The Clare People Archive

A MAN who drove his fist through the windscreen of a garda car in Mil- town Malbay has been handed a two- month jail term.

Michael Mongans (27), of Lis- cannor Road, Lahinch, admitted a charge of criminal damage and also pleaded guilty to two charges under the Public Order Act.

Sergeant Joe Hehir told Miltown Malbay District Court that he en- countered a dispute between the de-

fendant and his wife, at Main Street, Miltown Malbay, at 11.30pm on Jan- uary 26 last. They then turned to go into a bar.

Twenty minutes later, he said he separated the two on the street. How- ever, the accused tried to get to his wife on three occasions. “I restrained him. He was agitated. He told me to f*** off and that he hated the guards,” said Sgt Hehir.

He summoned assistance and as the accused was brought to a garda patrol car, he drove his fist through

the back window. Damage, worth almost €500, was caused to the car and Mongans has since paid this. Sgt Hehir said that the accused had been bound to the peace at the time, arising out of a previous matter. Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said there had been tensions between her client and his wife at the time, which had since been cleared up. She said the accused was “exces- sively drunk” that night and now wanted to put the matter behind him. She said that her client’s family was

the subject of intimidation, arising out of incidents between his family and another family in Ennis between October 2007 and May 2008.

She said that while her client did not play a role in the incidents, he has been forced to move from Ennis to Cork. She said the incident before the court occurred right in the mid- dle of the dispute between the two e-NenBN BLoKe

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a two-month jail term and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

A LITHUANIAN man who was spotted “fool acting’ down Seafield beach in his jeep has been convicted of dangerous driving and banned from driving for two years.

Tomas Salaka (27), of Aughantee- roe, Ennis, pleaded guilty to danger- ous driving, arising out of an incident at Seafield beach, Quilty.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told Milltown Malbay District Court that the defendant was driving his jeep – with two passengers – along the beach at Seafield, when he was spot-

ted by an onlooker.

He said he drove along the grass first and then onto the beach.

He said it would appear the accused took a phone call while driving and then did a handbrake turn, causing the jeep to flip over. He said the ac- tions of the accused could have led to tragic consequences.

“He was fool acting down the beach,” he said.

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client was working in Cree at the time. On the date in question, he went to Seafield beach, which was completely clear.

“There was no-one else on the beach. He got a_ phone call to go back to work, hence the talking on the phone. He then tried to get back up on the grass, but missed his turn and the jeep flipped over,” he said.

He said the girl who received inju- ries in the accident was recovering AB

Mr Hassett said that while a plea to dangerous driving was being en- tered, “I’d say it’s very much on the lower scale in this type of case.”

He said his client had no previous convictions either in Ireland or in his native Lithuania.

A FIVE-FIGURE sum of money and valuable pieces of jewellery, stolen during a spate of burglaries in Ennis over the past two months, have not yet been recovered.

This revelation emerged in the case of an Iranian refugee who is charged with three counts of burglary and one of handling stolen property. A total of 55 homes in Ennis were bur- gled between September and last week, prompting a major garda in- vestigation to be sprung into action. Jewellery, valued at €100,000, was recovered last Saturday week, as part of Operation Ennis, which was set up to investigate the matter.

Ali Reza Velayati (39), of Avondale, Kilrush Road, Ennis, 1s accused of

four alleged offences, on four sepa- rate dates in October and November.

The burglary charges relate to houses at Tobartaoscain, Ard na Gréine and Limerick Road, Ennis. Jewellery, valued at €1,950, was taken from one of the houses, while jewellery, worth €500, was taken from another house.

He is accused of handling assorted stolen jewellery, at Oakwood Drive, Ennis, on November 8 last.

Defending solicitor Daragh Has- sett was granted free legal aid for his client, who he said is a refugee. However, an application for bail was refused, after gardai objected.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said the charges in court formed “part of a whole plethora of charges relating to the burglary of 55 private residences

in Ennis between late September and November.”

‘He has been interviewed in rela- tion to all of these offences. While we have not brought charges in rela- tion to all of those, we are consulting with the DPP,” he said.

Mr Hassett said his client has been in Ireland for the past six months, having previously lived in China, under a refugee programme. He said the accused could not return to either Iran or China and effectively had “nowhere to go”.

‘He is not at flight risk, if that’s the State’s concern,’ said Mr Hassett.

However Inspector Kennedy dis- puted this and said the accused was at “enormous flight risk. His position in the country is very tenuous.” He said if bail was granted, there would

be concerns that the defendant would disappear.

