clondalkin

Hurling: Community centre plays host to FeilePage 31

Gymnastics: Clon’s Taylor and Toomey in medals againPage 30

BRUSHING UP: New school set to put you in touch with artistic side P7

Councillor objects to fast food planRaise standards for new shops for village – Delaney

� PAUL HOSFORD

A LOCAL councillor has said that the “bar needs to be raised when it comes to filling vacant premises in Clondalkin”.

Councillor Tony Delaney (FG) has lodged an objection to a planning application that looks to turn the old Bank of

Scotland building into a fast-food takeaway.

His ob jec t ion says : “Clondalkin village would ben-efit from a wider variation of shops, and another takeaway would not contribute to the commercial or social structure of the local environment.”

Cllr Delaney also stated that,

while empty premises were a problem, “another takeaway we certainly don’t need”.

In addition, he added: “the bar needs to be raised regard-ing standards in the village by all parties, including business people, the public and author-ities” .

Full Story on Page 5

Motoring along nicely: Enjoying the festival funABBEY and Callum Boland thought that events were motor-ing along nicely when they hopped into a classic car at the recent Clondalkin Village Festi-val. The youngsters joined thou-sands of other locals for the great event, which had something for everybody to enjoy, and which showed the kind of community spirit that has made Clondalkin one of the best places to live in the country.

Picture: Ian Fleming

Full Gallery on Pages 8-9

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SCHOOLS Special musical guests at St Peter Apostle JS

Garda Band joins end-of-year funT

HE Garda Band made for an arresting sight when it added a fun feeling to the end-of-year celebrations at St Peter Apostle Junior School, Neilstown recently.

The accomplished players used their expertise to help the school stage its first orchestral performance – as well as having lots of fun, too.

Comprising 40 pupils from junior and senior school,

the school’s musicians played along with the Garda Band, as delighted parents, staff and fellow pupils lis-tened and joined in with the celebrations. Orla Healy, music co-ordinator, said it was a great event, and a won-derful way not only to wrap things up for the end of the school year, but to inspire the school’s musicians to play on, and be as good as the Garda Band, one day.

SOUTH Dublin County Council staff and volun-teers have been praised for ensuring last weekend’s Play Day celebrations in Corkagh Park were a suc-cess.

Fine Gael Councillor Emer Higgins congratu-lated the “massive efforts” of staff.

“Thousands of families descended on Corkagh Park this weekend to avail of the fantastic array of activities on offer to children of all ages. The festivities were a celebra-tion of National Play Day and there was a great turn out and everyone seemed to really enjoy the event,” said Cllr Higgins.

“With everything from face painting to finger

painting, story-telling to bouncy castles, reptiles and sandpits; there cer-tainly was something for every child.

“A huge amount of organisation goes into celebrations like this and I’d like to pay tribute to the council staff who put in such effort to ensure the day was a success.

Volunteers from right across the county rolled up their sleeves and helped out on the day and I know a lot of the organisers went above and beyond. Council staff were setting up the park from 6am, and by 11, as the crowds started to descend, it was obvious that their efforts had paid off,” continued Cllr Higgins.

FETE: BIG DAY OUT

National Play Day a success

450450wdswds

Parents, staff and pupils alike were delighted by the combined efforts of the school’s musicians and the Garda Band

The pupils were invited to sing along with some fun favourites

It takes years of gruelling, punishing practice to

master the whistle, but this garda has done it

12 July 2012 CLONDALKIN GAZETTE 3

WEEE has free eventWEEE Ireland, the Irish compliance scheme for electrical appliances and battery recycling, is hold-ing a free recycling event in Clondalkin this week-end in association with the SDCC.

The collection will take place on Saturday July 14, from 10am to 4pm in The Mill Centre, Clondalkin.

This free WEEE Ireland event allows people to get rid of any household elec-trical equipment in a safe manner.

Anything in the home with a battery or a plug can be recycled at these collections. Waste col-lection specialists from WEEE Ireland will be present on the day.

For further information on all future recycling events in Dublin, or to find your nearest civic amenity site, log on to the website: www.recyclefree.ie.

RECYCLING

MEMBERS of the local community met in Adamstown Castle Edu-cate Together National School last week to help with the development of the strategy being created by The Integration Cen-tre, a non-governmental organisation which is committed to the inte-gration and inclusion of people from immigrant backgrounds in Ireland.

The session provided an opportunity for com-munity members with an immigrant background, or an interest in integra-tion, to share their expe-riences with representa-tives from the Integration Centre and help develop the South Dublin Coun-

ty Integration Strategy: 2013 – 2017.

Last week’s gathering was just one of many of its kind that have taken place throughout South County Dublin in the past two months.

The Integration Centre is currently working with South Dublin County Council, on behalf of the County Development Board, to create an Inte-gration Strategy for the region, complementing the County Development Plan (2010 – 2016).

Aoife Breheny, head of development for The Integration Centre said: “Attendance levels and input from participants have been extremely pos-

itive throughout phase one of the integration planning sessions.

Those who have con-tributed to the develop-ment of actions for the strategy demonstrate a clear commitment to the process of integration and the realisation of actions within their own communities.”

The series of integra-tion planning sessions, which have included service providers and community organisa-tions as well as com-munity members, serves to inform the strategy’s development by afford-ing The Integration Cen-tre an on-the-ground understanding of the

issues surrounding inclu-sion and integration in a number of key areas of South County Dublin.

This should allow for the development of a number of realistic actions to be developed as part of the strategy to address the issues raised.

The next phase of this process will see a com-prehensive analysis of the data gathered from the sessions, coupled with continued interviews

with key stakeholders and service providers, before all participants are invited back for a final session in September to focus on the actions to be implemented as part of the strategy.

The centre special-ises in planning, moni-toring and advocacy at city, local, national and international levels and provides regionalised information, advice and training services, and

they have more than 250 affiliated organisations as part of their network.

For further information on the Integration Strat-egy, or to keep up-to-date with any developments, contact Aoife Breheny at [email protected] or 01 645 3070.

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Members of the local community meet in Adamstown Castle Educate Together

National School

ADAMSTOWN Sharing immigrant experiences

Locals meet on integration strategy


Flagging an achievement: Minister helps

to celebrate a great day for Scoil AineMINISTER for Children Frances Fitzgerald (left) joined principal Marie Beattie, Green School Coordinator Triona Kilbride, and the board of management at Scoil Aine to help celebrate the school’s achievement of being awarded a second Green Flag recently.

After watching the Green Flag being hoisted into place for all to see, Minister Fitzgerald praised the principal, staff, Green School coordinator and, of course, the pupils

for their environmentally-friendly and -aware activities. She added: “I was delighted to celebrate this important achievement for Scoil Aine. A lot of work went into achieving this second flag, with the students learning how to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“As well as fostering an understanding of their environ-ment, the Green Flag programme helps the school com-munity bond together and reduce energy bills, too.”

TOURISM: ROUND TOWER ONE-OFF OPENING A HIT

More regular access needed at tower� PAUL HOSFORD

[email protected]

C L O N D A L K I N ’ S iconic Round Tower should be open more frequently after the suc-cess of its opening for the Clondalkin Village Festival last week.

That is the opinion of local Labour TD, Rob-ert Dowds, who made the call after 600 people turned out in just three hours to gain access to the ground floor of the local landmark.

Deputy Dowds said that efforts to get the Office of Public Works (OPW) to consent to the opening had taken some time, but that he was hopeful the huge turnout would boost the chances of a further opening.

“After working hard to get the OPW to open the Round Tower for the Clondalkin Festival, I was absolutely delight-ed that more than 600 people showed up in just over three hours to get the chance to stand inside.

“ T he OP W were themselves very sur-prised at the size of the crowd and the number of people who wished to go inside the tower.

“This has proven two

points which I have long been arguing – the first of which is that the people of Clondalkin are very proud of the Round Tower and value it greatly, and, second-ly, that more should be done to improve access to it for the public.

“After all, it is a public building which is owned by the people and in the care of the OPW,” said Deputy Dowds, who committed to keeping the issue on the agenda in the coming months.

Access“I will be pressing the

OPW, the council and other relevant bodies to start making access to the tower a more regu-lar occurrence, and we will certainly be look-ing for the tower to be opened up for the Clondalkin Festival in years to come.

“The huge numbers show that there is a big demand from people wishing to go inside the Round Tower.

“ I f i r m ly bel ieve that the area around the tower should be improved, and I am hopeful that work to that effect will begin sooner rather than later,” added Deputy Dowds.

Cuts ‘will affect our children’s education’CUTS at Scoil Mochua in Clondalkin will lead to a teacher being lost and a new charge of €30 per child being imposed on families that will “hurt children’s education,” according to Sinn Fein Dublin Mid-West repre-sentative, Eoin O’Broin.

O’Broin called for the funding cuts to schools such as Scoil Mochua to be reversed, considering what he said would be the adverse effect that they would have.

The call comes after parents at Scoil Mochua

were informed by the principal of cuts taking effect from September which will entail the loss of a teacher and a new €30 charge per child per year taking effect.

Speaking to The Gazette, O’Broin said that the new school term will severely affect local residents.

“Funding cuts will hurt our children’s education. Across Dublin Mid-West, parents are receiving let-ters from school princi-pals outlining the impact of cuts to the coming

year’s school term.“In one instance

– Scoil Mochua in Clondalkin – parents have been informed of the loss of a teacher and the introduction of a new charge of €30 per pupil to cover the cost of materials such as paper, photocopying and art materials.

“The loss of a teacher at this school will have a particular impact on chil-dren with special needs.

“The school believes that the loss will be detrimental to [their

pupil’s] education,” said O’Broin.

The Sinn Fein repre-sentative added that cut-ting education funding at this time made little sense.

“It simply makes no sense to cut vital funding to schools. Not only will these cuts damage chil-dren’s education, it will also hurt the economy.

“Any long-term eco-nomic recovery will depend on the quality of our education system.

“Cuts today will lead to all sorts of social and

economic problems tomorrow.

“I am calling on the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, to reverse these cuts.

“I am also appealing to the four Government TDs in Dublin Mid-West to publically support my call and to demand the restoration of this fund-ing before the start of the coming school year,” he said.

Scoil Mochua was not available for comment at the time of going to press.

A GOLDEN GETAWAYCatalonia’s Costa Daurada – ‘ golden coast’ – has a superb range of family-friendly hotels, resorts, beaches and attractions, making it a perfect place to escape from the Irish ‘summer’.

TRAVEL, PAGE 19

�SCHOOLS: EOIN O’BROIN (SF) WARNS OF IMPACT OF REDUCTIONS


‘We don’t need a new takeaway’� PAUL HOSFORD

[email protected]

THE bar needs to be raised when it comes to filling vacant premises in Clondalkin.

So says local Fine Gael councillor, Tony Delaney, who this week lodged an appeal against a plan to open a takeaway on Tower Road.

The planning applica-tion calls for a “change of use from retail banking to a ‘takeaway and delivery of food’ for consumption off the premises with asso-ciated internal alterations to the existing ground floor unit only at Tower Road, Clondalkin”and would see the former Bank of Scotland premis-es on the street become a takeaway.

However, Cllr Delaney, has lodged an appeal with South Dublin County

Council, saying that the local area would in no way benefit from another takeaway, with the town already boasting a large number of takeaways in the village centre alone.

