Malahide

Picture perfect: Local artist’s exhibition at Malahide libraryMALAHIDE’S beautiful public library is the setting for renowned local artist, Richard Hearn’s, latest exhibition entitled, Objects of Desire. On show are his most recent still-life oil paint-ings, composed during his residency in

Westport’s Custom House Studios.Richard, pictured with his wife,

Rapeepan, says he is hoping to sell a lot of his works as well as getting some commissions. Full Story on Page 3

O’Brien unease on local garda station

MIMI MURRAY

ASSURANCES that Mala-hide Garda Station will remain open are needed, Fianna Fail Senator Darragh O’Brien said this week.

The Senator said the poten-tial restrictions in opening hours and possible closures at other garda stations also need to be clarified.

“There is grave concern in Malahide, Kinsealy and Port-

marnock about the review being carried out in the Dub-lin metropolitan policing area. Malahide is a significant sta-tion with 33 gardai. The popu-lation of the area is 25,000, and growing,” he said.

Responding to Senator O’Brien, Minister Brian Hayes said a review was being carried out by the Garda Commission to ensure that “Garda resourc-es are managed”.

Full Story on Page 2

YOUR COMMUNITY • YOUR PAPER December 1, 2011

ALSOINSIDE: GALLERIES ..................... 2

MOTORS ........................18

BUSINESS .................... 21

TRAVEL ......................... 22

ENTERTAINMENT ........ 24

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

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SHOP LOCAL: Support your local business this Christmas See Pages 6-7

FREE GAZETTEGAZETTEMalahide

INSIDE: St Finian’s GAA club enjoys annual

fashion show P8

‘Having a truly Smashing time with a retrospective’

MUSIC: P16.

Soccer: Malahide United on verge of FAI Senior Cup placePage 32

Sports Awards: November winners are announcedPage 29

2 MALAHIDE GAZETTE 1 December 2011

Growing fears on station closures

MIMI MURRAY

[email protected]

ASSURANCES that Malahide Garda Sta-tion will remain open are needed, Fianna Fail Senator Darragh O’Brien warned this week.

Speak ing to the Gazette, the Senator said the potential restrictions in opening hours and possible closures at other garda stations also need to be clarified.

Senator O’Brien, who raised the issue in the Sea-nad with Minister Brian Hayes, said there were growing fears that Mala-hide Garda Station will either be closed as part of a Government review or put on restricted hours.

Concern

“There is grave concern in Malahide, Kinsealy and Portmarnock about the review being carried out in the Dublin metropoli-tan policing area. Mala-hide is a significant station with 33 gardaí. It has been there since the foundation of the State and was an RIC barracks before that. The population of the area is 25,000, and grow-ing. The closure or restric-tion of Howth Garda Sta-tion is also being talked about. This would mean the entire local author-ity area of Malahide and Howth, with 50,000 resi-dents, would not have a Garda station,” Senator O’Brien said.

Responding to Senator O’Brien, Minister of State Brian Hayes said: “The Garda Commissioner is reviewing all aspects of the Garda Siochana’s policing model, including the deployment of per-sonnel, the utilisation of modern technologies and the operation of Garda stations, in terms of open-ing hours and possible closures. The purpose of the review is to ensure that Garda resources are managed and deployed in the most appropriate manner.”

GARDAI: CLARITY NEEDED

Local author off to a flying startB

ALBRIGGAN pilot, P J Callahan, recently held his official book launch at Ardgillan Castle for his first novel, First Kill. The

retired former captain was joined by family and friends and members of his writers group who came to show their support. First Kill tells the story of 17-year-old Linda Garcia who, instead of being at home in Miami qualifying for her private pilot’s licence is instead sent to Highlands, a remote summer activities camp in Scotland. She is bitterly disappointed and resentful but things become much worse when, one night, she is abducted by armed men.

EVENT P J Callahan holds book launch for his first novel, First Kill

Author P J Callahan with fan, Caroline

John Kelly, Joan Fitzgerald and Cora Kelly

Siobhan Garvan, Mary McNamara, Pat Garvan and

Sarah Walls-Leech

First Kill, by P J Callahan

PJ’s wife, Carol and their daughter, OrlaAuthor P J Callahan

1 December 2011 MALAHIDE GAZETTE 3

Carol service St Doulagh’s Church, in Balgriffin, will hold their annual Carol service and reading by candlelight on December 11.

The music will be pro-vided by the 1st Coy. Boys’ Brigade Brass.

There will be a collec-tion during the service in aid of local charities. Parking is available in the lower car park of St Doolagh’s Park opposite the church. The event kicks off at 4pm and for more information call 087 6711547 or email [email protected]. All are welcome.

BALGRIFFIN ARTS Promising young artist’s work on display

Artist Richard Hearns with his wife, Rapeepan

Hearns return with still-life exhibition at library

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MIMI MURRAY

[email protected]

RENOWNED local art-ist, Richard Hearns, will be bringing his latest exhibition to Malahide’s beautiful public library this December.

The exhibition will showcase Hearns’ most recent still-life oil paint-ings, composed during his residency in West-port’s Custom House Studios.

Following a successful solo-show on First Ave-nue in New York City, Hearns has returned to Ireland with a still-life exhibition in his home-town of Malahide. His New York show displayed many of the artist’s land-scape and still-life work and resulted in commis-sioned portraits of New York’s Archbishop and a leading judge.

