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AN ODOUR circulating 1n the Shan- non area is annoying local residents, who want the matter to be investi- gated. The problem is caused by a blockage and Clare County Council is working on the issue.

At a meeting of Shannon area coun- cillors last week, Councillor Patricia McCarthy asked for a report to be presented, outlining the reasons why sewage odours are in existence, par- ticularly in the Ballycasey/Tullyvar- raga areas of the town.

In a written reply, from Clare

County Council, she was told that the main cause of the odour was a block- age in the inlet pipe leading to the pump station near Carraig Lia. This blockage has now been cleared. ‘However, there are large quanti- ties of solid materials coming to this pump station, which on occasion blocks both pumps, as well as the in- let line,’ stated Senior Executive En- gineer in Shannon, Eugene O’Shea. In order to alleviate the problem, works are underway at the pump station located near the Aidan Park traffic lights. This should reduce the loading on the pump station near

Carraig Lia. Mr O’Shea said that both pump houses will be cleaned out as part of the works, before the end of the month.

Cllr McCarthy said she was driving past Bunratty last weekend when she pale] B eee mete 0

“The whole town is stinked out of it,’ she said. She pointed out that checks should be carried out every week.

Independent Councillor Gerry Flynn said there was a smell in Shan- non last weekend and he has received several complaints about it. He asked why an upgrade of the water system

in the town had not been delivered. “The scheme in Shannon was to start in 2008 and that didn’t happen. We are into 2009. Quite a lot of in- frastructure has been loaded on to the system that we have,” he said. “Was it a funding problem that we didn’t start in 2008? With the current economic situation, when would you envisage it would start?” he asked. Engineer in water services Hugh McGrath said there have been a lot of delays in the planning process in Ennis, Shannon, Kilrush and Kilkee. He said there have been delays in get- ting approvals at the various stages.

IN many ways, the less said about this one the better. To say it was a dreadfully boring spectacle that failed to set the pulses racing is the understatement of the Clare football year thus far.

Any neutral who happened by Quilty’s sportsfield would have left long before half-time and found a better way to spend a Saturday after- noon — it was that bad as two very mediocre teams put in a very unin- spiring hour’s football.

Cooraclare’s form that swept them to Cusack Cup glory was again in abeyance, indeed this hour ham- mered home the reality that they haven’t been able to lift their game to those same standards since that shock win over Kilmurry Ibrickane in the league decider back in July.

Doonbeg, meanwhile, were no bet- ter but it won’t cost them a thought as they come into a semi-final under the radar. They could have been put away in this game, but Cooraclare’s failure to take a couple of goals chances was punished to the full as they scrambled over the line and into a penultimate round clash with Kil- murry Ibrickane.

The Magpies can thank Sean Maguire and Nigel Dillon for the fact that their goal remained intact for the hour — 1n the 23rd minute, three min- utes after pointing Cooraclare into a Q-2 to no score lead, Maguire had the chance that would have put his side on the high road to the semi-final.

Hughie Donnelly was the provider, but Maguire failed to connect deci- sively with his long delivery, punch- ing wide of Dillon’s post when the goal was at his mercy. From there

Doonbeg summoned the desire to get back into the game, putting a pletho- ra of wides behind them with points from a David Tubridy free in the 25th minute after a foul on Jamie Whelan and a 50 yard free from Frank O’Dea three minutes later.

It left the sides locked at 0-2 apiece at half-time, but more importantly that scoreline exposed for everyone present what a dire game this was. Cooraclare, who deployed Mark Tubridy as a third midfielder, which created space for the inside forwards did score their two points from play — the first coming from Michael Mc-

Mahon’s effort in the second minute and then Sean Maguire’s point 18 minutes later.

Still, that was as good as it got for them — all they could muster on the turnover was two more points, this time from Mark Tubridy frees. Instead, what dominated their half- hour was another missed goal chance in the 38th minute.

It fell Hughie Donnelly’s way when the sides were locked at O-3 apiece after Tubridy’s pointed free in the 31st minute was replied to by Shane Killeen who fisted over the bar five minutes later.

Donnelly raced through on goal, was one-on-one with Nigel Dillon, but it was the veteran netminder who kept alive his hopes of winning a sixth senior championship title, pull- ing off a brilliant save to keep his side on level terms.