The document lodged by Cllr Delaney, who has long been an advocate of more litter control in the town, says: “I wish to lodge an objection to planning application reg ref SD12A/0116.

“There is already an excessive number of take-away outlets in the cen-tral area of Clondalkin village.

“This evening I counted 17 within a very small area (Tower Road/Orchard Road/Main St and Mon-astery Road as far as Cas-tle Shops).”

Cllr Delaney points out that the town as a whole would benefit from a more varied commercial

structure.“This very high number

of existing fast food out-lets is a major contribu-tory factor to the issue of litter in the village, and can be witnessed most mornings, but particularly at weekends.

“Clondalkin village would benefit from a wider variation of shops, and another takeaway would not contribute to the commercial or social structure of the local envi-ronment,” said Cllr Dela-ney, adding that, while empty stores were a prob-lem, another takeaway wasn’t the solution.

“Another takeaway we certainly don’t need, although I’m very con-scious of vacant premises and associated issues, but the bar needs to be raised regarding standards in the village by all parties,” he said.

Standing tall: Derek’s delighted to present Katie with her certificateLOCAL Fine Gael TD Derek Keating had to stoop a little to present nine-year-old Quarryvale girl Katie Nolan with an award recently. However, Katie was standing tall, as she was collecting her gradua-tion certificate after completing the Get Ahead Programme in Neil-stown Community Centre, with Deputy Keating one of the first to congratulate the young graduate on her hard work and dedication.

PLANNING: CLLR DELANEY (FG) LODGES OBJECTION TO TOWER ROAD OUTLET Local

jobless up by 2%UNEMPLOYMENT in Dublin Mid-West has risen by almost 2%, from 9,261 to 9,431 persons signing on.

Councillor Trevor Gil-ligan (FF) said that the figures were worrying.

“The more worrying figure is the number of unemployed females over 25 years old. I’m calling on the Minister for Jobs to establish a task force, including the relevant local bodies.

“Local groups such as the CPLN Area Partner-ship, are facing even more cuts, which will make matters worse. As a volun-tary director of the South Dublin County Enterprise Board, my biggest chal-lenge is job creation.

“I would ask anyone who has an idea to get in contact with the board in order to start a mentor-ing process, with a view to getting a priming grant from the board,” said Cllr Gilligan.

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Youth body seeks new membersCOMHAIRLE na nOg, a formal gath-ering of young people from 12 to 18 years who meet at county level to dis-cuss the issues that affect their daily lives, is encouraging new members to get involved.

The group, managed by South Dub-lin County Council in partnership with Foroige and Catholic Youth Care, aims to give young people a voice on issues affecting them at a community level.

They currently have 25 members representing the views of young peo-

ple countywide and eight of their members represented South Dublin County Council at Dail na nOg in November 2011.

In May, they hosted a Wellbeing Fes-tival in Chamber Square, Tallaght, with music, workshops, keynote speakers in County Library and a food fair to encourage all young people in the county to look after their wellbeing.

For further information on how to join, contact Niamh Carton at [email protected] or follow South Dublin Comhairle on Facebook.

CHALLENGE Public urged to try new travel options

South Dublin County Council will hold events to encourage residents to use more

sustainable options of travel

Promoting alternative ways to travelSOUTH Dublin County Council, funded by the National Transpor t Authority, is urging people to think about how they travel.

The council, along with the NTA, are set to host a series of events t i t led Travel Smar t Communities over the coming months.

The aim of the pro-gramme is to encour-age residents to think more about their travel options and to encour-age use of more sustain-able travel options, such as walking, cycling, public transport and car sharing.

ChallengeThe Travel Smar t

Communities challenge series will run between July and September 2012 and SDCC is call-ing on locals to chal-lenge themselves to try out sustainable travel options in their area to see how they can be integrated as part of everyday journeys.

The organisers say that Travel Smart Com-munities is about “you having the power to make a real difference to the environment, your health, your pock-

et and your quality of life”.

They also ask people to look at some alterna-tives to the car.

The council will run three sets of Pedometer; Journey Logger; and 10 minute+ Cycle chal-lenges over the summer period.

They have named each monthly challenge by local area to coincide with Smarter Travel ini-tiatives in each area, but residents are urged to take part in any of the monthly challenges.

The Ballyowen chal-lenge runs from July 9 to August 5, the Griffeen challenge goes from August 6 to September 2 and the Bawnogue challenge from Septem-ber 3 to September 30.

The Pedometer chal-lenge is a walking chal-lenge where partici-pants will log their steps over four weeks using a pedometer.

All entries that accrue over 10,000 steps over the four week chal-lenge period will be entered into a draw for a One4All voucher to the value of €150.

In the cycle chal-lenge, participants will be asked to log any

cycle journey of over 10 minutes over a four-week period.

Prize DrawAll entries with eight

or more 10-minute or more cycles over the four-week challenge period will be entered into a prize draw for a bicycle, helmet, lights and puncture repair kit.

In the Journey Logger Challenge, residents will be asked to take part in a sustainable transport challenge.

The challenge will ask residents to log all the car trips they swap for more sustainable modes of transport over four weeks.

All entries with eight or more non-car jour-neys over the four-week challenge period will be entered into a draw for a One4All voucher to the value of €150.

To enter any of the challenges, you will simply have to log your bus, train, cycle or walk-ing journeys via the online survey at sdcc.ie; or post your chal-lenge card back to Trav-el Smart Communities Team, County Hall, Tal-laght, Dublin 24.

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ART Clondalkin Village gets creative juices flowing

Colourful start to new drop-in school� PAUL HOSFORD

A NEW business is looking to help the peo-ple of Clondalkin get in touch with their artistic sides this summer and beyond.

T he A r t S cho o l opened in Clondalkin Vi l lage Centre las t month and has already been warmly received by local residents.

“We opened with the aim of providing a space within the village centre for children and adults to come in and relax and be creative,” says store owner, Pamela O’Malley, who says that the weekends are fami-ly-friendly times for the

shop.“We open all day on

Fridays and Saturdays from 10.30am to 5pm where you can drop the kids in, head off for a nice deserved break, or stay with them.

“The kids can do some decopatch, paint some pottery and bring home their creations with them. There is no need to book and people can just drop in.

Messy

“This is for kids of all ages, the little ones can use stencils, and spong-es and get messy, but we cater for adults too.

“We also offer a vari-ety of classes, from jun-

ior art classes, to adult evening classes and people can check our website for details.”

Decopatch is a simi-lar technique to paper mache we have all done as children, but with beautiful papers that allow you to decorate and transform all sorts of items around the home. It is considered ideal for kids as it’s easy to do and it doesn’t take too long.

For ladies, the shop has special decopatch evenings, the first one already having been a huge success and Pame-la says it is an ideal girls’ night out.

“Come along with the

The school hosts children’s parties and is an ideal place for the young people in

your life to spend a Saturday morning

girls, beverages are sup-plied and no experience is required.

“We host children’s birthday parties where the kids can choose if they want a deco-patch or pottery paint-ing party, then every-one goes home with

their creation and the bi r thday chi ld a lso gets a gift from the Art School,” said Pamela, who encouraged locals to come have a look at what the Art School can teach them.

“Drop in to us, just ring the buzzer, come in

and have a look around, ask for a decopatch demonstration, it is a great way to entertain everyone on these rainy summer days.”

For bookings or fur-ther enquiries contact Pamela at 087 9530724 or visit www.pamart.ie.

Care of cemetery defendedSOUTH Dublin County Council has said that the standard of grave mainte-nance in the county has improved, despite criti-cism from locals.

The Gazette recently reported that Esker Cem-etery was severely over-grown, but the council this week responded to a similar question from Cllr Tony Delaney by saying the service has improved.

“The maintenance schedule for burial grounds during the period between May and Septem-ber is based on the timeta-ble for annual masses in each of the cemeteries.

“The sale of the refuse service has meant that the full complement of burial grounds staff can be deployed for burial grounds maintenance where previously staff from this section were used allocated to refuse collection duties when the need arose,” said the council.

COUNCIL


Plenty of festival fun for everyoneS

HOWING the kind of com-munity spirit that recently saw Clondalkin shortlisted as one of

the best places to live in the country, there was a great atmosphere and turn-out at the recent Clondalkin Vil-lage Festival.

The village centre was thronged with

locals, onlookers and participants for the heart of the festival, which saw a large section of the centre pedestrian-ised on Sunday, July 1 for a wide range of fun family activities.

With a main stage acting as a hub for the afternoon’s entertainment, lots of local groups and entertainers were

joined by street performers, with a wide range of activities including face paint-ing, a pet farm, magic shows, gymnas-tics, a classic car show and much more keeping everyone entertained. With so much going on, it was a great way of showing the vibrant heart and commu-nity spirit in Clondalkin.

Mark Dalton makes a furry nice new friend at the pet farm. Pictures: Ian Fleming

Ella, Lauren, Megan and Eva McGuinness Una O’Connor and Jack McMahon

Sean Boland’s dulcet

tones were a hit

Dara O Murchu feeds a

goat at the pet farm

COMMUNITY Clondalkin Village Festival had something for

Getting a great view ... Ben, Ian and Zara Gentleman


Part of the large crowd that was in attendance

everyone, with lots of activities based around a main stage

Jack Epstein, Derek Carroll and Niall Callery stand by with their classic cars

Ronan Connolly and Alpha Gassama

Ryan Daly gets to grips with a vintage car Bebop meets Lorraine and Aimee Adams

A hair-raising moment for Paul the Magician, Holly Sophia and Lucy Madden

Shannon and Carly Cureton with Ryan Kearns

Abbey and Callum BolandMembers of Clondalkin Gymnastics Club


Birthday bash for the USA O

N July 4, US Ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney and his wife Patricia celebrated American Inde-pendence Day by hosting the Third Irish Ameri-

can Flag Football Classic. Over 2,500 guests were in attendance for the Independence Day celebrations. The football was delivered by professionals who sky dived from a plane overhead.

Then it was time for The Phoenix Park Pirates to take on the Dublin 8’s.

The Dublin 8’s took the title this year winning 44 to 37. Guests of all ages enjoyed hamburgers, hotdogs, red, white and blue cupcakes and other traditional American treats. The Kids Zone was a huge success with face painting, story-telling, science demonstra-tions and the giant inflatable slide.

William Cummins, Eddie Goggins, Ref Tony Rivers, Dan Rooney and Barry Bolton. Pictures: Peter Doyle

Peter and Mary Tiernan

Dublin 8’s Youth with Martin Kane, head coach, and Heather Sanchez, team

manager

The game featured plenty of end-to-end action

Dave Duffy approaches and then lands with

the Steelers’ FlagUncle Sam with Avril and Nathan Byrne

CELEBRATIONS The Phoenix Park Pirates take on the Dublin 8’s

Phoenix Park Pirates Youth with head coach Gerry Bourke and team manager Elizabeth Morrisson

Katrina Morrisson, US Ambassador to

Ireland Dan Rooney, and Aidan Kelly

Jimmy Kloda, Zoe Gibson, Karen Doyle, Alan Munnelly, Justyna Kloda and

David Vincent French

Louise McKiernan, Margaret McKiernan, Mairead Butler, Dylan

Butler and Conor Butler with Snap, Crackle and Pop

Lee Gibson was a favourite with all those red, white and blue cup cakes

Hadar Levy from the Israeli Embassy

enjoying the celebrations

Blaithin Ruadh, Sinead O’Neill and Sarah Daly

Little Caoimhe McDonald,

three months old, on her first

Independence Day

Peter Killalea

Derek Byrne and Andrew Bradford

Zoe Gibson, Karen Doyle and Justyna Kloda

in American football game to mark USA’s birthday

12 July 2012 GAZETTE 11

Letting celebrate � PAUL HOSFORD

OVER 2,000 people gathered at the resi-dence of the American Ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney, last week, to celebrate the birth of the USA.

