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AT the end of this well contested la- dies intermediate football final it was Anna O’Connor with cup in hand and the girls in the maroon and white of Liscannor who were left celebrating.

Some of the spectators at the end of the game may have been forgiven for not recognising any of the 14 other Liscannor players as the programme provided certainly did not act as an aid.

In fact the victorious captain was the only Liscannor player who lined out as selected with most of the other girls on her team in different posi- tions and with different numbers on their backs.

Maybe it was just an extreme ad- ministrative error or else a deliber- ate ploy on the part of the Liscannor management. Whatever the reason it did not affect the Liscannor players who were in control for most of the game.

After five minutes they raced into a four-point lead which was further increased by a Roisin Rouine goal on the eighth minute. There was a quarter of an hour gone on the clock when the girls from Shannon Gaels finally found their scoring boots when corner-forward Mairead Ma- digan scored a cracking goal from a 21-metre free.

The Gaels now looked like they were ready to mount their come- back but this immediate threat was neutralised five minutes later when Liscannor, through centre-forward Olivia Lucas, responded with an- other goal.

Shannon Gaels didn’t lie down as Rachel Ryan stepped up with another goal. Aine Burke’s point in injury- time left the north Clare girls leading 2-6 to 2-1 after a first-half of many twists and turns.

The Gaels needed a good start to the second-half and that is exactly what they got. In the first minute Mairead Madigan scored her second goal of

the game and this was followed up fives minute later with Rachel Ryan‘s second of the game.

Two Liscannor points in the middle

of this goal spree left only two points between the sides. Liscannor had most of the possession and scoring chances but they were letting their

control of the game slip.

The real turning point of this game came on ten minutes when the Gaels were awarded a penalty. This was their big chance to grab the lead but Sarah Bohannon’s effort was saved and the spirit of the Liscannor girls lifted once more.

The Gaels did not score for the rest of the duration of the game while points from Aine Burke, Rebecca O’Regan and Olivia Lucas in the closing moments sealed the victory for Liscannor and ensured their pro- gression into the senior grade for 2010.

CLARE man Stephen Hickey took his first steps towards a potential League of Ireland career with Gal- way United at the weekend.

The Clarecastle native has signed on with the club’s reserve team, Gal- way United A, who ply their trade in the Newstalk A Championship, the third tier of the League of Ireland.

If Hickey (pictured below) im- presses in the A team’s four remain- ing league games, he may get an op- portunity with the club’s first team.

Hickey made his United debut on Saturday, coming on as a half time substitute in the 3-1 defeat to Salthill DAVei wae

The result leaves Galway marooned at the bottom of the table on four points, nine points adrift of second from bottom Dundalk A.

If Hickey does make the jump to Galway’s first team he will become the second Clare man currently on United’s books after goalkeeper Barry Ryan.

Long regarded as one of the best soccer talents in the county, Hickey was in scintillating form last season, scoring 20 league goals to help Rock Rovers claim the Division One title.

He’s also currently part of the Eire Og team looking to qualify for the quarter-finals stage of senior football oA aF-Naatopcoyatsseul oy

FOUR-TIME AIl Star, two-time FANUC ERE Neem Buebe oom NeleMssbuconmDEETS Munster championship winner Jamesie O’Connor has made a surprise return to the St Joseph’s senior hurling team five years af- ter he played his last champion- ship game with the club.

O’Connor, a championship win- ner with St Joseph’s in 1998, °99 and 2001 returned to training last week. His last competitive out- ing for the club at championship level was the 2004 county final against Kilmaley, a year after he took his final bow at inter-county level in the All-Ireland quarter- final replay against Kilkenny in SW sitbe los

O’Connor marked his club re- turn by making a cameo appear- ance in a challenge game against Ballybrown at the weekend.

CLARE’S local authorities are to get a much-needed cash injection, as second homeowners are asked to pay up.

The Government has estimated that the newly introduced Non Principal Private Residences (NPPR) fee will bring in as much as €40 million na- tionally.

It is not clear, however, how much of this second home tax will be col- lected in Clare, as there is no com- prehensive list available as yet.

NPPR fees collected in town coun- cil areas will revert to those towns, however, confirmed Ms Carmel Greene, Senior Executive Officer, Finance Department of Clare Coun- WA Grolennete

The NPPR charge is set at an an- nual rate of €200 for 2009 per resi- dence, and must be paid by October Ue

Late payment will incur a fee of €20 in respect of each month or part of a month during which the charge remains unpaid.