“I have been living out

west for four years but had a show in New York a couple of months ago. I am getting ready for two more there in 2012. The show was held in the Dil-lon Hall and I was show-ing Irish landscapes and still life. It was an excel-lent show and 25 pieces were purchased, with three pieces bought by the Director of Madi-son Square Garden,” the popular artist told the Gazette this week.

“I also got two big commissions whilst I was there, one is of a portrait of the New York Arch-bishop and the other is of a really prominent judge, Milton Rose. I will be back in New York to do those as well as a rotating show on Staten Island for the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the other one is on the Lower East Side.

“This current show

comprises of mostly still lives made since New York. They are mostly in exquisite renaissance style but some are more modern, based on objects in my studio,” he said.

Described as one of Ireland’s most prom-ising young ar tists , Hearns’ work began to

blossom during time spent living in south-east Asia. Born in Bei-rut, he was adopted by Irish parents and raised in Ireland.

His work captures an idyllic, yet simple, island lifestyle and set Richard on a path of expressive painting and discovery that ultimately led him home and across the Irish landscape.

Investment

“I am hoping to sell a lot of my work and I think it would be a great investment for people. I am also hoping to get some commissions out of this as well,” he said.

The Show, Objects of Desire runs until Friday December 9, 2011.

Richard Hearns’ work can be found on his offi-cial website and blog. http://richardhearn-spaintings.blogspot.com

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‘This current show comprises of mostly still lives made since New York. They are mostly in exquisite renaissance style but some are more modern, based on objects in my studio’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


School league tables ‘shallow and distorted’

MIMI MURRAY

[email protected]

SCHOOL league tables present a sha l low, incomplete and distort-ed picture of the work of schools.

That’s according to the ASTI General Sec-retary Pat King, who has said that it is crucial to recognise that league tables do not tell us about the real perform-ance of schools.

According to the lat-est figures, published last week, 187 students from Malahide Com-munity School sat the Leaving Certificate last year and out of those, 74% of students went to

high point third-level courses.

Most attended DIT in 2011 with 36 students

accepted to the college. Eleven students were accepted on courses in Trinity College Dub-

lin while 33 went to DCU. Eighteen pupils enrolled in courses in UCD.

W hi l s t Ma lah ide Community School’s results were in the high-er levels of enrolments to colleges, King said: “League tables, which focus solely on college and university entry, ignore the fact that a school that empowers a pupil to attain a pass grade in a subject, or to complete the Jun-ior Certificate or the Leaving Certificate, has contributed as much, or more, as another school that empowers a pupil to attain A grades.

“The best type of

school is one which provides a broad and ho l i s t i c educa t ion which seeks to empow-er all students, of all levels of ability, from all kinds of backgrounds, and who face all kinds of challenges in their young lives.

“League tables treat students as one homog-enous group rather than as unique individuals, each with their own set of goals, interests, tal-ents, abilities and life experiences.

“League tables are damaging to educa-tion because they can distort the priorities of schools as teachers come under pressure to

jettison aspects of holis-tic education which do not contribute to an improvement in a school’s position on the league table.

“If we want to improve the quality of education in our schools, then we must provide adequate funding and resources.

“Even before the recent education cuts, Ireland was investing less of its GDP in education than all but three out of 28 OECD countries.

“It has never been more necessar y to protect schools and education. Sustainable economic recover y depends on it,” he con-tinued.

FIGURES: CALL FOR PROVISION OF ADEQUATE FUNDING AND RESOURCES

ASTI General Secretary, Pat King

Lively seisun a hugh success THE Malahide branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann held a lively seisiun in The Grand Hotel on November 13. Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eir-eann is the largest group involved in the preserva-tion and promotion of Irish traditional music.

The seisiun was a huge success with many of the branch’s aspiring young musicians taking part. Also in attendance, were members from the neighbouring Comhaltas branch in Kinsealy. The seisiun allowed students to showcase their talents and build confidence by playing with their peers in a non-competitive and encouraging environ-ment. Following the success of this event, Malahide Comhaltas Branch plan to hold simi-lar events in the future.

The Malahide branch of Comhaltas holds classes for all ages, children and adults, on Saturday mornings in St Oliver Plunkett’s NS school, Malahide, between 9.15am and 12pm.

Tuition is available for an array of instruments. For more information call 086 2097594 or go to www.malahidecce.com.

Planning applicationA PLANNING applica-tion for an elderly care home in Kinsealy has been submitted to Fin-gal County Council.

The development of the facility at Bramley Wood includes an alzheimer care area at a site to the rear.

The building is pre-dominantly two storeys, rising to three storeys at the western end of the development.

If the development gets the go-ahead, facilities will include 32 independent living units with balconies, two guest units, five assisted living units, a 22 bed nursing home/alzheimer care unit and associated site works, including putting greens, a bowling green allotment facilities for residents.

FastNews Pavilions: Top award for centreIT was a great night for The Pavilions Shopping Centre recently when they won the Marketing Excel-lence Awards, sponsored by Crowne Plaza, at the Fingal Business Excellence Awards 2011.

The ceremony showcased and recognised the best enterprises and reward business initiative in every sector.

Speaking about winning the award, Deirdre King, marketing, said: “To be nominated for the Market-ing Excellence Award is an incredible honour, particu-larly given the extraordinary strength of the field this year, but to win against such strong competition is just amazing. I must pay tribute to the enormous contribu-tions made by the Centre Management Team – securi-ty – cleaning without which winning this award would not have been possible.

Pictured are Fingal Dublin Chamber President, Siob-han Moore; Joe O’Donnell, Pavilions; Eliane White and Steven Cowie, Crowne Plaza; Emma Cluskey; Ian Hunter, centre manager and Deirdre King, marketing.