The residence fea-tured a taste of eve-rything American on the day, with hotdogs, burgers and American Football taking centre stage.

The residence, on 62 acres of ground was completed in 1776.

Built by Col John Blaquiere, chief secre-tary of the British gov-ernment and bailiff of the Phoenix Park, it has been the home of the American ambassador to Ireland since 1928.

Extensive renova-tions to the house and property were made by the U.S. Government in 1952.

The property now consists of orchards and gardens on which are located three cot-tages and a gate lodge.

The lower ground floor of the residence has a ballroom, recep-tion and dining room, library, office, kitchen’s pantry, staff room and laundry.

S ix su i te s which each have a bedroom, bathroom and dress-ing room, plus a sitting room are located on the upper floor.

The residence has fur-niture and equipment obtained in Ireland, the United States and many other countries.

This year, the staff of the American embassy in Ballsbridge, their families and assorted guests, American, Irish and otherwise, were in attendance for the American national day.

S i n c e A m b a s s a -dor Rooney owns the most successful team in American Football history, the Pittsburgh

Steelers, it is hardly surpris ing that the showpiece event of the day should be a gridiron game.

The third Irish Amer-ican Flag Football clas-sic was played on a spe-cially constructed pitch in what is, essentially, the ambassadors back yard.

The pitch, complete with American Foot-ball goalposts, two big screens, bleachers and impressive pitch mark-ings that included a 4-metre wide ambassa-dor’s seal at midfield.

Patrick McKenna and Alan Gallagher from Croke Park both put immense work, with their team.

They made sure the pitch was ready and up to the standard a man whose team plays in a $300 million, 65,000 seater stadium would expect.

There was much jok-ing that the Rooneys could pay Croke Park back by securing a Steel-ers game for HQ in the future, as has long been rumoured, but official word on such a move is still not forthcoming.

The game itself is a non-contact version of the gridiron game.

Many players on both the defending Phoenix Park Pirates and chal-lenging Dublin 8’s had never played the game before at all.

Not everyone, how-ever, was a pigskin neo-phyte.

Taking the reins at quarterback for the 8’s was a young man by the name of Dan Rooney.

The ambassador ’s grandson has just fin-ished a stint as the backup quarterback at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and was coached on the 8’s by his uncle, Dan Roon-ey Jr.

Along with some US Marines and other

embassy staff , both teams had a mix of new-comers and vets, with some Irish American Football players thrown into the mix as well.

The game itself start-ed with the arrivals of the teams as announced by Today FM sports reporter Paul Collins.

Then followed armed forces from both Ireland and the US marching the colour (or, on this day, color) before the singing of the national anthems.

T h e n , t h e g a m e ball was delivered by

members of the Irish Parachute Club, who jumped from high over the residence.

A typically low-key arrival for such an event as this, then.

Game onThe game itself was a

thriller, with the young Rooney leading his team into an early lead by finding Joe Grey for an early touchdown, before finding Danny Ferens Jr, whose father is a member of the Steelers’ front office.

The Phoenix Park Pirates, led by Eddie Goggins, were strug-gling to get into the rhythm as they sought to defend the crown which they wrestled

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

‘The relationship between our two countries is stronger than ever...we never stopped imagining a brighter future’------------------------------------------US Ambassdor Dan

Rooney- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

US Ambassador Dan Rooney with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Aidan Prendergast of the Mayoman’s Association

(top) and with Social Protection Minister, Joan Burton

INDEPENDENCE DAY Over 2,000 get together to mark July 4

12 GAZETTE 12 July 2012

freedom ring to a special friendship

from the 8’s last year.Just before half time,

Shaun Douglas, a player with Castleknock’s own West Dublin Rhinos, caught a pass before weaving his way through the despairing reaches of the 8’s defence and in for a touchdown.

That left the score at 23-14 at the break.

At half-time, a group of youngsters from both Ireland and America took part in a small-sided game, thrilling the crowd in a 14-7 win for the 8’s.

The Pirates would receive the ball to start the second period and after one play, Douglas had hauled his team back into the game.

election this year, it is unclear if this will be the last year of this event or whether Mr Rooney will be returned to the Chief Secretary’s Lodge by Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.

It is clear, however, that Rooney has the appetite to stay in the Phoenix Park, praising the strong relationship between the country of his birth and the nation of his heritage.

“Our relationship is stronger than ever,” he said before echoing the words of Barack Obama who, during his visit to Ireland last year, spoke of countries that have “never stopped imagin-ing a brighter future”

“I have travelled all over Ireland and visited every county. US confi-dence in Ireland’s econ-omy has never wavered and our investment in Ireland’s future remains strong,” Mr Rooney said.

In the end, all that was left to do was sit back and look at how well put-together the day was.

Embassy staff had worked long and hard at producing a special day and they certainly suc-ceeded.

Many in attendance, particularly those from this side of the pond, remarked at how over the top it all seemed, but were reminded swiftly that over the top is what America does.

The teams would go back and forth before the Pirates would level things with just under two minutes to go.

With consummate c a l m n e s s , R o o n e y

showed why the family business was American Football and led his team into the endzone with just seconds to go.

In the end, joint-Most Valuable Player Ferens

would show why he is being highly touted for some major colleges in the States with a stun-ning interception to end the game.

With a presidential

The victorious Dublin 8’s team

the American way - with football and hotdogs

AN annual motorbike charity run is set to take place later this month, when a group of motor-cyclists will travel from Dublin to Tullamore in order to raise money for a very worthy cause.

After a successful charity event last year, the fundraising motor-cyclists “15 to 1” are set to hit the road again, but this year in aid of spina bifida.

The group is inviting any motorcyclists who wish to take part to come along and donate €20 towards the fund-raiser.

Any motorcyclist who would like to join in the run is asked to meet at the Mansion House in Dublin at 9.30am on Sunday, July 29.

The run will official-ly start at 11am with refreshments available on arrival to Tullamore.

Motor bike run for spina bifida

CHARITY



Antibiotic use must be curbed, says study� SUZANNE BYRNE

SCIENTISTS are call-ing on the government to step up their current campaign to curb the use of antibiotics in humans and animal healthcare.

According to an Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (EPA)-funded report detailing new links between water quality and health, the problem of antibiotic resistant bac-teria has become increas-ingly widespread.

The study, Enhancing Human Health through Improved Water Quality, demonstrates the extent to which acquired anti-microbial resistance in E. coli and Enterococci bacteria has spread in Ireland’s water sources.

Lead author of the

study Professor Mar-tin Cormican told the Gazette the health risk lay in the fact that these bacteria, which live in humans and used to be sensitive to antibiotics – had now become resist-ant – primarily due to the overuse of antibiotics.

These bacteria are then spread between humans and animals through contaminated water sources – as well as other inter-animal contact, and can turn up in others that have not been on courses of antibiotics – thus accel-erating their spread.

The study further details the potential role of intensive health care settings, such as hospi-tals as a focus for phar-maceutical and bacterial contaminants.

The hospital super-bug MRSA is a strain of bacteria that has become resistant to conventional antibiotics.

Among the report’s key findings is a connection between heavy rainfall and sudden changes in water quality – as bacte-rial contamination gets washed into groundwater from farm sources and septic tanks.

Researchers have also stressed how poorly-protected wells or water treatment facilities can have an adverse impact on the health of families and business owners.

In light of this, the report recommends the classification of water sources to highlight those at risk.

It further advises the

implementation of a total quality management sys-tems approach to water treatment plants, where operational failure is identified as a major risk.

During the period of the study, some rural populations were exposed to piped water that was substantially contaminated with fae-ces all of the time, with the additional problem of exposure to E. coli that had an array of acquired antimicrobial resistance mechanisms.

It noted in this regard however, that overall improvement in drinking water quality was reported in the recent EPA report The Provision and Qual-ity of Drinking Water in Ireland – a Report for the Year 2010.

Capital comes up roses in garden world

TOP 100 Author updates guide to our horticultural gems

� SUZANNE BYRNE

WICKLOW may be the Garden County – but Dublin’s gardens are still among the best in the country.

That’s according to writer Shirley Lanigan, who’s just published an updated edition of her book, The 100 Best Gar-dens in Ireland.

Airfield Garden in Dundrum, Ardgillan Demesne in Skerries and Dillon Garden in Rane-lagh all make the grade

in her 100 best list, which has now been made available as a pocket guide for wandering gar-den enthusiasts.

The latest edition explores the history of Ireland’s gardens, their design, flora, fauna and

includes interviews with owners, curators and gardeners themselves.

It’s also a great guide to practical information on fees and opening hours and quite simply bursts with information on the cornucopia of horticul-tural gems just waiting to be dug up.

Speak ing to the G a z e t t e , L a n i g a n explained her idea of what made a garden truly great.

“My favourite gardens are big wandering ones

where you can get lost. “Where you actually

have to sort of turn left and right and go down laneways and tunnels. For me, they’re the Mecca of great gardens,” she said.

“There’s an untam-edness about the best of Irish gardens, they always give you the feel-ing it sort of happened by mistake.

“I think it’s because of all the rain our gardens tend to be extremely lush

and it’s easy for an Irish garden to develop a jun-gle-like feel – unlike Brit-ish gardens where they go in for much more for-mality that’s more man-nered and hemmed in. Ireland’s a bit scruffier,” she said.

Explaining how she drew up the list, Lani-gan said she initially made her selection from memory and experi-ence and then revisited the gardens. Some still made the grade – and

Dublin’s gardens are still among the best in the country, according

to writer Shirley Lanigan (left)

some didn’t. “What I like now is the

wall-planting. There’s a lot of good design now, using the walls of a new buildings as a vertical build – it gives you the chance to let plants look as if they have the upper hand.”

Of the Dublin gardens on her list, she said the Dillon garden was a par-ticular wonder.

“It’s one woman and her husband’s garden. There’s this most extraor-

dinarily beautiful garden behind their home. She really is an amazing woman with plants.”

As for the ideal recipi-ent of the book, Lanigan said: “Anyone who likes to go out for a drive. Very often, you’ll pick one or two things. Though you’d be hard pressed to repro-duce them.

“But we can all dream,” she said.

The 100 Best Gardens in Ireland is published by Liberties Press.


CHAMPIONSHIPS 350 sailors set compass for title success

Sailing elite to drop anchor in Dun Laoghaire� SUZANNE BYRNE

THE cream of the world’s young sailors are set to drop anchor in Dun Laoghaire this week as the borough plays host to the International Sail-ing Federation’s (ISAF) World Youth Sailing Championships.

Dubbed the Youth Olympics of Sailing, the event is taking place in Ireland for the first time in its 42-year history at locations across Dun Laoghaire Harbour and Dublin Bay between July 13 and 20.

The 350 budding sea-farers, all aged between 16 and 19, are represent-ing 63 flags from across

six continents.Accompanied by 120

coaches, they will sail 250 boats across five classes in their race for the eight available world titles.

Brian Craig, who’s chairing the event, told the Gazette the organ-ising committee first made its application to host the championships back in 2008 and faced stiff competition from six other countries.

