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SEVEN former members of Clare County Council, with public repre- sentation records ranging from five years to 35 years, were honoured by the local authority they once served at Aras Contae An Chlair, last week.

Among those honoured were two former mayors, a former chairman, and some of the longest serving members of the council, all of whom served their last term from 2004 to PAU OL

Special tribute was paid to the

former north Clare county council- lor, Martin Lafferty (Ind) who re- tired from the council following an NU Baten

His former colleagues were de- lighted to see him back in the cham- ber, in good spirits and at the end of his treatment.

The Lisdoonvarna man was a former schoolteacher, and first ran for Clare County Council in 1974 as a Labour candidate.

While former Cllr Lafferty began his political career as a Labour coun- cillor, in 1999 he contested the elec-

tion as an independent candidate and topped the poll. He remained one of the most outspoken Independent councillors in the chamber up to his retirement earlier this year.

He was one of four councillors to retire at the last election, along with former mayors Madeleine ‘Taylor Quinn (FG) and Flan Garvey (FF), and one of the council’s most col- ourful characters former east Clare councillor Colm Wiley (FF).

The other three councillors to make the bittersweet return to meet their former Clare County Councillor’s

colleagues and council staff were Peter Considine (FF), Bernard Han- rahan (FF) and Tony O’Brien (FF). The three men, all Fianna Fail councillors were unsuccessful in an election that saw the annihilation of the main Government party in the county council election in Clare. Missing from the line up of former councillors from the 2004 to 2009 era was Kilrush Town Councillor Tom Prendeville (FF) who lost his county council seat in June and John ‘““Mashen” McInerney (FG) who also experienced the disappointment of

losing a seat.

CLARE hoteliers yesterday called on the Government to take emergency action to salvage the county’s tour- ism sector, following the collapse in foreign visitor numbers this year.

According to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday, the number of UK visi- tors travelling to Ireland has dropped by more than 24 per cent in just 12 months.

“The bottom has fallen out of the British tourist market, which is hav-

ing a significant impact on the tour- ism sector in Clare. Not a single meaningful action of substance has been taken by the Government to recover the situation,’ said Michael Vaughan, Chairman of the Shannon Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation Cists)

“The Government can no longer stand idly by and do nothing. We need imaginative solutions from our leaders and, in replying to a recent parliamentary question, Miu£inister Hanafin’s rejection out of hand of an IHF proposal to give free travel

to old age pensioners from the EU shows a reluctance to grasp the issue and adapt to new ways of thinking. It is no longer acceptable for the Gov- ernment to dismiss suggestions that could actually give Ireland a compet- itive advantage in attracting visitors from our main markets.”

Much of the blame for the collapse of the overseas tourism sectors 1s be- ing directed towards the controver- sial €10 travel tax introduced by the Government in March.

In an unprecedented show of unity, Ireland’s three largest airlines have

called for the Government to axe the €10 tourist tax. Christoph Mueller of Aer Lingus, Geoffrey O’Byrne-White of CityJet and Michael O’Leary of Ryanair have issued a joint statement aimed at forcing the Government to go back on the tax.

“The loss of 600,000 visitors so far this year confirms that the collapse in Irish tourism is accelerating as the €10 tourist tax makes Ireland an un- competitive tourist destination,’ said a Ryanair spokesperson. “In recent months the Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish governments have all

scrapped tourist taxes and/or reduced airport charges, in some cases to zero, in order to stimulate tourism.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed yester- day that the Government has fallen short in the money they budgeted to get from the introduction of the travel tax.

From March 30 to August 31 some €57.9 million has been raised through the travel tax, prompting Clare TD Pat Breen (FG) to accuse the Government of scoring an “own goal” by persisting with the travel Fed @

ST Tola’s National School in Shannon has been congratulated for its efforts in caring for the environment, after it engaged in an initiative which en- courages students to walk to school.