The charge applies mainly to own- ers of private rental property and holiday homes. It also applies to vacant residential property, unless newly built.

Ms Greene said the payment is es- sentially for a non-principal private residence, which is not the owner’s normal home.

She added that any unpaid charges and penalties might adversely af- fect any future sale or transfer of the property.

The council has the authority to view Revenue and ESB records, as well as records of rental accom- modations in a bid to identify such Te bisen

Any person in any doubt about the lability of their property should contact Clare County Council at 065 6821616 or nppr@clarecoco.ie.

SHANNON residents will present Clare County Council with a peti- tion against the closure of a number of walkways around Shannon town as aresult of a new housing develop- ment being undertaken by the local authority.

More than 300 local residents have already signed the petition, which will also be accompanied by dozens of individual protest letters against WeToMOCoaVod Coy oyee torn

The local group claims that the fencing could obstruct the emergen- cy services from reaching the area and was erected without any prior notice from the contractors or Clare County Council.

“We were under the impression that this development was not going to go ahead because of the recession but we woke up one day and work had already started. All the fencing went up overnight and the whole area is penned in. It is very restrictive steel fencing and is around the whole development,’ said local resident Nicole Murphy.

“The fact that this fencing was up for a week and a half before we got any official notification about it is very worrying. Are we going to come home some day and find that our water or electricity has also been cut off without any notice?”

The petition is the result of a mass meeting which was held in the area last Tuesday. Another meeting will take place this weekend to decide the next step in the local groups opposi- tion to the development.

According to the group, the devel- opment will remove one of Shan- non’s few remaining green areas. In addition, they claim that a fully serv- iced site located nearby by would be cheaper and less disruptive for the lo- oF NMe- Luin eLoywinanKomeloa(od le) 0p

The group has also expressed its disappointment with some of their local politicians, who they feel went back on their word by failing to op- pose the development at the planning SR eLon

“This 1s one of the last green areas in all of Shannon and they want to

build all of these houses on it – right on our doorstep,’ continued Ms Mur- phy.

“We were told by some of our local election candidates that they would stand by us on this issue and they haven’t done that. I won’t say who I am talking about but the people know themselves.”

CRIPPLING local authority rates emerged as a key issue causing se- vere hardship for hoteliers at a recent crisis meeting held by the Irish Ho- tels Federation (IHF).

Clare members expressed outrage at the exorbitant rates imposed and de- manded that, due to their inability to pay in the current climate, an emer- gency provision should be brought in to immediately reduce rates by 30 per cent for hotels and guesthouses. This would be in line with the recent result of the revaluation of hotels and guesthouses in the South Dublin

County Council area completed by the Valuation Office.

Hoteliers condemned as outrageous and extortionate the levels of local authority rates paid by hotels. The IHF bases the call for a rates reduc- tion on the fact that the revaluation carried out by the Valuation Office of all commercial premises in the South Dublin County area resulted in a re- duction of approximately 30 per cent in the local authority rates liability of hotels and guesthouse.

Therefore, it maintains that this level of reduction should be applied across all local authority areas until the revaluation process is completed

in each local authority area through- out the country.

According to Michael Vaughan, Chairman, Shannon Branch of the IHF, hotels and guesthouses are dis- proportionately subsidising the rates liability of other business premises. He states that hotels and guesthouses are being penalised by an antiquated taxation system of commercial rates that sees local authorities extract taxes relative to the size of premises without any recourse to the level of turnover or overheads of the business.

“Our members have been paying rate increases year on year without recourse to independent assessments. We have been asking too long for this issue to be addressed, and it hasn’t been addressed. Excessive local au- thority rates are having a devastating effect on hotels which are already struggling to deal with decimated revenues and cost bases that have not yet adjusted to the changed economic reality on the ground.

“Our members are willing to pay a fair and equitable level but simply can no longer bear the current rates that are imposed in this unprecedent- ed environment when a revaluation process should be completed,” says Mr Vaughan.

“We are calling for the introduction emergency provisions to allow for a 30 per cent reduction in local au- thority rates applicable to hotels and guesthouses until such time as these properties have been revalued as pro- vided for in the Valuation Act 2001 Act. Only one local authority area in the entire country has completed this process in seven years — we can no longer wait for the Valuation Office to complete this countrywide proc- ess given the dire circumstances our members are facing.”

