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A NORTH Clare motorist left the scene of an accident because he was in a rush to get home to his elderly mother, who he cares for, a court has heard.

Raymond O’Loghlen (52), of Loughrask, Ballyvaughan, was con- victed of careless driving and failing to provide appropriate information, at Ballyconnoe, Lisdoonvarna, on September 29, 2008.

Superintendent Declan Mulcahy told Ennistymon District Court that a vehicle owned by the defendant was driven on the incorrect side of the road, on a stretch of road between Lisdoonvarna and Ballyvaughan.

‘An oncoming vehicle had to take action to avoid being struck. Howev- er, at the last minute, the defendant corrected himself and moved his car to the correct side of the road. An ac- cident occurred on his correct side of the road,” said Supt Mulcahy.

He said that the defendant provid-

ed some details, before leaving the scene. He said there was no indica- tion that speed had been involved.

Supt Mulcahy told the court that the injured party sustained injuries, including a suspected fractured col- lar bone and right hand.

The driver of the other car, Sean McDonagh, told the court that he was on his way home from work that evening. He said he noticed a car approaching him and the pas- senger wheel was on the white line. He braked. “My honest opinion was this guy was asleep at the wheel. As I went to go right, he must have woken up and the two of us collided in the middle of the road,” he said.

He said he got out of the car and spoke to the driver. He could not un- derstand what he was saying.

Mr McDonagh said he has since had an operation on his right hand and has suffered from numbness in his hands. Prior to the accident, he had endured back pain, but this has worsened since the crash.

“When I get up in the morning, you would think I was a man of about 100,” he said.

Defence solicitor Jenny Fitzgibbon put it to him that her client’s insur- ance company has admitted liability and the witness accepted this.

Ms Fitzgibbon said her client ap- preciated that he shouldn’t have left the scene, but he was 1n a rush home to his mother, who he cares for.

“He did try and communicate with Mr McDonagh. He admitted it was his fault. Mr McDonagh will be compensated for his injuries,’ said Ms Fitzgibbon. She said her client had taken sleeping tablets the previ- ous night and this may have affected him. She said her client needs his car to look after his mother.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed fines totalling ©€450 and ordered O’Loghlen to pay €200 witness ex- penses.

A KILRUSH man pointed a screw- driver at a neighbour’s daughter, leading her to believe that he would cut her throat, it has been alleged in court.

Stephen Walsh Senior (59), of Pella Road, Kilrush, was accused of a pub- lic order offence, arising out of an in- cident near his home last January.

Garda Richard Burke told Ennisty- mon District Court that he received a complaint at Kilrush Garda Station from Catherine Wright. He subse- quently spoke to the defendant.

“Stephen Walsh was alleged to have pointed a screwdriver at her,” he said. He said the complainant al- leged that the defendant had taken a screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at his throat, leading her to believe that he would cut her throat.

Defence solicitor Eugene O’Kelly put it to Garda Burke that several complaints have been made by the Wrights against the Walshes. Gda Burke replied, “I believe there were a number of complaints made but as to what they are, I have no idea.”

Ms Wright told the court that she had previously lived on Pella Road. She said that on January 28 last, she was outside her mother’s house on Pella Road. While there, she saw Stephen Walsh — who is a neighbour of her parents — at his car.

“Stephen Walsh spat towards my father on the ground. My concern was to get Dad in,” she said.

She said that the defendant then came from the left hand side of his car and took a screwdriver from his left pocket.

‘He faced towards me and pointed the screwdriver at himself and start- ed laughing,” she told the court.

She made reference to a previous in- cident, but was told by Judge Joseph

Mangan to confine her evidence to what had happened on January 28. She replied, “He pointed the screw- driver directly towards me, smiled, made a gesture towards himself and laughed. I was scared.”

In cross-examination of Ms Wright, Mr O’Kelly put it to her that her part- ner, who was there that day, was a

retired garda. She accepted that this was the case. Mr O’Kelly said, “He drove off. If you were that scared, would you not think he would have stayed?”

Mr O’Kelly said, “This event did not occur.” She replied, “I was there. It did happen.”