The school is preparing for its fourth green flag. To coincide with Road Safety Week last week, the school organised its own initiative, WOW (Walk on Wednesday). Four meeting points were set up and from those, students walked to school, in the form of a walking bus.

Green Schools co-ordinator Lor- raine Connolly said that every effort is being made to care for the environ- ment.

“Members of the school commu- nity will make a conscious effort of a more environmentally friendly way of travel. Staff will try to car pool

and this will reduce the numbers of cars in the car park. We have also launched a green leaves and tree campaign. Every class has a tree and they look after them. That was the first part of our initiative. Everyone was really enthusiastic about that,’ said Ms Connolly.

The next part of the project was WOW, which was a huge success last AYA(ere DaTenNe ENYA

“The Green Schools committee is working very diligently. We are try- ing everybody to work together. We are hoping that this will leak into the community,” she said.

WOW was a huge success and the Green Schools committee is hoping to repeat the feat later in the school Were

“We are hoping to do it a couple of times in the year. Since we started, we did audits in every class. We have

definitely seen more children making a conscious effort to walk to school and the car parks are a lot quieter,” said Ms Connolly.

157 families are represented in St Tola’s school and the Green Schools committee is hopeful that as many of those as possible will play a role in the school’s effort to earn its fourth green flag.

Roisin Ni Ghairbhith from An Taisce’s Environmental [Education Unit paid tribute to the good work of those involved in the initiative at St Tola’s.

“Tam very impressed with the speed at which St Tola’s has jumped to the challenge of their travel flag. St To- la’s is one of only 15 schools in Clare that are on their fourth green flag and they have only just started the theme this September,’ she said.

“They have already done a lot of

work on it, including walkability audits and art work to raise aware- ness about sustainable travel. The children have been learning the safe cross code too, all to prepare them for their mission to encourage the entire school body and community to use their cars less on their route to school, be it walking, cycling, car pooling or parking and striding in- Stead,” she added.

She said the WOW idea is an excel- lent idea. “This 1n itself is very effec- tive because if people start by walk- ing once a week, instead of using the car, that is an immediate 10 per cent reduction in their CO2 emissions and and immediate improvement to their health and pocket,’ she added.

THE Avenue United steamtrain left a hapless Burren United in their wake on Sunday as they maintained their perfect start to the season with a sixth successive victory. The ‘Galacticos’ of the Clare league have put together an enviable squad this year that ap- pears to have seamlessly blended and they demonstrated that increasing confidence on Sunday morning with a strong display of passing and ruth- less scoring prowess.

Granted, the visitors Burren were severely understrength but in all honesty, the way the league leaders performed, it is unlikely that even Burren’s normally spirited full line- up would have taken anything out of this game.

At times, some of Avenue’s move- ment and one-touch passing was a joy to watch and really a lacklustre Burren side were only chasing shad- ows for the majority.

Realising the gravity of their trip to the league leaders, a threadbare Bur- ren side needed a good start to settle them down but instead they found themselves 3-0 behind by the 16th minute. From that point on, it was merely a damage limitation exercise.

All three goals stemmed from Dav- id Smyth crosses with the first com- ing after only seven minutes through Sean O’Meara who flicked a near

post header past the Lifford goal- keeper. Three minutes later, Smyth raided from the left wing where his cross was headed on by O’Meara to the waiting Declan Field to volley to the net at the back post. Everything Avenue created seemed to be goal- bound and in the 16th minute Declan Field was fouled on the right wing. Smyth floated the resulant free into the box where O’Meara again rose highest to deftly nestle his header to the left corner.

By this stage, Avenue were rampant

and probably should have added to their tally with efforts from the pacy Adrian McDonagh and centre-half David Russell who had three chances each spurned.

