The Clare People Archive

WHERE experimentation goes in the McGrath Cup campaign of 2008, Limerick can claim to enjoy an edge on Clare. Mickey ‘Ned’ O’Sullivan has used 27 players in their three games to date, while Clare have used 23. And, as he looks ahead to the fi- nal that fixed for Cooraclare on Sun- day, O’Sullivan that there’s more to come. “We’ll try a few more because we have a big panel in at the moment,

but by the time the National League comes around the following week, the county board will want numbers aria Cena F

‘“We’ve brought in five new for- wards, while we’ve experimented in other areas of the field as well. In that respect the McGrath Cup has been great — we’re getting competi- tive games and a chance to see what we ve got.”

However, the wholesale changes that O’Sullivan made in the cam-

paign thus far shouldn’t lull Clare into any sense of confidence ahead of Sunday’s final. ““Now that we’re in a final, we will be going out to win it, just as Clare will be,’ says Kerry’s 1975 All-Ireland winning captain. Famously he tasted defeat at the hands of Clare as Kerry manager way back in the Munster final of 1992, but during his tenure with Limerick to date has enjoyed league and champi- onship victories against Clare. However, most of those who will

line out on Sunday have no experi- ence of playing against Clare. “This is my third year in charge of the team and the team has changed a lot in that time,’ admits O’Sullivan.

“In my first year I more or less stuck with the team that had been there before. They had played a lot of football over the years and put in a lot of hard work to try and win a Munster championship.

“In my second year I brought in a good few players, but many more

have come in this year, so the team is going through some transition. After the McGrath Cup we go straight into a tough league campaign where we will be up against teams like Sligo, Wexford, Fermanagh and Down. By then I’d hope to have the new players and the old fighting out for places on the team.”

The first test comes 1n Cooraclare on Sunday — not a must win game, but Mickey ‘Ned’ O’Sullivan wants to win it all the same.

THE real value of the McGrath Cup, for manager Frank Doherty, came with the opportunity to familiarise himself with the raw materials he has to shape.

At the start of the competition, he stood outside a dressing room in Miltown and said games were what mattered, that getting the most out of January was the target.

Clare have achieved that and are one game away from picking up

some silverware, the target has only SIUESA STON VASSOU BA KoLe

“What we’re getting is four games in January and in reality, 20 training sessions wouldn’t be as valuable as that,’ he says. “But I’m a great be- liever that winning is the best habit you can form. There’s are only four trophies that any county in Ireland can win from one year to the next, and the McGrath Cup is one of those. So it’s important that we go out in the right frame of mind — and we will.”

He’s aware, too, that Limerick will

prove to be more of a block in the road to success than the college teams Clare have faced so far. Colleges, by definition, don’t have the team spirit or ethos that define county teams and Sunday will allow Doherty gather more knowledge.

“Limerick will be a different ball game for us and we’re hitting them at a good time for us. Right before the league starts, it’s no harm to get a good, hard game under the belt.

“We want to win the McGrath Cup and in fairness, Mickey Ned

[O’Sullivan] will be just as anxious to do the same. So you’ll have two competitive teams going out on Sun- day and that’s useful for us.”

Doherty asked to run his mind over the campaign in general and pick out the positives. He points out enough to find some satisfaction in the three games So far.

“From what I’ve seen so far, the hunger seems to be coming back. That’s important and for us, the at- titude from the first game was right. Players were focused. On top of that,

a certain amount of passion that mightn’t have been there is starting to come as well.

“Lads are pushing themselves and pushing each other hard in train- ing. There have been a lot of pluses throughout the competition. The habit of winning is something that we want to develop. If we can keep in that zone, then that’s going to be a big boost going into the league.”

The hunger he speaks of is obvi- ous. Generally, his players have been starved of success on the county scene and he reckons that the vast majority of those involved in the squad will have something to prove on Sunday.

“Of the 33 lads we have in the panel, 25 or 26 of them have never contested a senior final for Clare. So that’s something. They’ll want to mark their first final with a win.

When I got involved I made it clear that I’d try and use as many lads as possible in the games and I think I’ve lived up to that – so we’re making full use of what’s available.

“There have been debutants and there have been lads that people might have thought weren’t good enough to make senior footballers. They’ve come in and done well. But we re learning a lot.”

Is he close to his team make-up for the league?

“I’d say we’re 90% sure of it now. A lot of the team that will start on Sunday will feature in the league. We might be without one or two lads against Limerick, but the team you’ll see won’t be too far off the mark.