It was a major turning point of the game, as eventually the Magpies turned it profit to take control with points from Brian Dillon and Brian Egan in the 46th and 50th minutes respectively put them O-5 to O-3 ahead.

Suddenly the Magpies — who his 13 wides to Cooraclare’s nine over

the hour — were maximising their chances, while their opponents were left to rue to poor wides from frees by Cathal Lillis in the 34th and 40th minutes.

Substitute Shane Ryan should have fisted over the bar in the 52nd minute to put his side three ahead, but once again like the Liscannor semi-final of last year went for glory instead of playing the percentages.

It gave Cooraclare a little window going into the closing minutes, but all they could muster was a point from a free in 58th minute from Mark Tubridy.

That brought an end to the scoring in this forgettable affair.

CELEBRATING ten years in the saddle, the East Clare Chernobyl Cycle has once again taken off for Belarus to raise money to help chil- CHU PO MONNuom Nucor

The cycle has taken place each Sep- tember and was first undertaken in 1999. This year, the route will take the intrepid riders on a 230 kilome- tre route over two and a half days, during which time they will see what has been done in the schools and orphanages with the money raised

through last year’s cycle.

Of the money raised last year, €20,000 went to provide a launder- ette for the orphanage at Gantsivi- chi and €8,000 was spent to buy 88 doors for a similar institution in An- topol.

In another orphanage, Malech, a lot of work had been done previously and this time they needed just €3,000 to buy gardening equipment.

The institutions, which the cycle helps, had little or nothing in the way of proper facilities before the east Clare riders became involved. In

many cases, there was no hot water or proper sanitary facilities.

Eighteen cyclists took off last week and will be viewing all of the projects which were started last year.

“We go to each project and see what has been done and get to meet the people there, to see how they’re getting on,’ said Pat O’Connor, one of the original cyclists and organis- ers of the trip. Each year, cyclists raise sponsorship to fund whichever projects are needed in the coming twelve months.

As this is the decade anniversary of

the trip, there will be a special cel- ebration and presentation at the Oak- wood Arms when the cyclists return at the end of the month.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years,’ said Pat. “We’re going to be real celebrities this trip. The Belarus- sian Minister for Education is going to meet us this time and there will be a piece about the project on Belarus- sian TV and radio. And we’re going to be bringing a gift for the minis- ter from Clare County Council, so it will be a real international event,’ he told

AS PHASE two of the Fibre Op- tic Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) for Kilrush is about to be- gin, Cllr Ian Lynch (FG) said the town council must be ready to mar- ket this new facility and get “a head of the game” in attracting new busi- nesses to the town.

It is hoped that the broadband sys- tem will be up and running and ready for marketing by March.

While the completion of phase one has been completed for some time now, progression on phase two had been delayed while awaiting the ap- pointment of an appropriate compa- ny to manage the phase.

The announcement that elnet “Tel- ecommunications Company of the Year 2009” has been appointed by

the Government to manage, main- tain and market Phase 2 of the pro- gramme has been met with a warm welcome from the town councillor.

‘“MAWNSs plays a pivotal role in the delivery of high speed broadband to regions throughout the country at a time when the advancement of a knowledge economy has never been more important,” he said.

Broadband is to data transfer what a motorway is to a road. The fibre optic broadband cable installed in Kilrush will provide the means to move information and other data in big volumes and at high speeds to re- cipients around Ireland and all over the world.

“The ready availability of broad- band services, to enable ‘always on’ high-speed connections with high capacity, 1s very important for both

business and domestic customers,’ said Cllr Lynch.

“Tt is towns with reliable, fast con- nectivity to the outside world that will lead the way in attracting in- ward investment and creating more jobs in the future. These broadband fibre rings about to be provided pave the way for such connectivity,’ he added.

“Having $made — considerable progress with the installation of fibre networks, Kilrush must now push on to avoid playing ‘catch-up’ continu- ously with other towns in the tele- communications area.’

“The proactive response towards the MANs by Kilrush Town Council is an extremely positive step in en- suring Kilrush can be marketed as a commercial town and to potentially attract new business to the town,

making the town more attractive to, not only businesses within the IT sector but also manufacturing, health care and education.

‘Because of the Kilrush Metropoli- tan Area Networks (MANs) Kilrush is now well placed to meet the tel- ecommunications needs of bigger businesses and institutions, and 1s better able to compete on an equal footing with other locations in the country to attract new businesses to the town and indeed county,’ said Cllr Lynch.