The key factor in their successful bid, he believes, was that Dun Laoghaire “had it all”: “A marina, plenty of hotels, a yacht club – all within short walking distance – while other venues may have had two of these,

but not a third.”Organisers hope the

championships wil l bring €5 million into the local economy with 100,000 visitors expected to attend over the dura-tion.

Along with the com-petitive events, the week-long championships, sponsored by Four Star Pizza, will double up as a music and cultural fes-tival, offering visitors the chance to peruse market stalls, enjoy street music and take in the bracing sea air on a trip around Dublin Bay.

The opening ceremo-ny takes place on July 13 at 7.30pm and will be addressed by Tanaiste

The cream of the world’s young sailors are set to drop anchor in Dun Laoghaire for the International Sailing

Federation’s (ISAF) World Youth Sailing Championships

and local TD Eamon Gilmore (Lab), Cathao-irleach Cllr Tom Joyce (FG) and ISAF President Goran Petersson at the Harbour.Plaza.

The welcoming of the teams will be followed by the ceremonial raising of the championships flag and the mixing of the waters brought from the homelands of the 63

competing nations.The ISAF World Sail-

ing Championships have long provided the world with its first glimpse of future sailing stars and Olympians – with 15 of the competitors who won medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games past medallists at the youth champion-ships.

Expected to top the medal table this year are the French, New Zealanders, Americans, English and Spanish – although local girl Sophie Murphy from the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire is thought to be in the running in her category, the Laser Radial Girls.

The week’s events will

conclude with a fire-works display which will crown the closing cer-emony.

After the medals are awarded, the official flag will be lowered in readi-ness to be handed over to Cyprus who host the event next year.

For further information on the events logon to http://www.dlrcoco.ie/

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GazetteBEAUTYBEAUTY Edited by Laura Webb

GETTING the perfect smile could take just one day, thanks to a revolutionary treatment by a Blackrock clinic.

Seapoint Clinic launched a brand new product that will revo-lutionise treatment for denture wearers or those with broken or missing teeth.

Teeth in a Day is a clinically proven prod-uct that allows patients to have their smile transformed in one day.

This clinic is the only clinic in Ireland offering this treatment, which is proving quite popular in the UK and USA.

Typically, when a patient decides to have implants to replace missing or decayed teeth they could be waiting six months, and have to wear temporary dentures in the interim, causing discomfort and unease. This new procedure means that appointments which normally take place over a six month period are condensed into one visit.

For further infor-mation and prices at Seapoint Clinic check out on www.seapoint-clinic.ie or phone 1800 92 7770.

Getting the perfect smile in just a day

Fashion week celebrates four unknown stylists

Trendsetters Gavin Norton, Leanne Woodfull, Laura O’Brien and Roisin Flanagan (top) and their creations

THE finale of eBay Online Fashion Week ended on a high thanks to

four unknown stylists who were chosen to style the end of week catwalk show, Ireland’s first eBay fashion show at Smock Alley Theatre.

Leanne Woodfull , Gavin Norton, Laura O’Brien and Roisin Flan-agan were handpicked by TV personality fashion guru Darren Kennedy, founder of helpmystyle.ie.

The four young stylists were given the chance to showcase their style ideas by creating three of this summer’s hottest trends for the catwalk show.

The trends included sport luxe, printastic and tea party. Each stylist used clothes from eBay’s fashion gallery.

Gavin Norton’s take on preppy chic for men combined varsity jackets with bow-tie suits and mixed a patterned slim fitting trouser (€31) with a cardigan (€22) – add-ing a leather varsity jack-et to prep up this look (€46).

Laura O’Brien nailed the tea party look keep-

ing it feminine and sweet. One of her looks show-cased a cute yet styl-ish peter pan-collared, orange polka dot dress (€22) teamed perfectly with a flower headband (€7) to give it that sum-mer chic feel.

A printastic themed look by Leanne Woodfull stuck to the brief by high-lighting a Versace print shirt (€42). She themed the amazing summer printed shirt with retro denim shorts (€12) and a simple black belt (€65). The printed scarf used as a headband, added to the look giving it a real 80s feel.

Roisin Flanagan made sports clothes look luxu-rious. One of her looks teamed a baseball vest (€31) with a black leather skirt (€22), turning a top usually associated with lounging around into a sport luxe statement piece.

Over 300 fashionista’s took to their seats at the finale show recently including make-up artist Joanne Larby and Kellie Dalton of Burberry.

Not only did the show delight the Irish audi-ence, but it was viewed


by thousands who watched through a live stream online from areas like Singapore, USA and Italy.

Commenting on the event, eBay’s Laura Wilkinson said “eBay.

ie’s Online Fashion Week celebrated every-thing about Irish fashion and enabled everyone to be involved. The fashion talks engaged the live and online audience with over 500 Twitter interac-

tions and questions post-ed to the industry insid-ers. Showcasing emerg-ing talent of Ireland’s upcoming stylists was a great end to the week.”

The upcoming styl-ists were applauded for

their work and looked like they were having the time of their life.

To watch any of the talks or the fashion show go to: http://www.you tube . com/use r /eBayIEofficial

Always be ‘photo ready’ with Revlon’s affordable foundationBE photo ready with Revlon’s afford-able foundation that is light enough, yet tough enough, to stay intact all day and night.

Whether you plan to stay in, or enjoy a night out on the town, Revlon’s PhotoReady make-up (€19.40) will stay on skin through even the hottest summer days and nights.

Tested under the harshest lights and high-definition camera lenses, the make-up provides poreless, air-brushed skin in any light. Accord-ing to its makers, the PhotoReady foundation contains “photochro-matic pigments that bend and reflect light to help erase any flaw”.

It also contains SPF 20, protecting the skin from sun damage.

This product is also extremely easy to apply, so anyone who doesn’t have a foundation brush will love this foundation. Just press the pump to disperse formula – two to three times is enough – then apply with fingertips. Start at the center of the face and blend out-wards. Once applied, users imme-diately notice the soft luminous finish. It’s fragrance and oil free. This product is available in four colours – Shell, Nude, Natural Beige and Cool Beige.

For anyone who might need a little help with a more even and

smooth complexion, then try Rev-lon’s PhotoReady primers. The Per-fecting Primer (€19) is for anyone who thinks pores and fine lines are an issue. It can be used alone for a more even and smooth complex-ion or as a great surface area for make-up application under Rev-lon’s PhotoReady foundation.

Anyone who wants to reduce the appearance of lines and creases on lids and under eyes should try the Revlon PhotoReady Eye Primer and Brightener (€14.80). It brightens the entire eye area and ensures eye shad-ows and concealers stay in place.

Meanwhile, Revlon are giving lips a burst of colour with their lip

butter. The ColourBurst lip butter (€11.25) softens and hydrates lips, which is a much needed ingredi-ent during warm weather and cold weather periods. This lip butter glides on easily and leaves lips with the great long-lasting colour. There are seven shades available includ-ing: Peach Parfait, Cotton Candy, Candy Apple, Tutti Frutti, Lollipop, Strawberry Shortcake and Sweet Tart. Test out the whole range and find the perfect colour to make the perfect pout. For the month of July, this product is reduced to €7 at participating stores.

Revlon products are available at pharmacies nationwide.

ColorBurst Lip Butter in Lollipop

PhotoReady Makeup in Shell

PhotoReady Eye Primer and Brightener

Tall Ships are coming

Lord Mayor of Dublin Naoise O Muiri (FG), Minister for Transport, Tourism and

Sport, Leo Varadkar, and ‘First Mate’ Keith Duffy at Grand Canal Square in Dublin

as they announce details of the The Tall Ships Races 2012

TO mark the first day of the International Tall Ships Races, “First Mate” Keith Duffy was joined recently at Grand Canal Square by Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar and Dublin’s newly elect-ed Lord Mayor Naoise O Muiri (FG).

The Bugle Babes, a 1940s-style vocal trio, provided the music as details were announced of the line-up for the cap-ital’s free four-day festival this August 23-26.

The fleet of 50 ships, which sets sail from St Malo, France, for the first race in the series, arrives into Dublin – final host port in the race – for what promises to be this summer’s biggest float-ing festival.

One of the most antic-ipated nautical events of the year, the Tall Ships Races 2012, which is supported by the Polish city of Szczecin and organised by Sail Train-

ing International, docks in Dublin on Thursday, August 23, when the city is expected to come alive with a festival atmos-phere both on and off the water.

Local organisers , Dublin City Council and Dublin Port Com-pany, are delighted that Dublin was chosen as the final host port for this year’s race and have programmed an impressive entertain-ment line-up to cater for all tastes.

Minister Leo Varadkar commented: “It’s great to see the Tall Ships Races back in Ireland again, following a highly successful visit last year. This fantastic event is set to attract thousands of people into the capital.

“It’s a rare opportunity to see so many of these great ships against Dub-lin’s striking city skyline. Events like this are very important for tourism

companies and I’d like to congratulate every-one involved in bringing it to Dublin. It’s fun, it’s free of charge and open to everyone.”

Over the week, there

will be music with Ash and the Undertones set to perform on the Bul-mers Music Stage along with other high-profile music acts as part of the spectacular free four-day

line-up. The Bulmer’s Music Stage will host a jam-packed line-up of performances from some of Ireland’s hottest upcoming acts to musi-cal stalwarts.


SNAPSHOT The local stories of the day

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GazetteBUSINESSBUSINESS

THE COMPLEX WORLD OF INVESTMENT: PART 2

Continued from last week’s Gazette Business

Keeping it simple therefore, uncluttered and easy

to understand is the key for the average investor.

What is also key is that changing nature of invest-

ment. Currently government bonds have been the

star performers over the last few volatile years.

However, they cannot continue to perform as they

have and therefore having the flexibility to be able

to swap into a different investment vehicle without

cost and without fuss is essential.

First things first – work out what is your attitude

to risk. On a scale of one to five, where one is lower

risk and five is higher risk, where are you ?

Once you have established this risk attitude,

then the choices become a little clearer. One option

launched recently is Standard Life’s MyFolio funds

where you simply choose between one of the five

funds that match five risk levels. Each fund is

designed to maximise potential returns within the

investor’s chosen risk level and is then monitored,

reviewed and actively managed by the investment

team in Standard Life.

Based on the same scale of one to five, each

MyFolio of multi-asset funds is risk based. Originally

launched in Britain over 20 months ago, the fund

has so far attracted over €1b with 40% invested in

the MyFolio 3 (the balanced choice) and c. 20% each

in the MyFolio 2 (lower to medium risk) and MyFo-

lio 4 (medium to higher risk). Annual management

charges range from 1.15% for model 1 to 1.35% for

model 5 and for those wanting to see precisely the

make up of every investment in these models, you

can access the factsheets on www.standardlife.ie or

email me for the factsheets.

This type of investment is not suitable for those

investors who do not wish to take any risk on their

money.

� Contact John with your money questions at

[email protected] or visit his website at

www.moneydoctor.ie. John Lowe, Fellow of the

Institute of Bankers, is founder and managing

director of Money Doctor

DAVID “Warren” Venter has been in love with hairdressing since 1985, and says that the one thing he loves the best is the ever-changing trends and interesting people he meets.

He says: “It never gets boring. Over the years, I have worked on photo shoots, fashion shows and TV productions. I have worked for a leading hair care company as an educator.