“We have tinkered around with it from game to game and we’ve had to because we’ve got a small pool of players compared with other coun- ties and that brings positives and negatives. If we pick up injuries, we won’t have the reserves but lads get close to one another, they work well together and they know one another’s game. If you’ve a big pool of players, sometimes guys can shy away from things. They can duck down. That doesn’t happen with Clare.”

So far, the Doherty tenure has been a success. Getting something tang!- ble to go with the positive start is the next step.

CLARE and Limerick prepare for the McGrath Cup final with some striking similiarities. Both took the competition relatively seriously, nei- ther have played county opposition to date and a number of players have featured for both sides to date.

On Monday, the game was ten- tatively scheduled for Cooraclare pending the week’s weather and an- other home game for Clare should give them the advantage they need to take the honours.

The McGrath Cup may not be a sparkling, blue ribband competition on the bigger scale of things, but ask any of the Munster Final winning team of ’92 when they first started to believe they could make an impres-

sion and they’ll bring you back to the little-known All Ireland B title they captured before they won Munster.

That’s why Sunday’s match with Limerick is important. For all the players Frank Doherty has tried out and for all the information he has gathered, a medal from a tourna- ment that has so far thrown Clare up against well prepared — though physically weak — college teams, would not only be reward for a hard winter, it would tilt the confidence settings to the required level entering the league.

For the most part, Clare have been impressive over the past three games. Against UCC in Miltown, they start- ed well and kept the lead throughout the hour and in fact, they’ve never trailed a team in this competition.

Against LIT in the quarter-final they continued their composed, hun- ery attitude and strolled home in the second half. The thing is, they’ve yet to be put to the test late in a game. Should Limerick provide that test and should Clare come through it, then the signs are good for the league.

At the very least, Limerick will bring an added physical challenge for Clare. So far, Limerick have been highly experimental in their ap- proach to the competition but their forwards will have more consistent quality than anything Clare have come up against in 2008.

Against LIT in last weekend’s semi final, their full-forward line of Ger Collins, Ian Ryan and Johnny Mur- phy all impressed.

Clare, last Sunday, were caught

once or twice with swift moves through the centre. Gordon Kelly at centre-back may not the most physi- cally imposing of players, but he is Clare’s most consistent defender. His reading of the game is superb and he broke up several CIT attacks. The feeling here is that he will grow into the position.

The pattern of Clare’s play has now developed. Short at the back and long once it reaches midfield. With Frank O’Dea’’s effective distribution it’s a decent approach. And inside, there are options. With their height, Timmy Ryan and Colm Dillon pro- vide depth and width, though it now looks like a straight choice between the two with Ryan expected to shade it. In the corner, David Tubridy has been exceptional and the second

corner needs to be filled. Elsewhere, David Russell will be accommodat- ed and can fill a number of positions and Doherty is now beginning to see the pieces click.

Expect Sunday’s starting line up to be Clare’s strongest to date, though they are expected to be without a player or two. With Garry Brennan, Greg Lyons and John Hayes all due back for the league, competition for places is developing.

Mickey Ned O’Sullivan has already stated that Limerick are interested in taking the McGrath Cup across the Shannon. They won’t do that, but they’ll provide the required chal- lenge for Clare who next week will have Carlow on their minds.

SIMON MORONEY’S demand for the Munster Council to extend it’s full-time administrative capacity came to light in March 2007 in his third annual report to the provincial ruling body.

In presenting his report to delegates at the Munster Convention in Ballyr- after House in Lismore, Moroney outlined his vision for the fture that included the employment of a full- time assistant secretary.

In appealing for backing for this proposal, the Inagh man pointed to the increased pressures placed on him as secretary, which made it nec- essary for the council to come into line with both Leinster and Ulster that had put assistant secretaries in jo tleen

“The biggest single change which occurred in 2006, is the automatic presence of the provincial secretar- ies on the membership of a number of busy national committees — e.g the Competition Control Committee and National Infrastructure and Safety Committee,” he told convention.

“This is a most welcome develop- ment insofar as it enusres that the

provinces are immediately up to date on national issues and party to key decisions which can affect their own provincial activities.