The Fine Gael councillor is encour- aging Kilrush Town Council to coin- cide a marketing campaign strategy in conjunction with the planned elnet marketing campaign to ensure maxi- mum publicity and promotion to encourage possible future business investment in the west Clare town.

BRIDGE Celtic were the victors af- ter this one sided Premier Division clash against Lifford on Wednes- day last. The final tally of five goals tells it’s own story and portrays how dominant the Bridge team were over their Ennis counterparts. They took the early initiative and attacked from the kick off. After a few chances they finally found their goal scoring touch through Ger O’Connell on 20 minutes. They did not have to wait as long for their second however as O’Connell scored again a few sec- onds later when Bridge won posses- sion back from Lifford’s kick off. He slotted the ball home confidently and now really set up Bridge to push on and ensure this win as early as pos- sible. Lifford were stunned but they did get a chance to get themselves back into the game. They were awarded a penalty and Roberto Pinto stepped up to take the kick. His ef- fort however was unsuccessful and

this became a huge turning point in the game. Instead of pulling back a goal they really missed their oppor- tunity. The significance of this miss increased when ten minutes later

Bridge found their third goal. The dangerous Shane Byrnes was the pro- vider and the insurance goal had now been found. Then three became four when Trevor Howard scored a crack-

ing volley just before half time. This was becoming a landslide victory and the prospect of more goals must have sent Lifford in at half team really fearing the worst. In fairness to this Lifford team, they did manage to re- store some pride. They scraped back two goals, with Ryan Boyle’s finish in particular providing the Lifford fans with something finally to cheer about. Suddenly had hope of a mirac- ulous come back been moulded. Un- fortunately for Lifford, Bridge now felt they had conceded enough goals and decided they wanted to score a few more. They only got the one though. Dave Hickey wrapped up his team’s goal scoring in the middle of the second half after a great period of well controlled passing. Burke in the Lifford goal had no chance and sadly for him had to pick the ball out of his net for the fifth time. The threat of any possible fight back had now been neutralised for good. Bridge contin- ued to attack but some credit must be given to young centre half Darren

O’Neill who gave his all throughout the game but his efforts alone were not enough to prevent Bridge Celtic maintaining their unbeaten start to the campaign. Lifford now really have to go back to the drawing board as with three losses from three, their prospects for the season are already looking very bleak.

“IT IS a road accident waiting to happen.” That was the warning of Kilrush Town Councillor, Paul Mo- roney (Ind) who also works for the fire brigade, one of the services that attend road traffic accidents on a Korea UN Vn Oyen Ae

The councillor was referring to the junction of Griffin Road and the En- nis Road, and questioned its legality.

He told this month’s meeting of the council that drivers had to go over the broken line to see if there was any traffic “coming in the Ennis Road”.

“IT am harping on about what has been said before. I am bringing it up again because it is not good enough,’ he said.

Cllr Moroney described the junc- tion as a nightmare.

Executive Engineer, Derek Troy told the meeting that the sightlines and the sight distance at this junction are very restricted due to the location of a shed/garage that adjoins the last property on Griffin Road, as you exit on to the N68 Ennis Road.

‘The exact ownership of this prop- erty is currently unknown,’ he said, pointing out that the shed was not Korea Ko Klee

“Road users must act in an appro-

priately safe manner when using the junction, as is the case at all public road junctions,” he added.

“Realignment works to improve the sightlines are ongoing at this junction.”

The works proposed consist of widening the footpaths at both sides, re-marking and re-aligning the road carriageways on the N67, and re-lo- cating the stop line.

‘Further investigation into the own-

ership of the property in question is on-going,’ said Mr Troy.

Father of the council, Tom Prendev- ille (FF) told the meeting that the owner of the shed was known to him, as the site received planning permission from the council in the last number of years.

KILMURRY — Ibrickane — steam- rolled the challenge of O’Curry’s to progress to the semi-finals of the championship on Saturday.

Any possibility of underdogs

O’Curry’s shocking the champions basically vanished inside the first 60 seconds, by which time Kilmurry al- ready had the ball in the net.

