AFTER coming a cropper to a cyclist, four miles from home, Clare athlete Sean Hehir was still first to cross the winning line in Monday’s Dublin City Marathon. The first Irish man to win the race since John Treacy 23 years ago, Sean now has his sights firmly fixed on the European Marathon next year. “This is the stuff of dreams,” Sean, a member of Rathfarnham AC told The Clare Champion on Tuesday, as he reflected on the biggest win of his career to date. He paid tribute to Marian Athletic Club in Ennis, where he received his early coaching. “When I started at 12 or 13, Arthur Ford was my coach. Back then, I never dreamt of a day like this. It was three or four years before I got a sniff of winning. I was fortunate to be with a great group in Marian and also to have very supportive parents,” he said. Sean is the son of …

WHILE currently concentrating on Cratloe’s county senior football semi-final meeting with Éire Óg in Clarecastle on Sunday, Seán and Podge Collins would ideally like to play both codes for Clare in 2014, if feasible. Along with clubmates Cathal McInerney, Liam Markham and Conor Ryan, they have played football for Clare at every underage level from U-14. Community centres in Lissycasey, Kilmihil and Cooraclare were packed on Monday night for the visit of Liam MacCarthy, who was escorted by the Collins brothers, Brendan Bugler and Louis Mulqueen. Speaking before he left Cooraclare, Seán said he would love to give inter-county football a crack, if possible, particularly as his father, Colm, has been confirmed as manager on a three-year term. “I have always had a huge interest in football, as much as I have in hurling. I go to as many club matches as I would hurling. If it was possible, it is something I’d love to do. But whether it’s physically …

ST Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla is one step closer to moving to a new site. A planning application for their proposed 650-pupil school was lodged with Clare County Council last week. The secondary school, which has been educating young people from the heart of Tulla village since 1985, is set to move to a new green-field 10 acre site on Chapel Street, 700m south-west of the existing site. The project, which is part of a public-private partnership and is part of the school bundle four programme facilitated by the National Development Finance Agency, is expected to start in the last quarter of 2014. Construction is expected to take up to 18 months, with an outer completion date of March 2016. The capital value of the school bundle four programme, which covers the development of six schools, is €65 million excluding VAT. School principal Margaret O’Brien said the reality of what is to come is starting to sink in among …

IMPACT, which represents cabin crew staff at Aer Lingus, has condemned the decision by management at the airline to close the cabin crew base at Shannon from the end of March 2014, putting 87 jobs under threat. The announcement was made by Aer Lingus on Thursday last, the same day that Ryanair announced eight new routes from the airport. On Thursday, Aer Lingus confirmed it had informed its staff of planned changes to Shannon’s cabin crew base, explaining the operation there is no longer viable following failure to secure co-operation from IMPACT to allow its members to operate the smaller 757 aircraft on new transatlantic services. Responding to the announcement, IMPACT said the measure is “an act of wanton destruction upon the livelihoods of workers who are loyal to the company, and a potentially vicious blow to the economy of the Shannon region”. IMPACT said its members in Aer Lingus across the country will fight the closure. The union said …

By Dan Danaher The delivery of 300,000 extra passengers from eight new routes announced by Ryanair could generate up to €1.5 million in income for Shannon Airport. Michael Cawley, deputy chief executive and chief operating officer of Ryanair, told The Clare Champion that a typical airport like Shannon can earn between €9 and €10 on car parking and retail goods for each additional passenger departing the airport, with a net profit of about €5. Mr Cawley claimed that larger airports in London made far more than the net profit of €5 per passenger, while Pisa airport earns €9 net profit per passenger. “Shannon is where duty free started. Neil Pakey did a great job when he was in Liverpool Airport. He will get the last cent out of every passenger going through Shannon Airport by optimising this with good service, good product availability such as good coffee in the shops and efficient pricing to maximise the overall yield. “The airport …

By Dan Danaher Ryanair are remaining tight-lipped on the terms and conditions attached to its latest deal with Shannon Airport Asked about the terms and exact duration of the latest deal, Ryanair’s deputy chief executive and chief operating officer Michael Cawley declined to comment but joked “plenty of time, well past my retirement”. He said it would be “rude” to talk about confidential discussions with airport management. “Shannon has been competitive on this issue. Shannon would not be doing this if it wasn’t good for them. We wouldn’t have been doing it, if it wasn’t good for us and, happily, we have met in the middle. The abolition of the travel tax has been the critical ingredient in making it happen,” he said. The last deal between the low fares’ airline and Shannon ran from May 2005 until April 2010. Ryanair paid €3.5 million in January 2011 to the Dublin Airport Authority to settle a legal action relating to the …

Pupils from Ennis National School came to town to celebrate Hallowe’en…   It’s called the annual Hallowe’en Hobble.

WHEN is an apparent walkover not a walkover? Possibly when the team benefiting from said walkover won’t come out of the dressing room and say they don’t want it anyway. Although the majority of people parking their cars in the Kilmihil GAA Club car park must have been aware that their visit would be a short one, they were keen to witness what turned out to be a rather intriguing non-event. Anybody who arrived in Kilmihil unaware that Cooraclare were not showing up would have realised that something was up when their entrance to the car park was free and, more significantly, when they detected the absence of county board gate checkers. Doonbeg warmed up for their quarter-final against Cooraclare as if they were certain their neighbours were doing likewise at the far end of the field, on what was a wintry late October day. Knots of curious supporters from several clubs, including Doonbeg and Cooraclare, indulged in whispered conversations …