“Despite the fact that a huge amount of property has been recovered, there is still a huge amount of property outstanding,” he said, adding that the State would be concerned the ac- cused could turn this into an “asset for himself.”

Detective Sergeant Michael Molo- ney then told the court that the “more valuable pieces of jewellery’, along with a five-figure sum of cash, were still outstanding. Dt Sgt Moloney said that the accused’s wife was no longer living at their address at Avondale.

“He has no direct links to this country. He is here on a travel docu- ment as opposed to a passport, under a refugee programme. I don’t believe he will turn up for a subsequent hear-

ing (if granted bail),” he said.

Mr Hassett said that his client’s wife is heavily pregnant and was staying with a friend, as she did not want to stay at their home on her own. He said his client could not leave the jurisdiction without the rel- evant documentation. However, Dt Sgt Moloney replied, “We all know if you want to leave the jurisdiction it can be done.”

Inspector Kennedy said that back- ground checks were still being proc- essed in relation to the accused. ““The State has a responsibility. There is overwhelming evidence against the accused,’ he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan refused bail and remanded the accused in cus- tody to re-appear in court later this month.

THE benefits of pre-clearance are:

For passengers: It will save time and potentially save money.

e Shannon and Dublin are the only European airports that will have full pre clearance facilities on offer to passengers.

e The US currently has no plans to introduce pre-clearance elsewhere in Europe.

e Once the new pre-clearance fa- cilities are in place US bound pas- sengers out of Shannon and Dublin airports will have uninterrupted pas- sage through US airports on arrival. e All customs, US immigration and agriculture clearance will now be completed before passengers leave Ireland.

e Flights from Shannon and Dublin airports will be treated like domes- tic flights in the US. Passengers will have no need to undergo further time consuming checks in any US air- jour

e Passengers will now be able to

check their baggage through from Shannon and Dublin to their final destination in the US even if this involves two flights with different airlines.

¢ Domestic airports are generally cheaper for airlines to use and this should be reflected in the ticket price – meaning potentially cheaper flights for customers.

For airlines: Faster aircraft turnaround which saves money.

e Transatlantic airlines using Shan- non and Dublin will now be able to fly into less congested and less ex- pensive domestic terminals at US airports. This means easier access to aircraft stands thereby minimis- ing the time between touchdown and passengers exiting the aircraft.

e Airlines will now also be able to offer passengers easily accessible on- ward connections.

For Shannon Airport and the mid- west region:

Shannon will be the first airport in Ireland to offer full pre clearance

facilities. This will give the airport authority a unique selling point in its marketing campaigns to attract new airlines to service the airport.

e The introduction of pre-clearance will be particularly useful in the ef- forts of Shannon Airport to retain and promote transatlantic services.

e Pre-clearance will provide the op- portunity to promote the mid-west region for high worth tourism from the US with the strong selling point that on the return leg all US clear- ance requirements would be dealt with before departure.

e Pre-clearance has the potential to Open up other economic benefits for the Shannon region particularly for firms dependent on the US market.

For private aircraft:

e Pre-clearance is also being intro- duced at Shannon for private US bound aircraft. Shannon will be the only airport in Europe to offer this service to private aircraft owners.

e Shannon can expect a significant increase in private aircraft landing to avail of the facility.

this week, “Cusack Park will have to be redeveloped if Clare wants to have a county grounds that passes heath and safety requirements into the future. That could cost anything between €5 and €10 million, be- cause it should be done right. With county board finances stretched, it

will be hard to raise money like that is arecession”.

In May 2003 the county board submitted plans to Ennis Town Councu’s planning department to redevelop Cusack Park. They were seeking permission from the plan- ning authority to “demolish the ex-

isting southern stand and construct a new stand complete with press/tv fa- cilities withing roof and ground floor accommodation of dressing rooms, toilets, first aid and hospitality, also a two story administration building to include gym, meeting rooms, dress- ing rooms and a café”.

The redeveloped Cusack Park as envisioned by the county board would have have had 6,000 seats and a capacity of 30,000 as well as an up- graded playing surface.

Permission to carry out these rede- velopment works was granted on De- cember 4, 2003, giving the board five years from that date to redevelop the ground that was opened in 1936.

That planning permission runs out in just over two weeks.

Meanwhile, Ennis Town Council member Frankie Neylon has told the county board this week, “if they don’t want to develop it, Ennis Town Council will gladly take it off of their JaF:NeV@ Kom NO OT-UOMCIER OFT Mm WaCoAm Ye DOL Om UITG! we’ll look after it.

