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BUNRATTY progressed to the next round of the Munster Junior cup after victory against Bridge Celtic B. Bun- ratty certainly justified their favour- ites tags with this good solid per- formance. Their preliminary round victory last week against Rhine Rovers certainly stood to them here and despite a number of injuries and a few players on Oscar Traynor duty

they still managed to grab a 2-1 win.

They dominated the first-half and looked far more likely to score com- pared to the hard working Bridge team. Bunratty launched a number of attacks but none resulted in a goal mainly due to some poor shooting and some great saves by the Bridge goalkeeper. They still continued to press though and even when this meant there was a lot more space for Bridge to create some counter attacks

neither team could find an opening OO Koam UOMO NCC EDI OOT- TEE

The second-half continued in the exact same fashion with Bunratty conveying their control on the game. Eventually after 60 minutes that first goal was found and with no Surprise it was taken by a Bunratty player. Midfielder Pat Twomey was the provider as his well judged effort bounced into the corner of the net.

This almost lifted a burden off the

Bunratty players as they now seemed to play with an even greater sense of confidence. They now doubled the work load of Bridge’s defence who were really at this stage just hanging on and hoping they could find some way back into the game. Unfortu- nately for them it was going to get a lot worse. With seventy five minutes gone they finally secured the vital second goal. This time it was sub Declan McDonald who proved to be a capable goal scorer. With one of his first major touches he doubled his team’s goal tally. He remained calm and slotted home his shot past the falling keeper. The heads of the Bridge players would surely drop now.

Bridge though had different plans. They still were going to fight on until the very end and hope they could finally pierce the Bunratty rearguard. They took their time and wasted two or three chances before they eventually did with five min- utes of the game remaining. Again it required the touch of a substitute as Jamie O’Gorman finally gave his team something to cheer about.

They went up the field now des- perately trying to find an equaliser but they just ran out of time. Overall Bunratty deserved this one and de- spite the wonderful efforts of Bridge at the end they just were not strong enough to win. Bunratty were more clinical and their two goals half way through the second half were the ul- timate difference.

Thumbs up for business week

THIS year has seen a large increase in people taking up cycling — some- what attributed to the government scheme – and the increasing number of events in the county and Ireland has provided an excellent platform to enjoy the sport with many events scheduled around Clare.

Events, including the An Post na- tionwide sportive series and the high profile Race Around Ireland meant that events ranged in scale from tens to thousands of participants over hundreds of kilometres to leisure events.

With this in mind, Clare cycle club Dolmen CC are building on this and see 2010 as a bumper year for cycling in Ireland and in the region.

“If you are aged 16 or over and would like to engage in cycling as a sport drop by the West County ho- tel on Wednesday 21st October at 8.30pm and chat to members of the club about our plans for 2010 and beyond and how you can take part,’ said martin McDonnell of Dolmen CGF

He also pointed out that 2009 has been an active year for Dolmen.

“In addition the very many leisure cycling events attended throughout the country and indeed internation- ally, Dolmen were part of a team that broke the record for the fastest Mizen Head to Malin Head non stop cycle, completing the cycle in under 19 hours.

“Dolmen has an embryonic and erowing racing team with good achievements in 2009, participating in National Road Races, Time Tri- als and Mountain Biking, and will be expanding the team for the 2010 season,” he added.

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.

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.

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!

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.

TO say this was pedestrian stuff is putting it very mildly to say the very least. A senior county final of sorts, but in name only such was the tame nature of the spectacle that unfolded over an hour of largely forgettable football.

There were the exceptions though — little nuggets that lifted the dross from a tepid encounter, the fielding ability of Timmy and David Ryan, the industry of Mark O’Connell in the full-forward line and six of their points that came from play.

It was just as well that these lit- tle moments of magic came from

Kilmihil, because Ennistymon were truly awful, save a semi-circling of the wagons in the last 20 mintues when they put a scoreless first 40 behind them by putting four points on the board. The wonder is how En- nistymon were able to peg it back to a three-point game with five minutes remaining.

That they ultimately came up short had nothing to do with great defen- sive work on the part of a Kilmihil team, but more to do with Ennisty- mon’s wide tally of the second-half that numbered six.

Two of those bad wides came in the final five minutes when only a goal separated the sides — had they been

converted to bring this game right down to the wire, and had they some- how grabbed a remarkable victory it would have marked this one down as a travesty of football justice.

It never happened, but still it was much too close for comfort for a Kilmihil side that dominated this game for the first 50 minutes. The 2008 intermediate champions led by O-4 to no score at half-time, having taken up where they left off against Lissycasey when they held them scoreless for the hour.

A brilliant opening point from left- half-back Rory Mohally after good work in the build up by David Ryan and Declan Downes had Kilmihil on

their way in the seventh minute.

Nineteen minutes passed before there was another score, but Kilm1- hil then finished the half with a flourish of fine points from play by David Ryan and Karl Downes before Timmy Ryan floated a free over in the 30th minute to give them a com- manding lead.

After Timmy Ryan thumped over the score of the game off his left a minute after the re-start and David followed up with another six minutes later, captain Mark O’Connell could safely start rehearsing his cupla fo- cail in his head.

Maybe that’s what happened, be- cause from there Kilmihil suddenly let their guard down and a point from Joe Dowling from a 40-yard free in the 40th minute broke Ennistymon’s duck and was the cue for a spirited display in the final 20 minutes.

Shane Mangan’s point in the 46th minute had Kilmihil 0-7 to O-1 ahead but from their the backed off into de- fensive and flirted with throwing this game away. Three Brian Conway points between the 52nd and 55th minutes brought it back to three.

Then there were Ennistymon’s wides, before Laurence Healy and

Timmy Ryan were red-carded before the end.