OPINION Improvements to channel at Kinsealy

Councillor Peter Coyle, Labour

Sluice River problems must be resolved

AS YOU are aware, I have c o n s i s t e n t l y

been involved with flood-ing issues. I am chairper-son of the Environment sub-committee of Dub-lin Airport Stakeholders Forum.

The impact of run-ways and buildings, etc, at Dublin Airport have continuously been on the agenda of that com-mittee. The f looding in Kinsealy village in August, 2008, originated in a major way at Dublin Airport. I argued that attenuation under Sus-tainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) should be extended to cover existing runways, in any new development.

“With the construction of T2, major attenuation was introduced. Fingal County Council and the OPW had also carried out improvements to the channel of the Sluice River at Kinsealy, and also followed up on landown-

ers on their responsibility.“I checked out the

Sluice River on the evening of October 24. The attenuation at Dub-lin Airport seems to have worked well, and there was a lesser impact on the Sluice, Cuckoo, and Moyne Rivers than as happened in 2008. Unfortunately, with a high tide at about 11pm,

a problem arose in Old Portmarnock – the sluice gates closed – where some property flooding occurred, and also a pro-tected historical church was under water. The issues relating to Sluice River from Old Portmar-nock to Baldoyle Estuary still needs to be resolved. The FEM FRAMS report refer to that area.

“I refer to the Aspen Drive (Kinsealy Court) situation in the FEM FRAMS report. I was involved closely at all stages with the report, and attended special work-shops, where I highlight-ed problems in Kinsealy Court. It is unfortunate that the grant provided by the OPW in Septem-ber had not started. The Operations Department commenced work there o n F r i d ay, November 4.

Peter CoyleLabour

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‘The attenuation at Dublin Airport seems to have worked well, and there was a lesser impact on the Sluice, Cuckoo, and Moyne Rivers than as happened in 2008’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TRAVELPAGES 22-23

Towering deals: Irish offers to help celebrate at Christmas

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SHOP LOCAL Spending your money wisely this festive season

THE Gazette is never backward about coming forward when it comes to our sup-

port for the local commu-nity – in fact, it is the very essence of what we do.

By bringing together news, features, pictures and reports about local politics, sport, social events and enterprise, we do what we can to sup-port all of these areas.

Support is the key to a thriving local community, and every member of the public can contribute to this support.

More than any other time of the year, Christ-mas offers us all the opportunity to support one another in a very real way.

We spoke to a number of local businesses to see what their feeling on shopping local is.

Mary Farrell, of Vil-lage Books, said: “It’s very important for the

local community to shop locally, particularly at this time of year; it would make such a difference to the businesses if peo-ple would spend some of their money in Mala-hide.”

This feeling is ech-oed by Emma Callan at Robyn’s Nest.

“Malahide has all you could wish for in a village; to keep it that way we must support the local business.”

Ma lah ide Cred i t Union manager, Vivi-enne Keavey, said: “At Malahide Credit Union we firmly believe in com-mitting to the community and have been doing so for many years.

“As part of the commu-nity spirit this Christmas, it would be wonderful to see people shopping locally and supporting local businesses.

“To help facilitate your shopping spree this Christmas, we are offer-

Support your local business this Christmas

ing great value low-cost loans. Please contact us, or visit our website, www.malahidecu.ie, for more details.

“We would like to wish all our members a very Happy Christmas and will CU on Main Street in the New Year!”

Simply put, shopping locally benefits the local area.

By shopping locally,

without any of the expe-dition involved in trav-elling across the city, we can support local business, enterprise and industry, all of which play a far greater role in our quality of life than one might imagine.

On a very basic level, the commercial rates that even the smallest of such local businesses pay, goes directly to our local

council.Without these rates,

the quality of public amenities, from parks and playgrounds to sports facilities and community groups, would simply not be of the standard we currently enjoy.

Taking this train of thought a little further – by keeping one local business open when we shop local, we are sup-

porting local jobs for local people.

On top of this, every local business, and their employees, will naturally tend to support their neighbouring businesses – be it by buying a sand-wich, renting a DVD, getting their dry clean-ing done, or filling a pre-scription. The hustle and bustle that goes hand in hand with local business

is mutually beneficial.Malahide, along with

its nearby areas, is a vibrant hub of business, with a vast array of local, home-grown businesses running in the area.

Even at a time when money is scarce, there is a plethora of local busi-nesses for residents to get behind - so help the com-munity this Christmas, and shop local.


means you can find great holiday gifts, treats near to home


Enjoying a feast of fashionL

OCAL GAA club St Finian’s held its annual fashion in the River Valley Community Centre show recently with a special guest list in attend-

ance. The centre was packed out with club members of all ages who came to support the club and to enjoy a display of creative and colourful clothing.

There was also appearances by the Hurling League Cup and Sam Maguire trophy.

It was the second fashion show organised by the club following the success of the inaugural event last year. The event is one of the biggest fund rais-ing events of the year for the club and proved a very popular night with all who attended.

Caoimhe Keogh, Melissa Corrigan, Aura Sinead Ilovan and Sophie Gilshenan. Pictures: Una Williams Mark Deonan and Pat Farrell

Bernie Hazzard and Linda KendrickNicky Gray, Mary Geraghty and Lisa Ryan

EVENT St Finian’s GAA Club enjoy their annual fashion


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Emma Brady, Bridget Hammond and Nicky Gray

Charlott Brooks, Ruth Daly and Aishling Keogh Kevin Hammond, Phil Lennon and Sean Halpin

fundraising night in the River Valley Community Centre


Dancing on air after an awardL

OCAL Dance and performing arts academy, Back Street, have won Best Hip Hop School 2011 at the Dance Honours Awards 2011. The event was held in the O’Reilly theatre in Dublin City

Centre and is the first event in Ireland. Tina Fitzpatrick, from the academy, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for us as a business and for the Fingal Community.”