“If I had to sum up all my experience in one word, it would be the word that I start all my training with, and that word is: Lis-ten.”

David adds: “When you listen to the wants and needs of the client – and I mean really listen – the client will tell you all you need to know to meet all of her or his requirements.”

On building up an extremely successful business and name, he says: “I have been in Ireland for 11 years now, and I have embraced this opportunity [to establish my business] with both hands.

“[For our clients], a good experience and advice is what I base my career on.

“As well as good hairdressing, I will be offering a range of beauty services.”

Interview: David ‘Warren’ Venter, owner, David Warren Hair And Beauty, Kinsealy

Q&A

Listening to what the client wants

Known as ‘Warren’, South African David Venter has established himself as a leading name in

hairdressing and is also diversifying into beauty services too

Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be?A: A postman, because post-

men could ride on the bus for

free

Q: What was your first job?A: After two years in the South

African army I started hair-

dressing

Q: And your first pay cheque?A: Although it’s all relative,

my first pay cheque was €6 a

month

Q: Have you ever done a job you loathed?A: No.

Q: When did you start your present job?A: I started hairdressing in

1985

Q: What is the best thing about your job?A: Making a client feel and

look good

Q: What part of your working day do you delegate?A: Where possible, answering

the phone

Q: What sport do you follow?A: What’s that?

Q: What sport can you play?A: As a challenge, I was told

to bounce a golf ball off a tree

on the other side of the field,

which I did on the first swing.

I think I am a natural.

Q: What is your guilty music/TV or movie pleasure?A: Classical music, and horror

movies, all the way

Q: Who best represents mod-ern Ireland – David Norris or Jedward?A: David Norris, of course

Q: What music/pictures/mov-

ies do you have on your iPod/iPad?A: A serious mixture of music

for me: Rory Gallagher, Lady

Gaga, Madonna, Tony Bennett

– you name it, I’ve got it

Q: Who do you follow on Twit-ter/Facebook?A: Lady Gaga. I love the looks.

Proof that changing the way

you look and dress changes the

way people see you.

Q: What was your last Tweet/status update?A: Sanctuary Hair and Beauty

all the way

Q: Describe your dream meal?A: Pasta all the way

Q: Who would you rather have dinner with – Enda Kenny or Dame Edna?A: Dame Edna – because she

is real

Q: Where do you enjoy spend-ing money frivolously?A: Shoe and stationery shops

Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?A: Last count, including slip-

pers – about 106. (I have a

thing...)

Q: What was your worst holi-day experience?A: None at all. I try to make

the best of every situation.

Q: Describe your dream holiday?A: Going to South Africa to see

my family, who I haven’t seen

for about eight years

Q: What would be your dream job?A: I have my dream job

Q: What do you plan to do when you retire?A: Look for a job ...

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS A D V E R T I S E W I T H T H E G A Z E T T E C A L L 6 0 1 0 24 0

LOCALMATTERS

Q: And your firsA: Although it’s

my first pay ch

month

Q: Have you evyou loathed?A: No.

Q: When did yopresent job?A: I started hair

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SUMMERSUMMERHOME & ABROAD.....FOR ALL THE FAMILY

Summer sale offers even more reasons for a car-cationKIDS will go half-price this summer with Stena Line, which have launched a summer sale offer-ing families even more reasons to enjoy a car-cation this summer.

This latest offer is available on all crossings with Ireland’s leading ferry company, from both Dublin Port to Holyhead and Rosslare to Fish-guard, with children travelling from only €8.50 for a single fare. Children apply to 15 years and younger, while infants travel for free.

This offer is available on travel up until August 31 when booked by July 12, and fares are subject to availability. For further information on the lat-est sale offers, click on www.stenaline.ie, call 01 204 7777, or visit your local travel agent.

Enjoy a weekend of wellbeing and escape to County CarlowIF THERE has ever been an excuse to escape the daily duties of everyday life, it appears Sand-brook House in Co Carlow may be just that.

The period country home has come up with the ideal break away with a weekend of well-be-ing this August, where you are invited to stretch, strengthen and meditate your way to pure relax-ation with sessions of yoga, pilates and medita-tion in the stunning Carlow setting.

From August 17 to 19, Sandbrook House are hosting a Wellness Retreat in the tranquil and picturesque surroundings. Set on 25 acres of mature parkland, it is the ideal place to forget the stresses of daily life.

As well as classes given by talented instruc-tor Rachel Gaffey, founder of MyWellbeing.ie, guests will also enjoy breakfast, lunch and evening meals packed with home-cooked, local, organic vegetarian food and a cookery demon-stration full of delicious recipes that will help you to maintain your healthy lifestyle at home.

To take a proper weekend break and retreat to Sandbrook House, call Rachel Gaffey on 086 845 3864 or visit www.sandbrook.ie

FastTravel

SPAIN: THE DELIGHTFUL COSTA DAURADA IS A FAMILY FAVOURITE

HOLIDAYMAKERS have been flocking to Spain from Dublin, and the island of Ireland, for many years now, with a holiday in Spain still delighting families and holidaymakers of all ages.

With so many sun-drenched beaches, his-toric cities, cultural sites and remarkable scenery to take in, some holi-daymakers might almost fear they have too much choice when trying to find a great holiday in Spain.

However, one thing is for certain – with so many

wonderful resorts and regions to visit, you’re vir-tually guaranteed of hav-ing a wonderful holiday, whatever part of Spain you visit.

Catalonia remains one of Spain’s most popular regions for Irish holiday-makers – and with good reason, given the area’s mixture of sights and resorts.

Catalonia’s Costa Dau-rada (literally,“the golden coast”) is a particularly family-friendly destina-tion that has become increasingly popular with Irish holidaymakers, with families comprising 60%

of visitors to the region.Hotels there are par-

ticularly in tune with family needs, with hotels and restaurants offering high chairs and nappy-changing tables.

The area’s leisure options are endless, and include a wide range of facilities to help visitors enjoy the perfect day at the beach, from children’s play areas to the sand itself, with such delights as outdoor libraries to relax with a good book, or shops renting equip-ment for water sports.

The Costa Daurada’s natural resources mean

visitors can go for relax-ing strolls or bring the kids for one of the area’s many exciting excur-sions.

There are also a wide range of activities and adventure sports for young people, helping to cement the area’s appeal for visitors of all ages.

A l l s e r v i ce s a re designed with families in mind, meaning that the resulting accommoda-tion venues, restaurants, infrastructure and theme parks will guarantee that a family stay in Costa Daurada is set to be the most pleasurable family

experience of the year.So, for golden memo-

ries, and for a wonderful holiday in Spain, whether for a first-time or experi-enced visitor alike, the Costa Daurada promises you a wonderful holiday.

For further information on the Costa Daurada, and on one of Spain’s most enchanting regions, as well as information on hotels and activities, see www.costadaurada.info, www.costadauradae-vents.com or www.ter-resdelebre.travel (select-ing the English language site versions, where nec-essary).

Make golden memories

Whether travelling alone or with your loved ones, the Costa Daurada – “the golden coast” – is an increasingly popular Spanish treasure

Tipp has it all for a top trip away from the city� DAVE PHILLIPS

THERE seems to be a predisposition towards heading for the sea when

GLEN OF AHERLOW: ENJOY THE FRIENDLY AND INVITING ATMOSPHERE

Enjoy a couple’s break away in magnificent Cavan

GETAWAYS! Enjoy a couple’s break

SUMMERSUMMER

Tipperary’s Glen of Aherlow offers stunning views and fantastic walking trails and the Aherlow House Hotel (right)


ENJOY a child free zone with a Couple’s Retreat at Radisson Blu Farnham Estate, Cavan, this sum-mer. Located in the heart of a magnificent estate just 3km from Cavan town, the Radisson Blu Farnham Estate is a contemporary and stylish hotel, full of country charm and character, surrounded by natu-ral beauty among acres of rolling countryside.

To enjoy a break away this summer, the Radis-son Blu is offering the Ultimate Couple’s Package with spa treatments and lunch as well as one night’s accommodation. Start the experience with a gom-mage marine scrub on the hamman table before a relaxing hydrotherapy bath to leave you refreshed and relaxed. Next, you will both enjoy the serial mud chamber, where you are covered in mud as the chamber gradually warms.

As the mud dries, it removes toxins from the skin. Steam then gently fills the chamber to soften the mud, before a warm shower is dispensed from the ceiling to wash away the mud, leaving your skin feeling luxuriously soft and smooth. Complete this wonderful experience with a massage each side by side. The Couple’s Retreat includes overnight luxury accommodation and super buffet breakfast from €210 per person sharing midweek/€235.00 per person sharing at weekends. For more informa-tion or to book, visit www.farnhamestate.ie or call 049 4377700.

looking for an escape from the city.

Perhaps the attrac-tion is part and parcel of being an island nation; or maybe it is down to the fact that for many people, the quaint coastal towns and villages of the West offer the kind of low-key, slow-living comforts that can’t be found in the city.

Until recently, I was part of the drove that left the inland counties largely unexplored in my quest for a country break, but after stumbling upon Tipperary’s Glen of Aher-low, I’m a card-carrying convert.

Set between the Galtee Mountains and Slievena-much in South Tipper-ary, the Glen of Aherlow is just a short trip off the M8, making it a relatively painless journey from Dublin.

We’d arranged to stay at the Aherlow House Hotel, which with its ivy-laden exterior and overflowing flower bas-

kets, comfortably melds into the lush green sur-rounds. As well as a large restaurant and bar, the hotel offers self-catering options in purpose-built lodges, making it a popu-lar wedding venue.

Located on the cusp of the Glen of Aherlow Nat-ural Park, it’s also a top spot for walkers, acting as a great base for the more challenging peaks of the Galtees, as well as for the multitude of gentler loop walks.

If putting your feet up is more appealing than putting them into boots, you won’t be disappoint-ed. The hotel is charming and the abundant little touches – freshly baked cakes along with the newspapers in the room – go to show that real effort has been made to facilitate a relaxing expe-rience.

Gastronomically, Aher-low House Hotel is spe-cial. The recently recruit-ed head chef, Jose Vega,

has brought culinary flair honed in his native France to locally pro-cured produce. The result is an amazing menu that is simultaneously elegant and earthy. Particularly tasty was the braised fil-let of Aherlow river trout, served with vegetables in a Sancerre butter sauce; and a wonderfully ten-der fillet of beef from the nearby Lewis farm.

After dinner we traded the mountain views of the Treetop Restaurant for the open fire and cosy confines of the Hunting Lodge Bar, which serves as a watering spot for both guests and the surround-ing community. As it was a Friday night, some of the locals were set up next to us for a small seisun. The relaxed atmosphere (and a Bulmers or two) had us pitching in on a few songs, after which we got talking to Michael Moroney, the Glen’s resident walking guide.

Having taken in an

early morning walk, we discovered the hotel can arrange plenty more activities, including fish-ing, golf trips, equestrian outings, heritage tours, or a trip to Mandy Parslow, the local potter. Aherlow House Hotel is full of character and characters.

Outdoor enthusi-asts will be in their ele-ment; food-lovers will be intensely satisfied; history and heritage buffs will enjoy its close proximity to Cashel and Cahir cas-tle, as well as the multi-tude of smaller glimpses of history that can be gleaned from the area.

Maybe it’s down to the stunning location, or perhaps it’s that sense of community pride seeping into everything that hap-pens at Aherlow House Hotel – whatever the cause, you’re bound to enjoy the honest, friendly and inviting atmosphere.

