Blanch

laura webb

There is shock and sad-ness among the local com-munity this week follow-ing the death of two young men in a single vehicle car

crash in hartstown.In the early hours of

Monday morning [October 22] at around 4.15am, two young men, named locally as 21-year-old Dean Cullen from Clonsilla and 24-year-

old Simon hand from huntstown, were travelling on hartstown road when the car they were travelling in veered off the road, crash-ing into a tree.

Dean, a passenger in

the car, died at the scene, while Simon, the driver of the car, was brought to Connolly hospital were he passed away a short time later.

Full Story on Page 4

ALSOINSIDE: GALLERIES ......................6

DUBLIN LIFE ...................11

OUT&ABOUT ..................17

CLASSIFIEDS ................26

SPORT ...........................27

Month XX, 2012

October 25, 2012 Find us on

TSUNAmI AID: Local school’s boat gift puts villagers back on track See Page 5

Blanchardstown • Blakestown • hartstown • coolmine • tyrrelstown • dunBoyne • corduff • mulhuddart • ongar

INSIDE: Back to school for former pupils as Coolmine CS celebrates 40 years P6

Picture perfect: Trophy given in memory of Tomin memory of the founder of St Brigid’s Photography Group,the late Tom Shanahan, Fingal County Council has offered the group a magnificent trophy. The bronze sculpture of a stag symbol-ises Tom’s connection with Phoenix Park and was given to the winner of the best photograph in this year’s annual Tom Shanahan Photography Competi-tion. Pictured at the event are competi-tion winners Derek Byrne, Tony McIn-tyre and Susan Gavin with Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Cian O’Callaghan (Lab) and competition judge Mark Sedgwick.

Shock over road crash deaths in Hartstown

Get ready for Halloween with creepy costumes and make-up tips

SEE PAGE 20

Two young men perish as their vehicle goes off road and crashes into tree

FREE GAzEttEBlanch

Soccer: Fledgling Dublin 15 club in top class AUL formPage 30

Football: St Brigid’s run as county champs endsPage 31

2 BLANCH GAzette 25 October 2012

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hArTsTown Meeting fails to resolve issue

Dublin 15 Disability Peer Support Group protested outside business premises in Hartstown

lack of access ramps sparks disability protestMeMbers of the Dub-lin 15 Disability Peer support Group protested outside business premises in Hartstown in reaction to a failure to provide access ramps at a local public house.

A number of members staged the protest out-side eurospar in Harts-town and also Hartstown House Inn, where they are seeking to gain wheel-chair access. Despite there being wheelchair accessible facilities in Hartstown House, there is no access ramp into it.

The public house was built before such access was required. However, it recently opened an off-licence with no access, despite this being a con-dition of planning per-mission.

The ongoing failure to provide a ramp is due to a dispute over the footpath that surrounds the public house, which is owned by John Furey of eurospar.

Accord ing to Tom Meagher of Hartstown House, he can provide a ramp from a porch area, but is not legally allowed to encroach on the foot-path, as it is owned by Mr Furey.

Whereas, Mr Furey believes that Mr Meagher can build the access ramp internally from the public house.

According to Michael ryan of blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living, members of the group can’t access the premises where they meet for community activities, social events and post-funeral gatherings.

The members decided to stage the protest so

they could have their say.speaking at the protest

last week, Gerry Lyons, a spokesperson for the group said: “It is not just about one person, it is a three-way process [between Furey, Meagher and Fingal County Coun-cil]. We don’t want to interfere with the rights of the workers or stop people going in shopping. We just want access.

“No one seems to know who the problem is with… everyone is blaming everyone else. It is unfortunate we have to take this action, but it will be taken again until that ramp is sorted out.”

The group brought the issue to arbitration two years ago, but it fell through.

During the protest, Michael said: “[Harts-town House] is the only social place in the area and they can’t get in. We don’t want any business

damaged or closed down, we just want to get in.”

Addressing his point, Mr Furey said there is misinformation being given out and that he is being targeted.

“I will meet with mem-bers, with my advisor, in a room and we will establish the facts… then you would target and put pressure on the individu-al who is responsible for doing it… the problem is it is not my responsibil-ity.

“If we have an inde-pendent person telling me that it can’t be done [internally at the pub] then I will have an access there for you… I am being targeted as somebody who is in the wrong, but I am not,” he said.

He went on to say that within a week he would provide an access ramp from the car park to the footpath, but it is up to Mr Meagher to provide the ramp to the pub.

When the protesters confronted Mr Meagher on the issue, he said: “We want to put a ramp in safely… just two bags of cement, about three foot long on the footpath and the whole problem could be solved for less than €500.

“When you are talk-ing about architects and taking up floors, you’re talking about six to nine months before it’s even started… If we touch this footpath, I am in court.”

both parties agreed to meet with local coun-cillor Mary McCamley (Lab) as the mediator to discuss the issue.

Unfortunately, accord-ing to Michael ryan, no agreement was reached so the issue remains unresolved at this time.

“Mary McCamley will now have a chat with the planning authorities [at Fingal] to see what we can do next,” he said.

LAuRA [email protected]

25 October 2012 BLANCH GAzette 3

Call for shelter at retail parkThe management com-pany behind the Blan-chardstown Centre has applied for a new bus shelter near the retail park.

Green Property Ltd submitted their plan-ning application for a new shelter on Road e, located adjacent to the Blanchardstown Retail Park, where residents and visitors have com-plained about the lack of shelters available.

Welcoming the move, Fianna Fail council-lor David McGuinness said: “Blanchardstown residents and visitors have been complaining over the lack of shelters beside Captain Ameri-ca’s, where commuters need to wait for buses without any coverage whatsoever.

commuters

D15 students show off their maths skills LAurA weBB

STuDenTS across Dublin 15 showed off their mathematics skills at a special workshop hosted by the Institute of Technology Blan-chardstown.

Last week, first-year stu-dents from schools across Dublin 15 attended the Maths and Sport: Count-down to the Games pro-gramme as part of Maths Week in ITB.

hundreds of students from Blakestown Com-munity School, Luttrell-stown Community Col-lege, hartstown Com-munity School, Setanta Community College, Riversdale Community College, Mount Sack-ville Secondary School, Ratoath College and

Coolmine Community School took part as they used data from the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games as the basis for their calculations.

The programme is part of the The Millennium Mathematics Project, an award-winning project at the university of Cam-bridge. Through the pro-gramme, students take part in a collection of hands-on mathematical puzzles, games and activi-ties, designed to promote creative approaches to mathematics and strategic thinking.

Mairead Murphy, mar-keting and development manager at ITB, said: “This event is financed from our access office, which has enabled us to run a number of hands-on

mathematics workshops for local schools.

“The workshops give students an insight into how they can use math-ematics on a day-to-day basis. The workshops take place on the ITB campus which also allows stu-dents to experience a day in the life of a third level student,” she said.

According to Mairead, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games offer the students an “extraordi-nary, exciting and unique opportunity to explore mathematics and science at work in real-world con-texts”.

“The Mil lennium Maths Project will bring to life for students some of the underlying math-ematics of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

style stars: community counts Fashion show helps local charitiesmeLissA mOLONey and Septa Igoe stepped out in style as the Crowne Plaza, Blanchardstown, played host to the Community Counts Fashion Show.

98FM’s Teena Gates took her turn on the catwalk with organiser and local WeightWatchers’ leader Vera Baker

A host of charities benefited from the night as the show raised funds for the hope Foundation, Concern, and Suicide Awareness Dublin 15.

education: data used From olympics used to promote strategic thinking


A weekend of fun, fashion and beauty for localsCalling all fashionista’s, U Style at Blanchard-stown is back to bring local residents a weekend of fun, fashion and beauty.

From October 26 to 28, U Magazine and Blan-chardstown Centre will team up to create a fash-ionista’s paradise featuring fashion shows, mas-terclasses, live demonstrations and beauty treats. This is a showcase for anyone looking to see the trends for this autumn/winter 2012.

On Saturday and Sunday, there will be fashion shows taking place three times daily, showcasing the latest fashions in Blanchardstown.

guest speakers, including the U Magazine team, will be on hand to share their beauty and fashion knowledge and expertise.

FastNews

Bomb disposal team make device safea viaBle explosive device was made safe by the army Bomb Disposal team outside a house in Fortlawn last week.

On Friday, October 19, the team was called out to Fortlawn avenue in Blanchardstown at 9.25am. The device was made safe at 10.10am and handed over to gardai to assist in their investigations.

Mulhuddart to showcase local servicesMUlhUDDarT Community Centre is promoting local services and the community during Mulhuddart Pride Day. On October 31 the community is coming together to showcase local services. There will be food, music, information stalls, face-painting and much more. This event takes place from 12 noon to 3pm at Mulhuddart Community Centre.

Flowers are laid at the site of the tragic crash. Gardai are asking witnesses to contact them.

Community in shock after death of men LAurA weBB

[email protected]

The Dublin 15 commu-nity is in shock following the death of two young men in a single vehicle car crash in hartstown earlier this week.

in the early hours of Monday October 22 at around 4.15am, two young men, named local-ly as 21-year-old Dean Cullen from Clonsilla and 24-year-old Simon hand from huntstown, were travelling on hartstown road when the car they were travelling in veered off the road, crashing into

a tree.Dean, a passenger

in the car, died at the scene, while Simon, the driver, was taken from the scene of the accident and brought to Connolly hospital were he passed away a short time later.

gardai are now inves-tigating the accident and are trying to establish whether speed played a factor in the lead up to the crash.

according to reports, a garda car was stopped at lights at the hartstown road junction when the mini the young men were driving went through a

InquIry Gardai investigating the incident

SUrFaCe work on a dangerous bend in Dub-lin 15 has been carried out by Fingal County Council in an effort to combat accidents there, while a speed limit review is also being looked into.

Two we e k s a g o , another accident at a bend on Westmanstown road was reported, add-ing to the 30 accidents that have been recorded since the start of this year.

reductionlast week, local resi-

dent Terry O’neill called for a reduction in the speed limit, which is cur-rently 80km/h. he has rebuilt his wall 38 times over 25 years because of road traffic accidents.

at the time, he told this paper he is afraid to let his grandchildren play in the front garden, saying: “i’m even afraid to go out to cut the grass in the front [garden], so definitely not [a place for] the grandchildren.”

in response, a spokes-person for Fingal Coun-ty Council said the section of the road has now been “sandblasted to improve skid resist-ance”, adding that a “speed limit review” is being carried out.

according to the spokesperson, the intro-duction of a reduced speed limit would mean that it “would be neces-sary for the introduction of speed ramps for this road”.

Meanwhile, flashing warning signs are due to be installed at the loca-tion in november.

roads: speed lImIt revIew

Council works to make bend safer

green light at the junc-tion, but it lost control soon after and ended up mounting the footpath before hitting with the tree.

a detailed examina-tion by the garda foren-sic collision investigators was carried out at the scene. Such an examina-tion enables investigators to work out the speed and trajectory of the car at the time of impact, and also looks into the road conditions of the area at that time.

Toxicology tests will also be conducted on the deceased, which is a standard procedure in road fatalities.

gardai investigating the accident are now asking anyone who was in the area at the time to contact them at Blan-chardstown garda Sta-tion on 01 666 7000, the garda Confidential Tele-phone line 1800 666 111 or any garda station.

loca l counc i l lor Michael O’Donovan (lab) said the commu-

nity is “shocked and saddened” by the tragic accident.