Back Street is now one of the biggest and best Performing Arts Academy in the country and has been the home to a number of Ireland’s funkiest kidz and Hip Hop Champion dancers for over four years.

Chrissie Fitzpatrick, David Fitzpatrick, Tina Fitzpatrick, Croia Fitzpatrick, Nikki

Fitzpatrick, Aimee Fitzpatrick, Tony Fitzpatrick, Jayden Whelan and Gavin Whelan

Directors Tina Fitzpatrick and Nikki Fitzpatrick

Debbie Mc Quillan, Sally Ann Burke, Chrissie Fitpatrick, Nikki Fitzpatrick, Croia

Fitzpatrick, Aimee Fitzpatrick, Tina Fitzpatrick, Kelly Arnold, Niamh Carroll and

Amy Burke

Nikki Fitzpatrick, Jayden and Gavin

WhelanTina and Tony Fitzpatrick

EVENT At the inaugural Dance Honours Awards 2011

1 December 2011 GAZETTE 11

12 GAZETTE 1 December 2011

A golden opportunity: A chance to win €5k just in time for ChristmasAS PART of Bulmers’ Doing Our Bit campaign, 17 golden apples, each worth €5,000, are being hidden in Christmas promotional packs of Bulmers’ cans and long-necks.

Consumers are being called upon to check packs closely, as each of the 17 lucky golden apple winners will win €2,500 for themselves, in addition to €2,500 for a community project of their choice. Doing Our Bit is a series of initia-tives, some small, some more significant, all intended to make a contribution toward making life in Ireland that little

bit better. Speaking at the launch, Stephen Kent,

director of marketing at Bulmers said: “We appreciate that times are tougher than ever for many people, which is why we want to do our bit by giving some-thing back. The Doing our Bit campaign is central to all Bulmers’ initiatives and, for Christmas, we want to recognise and reward the vital role that local communi-ties play in Irish society.”

Pictured are Bulmers’ orchard workers Liam and Isabelle with Orchard manager, Tom.

THE incredible talent that is Lady Gaga is releasing a new DVD of her Madison Square Garden concert earlier this year, and we have five copies to give away.

Simply answer the following question: What is Lady Gaga’s real name?

Send your answer to [email protected], with the subject line “Gaga”, before Friday, December 2, or log on to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gazettenews-papers, post your answer, like and share the Gaga post on your wall.

Competition: Win Lady Gaga

Monsters’ Ball concert DVDs



GazetteBEAUTYBEAUTY Edited by Dawn Love

Enjoying the launch ofnew moisturiser rangeT

HOUSANDS of women descend-ed on Dundrum Town Centre last

weekend as beauty fans turned out to celebrate Ireland’s first Vaseline Bottle Amnesty.

The Amnesty invited women to bring along their old empty lotion bottles and in exchange they received a free bot-tle of Vaseline lotion from the new Essential Moisture body lotions range.

The centre was teem-ing with Vaseline fans, all there to recycle their way to softer skin.

Lauren Brooking, from Vaseline Ireland said: “We’re delighted with the success of Ireland’s first ever Vaseline Bottle Amnesty and it demon-strated our confidence in this great new range.”

The new and improved Vaseline Essential Mois-ture body lotions range combines pure natural

extracts and Stratys-3 technology, infusing moisture deep down and absorbing quickly for soft, healthy looking skin.

The range includes Essential Moisture, Aloe Fresh and Cocoa Radi-ant. Aloe Vera fresh, the lightest-feeling body lotion of the three, leaves skin feeling fresh and revitalised.

Essential Moisture, containing nourishing oat extract, leaves skin feeling soft and looking healthy.

Cocoa Radiant has a rich texture and leaves skin with a radiant, luxu-rious glow.

The Vaseline Essen-tial range is available at

Exchanging old empty lotion bottles for one of Vaseline’s new range

Out with the old

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LOCALMATTERS

S U P P O R T L O C A L B U S I N E S S

LYCON, Australia’s premier wax, has increased its collection of skin care products with its new scrubs and lotions collection. Maintain healthy skin and glowing skin, even after your wax, with Lycon deep clean scrub and ultimate moisturing lotion. Using nature for inspiration, the collection is

a sensory, as well as visual, delight. All that and effective too. The collection is available in Bra-

zilia salons as well as leading salons nationwide. Scrubs costs €19.95 and the lotions are €15. From now until Christmas, Brazilia is doing a gift pack of the scrub and lotion for only €30.

Lycon adds to its skin care collection

supermarkets nation-wide. The RRP for the 400ml is €5.34 and €3.91 for the 200ml.

Find out more about Vaseline products at www.facebook.com/Vaseline


EVENT Week-long campaign focusing on proper parking

2011 National Accessibility Week launchedL O C A L A u t h o r -ity National Accessibility Week 2011 was launched this week and the week- long campaign will coin-cide with International Day of Disabled Persons, which is taking place on December 3, 2011.

National Accessibility Week is a continuation of the 2010 campaign, which was designed with a particular focus on illegal and inconsider-ate parking, poor park-ing behaviour and the difficulties and access issues that are caused by parking on footpaths, blocking entrances, etc. The campaign aims to create general awareness of these issues on both a

national and local level. National Accessibility

Week is being supported and promoted by APCOA Parking, who provide a parking management service on behalf of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, South Dublin County Coun-cil and Fingal County Council.

