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Ivan Smyth speaks to Alex O’Neill about the Community Games, the importance of coaching and her ambitions for the coming season ALEX O’Neill may have been taking a winter break from her studies in the US but has continued to put in the hard yards back home in Quin as she aims to maintain her form in 2022. O’Neill, who moved Stateside in August 2019 on a scholarship to Providence College in Rhode Island has had to endure regular pandemic-related interruptions to the racing calendar. At the end of last year, however, the daughter of Conor and Carol O’Neill secured a notable win when she finished first in the 1,000m race at the Boston University Multi-Team Meet. O’Neill normally competes in 800m events but she moved outside her comfort zone last year as she was part of the Providence team that travelled to Florida to compete at the 2021 NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championship. She competed against the best middle …

Clare Animal Welfare have been experiencing a ‘staggering number’ of surrenders of unwanted pets before and after the Christmas writes Owen Ryan EVERY year in Clare hundreds of dogs and cats need someone to give them a home. The problem endures through times of prosperity and recession, and people like Ciara Copeland, co-director of Clare Animal Welfare, are always working to improve the lot of the unfortunate animals. Around four years ago Ciara and her co-directors Stiofán MacGhabhann and Judy Beck re-established the charity, which had been dormant for some time. “We managed to get it up and running again, just three of us at that time, it was very hard work, but it’s running really well now, we’ve a great team.” Clare Animal Welfare doesn’t have a place to keep animals, but it co-ordinates a team of fosterers around the county and beyond who can keep them for a period of time, before passing them onto a more permanent …

FINANCIAL support may be required to continue providing out-of-hours services by the veterinary profession in isolated rural areas, according to a Clare vet. Killaloe Vets senior partner, Tadhg Gavin, has revealed retention of qualified personnel in the veterinary profession is one of the big issues facing this sector. His comments came after Veterinary Ireland announced it will seek central funding from the government to support the provision of out-of-hours services by the veterinary profession like other professional groups – including specific supports for the provision of veterinary services in rural areas. A survey of the veterinary profession in Ireland has identified major concerns in relation to working conditions, especially regarding work-life balance, which could undermine the long-term sustainability of veterinary and out of hours services, particularly in rural parts of the country. The professional body Veterinary Ireland has set a key objective over the next five years to work towards improving the work-life balance of vets in Ireland. The findings …

HURLING fans looking to take in the Clare senior team’s season opener will now be travelling to Ennis instead of Sixmilebridge. The clash with Waterford in the 2022 Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling Cup Semi-Final will take place on Saturday at 1.30pm in Cusack Park. It had been set for the ‘Bridge at 7pm on Friday. Tipperary man Michael Kennedy will take charge of the game, which will be resolved by penalty shootout if level at full time.

CLARE gardai are appealing for information about a potential arson attack in an east Clare community last week. On Wednesday night, January 5, a caravan and mobile home parked at Ballydonaghan, Bodyke were set on fire and both were totally burnt out. A garda spokesperson noted that this is a rural area in Bodyke and said, “If there was anyone in the area of Balydonaghan between 11pm and 11.30pm last Wednesday and saw anything suspicious we would ask them to contact Scariff Garda Station on 061 922790.

THE dramatic €850,000 increase in income from the General Medical Card Service (GMS) for an out-of-hours GP service, despite a much lower call volume, has been questioned by local health campaigners, writes Dan Danaher. The 2020 audited financial statement for Shannondoc revealed the number of calls handled by the company fell by 12% from 112,273 in 2019 to 98,178 in 2020. It also shows income from the GMS increased from €1,050,607 in 2019 to €1,900,655 in 2020. Overall income jumped from €7,306,717 in 2019 to €8,032,116 in 2020. This included income in 2020 from HSE Out-of-Hours €4,639,883; HSE Specimen Collection: €258,319; HSE SATU €49,275; HSE Methadone clinics and psychology services income: €176,297; HSE Other Income: €92,940; members’ contributions €654,433 and private patients’ income €154,384. The company received more than 50% of its income in the year from state funding through the HSE. According to the Shannondoc Reinstate Committee, for the past number of weeks Miltown Malbay has started to be …

A COVETED Rafael Nadal shirt is now a major item of interest in the Killaloe Ballina Tennis Clubhouse after two local members won this jersey in a recent online charity auction organised by a local coach. Auctioning sports memorabilia has helped Wesley O’Brien to raise €5,133, which will be split between the Access Tennis Foundation and Hit and Hope, Tennis. Signed jerseys from high profile sports stars attracted a lot of interest from sports enthusiasts at home and abroad when they were posted online recently. Tony Head from Kilkee won the Franz Beckenbauer jersey, Jaquie Curness, Surrey, England, won the Lewis Hamilton print, Stephen Monaghan from Cavan, who lives in Slovakia, was awarded the Rory McElroy golf flag, while Kathryn Dennehy from Ardnacrusha, who is a club member, got the Usain Bolt jersey. The Rafael Nadal jersey effectively stays at home in the club, however, after the names of Colleen Donnellan and Daphne Henderson came out of the hat. The …

AFTER 40 years working as an optician in the heart of Ennis, Louise Brogan is retiring. December 31 marked her last day of opening the premises just off O’Connell Street, but she is still doing a little bit of work before concluding. “We closed on the 31st, the last day of last year. Now we’re here for last minute things, people might need to collect prescriptions or whatever, so we’re here by arrangement for the next week or two,” she said on Tuesday. While the business was there since the 1930s, Louise arrived some 40 years ago. “Bernie Maurer and Dr Eileen Kennedy Maurer were here and I came to work for them and when they retired I kept going. It was a lovely business from the point of view of meeting people. “You might only meet them only once a year or once every two years, but you’d develop a friendship with them over the years. That was a …