a championship for a long time but that’s no reflec- tion on the lads that are driving the club forward.

“Being realistic, it’s going to be a tough group but we’ll fight for our survival. It looks like Crusheen are going to be the team to beat and looking ahead, you’ll have the rest of the teams in the group doing their best to advance with them.”

AN TAISCE has warned against any further large-scale housing develop- ments in Doonbeg.

Arising from the development of the nearby €150 million golf resort at the dunes overlooking Dough- more beach, a small group of land- owners are reaping a windfall from a number of large-scale applications lodged with the council.

Applications for almost 200 homes

in the west Clare village are current- ly being processed by the council’s planning department.

Already, the golf club has been a factor in Doonbeg increasing its pop- ulation by 17 per cent going from 586 to 700 in the last census and bucking a trend in many areas of west Clare which have seen a population drop.

Graigue Properties Ltd are one of a number of companies seeking planning permission for a housing development on a zoned site in the

AUN E:Texon

However, An Taisce has raised con- cerns over the fact that 15 per cent of dwellings in Doonbeg are unoccu- pied throughout the year.

According to a submission by An Taisce, “There is also a seven to nine per cent unemployment figure in the village. These figures suggest that there is no demand for further large housing estates within Doonbeg. If considering the opening of the En- nis bypass and marketing on long-

distance commuting, we should not encourage this because of the effect on our carbon footprint.”

However, the council has stated that the principle of development is acceptable at this location in relation to the zoning of the site and also its location within the village of Doon- eres

However, the council has stated that it has serious concerns in rela- tion to the design and layout as well as traffic issues pertaining to the site

and are not favourably disposed to the granting of permission in its cur- Kos s1 MaKe) MONEE

The council state that the layout would not provide for an accept- able standard of residential amen- ity for future occupants and would therefore not be in accordance with proper planning and development of atom Dusre

The council has also suggested that the developers include a commercial component to their plan.

TWO courses, one in how to plaster and the other in getting plastered the natural way, are proving to be a big hit in east Clare.

Run by the Irish Seed Savers Asso- ciation in Capparoe, anyone interest- ed in learning how to make natural country wines or how to plaster with traditional lime will learn all they need to know.

The lime plastering course is a must for people who are involved with re- storing old stone buildings, said PRO

for Seed Saver’s, Geraldine Tobin.

“The course tutor, Phoebe O’Brien, has had a huge amount of experience in working with this type of plaster and it is absolutely the most suitable material for old stone,’ said Geral- elt eter

As part of the course work, par- ticipants will plaster the cob build- ing which was recently erected at the Seed Savers gardens.

Meanwhile, Kes Clarke will be teaching those fond of a natural tip- ple how to make wine from ingred1- ents growing all around us.

‘A lot of people know that you can make wine from elderberries but there are so many more berries and flowers that can be used,’ said Ger- aldine.

Meadowsweet, gorse flowers, dan- delion and elderflower are just some of the base ingredients that can be used and Kes will be demonstrating techniques and natural methods of producing delicious country wines.

And of course, there will be a chance to taste the country tipples Kes made previously, all in modera- tion of course.

The plastering course runs all week- end and the wine-making course 1s a one-day event on Sunday.

Courses cost €60 for wine-making or €120 for the lime plastering.

Both courses are being run by the Irish Seed Savers Association and are being given by tutors from CELT, the Centre of Environmental Living and Training.

There are special reductions for Seed Saver members and places can be booked over the phone at 061 921856 or online at wwwirishseed- savers.ie

CLARE is the only county where there are not enough places in 24- hour staffed community residences to cater for the number of people in need of the service.

According to the report of the In- spector of Mental Health Services, there were 63 people living in the 58 residental places available through- out the county.

The report also showed that three

posts approved for adult mental health services in Clare fell victim of the HSE recruitment freeze in 2007.

According to the Inspector of Men- tal Health Services, additional fund- ing was allocated for the posts last year but the jobs fell to the recruit- ment embargo.

“The Clare Mental Health Service has been proactive in developing a community-based model of care over the five years since the closure of Our Lady’s hospital,” the inspector said.

“It faces considerable challenges in reconfiguring existing nursing resources, introducing health care assistants and accessing funding to achieve appropriate staffing levels on all teams.

“There was a serious deficit in meeting the needs of residents with an intellectual disability who were resident in 24-hour nurse-staffed ac- commodation.

Despite the Health Commission recommending that adequate re-

sources should be put in place in the community to enable service users have bloods taken for clozaril moni- toring, this has still not happened.

They must instead travel to the psy- chiatric unit in Ennis.

The report also showed that while the psychiatric unit at Ennis General Hospital was complying with the ma- jority of the regulations set down in the Mental Health Act 2001, it fell short of having written policies in a number of areas.