Ms Wright’s partner Joe Healy told

the court that he saw Stephen Walsh taking out a red-handled screwdriv- er. “He pointed it towards Catherine and pointed it back towards himself. Catherine was visibly shaken,” he Cr HLG

Mr O’Kelly put it to him that the in- cident did not happen and Mr Healy, a retired garda, replied, “This did

happen. . . 30 years taking the oath, I’m not in the habit of telling lies.”

Stephen Walsh told the court that he saw the Wrights pointing a cam- era phone at him, on the date in ques- tion. He denied spitting or making a gesture and said his priority that day was to fix a speaker in his car. “I didn’t do anything,” he said.

Under cross-examination by Su- perintendent Declan Mulcahy, the defendant said he was using a red Screwdriver to fix his car, but did not have the screwdriver in his pocket at any stage. “What she’s saying is hes,’ said the defendant.

Judge Joseph Mangan convicted the defendant. He heard that he has a number of previous convictions, dat- ing back several years.

Judge Mangan heard from Mr O’Kelly that the Walsh family has had a difficult time since the death of the defendant’s daughter in 2005.

The judge said, “This merits a cus- todial sentence. I’m not going to im- pose a custodial sentence today, but that is nothing to do with the merits or demerits. Ms Wright, twice in her evidence, veered away from the 28th. She was cautioned, yet she persisted. There is innocent inadvertence of a lay witness, but as the partner of an ex-garda, she should know a thing or two about crossing the line in mat- ters of evidence.”

He adjourned the case for a year and granted liberty to re-enter at 24 hours’ notice. “In the event of any further trouble, I think it’s fair to suppose it will take a great degree of persuasion to deter me from impos- ing a custodial sentence,” said the judge.

A JUDGE yesterday refused to con- firm the licence for a pub in Kilkishen after an elderly neighbour expressed concern about the noise emanating from it.

83-year-old Theresa Holahan, of Main Street, Kilkishen, objected to the confirmation of the licence to Brendan Hannon, who leases Glee- son’s public house, next door to where she lives. After she told the court that loud noise could be heard from the premises in the early hours of one morning, Judge Joseph Man- gan upheld the objection and did not confirm the licence to Mr Hannon.

Mrs Holahan told Ennis District Court that she has lived close to the pub for many decades. She first encountered problems in 2004 and 2005 and conditions were imposed, in court in 2005.

She said that those conditions were abided by initially, but the situation has changed in recent times.

“There is a lot of noise out the back and a lot of music,’ she told the court yesterday. Her solicitor Siobhan Mc- Mahon put it to her that one of the conditions imposed in 2005 was that a device to limit the noise would be put in place. Mrs Holahan said she was not aware whether this was used or not as it has been “quite noisy”.

Mrs Holahan said that she had to ring Mr Hannon at 2am a number of weeks ago as the noise was loud. This was due to a camogie team en- gaging in a sing-song, after they had won a county final.

“This is annoying me,” she told the court.

Ms McMahon said that her client “cannot be expected to make phone calls at 2 o’clock in the morning in relation to noise emanating from the premises.”

Solicitor for Mr Hannon, Stiofan Fitzpatrick said that his client has at all times acceded to all the requests made by Mrs Holahan. However Mrs Holahan said this was not the case.

Mr Fitzpatrick said that the noise limiting device has been in full working order. He said that the noise at the back of the premises was due to people smoking, but that people had to smoke somewhere. Mrs Hola- han replied, “I don’t care where they smoke as long as they don’t make LO) onl

Mr Hannon told the court that any time Mrs Holahan has contacted him about music, the issue has been rec- tified immediately. He said he took over the lease of the premises more than a year ago.

He said the noise limiter has been tested and is in full working order. However, while this works for bands

and music, it does not apply to sing- songs.

He told the court he accepted he was “100 per cent wrong” on the night of the camogie sing-song as things got on top of him and was under pressure at the time.

Mr Fitzpatrick said that Mr Hannon would give an undertaking to abide by the conditions.

The owner of the pub Noel Gleeson said that he was aware of the condi- tions, imposed in 2005, but he hadn’t received them in writing. The pub had been leased by two other indi- viduals at that time.

Asked did he tell Mr Hannon about the conditions, he replied, “No.”