For rates and specials see: www.aherlowhouse.ie

Get more from your pilgrimage � NATALIE BURKE

FOR anyone interested in adding a little extra to the run-of-the-mill pil-grimage, Joe Walsh Tours Pilgrimage and Sun Holi-days are offering you the chance to not only soak up the unique atmos-phere and spirituality found in the ever popular shrines of Italy’s San Gio-vanni Rotondo and Ben-evento, Portugal’s Fatima or Medjugorje in Bosnia Herzegovina, but also to embrace the sunshine and

� NATALIE BURKE

FROM the tropical sands of Thailand to exclusive shopping in Dubai, Trav-elmood are giving you the chance to explore some of the world’s most beautiful locations this summer while staying in top class resorts around the globe.

Stay in the three-star Golden Sands Apart-ments in Dubai for five nights from only €693 per person.

Placed at the heart of fashionable Bur Dubai, visit the exclusive shop-ping malls, the Dubai Museum, the fashion-able night spots and the new Metro Junction.

Departing from Dub-lin on September 7, the price includes return f l ights , f ive nights ’ accommodation on a B&B basis, taxes and charges.

Visit the four-star Viva Wyndham Maya resort in Mexico for seven nights on an all

inclusive basis from just €935 per person.

Be immersed in pris-tine beaches and coral reefs while being just five minutes from bars, restaurants and the shops of Playa del Car-men.

Departing from Dub-lin on December 6, prices include return f lights, seven nights’ accommodation, taxes and charges.

Relax at the five-star Anantara Resort and Spa in Thailand for seven nights on a B&B basis, followed by the four-star Bel-Aire Prin-cess for three nights on a B&B basis from only €999 per person.

The luxurious seclu-sion of the Anantara Hua Hin Resort is rem-iniscent of an ancient Thai village, surrounded by tropical gardens and private beaches as well as being just a short dis-tance from Hua Hin’s best golf courses and the lively town centre.

Top class destinationsTRAVELMOOD: BEAUTIFUL LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE

Departing from Dub-lin on September 6, pric-es include return flights, 10 nights’ accommoda-tion, taxes and charges.

The final offer invites you to stay at the four-star Cape Town Ritz Hotel for seven nights B&B for just €999 per person.

T h e p r i c e a l s o includes return flights, taxes and charges and departs from Dublin on November 2.

Stay at the modern Ritz resort, just 300m from the beach.

Dine at The Top of the Ritz, Cape Town’s only revolving restaurant and consider the option of adding a unique Safari experience to your trip.

For more information on these offers or to book, visit www.travel-mood.ie, call their team on 01 4331020 or visit the Travelmood store in Duke Street, Dublin 2.

Antara Resort and Spa

Kevin’s class gets him to top: New head chef at Herbert Park HotelKEVIN Ramen, has been recently promoted to head chef at the four-star Herbert Park Hotel, Ballsbridge. Kevin is originally from Mauritius and has worked at Herbert Park Hotel since 2006. He had previously worked in various hotels in Mauritius before moving to Ireland.

local cultures in the idyl-lic coastal settings of Alba Adriatica, Sorrento, Lis-bon Coast or Dubrovnik.

The unique combina-tion of a religious and sun holiday allows you to spend three or four days

on a peaceful pilgrimage before moving on to a calming holiday by sandy, sun soaked beaches.

Departures from Dub-lin this summer include a four-night pilgrimage in Fatima, followed by three nights in Estoril at €649 per person, leaving Dublin on July 26, August 23 or August 30 for seven nights. The pilgrimage from Dublin departing on August 31 includes a one night stay at Benevento, three nights in San Gio-vanni Rotondo and three

GETAWAYS! SUMMERSUMMER22 GAZETTE 12 July 2012

St James’s Church,

Medjugorje

nights in Sorrento, priced at €824 per person plus tax, while the pilgrimage departing on September 17 will take you to Alba Adriatica for four nights and to San Giovanni Rotondo for three nights. The seven night trip is €784 per person plus tax.

All prices include direct flights with Aer Lingus from Dublin, one stand-ard piece of check-in lug-gage subject to airline’s conditions, all transfers and tours by luxury air-conditioned coach, a full religious programme and services of a Joe Walsh Tours representative throughout the tour.

For further information, visit www.joewalshtours.ie or call 01 241 0800.

12 July 2012 CLONDALKIN GAZETTE 23Commercial Feature

Summer Family Holidays at The 5*Heritage Golf & Spa ResortLOTS of FREE 5* Fam-ily Fun. Pack your bags & head to The Heritage Resort for your family Staycation Vacation!

Book your August 3 night Family break with The Resort by July 20th and stay a 4th night for FREE and also receive a complimentary fam-ily pass to The National Stud & Gardens. (T&C apply).

The resort offers a pic-turesque setting, comfort-able surroundings and spacious family & inter-connecting guestrooms, self catering apartments, Kids Club Fun Club, health club with leisure

pool, a choice of restau-rants, championship golf course, world class spa and an abundance of on-site & nearby activities.

With a variety of Sum-mer Breaks to choose from your will be sure to find what you are looking for.

A three night stay with breakfast in a family gue-

stroom with family din-ner in the Arlington res-taurants on one evening starts from only €290per adult sharing (based on two adults & 2 children sharing).

A two night self catering break in a two-bedroom penthouse apartment overlooking the champi-onship golf course with

access to all resort facili-ties start from €540 per apartment per stay (maxi-mum 2 adults & 3 chil-dren per apartment).

Your family will be spoilt for choice with the selection of on site activities. The popular Kids Club Fun Club runs each week (Mon to Sat) up to the 28th August 2012 where the little ones can enjoy Arts & Crafts Classes, Fun Fit, Giant Games, Basketball, Table Tennis, Bouncy Castle & Hip Hop Dance. Tennis Court, Family Movies, Fishing, wii room, walking track & much more!

Just a short drive from

the Resort, families can explore a range of fun-filled days out including; the National Stud & Japanese Gardens, Outlet Shopping at Kildare Vil-lage, Lullymore Heritage Park, Emo Court, Pet Farm along with explor-ing the wild & wonderful Laois Countryside and nearby horse-riding.

Nestled in the beauti-ful countryside of Co. Laois, the Resort is only an hours drive from Dub-lin City and 45 minutes from the M50 making it’s a hassle free staycation! To book & enquire please call 057 8645500, www.theheritage.com


Sisters are doing itJack (Mark Duplass) learns a harsh lesson when the two ladies say that they are “fine”.

GoingOUT

GazetteENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

Carefully constructed, tenderly performed and well-written, Your Sister’s Sister just never catches fire

�

� PAUL HOSFORD

YOU don’t get a lot for $120,000 these days.

The moderate sum is barely enough to fund a purchase at a distress auction, never mind a film that would cap-ture the imagination the week that Spider-Man swings back into action.

That is the challenge set for Your Sister’s Sister, the follow-up to Lynn Shelton’s Hump-day, which was one of the finest comedy dra-mas of recent years.

In that f i lm, two men drunkenly agree to make an adult film together and are faced with the prospect of going through with it because of their male pride.

In this film, Shelton has brought Humpday star Mark Duplass back, but left the naughtiness behind.

She instead has made

a very similar film, but for women.

Instead of pornog-raphy, male pride and machismo, the issues of sibling relationships, love and who can or cannot make a good parent.

All in all, it is refresh-ing film-making in that it’s made for very little, but still manages to be engaging in a way that many big-budget films are not.

But, coming af ter such a film as Hump-day, it almost feels like a let-down.

Although Humpday was not Shelton’s debut,

this film feels like the quintessential “difficult second album” in that it tries to hit the same notes as its predeces-sor when a unique take would be more wel-come.

This is less Neon Bible than it is whatever The Darkness’ second album was called.

Actually, compar-ing the film with The Darkness is unfair as it is credible, likeable and put together by extreme-ly talented people who all seem lovely.

Loveliest of them all is Emily Blunt, current-ly stretching her main-

stream legs in The Five Year Engagement.

Here, Blunt plays Iris, who in an effort to help her best friend Jack out of mourning for his brother, suggests he take a trip to her par-ents’ secluded cabin.

There, he stumbles across Iris’s lesbian sister Hannah. A night of drunken passion between the two trig-gers an unexpected entanglement of rela-tionships when Iris suddenly arrives at the cabin the next day.

From there, the film becomes an interesting and somewhat caus-tic look at what makes relationships tick and, honestly, whether men and women can ever be truly just friends.

Although the cast is experienced and likea-ble, the film just fails to fire. Whereas Humpday felt like its 90 minutes sped through, there is the sense that every

sinew is being strained to haul Your Sister’s Sis-ter to the finish line.

When it is good, how-ever, it is very good, and when Shelton is on form, there aren’t many directors who capture the human condition as readily.

At the heart of it all, comes Shelton’s seem-ingly unshakable faith in people. She genu-inely seems to like her characters, f laws and all.

Shelton gives Duplass, star of the criminally overlooked The League, the best lines and he seems as close to a muse as the director has, but DeWitt and Blunt carry a neat three-hander to its inevitable, and well-telegraphed conclu-sion.

It won’t change lives, but this is neatly posi-tioned counter-pro-gramming to the span-dex, swinging and web-shooting.

FILM OF THE WEEK: Your Sister’s Sister�� (15) 90 mins

OUR VERDICT:IT’S a good film. There is no doubt about that. But, and it’s hard to put my finger on why, it just doesn’t feel complete. It’s a well-told, interesting story and a neat look at a very complex set of relationships and some deeply flawed people. Shelton deserves credit for her writing, but the third act lets the film down.

Director: Lynn Shelton Starring: Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Birbiglia

THE PAVILION THEATRE 01 231 2929Singing Nina

SINGING Nina is the fabulous new show brought to you by the Chicago Jazz Queen, Karen Underwood and her band. Karen brings to you in narration and song the engrossing life story of the great legend Nina Simone, from her struggle against racism and exile from her homeland to her flamboyant and troubled relationships and her poignant life. Karen sings all the classic Nina songs, Mississippi Goddamn, Sinnerman and My Baby supported by a live band. For one show only, July 13 at 8pm, tickets are priced at €18/16.

MILL THEATRE 01 296 9340 Somewhere under the Rainbow

THIS award winning, one woman, musical theatre extravaganza has captured audiences around the country. Now, in preparation for the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Biscuits for Breakfast are delighted to bring “Liza” to the Mill Theatre for one more performance before she leaves these shores. Sharon Sexton’s Liza recounts stories, memories and secrets that make up a fascinating career and an even more intriguing personal life. As she belts her way through Minnelli’s infamous song book, the audience are invited beyond the footlights. July 14 at 8pm. Admission: €20.

CIVIC THEATRE 01 462 7477Johnnie’s Britches

BEEZNEEZ, the popular company that brought you Tuesdays with Morrie and Don’t Dress for Dinner return to the Civic with a lovely old Irish comedy, Johnnie’s Britches. A runaway, nationwide hit when first produced in the 1940s, Beezneez bring their distinctive production values to this gentle comedy of another time. Anxious to be rid of their accident prone servant girl, Ned and Bridget are willing to allow her to be married to almost anybody, including Johnnie. July 13 and 14 at 8pm. Admission: €20/16.

