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RUGBY star Eimear Considine’s Clare wedding may have grabbed the headlines last week, but romance was also in the Banner County air for another Irish athlete. Flame-haired wrestler Sheamus gave new meaning to the term ‘King of The Ring’, by making use of the grand stage afforded by the Cliffs of Moher to propose marriage. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 💛 Isabella Revilla-Farrelly (@isabella.revilla) Four-time WWE world champion Sheamus popped the question to finacée Isabella Revilla in front of O’Brien’s Tower at the Cliffs during a week-long visit home. Isabella revealed the night Sheamus proposed, a wedding photographer from Sligo who just happened to be at The Cliffs with his family, observed them and took the photos which she posted on Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sheamus (@wwesheamus) She added in a further post, “When I was pining to go to Ireland as a young girl, I would tell people it …

Munster U-20 Hurling Championship Semi-Final Limerick 1-27 Clare 0-17 THERE was no doubting the result in the Gaelic Grounds on Monday night as Clare tried as much as they were allowed against a Limerick side who were stronger and more dominant possessing the key players in the right positions and this sealed a place in the Munster final, reports Michael O’Connor. Two replacements on the Clare side from the opening round win over Kerry saw William Halpin and Jack Kirwan make way for James Maguire and Robin Mounsey. Clare crowded the half-forward and midfield sector leaving Diarmuid Cahill and Robin Mounsey as a two man inside forward line. Missing from the corresponding fixture from a Clare perspective at minor level due to senior and injury issues were Mark Rodgers, Shane Meehan and Cian Galvin who is out until next year. Limerick were looking to the talented duo of Cathal O’Neill and Colin Coughlan as the home side had a solid …

TWO of Clare’s most renowned heritage sites are to be considered for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List for Ireland. The Cultural Landscape of the Burren Uplands and Inis Cealtra are among six sites nationally being considered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for inclusion on the list. The sites on the highly prestigious list are updated every ten years. Following a public call and a deadline of June 30, six entries were received by the Department. In addition to the two Clare sites, the entries include the Trans-Atlantic Cable Ensemble going from Valentia, County Kerry to Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; the Royal Sites of Ireland located in Counties Kildare, Westmeath, Tipperary, Roscommon and Meath; the Passage Tomb Landscape of County Sligo; and Glendalough Valley in County Wicklow. An independent advisory group will now consider the applications to determine which may be included in the next list of World Heritage sites in Ireland. “It’s a huge …

THE blazing sun around Shannon today very much reflected the feelings of joy of passengers and airport staff alike with the resumption of non-essential travel. The airport was busier than it had been for some time following the easing of restrictions as the first day of the European Digital COVID Certificates took effect. The announcement by Ryanair of a new once-weekly service to Gran Canaria (Las Palmas) today, which commences on August 7, also helped to lift spirits. Passengers on inbound flights were joyously greeted and the anticipation was palpable as others prepared for the first flight out of the airport today, the 7:10am flight to Gatwick. Among those boarding were Olwyn Kelly, Spancilhill, and her partner Oliver Rhode. “My best friend’s wedding was on Friday and we got back for that,” said Olwyn. “We were actually supposed to fly back yesterday but the weather was so nice we just changed our flights and stayed for an extra day so …

WITH less than a week to go to the closing of entries it’s emerged that Clare has received 15 nominations for the ‘Best Place to Live in Ireland’ 2021. The Irish Times launched its search for the Best Place to Live in Ireland last month and invited people from all over the island to nominate their favourites. Fifteen nominations puts Clare outside the top 12 counties for nominations received, behind Wexford on 16 but ahead of Kildare on 14. Neighbours Galway and Limerick have been nominated 49 and 39 times respectively. To be in with a chance to claim the title for your homeplace, all you have to do is to write a short submission of 300 words explaining what makes it so special. Full details are available at www.irishtimes.com/bestplace Any Clare people swelling with pride in their locality and who would like the rest of Ireland to know, will have to get cracking on their entry, however, as the …

WITH non-essential international travel resuming this morning, a new route out of Shannon Airport to the Canary Islands has been announced. Ryanair will run a new service to Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), beginning on August 7, that will operate once a week until the end of October. Welcoming the announcement Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon Group said: “As we rebuild from the devastation of the pandemic this is a positive announcement for the region. Ryanair is a valued airline partner of Shannon and this latest announcement, following on from the new Corfu and Turin services, is great news. “We have been working closely with Ryanair as we look to an anticipated recovery in demand on foot of the rollout of the EU Digital Covid Certificates and the acceleration of the vaccination programme across Europe. These new services are part of Ryanair’s commitment to reopen its Shannon base which is very welcome. ✈️ ROUTE NEWS ✈️ Ryanair announce today a new service …

THERE is a strong Clare flavour to this evening’s Nationwide programme on RTE One. Presenter Blathnaid Ní Chofaigh visits Broadford in the east of the county where she meets a woman with a love of animals, who will be familiar to all Clare Champion readers. Beverley Truss writes a weekly column for the Champion on the subject of animals – be they pets or wildlife. She devotes her time to looking after all creatures great and small especially the shy and prickly Hedgehog! 📺 @RTENationwide | Monday 7pm @RTEOne @RTEplayer @BlathnaidRua visits Broadford in #Clare where she meets Beverley Trusse devotes her time to looking after all creatures great & small incl. a special Hogsprickle!🦔#rtenationwide pic.twitter.com/ubqtUE7FZu — RTÉ (@rte) July 17, 2021 Monday’s Nationwide is all about that little creature that can be seen in our gardens on rare occasions. The bristly hedgehog is a gentle shy mammal and Bláthnaid chats with Beverley who has been bringing sick Hedgehogs back …

CLARE face Cork for the first time under Brian Lohan this weekend after this morning’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Round 2 Qualifier draw threw up an All-Munster encounter, writes Eoin Brennan. The game takes place in LIT Gaelic Grounds in Limerick with throw-in at 4.30. It’s the first time since 2019 that the counties have met in what was to be Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor’s last match in charge as the Banner bounced back from heavy losses to Tipperary and Limerick to overcome the Rebels in Cusack Park by 2-23 to 2-18. Ironically, despite defeat, Cork would squeeze through to the All-Ireland series on score difference at the expense of Clare. https://twitter.com/noelm300/status/1417035427953975298?s=20 More significantly for Clare, however, it halted a five match championship losing streak (including Munster Final reverses in 2017 and ’18) to the Rebels since the 2013 All-Ireland Final Replay. A repeat of the 2017 All-Ireland decider will also take place this Saturday between Waterford and Galway, with …