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ON SATURDAY last I took part in the mini-marathon staged along- side the Burren Marathon in Bally- vaughan. It was well organised and the large crowd enjoyed a great at- mosphere at the start line.

I was feeling good, and when actor Brendan Gleeson sent us on our way with a playful ‘Ready, steady, go!’, I took off like a bullet. Despite the hard uphill stretches at the start, I passed the 3-mile mark in 20:24, but I paid for my impetuousness later on and got steadily slower over the sec- ond half.

The wonderful scenery along the

route was wasted on me as I pushed close to the pain barrier, though the sound of a cuckoo turned my grim- ace to a smile at the 4-mile mark. At 5 miles I had an animated argument with the devil on my shoulder tell- ing me to stop and walk for a while. I knew if I gave in my race would be over, so I steeled myself to push on and keep going to the finish line.

Turns out, I was the first woman over the line in 45:02. My first ever win and a memory to treasure! Un- fortunately I couldn’t hang around basking in my success; I had to get straight home to blow up balloons for my son’s fourth birthday. A mother’s work is never done.

If I’m to achieve my goal of com- pleting The Clare 10k in under 42 minutes, I obviously still have lots of work to do. Pll have to focus particu- larly on speed and pacing, but with 4 weeks to go, I’m still fairly confi- elie

The fundraising for cystic fibrosis is gathering pace too. Don’t forget you can donate online at www.cfire- land.ie (see ‘Margaret Ryan Clare 10k’ under event menu), or contact me directly at 086 6067047.

THE win may have been unexpected but Clare manager Kevin Kennedy never for a moment doubted the com- mitment of his players.

Sunday’s victory over reigning Munster champions Waterford, owed everything, Kennedy said afterwards, to character and pride.

“All I can say is that we have a panel of 24 there and they are 24 of the finest fellas you could get,” said Kennedy, standing near the entrance

to the player’s tunnel.

‘There were fellas asked to play for Clare. Some fellas refused, we had more that were injured and unavail- able. Fellas refused to play for Clare. These lads didn’t. They were proud to wear the Clare jersey and I am re- ally proud of them. Simple as that now, they gave it everything.”

Preparations may not have been ideal and Kennedy acknowledged that everyone within the panel knew getting past Waterford presented a major challenge.

“It’s a great win. Waterford were in the All-Ireland final last year. We knew ourselves, we were up against it, but I am absolutely thrilled for those fellas. There were evenings there this year, when we had only the bare 15. They proved they were up to it. They were proud to play for Clare today, proud to win.”

Last year Clare defeated Cork, then Munster champions in the first round before losing to Waterford in the pro- vincial semi-final.

A year on Kennedy hopes the win

can be a springboard to greater suc- cess in the grade. Clare have never won an intermediate title, since it was elevated from the status of a jun- ior championship.

“Anything is possible now. We weren’t given a chance there, in fair- ness we thought we were up against it. We got the lads right. The last four or five games, I knew things were improving. I knew the attitude was good and that was it. They are decent lads. Good club hurlers and proud to get a chance to play for Clare.”

The Clare manager felt Clare’s work-rate and willingness to hunt in packs was the winning of the game.

“We hit and we chased in fours and fives. When a team is playing like that, they are very hard to beat. We felt we could beat Waterford. Clare lads feel they can beat Waterford anytime’, added Kennedy just as Clare’s senior hurlers ran onto the pitch for the day’s main event against Waterford.

Maybe he knew something we oleln ae

PJ HOWARD’S youngest son told the trial that he had a close relationship with Sharon Collins, who supported him when his mother died.

Niall Howard (24) said that Ms Col- lins had helped him to choose items for rebuilding the house in which he had lived with his mother, after her lero

Ms Collins’ barrister, Paul O’ Higgins, SC, in cross-examination of the witness, said, “She was 1n most respects in the position of someone who appeared married to him.” Niall Howard replied, “Yes.”