Paul O’Connor’s goal was a brutal statement of intent and though it took Kilmurry until the second-half to re-

ally tear into a commanding lead, O’Curry’s never really recovered. Ger Quinlan’s frees and O’Curry’s overall workrate in energy sapping heat, ensured Kilmurry didn’t com- pletely run amok in the first-half. But graft alone was never going to

be enough. O’Curry’s struggled in attack, a failure reflected in the fact that their first score from play didn’t arrive until the 39th minute. They had one great chance to draw level in the 10th minute when Ollie Quin- lan was pulled to the floor by Kil- murry goalkeeper Dermot O’Brien. A goal would have tied the game at 1-1 apiece and no doubt have done wonders for O’Curry’s confidence. But Michael O’Shea’s weak strike was comfortably saved by O’Brien. O’Curry’s moment passed and Kil- murry were not in a mood to give up other soft chances.

Leading 1-6 to O-3 at half-time, the men in red and green really flexed their muscles after the break.

Three swift points pushed Kilmur- ry nine points clear and sucked all the competitive juice from what was rapidly becoming a fairly bloodless Neeuoe

The job done, Kilmurry unloaded their bench. Noel Downes, just back from a groin injury, hit the field and bagged a quick I-l. Odran O’Dwyer also got some precious game time as the champions coasted home.

Peter O’Dwyer was a central figure throughout and it was his pass that kickstarted the move that led to Kil- murry’s first goal. Stephen Moloney kept possession alive at the end line. Johnny Daly and Mark McCarthy were both involved as the ball was swiftly transferred across O’Curry’s defensive cordon to Paul O’Connor who rifled the ball to the net.

Ger Quinlan’s second minute free steadied O’Curry’s but a sense of erim inevitability was beginning to set in. O’ Dwyer was lording it at mid- field. O’Shea fluffed his penalty and by the 17th minute Stephen Molo- ney’s expertly taken point pushed Kilmurry 1-3 0-1 ahead.

O’Curry’s packed the defence and tackled like crazy but Kilmurry still found scores easy to come by. A bril- liantly incisive move saw Moloney go close before lan McInerney thumped over two frees and McCarthy slot- ted over on the stroke of half-time to leave Kilmurry 1-6 to 0-3 ahead.

As they had done at the start of the game, Kilmurry again went for an early kill after the break. Points from Michael Hogan (2) and Moloney took the wind from O’Curry’s sails. Kilmurry could afford to start think- ing about the semi-finals.

Downes entered the fray in the 43rd minute and his first meaningful con- tribution was to slot the ball over the

bar. Daly added a free before Ger Quinlan kicked his fifth point of the day. By now the effort of having to hunt Kilmurry’s forwards was begin- ning to take its toll in O’Curry’s wea- ry defence as the game turned into a target practice session for Micheal McDermott’s side.

Downes took a handpass from Michael Hogan and buried the ball high to the net for Kilmurry’s second goal in the 54th minute.

Michael Carmody registered a point for O’Curry’s before Shane Hickey’s hard running was rewarded with a powerfully hit point. Ger Quinlan landed the game’s final score but it’s the champions who roll on.

FRIENDSHIP and Community — that is the theme for Clare Men- tal Health Week, which runs from October 5 to 10. The event aims to raise awareness of issues which af- fect mental health and to promote positive mental health and wellbeing in the community.

This year the focus is on connect- ing communities during these diffi- cult times of financial crises. Forums will be held throughout the county to encourage communities and groups to come together to show solidarity and support to each other in times of unemployment and recession.

All events are free to the public and there are many well known fig- ures taking part.

On Monday, October 5, Mary Flan- agan and Anne Buckley have advice for parents on Relaxation Skill and Stress Reduction in the Clare VEC Community Education Centre. On Monday evening, West Clare Mental Health Association will explore ‘En- hancing Community Co-operation in West Clare’ in the Kilrush Family Resource Centre.

Men Count Too is the theme of a men’s forum which will take place

in the Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis on Tuesday, October 6 at 7.30pm.

REFEREE Rory Hickey was in the car park ahead of most of the sup- porters in Quilty last Saturday – gear bag in hand and ready for the quick escape.

Such was the level of anger at the final whistle, with Cooraclare grab- bing a controversial – if well deserved – equaliser five minutes into injury time, that the Eire Og man thought discretion to be the better part of val- our and so he made a quick departure from Quilty.

In truth however, it’s hard to under- stand what either side had to com- plain about.

Doonbeg and Cooraclare had served up a thrilling 60 minutes of football – filled with commitment, tension and no little amount of skill – when two injury time decisions left the large crowd exhilarated, and no doubt counting down the days until the replay.