“i was at the scene and gardai had sealed off hartstown road beyond the shopping centre and the school. There were teams from the special-ist unit who reconstruct what might have hap-pened… a number of local people were stand-ing around in shock. it was just so quiet… people are stunned and taken aback by this tragic accident.

“[The victims] are both so very young, it’s so trag-ic. i just want to express my deepest sympathies to their families at this time.”

Dublin West TD and Minister for Trans-port leo varadkar also extended his sympathies to the families involved saying: “as a local TD and Minister for Trans-port, Tourism and Sport, i want to extend my deepest sympathies to the families of these two young men.”


networking Blanch native aims to get locals ‘talking about days gone by’

LAurA weBB

[email protected]

LocaLs are remembering Blanchardstown past and present with a new social media group page set up especially for residents to talk about their memories and

growing up in the ever-chang-ing area.

The Facebook group page – Past and Present Blanchard-stown – was set up by Blan-chardstown native olivia Leonard. With a keen interest in history, olivia decided to set up the page and has been

working on it for over a year. “When I look for infor-

mation about the history of Blanch on the internet, it is very basic; even when I go to the library it is quite basic.

“I think it important [to share] these pictures and memories of a place before

people forget or pictures are lost.”

Interesting

Pictures of old Blanchard-stown are already making their way to the page and comments from residents remembering the old village

make for some interesting reads.

olivia’s aim is to “get peo-ple talking about Blanchard-stown days gone by” and “for people to enjoy and share their memories”.

so far there are over 250 members on the group and

for olivia it’s not about mak-ing profit, just “retaining our Blanch heritage, memories and old photos before they are lost through time for-ever”.

The group’s page can be seen at https://www.facebook.com/groups/368053791646/

Social media group page set up to help relive memories

a TrIo of Labour representatives, including a Dublin West TD, have called for the upcoming budget to be a “shift away from austerity”.

Patrick Nulty TD, Tommy Broughan TD and Nessa childers MEP have jointly called for Budget 2013 to be a shift in Irish economic policy, and are looking for a shift in thinking away from “blunt austerity towards a pro-growth agenda based on a sustainable tax model”.

They recommend including a wealth

tax, a bankers’ tax on financial transac-tions, and new 48% rate of income tax on incomes over €100,000.

Dublin West TD Nulty said: “since 2008, €25 billion has been sucked out of the economy through cuts and taxes on ordinary people. This cannot continue, and it is time to tax wealth in Ireland.

“a model for a wealth tax already exists in France. If this was applied in Ireland, even Minister Noonan has admitted it could raise up €500 million per annum.”

Labour trio urge Budget to ‘shift away from austerity’

School’s boat gift puts villagers back on track

Former Irish rugby international ron McCarten and his wife edna, both residents of Blanchardstown, had the

chance to go on a sea safari on the St Brigid’s NS, Blanchardstown when they holidayed in Sri Lanka

LAurA weBB

[email protected]

a LocaL national school have seen proof that one of their fund-raising ventures follow-ing the 2004 tsunami has helped a community in sri Lanka.

scoil Bhride National school (st Brigid’s Ns) Blanchardstown raised funds for victims of the catastrophe in the Indian ocean in 2004. at the time, groups were raising money to buy basic boats for the local population to help people re-establish their livelihoods in fishing and tourism activities.

Eight years later, and the school’s boat has been seen in action. Principal Deirdre Kir-wan explained how two local people holidaying in sri Lanka made the discovery.

“Former Irish rugby in t e rna t i ona l ron Mccarten and his wife Edna, both residents of Blanchardstown, holidayed in sri Lanka. one of their trips took them through still part-ly ravaged areas in the southwest corner of sri Lanka, to the village of Balapitiya near Kos-goda on the river Madu Ganga.

“one of the features

of their journey involved a sea safari, and you can imagine their astonish-ment on being taken to their boat to find it was named st Brigid’s Ns, Blanchardstown. along with several other boats, it continues to provide livelihoods for a con-siderable number of the inhabitants of this region,” she said.

Inspired

The initial fundraiser was set up by siobhan Kirwan-Keane, a teacher at scoil Bhride cailini, National school, Blan-chardstown. Inspired by the story of the school’s patron, st Brigid, siob-

han encouraged her pupils to knit a woollen square and be spon-sored for their efforts. The squares were sewn together to form a gar-ment in the style of st Brigid’s cloak.

This was then raffled to raise the required funding to purchase a boat. This was all suc-cessfully done and the boat was purchased, named by the children, and dispatched.

The principal went on to say that the Irish prov-erb “ar scath a cheile a mhaireann na ndaoine” which means we all need each other’s help, con-tinues to ring true.

St Brigid’S nS: tSunami aid to Sri lanka


the three current and former principals trish McPhillips, eileen Salmon and Sean O Beachain. Picture: Ronan O’Sullivan

Ann Smith, Joan Dunne, Margaret Fagan and Una Delaney

It’s back to school for former pupilsCOOLMINE Community School in Clonsilla recently held a reunion at The Crowne Plaza

Hotel in Blanchardstown to celebrate the school’s 40th anniversary, at which principal Trish McPhillips was joined by former principals Eileen Salmon and Sean O Beachain, as well as

many guests who included 50 past and present teachers. Some of the guests travelled from as far away as America and Australia, and they all had a

thoroughly enjoyable evening as they picked up where they had left off so many years ago. The reunion was sponsored mainly by the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre.

Vanessa thornton, Jimmy Byrne and Omar

Comerford Caroline, Anne and Val Forrest

gazettegaLLeRIeS

REUNION: COOLMINE CS CELEBRATES 40 YEARS

Dannielle Byrne and Amy Deacon


Angela Brady and Dympna Beegan

Have you seen yourself in the Gazette? Buy photos online from only €6.99 at www.gazettephotos.com

Sandra, Carol and Valerie McCrory

evelyn Lyons and Colm O’Brien

Shirley Doyle and Yvonne Flood

emer Williams, Laura Behan, Aisling McCabe, Renata Higgins, Douglas Shirran and James BrennanSiblings Dermot and Brenda Byrne


LAurA weBB

Fingal County Council is due to carry out woodland management works this win-ter to help conserve the red squirrel population.

The red squirrel popula-tion has reached critically low numbers and some local

authorities have launched projects that involve releasing red squirrels into the wild to help boost their numbers.

according to Fingal County Council, a report was commissioned by the Howth Special area amenity Order (SaaO) committee in 2010/2011. This survey, car-

ried out by Dr William Carr, a zoologist from UCD found that the Howth Penninsula was the last stronghold in Dublin City for the red squir-rel population with 21 ani-mals marked in 2010, and eight new animals in 2011.

“Based on the report pro-vided by Dr Carr, woodland

management works were carried out by the council in the Red Rock woodlands in spring 2012. During these works, sycamore trees were cleared and a tree-planting day, involving about 50 locals, planted Maritime and Corsi-can Pine trees, species which will provide food and shelter

for the red squirrel popula-tion,” a council report said.

“all grey squirrels found during the survey were removed from the peninsula and there is on going partici-pation by the public to moni-tor any sightings of greys. They will be trapped and removed. The council will carry out

more woodland management works during the 2012/2013 winter season.”

The report came following a question by Mulhuddart Councillor Mary McCamley (lab) asking management at FCC what plans it has to help the conservation of the red squirrel species.

JIM LACeY

i WaS chatting to Sally Palmer recently and she tells me that the knitting fair in aid of St Francis Hos-pice Blanchardstown will be taking place on Decem-ber 8 and in Blanchards-town Shopping Centre at the Yellow Entrance.

They are looking for vol-unteer knitters to create all of the products first. The items on sale can be knit-ted hairbands, baby cardi-gans, knitted brooches and knitted Christmas decora-tions and many other crea-tions. items for the fair can be dropped off at The Ora-

tory in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre.

You can see from the picture that Fr Eugene Kennedy and Fr Dan Joe O’Mahoney have got into the spirit of things. Fr Dan joked that given the number of times him-self and Fr Eugene have appeared in photos pub-licising the event they are thinking of calling them-selves The nitwits.

So if you can knit and you can spare the time you may like to help raise pre-cious funds for the hospice and if you can’t knit why not pop along and pick up whatever catches your eye.

Council takes action to protect red squirrels

Knitting fair to take place in aid of St Francis Hospice

blancHardStown Sc: Volunteer KnitterS needed to create productS

workshop: learning with funAdrIAN Mihutescu and Clare Hanley from Hartstown Commu-nity School pictured during the institute of Technology Blanchard-stown (iTB) exciting mathematics workshop titled Maths and Sport: Countdown to the games, for maths week which took place onsite from October 15-19.

The project ensured to make maths fun for over 280 first year students from local secondary schools.

enVironment woodland management critical to help boost low numbers

Talk on Count Casimir Markievicz at Blanch libraryFinglaS South West Heritage Society has a very special guest speaker coming to their november meeting.

He is Patrick Quigley author of the recently published historical biography The Polish irishman (The life and Times of Count Casimir Markievicz) published by liffey Press.

Patrick lives locally in Coolmine and is a fountain of knowledge on Polish history and culture.

He has done much research on Count Casimir Markievicz, the husband of one of ireland’s best loved patriots Constance Markievicz.

Until Patrick’s recent work of research rela-tively little was known of the countess’s private life or of her husband’s career as an artist and his work in irish theatre.

Patrick’s talk will be supported with a slide show revealing rare pictures of that era that you have never seen before.

They invite you to come along to Blan-chardstown library on Saturday afternoon november 24 at 2pm for what promises to be a very enjoyable and informative event.

all are welcome and there is no charge.

FastNews

Fr eugene Kennedy and Fr dan Joe O’Mahoney modelling woollen caps at last years Knitting Fair


Have you seen yourself in the Gazette? Buy photos online from only €6.99 at www.gazettephotos.comGazetteGaLLeRY

Chamber president Siobhan Moore of the Dublin Airport Authority addresses the audience

Michael Ryan Peter Boucher and terence Sheridan

Helen Daly and Karl O’Neill Mark Costello

THE Fingal Dublin Corporate Responsi-bility Network was recently launched at the PayPal Offices in Ballycoolin Busi-

ness Park. Everyone who attended the launch had

the opportunity to meet and network with

a large group of business men and women from a wide range of business sectors that evening.

The network is operated and administered through the Fingal Dublin Chamber with a board of trustees to oversee its work.

Just the business

25 October 2012 Gazette 11

dublinlifeGa

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eschools P14diary P12 business P16

let dublin Gazette newspapers take you on a tour of the news and events taking place across the city and county this week, as well as the latest from our schools

Tall tales and spellbindingstories for kids of all ages THE children’s cultural centre, The Ark, in Temple Bar, is holding interactive book experiences every weekend in November called Telling Tall and Tiny Tales.

There will be stories, activities and fun, as well as original artwork from well-known children’s books on display.

Children can learn how to make up their own sto-ries by choosing any one

of a selection of work-shops on offer, and there will also be Halloween-themed storytelling at the Ark every day throughout the mid-term break, with ghost stories to read.

The workshops and special events start on Wednesday, October 31, with a Halloween special storytelling event with Niall de Burca.

Children are encour-aged to come dressed up

in their spookiest Hallow-een costumes.

On the same day, at the National Gallery of Ireland, a Skulduggery Pleasant Extravanza takes place, where author of the acclaimed series, Derek Landy, its illustrator, Tom Percival, and editor Nick Lake will talk about the Skulduggery Pleasant books.