Burren’s best chance of the half fell to Ghiat Marine who was un- lucky to see a clever lob drift past the right hand post in the 27th minute and it would get infinitely worse for the north Clare side when defender Michael Keating received a straight red for an impulsive slap on the back of Anthony Whyte right on the stroke

Ome ee Neca nbnelos

The gradient of Burren’s_ uphill climb declined significantly just af- ter the breakthough when Avenue were hit with the double whammy of conceding a penalty and losing a man after Evan Talty beat goal- keeper Killian Culligan to the ball just inside the box and was subse- quently tripped. Culligan received a red; midfielder Gary Flynn went into goal and when Mark McCarthy duly converted the spot kick, the whole complexion of the game seemed to have altered.

Instead though, Avenue just altered their formation to 3-4-2 and within five minutes, had restored their three goal lead when the lively Adrian Mc- Donagh burnt the north Clare side’s defence for pace and flicked past Shannon for 4-1.

That was the killer blow for Burren who appeared to drop their heads af- ter that as Avenue laid siege in their half and with fresh legs on board, the goals soon followed. Substitutes David Herlihy and Mikey Mahoney (2) added to Burren’s woes before Declan Field, now the midfield an- chor, completed the rout in the 87th minute by taking on the defence and slipping the ball to the right corner of the net.

In one game, the leaders had al- most doubled their score difference, increased their advatage at the top to

eight points and more importantly, delivered a clear message of intent to their rivals that they certainly mean business this year.

PARENTS in east Clare need not worry about what to do with their children over the Bank Holiday week- end as the Feile Eile festival is back in Killaloe.

After the success of the inaugural festival last year, the people behind the Music in the Glen school, Boris Hunka and Diane Daly, decided to organise a second event and this year have made it bigger, better and, best of all, most events are free.

“It was a great success last year and we wanted to expand this year and have events where the children could perform for their parents as well as for other schools. We’ve been able to add quite a few events this year so we really hope that people will come out and support it,” said Diane.

The first big event of the festival is on Friday with the Schools Song Summit. Children from the seven lo- cal national schools will perform to each other before uniting to sing the Féile Eile anthem as a single choir from 10am to 11.30pm at Ballina Na- tional School Hall.

Saturday is the “Great Big Fun Day of Music, Drumming, Drama and Dance’ featuring four free workshops. Jenny Brown will be teaching the hot- test hip-hop and Bollywood moves. Kids will get to make lots of noise with Boris Hunka’s rare collection of big drums, Kathleen Turner of the Irish Chamber Orchestra will make singing fun and songwriting seem easy while Diane Daly uses Music in the Glen’s instruments, a medley of masks and participants’ imaginations to create a stunning new show on the spot. The workshops are from |lam- 4pm in the Kincora Hall Hotel. Pre- booking is essential on 087 2104583.

Also as part of the festival, cartoon favourite Bugs Bunny will meet the

Irish Improv Orchestra who will try to keep pace with Bugs as he deals with Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam and Porky Pig. This event event will take place at 6pm at Kincora Hall Hotel, NAP

On Sunday, there will be eerie sto- rytelling in the Bell chamber in the 10th-century cathedral of St Flan- nan’s (suitable for children aged five- plus). Times are lpm, 2pm and 3pm and it’s free. There’s a free blockbust-

er show featuring children from the performing schools on Sunday in St Annes School at 4pm and on Monday there’s a Haiku workshop in St Flan- nan’s at 2pm, run by local artist and writer Deirdre Grimes. Pre-booking is essential, call 086 2626525. Local author David Rice offers advice on writing at St Flannan’s Cathedral at 2pm. Again, pre-booking 1s essential, call 087 2104583.

To round off the Féile, musical leg-

ends and former performers with Stockton’s Wing, Tommy Hayes and Kieran and Mike Hanrahan, reunite in a special one-off show at 8pm on Monday in the Lakeside Hotel, tickets priced €22.

CLONDEGAD kicked off a super Sunday for themselves and neigh- bouring club Lissycasey with a strong and emphatic win over Coora- clare. For the opening period nobody sitting in the stand at Kilmihil could have predicted a 15 point winning margin, though.