“It allows for harmonisation of fixtures and uniformity in practices across provinces. However, this de- velopment does mean _ necessary absence by the provincial secretary from base for several days every year. There needs to be continuity at base and this challenge must be ad- Ore ethereb

“The staffing level in Munster, sim- ilar to Connacht is considierably less than in both Ulster and Leinster. Too much time as provincial secretary is spent on routine administrative mat- ters.

“The Council as an organisation must develop an inbuilt capacity to deal with changes — e.g. key staff changes over time, with serious disruption. In order to develop this capacity a Deputy Secretary is re- quired.

‘This person will have responsibil- ity for duties assigned to them from time to time — e.g. match arrange- ments, accounts etc., together with the management of affairs of the Council while the secretary is away

in Croke Park or on leave.

“A Deputy Secretary will also pro- vide continuity and perhaps a poten- tial successor when the erm of the secretary ends. It is prudent to plan ahead. I therefore make a specific recommendation, and seek the ap- proval from Convention to proceed immediately with its implementation on the adoption of the report, that the secretary proceed to manage the recruitment and appointment of the deputy secretary at a level consistent with similar posts in both Ulster and Leinster.

“The costs associated with the improvement will be borne by the Council and should not be out of line with that obtaining in the other councils,’ he concluded in his direct appeal to delegates.

However, delegates didn’t back his the secretary’s proposal — a move that set in motion a chain of events that have led to his resignation.

SPAN e DS ee Eli iael ance secait-leleye speech to Dail Eireann in 1992 sprang to mind. In that speech he famously quoted from Othello when saying, ‘I have done the State some service, and they know it, no more of ere

Simon Moroney could have used the line last Thursday night when he announced his own resignation — he has done GAA in Munster some great service over the past four years, something he is proud of.

“It was a great job to have and I was delighted to serve in the position,’ he

says. “The province is very success- ful on the pitch, but I feel that you have to have a similar standard off the pitch.”

“I’d like to think that I contributed to getting to that. I loved the job and I was the first Clare man in the job and only the sixth Munster Council secretary since the position was cre- ated in 1901.

“I thought I put a very good struc- ture in place. The headquarters wasn’t there when I came into the job and I was the first secretary to move into new headquarters.”

“I set up good systems there — it’s not very exciting stuff, but we have

a good financial system, we have a very good development grant system set up with clear guidelines. I would have said that the Munster Council was very well administered in my time there — that’s the first and fun- damental requirement of a good sec- retary,’ he adds

‘“We’ve been very fortunate that we ve had very little controversy and I would say that the ship was steered quite well over four years. The record will show that.”

“My successor, coming in, I would like to think will certainly have a system and a structure there that will be relatively easy to follow.”

THE Roslevan-based Homeless Help service has already helped find ac- commodation for four homeless neo

Help was set up two weeks ago by local women Josephine O’Brien and Ann Quinn to provide support to the homeless. So far the service has helped two Polish men and two members of the Travelling commu- nity find accommodation.

Help co-coordinator Josephine O’Brien said a number of people have made contact with the service since it opened.

“We have been able to get some people into temporary accommoda- tion. Two of the lads we helped find a house in Cahercalla and the other two we helped get a place in a bed and breakfast. That’s four people off the street at the moment. The system at the moment is crazy – people don’t know where to go if they can’t get accommodation. They sort of slip through the cracks.”

The service is located at Fahy Hall, Roslevan and operates every Wednesday night at 7pm. Volunteers and a qualified teacher offer practi- cal help in sorting through social welfare applications and assistance finding accommodation.

Josephine said the service had re-

ceived several enquiries from foreign UETBCODeE Dice

“Some of them find it very difficult and have problems and end up squat- ting in abandoned houses.”

The group behind Help have sought assistance from Clare County Coun- cil and hope that in the future it will tie in with other adult education pro- grammes currently being run in the county. Despite objections from local residents, An Bord Pleannala earlier this year upheld a decision by Ennis Town Council to grant planning per- mission for the homeless hostel.

The €2.1 million transitional hous- ing unit on the Clare Road will pro- vide temporary accommodation for 13 people.

The centre will be run by the St Vincent de Paul, working in conjunc- tion with Clare County Council and the Health Services Executive.

The centre will provide temporary accommodation for people who have found it difficult to acquire rented af- fordable housing. Outreach workers will work alongside community wel- fare officers to ensure the maximum help is given when people are stay- ing at the centre. Staff will maintain contact with residents once they leave centre and will provide assistance in finding permanent housing.

Referrals will be made by the homeless unit of the council.