The controversy, if you want to call it that, began in the 60th minute with the sides deadlocked. A high specula- tive ball from Kevin Nugent was lost by the Cooraclare keeper Joe Killeen and wound up in the back of the net.

Pandemonium erupted in the stands as the Magpies took the lead for the first time since the seventh minute as the Cooraclare faithful cried foul and square-ball.

Hickey consulted with both lines- men before rightly awarding the goal.

Gasps abounded, but the biggest drama was yet to come.

In the fifth minute of injury time Co- oraclare substitute Declan O’ Looney lofted a free kick that landed menac- ingly in the Doonbeg area sending bodies from both sides flying in all directions.

In the disarray that followed, Doon- beg stalwart Padraig Gallagher came away with the ball and a whistle from

the referee appeared to bring the match to an end.

The celebration in the stand was Short lived however, as it soon be- came apparent that the whistle was for a foul, with the umpire deciding that Gallagher had picked the ball off the ground, and not the final whistle.

Mark Tubridy showed great nerve to goal the spot-kick – sparking relief for Cooraclare and anger from a sec- tion of the Doonbeg players.

It had been a hot-blooded but fair encounter, with no quarter asked or given, and it’s easy to understand some of the frustration at the final

whistle. But, as one of the few neutral spectators in Quilty on Saturday, this reporter can say that this was a great game and, by and large, a fair result.

Cooraclare were in a different class for the first 40 minutes – sti- fling Doonbeg with their speed and relentless running – and they were good value for their 1-6 to 0-4 lead. Doonbeg had raced into an early lead with points from Jamie Whelan and David Tubridy.

But Cooraclare were proving much more mobile around the field and began to make that pay on the scoreboard. Points from Don Garry,

Hughie Donnelly and Cathal Lillis followed with Sean Maguire’s well taken goal giving them a healthy erYee

Colm Dillon and Brian Egan point- ed late in the first half to keep the Magpies in touch but Cooraclare took up where they left off after the break with scores from Andrew O’Neill, Mark Tubridy and Sean Maguire.

The half-time introduction of Frank O’Dea into the Doonbeg midfield was starting to pay dividends. The Magpies’ talisman rallied the troops and scores followed from David Tu- bridy (2), Enda Doyle Brian Dillon

and O’Dea himself to level the match and set up the grandstand, injury time finale.

What a finale it was.

A MYSTERY businessman has ap- proached Clare County Council ex- pressing an interest in taking over the operation of the Central Waste Management Facility in Ballyduff resem

According to information released at last night meeting of Clare County Council, the unnamed businessman approached the local authority with a proposal before it became public knowledge that the local authority was examining future options for the EE Tateueee

Clare County Council were heavily criticised last nights for circulating information about the possible future of the landfill to members of the Bal- lyduffbeg Liaison Committee before it was shown to the elected members of Clare County Council.

‘I tabled this motion after receiving an email from a council official in re- lation to the future of Ballyduffbeg.

“Part of that email stated that the Community Liaison Forum met the previous night and was told that the council was examining a number of options for the landfill,’ said Cllr Martin Conway (FG)

“I support a detailed discussion on this. We need to consider all the options, especially the fact that it 1s over a million euros below it’s target for last year.

“But I have a problem with this be- ing discussed with people who are not the policy makers of this council. We are the policy makers of this council. This discussion needed to take place here first — with the elected members of Clare County Council and not with other non-elected groups. I am demanding that we receive an apol- ogy for this happening.”

Speaking on the motion north Clare

councillor and chair of the Ballyduff- beg Liaison Committee, Joe Arkins (FG) said that the council had a “rush of blood to the head” when position- ing the Central Waste Management Facility in Inagh.

“For the record, I was one of the people who never believed that the council should have gone down this route.

“IT don’t know why we ever went down the route of a central waste management facility. I think that some county council officials must have had a rush of blood to the head,’ he said.

‘We need to see what the best op- tion should be for the community around the landfill. Whether we like it or not, a number of issues have been raised by the EPA about our management of the landfill down the years. We need to have a serious look at this landfill.”

Responding to the discussion Coun- ty Manager, Tom Coughlan said that it was “regrettable” that the infor- mation was circulated to the liaison committee before the councillor and also criticised sections of the local media “misleading” reports about the future of the facility.