Asked did he have a close relation- ship with Ms Collins, he replied, “Yes, I did.”

Mr O’Higgins put it to him that he had endured a difficult time when his mother had died and Ms Collins had offered him support through this time. He replied, “Yes, she did”.

Mr O’Higgins pointed out that Ni- all had lived with his mother prior to moving in with his brother Robert. After his mother had died Niall went about rebuilding the house. Ms Col- lins was closely involved in this and helped him pick out tiles. Mr Howard accepted this.

“Sharon Collins would have liked to marry your father but he didn’t want to,” said Mr O’Higgins and the witness accepted this.

Mr Howard told the court that he and his brother Robert were watch- ing television in a room at the back of the house on September 27, 2006, when Robert received a call on his mobile phone.

‘Robert told me someone was call- ing to the house and he had the com- puters,” he said.

He said that when the man called to the house, he was looking out the window while his brother talked to the man at the door.

‘Robert told me to call the police. I called them on Robert’s phone. Rob- ert went back out.

“IT went into the side bedroom. They were standing at the side door,” he said.

He said that after the man left the house, he and Robert got into Rob- ert’s jeep and attempted to follow him but they lost sight of him and returned home.

“We were sitting in the jeep. Rob- ert rang PJ. He was in Spain. He was still talking to PJ when the guards came,” he said.

“We went back inside. We were very shocked over it all,” he said.

Asked did he set up the “lyingeyes”’ email, he replied, “No, I did not.”

He told Una Ni Raifeartaigh, BL, prosecuting that he had all his own emails on his own computer, but did not have passwords to other emails.

“Emails are the essence of this case,’ said Ms Ni Raifeartaigh.

Asked was the office computer pro- tected by a password, Mr Howard said, “I don’t believe it was.”

“If she had placed emails on this computer they were there potentially for you to see or for Robert to see,” said Mr O’Higgins, to which he re- plied, “If they were in the Downes and Howard accounts, yes.”

Mark Nicholas, BL, for Essam Eid, put it to Niall Howard that on the night of the man’s visit to their home at Ballaghboy, he was “looking out through a window.”

He accepted this. Mr Nicholas said, “Tm suggesting the man you thought it was is not the man.”

A GROUP of 30 adults from Guin- gamp in France are this week enjoy- ing a visit to its twin town Shannon.

The initiative is part of exchanges between the two towns that started When the towns were twinned in eeresee

As part of the twinning, a group from Shannon visit Guingamp eve- ry other 18 months and the French group visit 18 months later.

Although the number of people

who made the trip to Shannon this year was less than in previous years, it did not dampen the spirits of those who travelled.

The visitors, hosted by a number of Shannon families, arrived on Satur- day. Over the weekend they enjoyed various events organised by their hosts.

They were taken to a hurling match, shopping, to dinner and to Mass at Mary Immaculate Church.

They took in a tour to the Cliffs of Moher and Ballyvaughan yesterday,

while they will travel to the Rock of Cashel today.

Shannon Town Council will host a dinner for the group at the Oak- wood Arms Hotel tonight, while to- morrow will be a day of relaxation around Shannon town, prior to the group taking an early flight home on Thursday.

Town Clerk Tomas MacCormaic, who organised the trip, said the French especially enjoy the Guin- ness and the music!

“They like our music in a big way

and the Guinness as well, along with the archaeological and_ historical sites. Some of the loyal members of our group are involved in the ar- chaeological and historical society,’ he added.

Among those heavily involved in the Shannon twinning committee are Frank O’Hanlon (chairman), Ann Bridgeman (treasurer), while Mr MacCormaic is the secretary. Pat and Rita Costello have also been strongly involved for several years and frequently visit Guingamp.

AN Ennis builder claims that he faces bankruptcy if €60,000 owed to him for his work on a Kilrush de- velopment is not paid.

Joseph Canavan joined pickets at the site of a new nursing home on the Killimer Road in Kilrush last Wednesday and Thursday following the failure of main contractor Site- line Construction to pay more than €100,000 in arrears owed to sub- contractors.

