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Ennis footballer Barry Cotter has signed with English League One outfit Barnsley FC for a fee in the region of £20,000. The full-back has put pen to paper on a three and a half year deal having spent the second half of last season on loan at St Patrick’s Athletic from Shamrock Rovers. He played underage with Avenue United and Ennis Town before joining Limerick FC in 2015. Cotter joined Limerick FC’s U17 squad for the 2015 season and the following year he stepped up to the U19 set up. In February 2017 he was included in Martin Russell’s match day squad for the opening league game against Sligo Rovers as he made the breakthrough to the first team. The Ennis man was snapped up by Ipswich in January 2018. He was given his debut by Mick McCarthy in a Championship win over the club he has just signed for, Barnsley FC. He represented Ireland at U19 level while he was …

TEACHERS and staff at St Flannan’s College have voiced opposition to plans for the development of a €25 million 100-bed community nursing unit on land used as playing grounds by the Ennis secondary school. According to a statement issued by the staff of St Flannan’s the proposal “will have a seriously negative impact” on the student population. “The green field site in St Flannan’s College is the last remaining site of its kind in Ennis. Urban sprawl is taking up much more of our green spaces each year. Once this land is built upon it will be gone forever,” it states. The teachers and staff have detailed reasons for their opposition to the plans including that during the academic year many teams of various sports regularly train on the pitches. “With so many students on the fields at any one time all our field space is utilised, including much of the space that is suggested for development under the proposed …

THE Drehidnagower Bridge in Ennis has been described as “lethal” as fresh calls have been made for a separate footbridge and footpath to be built to protect the safety of pedestrians. Councillor Mary Howard said she felt like a “scratched record” as she “once again” asked for funding to be sourced for the works at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District. Responding to the motion Conor McDonagh, Executive Engineer, Road Design, said, “Transportation consultants have been appointed under this Active Travel scheme to carry out a transportation assessment, which includes a feasibility and option selection report to examine pedestrian / cyclist permeability over the Drehidnagower bridge. “They are currently undertaking necessary surveys on-site and preparing a suitable Multi Criteria Analysis under which all viable options will be assessed to determine the most appropriate solution. “When the emerging preferred option has been established, it will be necessary to apply to the NTA for further funding and seek approval to progress …

HOUSING Minister Darragh O’Brien has announced draft legislation to support the remediation of apartments and duplexes with fire safety defects constructed between 1991 and 2013. The Government is also set to cover costs already incurred, which is good news for owners of property at Bru na Sionna in Shannon; more than five years ago it emerged that works costing €4 million were required there. Clare TD Cathal Crowe said that it is a very welcome development for the property owners who were shocked to find that their homes hadn’t been built to the required standard.  “Today marks a major step in ensuring that the owners of the apartments in Bru na Sionna receive the remediation that they have long asked for,” said Deputy Crowe. “In a 2017 inspection, an inspection of the development identified serious defects, which caused serious concern among the owners about how the €4 million bill would be footed. “The scheme approved today will help to protect …

THE Manchester Martyrs Monument in Kilrush has been repaired and restored by Clare County Council with grant aid coming from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the Historic Structures Fund. The restored monument was officially opened by Councillor Ian Lynch and Pat Dowling, Chief Executive of Clare County Council, on Friday last. The Manchester Martyrs’ Monument was erected in 1903, the realisation of a long-standing ambition of the people of Kilrush to erect a fitting monument to commemorate the memory of William O’Meara Allen, Michael Larkin and William O’Brien. The trio had been executed in Salford, Manchester, in 1867 for the successful rescue of a Fenian prisoner. Their execution sparked demonstrations and marches both in Ireland and the UK and fostered a rise in nationalism that culminated in the Easter Rising of 1916. The monument was made possible through raising funds from the local population and the Irish diaspora in America. The monument is composed of a …

AN Ennis Elvis fan has recalled the contrasting emotional high of being on “cloud nine” after meeting Lisa Marie Presley in Graceland to an “unimaginable feeling of grief” after learning about her sudden death a few days later. Looking back on the annual Elvis Birthday Proclamation, Priscilla Lernihan remembered a very poignant moment when Lisa Marie admitted Elvis fans were the only reason to leave her house, having been a virtual recluse since her son’s tragic death. In an interview with the Clare Champion, Priscilla recalled Lisa Marie was a different person from the one that appeared at the Golden Globe Awards after she spent an hour meeting and greeting fans in Graceland. Still on holidays in New York when Lisa Marie (54) was taken to hospital, Priscilla was shocked to learn from her husband, Kevin, she had died following a suspected cardiac arrest. “It was a huge shock. It might seem a bit silly to be upset over someone …

Ahead of a special commemoration at Clooney Cemetery at 1pm on Sunday, January 23, at which he will be the guest orator, Dr Tomás Mac Conmara writes about the controversial Civil War executions of Clare republicans, Con McMahon and Paddy Hennessy.   Readers of the Clare Champion on 3rd March 1923 were informed of the outcome of a Clare GAA Convention, held over the previous week. It was announced that the new County Secretary of the GAA in Clare, a position of some significance, was twenty-three-year-old, P.V. Murphy, better known as Vincent, from Knockanimana, outside Ennis. No reference was made to the man he replaced. Five weeks earlier, when it carried a brief report on eleven Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners, executed by the Free State on 20th January, the Clare Champion referred to two men shot in Limerick as ‘C McMahon’ and ‘P. Hennessy’, with no elaboration on their identity. The men, both from Clooney, were IRA Volunteers, Con McMahon and …

Clare Camogie’s Senior & Intermediate County Finals match programme has scooped the Mick Dunne Memorial Award for Programme of the Year. The 2022 Camogie Association Media Awards and Mick Dunne Memorial Award winners were recently announced with Clare Camogie’s County Board securing gold in the Best Match Programme category. Bríd MacNamara produced the programme for the two finals down for decision on Saturday, October 15th; the senior decider between Scariff/Ogonnelloe and Truagh/Clonlara and the Intermediate final between Clarecastle/Ballyea and Tulla. The programme has now been recognised as the best of its type in the country for the second year running. Clare Camogie also scooped this award last year as MacNamara’s programme for the Senior decider between Scariff/Ogonelloe and Truagh/Clonlara in 2021 was rewarded with the top prize. Bríd Mac has no shortage of experience in relation to winning this award. She has previously designed and edited the Programme of the year on two separate occasions as Munster PRO while her …