AT the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, Ford of Europe is re- vealing the first of a fleet of Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) prototypes based on the Ford Focus, and spe- cially developed to participate in the UK Government’s ‘Ultra-Low Car- bon Vehicles’ demonstration initia- tive next year.

The research programme aims to test the technology’s suitability for potential future application in Ford’s European passenger car range.

A consortium of Ford, Scottish and Southern Energy and Strathclyde University will use the fleet of fifteen prototype Ford Focus BEV vehicles and a charging infrastructure in and around the London Borough of Hil- lingdon from early 2010. The vehi- cles will be used by both the Scottish and Southern as well as a number of evaluation drivers located in Hilling- lore

This new BEV demonstration fleet is being developed partly with public funding from the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB), which promotes innovative industry- led projects that reduce CO2 while benefitting the country’s transport Ao 00F

“Electrification is a key element in the effective use of Ford’s global re- sources and talents,” John Fleming, Chairman & CEO Ford of Europe said. “The development of this fleet of Focus BEV prototypes is an im- portant step in our goal of delivering more efficient and sustainable mobil- ity solutions that are affordable and practical for our customers. We are looking forward to working with the various project partners on develop- ing a realistic solution and viable market for electric vehicles both in the UK and Europe.”

The Focus BEV prototype is based on the current European Ford Focus

and will use a new all-electric pow- ertrain, provided by the strategic supplier Magna. This technology is based on that being developed for Ford’s new-generation C-sized glo- bal vehicle architecture and which will be launched in North America in 2011.

To evaluate whether this technol- ogy is suitable for European road and driving conditions, a fleet of fifteen European Focus BEV prototypes is being built. These cars will deliver local zero emission mobility with-

out constraining the user needs and providing room for five passengers, a practical boot and other Ford Focus AAO WL OLE Kone

Under the skin of the Ford Focus prototypes is a state-of-the-art lithi- um-ion battery pack with the capac- ity of 23kWh and a chassis-mounted 100-kilowatt permanent-magnet electric traction motor. The BEV will have a range of up tol20 km (75 miles) and a top speed of up to 136 km/h (85 mph). Charging the batter- ies will take between 6-8 hours using

a common 230 volt grid.

The prototype incorporates key components from Ford’s proven North American hybrid technology, including the electric climate control system. The high-voltage air-condi- tioning compressor is a key feature of the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, recently introduced in the North American market.

The successful co-operation that is allowing this UK programme to proceed also shows the potential for similar prototype vehicle fleets to be

considered for trials in other Euro- pean countries.

The Focus BEV prototype being revealed at Frankfurt joins the Ford Tourneo Connect BEV Concept which had its European debut at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

Like the Focus BEV prototype, the Tourneo Connect BEV Concept dem- onstrates how Ford Motor Compa- ny’s aggressive electric vehicle plan announced at the start of this year is extending its potential to Europe.

SIXMILEBRIDGE continued their impressive stranglehold on Clare un- derage hurling on Saturday to add a second successive Under I5A title to the Under 12, 14, 16 and 21 equiva- lents already captured this year. However, they certainly made hard work of their latest acquisition as from a position of total dominance, they were almost caught napping by a determined second half fightback from age old rivals Clarecastle.

Leading by ten points at the break, Sixmilebridge appeared to have the game wrapped up but two goals in four minutes from Mikie Casey and Joe Barry around the turn of the final quarter cut Sixmilebridge’s ten point half-time advantage to just four and with plenty of time as well as mo- mentum on their side, Clarecastle threw everything at the Bridge for the remainder.

Decisively though, instead of pick- ing off points, the Magpies went for the jugular and put all their efforts into obtaining a fifth goal but suc- cessive efforts from Gearoid Ryan, Cian Crimmins, Jonathan Griffey and Mikie Casey were all repelled by the inspired Dylan Flemming in the Sixmilebridge goal. In saying that, holders Sixmilebridge also had ampel goal chances to kill off Clare- castle with Paul Finnan in particular unlucky to see a few efforts hit the side netting but as the Magpies con- centrated in vain on hitting the net, the Bridge clung on to eventually see out the win.

