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AS THE success starved Tulla fans flooded the field to greet the players, it was easy to mistake Jim McInerney for the politican who stood before the people in the 2004 local elections. Everyone wanted his hand.

Young kids took photos and asked for autographs and there was no doubting who they believed was the chief architect of this victory. In es- sence, Jim McInerney is the epitome of Tulla hurling. He manages the team how he played the game him- self, throwing everything into it. As he stormed up and down the sideline,

hitting every ball in his mind during the game, his raw emotions came to the fore.

He longed for this day – when Tulla could take their place amongst the club’s great teams of the past. He has always believed in his players and they have equally responded this year. But, he was still in disbelief that it had finally happened.

“It is a proud day, there is no doubt and it’s great to finally win it. That’s what we have always strived for and now we have it, it is hard to believe we have it.”

But he is also quick to remember the other side of the coin too, deem-

ing it rather unfair that Crusheen had to lose such a close final.

“VL tell you, my feelings are with Crusheen too. They gave us a great battle. There was nothing in it in the end, they were very unlucky not to score a goal at the end and I hope someday, they will go on and win the senior title because they are there a long time without it and they have a lot of great work done for hurling. They have been knocking on the door for the last four or five years and hopefully their day will come as well.”

McInerney could certainly feel the tension on the sideline as the game

hung in the balance. He looked as exhausted as any player who played in the decider but felt that despite in- juries to key players, his squad lived up to expectation.

“Andrew Quinn was a huge loss to us and I think it upset our team prob- ably for the last 20 minutes of the first half. But we regrouped at half-time and we played the kind of passion- ate hurling that took us through the quarter and semi finals. Sean Torpey in fairness to him, he got man of the match there. He caught some massive ball inside in the square where it was most dangerous. He dominated that area and came away with the ball.

“But it was a tremendous display by all our backs. Mark Quinn had a great game at centre-back again and our two corners were massive as were the two wing-backs.

“It was a great performance defen- sivewise. But Crusheen have great backs too and they made life awful hard for us and our forwards. As a result, with two great sets of backs, it was a low scoring game. It was a very tight battle right to the end and we just got through it in the end. Just about!”’

But justified as well. A one point victory and McInerney is on top of the pile.

CLARE is in line to become com- pletely self-sufficient for energy in less than a decade through the con- struction of a state-of-the-art wave energy system off the county’s west coast.

An area of water some 15 miles off Spanish Point has been earmarked by the Irish Marine Institute as an ideal location for the creation of the world’s first full-scale wave energy testing centre.

The institute will next month choose from three shortlisted sites for the test centre, with locations off the Kerry and Mayo coast also in the running.

A Galway-based company is likely to be the first to put its technology to the test in the centre and has already expressed an interest in developing a 200-megawatt wave farm off the Clare coast.

Wavebob is one of just 90 wave en- ergy companies worldwide, and one of just three who have managed to produced electricity in large-scale eet hS

“There is a recognition out there that Clare has huge potential in Ire- land for wave energy. Clare is a very attractive area, not just because of the waves, but also because of the strong erid connection at Moneypoint,” said

Andrew Parish of Wavebob.

‘The ESB have also said that they have an interest in developing a wave energy facility off the Clare coast.”

The construction of a Wavebob farm off the Clare coast would pro- duce up to 200 megawatts of energy, or roughly twice the domestic annual energy required for the county.

Moneypoint currently produces some 900 megawatts of electricity annually. However, the Government has committed to producing 75 meg- awatts before 2012, and 500 mega- watts before 2020 from wave energy, with Clare likely to produce a large proportion of this.

“Even if the Marine Institute de- cide to go elsewhere for the test cen- tre, private companies like ourselves will be looking very closely at the undoubted potential that Clare has for wave energy,” continued Mr Par- 0

“Any farm in Clare would be locat- ed roughly on the horizon, so people will be barely able to see them, if at all. At worst they would look like a fishing boat at the very tip of the ho- rizon.

“As well as this, Wavebobs have no impact at all on surfing. Unlike other facilities, like the Wave Dragons in Cornwall, the Wavebobs are much smaller and won’t impact on the waves at all.”

COUNCILLOR Cathal Crowe has been given a commitment from one of the main contractors in the Shan- non Tunnel construction that they will carry out repairs to roads in east OE

After meeting with representatives of the Roadstone company last week, Cllr Crowe said he was “given a firm commitment that they will carry out repair work on the Woodcockhill Road. I requested the meeting to

discuss the much deteiorated Wood- cockhill Road. My meeting with the official lasted for almost an hour and during this time we drove the length of the road and surveyed it’s various bad points.”