When the sides broke for half-time, only a single point had separated them after an entertaining 30 min- utes that saw both sides kick some impressive scores. Trailing by one point on a scoreline of 1-5 to O-9, it was difficult to visualise Cooraclare being dominated so much at the turn around that they managed only a single point during the latter 30 min- utes.

With 20 minutes on the clock, Clondegad had pulled away slightly and led by three but Cooraclare struck back. After some confusion in the Clondegad defence, Jason Lillis picked up possession and fed the ball to Joey Martin who rattled home.

The game was wide open but the door was closed during the first five minutes of the second-half. Clonde- gad simply provided a blitz of scores and pressed forward with intent and this was the defining period of the game.

S-Ke bec ecm GaN sev MUD (cre mAeCooUmBNDucImES

WHEN Susanne Matejka came to west Clare for a holiday more than eight years ago, little did she think she would find love and a new life in the town she had intended to stay in for just a few weeks.

The German native came to Kil- rush in 2001 to see the dolphins.

“T went to the information office to look for accommodation and was told that there was the Grove Guest House, and | stayed there with a friend of mine. I got to know a man there, the son. So I came to see the dolphins, met a man and couldn’t get rid of him,” she laughed. “I love it here as well so I didn’t move just for eieervi eae

When she came to Kilrush, she worked as a secretary at the Garda station on a temporary basis, and then as a legal secretary before land- ing her ideal job, which merges her business accruement with her crea- LU AoMCS (6 Kos

The skills and knowledge Susan took from her native home bring an added dimension to her role as cen- tre manager of the Vandeleur Walled Gardens.

She has promoted the role of the café and the skills of the staff work- ing there. Keen for the employees to bake fresh breads, cakes and their famous scones every day, the centre manager has also shared her special recipes for German cakes, adding a new variety to the staple cake. Her interest, she maintains, comes from her great-uncle who was a pastry chef and baker in Berlin.

Having learnt set and céili dancing, Susanne is quick to share her love of belly dancing, giving classes locally and getting involved in local per- Ko) u sek: heleeny

Susanne is one of many European

people to embrace Irish culture and the way of life in west Clare.

Karoly Torok is from Hungary and moved to west Clare with his weaver wife Csilla five years ago.

Kilrush is now home for this young family as they bring an array of tal- ents and new skills to the area, and their work.

They were hoping to live some- where similar to Maine in the USA but closer to Hungary when Csilla moved to Ireland to see if it would suit their needs.

Once she had settled in, Karoly joined her in Kilrush and got a job

as head gardener in the Vandelleur Walled Garden and CE supervisor.

With a masters in agriculture, a horticulture degree and _ business management qualifications, he was well equipped for the job, but said it took him a while to get to grips with everything.

He knew a lot of plants by their Hungarian and Latin names but soon came to know the Irish names, while adding a lot of unusual plants to the garden, which usually grow in the southern hemisphere.

Getting used to the change in staff and the paperwork, which made up

part of the CE supervisor job, was also a challenge at first – now it is erere) 16M OE TREN Ren

Five years on and the couple have settled into the area with their chil- Choe

Karoly explained that it is impor- tant to mix with the Irish people and integrate with the local community, although a lot of their friends are Polish, German, Dutch and Swiss, all of whom share a common bond of beginning a new life in Kilrush.

IT had been 29 years since Corofin last won the Junior A championship and that hunger and determination to bridge that long gap certainly had a major bearing on Saturday’s result.

Put simply, Corofin wanted this ti- tle more and with that added drive, they certainly earned a bit of fortune along the way before finally claim- ing the title. The perfectly timed goals were the sucker-punches that decided the tie, with the two second- half efforts in particular of the ‘soft’ variety.

Inagh/Kilnamona can’t really ar- gue with the overall result as frus- tratingly, they never really reached the heights of previous performances in their bid to bounce straight back up to the intermediate grade.

Essentially, Corofin had numerous leaders in their side willing to take up the challenge while in contrast, Inagh/Kilnamona appeared appre- hensive for the majority, fumbling possession and giving away too many frees that Stephen Heagney was only too willing to punish.

