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LOCAL surfers were on good form in Lahinch at the weekend for the Bics Sports Beginners Classic and the Long- board Classic. Lahinch grommet Dam- ien Conway was is good form taking second place behind Gary Hall from the Kerry Surf Club in the Longboard competition.

Alan Coyle, who is also from Lahi-

nch, finished a good third with David Hanrahan from Clarecastle claiming fourth spot. In the Bics Sports Begin- ners Classic Liscannor surfer Emmet Godfrey claimed top spot ahead of Dublin surfers James Rodgers and Ken Noonan who came first and second re- spectively.

The team competition was won by Kerry Surf Club while Damien Conway also won the prize for best local surfer.

OPPORTUNITY of creating history knocked for the Irish ladies golfers in Dundalk last week as they at- tempted to win a hat trick of Home International titles. However, for the team that included Tricia Mangan and Heather Nolan it wasn’t to be as the Irish team went from double cham- pions to wooden spoonists within the space of three days.

Victories at Cruden Bay and Royal Portcawl may in hindsight have had a degree of luck attached on the final day each year, but with such an expe- rienced team, few would have envis- aged that their performance this time out would have been so much below par.

For Irish Champion Tricia Mangan, it was a mixed week – three comfort- able foursomes victories when playing with Martina Gillen was outstanding work, but her only return from singles play was a halved match with Scot- land’s Jenna Wilson on the opening day.

Indeed, Tricia 1/2 point was the only return from the singles on day one — Ireland lost the remaining five singles matches.

The rot had set in at this stage and Ireland went down to Wales on day two. The day started on a bright note when Tricia Mangan and Martina Gil- len scored decisive foursomes win.

It was downhill from there on as the team went down by 5 1/2 to 3 1/2.

Tricia was beaten by Sarah Jones in the singles — a girl she had decisively beaten in the British Championship ley: (e qn rome e lon

In the final game against England, Tricia maintained her 100 per cent record in foursomes play when her partnership with Martin Gillen scored a fine win over Felicity Johnson and Emma Duggleby. However, Johnson got some measure of revenge in the singles, beating the Ennis golfer by 5 and 3.

Munster Champion Heather Nolan teamed up with a totally out of sorts Claire Coughlan in two matches, los- ing on the 18th on the opening day to the Welsh pair of Sahra Hessan and Breanne Loucks. She had no re- turn from her three matches while Mangan, the European number nine, scored 3 1/2 points out of 6.

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy, who pleaded guilty to eight charges including burglary, larceny, criminal damage and unauthorised taking of a vehicle, was remanded in custody to St Patrick’s Institution in Dublin for one week and will appear in court in Lisdoonvarna again tomorrow (Wednesday).

The teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, faced four new charges when he appeared at Miltown District Court last Wednesday. The accused opted to be tried in the District Court, waiving his right to have his case heard in the Circuit Court before a judge and jury.

The teenager faces charges relating to a se- ries of incidents in the Miltown Malbay and Spanish Point areas between October 2004 and February this year. The youth is alleged to have broken into houses and a school and to have stolen property, including a video player, a camcorder and a van. He 1s also accused of stealing €380 worth of wine and beer.

A professional report provided to the court claimed that there is a history of alcohol abuse in the teenager’s family, that he was poorly supervised and that his father smelled of alcohol at the interview. Judge Mangan ordered a probation report in respect of the teenager to be prepared ahead of tomorrow’s hearing.

FINANCIAL guru, Eddie Hobbs has turned his at- tention from rip-off Ireland to letting smokers know how much they are being ripped off by their bad habit.

The average Irish smoker spends nearly €2,300 a year on cigarettes and for a top rate taxpayer this takes €4,000 off their gross income.

The newly launched Nicorette Freshmint Gum Minting It Guide – which Hobbs compiled – reveals that while the health benefits of giving up smoking are significant, the financial benefits cannot be ig- nored.

Aside from the direct cost of smoking, life cover insurance, life assurance and serious illness cover can often be more than double the price for a smoker versus a non-smoker.

The Guide gives advice and tips for smokers and non-smokers on how to manage their finances, save money and provide for the future.

Hobbs suggests keeping a diary of your spending and taking the necessary steps if you are overspend- ing.

He also advised consumers to “reduce your outgo- ings by shopping around. If you don’t pay your credit card balance off in full each month, move to a credit

card offering zero per cent interest for the first six months, and keep moving until you pay it off!”

Other cash-saving hints include: ¢ transferring your mortgage to an institution offer- ing a lower rate, which could save thousands of euros over the lifespan of the loan.

e Take advantage of competition in the mobile, land- line and internet market by changing providers to avail of better offers.

¢ Claim tax relief, which is available for things like renting a room, being a carer, certain medical ex- penses and contributing to a pension. Make sure you are getting all you are entitled to by checking out Www.revenue.ie.

The guide has been developed to support the launch of the new nicotine replacement therapy Nicorette Freshmint Gum.

According to Hobbs, “It’s hard enough to make ends meet in Ireland’s hugely over-priced economy besides blowing a huge sum of money through your lungs on cigarettes. Consider a pack of twenty a day, pretty close to the daily average of Irish smokers, is now costing nearly €2,300 a year. You put two smok- ers in one household and the combination would fund a small mortgage or a fantastic annual vacation”.

Copies of the guide can be obtained in pharmacies and GP’s surgeries nationwide.