Among the other issues discussed at yesterday’s meeting were a need to manage the substantial excess capac- ity that exist in the sector; distortion of the market with unfair competition as aresult of hotels under the control of the banks operating at below cost prices; severe difficulties faced by hotels and guesthouses in obtain ad- equate bank credit to survive through the recession.

They also discussed a need for the cost base of hotels to adjust to the worsened market conditions; exces- sive public sector charges to which hotels are subjected; potential for NAMA operations to introduce mar- ket distortions and unfair competi- none

Clare hotel sector reaches crisis point

, by historian Ian

Kenneally, tells the story of Sergeant

James Flanagan and other Clare men who fought at the battle.

Born in Ennis in April 1839, Flana-

gan emigrated to the United States

and took part in the Californian gold rush while still 1n his teens.

Kenneally writes, “Evidently, he did not make his fortune there and he moved to Ohio sometime in the 1850s. He fought on the Union side during the American Civil War and joined the Seventh Cavalry in 1871. By the time of the battle, he was one of the Seventh’s most experienced soldiers.”

Of Flanagan’s role at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Kenneally writes, “Tt was around 5pm on the afternoon of June 25, 1876 that Captain Thomas

Weir of the Seventh Cavalry reached the top of a hill by the banks of the Little Bighorn River. Accompany- ing him was his Sergeant, Clareman James Flanagan, and the troops of ‘D’ Company.

“They were riding towards their commander, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, who was involved in a heavy fight a few kilo- NSCB REAR hae

He continues, “As they crested the hill, they realised they were too late. Flanagan was the first to see what had happened. Using his field-glass-

es, he could see the final seconds of Custer’s Last Stand and, more omi- nously, a large body of armed men approaching their way.

“He turned to Weir, ‘Captain, I think they are Indians’. Flanagan and his comrades were in danger of being overrun by a thousand armed warriors. ’

Flanagan survived a 24-hour siege and after the battle was recommend- ed for a medal for conspicuous gal- lantry by his superior officers.

However, Kenneally writes that he never received a medal. Kene-

ally writes, “Flanagan was wounded a year later at the Battle of Snake Creek as the Seventh Cavalry fought Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. He remained in the army until 1881. Like other Irish veterans of the bat- tle, he later settled in North Dakota, working as a bailiff in the town of Mandan. Flanagan died in 1921 and is buried in the Union Cemetery of Mandan.”

Among others, the book also exam- ines the life of John Philip Holland, the Liscannor man who invented the submarine.

FROM the early hours of the morn- ing to late at night you will happen upon cyclists on the road in the west Clare parish of Coorclare/Cree dur- ing the month of August.

The reason for the upsurge in cy- cling at this time of year is by now accepted as preparation for the An- nual Michael Garry Memorial Cy- ATR

The fundraising event in memory of the late postman is now an impor- tant part of the local calendar in Co-

oraclare, with all of the parish get- ting behind the event. It also receives support from cyclists from all over the country.

In its sixth year the 35 kilometre cycle has raised €111,100 for local charities. More than 100 people take to their bike every year as part of the fundraiser.

Last year was especially poignant as a group of friends of the late Leav- ing Certificate student Mark Donnel- lan took part in the event in his mem- ory. The west Clare teenager was a keen participant up until his sudden

and untimely death last year.

The cycle donated €5,000 of the €27,200 raised last year to the char- ity – Cardiac Risk in the Young in his memory, and stopped at his grave in Knocknahilla during the cycle.

Other charities to have benefited from the cycle over the last five years include the Clare 250 Cancer Centre in Ruan to the tune of €32,000 and the Munster Branch of Spina Bifida to the same amount.

A further €12,000 has been donat- ed to the West Clare Cancer Support Group based in Kilrush, €15,000

to the Kilkee based Voices for Au- tism, €3,000 to Aware and €3,500 to the Kilkee Marine Rescue. The Clare branch of the ISPCA received €3,000 from the event last year, and €2,500 went to the Clare branch of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. The cycle will take place on Sat- urday, September 5, at 1.15pm from the church in Cooraclare and will take in 20 townlands in the parish. It will stop briefly at the graveyard in Kilmacduane to remember the late Michael Garry who died of a brain haemorrhage in March 17, 2004.

Hillbilly’s open their doors at Ennis outlet