The councillor said that he has been raising concerns regarding the state of Phairs Road and the Wood- cockhill Road for the past year. He had met with a number of residents in the locality on several occasions “and their frustration 1s palpable. Many people living in the area have

complained to me not only about the poor condition of the road but also the untold damage that heavy good vehicles are causing to their front boundary walls. There can be no de- nying that most of the damage caused to these roads has been inflicted by the countless trucks that carry sand and gravel from the Woodcockhill sandpit to the nearby construction site of the Shannon Tunnel.”

At a council meeting last Decem- ber, Cllr Crowe tabled a motion call- ing for a fund to be set up to provide

for the immediate restoration and ongoing repair of Phairs Road. “I believe that the financing of any re- pair work should be the responsibil- ity of the relevant authorities / bodies involved in the construction of the Shannon Tunnel. The Shannon Tun- nel is a project of national impor- tance and whilst nobody in Meelick wants to get in the way of progress we feel that something urgent needs to be done to ensure that our local roads are restored to an appropriate standard.”

RYANAIR, Aer Lingus’s largest shareholder, has confirmed that it has submitted a formal complaint to the Irish Financial Regulatory Services Authority (IFSRA) concerning the alleged breach by Aer Lingus of Irish Company Law and Stock Exchange Rules.

The low-cost airline says the breach was in the Aer Lingus “*’selec- tive briefings to one shareholder (the Department of Transport) of market sensitive information (the closure of the Shannon-Heathrow route) some eight weeks prior to the announce- ment through the Stock Exchange

notice.”

A Ryanair spokesman said it is of grave concern “that one shareholder (the Department of Transport) which only holds a 25 per cent interest in Aer Lingus was repeatedly briefed on this market-sensitive informa- tion…before the Stock Exchange an- nouncement of this route closure on August 7.

“This repeated and selective dis- semination of market sensitive in- formation to one shareholder up to eight weeks prior to making all oth- er shareholders aware of the facts is a clear violation of Stock Exchange rules and Irish Company Law,” he claimed.

A YOUNG girl has told a court that her father turned into an “unkind evil daddy” and hurt her a lot.

The girl was giving evidence in the trial of her father who is accused of sexually assaulting his two daugh- ters. The 36-year-old man, who is originally from Clare and cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual as- sault on the girls on dates between September 2001 and December 2004 in a County Offaly town.

Dublin Circuit Court last week heard evidence via video-link from

one daughter who told prosecuting counsel, Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL, that she couldn’t remember how her father behaved when he was minding her while her mother was at work.

The man’s other daughter told the trial that her father used his penis to put cream on a rash on her bottom.

She said she was aged between four and five when the alleged offences took place. She said her father used to lie on top of her on the bed and push her head onto the pillow.

She said he would do this to her every night her mother was at work. She said she noticed that her father used to be kind to her, but that he

became “evil” and “turned into an unkind evil daddy”.

‘“He’d hurt us a lot and he didn’t used to,” she said.

She told defence counsel, Mr John Phelan SC, in cross-examination, that she had previously said her fa- ther used the cream when she was “a baby” and in further reply to counsel she replied: “A baby is until the age of two.”

The accused’s wife told the trial that both she and her children were petrified of her husband but that they loved him. When asked by counsel if she still loved him, she replied “Yes.”

She said she first went to gardai af- ter one of her daughters told her that her father “pretended to put cream on my bottom” but had hurt her. “She said, ‘Mammy, he really hurt me’.”

She explained that she then went to the Garda station two days later to make a report.

Ms Ni Raifeartaigh told the jury in opening the case that a medical examination was performed on the children and gardai took bedclothes from the house for forensic analysis.

The trial continues in legal argu- ment and will resume on Thursday, before a jury of five women and sev- eee

SUPERVALU Kilrush has displayed a decade of cleanliness and hygiene.

The supermarket owned by Queal- ly’s was awarded for its polished performance at a special ceremony in Dublin.

The supermarket won the prestig- ious Excellence Ireland ten year Na- tional Hygiene Mark Award at the annual National Quality and Excel- lence Awards which was organised by the Excellence Ireland Quality Association (EIQA).

The Excellence Ireland Hygiene and Food Safety certificate pro- gramme provides independent veri- fication of the highest standards of hygiene and food safety in the food sector, so for SuperValu, Kilrush to

receive this award for the past ten years was no small achievement.

The supermarket had to excel through the most rigorous of audit and assessment programmes de- signed to produce long-term under- standing and commitment to quality in every aspect of the business.

The award was presented to Paul Queally and Denis Nolan by Paul O’Grady, Managing Director, and Excellence Ireland Quality Associa- nee

Mr Nolan was in no doubt who was due the credit for such an achieve- ment.