A man who attacked and kicked a 52-year-old woman outside his Miltown Malbay home was fined, ordered to pay medical costs and was bound over to keep the peace for one year after he appeared in the lo- cal court last Wednesday.

Father and son Matt Keating Snr and Matt Keating Jnr, both faced one charge each of as- saulting Patricia Clancy outside their home at 16 Ballard Road, Miltown Malbay on September 26, 2004. Patricia Clancy, who lives at 35 Ballard Road, also faced one charge of assaulting Matt Keating Snr on the same CF Ken

Miltown Malbay District Court was told that the assault occurred after Mrs Clancy, a first cousin of Mr Keating Snr, drove him to his home after an evening’s socialising. Mrs Clancy said Mr Keating Snr “ran at me and kicked me and kicked me.”

She said that Matt Keating Jnr came to the door in his boxer shorts and pulled the two of

them apart, but assaulted her.

Matt Keating Snr claimed he had been offered a lift by Mrs Clancy but that he made his own way home that night. He claimed that when he arrived at his home, Mrs Clancy was al- USrKO MANN Slo) KOR

He said, as he accompanied Mrs Clancy to the gate of the house, “she struck me with her fist.”

Solicitor for Mrs Clancy, Gearoid Williams, showed pho- tographs of injuries sustained by his client to the accused. “I don’t know how it happened, I didn’t do it,’ he said.

The court also heard a tran- script of a heated telephone call to Mr Keating’s home after the incident.

Matt Keating Snr was convict- ed of assaulting Mrs Clancy and was fined €1,500 and ordered to pay €300 medical costs. The case against Matt Keating Jnr was dismissed.

Judge Mangan further or- dered that professional reports relating to alcohol be prepared in the cases of Mr Keating Snr and Mrs Clancy.

VANDALS have caused serious damage on the grounds of Ennis Rugby Club. The vandalism was carried out late on Saturday night, when a support railing that runs along the edge of the pitch was up- rooted and dragged across a section of the pitch. Concrete slabs that had held the six uprights and the crossbar in position were pulled two feet out of the ground, before being pulled over the pitch. Three large scar marks have been left on the pitch as a result. “It’s not so much the expense, it’s the mindless attitude of the people that did it” said Tony Guillfoyle, President of Ennis Rugby Club. He went

on to add that the club has suffered from anti-so- cial behaviour on a continuing basis over the past few weeks. “There must have been a large number of people in it and they would needed a tractor to do the damage they did,’ he said. There are problems with trying to build on the current boundary wall that borders the Cahercalla estate, as it may be a pro- tected structure. The club are hopeful of coming to some solution but, until then, there are concerns that anti-social problems will persist. The incident is the second act of vandalism to occur at a rugby ground inside a week. On Wednesday, damage caused to the pitch in Thomond Park in Limerick forced the grounds to close for a month.

THE Tanaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney admitted this week in Clare that she is concerned about hygiene in our hospitals, as basic precautions such as washing hands are not being carried out.

‘Hand washing is one of the most effec- tive ways of ensuring that we don’t pass on infection. That is hand washing by profes- sionals, all the staff but also by those visit- ing patients. I think we need to heighten the awareness of the importance of hand wash- ing,’ she said.

Ms Harney said she was also confident that the HSE would get to the bottom of what was happening about MRSA in hospi- tals in the region.

While the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis reported that just over 1.25 per cent of its patients were discovered with the an- tibiotic resistant bacteria, the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick has so far been unable to provide any figures relating to the bacteria.

“The results of the MRSA audit or the hygiene audit, which we will have later this month, I think will tell us a lot of informa- tion like what is happening at the moment in the hospitals. We are paying huge money for hospital cleaning contracts and we have to make sure we get the best for that.

The Minister also outlined plans in the fu- ture to ensure there were more single rooms in hospital and more isolation facilities.

These plans will not be implemented in

the short term, due to the cost, Ms Harney admitted. New buildings and refurbished facilities will have a larger number of sin- gle rooms and greater isolation facilities for OTM NLA

“We have a large number of hospitals in the country. It will be extremely expensive and take some time before we will move to that situation in Ireland. But, certainly in the context of building new facilities, and in refurbishing existing facilities, we will be looking at a larger number of single rooms and greater isolation facilities for patients that are affected with an infection. ”

Yesterday the Tanaiste launched a new campaign encouraging hand washing in health care buildings through out the coun- try.

per month working 6 to 10 hours part-time. For further information contact Maura 087-2038130 or O1-258 7041

FIFTY years is a long time to spend at any one activity, but few have passed the half-cen- tury milestone with more commitment than twin sisters Philomena and Annette O’Dea, otherwise known as Sister Celine and Sister Ann-Marie. The twins recently returned to their home in Ballygannor, near Kilfenora, for a holiday and a very special surprise Mass

to mark the golden jubilee of their vocation.

In 1955, aged 19, the sisters joined the nuns in Mallow following the sudden death of their mother, Lilly. Left behind in Ballygannor was their father John and 11 brothers and sisters, including Kitty, who later gained fame with the Kilfenora Ceili Band and Jack, who cur- rently resides in the old homestead with his wife Margaret.

After spending six months in Cork, the twins were moved to London where they were officially welcomed into the nuns in separate ceremonies. In all their years as Nazareth House nuns, they have never been stationed in the same convent and only see each oth- er on holidays. Sister Celine first returned to Ireland in the 1960s and gained national prominence when a story of the kindness she showed towards teenage mother Wanda Machnicha and her son made front page news Kom aets

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