Children are asked to come along as one of the

Skulduggery characters. In November, there are

gigantic illustration work-shops with Niamh Shar-key on November 3 at the Ark and, on November 9 and 16, there will be workshops for toddlers with Kate Wilson.

On November 10 and 17, Jole Bortoli will host Plant a Book workshops, and on November 24 PJ Lynch is giving workshops for budding illustrators. Niall de Burca will host the spookiest Halloween storytelling event

scary words: funtime at the ark, temPle bar

12 Gazette 25 October 2012

Travel fun dayraises €35,000

the two cheques of €17,500 each were presented to Pieta House and the Irish Cancer

Society after a fund-raising day organised by the travel trade

THE inaugural Travel Trade Fun Day surpassed its fundraising target recently, when it suc-cessfully raised a massive €35,000 for Pieta House and the Irish Cancer Society.

The fun day, which took place last month in the ALSAA Sports Club in Dublin Airport, was the first of its kind in Ireland and saw over 400 people attend.

The Travel Trade Fun Day committee includes

Blue Insurances, Etihad Airways, Travelport, Royal Caribbean, Sunway and United Airlines, who pre-sented the charities with a cheque on Thursday, October 11. Each charity received €17,500.

Commenting on the event, the Travel Trade Fun Day committee said: “We would like to thank everyone in the travel trade who supported us in hosting this inaugural event. We are very grate-ful for all of the donations

received, big and small, and we hope the funds raised go a long way in helping both of these worthwhile charities.”

SPOrtS ClaSSeS kICk Off fOr lIttle CHamPSAWARD-winning Clap-Handies, which runs play and developmental class-es for babies and toddlers, has joined forces with exercise experts Fit For Life to provide an exciting sport and fitness experi-

dublinlifeGaze

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ence for children aged three to eight in venues across the city.

PlayFit classes are designed to develop the crucial basic movement skills, building the key ele-ments of physical fitness - endurance, strength and flexibility.

The earlier these skills are learned, the more like-ly children are to develop an active lifestyle and love of sport.

Mark Sweeny of Fit for Life says: “If a child does not learn how to run, jump and kick a ball adequately

at an early age, their skill levels soon fail to match those of their peers, and they increasingly partici-pate in sports and physi-cal activity less.”

Play-Fit classes will start in October in a number of locations across Dublin before being rolled out to 10 new venues in January

2013. For further informa-tion, see www.playfit.ie.

DublIn taxI DrIverS vOteD fIftH frIenDlIeSt In tHe wOrlDHAILING a taxi this week could put more of a smile on your face than usual after the Diary found out that Dublin taxis have been ranked fifth in the world for their friendli-ness.

The question of our Irish taxi drivers, “Are you busy tonight?” clearly enhances the Irish charm, with Dublin drivers receiving 5% of the overall vote, in a sur-vey compiled by Hotels.com.

London topped the poll for the fifth consecutive year as the best cabs in the world, with Dublin sitting in 13th place, while New York were named as being the most available.

Hugh Cregan, director of Transport Investment and Taxi Regulation, com-mented: “It’s great to see that Dublin’s taxi drivers continue to make such a good impression on visi-tors to our country and I congratulate them on that.

“The taxi industry nationwide is a vital part of our public-transport network, and good cus-tomer service benefits everyone.”

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


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As pArt of the relaunch of the Dublin Gazette Newspapers, we are reaching out to all the schools in our catchment areas to become a closer part of our community than ever before.

schools are the beating hearts of communities – one of the last places around which a commu-nity can gather. We are calling on budding writers and photographers from all of our schools to help fill the pages.

In order to encourage the next generation of journalists and snappers to get involved, we are partnering with Harvey Norman to present the Dublin Gazette Newspapers Cub reporter and Cub photographer of the Year awards.

For further details, contact me, rob Heigh, news editor at [email protected], or telephone me at 01 601 0240.

Get involved with the Gazetteschoollife opinion: new junior cycle approach is to be welcomed

A refreshing change of direction mary slatOr

Colaiste Bride, Presentation

School, Clondalkin

AS A student who has just recently completed my Junior Cycle of post-primary school, and who was also one of the thou-sands of students to be the last to take the Jun-ior Cert exams, I, myself, was deeply interested in the fate of the next Junior Cycle nationwide.

Ruairi Quinn, the Minister for Education, believes that if the whole

minister for education ruairi Quinn examining a project at the annual Bt young

scientist competition. there are hopes that the revised Junior Cycle at schools

will see an improvement in academic results nationwide

programme was changed, there would be a lessened likelihood of pressurised students dropping out of school at such a young age, because of the stress that comes with the exams.

The majority of settings that provided the JCSP are secondary schools, but it is also available in numerous other facilities,

such as special schools, chi ldren detent ion schools, Traveller training centres, and also Youth Encounter Projects.

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

‘This new programme offers teachers and students alike a flexible approach to learning and teaching’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I believe that Ruairi Quinn is worried, due to the fact that, country-wide, literacy levels have declined dramatically.

This new programme offers teachers and stu-dents alike a flexible approach to learning and teaching, instead of a tra-ditional, subject-based curriculum to follow.

I’ve been told that the majority of the work to be done for the new programme is quite a lot of hands-on and group work. This, personally, sounds like a refresh-ing development in Irish education.

The two major pur-poses of this programme statement are: to outline the nature and content of the JCSP, and to present examples of good practice changing for the JCSP.

This new programme is completely different from the previous Jun-ior Cert programme, as a certain percentage of your overall grade can be achieved through regu-lar class tests, unlike just having exams at the end of three years in your jun-ior cycle.

As the quality of edu-cation and levels of basic literacy has faltered, there is only hope that the Min-ister for Education’s new techniques will turn the whole thing around and bring a brighter, more intelligent Ireland.


schools

Students praise DLR Comhairle charlOtte kennedy

St Raphaela’s Secondary

School, Stillorgan

S T R A P H A E L A’ S Secondary School in Stillorgan, along with other local schools, has taken part in Comhairle na nOg in [the] Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown [region].

The Comhairle, which can have up to two rep-resentatives per school or youth club, is a place

where discussions and solutions to problems are made for young peo-ple, by young people.

This year, the focus of the Comhairle is on the Lost Years – the years between childhood and being an adult (basically, us moody teenagers).

Many things are being discussed in this topic, for instance, voting at 16, and the fact that there are no student fares on public transport.

examining the comhairle na nOg report

A simpler way to explain the Comhairle is by its slogan: Young Voices, Local Issues.

Charlotte Kennedy, a furth year student at St Raphaela’s, said: “I had

never heard of the Com-hairle before, but it was something I was immedi-ately drawn to, as I love to argue and wanted to make my voice heard.

“T he DLR Com-

hairle is a great place to make a change for young people. I have loved my experience so far, and can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings.”

taLkS: LoCaL iSSueS

Gazette

erica O’sullivan

Fifth Year, Fingal

Community College

SIEMENS Diagnos-tics came to Fingal Community College last week and stu-dents in Fifth Year LCVP were treated to a talk by Michael Farrell, of Siemens, as part of [the] Enter-prise Education [ini-tiative].

He engaged the fifth years in a very interesting talk on the production of high-quality and accurate products for the med-ical industry.

The students were especially impressed by a short film that brought the manufac-turing process to life.

All members of LCVP gained an insight into enterprise in the Swords area, learning that Siemens employs 300 people in the town.

OpportunityThe fifth years were

delighted with the opportunity to learn more about this local industry, and look forward to working with Siemens later in the year.

Fingal fifth years get a lot out of great Siemens talk

Schoollife

16 GAZETTE 25 October 2012

DUBLINLIFEGAZE

TTE

BUSINESS

Q&A

Insulating against the impact of recession

NATALIE BURKE

EIGHTEEN Dublin-based companies have been shortlisted to be among Ireland’s Best Managed Companies, according to a recent a n n o u n c e m e n t b y Deloitte, the business advisory firm.

Now in its fifth year, the Best Managed Com-panies Awards recognise Irish companies across the country that are oper-ating at the highest levels of business performance.

Local companies through to the second phase of the competition include Dublin 15 com-panies, Blue Insurances Limited, NPP Group Limited, and Java Repub-lic Roasting Company, the Now Factory in Sandy-

ford, and Noonan, located in Swords.

For the next stage of the competition, the shortlist-ed companies will demon-strate to a judging panel how their organisations are meeting their strate-gic objectives and adding value to their business.

The companies will work closely with coach-es from Deloitte and Irish Life Corporate Business and will receive custom-ised feedback, benefiting from the business advice and expertise.

Kevin Sheehan, a part-ner at Deloitte, said it is “extremely positive” that the competition has such strong contenders this year.

He said: “Feedback we have received from previ-ous winners is that they

Financial Planning – Part 3

TOM Naughton is the general man-ager at Pw Thermal Building Solu-tions Ltd, which provide thermal solutions for the energy retrofit mar-ket, specialising in powerwall exter-nal insulation systems for homes and businesses nationwide.

He studied construction manage-ment at GMIT in Galway, and spent the first seven years of his career working in both the residential and commercial construction sector in

both Britain and IrelandTom joined Pw Thermal Building

Solutions Ltd in 2009, having made the internal move from its parent company, The Sherling Group, based in Inchicore, and became general manager in January 2011.

For further information, find them on Facebook at Powerwall External Insulation, email [email protected], or see pwthermalso-lutions.com.

How long have you been in busi-ness?

We formed our company in early 2009

What makes your business suc-cessful?

I believe the success of our com-pany can be directly attributed to the people working within our company. They’re hard-working, innovative and hands-on dedicated staff with one common goal: a successful company with satisfied customers!

What do you offer your clients that differs from your competitors?

Some of our competitors are part of large multinational companies, sup-plying products and services all over Europe. We are a much smaller homeg-rown company, dealing with people on the ground locally and in a manner that is much easier for them to understand. Our customers find us much more approachable because of this.

How has the recession impacted your business?

We, like everyone else have taken a serious blow as a result of the economic downturn. Sales are down, confidence is down but we are still here, fighting.

What have you changed about your business to combat the effects of the recession?

We are constantly changing and evolving as a result of the recession, but because the recession had already

taken hold when we started our company, we never got too big for our boots and are constantly trying new angles and avenues in search of new business.

What law or regulation would you change overnight to help your business?

There is a lot of talk at the moment about the residential property tax, which is going to be introduced at some stage in the near future.

Our products and systems are aimed at making homes and business-es more energy-efficient, so I would like to see homes and businesses that are more energy-efficient paying less tax. This would provide an incentive to carry out this type of work, and would create more business and employ-ment, benefiting all involved.

How do you use social media (Face-book, Twitter or LinkedIn, etc) to help your business?

We have a Facebook-like page which we use to keep people up to date with our special offers, as well as changes within the industry.

We also upload project photos and details to show people what can be achieved with our products.

What is your ambition for the busi-ness?

To survive the current economic turmoil first and foremost, but to also see our company grow into a suc-cessful, proud business with satisfied clients.

TOM NAUGHTON, PW THERMAL BUILDING SOLUTIONS

Dublin businesses go on to top Deloitte contest

Judging panel members David Harney, chief executive,

Irish Life Corporate Business; Siobhan McAleer, head

of strategic partnerships, Irish Management Institute

and Kevin Sheehan, partner, Deloitte

have found this process to be extremely benefi-cial and practical in rela-tion to their company’s future strategy and it is a considerable benefit of participating in the pro-gramme.”

