Tag Archives: clare

THE Clare footballers will play their first competitive match of the new season when they meet Waterford in Meelick at 2pm on Sunday in the McGrath Cup. Next Wednesday, Clare will play Limerick at 7.30pm in the Gaelic Grounds in their final game in the three-team group. The group winners will play Kerry, Cork or Tipperary in the final on January 22. On Sunday, Clare will be without their Ballyea players, who are preparing for their All-Ireland Club Hurling Championship semi-final, against St Thomas’ from Galway, on Saturday, February 4. The county footballers will play Derry away the following day in their opening Division 2 league fixture. Clare manager Colm Collins said they will use the McGrath Cup to give a game to as many players as possible. He also noted that the two upcoming games are more useful than challenge matches. “There is no question, they are way better than challenge games. Anything that’s organised properly and officiated at …

THE latest Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) quarterly barometer showed that hotel and guesthouse owners in Clare and across the country are very optimistic about 2017, after significant growth this year. Nine in 10 IHF members say they saw increased business in 2016, while 57% grew their workforce and some 89% have plans to reinvest in their properties in 2017. Also, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the number of overseas visitors grew by 10% to 8.8 million – the highest number on record. There was an increase of 10% in holiday visitors, while business visitors and those coming to visit friends and relatives were up 12%. Elaine Fitzgerald Kane, chair of the Shannon branch of the IHF, said there has been a lot to be positive about. “Irish tourism has seen a record-breaking year in 2016 and there is a lot to celebrate. This is an outstanding achievement and a result of the hard work being carried out by …

SIX people have been detected drink driving in Clare over the Christmas period, with two of these being during the day time. Of the six drink drivers, one was detected at 9.20am on Monday, December 19 and another at lunchtime on December 21. Two were detected in the early hours of December 28. Although the drink-driving figures for the month of December to date show a “significant increase” in those driving while under the influence of alcohol, locally the statistics are down one on last year for the Christmas period. On December 1, An Garda Síochána and the RSA launched the Christmas and new year anti-drink driving campaign. This was heavily publicised across all broadcast mediums, particularly social media, and was fronted by the Treacy family, who tragically lost their four-year-old son Ciarán in a road traffic collision involving a drunk driver. Despite this stark ad, people continue to drive under the influence. Nationally, from December 1 to December 20, …

THE 80th anniversary of the death of the legendary Dr Tommy Daly from Tulla was recalled last weekend, when a memorial was unveiled in Tuamgraney at the spot where he was tragically killed in 1936. According to the inquest, he died following a single vehicle collision, after he swerved to avoid a cyclist on the road between Tuamgraney and Scariff. Harry O’Meara, the winner of two senior championship medals with Scariff, came on the scene of the accident. He was 10 years of age at the time and he was present on Saturday when the unveiling took place. Speaking at the unveiling, Denis Corry (Tulla), who wrote a detailed article on the great goalkeeper for the Tulla GAA history book, The Claret and Gold, recalled the achievements of the man after whom the GAA park in Tulla is named. An All-Ireland junior medal winner with Clare in 1914, Dr Daly won three championships with Collegians in Dublin and six Fitzgibbon …

OVER the last decade, Clare has received very little Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), but that is likely to change in the next two years, according to Shannon Group CEO, Matthew Thomas. Mr Thomas, who was appointed in May, said there is now plenty of interest in investing in the Mid West, with results likely to be seen in 2017 and 2018. At the launch of the upgraded Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Mr Thomas noted, “In my short time as CEO, there have been some very exciting enquiries. It is an uncertain world we are living in with Brexit and global political events at the moment. People are a bit nervous but we would be very hopeful that there is more FDI coming, if not in 2017, in 2018.” While Shannon Group has a large property portfolio right across the Mid West, the Free Zone is its top priority for now. “I think our immediate focus is on developing the …

TITLE holders Clare, who have made it through to the knock-out stage of the Oscar Traynor competition, will go into their final group game against Roscommon on Sunday without their captain Stephen Kelly. The Newmarket Celtic junior international suffered a leg injury when helping his club to victory over Aungier Celtic from Dublin in the FAI Junior Cup last week and the injury is likely to keep him out of action until the new year. Clare manager Donie Garrihy hopes to have forward Dave McCarthy available for Sunday’s game. Like Kelly, he missed last Sunday’s Munster Junior Cup tie with Newmarket, ruled out due to ’flu, but Clare boss Garrihy is confident that he will be fit for Sunday’s contest. Tulla’s Darragh Corry has been out of action for a number of weeks and will again be an absentee on Sunday. While Clare have already qualified for the next phase in this competition, they want to top the group and …

THE Clare and District side that won this year’s Oscar Traynor was granted a civic reception by Clare County Council this week, which manager Donie Garrihy said was one of the highlights of his life. The civic reception took place on Monday evening and Garrihy said he was extremely grateful to the local authority. “We are so humbled as a group of players; we are so humbled as a league. It is spectacular to be here.” He said he was delighted that many figures from Clare soccer were in attendance, saying he was in “super company”. Garrihy added, “It’s an emotional time for me as manager. I see the squad here and they are dressed immaculately. They are dressed immaculately in respect of the people who are giving us this opportunity here in the county council chamber. I always said they were men; they are real men. I love every one of them to bits. The league has always supported …

Ballyea and Glen Rovers’ supporters will travel to Semple Stadium in Thurles on Sunday confident that their sides will be returning home with the Munster Club Senior Hurling title, following their impressive semi-final victories. Although a surprising final pairing, have both have qualified after tough campaigns, starting back in their respective county championships Not for the first time this year, Ballyea will go into the game as underdogs but the odds on them being crowned champions have shortened greatly, following their superb victory over hot favourites Thurles Sarsfields in the semi-final. Representing Cork for the second successive year should be a help to Glen Rovers. Retaining the Cork title in 2016, they showed that they had learned from the experience gained last year. In the provincial campaign in 2015, the Glen lost out to Ballygunner in a game played at Walsh Park in Waterford. Following that game, they were determined to get back into the provincial campaign and now that …