Tag Archives: Belfast

  SHANNON professional boxer David Ryan will make his return to the ring on Saturday night in Belfast. It’s his first fight since last June and he is relieved to be able to fight once again. “I’m over the moon to be back and I’m injury free for once, thank God!” For months he wasn’t able to throw a punch. “I had a hand injury and I couldn’t do anything with it, a ruptured tendon in my hand, and I couldn’t do anything with that from April to December. It was a long few months. I couldn’t spar, nothing; just told to rest it. I’d still have been in the gym all the time, but had to step back from the boxing.” Recovering was very tricky and there were a number of setbacks.. “I had a couple of spars where it went again, that put things back and I had to get it looked after and it would go again. …

ENNIS boxer Paddy Donovan will have his first professional fight when he takes on Eduardo Valverde in Belfast on October 11. Twenty-year-old Donovan signed with Top Rank in June and is seen as a major prospect in the pro ranks, having had a stellar amateur career. He is trained by former WBO world middleweight champion Andy Lee, who said he is glad his fighter will begin his career on Irish soil. “It’s nice to be fighting at home, all Paddy’s family and friends are going to get the chance to see him start this journey which, if it goes to plan, will be long and successful. It’s always good to fight in Ireland.” The fight is scheduled for six rounds and while prospects like Donovan normally start with handy victories, Andy said this challenge is a bit different. “Valverde has two wins and two losses, so he’s got a 50% record. It’s a fight that we’re confident of Paddy winning …

ALTHOUGH the ultimate accolade eluded them, both Ennis and Mounthsannon made the shortlist for final adjudication in Ireland’s Best Kept Town for 2014. At an awards ceremony on the SS Nomadic, Titanic Quarter in Belfast on Tuesday, the county Fermanagh town of Enniskillen was voted the overall winner and in the category of Best Kept Large Urban Centre which also included the towns of Ennis and Kilkenny.   Emly, Co Tipperary won the Best Kept Village category which also featured Mountshannon and Lack, Co Fermanagh.    At the presentation ceremony, Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Dinny McGinley paid tribute to each of the category winners and also to the other towns that had been nominated for awards. He said, “Being nominated for the awards represents an achievement in itself, and is reward for your efforts in the SuperValu TidyTowns and the Best Kept competitions.  These competitions continue to demonstrate the great pride that …

AN Ennis company’s work on improving the effectiveness of inhalers in partnership with academics from Queen’s University Belfast and a graduate has resulted in an award. Vitalograph have been presented with an InterTradeIreland FUSION programme Project Exemplar award. The Project Exemplar award recognises exceptionally high levels of innovation and collaboration between a firm, graduate and an academic as part of the FUSION programme. InterTradeIreland’s all-island technology transfer and innovation programme, FUSION, partners companies north and south with a third-level institution, providing them with the specialist expertise of a high calibre graduate working directly in the organisation to deliver a new product or process improvement project. Through the programme, Vitalograph has benefitted from the services of graduate Terence Taylor and academic expertise from Queen’s University Belfast. Terence worked with Vitalograph on a medical device that used acoustics to monitor the method used by patients while using inhalers. The device will identify whether a patient is using the inhaler correctly or incorrectly, …

By Nicola Corless BALLYVAUGHAN-born singer Peter O’Donohue will be appearing at Belfast’s Grand Opera House next weekend, alongside some of the best opera singers in Europe, in  NI Opera’s new production of Verdi’s masterpiece, Macbeth. Peter will be singing in the 40-strong chorus, one of the most geographically-representative opera choruses ever assembled in Ireland, with members drawn from Derry  in the north, Wexford in the south, Ballyvaughan in the west, and Newtownards in the east, plus many places in between. “Macbeth is an opera that has it all – a well-known story, drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat and incredibly beautiful music. The chorus is sounding amazing and it’s great fun to be singing with people from all over Ireland,” he acknowledged. Shakespeare’s tale of murder, madness and all-consuming lust for power, which is well known to generations of English students, inspired Verdi to write some of his finest, most gripping music. In this new production, director Oliver …