The awards are open to companies from all 32 counties of the island of Ireland.

It is the only awards programme that consid-

ers a business perform-ance from every perspec-tive, not just financial.

The companies that have been awarded the Deloitte Best Managed Company accolade, to date, have total revenues of more than €10 billion, and employ more than 24,000 people.

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced next March.

SEARCH: BEST MANAGED COMPANIES COMPETITION

Supported by AIB

Continued from last week

THE following is a checklist to help decide what you want from your financial planning. What should your financial objectives be? Here are some options:

• Having an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses.

• Paying off any personal loans, credit-card debt, over-drafts, store cards, hire purchase, leases or other debts.

• Building up short-term savings.• Protecting your most valuable asset – your income –

in case you are unable to earn money for any reason.• Protecting yourself (and, if relevant, your partner)

with life cover.• Starting a pension plan.• Buying a home.• Saving for major purchases.• Planning for education fees.• Building up your personal investments.

To this, I suppose we could add planning for long-term care. Bear in mind the following principles when deciding what your financial priorities should be:

1. For most people, their greatest asset is their income. Under the circumstances, you don’t want to risk it, and you don’t want to waste it. There are all sorts of inex-pensive insurance policies designed to protect your income.

2. Personal debt, by which I mean everything from store cards to mortgages, will be the biggest drain on your income. If you’ve borrowed money, then you should make it a priority to repay your loans as quickly as possible.

3. It’s vital to have a safety net or emergency fund to deal with those trials and extra expenses that life often throws our way. Also, you want to make as big a return as possible from your investments.

4. If you’ve got a good, secure income, it doesn’t actu-ally matter what other assets you possess. Emotionally, it’s nice to have the security of owning your own home. But an investment that is just as good and maybe better is a really decent pension plan.

5. Know thyself. There’s no point in setting financial objectives that you’re going to find impossible to attain. Your financial objectives may involve modest changes to your behaviour, but they shouldn’t require a com-plete change in your personality.

Contact John with your money questions at jlowe@moneydoc-

tor.ie or visit his website at www.moneydoctor.ie. John Lowe, Fel-

low of the Institute of Bankers, is founder and managing director

of Money Doctor


City fun will be a scream LaURa WeBB

GETTING spooky this Halloween? Are you attending one of the attrac-tions around the city this All Hollow’s Eve? Out & About has trawled through the pumpkins and cobwebs to find out what’s on this Halloween mid-term. From ghostly tours to spooky arts and craft classes, from a horror farm to parades of ghouls, Dublin and its sur-roundings have every scare covered.

Samhain 2012 is taking place at Mar-lay Park on Sunday, October 28. Each year, families flock to the park where, for one night only, it comes alive with freaky fog, ghastly spiders, skeletons, creepy pumpkins, chilling witches and demons. Residents are invited to walk in the Haunted Forest in their scariest cos-

tumes. This is a free event for those with wristbands which will be distributed on Saturday, October 27, at CoCo Market in Marlay Park from 10am to 4pm and on Sunday, October 28, from 10am until 3pm behind Marlay House. The Sam-hain 2012 sessions will take place that Sunday, October 28, at 3.30pm, 4.30pm, 5.30pm, 6.30pm and 7.30pm. Check out www.dlrevents.ie.

Hidden Dublin Walks presents the Halloween Northside Ghost Walk every Friday and Saturday until November 1 from 8pm to 10pm. According to the organisers, Dublin is one of the most haunted cities in the world and these walks take visitors through one of the oldest parts of Dublin once know as Oxmanstown.

Participants will have the chance to see

sites such as Saint Mary’s Abbey, one of the most powerful monastic settlements in Ireland in medieval times, now just a small ruin down an alleyway, and hear the story of Lord Norbury, the infamous and sadistic hanging judge who presided over the trial of Robert Emmet. Hated in life, in death he returns to continue his reign of terror, so the story goes.

You will also hear tell of the mum-mies of Saint Michan’s Church, surely the most macabre tourist attraction in Ireland, and a major inspiration to the young Bram Stoker, native of Clontarf and author of Dracula. Tickets cost €13.Check out www.hiddenwalks.com.

Threshold, the national housing char-ity, is hosting a Wacky Witches and Wiz-ards Walk on Sunday, October 28, in Tibradden, South County Dublin. Start-

ing at 5pm, this three-hour walk is suit-able for adults and children.

Everyone is being asked to dress up and there will be prizes for the most whimsical wizard and wackiest witch among others. Registration is €50 for one adult and up to three children. Check out www.threshold.ie

South Dublin County Council is cel-ebrating Halloween on Wednesday, October 31 with a fun-filled spectacle for families in a safe environment.

Over 200 young people from Tallaght and Clondalkin will create artistic pieces in arts and performance workshops to display on Halloween night from 5pm to 7pm. There will be a parade in Tallaght and a pageant in north Clondalkin with music, dance and games at both events. Continued on Page 23

Witching hour can be a lot of fun for all ages

OUT&ABOUTMOTORS P22MUSIC P19 aSdfSdaf P27

Never be out of the loop on what’s happening in Dublin! Let Out&About be your guide to all that is stylish, cultural and essential across the city and beyond this weekG

azeT

Te

hallOween: enjOy GhOUlISh aCTIOn wITh SPOOky TOURS, PaRadeS and CRafTS

PetsdOG’S TRUST dOG Of The week

Dublin Gazette Newspapers has teamed up with Dog’s Trust, Ireland’s largest dog welfare charity, to help find homes for unwanted and abandoned dogs.

This week’s dog is Herbie, a 12-year-old crossbreed. This distinguished older gentleman adores his creature comforts and at this ripe age would love a home with a nice big soft bed to put his paws up and relax in.

This independent little man is quite happy to potter around doing his own thing or in the company of other doggies and big kids.

If you think you can give Herbie a loving home for his twilight years then contact Dogs Trust on 01 879 1000. More information about their work can be found on their website www.dogstrust.ie

All dogs that are adopted from Dogs Trust are vet-checked, vaccinated, neutered and micro-chipped before being rehomed.

TRaVel P24


OUT&ABOUT Gaze

tte

MUSIC

allo Darlin’ - guitarist Paul Rains, drummer Michael Collins, bassist Bill Botting and singer elizabeth Morris

AN INVESTIGATION of the current state of the musical firmament would tend to point toward a complete dearth of new ideas and fresh talent. Some would say we’ve heard it all before. Anyone who has listened to the Jake Bugg album would certainly agree.

T imes l ike these require ear bleach and a sense of perspective... and then, you hear a band who take all the elements that you love from all the bands you adore, and you really don’t mind a bit of nos-talgia-tinged tunesmith-ery.

Allo Darlin’, a four-piece based in London, released their second

album proper, Europe, earlier this year and, damn, if I’m not annoyed I didn’t know about it before, because it would have been the sound-track to the summer.

Led by former Tender Trap member, Elizabeth Morris, the band have released a number of top-notch EPs - includ-ing the brilliantly titled Henry Rollins Don’t Dance - and their epon-omously titled debut

album in 2010, which was singled out as a record of the year by several cognoscenti of the scene.

Written around Mor-ris’ ukelele and guitar, the record holds your attention utterly from start to finish, the com-bination of the classic tropes of jangle pop with lashings of ginger-beer flavoured slide guitar lines and string sections on the side create some-thing that simultaneous-ly transports you back to a more innocent and shinier time while being completely contempo-rary and excellent.

Taking the shimmer-ing girl guitar pop of the likes of BMX Bandits, the album contains 10

perfectly crafted songs that are infused with a lyrical wit and mastery of harmony and melody.

Imagine if you will the best moments of the likes of The Magnetic Fields, Sufjan Stephens, The Vaselines, The Pipettes and Teenage Fanclub and you are someway close to what Allo Dar-lin’ are capable of, but even those comparisons are faint praise.

The songs, from bub-bly and wry opener Neil Armstrong to bitter-sweet closer My Sweet Friend, are uniformly straightforward and emotionally genuine, while underpinned by the band’s clearly innate understanding of how to craft a pop classic.

You’re held enrap-tured listening to where Morris is going to take you next with her words, which are never any-thing less than beguil-ing. Going all Louis Walsh for a moment, she reminds me of a young Billy Bragg, when he wrote songs like New England, full of charm and hope and love and disappointment and eve-rything else that great pop music needs to understand as essential.

There’s nothing revo-lutionary here, except four individuals creating a record that everyone with a pulse and a love of good music ought to hear. Which, in this pop day and age, is pretty revolutionary.

FASTtunes

New night in Tallaght proves hotbed of fresh local talentTWO NEW acts, Lora & Amy and Cash Is King, will be appearing at Brady’s Pub in Terenure next Friday, October 26 as the first showcase of new acts managed by Keith McLoughlin.

Lora & Amy are a songwriting duo from Bal-briggan and veterans of the Ballyfermot Rocks festival, while Cash Is King are a four-piece with members from Dublin, Wicklow and Kilkenny.

McLoughlin is involved with community radio and promoting unsigned artists, and this event is an official launch night at the home of The Brady’s Sessions, which is a monthly singer/songwriter night.

MUSIC ReVIeW: pop peRfeCtIon fRoM london-baSed foUR-pIeCe

Allo, allo, allo... ROB [email protected]


Allo, allo, allo...


OUT&ABOUT GAZE

TTE

STYLE

Tesco from €10

Marks & Spencer from €13

Marks & Spencer from €15 BEAUTY news

LAURA WEBBSeeing that it’s the season of dressing up, Gazette Style is dedicating this week’s section to all things spooky. Make-up Forever is sharing one of their best looks - The Ventriloquist Doll, which is easy to re-create and is suitable for adults and children.

HERE IS A STEP BY STEP GUIDE:Step One: ComplexionUse pale foundation in Mat Velvet No.15 to whiten the face creating the base for the Zombie look. Seal your foundation with a white powder in Velvet Finish No.21.

Step Two: Eyes Use eyeliner in Aqua Black Liner to create shape and widen the eyes for a doll-like effect. Build up your eyeshadow colour into solid blocks to create the false doll look using colours in White Matte in No.00, Pink Matte in No.75, Purple Matte in No.92 and Black Matte in No.40. Recreate the lower lash line using your eyeliner about 1-2 cm lower than your natural bottom lash line and then fill in with white eyeshadow in No.00. Finally add faux lashes to the upper and lower lashes along the false eyeliner line, the more exaggerated the lashes the better the doll effect. Faux Top Lashes: No.110 Bottom Faux Lashes: No.150.

Step 3: EyebrowsDraw in the eyebrows with the same product and extend out the end of the eyebrow using Aqua Black for a very false look.

Step 4: CheeksUse a pink or red blush in circular motions to apply the colour in Pink Matte in No.75. Add Strass Diamonds to create a speckled diamante finish in Pink Diamonds No.18, Red Diamonds No.19, Black Diamonds No.23 using Due Glue.

Step 5: ChinUsing your eyeliner, lightly mark the corner of your mouth down to your chin then once it is straight, take the eyeliner and draw a line down. This creates the effect of the doll’s mouth enabling it to move up and down. Add depth to the false chin look using Sculpting Kit in No.3.

Step 6: LipsApply lipstick as normal using N31 Bright Pink Lipstick, use a darker lipliner to outline the lips in 12C Aqua Lip liner and finish with Diamond Powder No.09 on top for added effect and sparkle.