“Winning the National Hygiene and Food Safety award is one of our key business objectives each year and everyone who works here plays a part in striving for this. The bar for

excellence is raised each year and the team have certainly responded to the benchmarks put in place. Our customers have very high expecta- tions, which we work hard to ensure they are achieved on a daily basis,” he said.

Congratulating the Kilrush super- market Donal Horgan, SuperValu Managing Director, said that quality and hygiene were top priorities for Supervalu Kilrush therefore, it was no coincidence that it consistently received awards in retail hygiene and food safety.

“It 1s a tremendous achievement for Queally’s Kilrush to receive the 10 years National Hygiene Award. It demonstrates their consistent at- tention to detail and commitment to putting in place top class quality

and hygiene systems. Quality is and always will be at the heart of every- thing we do. Queally Supervalu in- vest hugely, both time and money, in ensuring the highest possible hygiene standards and food safety measures. For SuperValu, Kilrush to maintain such high standards ten years in a row takes an enormous amount of hard work and dedication from the owners, managers and staff,’ he SrHKOe

THE threatened stoppage which would have grounded all Aer Lingus flights from today has been averted after marathon talks in the Labour Relations Commission.

The pilots had threatened to down tools in a row over pay and condi- tions for staff at the airline’s new bases in Belfast.

The agreement, reached early yes- terday, still has to be voted on but union bosses have said they will be recommending the deal.

The package also provides a frame- work for the opening of future bases on local terms and conditions, ac- cording to Aer Lingus.

The deal was reached after more than 20 hours of continuous negotia- tions at the LRC.

The two sides have reached an agreement on pension conditions and promotions based on seniority for pi- lots at the Belfast hub.

Had the 48 hour action gone ahead, passengers bound for and return- ing from to New York and Chicago would have been stranded.

As he left the talks, Labour Rela- tions Commission Chairman Kieran Mulvey said it was up to both sides to consider the proposals.

Aer Lingus Chief Executive Der- mot Mannion said he was delighted with the outcome of the talks, par-

ticularly for passengers.

Michael Landers, Assistant Gen- eral Secretary of IMPACT, said on balance it was a deal which could be recommended to its members.

Meanwhile, Ryanair has comment- ed on the European Commission’s confirmation that it has properly re- jected Aer Lingus’ request to force Ryanair to sell its stake in Aer Lin- gus on the basis that Ryanair has no influence or control in Aer Lingus.

“Given that Aer Lingus has twice rejected Ryanair’s request for an EGM, it is impossible for Aer Lingus to claim that Ryanair have any influ- ence or control over them. We pre- sume this initiative was designed to cover Aer Lingus’ embarrassment at a current share price of €2.35, which is 20 per cent less than Ryanair’s of- fer of €2.80 almost one year ago” the airline said in a statement.

The statement continued “sadly, Aer Lingus passengers continue to suffer higher fares and increased fuel surcharges as a result of the EU Commission’s prohibition of Rya- nair’s offer for Aer Lingus, which guaranteed to deliver those passen- gers lower fares and to remove fuel surcharges.”

THE percentage of people speaking Irish in Shannon has dropped, ac- cording to Census figures.

Figures revealed during the Census of Population, which was undertaken last year, reveal that 41.8 per cent of people in Shannon can speak Irish.

This compares with 44.5 per cent, When the previous Census figures which were compiled in 2002. Na- tionally, 41.9 per cent of people can speak Irish.

The figure in Shannon is lower than that in Ennis (47.5 per cent) and Kil- rush (42.9 per cent). Overall, 48.8 per cent of the population of Clare can speak Irish.

The figures show that 3,580 people

in Shannon, over the age of three, have some knowledge of Irish, 1,684 of them were male, with the remain- ing 1,896 female.

There were 4,991 non-Irish speak- ers in Shannon, while 228 did not state if they spoke Irish.

Four years earlier, 3,539 people spoke Irish, while 4,418 declared them as non-Irish speakers.

Residents filling out Census forms were also asked to state whether they were frequent Irish speakers. 1,033 people said they spoke Irish daily, within the education system, while 47 said they also spoke it outside the education system. For those who were not in the education system, 65 said they spoke our native tongue Neto) AYA

182 said they spoke it weekly, while 1,242 said they spoke Irish less often than weekly.

One national statistic was also re- flected in Shannon, in that more fe- males than males used Irish. 44 per cent of females in Shannon spoke Irish, while 38.9 per cent of males were able to speak cupla focal.

In 2002, 47.3 per cent of females and 41.8 per cent of males, had the ability to speak Irish.