Mr Canavan, who employs 14 peo- ple at the site, claims not to have been paid since October of last year despite continuing to work and pay his own staff until last week.

According to union officials, a number of other sub-contractors are also owed sizeable sums with one painting contractor owed €46,000.

“T’m owed about €60,000 at the moment all told – I’d be one of the main sub-contractors here on the site.

“T would have been employing 13 or 14 people here during the con- struction as there was a big rush on to get the job finished,” said Mr Ca- navan.

“My agreement was that we would get paid at the end of every month. I

was paid at the end of the first month but then for the second month the cheque was two weeks late. I got that cheque eventually but the next month the cheque bounced.

“IT was paid with a bank draft in October but we have not been paid in the seven months since then. It’s a huge pressure on us here. I have paid all of my lads up to date, and I sup- plied all the metal studs and the grid ceiling here and all of that had to be ey nem oe

“I have tried to contact Siteline Construction a number of times and he won’t answer his phone to me.”

IT’S ALWAYS the little things that mess up the best laid plans. Like for- getting to pack your runners before going on holidays. Or falling over the dog the night before the race. Or — my personal favourite — that nagging hot rubbing feeling in your runner that tells you that you’re getting a blister 15 minutes into your run. What to do — stop? Take your sock off? Keep go- ing in the hope it’ll go away?

As with almost everything in life, prevention is the best cure. Know- ing the risk factors for developing a blister is the best way of avoiding one developing in the first place. Three factors make a blister — heat, pressure and friction. Some heat is- sues you can’t control, like the tem- perature of the day. Others you can, for example choosing a shoe with a large amount of mesh in the upper, and making sure your feet are cool and dry before putting your runners on by having a cold footbath and dry- ing your feet thoroughly.

Anything that intensifies rubbing can start a blister, including a faster pace, poor-fitting shoes and foot ab- normalities. There are lots of tips out there on runner forums, blogs and websites on avoiding blisters. Some

of them sensible — good fitting shoes, seamless socks, keep skin from dry- ing out but don’t let get sweaty. Some seem a bit OTT – one ultra runner ad- vises Slathering the feet in Vaseline, putting on a pair of pop socks and then normal running socks. Some (from a renowned but obviously non- running podiatrist) are impractical — stop in mid-race, have a shower and dry the feet thoroughly.

Where we Chartered Physiothera- pists as health professionals can help in the area of blister prevention is advise on foot abnormalities and bio- mechanical problems. If you have, for example, a low arched foot or poor knee muscle control your foot contact with the ground will be dif- ferent from someone who does not have these issues. If you are getting persistent problems with blisters visit your local Chartered Physiothera-

Oe To show that your local Chartered Physiotherapists are behind you

were going to be there for you on the 28th in Lees Road. A team of lo- cal pphysios will be providing free pre and post race massage, stretches and injury advice. We’ve been pro- viding this service since the start of the Clare People 10k and we’ve had hugely positive feedback.

JUSTIN McCarthy emerged from the Waterford dressing room and didn’t have to be prompted to offer his thoughts on where it all went wrong for Waterford.

The Waterford manager felt his injury-hit team were outplayed by a Clare side, he reckoned would have beaten any team on Sunday.

Despite posting a more than re- spectable total of 0-23, the crucial CUTS sTOLN Ke) e Mole AN (ole) IMA Nome CUE KM BEls one element inseparable from Water-

ford performances from recent times — goals.

“T felt the way they performed they would have beaten any team” said McCarthy afterwards, ““We came up here with high ambitions but at the end of the day they outplayed us. They got some great scores, from frees and from play. The two goals of course were a big issue. We scored 23 points which wasn’t bad but we needed the goals as well.”

McCarthy wasn’t getting too down though. He is around long enough to know that plenty more twists and

turns lie in the road ahead.