It was a totally different story in the first half though as backed by the wind, Sixmilebridge settled quickest to open up a 1-5 to 0-1 advantage by the end of the first quarter. The key to the Bridge’s early advantage was

the strength of Jamie Shanahan and Brian Carey as well as an added bit of guile in front of the posts that saw the lively Brian Corry seize on a de- fensive lapse to grab his 12th minute goal.

The Magpies were visibly nervous but improved as the half went on, eventually getting their reward in the 21st minute when a Stephen Ward run Vuo nO elommacnCe(ed(omcolbnsle Mm Gur-Dem@smnenuenuners whose shot was saved by Flemming and Mikie Casey was the first to re- act to pull to the net. At 1-7 to 1-2,

it should have inspired the Magpies but crucially Sixmilebridge’s reply was immediate as from the puck-out, Corry again gathered possession and played in a ball for Stephen Mulready to flick to the net.

That see-saw pattern was to repeat itself again before the break as Ca- sey caught a Stephen Ward free and rifled a shot to the net only to see it cancelled out again when Brian Cor- ry was fouled in front of the posts and Jamie Shanahan produced an un- stoppable effort from 20 metres to

give the ‘Bridge a comfortable 3-9 to 2-2 half-time lead.

The second period started tenta- tively, with only a point apiece on the scoreboard after ten minutes of the restart but as Sixmilebridge began to misfire in front of the posts, the Mag- pies grew in confidence. In the 40th minute, impact substitute Jack Mc- Dermott set off on a solo run and was eventually fouled before Mikie Casey completed his hat-trick of goals from the resulting 20 metre free. This time though, there was no instantaneous

reply from the Bridge as a Stephen Mulready shot was saved by goal- keeper Conor Liddy and Clarecastle took full advantage by turning up the heat with a Joseph Barry goal at the back post after receiving a pass from Bobby Duggan.

Duggan and Finnan swapped points soon afterwards but having assumed the ascendency, Clarecastle’s over- eagerness to go for goal was to prove very costly. The Bridge’s wide tally was now hitting double figures but Clarecastle were unable to punish them with points and although they eventually realised their error, time was not on their side as the Bridge deservedly held on to collect their ninth underage title in two years.

BACK-TO-BACK county champions for the first time in their history, but Kilmurry Ibrickane want more — that was the message resounding around Cusack Park on Sunday after their O- 12 to 2-3 win over St Senan’s Kilkee in the county senior final.

“We make no apologies for want- ing more,’ said manager Kilmurry manager Micheal McDermott. “To win a Munster championship would be a massive achievement. It doesn’t bother me what team we have to play

in Munster. We just want to go into battle. Let’s be ambitious. Let’s look at the bigger prizes. Let’s try to win another Munster championship.

“If it’s Drom-Broadford the next day, we really owe them one from last year’s Munster final. It will take very little motivation to get our lads ready for a game against Drom-Broadford. It would be a home fixture in Pairc Naomh Mhuire and for three weeks beforehand we’ll have these lads primed for that game. That’s the one game we’re looking forward to now.

“This club is all about winning.

Any team I’m involved with, I want

to win and there’s a Munster cham-

pionship there for us. There’s a cam-

paign ready to start and we want to

be in there; we want to give it a real

go and try to make up for last year.” Munster be warned!

IRISH celebrities, mainly RTE Radio and TV personalities, have always had the use of courtesy cars. Now car companies are moving with the times and giving cars to young peo- ple and encouraging them to Twitter leLOltL Melos bmn ere ESE

Recently Toyota were looking for people who had blogs or who would twitter after driving their new iQ model. Actresses Tara Leniston and Amy Huberman are Ambassadors for Fiat’s cute 500 and now Ford has got in on the act by giving their new Ka to four young females or so called ‘Ka Friends’ to test.

TV3’s Anna Daly, fashion photog- rapher Lili Forberg, model Nadia Forde plus Giovanni Trapatonni’s interpreter Manuela Spinelli have all got the use of Ford’s baby car for a few months. And you can check out how they are getting on via Facebook at: FordKa Friends, Ireland.

Manuela said that she drove the original Ka and reckons that the new model is as practical and economical

as the first one.

The original Ka has been around since 1996 and it badly needed an upgrade. Ford say they couldn’t af- ford a complete re-design, so the car is based on the same platform as the Fiat Panda and the Fiat 500 and all three cars are built in the same fac- tory in Poland.