Delighted

Commenting on the launch of National Accessibi l i ty Week, APCOA managing direc-tor, Neil Cunningham, said: “We are delighted to be involved with the three Dublin County Councils in highlight-ing poor parking behav-

iours which impact on disabled people. APCOA traffic wardens can be approached at any time for advice or information on accessible parking.”

The week is being co-ordinated and supported by the Local Authority Access Officer Network and the LGMSB Nation-al Disability Steering Committee.

There will be a display on Planning and Accessi-bility available through-out the week in the South Dublin County Hall Con-course. This will include information on the Dis-ability Access Certifica-tion process.

On Thursday, Decem-ber 1, from 10am to 4pm,

National Accessibility Week is being supportedby APCOA Parking, who provide a parking management service

on behalf of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, South Dublin County Council and Fingal County Council

South Dublin County Council and the National Mobility Centre will have an adapted car on display at County Hall, Tallaght. There will be an informa-tion stand and a driving

instructor on hand to answer queries.

From Monday, Decem-ber 5, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Coun-cil is hosting the Let’s Get Arty exhibition in

the concourse of County Hall. The exhibition will feature works from disa-bled artists who live in the Dun Laoghaire Rath-down area. The council, together with Dundrum

Shopping Centre, will be promoting the business argument for making your business accessible.

A full list of activi-ties can be found on the councils’ websites.


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GazetteMUSICMUSIC

Corgan’s smashing rock revolutions

The first two albums from Smasing Pumpkins are a reminder of their power

ROB HEIGH

It seems that we live in a year when the anni-versaries of events and releases genuinely rep-resent the advent of new watermarks in music, and deserve the acclaim they have received over the years. It’s fascinating to note how many are 20th anniversaries: Never-mind, Achtung Baby, Out Of Time, Screamadelica, Loveless, Ten, The Black Album, Original Gangsta, the first Lollapalooza, to name just a few... wow, 1991 was an amazing year for music.

One of the sometimes

overlooked gems from that era and its successor are getting a well-deserved remastered re-release this month. Smashing Pump-kins’ debut release, Gish, and their sophomore release, Siamese Dream, are returning to remind us about what a fantasti-cally exciting and innova-tive band they were at the time, and how their influ-ence is as important and prevasive as those other records that defined the year.

Gish slipped out quietly in the May of that year, the band having sneaked out of the suburbs of Chicago to record with

Nirvana producer Butch Vig, a process that saw lead Pumpkin Billy Cor-gan push the envelope for recording a record in the grunge genre. Whereas most bands would turn up and crank out their songs onto tape in a matter of days, Corgan wanted the space and time to work on the dynamics, tex-tures and harmonies that immediately marked the band out as more inno-vative and creative than most of their contempo-raries.

Leading off with Jimmy Chamberlain’s drum pat-tern and Darcy’s bass lick, before exploding into a

frenetic guitar fireball, this is, and was, something special and unique from the outset. Admittedly using the quiet-loud-quiet format throughout, there was more intelligence at play here than most, and a meshing of unique influ-ences - Queen, ELO, 60s’ psych-rock, psychedelia and flat-out hard rock all came together to create an unique and brave debut.

Siamese Dream also leads off on a circus-like Chamberlain fill, but what follows was more expan-sive and ambitious than Gish, if that were possible. Corgan’s imagination ran wild and Vig ran with him,

RERELEASES: ANNIVERSARY BRINGS REWARDS

allowing him to record multiple overdubs of gui-tar parts that makes the album sound like noth-ing else, but which also saw other members of the band removed from the recording process.

Nursery rhymes and nine-minute wig-outs are peppered throughout Siamese Dream, and it’s a dramatic and important record.

Both albums deserve their place in the collec-tions of anyone who loves music - they are both packed with more ideas and energy seldom found these days - and also try to seek out the recent BBC Radio 1 Masterpiec-es documentary about the making of Siamese Dream, where Billy Cor-gan gives a fascinating insight into the proc-

ess that gave birth to the record and saw the end of the band as a group entity. They also come with the benefit of accompanying discs of bonus recordings that are in some cases as good as what appeared on their parent releases.

Neither record sounds remotely dated, and both deserve their place among the list of great releases from their time.


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GazettePETSPETSBrought to you by Miriam Kerins of

the DSPCA


THE FACTS: FAILING TO KEEP YOUR PET UNDER CONTROL COULD SEE YOU GET A FINE

The best leads for your dogT

HIS week, I’m going to give you a lead (pun abso-lutely intended)

on, er, leads; doggy ones that is.

You see, like ladies’ shoes and handbags, dogs’ leads are available in many designs, col-ours and styles, from the useful to the absolutely ridiculous, and I have seen them all.

Dog leads are also a very necessary acces-sory and should be used to allow your dog the comfort to have some personal space when he wants to roam a lit-tle, sniff and make new friends, as well as, and most importantly, to control and keep your dog safe.

At this stage, I must point out that under the Control of Dogs Act 1986, as amended by the Control of Dogs Act 1992, local authorities have the power to introduce bye-laws relating to dog control. However, here’s a general guideline.

A dog owner who does not keep their dog under effective control can receive an on-the-spot fine of €30 payable to the local authority, and fail-ure to pay this may lead to prosecution in the Dis-trict Court with a maxi-mum fine of €1,904.61 and/or three months imprisonment.