THE rise in stock of St Caimin’s this year has made everyone sit up and take notice. With the restructuring of the Harty Cup in recent years and the reduction in the number of boarding schools, the traditional superpow- ers of the Harty have given way to a new wave of schools eager to take advantage of the changing face of the feyeel ole sisleyee

St Caimin’s demonstrated this new found confidence early in the group stages with victory over perennial Clare representatives St Flannan’s and as the group played out, it be- came apparent that neither Flannan’s nor St Colman’s were going to qual- ify for the latter stages. Confidence is soaring in the Shannon school at the moment as they look forward to Wednesday’s quarter-final against last year’s champions De La Salle and manager Alan Cunningham is the first to compliment his players progression over the last year.

“Things are going great for us at the moment. Last year we lost all our games, some of them not by a whole lot but we lost them and again the whole idea is about progression. The young fellas that we have in the school are getting better by playing Harty hurling. It would have been

much easier option for us to play B hurling, we could have played the B and maybe get to the final every second year. But in terms of the Harty, it’s the premier competition, the standard is way higher and its about preparing lads for the future. We have done extremely well and the lads have been fantastic. At this point we have nothing to lose.” Considering that Caimin’s lost all their games last year, this year’s tunraround has been something of a surprise to followers of the competi- tion but Clare selector Cunningham admits that most of last year’s team are there again this year and that ex-

perience has helped them immense- ly. However, by coming second in the group, it meant that they were always going to draw one of the big guns and unfortunately for the Shannon school, they drew last year’s Harty and Croke Cup champions De La Salle of Waterford who have already added a prestigious Dean Ryan Cup to their trophy cabinet this year.

“ld say we have drawn probably the best team in it but it’s a challenge, a test, an experience and it should bring our lads on. We won’t be found wanting but now is the time to meet the big guns I suppose because if we can’t beat them, we are as well out of

it. But we will give it a cut and see what happens.

“To be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about them really, but likewise for them, they wouldn’t know much about us. Now we have met twice in three years in the Dean Ryan so both schools would be familiar to each other but in terms of the group sys- tem, they weren’t down watching our matches and we weren’t down watch- ing theirs. I do know that they are a serious outfit and the investment they are putting in is phenomenal. They are on a different level to what most other schools are. I mean they are not long back from Newcastle, they went there on a training weekend. You know I’m trying to get a dozen shothars and they are going to New- castle for the weekend. But that’s the level they are at and fair play to them and that’s Waterford hurling trying to come good as well. But again they are red hot favourites and we have nothing to lose. If we win it will be a huge result for us and if we don’t win, it won’t be the end of the world because we have progressed and lads have had a fantastic experience.”

The new nature of the competi- tion means that instead of dwelling on such daunting opposition, Cun- ningham prefers to take the positives out of the situation and sees De La Salle’s success last year as something of an inspiration to his side as that

was their first Harty Cup success in the school’s history.

“We are very fortunate in Caimin’s that we are backboned by the Bridge, Newmarket, Cratloe and Wolfe Tones. In Caimin’s now, we are get- ting young fellas who have been extremely well looked after, well prepared and coached so our job has been made easier and easier. That would have been the difference be- tween ourselves and Flannans this year. If you take the county minor championship, really we would have had the stronger clubs on our side. A couple of years down the road with the Ballyea under 14’s and Crush- een under 14’s, things are going to change but at the moment, outside of Clonlara in the minor, we had the next best three with Newmarket, the Bridge and Cratloe so it’s really not rocket science.”

THE beautiful Vale of Belvoir nes- tles into the countryside between Kilkishen and Sixmilebridge. Its beauty inspired local Bard Martin Kennedy from Violet Hill Broadford to write about this tranquil place of peace and serenity. On Sunday, Feb- ruary 17, people will get a chance to retrace the Bard’s footsteps as they will be led on a ramble through the Vale.

It is all for a good cause. Emer Cleary, a young girl from Ennis, will be taking on the challenge to climb the great mountains of Kiliminjaro on the Kenyan border at the end of February. The ramble through the Vale will help Emer to raise funds for the charity Bothair who do tre- mendous work in helping people in third world countries to help them- So Aone

Over the years, Bothair has sent breeding animals such as _ heifer calves and goats to farmers in third

world countries to help them stock their lands.

By climbing Kiliminjaro, Emer will help in keeping this dream alive.