All make up is available at Make-Up Forever, 38 Clarendon St, Dublin, 01 6799043.

Marks & Spencer from Marks & Spencer from

Creepy Costumes! From big kids to little kids, Halloween is a fun time for

dressing up - like this spooky witch’s outf it from Tesco

starting from €10

Spooky Halloween Makeup Tutorial



Marks & Spencer €3.25

Accessorize €5.50

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R1

shane dillon

GAMERS and tech-heads have a busy cou-ple of months ahead, as the predictable deluge of end-of-year goodies has begun.

Indeed, there are some terrific gaming titles due out in the very near future, as the crucial Christmas wars start between all manner of steely-eyed games developers, with a Darwinian battle of survival ahead between several triple-A titles.

It’s hard to think of a harsher battle for survival than the one found in the wonderful multi-platform title, XCoM: enemy Unknown, which was released very recently.

It’s a reboot of a fondly-remembered (and deeply challenging) old strategy game from 1994. Here, aliens have started invad-ing, with Earth belatedly waking up to the ever-increasing threat of dis-tinctly hostile foes.

So, it’s time for a secret organisation to organise a crack team of elite sol-diers with state-of-the-art secret weapons at a revo-lutionary base ...

Only to watch them

die swiftly, and mess-ily, at a variety of loca-tions around the world, as this is a strategy title that demands brains a lot more than brawn.

One wrong move; one step too far; one foolish oversight of a seemingly harmless alien out on the battlefield – which rang-es from train stations to garage forecourts – can instantly turn the tide of battle, seeing not just one soldier, but your entire squad swiftly wiped out. Horribly.

Assuming they survive the mission to hand, your soldiers can level up, gaining new abilities and increasing importance – all of which will make you curse your bad luck, and

miss their specialist skills, if they come a cropper a few missions later ...

Wonderfully detailed presentation, and lots of gameplay flourishes (ranging from base expansion to research), add to the wide-ranging depth and fun of the title.

The main gameplay is also pretty interesting, as you and the aliens take turns to position and attack with troops.

Repeat such moves, until someone – or something – has won the mission, with great rewards to be claimed by the humans, or bitter regret if things don’t go so well. And if you mess up, entire countries begin to

go dark ...As someone who’s

routinely saved the world before breakfast, I have to say that XCOM isn’t remotely an easy pros-pect, which is great, as this is a strategy game, after all – immersive, engaging and explosive in equal amounts, but still something where plan-ning, and thinking five steps ahead, is key.

While there are cer-tainly bigger titles com-ing out in the next couple of weeks, and months, XCOM deserves to be a hit. It’s definitely chal-lenging and unforgiving, but that only adds to its appeal, making the out-of-this-world title a true star on the retail shelves.

sonY have a very creative title available now via Psn, in the stylish form of The Unfinished swan. developed by Giant sparrow, this visually striking title is some-thing of a melancholy treat. starting with a blank can-vas, the world is revealed by liberally splashing black paint around, with the paint’s splatters and tracks giving form and depth. More colours, and gameplay mechanics, eventually come into play through its brief life. as its name suggests, although it’s stark and not very long, this is a beautiful title indeed.

XCOM EnEMy UnknOwn: stratEgy ClassiC’s EXCEllEnt UpdatE

BYTES&PIECESa STarklY STYlISh work of BEauTY flIES onTo PSn

Challenging, but a blast

a dashing dEsignXBox 360 interface gets a subtle revampMANY people may have already noticed that their 360’s dashboard looks a little different – that’s because an update is rolling out to millions of consoles around the world as I type, with all consoles expected to be upgraded to the new format within a two-week period or so.

The new dash has a number of interesting features, such as its Internet Explorer functionality, the new XBox Music service (with a monthly fee), a merging and reorganisation of tabs, and so on – all within the now-familiar Metro tiled format. Perhaps most interestingly, you can now pin favourite content to the dash, to allow quicker access to favourite games, sites, and so on.

There are plenty of changes that you can all Google to your heart’s content – or simply wait for your console to update itself, if it hasn’t already – with the move a welcome one for the console and entertainment hub.

digging thE nEw stUffgame-changing update finally hits MinecraftSTICKING with the 360, and presenting about my 1,278th nod at Minecraft, if you’re one of the literally millions of people who’ve been burning up the internet with impatient questions about when the long-awaited Update 1.8.2 (AKA the Adventure update, mate) would arrive – relax. It’s here, and deserves the hype. Apart from offering lots

of new content, its most keenly-awaited feature is the new Creative mode, placing flight – and infinite blocks – at

your blocky fingertips. There’s never been a better time to start building a

giant gold statue of yourself, methinks ...

BYTES&PIECES

in the rapidly deteriorating battle for earth, this team of pumped-up super-soldiers are potentially just a few moves away from mission

failure – and being turned into a pile of ashes – in the challenging multi-platform title, XCoM: enemy Unknown

shane [email protected]

25 october 2012 GazeTTe 21

CINEMA

gazEttEGAMING


OUT&ABOUT GAZE

TTE

MOTORS

Turning a ‘nice’ car into a mean machine CORMAC CURTIS

I DON’T know who came up with the idea of bring-ing out a beefed-up ver-sion of the Volkswagen Cross Polo - but whoev-er it was, they should be given a corner office and made vice-president in charge of coolness.

Seriously.Who would have

guessed that VW could take a car as downright ordinary as the Polo and make it so cool?

To be fair, I’m pretty sure that the target audi-ence probably don’t even use the word cool , and if they do they most likely spell it k-e-w-l or some such nonsense.

But that doesn ’t change the fact that the car has been given a huge new lease of life with

its latest incarnation. I spent a week with the Cross Polo recently and really had a blast.

To be honest, an eye-grabbing motor like this always gives me a kick, but sometimes the high-profile can work against you a bit.

Late one Sunday evening, I needed to get home quickly from the office, which involved some pretty erratic driv-ing from yours truly.

There may have been a few red lights broken, there is a chance I lost my patience with some other drivers, and it is quite possible that I may have even disregarded a speed limit or two.

Despite my question-able driving that par-ticular evening, I remain convinced that the gardai

who pulled me over only noticed me because I was driving the most orange car of all time.

Yes, orange.VW refers to it as

Magma Orange, and it’s so bright it doesn’t even need the metallic treat-ment.

Did Xzibit bring this car to his paint shop for a little pimpin’? It wouldn’t surprise me if he did.

StylingColour is one thing,

but the styling of this car is absolutely spot one.

Take a Polo, stretch it, pull it, and pump it up until it starts to bulge.

Next, grab some very nifty alloys and give the body a few hunks of matt-finished dark grey plastic panels for a proper urban look and,

finally, give the interior some nice touches so the outside look is also car-ried inside.

Not forgetting the sil-ver anodised roof rails – there’s nothing I like more than when form and function are brought together with such a styl-ish approach.

It all sounds so sim-ple, but it’s amazing how many car manufacturers make a right pig’s ear of a model upgrade.

The Cross Polo is also very well powered by a nicely tuned 70hp 1.2l diesel engine that’s matched to a solid 5-speed transmission.

For the size of the car, 70hp might sound a lit-tle on the light side, but I found it to be a nice little mover, albeit not laden down with any extra

weight like the family or luggage. Like any car that stands out from the crowd, you do pay extra for the privilege.

In this case, it’s a lit-tle over €17,000 but for the money, you do get plenty of kit, including: 17” Budapest alloys, cli-matic manual air condi-tioning, electric windows front and rear, ABS with brake assistant, ASR, EDL and EDTC, front fog lights sports front seats, silver anodised roof rails, bumpers in unique ‘cross’ design, silver-painted external mirrors, the ground clearance is increased by 15mm and it has hill-hold control.

Volkswagen should be proud of this latest entry to the Polo family, and I hope we see plenty of them on the road.

The Volkswagen Cross Polo in a shade of Magma Orange which makes it hard to ignore

Try out the 2013 Audi collectionAUDI brand ambassador and rugby star Rob Kearney launched the Audi Future Now Sales event recently. Rob was on hand to launch the event as he received the keys to his stylish new Audi A6 Avant S Line.

The Audi Future Now Sales event is effective until December 31st, and offers both existing and prospective customers the opportunity to enjoy the very latest award-winning 2013 Audi collection with significant savings of up to €8,344.

Customers can now choose from a range of unique offers available on selected models across the range.

From the Audi A1 right up to the exclusive A8, features such as xenon lights, automatic transmission and quattro four-wheel drive will now be available at unbeatable prices to those who place their order before the end of December.

The Audi North Dublin event took place on October 20 and 21 where existing and potential Audi customers got the opportunity to experience the Future Now Audi range while families, adults and kids alike, were treated to a few hours of fun.

A cooking demonstration was provided by Bon Appétit Dublin, where guests sampled the very best from Oliver Dunne’s award-winning Michelin Star Kitchen. Other events are being hosted around the country in Kilkenny, Galway and Offaly.

Anyone that takes part in the Future Now test drive at these events will be in with a chance to win an Audi Sportscar Experience where customers will have the opportunity to experience the thrills of one of the world’s most exciting cars, the Audi R8 V10 Coupe, World Performance Car of the Year 2010.

Customers wishing to experience Future Now and test drive the 2013 Audi collection can do so at their local Audi dealer. For information on a Future Now event in your area, visit www.audi.ie/futurenow

VOLKSWAGEN: NEW BEEFED-UP CROSS POLO IS A REVELATION

NOISEroad

Rob Kearney with the Audi A6 Avant S Line

25 October 2012 BLANCH gAzette 23

MOTORS

GazetteacTiviTieShalloween: devilish plans are afoot for spine-tinGlinG entertainment for all

Share the scares with lotsof ghoulish and ghostly funTHERE is no excuse for anyone to be at home this Halloween thanks to the many events that are on offer.

If your kids enjoy art, why not make some spooky arts and crafts with Imelda at Clondalkin Library on Tuesday, Octo-ber 30, at 3pm? This is suitable for children aged eight to 12 and book-ing is essential. Contact Clondalkin Library at 01 459 3315.

Most libraries have e ve n t s h a p p e n i n g throughout the Hallow-een mid-term to keep the kids happy, or to show them that making a cos-tume themselves can be 10 times more fun than buying a readymade one in stores. So why not go into your nearest library to find out what’s on this Halloween?

Elsewhere, the GAA Museum is being trans-formed into a spooky den,

with witches, ghouls and wizards there to welcome visitors. Activities include the Trick or Treat Trail, Terrifying Treats, Hallow-een Crafts, a Halloween Costume Competition and more. Visit www.crokepark.ie for further information.

Even the animals at Dublin Zoo are getting involved this Halloween, but let’s hope all the visi-tors’ costumes don’t scare them too much.

As part of the celebra-tions, the team at the zoo have organised the annu-al Boo at the Zoo which takes place this year on Sunday, October 28, and Wednesday, October 31, from 12 noon to 3pm on both days.

Visitors will enjoy fes-tive face painting, scary arts and crafts as well as spooky Halloween keeper talks. A monster disco will also take place on the lawn for young visitors to

Don’t look now: Drive In Movies at Halloween Horror Nights at tattersalls Country House, in

Co Meath, may leave you feeling a wee bit uneasy in your car

enjoy. Meanwhile, the Haunt-

ed Spooktacular Horror Farm located deep in the Meath countryside is said to be Ireland’s biggest scare attraction and defi-nitely worth the trek.