“We’ll develop it as a municipal park and if they want it for the hurl- ing or the football, we’ll let them use it,’ the former Mayor of Ennis added.

WHEN Mick Darby landed back in the dressing room to tumultuous ap- plause, his first reaction was to turn on his heels and head back for the sanctuay of some open ait.

Not because he wanted to get away from the party, just because he felt it would be easier to field press queries if he was a few steps removed from the madding crowd that was gather- ing inside.

Once outside, the man from Rhode in Offaly talked about his team’s g1- ant step along the road to what he hopes will be a Munster champion- ship winning year.

A giant step, he agreed, but not a giant-killing one against the storied ‘Barrs from the Togher area of Cork City.

“What really pleased me about today was that this Kilmihil team showed St Finbarr’s the respect they were entitled to get, but then went about winning the game,” he said.

“These lads are still very young and are only learning, but they’re as good as what’s out there in this com- petition. It’s just a matter of applying themselves on the day and they did dere

“It was a great performance and it showed that they are maturing as a team. They defended really well near the end and held possession very well when they needed to. They worked very hard for each other.

“The points we got before half- time was the lift we needed going in. Those three points gave the lads that extra bit of self-belief,’ added Darby.

Thirty minutes were down, and

Darby sensed that there was more to come. “I knew in the dressing room at half-time that we were going to give it another 30 minutes of a blast in the second half.

“All we asked them was to give us everything they had for that 30 min- utes and they did that. They dug very deep to win. They played very good football to win and you can see that they’re enjoying it.

“We came under a bit of pressure like we did in the Ballysteen game, but we didn’t concede in either game and that’s down to the good workrate we have all around the field.

“If it had stopped here today, it

would have been a big blow to the lads because they’ve spent so much time together over the past year. They’d actually miss each other’s company. They’re determined to keep on winning.”

One will do as they face down St Michael’s Foilmore from deepest south Kerry.

“T don’t know who we’re playing,’ revealed Darby, “so we’ll give it a cut and see how we go.”

They’ve given it a cut all year.

MARK O’Connell was first out of the Kilmihil dressing room before the start of the game – it was the same when the side returned to the field after half-time.

You could call it the captain’s pro- tocol and prerogative, but there was no custom and practice dictating that he be the first player back in the room NACo) MnO OlomeeeD ONL oe

He was though – maybe it was by chance, or maybe he wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a couple of seconds before the storm descend-

ed on the calm of an empty room.

Once there he talked about the sig- nificance of the victory for Kilmihil, modestly eschewing any reference to his own barnstorming display that made him a shoo-in for man-of-the- match.

“We came back to Kilmihil after the Ballysteen game last Sunday, en- joyed ourselves and then were back training on Tuesday night and were determined to give it areal go against St Finbarr’s,’ he said as the first of the slaps rained down on his back.

‘Anyone who doubts this team got their answer out there today. What

we produced out there shows what this team is capable of. We knew it was going to be a very tough game, but we trained hard during the week and knew that were were going to be able to take them,” he added to roars of approval from the gathering crowds.

“Conditions were hard out there and every point we got out there was im- portant. They few we got before half time gave us a great lift and then we took from there in the second half.

‘“There’s great credit due to all the players. They really showed out there what this means to them. That’s all

of us who started and the lads that came on to play their part.

“They came at us in the second half but our defence held out. I thought we held on to the ball very well at times in the second half. We had to make sure we didn’t concede a goal. That was important as we tried to de- fend our lead.”

By now O’Connell’s fellow players and supporters had packed the dress- ing room to overflow – the celebra- tions that were destined to carry over into O’Connell’s public house called the Fiddle Head and McNamara’s house that gave the late Declan Mc-

Namara to the 1980 county final win- ning team had started already.

However, above the din, O’Connell summoned a few final words to put the scale of his side’s achievement in context.

“We started in early January, so we re coming up to 11 months train- ing and to be in a Munster final is absolutely fantastic.

“We’re 60 minutes away from win- ning a Munster final and it’s a great position to be in. We’re really look- ing forward to it.”

Happy days for football folk in Garett

TWO years back, the vista for Clon- lara — even from the most optimistic club patron — couldn’t have seemed so bright.

A fantastic intermediate experience last season backed up by champion- ship and league success this year paints a picture of a club who are destined to stay around competing for more honours for the years to fey neler

And on Sunday, the significance of winning the Clare Cup wasn’t lost on the club’s manager, Jim Gully.

