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Eoin Brennan suggests qualifier momentum could help bring St Joseph’s Secondary School over the line on Saturday IT may be their very first Dr. Harty Cup decider but what St Joseph’s Tulla lack in experience, they’ve more than made up for in their swashbuckling never-say-die performances that have gathered unprecedented momentum in the lead up to their biggest ever day. Those heartening character-filled turnarounds to edge out St Colman’s, CBC Cork and De La Salle were born out of sheer necessity following an opening round reverse to the Waterford side back in November. So while that two point defeat complete with 14 wides was difficult to stomach, in hindsight it has been somewhat of a blessing in disguise according to Terence Fahy who manages St Joseph’s Tulla alongside fellow teachers Tomás Kelly and Aidan Harte. “It has been great and it’s funny the way things work out sometimes because if we had won the first day against De La Salle, …

OVERCROWDING surged again in University Hospital Limerick this week close to record levels following recent calls for an independent inquiry into why this continues to be a problem at the region’s flagship acute hospital. The number of patients on trolleys increased from 63 on Tuesday to 89 on Wednesday after 78 patients were waiting for a bed on Monday, according to the INMO’s Trolley Watch. An Taoiseach Micheál Martin has pledged to ask Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to set up an independent inquiry into chronic overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after two record-breaking days of trolley numbers last week. Surging admissions, which resulted in 97 patients languishing on trolleys in UHL on Tuesday, January 25 and 111 on Wednesday, January 26 have prompted calls for an independent inquiry into overcrowding. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Taoiseach to commission an official independent inquiry to establish “what is the problem with healthcare in the UHL Hospitals’ Group”. The Taoiseach said there …

CHECK out our gallery of images from the Clare District Soccer League games we covered last weekend.

Owen Ryan speaks to Derry native and Shannon resident Charlie Morrison about the horrors of Bloody Sunday ON a wall in Charlie Morrison’s back garden the slogan ‘You Are Now Entering Free Derry’ is daubed on a wall, while a tricolour flies from a flagpole. His kitchen table had the latest copy of The Derry Journal upon it last Friday morning, while all around are pictures of both family members and republican iconography. Still very much a Derry man although he has spent most of his life in Shannon, Charlie was chosen to speak at last Sunday’s Bloody Sunday commemoration in Ennis. He was actually supposed to be in Derry on the day of the massacre, and was a friend to two of those killed. “I was supposed to travel up there on Bloody Sunday itself but I couldn’t get away. I’d come down in 1970 to set up a factory in Newcastle West. I’d had to go up to …

IRELAND finds itself in a prime position to be a global leader in climate action, and that position may find its beginning off the coast of Clare, writes Conor Colhessy. That’s according to Councillor Joe Killeen who pointed out the combination of west coast wind and Moneypoint infrastructure that puts Clare in a leading position. The European Union aims to be climate-neutral by 2050, becoming an economy with net-zero greenhouse gases, an objective at the heart of the European Green Deal. In order to substitute the use of fossil fuels, the EU proposes to use its own natural resources instead – the west coast of Ireland records the highest wind speeds in the entire Union. Councillor Killeen told the recent west Clare municipal district meeting: “This isn’t a competition with the east coast of Ireland, but obviously it is. We do have the one huge advantage in that we have a link from Moneypoint to all parts of Ireland for …

ONE of Clare hurling’s leading lights of the past decade has announced his retirement from the intercounty game at the age of 28. Clonlara clubman and former All-Star Colm Galvin has called time on his Clare career following a “frustrating series of ongoing injuries and set-backs in his recovery”, according to a statement from Club Clare this Friday. “It’s a scenario that I never thought or hoped would ever happen but unfortunately following a succession of injuries and repeated setbacks, I’ve had to make the difficult decision to retire from inter-county hurling,” Galvin stated. “A decade on from making my senior championship debut against Dublin in Cusack Park, I’d love to have continued playing for Clare but after ongoing conversations with Brian [Lohan], realistically my body just isn’t able for the workload required at the highest level any longer. “Central to this is a persistent groin injury that has never healed properly which has proven extremely frustrating as well as …

A DYNAMIC weekend of musical activities for young traditional and folk composers and songwriters is on the cards for Glór next month. The event, taking place from March 11 to 13, is part of a national series of Masterclass & Concert Programmes with Dónal Lunny. The legendary musician will be in Ennis with his nine-piece traditional music ensemble, Atlantic Arc. Young musicians between the ages of 14-18 who live in Clare are now invited to make an application for this innovative programme. The event will include a Friday evening and Saturday daytime masterclass. On Sunday, there will be a ‘behind the scenes’ technical experience, followed by the evening concert with Atlantic Arc. The masterclasses are facilitated by Music Generation Clare via SoundWaves, a new annual programme of nationwide masterclasses and concerts for young musicians. “The members of Atlantic Arc are excited to meet upcoming young composers/songwriters in County Clare, we are inspired by the energy of young people and the …

EMOTIONS ran high among those gathered at The Height in Ennis on Saturday for a rally to highlight the problem of pyrite in homes across the county. One West Clare homeowner urged everyone to stand up to the discrimination this county faces as it continues to be excluded from the State-backed redress scheme. Addressing the 200-strong gathering Linda O’Callaghan, who lives in Cooraclare, spoke of her anger and frustration. Her home has had extensive testing to prove the presence of defective material in the blocks, after she noticed severe cracks emerging some years ago. “Every single person living in County Clare should be livid with anger,” she said. “This Government is riding roughshod over the people of County Clare. This Government is discriminating against the people of County Clare and all the residents of County Clare, not just those with pyrite in their houses. “My house has pyrite. My house has cracks. My house has been assessed by an IS465-qualified …