“There is a lot of hurling to be played in August. We’re playing in five weeks time, which is a good gap in between. We’ll regroup and reorganise ourselves and hopefully ZNO MEO stom DON LEDC Sh MAYA 00MM oLomCed (or-B Kore Mel OO), then. Its not going to be an easy road back, there’s no doubt about that. Having said that we’re experienced enough too. A lot of teams will fall by the wayside between now and Au- gust.”

McCarthy said and lingering feel- ings of despondency will be well and

truly purged by the time Waterford enter the qualifiers.

“If you win youre on a high, if you lose you’re on a low. At the end of the day, these things come and go over a matter of days. You’ve a different outlook coming into the next game will be Galway or Antrim. We’ll just have to take every step as it comes and who knows what the outcome will be in the long run.”

The All-Ireland that everyone in Waterford yearns and hungers for.

Not on the evidence of this tired

display though.

SHARON Collins sometimes re- ferred to herself as “Howard’’, her partner’s eldest son told the trial.

Robert Howard told the court that AYES Gro) UT arm er KeMEAVcCeMY alee mONKweElselon PJ for eight years and had looked af- ter him through illnesses.

Paul O’ Higgins SC, for Ms Collins, put it to him that the relationship was unusual.

“It was an unusual relationship. You’ll probably think it’s fair to say it’s unusual to get a letter to say they wouldn’t be getting married and even more unusual that there was a wed- ding reception with invitations sent out,” said Mr O’ Higgins.

Two invitation cards were handed to Mr Howard in the witness box, but he replied, “I don’t remember see- ing these before. I never saw them before.”

Mr O’Higgins said, “Sharon Col-

lins wouldn’t deny this for a moment, she was very keen to get married,’ and Robert Howard accepted this.

Asked how often he would see Ms Collins, the witness said, “When Sharon was around, I’d see her.” Asked did he and his brother social- ise with her he replied, “Yes.”

Referring to the computer at PJ Howard’s house, Mr O’Higgins said that Ms Collins was “effectively leaving an open book for yourself and possibly for your father and for Niall. Not only was that book open from August on, but all these events came to light in late September 2007. If Sharon Collins was responsible for all these events, the Eridium com- puter was sitting in Ballybeg House through all this time.”

Mr Howard replied, “I don’t know. I can’t remember seeing the compu- ter at Ballybeg House.”

Under cross-examination from David Sutton SC, for Essam Eid,

Robert Howard admitted that he and his brother Niall were more active in running the business than their father.

Asked was he proficient in tech- nology, he smiled and replied, “Not very’, but accepted he had sufficient knowledge for the day-to-day run- ning of the business.

Mr Sutton asked Robert Howard whether he found the visit by “Tony” to his home an “unusual event”’.

He replied, “Very weird, very strange.”

Mr Sutton said, “He shook your hand, very strange,’ to which Mr Howard replied, “Very strange al- Toa

The barrister put it to Mr Howard that he didn’t slam the door on the man’s face. He replied, “I wanted to find out what he wanted.”

IT’S official, Ennistymon is now one of a set of triplets after formalising it’s twinned status with the town of Schimatari in Greece last month.

A large delegation from Ennisty- mon including Cllr Flan Garvey (FF) traveled to Greece to sign the twinning pact and meet the Greek locals. Both towns are also twinned with Pozzoleone in Italy, making En- nistymon Clare’s first ever “triplet- ted” town.

‘This trip was really to set the twin- ning in stone.

“We have now completed the tri-

angle between all of the towns,” said Caroline Heuston of the Ennistymon Twinning Association.

‘They are a very hospitable people over there. They organised a number of tours for us – we went to Delphi and Athens – and they organised a formal evening for us with their may- or and their local politicians.”

“There was traditional Greek and Irish dancing taking place and we all had a lot of fun.” Besides the social benefits, this new relationship also promises to be good for business in Ennistymon and north Clare.