“To be honest about it, there was no real pressure on us going into it. We’d won the county final and that was the major achievement, but in the back of the minds we knew that if we won the Clare Cup as well, it would really copper-fasten the year.

“On top of that, it was great to beat last year’s county champions and having beaten Newmarket again in the semi-final, we knew that nobody could say it was a lucky year for us.

“Tt means that there should be some real recognition for the year now, which is great. Hopefully we’ll be

mentioned up there with the best clubs in the county now and that’s where we want to be.”

The success also ensured the sea- son would end with a sweet taste.

“We were on a bit of a downer after the county final, knowing that we’d be playing in Munster the week after and we weren’t fully tuned in for that game.

“Maybe that’s why we lost but things just didn’t go right for us on the day. SO we wanted to put that right and we knew that the Clare Cup would be a good opportunity to do that.

“But the last two years have been absolutely marvellous and to go out and complete the double has just been the icing on the cake.

“It was our sixth game in six weeks and our seventh in eight weeks and all of those have been important and hard games. But I think that actually stood to us in the end. For the last 20 minutes, the lads stepped it up and you could tell they’d a lot of hurling played. They were sharp and focused and we owned the game in the last few minutes.”

He said defining moment of the game came just before the break,

when Tulla goaled to put themselves in a strong position in the second- half. Even at that, though, Gully knew that if Clonlara could get back into the game, they had the winning mentality to see them through.

“The goal gave Tulla a cushion. It came at a good time for them and not only that, you could say it was the most important score of the game because it really brought them back into things.

“It gave them that bit of belief and that’s vital to any team. They’d missed a few frees in the first half and in a way, that allowed us to be closer to them after that goal.

“But once we got close to them, I knew we’d win. I had faith in the lads and in fairness to them, they pushed on and never looked back.”

Aside from completing the double, the club secured a €4,000 cheque thanks to the win (Tulla, as runners- up, will receive €2,000).

“We haven’t fully decided how were going to use the money, but there’s talk of a player’s fund.”

Considering the season they’ ve just had, it would be the least they de- serve.

Permanent and temporary posts in jeapordy as budget cuts begin to bite

DERBY winning trainer Pat Curtin was on the scoresheet in the tenth race at the Galway Track on Satur- day night contest as his runner Ban Diamond(T2) made all the running to defeat the Paddy Darcy of Ennis owned Bypass My Way (T1) by six lengths in 29.10.

The Michael and Claire Meaney of Kilush owned son of Smoking Ban and Droopys Diamond led by two lengths at the opening bend and by halfway he had the race in safe keep- ing as Bypass My Way gave vain chase behind but the winner was gone beyond recall Race five.

Kilrush handler TJ McMahon was in the winners enclosure after race five in this A3 graded 525 as his run- ner Bodyshop Legend (Larkhill Jo- Bodyshop Flight) made all the run- ning to defeat Mine Direct (T2) by two lengths in 29.64.

The winner was away well from

his trap four berth and led by two lengths from Begarra Bomber at the opening bend.

He extended his advantage down the far side and was home for all money turning for home on his way to his seventh career success.

The feature contest of the night was race number nine the Titans Basket- ball Club Open Buster Final worth €1,000 to the winner.

Favourite for the 525 yard contest was the PJ Fahy owned verteren Tyrur Lee (T1) who although well away was led to the bend by Have Some Cop (T5) who turned down the back a length to the good.

Racing past halfway though Tyrur Lee opened up and the son of Breet Lee and Tyrur Dee swept to the front and he bounded clear of his toiling rivals as he streaked clear for the 29th of his career from Have Some Cop in a brilliant 28.80 .

The opening contest at the College Road venue on Friday night was an

AY graded 525 in which the Gone At Three Syndicate from Fanore owned Last Ace Pot (T4) made all the run- ning to defeat the fast finishing Greg Rover (T4) in 29.86.

The winner led by just over a length from Smithstown Jack (T3) when rounding the opening bend before extending his advantage racing down the back which proved vital as the son of Digital and Dalcash Relief was running out of diesel close to home.

Cable Kiowa (14) was best away in race five which was an A5 graded contest and she led by a length from Go Forit Judy (T5) rounding the Opening two bends.

Racing past halfway Go Forit Judy mowed through on the inside to take over in front and the Wiliam Shannon of Lisheen owned daughter of Come On Lleyton and Sheehans Cottage was always in command from this point as she came home two lengths clear of Cable Kiowa 1n 29.76 .