The rear end of the Ka is much eas- ier on the eye. It’s now dominated by two huge red light clusters.

I drove a blue model which defi- nitely attracted a bit of attention. Normally I am complaining about the amount of black that dominates the interiors of cars. The interior of the Ka is so bright, you would need sun glass when you sit in.

The seats are cream and the door panels are beige. The interior décor is brightened futher by a splash of blue on the front and back seats. The back seat is small and while it can accommodate two adults, ideally it’s best suited to children.

The only black featured in the inte- rior is on the console that houses the radio controls, air conditioning con-

trols and gear stick. Half of this con- sole is white which provides a lovely contrast. The volume controls for the radio are a bit small, but you do get slave controls on the steering wheel.

Not surprisingly the boot is small, but you do get a full size spare wheel, which in the case of the Ka is not very big.

By giving the car to four young women, rather than two men and two women, Ford is clearly saying that this car 1s aimed at females. Nothing wrong with that.

I found the Ka a nice city run- around and easy to park in tight cor- ners. The only complaint I had was that it was a two-door and I had to use the ignition key to open the boot. Surely it wouldn’t have been too much of a luxury to include a boot release button in the cabin. I would worry that the key might break with constant use.

Prices start at €11,535 for the 1.2 petrol, rising to €15,125 for the 1.3 diesel. Road tax is only €104. So happy motoring or should that be happy tweeting/blogging.

TENSION filled the air in Tulla on Saturday evening but in an evenly matched battle of endurance that saw the sides level on seven occasions, as late as the 55th minute, it eventu- ally came down to which side really wanted it more in the final moments. Ruan had been the ones who looked most likely to get over the line after taking the lead six times during the opening three-quarters of the match but unable to shake off Feakle at any stage, it was the east Clare men who eventually displayed the greater hun- ger and momentum when it mattered most.

A repeat of the 1988 county sen-

ior final, one that also went Feakle’s way, those halcyon days have been merely a distant memory in recent times as both clubs looked to rebuild after an interminably long period of transition. There was also the added ingredient of John Punch taking on his native club with always an under- lying fear permeating amongst the Feakle support that the script was written for the forward to score the winning point. What made this such a unique oc- casion though was the carrot of an intermediate final appearance, com- ing about after the quarter-final draw pooled all three champion- ship favourites Whitegate, Eire Og and Killanena on the one side of the draw. With neither Feakle nor Ruan expected to be in the shake up for championship honours this year, this was a huge opportunity to make the last two and as a result, a pressure cooker atmosphere magnified every touch of the ball.

It was Ruan who settled into their stride the quicker, bouncing back from a Gary Guilfoyle free to erab a fourth minute goal. Killian Ryan played a neat pass to Michael

Vaughan down the left wing and his high delivery broke off Aiden Lynch to the waiting O’ Regan to scrable the ball over the line.

Feakle meanwhile, despite having numerous chances, were guilty of some poor misses and Ruan added to their woes with a sixth minute point through Michael Vaughan.

Slowly Feakle got back into the game and after a superb lineball by Gary Guilfoyle was cancelled out by

a Punch free, the east Clare side hit the next three points to gain parity by the 24th minute. Three more times Ruan edged ahead before the break only to be dragged back by a stub- born Feakle challenge as the sides went into the interval at 1-5 to 0-8. The tables quickly turned on the resumption as again Feakle earned a free from the throw-in that Tommy Moroney converted before taking a two point advantage for the first time

in the game three minutes later when a good passing move involving Ray- mond Bane and Stevie Moloney re- leased Colin Nelson to fire over from the left wing.

This time it was Ruan’s turn to react and they did so through their inspira- tional leader Jonathan Clohessy who grabbed the first of three unanswered points by the turn of the final quarter to edge Ruan in front once more.

The seesaw battle for supremacy

continued as twice in the next seven minutes, Feakle equalised to set up a grandstand finish. It appeared to be heading for a draw but somehow Feakle found an extra gear, with sub- stitute Ronan Harrington and Tom- my Moroney scoring a point apeice in the 57th minute to push their side Q-14 to 1-09 ahead.