This is the seventh year of an event that leaves people screaming with fright. With a devilish

plan to create 10 acres of fear, the scream team plan to push the bounda-ries this year even more with scenarios to produce new frights and claustro-phobia. State-of-the-art special effects will also help to create an extreme scream experience. It combines live actors, special effects sounds

that help to create a four-dimensional attack on the senses. This will take place from Friday, October 26, to Wednesday, October 31, starting at 6.30pm and finishing at 10pm. Pre-booking is essential and it’s priced at €25. Check out www.hiddendublin-walks.com.

Finally, park your fear

at the door as Tattersalls Ireland presents Drive In Movies at Halloween Horror Nights featuring a haunted village with live actors, Halloween props, graveyards, spooky char-acters, and a spine-chilling selection of classic hor-ror movies at Tattersalls Country House, Ratoath, Co Meath.

Enjoy a selection of Hollywood’s iconic hor-ror movies while sitting in the comfort of your own car. Park in the best seats of the house for €20 per car, with two screenings per night to choose from. Tickets are available from the Tattersalls House on 01 886 4300, or visit www.tattersalls.ie/house.

Youngsters having fun at last year’s

Samhain event in Marlay Park, Dublin

24 BLANCH gAzette 25 October 2012

OUT&ABOUT Gaze

tte

pAuL HOsfOrd

GETTING away from the hustle of Dublin can seem a lengthy enterprise. Planning, driving and organising for a night away isn’t exactly the most appealing to those with busy lifestyles.

Luckily for me, the surrounds of Co Kildare are just on my doorstep and, 10 minutes drive from Clonsilla is the Courtyard Hotel in Leixlip. Conveniently located in the heart of Leixlip, the Courtyard is a beautifully laid-out hotel which features, unsurprisingly, a large courtyard which is used as an outdoor bar and, as was the case when we visited, is absolutely perfect for a warm day with friends.

Sitting on the River Liffey, the area around the hotel is a great place to take a short walk.

Hotel restaurants can often seem to go one of two ways. Either they play it safe, accept their lot as a convenient eatery for the weary traveller, or they try to be bolder and do something new and genuinely attempt to do excellent food.

Luckily for me, the RiverBank restaurant in the Courtyard falls firmly into the latter category. My rabbit and ham hock terrine starter set the tone for a beautiful meal, while my girlfriend’s duck spring rolls left me wishing I could have had more than one starter.

For mains, I opted for a herb-crusted cod with bacon and tomato salsa which was fresh and full of flavour, while the girlfriend went for a chick-pea masala that was a revelation for a carnivore such as myself.

Dessert consisted of a pavlova for the lady and sticky toffee pudding for myself, both of which perfectly rounded off an excellent meal and an ever better short break.

Step back in time to luxuriousgrandeur HirOmi mOONeyhmooney@gazettegroup

IF you’re thinking about organising a weekend staycation, why not travel to the midlands and enjoy some of the countryside the Emer-ald Isle has to offer?

One such place to stay is Kinnitty Castle in the quaint town of Kinnitty, just outside Birr in Co Offaly. The castle has a deep history which dates back to 1209, so not only do you have a chance to relax here, but it is a chance to

get away from the busy real world and feel as if you’re travelling back in time.

Plus, it’s nestled at the foothills of the pic-turesque Slieve Bloom Mountains, so you can enjoy some breathtak-ing scenery along the way.

Kinnitty Castle is a completely different experience from the modern hotels that we are more used to these days. From the moment my partner and I drove up the long driveway through the forest to

the hotel entrance, we felt like we had travelled through to a different era.

This feel ing con-tinued as we stepped inside the front door and were welcomed by stone steps which were lined with candles and two knights in shining armour. The walls were decorated with stuffed deer heads, large paint-ings and mirrors.

The hotel houses 37 distinctively styled bed-rooms, so your stay will be a unique experience each time. My partner

One of the distinctive bedrooms at Kinnitty Castle, Co Offaly

kinnitty castle: offaly hotel andrestaurant is taste of excellence

and I stayed in the lav-ish Hutchinson Suite, which was an extremely large room that over-looked the entire front lawn.

We were told that Kin-nitty Castle is a popular wedding destination, and it is rightly so. There was a wedding planned for the next night, so we had a quick peek at the banquet hall which was set up beautifully.

It was quite a roman-tic setting for the bride and groom’s special day. It also seemed like a per-fect venue to celebrate any other important occasion like a birthday or communion.

We enjoyed a nice meal in the draw-ing room, and as the evening progressed and it grew darker outside, the candles glowed more brightly and gave the room a completely different atmosphere.

We later went to the bar in the old dungeons where there was some traditional Irish music playing.

Countryside

After a good night’s rest, we were up bright and early to avail of two of the activities availa-ble on site. We first went pony trekking around the grounds, which gave us a chance to explore the area and enjoy the fresh countryside air.

We later tried clay pigeon shooting, which I discovered is not for the faint-hearted like myself. But my other half literally had a blast, shooting most of the clay pigeons that were fired out.

If you’re the adven-turous type, you should definitely take a shot, quite literally, and expe-rience it for yourself. But if you are prone to A beautiful seated area in Kinnitty Castle

TRAVELfast

A bold and interesting menu at the Courtyard

25 October 2012 BLAnch gAzette 25

Travel

One of the distinctive bedrooms at Kinnitty castle, co Offaly

Five-star city style at a friendly priceTHE Dylan hotel, one of Dublin’s leading five-star boutique hotels, is offering guests the perfect opportunity to spoil themselves as the winter temperatures begin to set in.

The sophisticated urban retreat just 15 min-utes’ walk from the heart of Dublin’s shopping street, Grafton St, is located on Eastmoreland Place off Upper Baggot Street and is set in an original Victorian building housing 44 bed-rooms. A new package from the stylish hotel includes overnight accommodation, compli-mentary full Irish breakfast, complimentary valet parking and free wi-fi, with rooms avail-able from €179 per night.

With two Experience Suites, three Experi-ence rooms and one Signature suite, guests are offered a unique experience, with each room individually designed in warm, autumnal colours. Bedroom accessories include Belleek pottery, REN products and a Bose sound dock with an iPod.

For more information or to book an over-night city break, visit www.dylan.ie.

TRAVELfast

be easily startled like me, you are better off just watching from a safe distance – it’s just as enjoyable!

There is plenty to do nearby as well, like walk-ing or cycling through the nearby mountains.

But if you’re looking to learn about some of the local heritage, Tul-lamore Dew Heritage Centre should be your next stop to visit.

It’s only a 20 minute drive from the hotel and it’s easy enough to find. The centre was recently refurbished, and the displays were very impressive. Our tour began with a video in the auditorium which explained the history of Tullamore Dew whiskey and the story of Daniel E Williams.

From here, we were given a guided walk through the process of making whiskey – from

harvesting the crops to the distilling process to when it’s finally made and bottled.

In short, a weekend break in the midlands is a chance to unwind and enjoy the fresh air and countryside activities.

For more information about Kinnitty Castle and nearby activities, vis i t www.kinnitty-castlehotel.com.

The Cosy Castle Comforts package at Kinnitty Castle Hotel o f f e r s two n i gh t s ’ accommodation with a full Irish breakfast each morning, dinner at Sli Dala Restaurant on the evening of your choice, followed by a complimentary night cap at the traditional library bar as well as a Cosy Comforts Hamper on arrival.

The special offer is available from just €149 per person sharing. A magnificent bedroom with a four-poster bed

Gazette

the majestic Kinnitty castle at dusk

BlanchclaSSIFIEDS 26 blanch gazette 25 October 2012

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We, Fran O’Gorman & Rachel O’Connor, intend to apply for permis-sion for a development at 67 Georgian Village, Castleknock, Dublin15. The development will consist of the demolition of a boilerhouse, a single storey conservatory, a single storey bay window and a front door canopy and for the proposed construction of a single storey extension to the rear of a dwellinghouse, alterations to the existing structure including the instal-lation of new window opes, the con-struction of a two storey bay window and an entrance porch to the front elevation of the dwellinghouse, the installation of external insulation to the outer façade of the existing dwell-inghouse and for associated siteworks.The planning application may be inspected or purchased at a fee not exceeding the reasonable cost of making a copy at the offices of the Planning Authority during the public opening hours of 9.30am to 16.30pm Monday to Friday (except bank holidays) at : Fingal County Council, Fingal County Council, Grove Road, Blanchardstown, Fingal, Dublin 15 (to inspect Planning Applica-tions on all lands west of the N2). A submission or observation in rela-tion to the application may be made in writing to the Planning Authority on payment of a fee of €20, within the period of 5 weeks, beginning on the date of receipt by Fingal County Council of the application, and such submissions or observations will be considered by the Planning Authority in making a decision on the application. The Planning Authority may grant permission subject to or without conditions, or may refuse to grant permission.

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monthly awards P28motorsPort P29 asdfsdaf P27gaelic games P31

dublinsport let the Gazette keep you up to date with all the best local sporting action from around the city as we cover all the stories that matter to you and your communityga

zett

e

boxing: local club claims six medals from international tournament

taylOr named bOxer Of year: THE AIBA confirmed that Katie Taylor will receive the 2012 AIBA World Elite Female Boxer of the Year Award for a historic third time.

The 2012 AIBA Award Ceremony will take place in Armenia on December 7. Taylor scooped the prestig-ious award in 2008 and 2010.

This year, the 26-year-old claimed the Olympic, world, European and Euro-pean Union light-weight titles, picking up the best boxer award in China and London.

“Katie has won the award three times now and that has never been done before. It’s a great honour and we’re absolutely delighted,” said Taylor’s coach and dad, Peter Taylor.

brabazon hails epic showing from lucan boxing’s octetEIGHT Lucan boxing club members last week took on one of the biggest competitions in Europe, competing against 330 boxers from 11 nations at the HSK Box Cup in Denmark.

In the process, they claimed three gold and three silver medals, making for an historic couple of days for the west Dublin club with club coach Karl Brabazon proclaiming: “Sometimes the higher the standards are set, the higher we reach to achieve them.”

Team captain Mick Clarke led the way pulling off a sensational knock-out in the first round of his heavyweight

final, a right hook that left his opponent face first on the canvas. It will provide a memorable part of his highlight reel as he intends to hang up the gloves this year.

Luke Byrne produced the fight of the competition by hammering his oppo-nents with his tight skills, regularly using guts, bravery and will to slip big heavy right crosses, brilliantly slipping six inches either way before landing power shots

Conor Burke brought controlled work rate to his wins and a gold medal to boot. Brian Haskins and Petru Ursu

brought home silver in close fights that could have gone their way.

Robbie Coyle and John Joyce showed heart, courage and toughness and came into touching distance of that silver medal.

Then Adam Cross stepped up to fin-ish off the tournament with the very last fight with a hometown favourite in opposition. As the shouts came in for the home lad from his supporters, the 10-strong Lucan team around the ring responded “ole, ole, ole, ole” to a thun-derous noise that echoed and deafened any other sound in the sports hall. Cross

lost by split decision and one point.The Lucan team were subsequently

hosted by the Irish ambassador to Den-mark at the Irish embassy before return-ing home.

Speaking about his club’s involve-ment in the competition, Brabazon added: “A quick rundown of these fights doesn’t do these lads justice, the skill, effort and determination put in warmed the hearts of each of us trainers.