The first significant blow came in the 23rd minute, with Corofin hold- ing a slender 0-6 to 0-4 advantage after a relatively evenly matched opening. An Inagh/Kilnamona puck- out was gathered by defensive anchor Eoin Malone whose clearance found David Daly. As the centre-forward attracted the Combo defence, he of- floaded to Fiachra Daly who was met by onrushing goalkeeper Stephen Toomey for a penalty.

Stephen Heagney, who had _ al- ready secured four of Corofin’s total, stepped up to accurately drive his ef- fort to the right corner of the net, an advantage they would hold until the break at 1-7 to 0-5.

A five point deficit was far from insurmountable but if Inagh/Kilna- mona had planned to hit the ground running in the second period, they were knocked back on their heels right from the throw-in as a Heag- ney free from half-way caused con-

sternation in the Inagh/Kilnamona full-back line and the ball broke to kindly for Fiachra Daly to pull to an empty net.

Inagh/Kilnamona took the blow on the chin and proceeded to pick off a brace of points through Dam- ien O’Shaughnessy and Joe Griffin to reduce the lead to six. However, they were once again floored only a minute later by a third hammer blow, this time an own goal. Goalkeeper Stephen Toomey batted a Michael

O’Dell delivery off the heel of his own player and could only watch in horror as the ball trickled over the line.

Credit the Combo for not panicking though as three successive Damien O’Shaughnessy frees cut the deficit to six by the turn of the final quarter. Sensing the backlash, Corofin went on the defensive, pulling midfielder Diarmuid Daly back as a sweeper behind the half-back line and using a two-man full-forward line as Heag-

ney secured two more frees.

That tactic frustrated Inagh/Kilna- mona even more and although Joe Griffin’s 60th minute goal put only four between the sides, Corofin had invested far too much in this game to let it slip at that stage.

There were some nervy moments though, particularly when Eugene Cullinan’s pull flashed just over the crossbar but Corofin held out. In- evitably it was Heagney who con- verted the injury-time point in the 63rd minute to sink the Combo and hand Corofin the coveted title that they have waited so long to get their hands on.

THE students of Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon donned the saffron and blue last week as they welcomed back a number of past pupils along with a very special guest – the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup.

Newly crowned All-Ireland Inter- mediate Ladies Football champions, Liscannor sisters Carmel and Marie Considine, were joined at the school by Clare manager Deirdre Murphy. The trio were led into the school by first-year student Eva O’Dea, who played in the under-12 competition on All-Ireland day in Croke Park.

The group were welcomed to the school by school principal Seo- saimhin Ui Dhomhnallain who con- eratulated them on their wonderful achievement before presenting them with commemorative awards from the school.

She also paid tribute to Suzanne Murphy, another past pupil, who was on the panel along with Sinead Eus- tace – sister of Scoil Mhuire’s hugely successful coach Carmel Eustace.

Addressing the students, Clare man- ager Deirdre Murphy explained how the heartbreak of two semi-finals and last year’s All-Ireland defeat acted as a motivational mechanism to achieve eventual success.

The team started training last No- vember in the gym and then on the pitch from January, two nights a week. Social life went out the win- dow and the team showed great dedi- cation to bounce back from last year’s All-Ireland defeat to Tipperary.

Speaking about last year’s disap-

pointment, Marie Considine said that the team went about their business in a quiet fashion this year but with steely determination to claim glory.

Vice captain Carmel Considine praised Scoil Mhuire for inspiring young footballers to succeed and re- membered her own school days when she started playing for the county while still in fifth year at Scoil Mhu- ire.

She also pointed out that the school has made great strides in ladies foot- ball in a short time and praised its very high standards.

Scoil Mhuire holds a Munster title in football and many students pres- ently play under-14 and under-16 at a county level.

With such talent and dedicated coaching by Carmel Eustace, she concluded that the school will no

doubt yield further silverware in the years to come.