DRAIOCHT 01 885 2622The Connect Club 2012

THIS July, Draíocht is delighted to be back, once again, working with the Daughters of Charity’s Summer Camp The Connect Club in Laurel Lodge. The summer camp is filled with social and recreational activities catering for young people with varying degrees of intellectual disability, with the aim of providing an outlet that is fun and focused on the individual’s likes and interests.

GazetteGAMINGGAMING

� SHANE DILLON

I NOTICED this week that one of gaming’s Grand Old Men – in the grizzled, scarred, battle-weary and cynical form of Solid Snake, chief protagonist of the end-lessly-reinventing, multi-platform and cross-genre Metal Gear series – is now 25 years old.

Well, I mean, the series is now that old, but Snake himself is much older, as befitting someone who’s been around the block in his day.

That “day” has jumped around, with Snake’s adventures playing out in eras ranging from the 1960s to the present day, through contemporary settings with wildly dif-ferent global politics at play to slightly-futuristic places with impossible tech and gadgets.

A true cross-platform character, Snake’s been caught up in the coldest of Cold War realpolitik scenarios; fought fringe terrorist groups that were backed covertly by global superpowers;

tackled paranoia and rogue international agen-cies attempting to sub-vert political processes; uncovered – and buried – bizarre secrets at one hid-den base or secret loca-tion after another; saved the world, lost allies and fought former comrades – you name it, Snake has wiggled his way through one high-stakes drama after another.

Although largely pre-sented as a curious blend of James Bond, Snake Plissken, Robert Fisk and a masterless samurai,

Although Solid Snake’s adventures in the Metal Gear series have taken him around the world and through

several decades, Snake – and his younger self (inset) – has always been wearily fighting what amounts to

the same battle, as he has fought against Man’s casual willingness to corrupt, rule and destroy others ...

Bytesandpieces

Snake keeps growing

LEST readers think that picking up any of the Metal Gear games is about as light-hearted as a three-hour lecture on Middle-East politics, the series has always had a dash of pure slapstick, such as in its brilliantly daft idea for camouflage – the cardboard box.

Yes indeed, when patrolling a top-secret military base full of guards on high alert, mere hours before an illic-it nuclear launch is due against the world’s main cities, every self-respect-ing master infiltrator needs the perfect fools-everybody disguise: an ordinary cardboard box to hide under.

Simply by slipping a cardboard box over his head, and then inching/dart-ing around playing the old “Huh? Did something just move?” game with con-fused nearby guards, Snake is gener-ally able to sneak on by.

True, my attempts to sneak around, and then out of The Gazette an hour or two early in this fashion haven’t quite worked out as well, but it remains a fondly-remembered gaming sight to see, regardless.

Boxing clever with a brilliantly daft camouflage idea


A spacewalk could be a cake walkHERE’S one of those “Ronseal” IOS games – you know, they do exactly what it says on the tin or, more exactly, what the title says – in the form of Astronaut Spacewalk.

Here, a deep-sea diver has 24 hours to uncover a global conspiracy involving cats, a secret Soviet undersea base, a rusty codex from 1640 and a deadly female French assassin who –

Nah, only kidding – it really is just what the title suggests, as you take an astronaut on a spacewalk through a variety of orbital missions.

It’s a pretty simple idea, yet executed with style and, um, precision. Precision? Yes, indeed, as pre-cision is key to the title, as you guide an astronaut on their spacewalk by tapping to release just the right amounts of gas, while considering your direc-tion and inertia, as well as suit power reserves.

After all, one wrong tap in the wrong direction could send you drifting serenely towards, say, Madagascar on the planet below – and your cer-tain death, helplessly following a trajectory away from the space shuttle docking bay.

A neat little title executed with flair, Astronaut Spacewalk is available on iTunes.

Snake has remained one of gaming’s most com-plex, yet popular, char-acters.

This, despite the Metal Gear games’ tendencies to practically slap play-ers about the head with political commentary as the game plays out.

For example, one moment could find Snake creeping through the engine room of a hijacked container ship carrying biological bombs deep into the heart of a bustling city – the next, a 20-minute cut-scene could play out, as Snake, and others, discuss over his radio link European foreign policies in the 1970s, and the complex ties between the military, commercial and political wings of, say, China.

At least you c a n a l w ay s count on regu-lar breaks to go and make a cuppa, then.

It’s all pretty far-out, head-s c r a t ch -

ingly complex (and, quite simply, frequently daft) stuff, and can feel more like an abstract com-mentary on global poli-tics, and The Way Things Work, than being just, you know, a game.

All of this heavy-hitting wackiness has largely been down to the leg-endary figure of Hideo Kojima, the singularly-fo-cused figure who’s driven Snake, and sidekicks, on across the years, with each new adventure becoming increasingly out-there.

Still, Snake’s adven-tures have remained high-ly popular, as Kojima-san has always driven the games along with plenty of conventional gaming tropes, from stealth sec-tions to all-out blazing action set-pieces.

While occasionally irritatingly dense to wade through, as well as cover-ing stuff that even a con-spiracy theorist would roll his eyes at, here’s hoping that Snake’s maverick adventures in the Metal Gear universe keep grow-ing for many more years.

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DONABATE’S Pa t Doran played superbly but was just pipped at the semi-final stage of the ILGU Irish Senior women’s close cham-pionship at Bunclody Golf and Fishing Club last week.

P lay ing even tua l winner Helen Jones, from Strabane, she was undone on the 21st hole of her final four tie last Thursday to agonisingly miss out.

Jones had earlier pro-duced a stunning come-back. She was dormie two down against Doran but showed her true fighting spirit to win both the 17th and 18th with pars and bring the match down tie holes where she eventually won out on the 21st.

A round ear l i e r, Doran had knocked out defending champions Sheena McElroy, from Grange, who had put up a gallant defence of her title and a three in a

row record.Doran has been

knocking at the door in recent years and she maintained her compo-sure in an edgy match to win with a par on the 18th while McElroy found the water left of the home green.

McElroy had earlier dismissed Killarney’s Mary Geaney on an emphatic 6&5 scoreline to show she was in rude form.

The Island’s Gertie McMullen was another

GOLF: DORAN BRINGS MCELROY’S IRISH SENIOR CLOSE REIGN TO AN END IN BUNCLODY

Donabate’s Pat Doran reached the semi-final of this year’s Irish Seniors’ Close championship

Donabate woman reaches Senior Close final four

local golfer to traverse the competition in dra-matic fashion as she reached the quarter-fi-nals, too. There, she was one up against Portum-na’s Suzanne Corcoran playing the 18th but a

par from the Galway woman was enough to take the final hole and she birdied the first tie hole to win a semi-final berth.

Earlier in the com-peti t ion, McMullen

had beaten Headfort’s Pauline Walsh 4&3 and Adrienne Crowley, from Woodbrook, one up.

D u n L a o g h a i r e duo Marie Igoe and Niamh Giblin were also involved in the competi-

tion and made it safely through the first round.

Igoe bowed out to Jones in round two while Doran dismissed Giblin 4&3 in the third round of the competi-tion.

GazetteSPORTFEILE FEVER:FEILE FEVER:Dublin plays host toDublin plays host toannual U-14 festival annual U-14 festival of hurling of hurling Page 28 and 29Page 28 and 29



GazetteSportSportFeile fever descends on DublinT

HE annual Feile na nGael made its way to Dublin for the first time in over 30 years as over 3,000 hurlers, camogie players and hand-

ballers from around the country came to the capi-tal for one of the highlights of the GAA calendar. They competed in three days of competition at clubs around the city before taking part in social activities including a parade from Croke Park to O’Connell Street while Saturday saw the finals take place across the divisions in Croke Park and Par-nell Park.

Members of St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh were among huge crowds to gather in O’Connell St to support the Feile na nGael

The referee inspects the Newport team’s hurleys

Ballinteer St John’s camogie team enjoy the Bus Eireann Feile na nGael Parade from Croke Park through Dublin CityKilmacud Crokes in action against Buncrana in Silver Park

12 July 2012 CLONDLAKIN GAZETTE 29

parade. Pics: Martina McGilloway/ilivephotos.com

Ballyboden St Enda’s Eoin Featherstone and De La Salle’s Lee Wall in the division one hurling competition

The St Brigid’s handball team enjoy the parade

Lucan Sarsfields’ Emily McIntyre and Newport’s Ciara Floyd

The Clondalkin Youth Band lead teams down O’Connell Street

Handballers Hannah Dagg, Fiona Tully and Anna Ni Odhrain Ni Mhurchu Kilcormack/Killoughey in action

Stephen Smith and Thomas Donohoe

Dublin hurlers Peter Kelly and Johnny McCaffrey with Peter Flannery


GazetteSportSport


STEPHEN “The Rock” Ormond proved to the masses in York Hall, London that he is well capable of boxing with the best of them last Thursday, showing a fleet foot on his way to victory against Mickey Coveney, with the judg-es scoring unanimously for the Clondalkin man 100-92.

The victory came on the back of Ormond’s first career loss, a fight which was dragged into a brawl with Paul Appleby, in the contest for the Celtic Crown in March, and despite

the Irish super feath-erweight doing a lot of damage to his oppo-nent, Appleby clung on to claim a unanimous decision win.

ExhibitionThe Clondalkin pugil-

ist Ormond’s latest vic-tory was a real exhibi-tion, claiming every round as he won with real tenacity, showing great head movement and technical ability in a showdown that was a complete contrast to the primal performance put on against Appleby.

Fighting out of the Celtic Gym, it was plain to see that Ormond put

a lot of road work in, constantly moving and shooting a beautiful jab into the confused face of Coveney who couldn’t time the The Rock’s attacks throughout the contest.

Looking like he could have finished his oppo-nent at some stages of the ten round fight, Ormond backed off on a couple of occasions to prolong his dominant display, regardless of the fact that he previ-ously finished the same opponent in round 7, just over a year before in the Braehead Arena in Glasgow.

However, it may well

have been a conscious effort by the Dubliner to get some rounds under his belt with an eye on future meetings that could demand a similar showing when it comes to stamina, timing and efficiency.

ImaginationIt was a matter of

who out of the two had improved the most since their Glasgow show-down the previous year, and Ormond left noth-ing to the imagination when the bell sounded at the end of the tenth stanza.

Such a display could put the Irish man in the

mix for a run at a title and he will almost cer-tainly be setting himself amongst the division’s elite in the near future, with some names being uttered that would pit him against a British champion and pace set-ter.

With his career as a professional now span-ning over four years, seeing him fight in the quaint surrounding of the Gleneagle Hotel in Kilkenny to the big shows in the United States, before his return to the United Kingdom, Ormond, now 12-1-0, has a lot to look forward to.

Ormond marches onClondalkin man Stephen Ormond, left, continues to show his undoubted ability with a thumping win over Mickey Coveney

BOXING: THE ROCK COOKS UP ANOTHER UNANIMOUS TRIUMPH

Adamstown riding high in Leinster leaguesCLONDALKIN gymnasts Sophie Toomey and Zoe Taylor recently represented Dublin at the All-Ireland gymnastics finals 2012 held in Wex-ford and once again returned as medal winners.

The competition saw the best 200 gymnasts from all over Ireland come together to take part in this two-day event which finishes off the competition year for this discipline.

Toomey and Taylor took part in the extremely closely fought contest of the women’s grade two pairs and were thrilled to be placed in the bronze medal position.