“Each of the lads put in all that hard work and dedication; this was a big moment for Lucan sport that they pulled off.”

members of the lucan boxing club that met the Irish ambassador to denmark following their exploits at the hSK cup last week

Fastsport

c o n ta c t sacting Sports

editor: Stephen findlater

[email protected]

for more information or to send in news

and photos: [email protected]

Phone: 01 651 6205

SPORTGaze

tte

[email protected]

THIS year’s DLR Community 5K in Kilbogget Park saw over 800 participants of all ages and fitness levels taking part. The event, once again kicked off Social Inclusion Week in the county.

A great family atmosphere was brewing before the start with a mass warm-up run by an instruc-tor from the DLR Leisure Serv-ices that had everyone set to go when An Cathaoirleach, Cllr Tom Joyce (Fine Gael) sounded the starter hooter.

A constant stream of people,

from seasoned athletes to babies in prams, from 80-year-olds to teenagers, past the start line to do the 5km route at their own pace.

Everyone who made it around the picturesque Kilbogget Park to the finish line was a winner with some groups using the event to fundraise for their chosen char-ity.

With an entry fee of just €5 for adults (children were free) all par-ticipants received a t-shirt, medal and goodie bag as well as refresh-ments to keep energy levels up.

Shane McArdle, co-ordinator with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown

sports partnership, commented: “Our key aim was to have an event that was open to everyone, from wheelchair users to joggers, to complete the course and have fun.

“We are delighted to have had such a huge turnout and most importantly wide range of abili-ties take part and enjoy the family atmosphere.”

The DLR Community 5K is organised by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown sports partnership in conjunction with a number of partner agencies to provide a fun, inclusive event for everyone.

McArdle also added “a huge thank you has to go to Cabinteely FC for the use of their facilities, the Parks Department in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for their assistance, the Community Gardai and Dub-lin Civil Defence for their help on the day and of course the large number of volunteers who ensured that everyone was safe and had fun.

“With their help, and for the fourth year in a row the appear-ance of the sun, the DLR Com-munity 5k continues to become bigger every year.”

5k event draws huge crowds to Kilbogget Park

Over 800 people took to the startline of the annual

DLR Community 5k last week

28 BLANCH gAzette 25 October 2012

HSTARof the

MONTHdarraGh o’conaillireland’S youngest Brazillian jiu jitsu brown belt continued his fantastic form by claiming two gold medals in the middleweight division – one at the london open and the other at the nogi european championships, which was also held in the english capital

HTEAMof the

MONTH

2012 duBlin SportS awardS octoBer nomineeS

john Brophythe phoenix striker’s recent form with his club and with the leinster senior league panel was good enough to earn him a first-ever republic of ireland amateur call-up, a just reward for his excellent start to the season with the Scribblestown club

kenneth eGanBeijinG silver medallist kenneth egan showed there is plenty of life left in his career as he swept to a gold medal at the tammer tournament in Finland. in a superb irish showing, egan was one of four gold medallists at the multi-nation event

A WET and wild October proved a happy hunting ground for local GAA clubs as near neighbours Kilmacud Crokes and Cuala claimed two of the biggest prizes in the county game, finally ending their respective hoodoos in the senior hurling and inter football championships, respectively, and have Leinster campaigns to look forward to. On the individual front, the local stars have very much been looking to Europe as jiu jitsu star Darragh O’Conaill claimed a European title while Kenneth Egan showed class is permanent with a fourth gold medal from four trips to Finland. John Brophy, mean-while, is hoping that he can play his way into the Republic of Ireland amateur squad on a more regular basis as they build toward a European championship in San Marino. November has the promise of plenty of other Leinster campaigns with Castlkenock also flying the GazetteSport flag.

kilmacud crokeSthe Glenalbyn club bridged a 27-year gap to claim the dublin senior hurl-ing championship in excellent style. it could be the first half of a rare double as the club’s senior footballers are a step away from their third dublin title in five years

cualaaFter two painful final defeats, the dalkey club finally claimed the dublin intermediate football champion-ship title with a fine victory over Fingallians in chanel college, winning out by four points off the back of a great first half showing

round towerthe clondalkin club made incredible strides this year at junior football level with both their aFl5 and aFl9 teams earning promotion this month. the latter did so despite being in dan-ger of folding the team at the turn of the 2012 season

dublinGazettenewspapers

Gazette

CLONSILLA man Jack Kennedy is learning not to beat himself up after round 12 of the British Supersport champion-ships, where a techni-cal glitch forced him to retire, when he only needed a finish to claim the series title.

As soon as cham-pionship leader Glen Richards went off the track on that fateful day, a seventh place finish was all Kennedy need-ed to seal the champi-onship but, on lap eight the Blanchardstown resident’s bike gave way and the despair of the pilot was seen as he was forced to roll the Martrain Yamaha into the pits.

“I remember seeing my clipboard and know-ing that Glen had gone off around the third lap,” said Kennedy.

“I wasn’t trying to go hell for leather, I took it easy and I was thinking about challenging for a podium, but I defi-nitely didn’t want to get involved in any scraps at the top of the field.

“Then I just noticed the bike getting slower, the back brake seemed

to be interfering with the speed and I just knew it was finished then.

“It’s been a tough time since it happened, but I’ve to learn not to beat myself up.

“I had the champi-onship won and it was the first mechanical failure of the year for the team. It was just very unlucky,” said the Supersport ace.

Martrain had invest-ed faith in the young Irishman after seeing him recover from a big injury the year before, with the rider’s come-back being a win at Brand’s Hatch.

K e n n e d y a d m i t s that in signing him,

Martrain knew he was capable of some wins, but the Northern Irish team probably didn’t think that he would be in contention for the title.

“They knew I had won races, they were probably expecting a

fifth place finish in the championship, so it was great to be involved in a championship run,

Cruel twist of fate for D15’s KennedyJack kennedy endured a traumatic end to his second season in the British Supersport championship when his bike gave way and he was denied the title seven laps from the finish

Jack Kennedy produced an excellent campaign only to fall short at the final hurdle

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‘I’m hungrier, more determined and faster than ever. I’ll be up there looking for podiums. I certainly won’t be making up the numbers’ - Jack Kennedy- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FORMER Ireland and Lions manager Donal Lenihan believes Clermont Auvergne are look-ing an ominous force ahead of their double showdown with Leinster.

The blues got over the challenge of Scarlets in Wales last Saturday but have still yet to hit top form in the Heineken Cup despite winning twice in succession.

Churchtown resident Isa Nacewa got the blues’ only try of the game while Johnny Sexton kicked the rest of the points in the 20-13 result. Also included in the side were former Blackrock College men Ian Madigan, Brian O’Driscoll and Leo Cullen, Rathfarnham native Shane Jennings while Castleknock College alumni Devin Toner came off the bench.

But Lenihan says Clermont will be a level above the offering of Scarlets and Exeter Chiefs in the past fortnight: “Clermont look in a league of their own at the moment. Their performance is on a different level. Clermont versus Leinster is the place to be for round three.

“It’s not going to be easy for Leinster to click into gear as they will be handicapped by the autumn internationals. They will probably only have one more match together before Clermont. It’s a big ask. After two rounds you would have to say they [Clermont] are the team in the driving seat.”

He was speaking about Leinster’s hopes in connection with the Heineken Star Predictor, a competition in which members of the public compete against high profile pundits to see who can predict the outcomes from this season’s Heineken Cup matches.

Among the prizes are Heineken Cup match tickets while the ultimate prize of an exclusive VIP package to the Heineken Cup final at Aviva Stadium. Among those playing the game are Irish cricket star Niall O’Brien, Newstalk’s Ger Gilroy, rugby pundit Brent Pope, former Dublin-star Jason Sherlock and broadcaster Tom Dunne.

To be in with a chance of winning Heineken Cup match tickets, and an opportunity of beat-ing George Hook, play Heineken Star Predic-tor; log on to www.heineken.ie/heinekencup and register for round three by 5pm on Friday, December 7.

French side in driving seat in Leinster groupeven though it didn’t

work out in my favour. “We were the only

team that challenged for a large part of the season on a bike that wasn’t running on a Triumph engine and that shows the skill and determination that was

present throughout the whole team.

“To perform the way they did is a big deal for a small team for North-ern Ireland, and the fact that the first mechani-cal fault came in the last race of the year shows how good the team are,” said Kennedy.

Without the finances to re-enter the Super-sport stakes for next year, Kennedy is now eyeing a ride in the main event, the British Superbikes champion-ship, as Martrain are in talks to represent Yamaha on their R1.

“I’m hungrier, more determined and faster than ever. If it’s super-bikes I’ll be up there looking for podiums, I certainly won’t be there to make up the num-bers,” said the confident 24-year-old.

peter [email protected]

Fastsport

25 october 2012 BlaNcH gazette 29

SPORTGaze

tte

aul PRemieR cHartstown Huntstown 2

Newlands Celtic 0

peter [email protected]

HARTSTOWN Hunts-town’s Premier C AUL side extended their unbeaten run to six games between league and cup ties while goal-keeper Kyle Delavri took his fourth clean sheet in as many games when they took on Newlands Celtic on Friday night in Hartstown Park.

Taking a 2-0 victory on the night in a game played under lights on the all weather facility,

captain Darren McCabe explained how competi-tion for places in the side has led to big results and even bigger decisions for manager Tommy McGuirk.

“We had a big 3-0 win over DCU in the FAI Junior Cup last weekend, and a lot of the players who performed well in that game wouldn’t have been a part of the start-ing 11 over the last cou-ple of seasons. But they took their chances and it would’ve been hard not to play them again.

“The squad is very strong and the way it is now is, if you don’t show

up for training you won’t start the match. We had one of the strongest benches we’ve ever had on Friday night, the likes of Seanie O’Reilly and Jarvis Doolan who are two of our strongest, but the lads played well and got the result,” said the centre half.

One such man tak-ing his chances is strik-er, Glen Dunne, who grabbed the first for Blanchardstown men when he nodded home from eight yards after getting on the end of Kevin Farrell cross goal header from a Liam Hef-fernan free kick 10 min-

utes from the end of the first half.

Taking the lead, Hart-stown Huntstown waited nervously as Celtic had the opportunity to regain parity after winning a penalty, but Delvari was equal to the attempt and his save kept his side in front going in at half time.

D a n i e l H a n n o n cemented his side’s advantage with a fantas-tic individual effort in the second half when he picked up the ball in his own half, showing four defenders a clean set of heels on his way to cut-ting inside and finishing

for his team’s second goal.

McCabe is still confi-dent Hartstown Hunt-stown can gain promo-tion from the premier C ranks, and believes his team will be right behind league leaders Donny-carney when they play their games in hand.

“We had three points taken off us at the start of the league when Strand dropped out. We’ll win our two games in hand and then we’ll be right behind Donnycarney. The league is our priority and with this squad we can definitely do it,” he finished.

Harts’ hunting success

soCCer: DubliN 15 siDe CoNtiNues to set premier C aliGHt

Hartstown Huntstown made it six games unbeaten and over 350 minutes since they conceded their last goal with a 2-0 win over Newlands

tHe blaNcH Wheelies, pictured at Straw-berry Hall, enjoyed a successful Hospice Fundraising cycle with 58 cyclists partici-pating.Over €6,200 was raised for the St Fran-

cis Hospice, Blanchardstown while the Strawberry Hall laid on food and bever-ages on arrival after the 100km spin. It was the Blanch wheelies’ first attempt at a fundraising cycle and is an initiative they hope to repeat in the future.