Overall, 1.6 million people in Ire- land said they could speak Irish, in mau eToys

The chairman of Club na Sionna, Sean O Nuanain said he was happy to hear that so many people can speak Irish.

“I would be delighted to hear that

SO many people can speak Irish. The figures are encouraging,’ he said.

He said the Irish is widely used among a number of groups in Shan- non, particularly Duchas na Sionna and its sub-groups, whose work is bilingual.

These include Conradh na Gaeilge, Glor na Gael, Shannon Wetlands Group and wildlife and historical groups.

“We work together in Duchas na Sionna to further the aims of the dif- ferent groupings,” he said.

One seanfhocal to be remembered in the use of Irish, he said, is “Fao1 Scath a Cheile a Mhaireann na Dao- ine (We live in the shadow of each Other/We get strength from each 0) ds 0

is the title of the DVD which features a magical night of mu- sic by Mickaleen Conlon and friends, which was recorded in Greene’s pub, Ballyvaughan, on August 17, 1994.

The 13-year gap between that famous session and the release of the recording will be bridged on Octo- ber 26 when The Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna hosts the launch of the

DVD, which also features some of the great names of traditional music.

Mickaleen Conlon was born in Poulnagun , three miles outside Lis- doonvarna, and lived all his life in an area that had a rich tradition of mu- sic, particularly “box’ music.

He learned the concertina from his father at a young age and was to car- ry his distinctive ‘hob’ style of play- ing with him all though his life. He later learned to play the accordion, at which he became equally adept.

The country house dances provided the setting for Mickaleen’s music in his youth and, in later years, he played in the pubs of north Clare,

especially the Roadside ‘Tavern, Where he enjoyed music for more than 50 years.

Apart from the rich musical tradi- tion which he represented, Micka- leen was also a great storyteller and humourist who is fondly remembered as a gentle and colourful character.

Indeed, one of the musicians who featured in that memorable session in August 1994, Sean Tyrrell, recalls Mickaleen’s legacy in the sleeve notes to the DVD in which he credits the Poulnagun maestro with teaching him the “art of magic in music”.

“T owe him a huge debt of gratitude for all the wondrous nights of music

we played together and shared with another musician, Shane Holden, who, like Mickaleen, is no longer with us. Shane helped me forge the style I have in song. No matter what rhythmic ramble I took, he was always there beside me, right on the beat. They were both masters of the rhythm, the bedrock of music’, ‘Tyr- rell said.

The DVD, which was produced by Dark Horse Films, also features the music of Vincent Browne (gul- tar), Gabriel Casey (whistle), Shane Holden (guitar), Liam Lewis (fiddle) as well as Tyrrell on vocals, mando- cello and banjo.

IT WAS justified. It was relentless. And most of all, for Lissycasey, it was historic.

The game itself wasn’t a pretty thing to watch, but with the cloak of success falling over them for the first time, that won’t matter to the new champions.

Perhaps the familiarity bred the dour nature of the game or maybe Lissycasey just got it right on the day. This was the third champion- ship meeting between the two in only twelve months and it was clear who had learned more in that time and who hungered more over the past year.

From the start, Lissycasey were

like lions targeting a gazelle. They sped out of the dressing rooms with- out a care for the usual pre-match sit down and smile for the camera. And coming back out after the half-time breather, their substitutes lined the entrance and roared their 15 back onto the field.

It was a frenzied approach and they compressed the life out of their op- ponents, pythonesque.

Throughout the field, the focus re- mained constant. With a couple of minutes left, Martin Daly turned to the umpire and asked how long till the final whistle. Daly believed there was still a quarter of an hour to ride out and couldn’t understand the game was nearly over. That was the sort of concentration and application

Wd eLoavaer-KOn

“Last year was a massive motiva- tion,’ said Declan Conway from a perch underneath the stand. “The pain we felt standing here last year, looking up at Alan [Malone] lifting the cup. That hurt us. It’s been on our minds ever since. But these boys stuck with it. They gave it everything, had the belief and got their reward.”

For those who gave the breakaway club life back in the early ‘60s, this was a day to savour. A day they de- To Mio1em

Men and women had _ travelled home from far afield to watch this one, undeterred by the county final of 2006. They’ll go back to their new lands later in the week happy with the knowledge that the club is

in good hands. Progressive and ready to be fed by the new breed of young- sters who fill the homes on their side of the parish.

Just after he held the Jack Daly cup over his head, the first Lissycasey clubman to do so, James Kelly said this band of footballers were no long- er the whipping boys of Clare.

To be fair, they never were, but Sunday’s win puts them among the county’s elite and now, they’ve a de- cent chance of scalping Kerry side Kilcummin in the Munster champi- onship at a Clare venue on November oF