By rambling through the Vale of Belvoir, you will be able to help out in keeping the dream alive as well. Base camp is Kilkishen National School where registration takes place at 12.30pm with the ramble leaving for the Vale at lpm sharp.

There will be a short five minute history lecture on the poetry of Mar- tin Kennedy and on the vale before the ramble leaves. Local traditional singer Sean Mc Mahon from Kil- murry will give a rendering of the poet’s creation on the vale at the old forge in Belvoir while the walkers are having a short break.

The ramble is 10 kms and people are asked to bring suitable walk- ing gear as well as a little food and drinks.

Sponsorship cards are available by contacting Eoin on 086 2572792 or people can contribute on the day.

THE Green Party in Clare will be supporting both a yes and no vote in the EU reform Treaty later this year.

The Clare branch of the Green Par- ty reflected the national consensus at the special convention this week, as the majority of the eight Clare del- egates voted in favour of the treaty.

Clare’s most senior Green Party member, Cllr Brian Meaney, said that he would be supporting the yes campaign.

“TI believe that some of the argu- ments made by the no side are ri- diculous and don’t relate to anything proposed in the treaty.”

The Clare County Councillor now fears that many people will vote against the treaty for the wrong rea- sons, such as dissatisfaction with the government. He admitted that the treaty 1s complicated and putting it through a referendum isn’t necessar- ily making it more accessible.

At the last meeting of the Clare branch of the Green Party just one

person said that they were not in fa- vour of the treaty.

This weekend the Green Party leadership, including its two cabinet ministers proposed a yes vote for the referendum, but they failed to secure the 66 per cent support to allow the party commit to the yes vote.

As aresult the party cannot take an official position on the treaty.

Meanwhile, the head of the Irish Drivers Association, Clareman John Lernihan, will meet with Galway millionaire, Declan Ganley, in the

next two weeks to finalise details for a national coalition against the Euro- pean Reform Treaty.

Ganley is heading up a coalition of interested groups who are campaign- ing for a no vote on the treaty.

Mr Lernihan also met with Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna last week who has also committed her support to the no campaign.

‘This is a very serious situation and people don’t realise it. This treaty will lead to a European army in no time and soon our children could be

conscripted into a European army. And we wont have a Say over it any- more,’ said Mr Lernihan.

“We are holding off until we meet with Mr Ganley over the next few week and then we will decide what strategy we are to take. The green party have done a total u-turn on this. Once you make anyone a min- ister they automatically go back on what they have said.”

The Irish Drivers Association are campaigning for an end to Vehicle Registration Tax.

THE fight for the continuation of sustainable farming in the Burren is being taken to the streets of Dub- lin today as the BurrenLIFE Project Stages its first awareness day in the Cree

OW atom hirse-Nusdslotmer hymnal omelets pemRy alae] the official launch of the first ever conference on sustainable farm- ing ever hosted in Ireland, which will take place in Ennistymon next peareyeleee

Attending the official launch will be the chairperson of Teagasc and the Heritage Office, Dr Tom O’Dwyer; Senior Conservation Scientist of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Michael Berkery; Chief Executive Officer of the IFA and Clare TD, Tony Killeen.

“It is critical to get a focus on this in Dublin. We have learned from other projects like this all across Eu- rope that it is critical to get the infor- mation out there. It 1s important both to get the information out there but also to get political support for the project,’ said Ruairi O Conchuir of the BurrenLIFE organisation.

“It is critical that the politician, the media and the general public all buy in to this project. At the end of the day, it is EU taxpayers’ money that is being used to support this project.

It’s Irish taxpayers’ money that is be- ing used to support this project.

“It’s very important for us to let people know what this conference is about and more importantly to let them know what the project as a whole is about.”

Following the formal launch of the BurrenLIFE’s ‘Farming for Conser- vation’ conference, the organisation will then visit four Dublin schools and host presentations and work- shops designed to explain the work of the Burren farmers to the Dublin school teachers.

This will be followed by a formal evening lecture and illustrated talk and wine reception hosted by Dr Brendan Dunford, Dr Sharon Parr, Ruairi O Conchuir and Dr James Moran of the BurrenLIFE Project.

The three-day international *Farm- ing for Conservation’ conference will take place in the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon from February 24 to 27.

The conference will include speak- ers from Ireland, the UK and a number of other European countries. It will also mark the first official en- gagement of a Green Party minister in the county as the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Green Party leader, John Gormley will attend along with the newly appointed director of Tea- gasc, Professor Gerry Boyle.