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MENTION Micheál O’Hehir and Marty Crotty immediately responds with a twinkle in his eye. The retired Kilbaha farmer is a GAA fanatic who lived for Mr O’Hehir’s memorable hurling, football and horse racing commentaries from 1938 to 1985. Listening to and watching Gaelic games has given Marty great joy. “Only for the GAA, I would be dead a long time ago,” he quipped. Sometimes on Sundays he listens to one match on the radio and keeps an eye on another one on television with the sound turned down. He can still recite all the names of the 15 starting Cavan All-Ireland winning teams in 1947 and ‘48 and the Meath all conquering side in 1949. “It is a great past time. I don’t know how people who don’t follow GAA manage, what do they be doing at all? It is hard to do without the GAA,” he said. His passionate love affair with Gaelic Games was fostered by legendary GAA …

ADVENTURER Declan McEvoy is back on home ground for Christmas after completing the gruelling sixth stage of his round-the-world motorcycle odyssey.   In September, the Quin native set out from Lusaka in Zambia, with the aim of travelling along the West of the African continent, all the way to Dakar in Senegal. Last month, he reached Banjul in Gambia, after a marathon motorcycle trek. Throughout the epic African journey of more than 10,000km, Declan had been keeping friends, family and followers updated on WhatsApp. “Reaching Banjul could only be described as a surreal experience and if I’m to be honest I felt somewhat emotional on my arrival,” he said. “There had been times throughout this trip that I wondered if I’m ever going to make my planned destination, but for some reason it seems I just did. It takes more than determination and stubbornness, the latter apparently of which I have in abundance, to make such a journey through Africa …

The Banner edged out Clondegad on a score of 0-12 to 0-9 to win the Clare U21B football title in Cooraclare on Thursday evening A fitting finish to an ultra-competitive Under 21B football championship was enjoyed albeit in ultracold conditions in Cooraclare on Thursday evening. The fog that hides the countryside threatened to envelop the pitch whilst hiding one corner for most of the second half but rose as perhaps the temperature on the pitch rose dramatically in the final quarter. Was the Banner’s name on the cup since they sneaked past St Breckan’s at home missing Shane Meehan, Mark Cleary and Niall Walsh? The efforts of player of the championship Tomas Meeneghan proved central to the appearance in the final but as expected the onfield appearance of Meehan with 20 minutes tipped the balance the way of the Shanaway road men. From a Clondegad perspective the club competed well in senior after a forgettable 2021 season. Reaching this final …

Three community-based charities in County Clare received a combined fundraising donation of €3,550 from the Cliffs of Moher Experience this week. The North Clare visitor attraction marked the end of the tourism year with a Christmas Breakfast for all staff at the Cliff View Café this Wednesday. The management team was on hand to help serve tea and coffees to the hard-working team and to representatives from Pieta House, Ennistymon Community Hospital and Clare Crusaders, who shared the proceeds from the fund.

IT wasn’t Christmas trees that were on the mind of Councillor Mary Howard at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District, but the damage trees can cause to urban localities. Councillor Howard asked the local authority to produce a list of trees suitable for planting in an urban setting at the monthly meeting of the council. This follows her highlighting of the concerns for residents of Kincora Park last month of the “dangerous condition” of the footpath leading up to St Joseph’s Church which was blamed on “vigorous root growth”. Speaking at the December meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Councillor Howard said she was a “real fan of trees”. However she pointed out that they can cause problems. “There can be damage caused during strong winds, fruit falling, roots lifting footpaths, obstructing sight lines, leaves blocking gutters,” she said. She explained that having suitable trees planted would help solve some of these issues. “Putting the right trees in …

CLARE Crusaders Children’s Clinic had a very special visitor recently when Santa Claus himself paid an early visit. The big man in red arrived in Barefield earlier this month for the clinic’s first ever sensory-friendly Santa Grotto with Fiona Norton of Clare Crusaders describing the event as a fantastic success with plans already in place for its return next year. The families who visited got a chance to meet Santa who gave every child their very own present, and a volunteer photographer was on hand to capture the moment. For some, this was their first time getting a family picture with Santa. Before meeting Santa, the children and young people had an opportunity to make reindeer food and decorate Christmas cookies to put out for Santa on Christmas Eve. They also wrote their Santa letters and coloured pictures which were posted to the North Pole. The coffee corner was also well stocked with delicious treats and nibbles, homemade hot chocolate, …

CONSTRUCTION work has started on a new €165,000 multi-use games amenity (MUGA) that will benefit from the proceeds of the Christmas Day Swim at Twomilegate, Killaloe. A Killaloe woman is one of the main drivers of a new MUGA near Boher National School, which will be fully accessible for people with disabilities and will be a major addition to recreational facilities in the Killaloe/Ballina area. Born in Ballyvalley, Killaloe, Nicola Welford is now living in Boher and is the chairperson of Boher Community Development Group, who are fundraising to complete the state-of-the-art MUGA. Their ambitious plans include introducing targeted programmes for groups with disabilities such as Autism, workshops on inclusive sport and training to help those who may find sporting activities difficult to master. The group has worked hard raising funds for different projects over the last two years. An allocation of almost €93,000 has been secured from Sports Capital funding as well as €20,000 from Tomar Trust. Up to …

THERE have been 250 confirmed cases of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, more commonly known as RSV, in the Mid West since October with children making up the majority of those affected by the highly contagious condition the HSE have confirmed. Meanwhile there have been 100 cases of flu in the same time period, and two in five of those affected by the virus children. Dr Mai Mannix, Director of Public Health Mid-West, has urged people to be on the look out for the symptoms and to ensure children are kept at home if they are feeling unwell and kept away from older persons and the vulnerable. She has also urged parents to get their children vaccinated against the flu to protect themselves and others, saying a further increase in cases is expected after Christmas. She was speaking during a HSE briefing of Clare County Council this week where she said, “The issue with flu is as well as people being ill is …