As I said, this is just a guideline and penalties in your area may differ and may even be higher.

Leads are vital to keep your dog safe

Ok, I’ve done the civic duty bit and informed you of the legal requirements, now let’s get down to the important business of accessorising a gal’s best friend.

The Basic LeadThis i s normal ly

around six feet long and, in my opinion, is the best type of lead to have. I’ve a brood of doggies, all

robust, all lead pullers and I find the basic lead best for walking and in an emergency, for use as a muzzle; although I have never faced an emergen-cy with any of my dogs… yet.

The Retractable LeadI use these when walk-

ing my dogs in the woods. I always like to be in com-plete control of them.

However, I absolutely hate this type of lead for its drawbacks.

It consists of a thin cord that’s wound onto a spring loaded device inside the handle and, as your dog walks in front of you, the cord unwinds and retracts, depending on which way your dog walks.

There’s a flip button on the handle to allow you control how much exten-sion you wish to give your dog.

So, why do I hate them?

If you’re inexperi-enced or have multiple dogs, your pet may still be able to get far enough away from you and run into oncoming traffic; the cord can break if your

dog takes off at speed or she can become entan-gled in the lead resulting in cuts to both of you.

As these handles are bulky, your dog can eas-ily pull the lead out of your hand. I have small hands and have to keep an extra firm grip when using retractable leads, especially if I have to wear gloves during cold weather.

Long LeadsThis is a very long lead,

usually made of nylon or leather, and can vary in length from 10 to 60 feet.

They’re normally used for dog training in order for you to keep control of your dog while maintain-ing a distance.

Always limit the use of

this type of lead to dog training or in safe areas like fields and away from busy roads.

HarnessFor the heavy duty

dog, i.e. the puller, get a harness. This provides security, giving your dog no chance of pulling out of his collar, leaving you standing with an empty lead in your hand.

I would recommend the one called “gentle dog”. Pet parents who own Pat-terdale Terriers will know what I mean. They’re a cheeky breed with oodles of personality but can be very domineering.

For more information, log onto www.dspca.ie or email [email protected]

GazetteMOTORSMOTORS

THE Kia Rio has been voted Conti-nental Irish Car of the Year 2012 by the Irish Motoring Writers’ Associa-tion (IMWA). The announcement was made at an awards ceremony held recently in the Convention Cen-tre Dublin and attended by leading figures from the motor industry.

It marks the first time that a Kore-an car brand has taken the title in the 35-year history of the awards.

The Irish Motoring Writers Asso-ciation judges awarded points on the basis of criteria ranging from inno-vation and safety to space, comfort, build quality, driving quality and value for money.

Presenting the award to James Brooks, managing director of Kia Ire-land, Paddy Murphy of sponsor, Con-tinental Tyres Ireland, commented: “From a great crop of entrants for this year’s award, the Irish motoring writ-ers have selected an exciting model

to carry the 2012 title and no doubt the Continental Irish Car of the Year accolade will provide a great badge of honour for the Kia Rio to help it in the competitive Irish market next year. The Rio’s victory is a measure of the progress which Korean manufac-turers have made on the car market in a very short time.”

Awards were made in five catego-ries, reflecting the diversified nature of today’s car market in Ireland.

RESULTS:Small Car of the Year:

Kia RioCompact Family Car of the Year:

Ford FocusFamily Car of the Year:

Peugeot 508Executive / Luxury Car of the Year:

Range Rover EvoquePerformance Car of the Year:

Mercedes-Benz SLK

IMWA announce the cars of 2012

Model Hannah Devane and James Brooks, managing director of Kia Ireland. The

Kia Rio was voted the Continental Irish Car of the Year 2012


9th generation of the CivicTHE much-anticipated ninth generation Clean Dynamic Honda Civic will arrive in Honda deal-er showrooms around Ireland in time for the January 2012 market.

The new Civic builds on the successes of the previous model, while addressing the criticisms, and will continue Hon-da’s progression towards modern premium.

The result is an evolu-tion in the car’s modern styling, excellent per-formance and advanced technologies that makes it eco-friendly and even more cost-efficient to run.

Developed over four years, nearly all com-ponents are new to the Civic. It’s available as a five-door model only and there are currently 11 models from which to

choose between petrol and diesel; four different grades and three different engines.

Prices s tar t f rom €20,995 for the i .4 SE petrol and from €23,995 for the SE die-sel models.

The main emphasis was on suspension develop-ments of the new Civic to improve ride and handling over the diverse demands of European roads.

The designers also focused on maintaining the class-leading interior space of the eighth-gener-ation Civic, while improv-ing the overall packaging, quality of the interior and space efficiency. This led to a new exterior design, improved aerodynamic performance and a reduc-tion in weight to raise the car’s overall perform-ance.

The new Honda Civic range is due to arrive in Irish dealerships in January of 2012

The new Civic is lower, wider and longer than its predecessor, with a styling that further highlights the sporty and futuristic ele-gance of the new Civic.

According to Frank Kennedy, sales and mar-keting director, Univer-sal Honda Limited: “We

have sold over 42,000 Civics since the launch of Honda in Ireland in 1985, and yet I cannot remember a more antic-ipated launch than the revolutionary ninth-generation which goes on sale in January next year. The new Civic

was exclusively devel-oped for the demand-ing European motoring environment.

“We are certainly pleased with a range of Tax A band diesel options, which are such an impor-tant market in the Irish market,” he said.