CASTLEKNOCK Celtic held an information session for their coaches at Porterstown as part of its new coaching programme last week with a top quality array of coaches on hand.

First up was Neale Fenn, the former Republic of Ireland player and now senior coach of Just-4Strikers, who provided the Celtic coaches with an insight into the art of finishing.

Sixteen lucky children from the U-11s and U-12s were treated to an informative and fun-filled session as Fenn coached the kids on vari-ous aspects of striking – movement, shooting, and volleying.

Next up on a busy afternoon was chartered physiotherapist Orlagh Sampson (www.orlagh-sampsom.com) who covered areas such as injury creation, prevention and recovery. The insight Sampson created was fascinating and the coaches certainly benefited greatly from Orlagh’s presen-tation and demonstrations.

The coaches club sessions are for the benefit of coaches and players with information gained used to develop the club’s players, not just as football-ers but as sports people. In turn it is hoped that exercises and techniques introduced will create good habits that will help in assisting a healthy and fit lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Celtic welcomed Albion Rovers from the Dundalk league for their SFAI U-15s Evans Cup second round fixture on a morning and a pitch that were perfect for the occasion.

It was obvious from the start that little would separate the teams in the end. Despite chances for both sides the game remained scoreless until the 35th minute of the first half when Darren Doyle passed to Alessandro Bologna who unleashed an unstoppable shot into the net.

After half-time, Albion came at Celtic as they tried to force an equaliser. However, a strong back four superbly marshalled by Ruairi O’Flaherty, with Jack Carolan having his best game of the season so far, and a miraculous save from Celtic keeper Luke Kearney ensured that Celtic kept another clean sheet.

Celtic’s Under-12As, who won the league and cup double last season, continued their fine start to the season with victory over a plucky Mount Merrion in Porterstown. Ciaran McGarry brought his goal tally for the season so far to eight. He was joined on the score sheet by Eugie Rowland.

Top quality coaches take in Porterstown event

Fastsport

blanch club run major st Francis fundraiser

wHeelie GooD spiN

30 blaNcH gazette 25 october 2012

ASDFASDSAF

[email protected]

ST BRIGID’S suc-cumbed to an immense second half performance on Sunday to relinquish their Dublin senior foot-ball championship title after a brave defence of their crown, falling 2-18 to 2-12 in the semi-final.

It followed hot on the heels of a dramatic, scrappy quarter-final victory over Templeogue Synge Street just four days earlier as a late goal from Barry Cahill proved critical.

It came just four min-utes from the end of a sodden night in Parnell

Park and ultimately saw Brigid’s over the line by two points. The Russell Park men carried much of that momentum into their date with Kilma-cud on Sunday, building a 2-9 to 0-7 lead at the break.

Craig Kilmurray and Paddy Andrews both netted in quick succes-sion to build a com-manding lead while John O’Loughlin furthered his claims to be the cham-pionship’s player of the competition with two brilliant scores.

But half-time saw a sea-change in fortunes as Mark Coughlan cur-

tailed Cahill’s influence and it took barely five minutes to reduce the gap as Pat Burke and Cian O’Sullivan com-bined to bring the sides level.

Brigid’s lost possession going forward for Burke’s goal but the powerful Crokes’ forward still had a lot to do when he won the ball 20 metres out, however, he found space before finding the corner of the net.

A m i n u t e l a t e r, O’Sullivan drove at the heart of the Brigid’s defence and got a lucky ricochet before beating Shane Supple from 10

metres.A fine Craig Dias point

brought the sides level before the influential Paul Mannion nosed his side ahead with a free.

Crokes continued to apply pressure as Adrian Morrissey kicked three points in succession before Brigid’s tempo-rarily arrested their slide with points from Cian Mullins and Ken Darcy.

But Crokes found their rhythm again over the closing minutes with subs Stephen Williams and Barry O’Rorke kick-ing insurance scores as well as Mannion being on target.

Football: russell park men knocked out

club noticeboard

HARD luck to our senior footballers

in the championship on Sunday.

Congratulations to our U-16 hurl-

ers on reaching the championship

final; the minor hurlers drew and

our U-14B hurlers recorded a great

league win.

Several impor tant fundrais-

ing events coming up: November

9 - wine quiz night; November 16 -

race night. Tickets now available,

please make sure you support each

event.

St Brigid’s GAA Club Nursery for

four-to seven-year-olds runs

every Saturday from 9.30am to

11am.

New members and families wel-

come. Contact Paul on 087 9154748

or see the club website for more

information.

There is a new GAA show featuring

a weekly Brigid’s round-up every

Monday evening on Phoenix FM at

7.30pm.

The club lotto is €12,200 this week

and takes place in Russell Park this

Thursday.

Well done to all our handballers

who took part in the world cham-

pionship last week in Citywest with

Eugene Kennedy claiming the dia-

mond masters title.

See the website for this week’s

adult and juvenile fixtures.

Deepest sympathies to Bernard

Prior on the loss of his wife last

week.

St Brigid’s Lorcan McCarthy in action during his side’s 1-14 to 2-9 SFC win over Templeogue Synge Street

brigid’s title defence ended by kilmacud

st brigid’s

gazette25 October 2012 BLANCH gAzeTTe 31

WestmanstoWn/gardaTHE end of year fund-raising event

takes place on Saturday, December

8 from 7.30pm.

Al l senior club members are

required to get at least one minor

sponsor for the night. The deadline

is November 10.

G lobal s tock exchanges ar e

reporting a huge surge in metal

prices this weekend.

Davy analysts put this solely

down to the huge hoard of silver-

ware collected by the Westmans-

town Gaels girls’ teams this week-

end.

The U-15 girls won their division

final against Clontarf on Saturday

while the U-16 girls beat Cuala to

complete the double in a weekend

of glittering successes.

In other footballing news, the

U-8s beat St Anne’s while the U-9s

lost to Naomh Olaf.

Meanwhile , the U-10s hosted

Ballyboden, Lucan Sarsfields and

Round Tower in their annual blitz

and came out on top.

Finally, the U-12s drew in the divi-

sional play-off and must meet their

opponents Cuala again.

Thank you to team mentors, chil-

dren, parents, Gaels supporters

that made this weekend a weekend

to remember.

A final thanks to the Westmans-

town sports and conference cen-

tre staff.

They accommodated the event

and the winning teams brilliantly

at short notice.

st peregrine’sGREAT weekend on the pitch for

the club as the junior A footballers

clinched promotion with a great win

over St James Gaels. If they beat St

Finbarr’s in their last game, they

will be league champions.

Well done to our senior camogie

girls who qualified for the league

final and, of course.

Well done to Greg and the U-13

girls on winning the championship.

There was also a great win for the

minor hurlers against Kevin’s.

The minor footballers are in action

this Sunday against Naomh Iosolde

on the main pitch at 11am.

Congratulations to Conor Barry

on landing the Dublin ladies minor

football management job for 2013.

The club lotto was not won; num-

bers drawn were 4, 9, 10 and 25.

Next week’s jackpot is €5,200.

Friday, November 9 is players’

night; all members welcome and

music on the night is from Dakota

5.

The Penguin Ball is on December

8 in the Carlton Hotell; tickets are

€50 and deposits need to be paid as

soon as possible to Lorraine, Ciaran

or Fiona.

Our club shop vouchers are now

available; details and contacts on

the club website, CNP.ie.

Follow us on Twitter @peregri-

nesgaa.

Entertainment this Sunday comes

from Playhouse.

Bingo continues this Wednesday

from 8.30pm. The jackpot is €950.

[email protected]

ST Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh’s sen-ior hurlers booked their place in the Dublin senior B hurling championship final last Saturday fol-lowing a seven-point win over Kevin’s in O’Toole Park.

They won out 2-18 to 2-11 as Stuart Mullen

clipped over 11 scores as they pushed on in the closing phases to secure their impressive victory.

Plunkett’s were out of the traps the quickest, with Shane Bonfil scor-ing a well-taken point in the opening minute.

But Kevin’s responded with a goal from full-forward Shane Watson but the tie went back and

forth with the Ashtown club’s Kieran Sexton (1-1) charged in from the half-forward line, breaking free of the oncoming full back and duly placing the sliotar into the top corner to give his side a narrow lead of 1-10 to 1-9 at half-time.

Plunkett ’s scored their second goal after the restart following a

drive from Bonfil whose deflected shot was tucked away following a goal mouth scramble.

This goal, along with red card shown to Kevin’s Daithi O’Ceiran, allowed Plunkett’s to assert their superiority and Mullen scored six points in the second half for a con-vincing win, despite a late consolation goal.

Plunkett’s through to Senior B final

all of your blanch sports coverage from page 27-31 october 25, 2012

happy hunting: Hartstown/Huntstown run up yet another strong victory to continue strong start p30

gazetteSPORT

st peregrine’s players andy larkin and michael barden celebrate on the final whistle as their win over st James gaels put the cherry on top of a superb 2012 season. Picture: Lorraine O’Connor

peter carroll

[email protected]

ST Peregrine’s junior manager Robbie Keogh admitted that although he knew St James Gaels were a tough side, the game that guaranteed his side promotion from the AFL6 was closer than he would have liked with the Blakestown side coming out 2-8 to 1-9 winners, setting up a possible league winning encounter with Naomh Fionnbarra this Sunday.

“Well it was quite close in the end, but we took a great lead at the start,” said the Blanch manager. “We were leading by 1-4 in the first seven minutes with Alan Nolan doing the brunt of the damage for us.

“Gaels just kept pegging the score back and we went in at the break with a two-point lead, and we managed to maintain that until the end. There were some fantastic spells of pres-sure for them, but we were ready for it because we had watched them play four times this sea-son.”

When Keogh, Declan Patton, John Nolan and Bernard Owens started out this season, they made promotion their priority and the club had been waiting a long time for the move up with the team being buoyed in the AFL6 since 2003.

“Promotion was always our target. We didn’t want to be stuck in the same league for 10 sea-sons and the players really knuckled down

and showed great enthusiasm for the game. “It was just a matter of getting everybody

committed to the cause, and the dedication the team had was fantastic – we had at least 20 players at every training session,” said Keogh.

One of the strongest aspects to the Blakes-town assault on the AFL6 was their backline this year, and Keogh highlighted that the pres-ence in defence was one of the key factors in the hunt for promotion.

“I think we averaged only eight points con-ceded on us throughout the season – so you’d have to say our backs made a huge difference.

“As much as they have been key to the step up, it wouldn’t be fair not to mention the work of Conor Mackay and David Kitt in the for-

ward line, they have been in fantastic form all year,” insisted the young coach.

Keogh also claimed that he has such con-fidence in the current form of the team, that if they were to approach their new league like they had this season, they could look at anoth-er possible promotion.

“I think we are more than ready for the fifth division. We have a lot of numbers at the moment and we have some great minors com-ing through.

“Realistically, I think we’re looking at a top half finish, but if the lads want it enough they could challenge again. That would be a great way to pay back the support we’ve had from chairman Paul Harte,” Keogh finished.

Saints soar into aFL5Peregrine’s Keogh says it is objective achieved as the Blakestown club nailed down promotion last weekend with victory at the Iveagh Grounds

Kennedy’S devaSTaTIOn: Clonsilla man within seven laps of glory p29

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