‘The idea is that individuals make contact and keep in touch. While

over there we stayed with ten or elev- en different families and built up a network of people over there,’ con- tinued Caroline.

“It’s a very down to earth thing. It’s all about making links between com- munity groups in both places and not just the core group of people involved in the actual twinning.”

“This is something that could have a benefit for the local tourism and the tourism in the area in the future. Now they know where Ennistymon is – before this they probably didn’t know anything about Ireland outside of Dublin and now at least they know where we are.”

MFaW ie LM NOL MUR MO Slo OPM BOSD MBM OILERS and family will know about Clare and may come and visit in the future. So it is something that we could see a very positive outcome from.”

While no return trip has been or- ganised to date, the members of the Ennistymon Twinning Association are keen to have their Greek friends over to north Clare again soon.

“We don’t now yet about how this will evolve in the future but we would be very keen,’ continued Caroline.

“We would certainly like to have them over here in the future and re- turn the hospitality that they showed us while we were over there.”

AS the surprise package of last year’s championship, Corofin were Mohi- canlike in their scalping of big sides on their way to the quarter-finals but there is one major drawback to Corofin’s unprecedented champion- ship run last season. In the Premier- ship, it’s referred to as “second sea- son syndrome’ but in simple terms, the reality is that Corofin had only one campaign to catch opponents unawares because this season, every- one will be cautious of their threat. It’s a factor that manager Ambrose Heagney is only too aware of but he welcomes it as a litmus test of his emerging side.

“We are certainly hoping to build on last year and this will be the test whether last year was a fluke or not. Obviously teams will be more pre- pared for us now. Doora/Barefield will be right eager to play us after last year and will want to reverse that result and the Bridge will be wary of us I’m sure as well.”

Before last season, a tendency to pigeonhole Corofin as a one-man team based on county senior Gerry Quinn, rather overlooked their true potential as a team. It was one of the factors that caused such an upset against Clarecastle and St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield. After last year, that shortsightedness has been rectified

and Corofin can boast seven county players between the minor, under 21 and senior grades, something which Heagney feels has given his squad immense experience ahead of this year’s championship.

“There is a great bunch of young lads in the squad this year. I had three of them training with the county sen- ior panel [Gerry Quinn, Darragh Clancy and Darragh Shannon], two with the county under 21 team [Mar- tin Tierney and Neil Killeen] and two in the county minor squad [Kevin Heagney and Luke O’Loughlin]. So that is seven lads who are getting inter-county experience and that is wonderful really. And that would be a new enough scenario for Corofin.”

A major factor in Corofin’s eventual exit to Crusheen in the quarter-finals was fatigue. As one of only four sen- ior dual clubs in the championship, a number of Corofin players were made to pay for their duality by be- ing forced to play for ten successive

weekends between the hurling and football championships. But rather than dwelling on it as a disadvantage, Heagney is positive about Corofin’s success in both codes.

“For some of the players, the Crusheen game was a bridge too far in terms of tiredness and energy after so many weekends of action but that is something we have to live with and something which is going to always be there. We are a dual club and we will always be a dual club but we have a great relationship with the football management. Seamus Clancy and myself meet regularly to talk about training schedules and iron out any difficulties or problems arising with dual players.”

When referring to the draw, Heag- ney feels that in many ways this year’s group mirrors last year’s. Corofin are drawn with St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield once again but Sixmulebridge are replacing Clare- castle as the second prominent team

in the group while all the others are on a similar even keel but he 1s under no illusion as to the enormity of the task of qualifying for the latter stages for a second successive year.

‘We have a good bunch of lads and I’m expecting to at least make the quarter-finals. It is going to be a huge undertaking for us but I think they are capable of doing it. Our main problem really is that we are can either blow hot or cold. If we get it right and when their gander is up, we are a match for any team, there is no doubt about it. They amazed me last year with their ability and our goal 1s to get back to that game we lost last year. That’s my main aim, to redeem that game back again but it will take a huge effort from everyone.”