AN EXCITING RETURN TO FAMILIAR TERRITORY FOR TOM O’CONNOR: MOTOR Distributors Limited has announced the appointment of Mr. Tom O’Connor to the position of dealer development specialist for Mercedes-Benz.

In his new role, Mr. O’Connor will have responsibility for dealer development matters for Mercedes-Benz passen-ger cars and commercial vehicles.

A well-known and experienced figure in the Irish motor industry, Mr O’Connor was for many years a member of Motor Distributors staff, where he held the position of sales manager for Volkswa-gen cars.

Welcoming him back to the company, Mer-cedes-Benz chief executive Stephen Byrne said that Mr. O’Connor returns to Motor Distributors in what is a challenging new role in which he will be able to draw upon his very considerable experience in the motor industry and develop the Mercedes-Benz dealer network.


RoadRoadSignsSigns


Veritable paradise on O’Connell Avenue

Number 3, O’Connell Avenue is on the market for €395,000

MCGUIRK Beggan Prop-erty present 3, O’Connell Avenue, Phibsboro, Dub-lin 7, a charming yet styl-ish three-bedroom split level Victorian double fronted villa, to the mar-ket for the asking price of €395,000.

This one-of-a-kind property which extends to 1,200 sq ft, is in a highly desirable location and with an impressive interior, and is ready for immediate occupation.

Transformed through-out to the highest speci-fication by its owner, this home has been skilfully paired back, refurbished and upgraded from top to toe with great sensi-tivity, flair and imagina-tion.

It has been finished to exacting standards and combines the best of contemporary design and high-quality finish, whilst still retaining and sympathetically restor-ing some of its period

features, most notably its two stunning origi-nal cast-iron open fire-places.

The accommoda-tion comprises spacious entrance hall with high ceilings and walnut wood floors. From there, there is direct access to the formal living room and to the third bedroom. Steps from the hall lead down into the casual liv-ing room.

The living room fea-tures a restored cast-iron original open fireplace and walnut floors. The room is further enhanced by the high ceiling.

There is a smaller double bedroom, or per-fect study/home office, which also features wal-nut floor.

On the lower ground floor is a bright living space with restored cast-iron open fireplace, stylish Egyptian marble tiles and down lighting. There is also a TV point

PHIBSBORO: THREE-BEDROOM STYLISH VILLA FOR €395,000

SHERRY Fitzgerald in Castleknock are bring-ing No. 17, Station Court Hall, Clonsilla, Dub-lin 15, a spacious and immaculately presented two-bedroom own-door first-floor duplex apart-ment, to the market for an asking price of €139,000.

Concealed behind a large private entrance, Station Court is a small, tranquil development of apartments and duplex apartments set amidst a variety of plantlife and shrubbery maintained to the highest standards, coupled with extensive parking.

The accommodation,

Tranquillity at Station CourtCLONSILLA: TWO-BED DUPLEX APARTMENT FOR €139,000

which extends to 54 sq m, comprises entrance hallway with semi-solid maple flooring, an open-plan living and dining room, which also fea-tures semi-solid wooden flooring, and steps lead-

ing to large private bal-cony.

The kitchen has fit-ted wall-to-floor birch kitchen units, granite-effect worktops, a fitted Whirlpool oven and hob, a fitted chrome extractor

hood, and partially tiled walls.

Both bedrooms feature fitted wardrobes, while the master is en suite, featuring an WC, WHB and shower, as well as having tiled flooring and

Number 17, Station Court in Clonsilla is on the market for €139,950

GazettePROPERTYPROPERTY

partially-tiled walls. The master bathroom also features a WC, WHB and shower.

The apartment has a service charge of €785 per annum.

The property offers a south-facing balcony, which has extensive views of the surround-ing countryside and stunning grounds crea-tively manicured and maintained to the high-est standards.

V i ew ing can be arranged by contact-ing Michelle Curran at Sherry Fitzgerald on 01 8201800, or via email at [email protected]

and access through to the kitchen, downstairs bathroom and to the rear garden.

The kitchen features an extensive array of white, modern fitted eye- and f loor-level units, integrated oven, hob, fridge/freezer and dishwasher. It also fea-tures Egyptian marble tile flooring, tile splash back and down lighting,

and ample room for din-ing.

The downstairs bath-room comprises bath, WC, WHB, marble tiled f loor and part tiled walls.

The first floor contains two carpeted double bedrooms, which have direct access to a shared en suite.

The rear garden is fully walled with pedestrian

access to a private lane-way. It features a paved patio area, railway sleep-ers bordering the raised lawn.

The property is avail-able for viewing, which can be arranged through S inead Beggan a t McGuirk Beggan Prop-erty on 01 419 0600.

For more information, see www.mcguirkbeg-gan.ie.

Christmas Dealz on decorationsDealz stores in Blanchardstown are offering a new line in budget Christmas decorations that will add a touch of style to your festive scene this year.

Whatever colour theme you are going for this year, you will no doubt want to make the house look magical and impress your guests, and Dealz has the answer.

Dealz is a new shopping experience where shoppers are guaranteed to find quality, with over 17 shopping categories, 3,000 products including over 1,000 top brands, all high-quality products retailing for €1.49.

You can visit their website at www.dealz.ie, or on Facebook at DealzIreland, or their Twitter page, @DealzIreland

DECORATION: NEW OFFERS FOR SEASON

NIALL Ryan started working in Ryan’s Garage Ltd, a family-run business in 1996.

The garage was established in Novem-ber 1963 by Tim Ryan, Niall’s father, at its present location on Main Street, Blanchard-stown. Over the years they have built up a superb reputation for quality of service and customer care.