The pair, who give up all their free time to train together, have had an incredibly successful season and have medalled at every competi-tion they have entered in the last 12 months. The highlight of their season was representing Ireland in the Celtic Cup and winning the gold medal.

Although the season is now over, they will not be taking a long break as they will spend the summer working on a new floor routine for their trio partnership with the intention of moving up to a higher level for the coming season.

FastSport

Adamstown hoping for 20/20 vision THIS Sunday, Adam-stown cricket club’s second team will face Railway Union fourths in the finals of LCU 20/20 competi-tion.

Sponsored by the Russell Court Hotel, LCU 20/20 is a 20 over compet i t ion played between sides competing in the lower reaches of the Leinster Cricket Union league structure.

A total of 24 teams

from divis ion 11 through 14 were split into regional ised groups of three and Adamstown seconds topped their group to progress to the knock-out stages.

They beat Clontarf fifths in the quarter-finals and Ring Com-mons in the semi-finals and will now play the finals against Railway Union in Park Avenue, Sandymount, on Sun-day, July 15 at 6.00pm.

This is great suc-cess for Adamstown in 2009 and its first team made it to finals of the intermediate cup com-petition in 2010.

Esker celebrate Football For All launch� [email protected]

FOOTBALL For All arrives in Lucan this September as Esker Celtic will play host to an initiative from the FAI to ensure every child in the country is able to play and enjoy soccer.

The programme has been designed for children aged six-14 with all types of dis-abilities that may prevent them playing for a main-stream team.

The ethos of Football For All is inclusion of young peo-

ple who love soccer, and to keep the game as enjoyable and as fun as possible. It is a safe and friendly environ-ment where young people are free to express them-selves through sport.

Esker Celtic now has a large team of fully trained FAI Disability Awareness coaches ready to kick off this September.

It will run every Saturday from 1.30pm for one hour in Hermitage Park, beside the clubhouse.

It pus Esker among a select

group who are now one of the very few clubs in the country to offer this service and will team up with other Football For All clubs to pro-vide a strong network where young people can play with their peers all over Ireland and beyond.

Places are limited so if you are interested in involv-ing your child in this new venture, check out www.eskerceltic.ie or you can contact our Football For All co-ordinator, Colm Young on 087 2503456.


CLUB NOTICEBOARD

WELL done to Gary Quinlivan and the

Dublin minor hurling team and to Amy

Conroy and Sinead Collins and the Dub-

lin Ladies U16 team on winning Leinster

titles at the weekend.

The inter hurlers defeated Good

Council while the minor football-

ers were beaten by St Mark’s and

O’Toole’s, both league games. The

senior ladies lost to Ballyboden and

the junior ladies defeated St Jude’s.

All this week’s fixtures can be found in

Between the Posts.

There is a now a dedicated Tower’s

match tracker service for all teams

in Towers! https://twitter.com/RTow-

ersTracker. The Twitter account is @

RTowersTracker - we would like to

include all results for all teams - we

encourage all mentors, juvenile and

adult, players and supporters to

send in the result of your game using

one of the following methods: text

0876290870; email [email protected]

or send a tweet to @RTowerstracker.

This week’s lotto numbers were 10,

12, 13 and 20 while the bonus ball was

27. There was no winner of this week’s

jackpot of €7,900.

Congratulations to Fergus Murphy,

Joan Cullen and Lorraine Murphy, who

were the three €100 winners. Match

three plus the bonus ball not available.

Next week’s jackpot is €8,000.

The clubrooms are available for

rental for parties, anniversaries, etc.

Please contact Jimmy behind the bar

or on 01-4592960.

The annual golf classic is on Friday,

July 13 at Castlewarden golf club. Enter

a team (3 Ball Scramble) for €210. Entry

fee includes a three course meal plus

burger and drink on the tenth (note:

individuals catered for). Sponsor a

tee box or green for €20. For further

information, contact Ed O’Malley on

087-8073391 or Bren Cronin on 087-

9083980.

The lotto committee are looking for

your assistance to sell Tower’s lotto

tickets on a Friday evening or Sat-

urday morning for one hour once a

month. If you are able to help, please

contact Matt McCormack on 087

6836737 or email [email protected].

The club shop is open in the club

every Monday night from 7.30-8.30pm.

You can call Betty Ward or Catherine

Moran direct if you have any par-

ticular enquiries on 0876752238 or

0868303207 respectively.

Bingo takes place this Tuesday.

Line €10, full house €20. First call is at

8.30pm.

ROUND TOWER

LUCAN SARSFIELDSCONGRATULATIONS to Seanie McClel-

land and Eoghan O’Congaile and the

Dublin minor hurlers on being crowned

Leinster champions 2012.

Feile na nGael was a great success in

the club with Easkey and Ballinahinch,

who we hosted, winning their finals

and our own hurlers losing in the semi

finals to eventual division two winners

Portlaoise.

Congratulations to Fachtna and

Divya Clandillon on the birth of their

daughter Aine in Nepal on Wednesday

last.

Thanks to Cavan Developments for

the use of their teleporter to fix the

ball stop nets on our juvenile pitch

and to Jack O’Neill for his driving skills

and all the work he put into our Barn-

dance.

The Junior A hurlers had a good 1-15

to 0-14 win over St Finian’s, Swords.

Follow GazetteSport on Facebook and Twitter and online at www.gazettegroup.com


ROUND Tower’s young Feile stars produced some fine hurling last weekend as they played their part in an incredi-ble celebration of Gael-ic games in the capital last weekend.

They began by wel-coming their host team Trim to the clubhouse last Thursday. After lunch both teams made their way to the Com-munity Centre for the first of the Feile Match-es.

Tower’s got off to a slow start conced-ing 1-3 before they got their first score. The Clondalkin club started the second half well with the first two scores but Trim broke away to score a second goal.

Both team’s matched each other for points but Trim edged out a win that was to see them top the group at the end of proceedings by virtue of winning all

three games, the final score ending 0-5 to 2-6.

It left Tower’s needing to bounce back if they were to make their divi-sional play-off phase but they came up against a tough Carnew Emmets side and missed out 3-4 to 2-8 on Friday in wet and windy conditions.

The host club did get off to a great start with Tower’s scoring a goal with their first attack. This rattled Carnew and with their next attack they got a goal back.

Carnew got the next two points and were looking like they were going to pull away but another Tower’s point and a goal saw Clondalkin rebound to go up by a single point.

But the pendulum swung back Carnew’s way as they got the next two points. And that was the pattern the tie followed for the rest of the game as Carnew edged two points up before Tower’s closed

the gap to one while a late flurry of scores saw the minimum in the dif-ference.

The second of Fri-day’s game’s saw Tow-er’s get a well deserved win over a very good Olaf’s team.

This game was played in driving rain but both teams put up a fine show of hurling despite the conditions. Tower’s had the better of the first half and went into half time in front, a lead they were to hold onto

until the final whistle despite a good come-back by Olaf’s.

Round Tower: Ian Carberry,

Patrick Daly, Eoghan Fitzgerald,

Eamon Walsh, Connor Farrell,

Darren Gilligan, Graham Proc-

tor, Shane Scappaticci, Daniel

Kelly, Alex O’Neill, Eoin Brady,

Matthew McLoughlin©, Eoghan

Halpin, Eoghan Murphy, Sean

Tunney, Tony McDonagh, Liam

O’Connor, Jarleth Brennan,

Aaron Douglas, Adam Behan,

Oisin Douglas, Cian Proctor,

Connor Flannery, Niall Acton,

Paul Lyons.

ST PAT’S PALMERSTOWN

CONGRATLUATIONS to our senior

hurlers this week on their victory

against Na Fianna. The club would

also like to congratulate St Bridg-

id’s on winning the division one

hurling Feile.

Hard luck to the Dublin senior

hurlers and congratulations to the

Dublin minor hurlers on their Lein-

ster championship win. Reminder

to all to order Leinster minor and

senior inter-county football cham-

pionship tickets by 10am Friday, July

13 on the ticket hotline: 086 7255586.

The first summer hurling camp

started this week for kids aged four

to 12 and will run until July 13.

Lotto number and results: the

first draw winning numbers were 8,

13, 14 and 16. There was no winner.

The second draw winning numbers

were 3, 13, 26 and 28; there was no

winner. Any three numbers winners:

Eddie Diamond, Jessie O’Brien, Rob-

bie Carson and Alan Keaney. Next

Sunday, July 15, the first draw jack-

pot is €10,000; the second draw jack-

pot is €3,400.

HURLING: TRIM AND CARNEW VISIT CLONDALKIN

The Round Tower U-14 hurling side that hosted three games in the Feile na nGael last weekend

Tower’s top quality hosts of super Feile

ALL OF YOUR CLONDALKIN SPORTS COVERAGE FROM PAGE 27-31 JULY 12, 2012

BOUNCING BACK: Ormond impresses on his return to the ring P30 GazetteSPORTGazetteSPORT

� PETER CARROLL

[email protected]

NOEL Kelly, vice-chair-man of the juvenile com-mittee for Round Tower’s, praised the “fantastic ambassadors” of his club and Clondalkin — Amy Conroy, Sinead Collins and last year’s Round Tower Player’s Player of the Year, Gary Quinlivan, who all represented Dub-lin last weekend on their way to Leinster glory.

“We’re overwhelmed here at the club. It’s great to have three of our play-ers who have come up through the nursery rep-resenting us on the county scene,” said Kelly.

“Amy, Sinead and Gary have been a shining example to Round Tower GAA. They’ve become real heroes at the club and

in our community on the back of their success.”

Kelly claims the club have witnessed a mas-sive surge in interest from the broader locality over the last few months on account of the team’s suc-cesses and especially their representation at county level.

“Even in the last few months, we’ve seen aston-ishing crowds turn out to see the county players, and the nursery has nearly doubled its numbers.

“There’s a new energy around the club, everyone is chipping in and helping out, and children are look-ing up to the likes of Gary, Sinead and Amy.

“Parents are telling their children if they eat right, put effort into training and keep their heads on straight they could be as

good as these three play-ers someday,” said Kelly.

The girls of Clondalkin are turning out in record numbers to get involved with Gaelic games, and Kelly believes that the example that the two ladies’ representatives have set could go on to bolster numbers even fur-ther in the future.

“We’ll be trying to get a lot more girls involved from the area in Septem-ber. We’ll be visiting all of the schools in Clondalkin and I’m sure Sinead and Amy’s names will be men-tioned on a number of occasions.

“Even as far as the boys are concerned, it’s not just the Ballyboden and Sarsfields’ players that are being selected now. Gary has proven that we can get there, too,” said Kelly.

Amy Conroy and Sine-ad Collins were on the Dublin ladies’ U-16 team that won the Leinster title last weekend when they made short work of Laois, winning convincingly by 4-21 to 0-11.

Gary Quinlivan was on the Dublin minor hurler’s panel that managed to see off Wexford in the Leinster final last weekend, too, in a close-fought affair that saw Dublin take over in the final passages of play to win 2-15 to 1-14.

Both panels will go onto All-Ireland semi-finals in the coming weeks, with the ladies set to face Cork or Kerry, depending on the result of the Munster final, while the Dublin minor hurlers will have to wait for quarter-final results to see who they will face in the last four.

Amy Conroy and Sinead Collins celebrating with the

Leinster trophy. Picture: GAApics.com

Tower’s trio drive the Dubs

DUBLIN’S FEILE FEVER:The capital welcomes the country’s U-14 hurlers P28-29

clondalkin

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