The situation was similar for Or- chard Grove in Ennis, which provides intense rehabilitation and accommo- dation for 10 men with “complex and challenging needs”.

Within the psychiatric Unit at Ennis General Hospital, the inspector was critical of the fact that ventilation in the seclusion room was inadequate.

Four clinical files of detained pa- tients authorised for seclusion were reviewed by the Inspectorate and, in some cases, part of the seclusion reg- ister was not completed.

It has since been reported that this matter has been addressed.

‘No record of the patient’s next of kin being notified or reasons for not notifying next of kin was document- ed in the clinical files,’ the report Crate

SINCE group stages were introduced to the championship, it’s become a dog-eared cliché to say that win- ning the opening game provides an element of breathing space for the remainder of the competition. It’s a common reality for sure and it’s one that Ogonnelloe have been using for motivation in the lead up to this sea- son’s championship kick off.

The opening game of the season hasn’t gone their way over the past few seasons and according to man- ager Gerry Cosgrove, it has left them with too much ground to make up in the drive for a play-off place.

Last year, they played Scariff in their group opener, put up a good battle but ultimately lost by four points. They followed this up with another defeat, this time to Tulla and by then, the Senior B championship was looming.

In that competition, there were glimpses of what Ogonnelloe can of- fer. They reached the final and were beaten by Eire Og and while it gave

Ogonnelloe a brief glimpse at the big stage, the secondary competition was never the place they wanted to be.

‘The definite target this year is the first game, which 1s against Clonlara,’ says Cosgrove. “We’ve been striving to get off to a good start these past few years and haven’t been able to do it, but hopefully that can change with our first game this season.”

He says it’s not going to be an easy task, though, considering Clonlara will come to the game aiming to lay down a marker for themselves.

“IT saw Clonlara a few times last year and they’ve got one of the finest up and coming sides in Clare hurling at the moment. They’re well capable of putting it up to the bigger teams and they’ve got some great young players, particularly close to goal. We’ve been playing senior now for 13 years so it’s going to be a case of

the young guns up against the expe- rienced side when we meet.”

Cosgrove has had to plan without the services of Pascal Sheedy and Noel Gavin who have both retired but this year’s Under 21 amalgamation with Scariff for the B championship allowed some younger players expo- sure. As a result, Michael O’Brien, Eoin Collins and Paul Healy can all expect some role to play in the sum- mer’s championship.

“Tt’s still going to be a daunting task for us this season,’ adds Cosgrove. “If you look at it, we have Scariff again and they’re a team we’ve never beaten in senior championship hurl- ing. That shows the kind of test that we face.

“But we’re aiming to get second spot in the group and advance. It’s fair enough to suggest that Crusheen will be the team to beat and the rest

of us might be playing for second place. If any team can beat Crusheen then you’d have to fancy their chanc- es of then progressing.”

For now, though, it’s that opener with Clonlara that’s going to occupy Ogonnelloe minds. They played in the Clare Cup in May and just man- aged to nick a win by a point. Both sides were missing some players but Cosgrove still expects little to sepa- rate them when they meet for the eroloe

Not long to go now until Ogonnel- loe know if they can find that mo- mentum to propel them to greater things this year.

A 19 YEAR old Bristol man has been remanded until August after he reap- peared in court on Friday on charges in connection with an assault which left a 20 year old rugby fan from County Clare fighting for his life.

James “Jamie” Egan (19) from Kilmihil is now reported to be in a “stable condition” at Frenchay North Bristol Hospital after being attacked in a pub there on May 23 last.

He had been on the critical list for a number of days before that.

James had been staying in the city and was due to travel to Cardiff to see Munster play in the Heineken Cup Final the following day. However,

the Limerick Institute of Technology engineering student was rushed to hospital with life threatening injuries following an incident in a bar.

Darren O’Neill from Bristol was arrested soon after the attack and was later charged with causing griev- ous bodily harm (GBH).

He first appeared at Bristol Mag- istrates Court on Monday, May 26, where he was remanded to the Bris- tol Crown Court where he appeared on Friday last.

According to a _ spokesperson for Bristol Crown Court, “Darren O’Neill appeared at Bristol Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on May 30. He was remanded to appear at this court on August 29 next.”

Police were called to the scene at the Chicago Rock bar, Bristol Wa- terfront, at around midnight on Fri- day May 23 where they found James Egan seriously injured.

It is understood that Mr Egan had returned to his hotel following an earlier incident, but left the hotel again at around midnight. He was subsequently assaulted by aman ina bar on Bristol’s waterfront.

A short time later in a nearby pub, Darren O’Neill, with an address in Bristol, was arrested and taken into custody.

The injured man’s mother Carmel flew to Bristol from Clare to be at her son’s bedside the morning after the AAA EANOL