Cigarettes were smoked to the butts and fingernails was gnawed to the bone as John Punch cut the deficit to only the minimum with two min- utes remaining. However, a monster Gary Guilfoyle free from his own ’65 in the final minute raised a huge roar of approval from the Feakle support and it inspired them to battle admi- rably in the dying seconds before se- curing their first final appearance in SIX years.

THE father of Clare handball, Pat Kirby, has hailed the achievements of the latest world champions to emerge from the storied Tuamgraney club in east Clare — the old seat of the game in the county.

Kirby’s endorsement comes in the wake of the stunning triumph of Barry Nash and Ciaran Malone who won the Boys Doubles in the 15 and Under category in Portland, Oregon, over the weekend.

The Tuamgraney club duo stormed through the top half of the draw to tee up a west of the Shannon battle in the final against Michael Lalor and Donal Wrynn from Galway. Their toughest game on the way to the decider was against Martin Mullins and Ryan Harkin from Cork in the semi-final, when they were pushed all the way before getting home by 21-18, 21-17. The final proved to be much easier as they coasted to world glory on the back of a 21-3, 21-12 tri- vueeheee

“Tt’s a brilliant achievement for the two boys,” said Kirby, who put Tua- mgraney handball on the world map when winning his first world title in Croke Park in 1970. “I was repre- senting America back then because I was exiled in America and nearly 40 years on it’s great that Tuamgraney is still turning out world champions. It makes me very proud that this con- veyor belt is there,’ added Kirby.

And the Tuamgraney success story didn’t end there — Nash just failed to pull off an historic double after he was edged out in the Boys Singles 15 and Under category, going down by 21-18, 21-19 to Padraig McKenna in WeCom EUITAUE

Elsewhere, the Coughlan _broth- ers from Clooney, Fergal and Ger- ard were other Clare finalists — they reached the Men’s Doubles 35 and Over final, but were edged out by the US/Canadian partnership of David Vincent and John Bike.

A DELEGATION from Ennis Town Council will travel to Langenfeld in December to mark the start of a new partnership between Ennis and the German town.

Town manager Ger Dollard told last Monday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council that representatives from the office of the mayor of Langenfeld had written the council with a view to establishing a partnership between the towns.

“They are very enthusiastic about this. There have been articles in the local media, a lot about the visit by Ali. It’s presented a very positive image of Ennis. They have invited councillors to visit the town in the first week of December and I think,

given the positive image portrayed of Ennis, the council should accept,” said Mr Dollard.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) told the meeting that the council should avail of the opportunity to “build links to Europe”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) asked how much the trip was likely to cost. Mr Dollard responded by saying that the letter received from the mayor’s of- fice stated that the total cost of flights from the German airport of Weiss to Shannon, was likely to be around €60.

Langenfeld is located between the cities of Cologne and Dusseldorf in the German state of Nordhein-West- fallen. It has a population of 59,000 residents.

The link was first proposed in May

when Franz Kolzer, Town Twinning co-coordinator, wrote to Ennis Town Council, on behalf of Mayor of Lan- genfeld, Magnus Staehler.

“This year Ireland is represented in the “Wilkommen Irland/Failte Eire cultural programme, and the people of Langenfeld are getting to know Ireland better through a broad range of cultural, academic and entertain- ment initiatives,’ wrote Mr Kolzer.

He continues, “Langenfeld has been searching to initiate a partnership with an English speaking town for a number of years, but has been so far unsuccessful in this regard. What could be a better result for our Ire- land year than to find a partner town in Ireland? For this reason Ennis has come to our attention.

According to Mr Kolzer, “The

town of Langenfeld would envisage a multifaceted exchange, including at schools level, between sports teams and on a private basis, and we would be delighted if the town of Ennis SJ aT-Nacre Mr mCyBO OBOE: Duma (oA. VA

Ennis is already twinned with the American city of Phoenix and the French town of Saint Paul de Fe- nouillet.

Ennis has been twinned with Phoe- nix, Arizona since 1988. A special Ennis/Phoenix Twinning Board has been in existence since this time with the aim of strengthening the links between the two communities. A successful Student Exchange Pro- gramme is organised annually, which allows students from both communi- ties the opportunity to learn about the others region and country.