South Clare

MEELICK GAA Club is in a battle to hold on to three of their more prominent players, it has emerged this week. The Clare Champion has learned from sources within the club that Oisin Hickey, Eanna Mulvihill and Damian Moloney have indicated their desire to transfer to neighbouring clubs Clonlara, Cratloe and Parteen. Already working from a small panel, the loss of any players would undermine the club’s ability to be competitive. Indeed some argue that they would struggle to field at adult level if they were to lose players. This week Clare GAA delegated three of the officers board, Ger Hickey, Sean O’Halloran and Gerry Lynch, to meet with officials of the Meelick club to discuss the current situation. Meelick compete at intermediate hurling level and also compete in junior A football. Just last year the South East Clare club purchased additional land, adjacent to their playing pitch at Knockalisheen, and they have plans in place for further development …

LIMERICK City Council is inviting members of the public to have their say on a proposal to rename two of the city’s landmark locations in honour of  Brian Boru and John F Kennedy. The council  wants to gauge public opinion on the renaming of The Shannon Bridge as ‘John Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge’ and the area at Merchant’s Quay in the vicinity of Limerick City Hall and St Mary’s Cathedral, as ‘Brian Boru Square’. JFK, who had close ancestral ties with Limerick, was honoured as a Freeman of Limerick, which he visited during his 1963 trip to Ireland. 2014 marks the 1000th anniversary of Brian Boru’s death following his victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf. The High King of Ireland was also born on the banks of the River Shannon at  Killaloe, a short distance from Limerick.

DIFFERENT facets of life in South-East Clare over a 60-year period have literally been put into the frame in a major photographic exhibition at Limerick City Hall. The Street, comprising photographs from The Haselbeck Collection, was officially launched by Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan, TD and Mayor of Limerick Kathleen Leddin recently. In addition, the museum at City Hall hosts a display of his camera equipment, as well as some archival documents illustrating the professional and personal life of professional photographer Franz S Haselbeck. It will remain open to the public at Limerick City Hall from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm until the end of February. Admission is free. The exhibition follows the publication of a book, Franz S Haselbeck’s Ireland, which was compiled by his granddaughter, Patricia Haselbeck Flynn, with 200 selected images from the Haselbeck Collection. The book followed his career from Dublin to Kerry and concentrates on his work throughout the Mid-West, where he spent most …

THE construction of the proposed €100 million Limerick Northern Distributor Road (NDR) through a flood plain on the back road to the University of Limerick is “madness”, a local resident has claimed. Normally, Miriam McCormick, Shravokee, Clonlara cannot see any water when she looks out her front door, as the River Shannon is about a half a mile away. Now she is looking out at a “lake” where the NDR is proposed to go between her house and the neighbouring O’Briens. The road is planned to follow the electric wires near her home. “The general public need to know what madness it is to construct the Northern Distributor Road down through these fields that regularly flood. Hydrologists speak about the ‘stone in the bucket effect’ where if a bucket is full of water and you place a stone in it, the water will have to go somewhere. The same principal will apply to a floodplain when a major construction is …

Food connoisseurs will be left salivating at the prospects of what three award-winning chefs can serve up in the kitchen. The chefs are sure to whet the appetites of all with some culinary delights at The Inn at Dromoland next Thursday night at a cookery demonstration, organised by the 14th Clare scout group from Sixmilebridge and Kilmurry in a bid to boost the coffers and their efforts to provide a new scout den. Fergal McGee (The Inn at Dromoland), David McCann (Dromoland Castle) and Garry McGorrian (Bunraty Manor) will put their talents on display and provide some seasonal recipes for those in attendance. Guests will be greeted on arrival with a glass of mulled wine, and can browse and shop at the exhibitor stands as on display will be goods that may help sorting out some Christmas presents. All attendees will be presented with a souvenir brochure, which will also contain a copy of the recipes demonstrated on the night. …

ONE of Clare’s best-known clerics, Fr Harry Bohan, could have died from a blood clot last year, he revealed this week. The Sixmilebridge parish priest was rushed to St James’s Hospital, Dublin suffering from life-threatening blood clots during the August Bank Holiday weekend last year. The lead consultant surgeon wanted to carry out an emergency aneurysm operation but was forced to delay it because all the necessary back-up team weren’t available at the time. Kept under close observation, Fr Bohan was transferred to a ward straight across from the nurses’ station because staff were worried about his condition. A few days later, when the full team became available, a 10-hour operation was completed to get his blood flowing properly again. This week, Fr Bohan said the consultant confirmed he could have died from a blood clot before the operation. Having been hospitalised five times over a 12-month period, the 75-year-old priest appreciated the great care he received in a number …

THE number of YouTube hits for a song written by a young Killaloe man jumped from 300 to 33,000 in just 24-hours. Eighteen-year-old Noel McInerney, who lives in the Millstream Housing Estate in Killaloe, did not envisage his tribute song to the Clare team’s hurling efforts The Banner’s Road To Croker would prove to be an internet hit. At the time of writing, the number of hits was at an impressive 59,728. The song is set to feature on the RTÉ News this Thursday evening, while it is expected a clip will also be played on Up for the Match on Saturday night. A casual conversation with his father Willie, who is a caretaker at the local Waterman’s Alzheimer Respite and Day Care Centre, about the All-Ireland semi-final between Clare and Limerick got Noel thinking about a song for the final. Within minutes, he had the chorus written down on his phone and composed the entire song within two hours. …