Students posed for photographs with the cup while many expressed their dreams of one day emulating their heroines in footballing success.

WITH the intense rivalry that Kil- maley and Newmarket-on-Fergus have built up at every level in recent seasons, it was always going to be a close run affair. However, it 1s un- likely that anyone could have fore- seen the dramatic circumstances of their latest meeting.

Clarecastle GAA has become a lucky hunting ground for Kilmaley over the last fortnight, but they had to utilise every ounce of that fortune on this occasion as a last gasp Aishling D’Arcy goal denied Newmarket their fifth Under 18A title.

In truth, it was extremely cruel on Newmarket who had led for the vast majority of this tie and appeared to have done enough to see off Kilma- ley’s spirited fightback. However, unable to close out the game at any stage and only holding a precarious minimum advantage entering injury- time, there was always the danger that Kilmaley could snatch some- thing out of this game.

And so it proved as deep into injury time, a Shonagh Enright crossfield

pass eventually found it’s way to hard-working midfielder D’Arcy at the far post to finish to the net and complete the dramatic turnaround.

The preamble to this tie was based on the several big name players on show. Kilmaley had the county expe- rience of Shonagh Enright, Eimear Considine, Katie Cahill, Niamh Cahill, Ailish Considine and Sarah Reidy while Newmarket predomi- nantly looked to Roisin McMahon, Carol Kaiser, Carol O’Leary and Niki Kaiser for inspiration.

It was Enright who set the tone af- ter only 17 seconds with a point but it was to prove a while before either side really settled into their stride. Newmarket’s reply was substantial though when Roisin McMahon’s 10th minute free from just inside the ‘45 went all the way to the net.

That goal was to prove the differ- ence for the remainder of the half as Shonagh Enright’s placed balls cancelled out efforts from Gemma McInerney, Niki Kaiser and Jenny Kelly as Newmarket held a 1-4 to 0- 4 lead at the break.

The problem for Kilmaley was that

aside from Enright, they never really posed an attacking threat, especially to Newmarket’s full-back line. They corrected that for the second period by switching Katie Cahill to her more natural position at full-forward.

It gave Kilmaley a target and more importantly a better balance to their side. With Eimear O’Connor and Aishling D’Arcy foraging well around the centre, Kilmaley improved as the game progressed. However, Newmar- ket also had an ace in the hole in Car- ol Kaiser, whose running game was better suited to centre-forward and it was her threat in particular that kept Kilmaley at bay in the early stages. The county player earned her side three frees in the opening five min- utes, two of which were converted by her sister Niki with only a Shonagh Enright free in reply to open up a 1-6 to 0-5 lead.

However, Kilmaley’s luck turned in the 39th minute when Aishling D’Arcy’s effort from distance went through a crowd of players, leaving goalkeeper Laura McMahon unsight- ed as the ball reached the net and now brimming with renewed confidence,

Kilmaley actually gained parity four minutes later when Shonagh Enright cut inside her marker and pointed.

Niki Kaiser and Katie Cahill traded points soon afterwards but Newmar- ket dug deep and found another gear to pull two points clear once more by the 53rd minute through a brace of Niki Kaiser frees.

Newmarket appeared destined to take the title when they kept out a Shonagh Enright penalty only two minutes later but crucially, Kilma- ley didn’t die and the Cahill-Enright combination cut the deficit to the bare minimum with only four min- utes remaining to set up a grandstand aU OF

GUE A daa omnis ane market in order to grab an equaliser but frustratingly saw a Shonagh En- right effort batted away by goalkeep- er McMahon before Katie Cahill’s rebound drifted wide. That appeared to be their last chance but Aishling D’Arcy had other ideas.

Although Zelica Brown produced a driving solo run at the heart of the Kilmaley defence in search of a win- ning goal, her effort was kept out by

goalkeeper Ailish Considine and it was enough to earn Kilmaley their third minor title in three years.