“We are Dublin 15’s longest-established garage. If you are looking for a garage you can trust this alone should give you peace of mind,” Niall says.

Niall invites customers to visit the garage and see the full range of Seat vehicles on offer and to experience their excellent after-sales facilities.

Remembering last winter, Niall advises drivers to make sure that they “don’t get stuck this winter”.

“Right now, we’re running a special offer to have a free ‘Winter Health Check’ car-ried out on your vehicle (all makes). We also now have a full range of ‘all-weather tyres’ in stock for all makes of car.

“All-weather tyres are specifically designed to create more traction and makes it safer to

Interview: Niall Ryan, Ryan’s Garage in Blanchardstown

Q&A

Keeping the family business running

Niall Ryan, of Ryan’s Garage in Blanchardstown

Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be?A: Footballer

Q: What was your first job?A: Serving petrol here at Ryans

Garage

Q: And your first pay cheque?A: Very small!

Q: Have you ever done a job you loathed?A: Not yet

Q: When did you start your present job?A: 1996

Q: What is the best thing about your job?A: Meeting lots of different

people every day

Q: Have you achieved anything that you once thought you could not pull off?A: Still trying

Q: What part of your working

day do you ‘delegate’?Q: What’s currently on your

desk that shouldn’t be?

A: Lots

Q: Is there anything about yourself that you would like to set the record straight on?A: Don’t think so

Q: What sport do you follow?A: GAA, rugby and golf

Q: What sport can you play?A: Gaelic football and golf

Q: What habits would you like to lose?A: Slow morning starts

Q: At the moment, what are you looking forward to?A: Christmas

Q: What is your guilty music/TV or movie pleasure?A: ABBA

Q: Who best represents mod-ern Ireland – David Norris or

Jedward?A: Neither I hope

Q: What music/pictures/mov-ies do you have on your iPod/iPad?A: U2 more U2 and some fam-

ily photos

Q: Who do you follow on Twit-ter/Facebook?A: Not a big user of either I’m

afraid

Q: What was your last tweet/status update?A: See above

Q: Describe your dream meal?A: Hard to beat a nice steak

Q: Who would you rather have dinner with – Enda Kenny or Dame Edna?A: I think I’m busy that day!

Q: Where do you enjoy spend-ing money frivolously?A: Locally (not too frivolously

though)

Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?A: Nowhere near as many as

the other people in my house!

Q: What was your worst holi-day experience?A: A rainy week in the West of

Ireland when I was very young.

I remember we gave up after

3-4 days and came home.

Q: Describe your dream holiday?A: In the sun by the sea with

family/friends and a nice cold

beer in my hand.

Q: What would be your dream job?A: Probably designing cars for

Ferrari

Q: What do you plan to do when you retire?A: Travel would be very high

on the agenda

brake in wet, snow and icy conditions below 7°C. They have many more delicate cuts in the tread which are designed to absorb snow, allowing the tyres to maintain their grip when driving over snow-covered roads.

“Other great offers include our Bronze, Silver or Gold service packages, where you can have your car serviced and given a free ‘Health Check’ from as little as €95, includ-

ing oil change and filter replacement, fluid checks and a 10-point safety check,” Niall said.

Niall says that your first step for safe winter driving should be to get your vehicle serviced to ensure it is fit and safe. Secondly, you should carry out regular checks on the vehicle.

You should: • Check for wear and tear on

wiper blades and replace them as soon as they start to smear rather than clean win-dows• Keep tyre pressure at the manufacturer’s recommended level and check you have at least 3 millimetres of tread depth • Make sure all vehicle lights are working and clean and • Top up with anti-freeze and screen wash

GazetteBUSINESSBUSINESS Supported by AIB

FastBiz

Rock solid Christmas gifts from Hennessy & Byrne at National Crafts & Design FairEVERY savvy Christmas shopper knows that the National Crafts & Design Fair at the RDS until December 4 is the first port of call in the quest for the perfect Christmas gift. And for those looking for unique Christmas offerings that have been imagined, designed, and hand-crafted in Ireland, they need look no further than the Hennessy & Byrne range of giftware on display at this year’s show.

Based in Dunboyne, Co. Meath, Hennessy & Byrne uniquely specialise in handcrafting gift items and tableware from Connemara Marble, Kilkenny Limestone and Wicklow Granite. Their range of napkin holders, candlesticks, tea lights, Cheeseboards, salt & pepper sets, and clocks were first unveiled last Decem-ber at Ireland’s leading Christmas Craft and Design event and were an instant success. One year on, and Hennessy & Byrne have marked their first anniversary in business at this years’ National Craft and Design Fair by unveil-ing a selection of new Christmas gift ideas as well as a sneak preview of some their new products to be officially launched in 2012. New products to watch out for at the fair include elegant cheese slicers, stylish salad spoons and cake knives with handcrafted stone handles, some smaller Christmas ornaments, as well as exciting additions to the Hennessy & Byrne tableware range.

“It has been an amazing year for our new start-up business. We were a bit nervous launching our products onto the Irish market in December 2010, especially in the economic times we are living in; however, the public really seemed to identify with our designs and with the story of behind our range,” says Eric Byrne, a second-generation stonemason and designer/maker of the Hennessy & Byrne range. Visit them at Stand B60 at the National Craft & Design Fair until December 4, visit www.hennessyandbyrne.com, or email [email protected].


Celebrate Christmas

MIMI MURRAY

I HAVE always wanted to visit JFK country – not Hyannis Port or Martha’s Vineyard, although that would be nice, too, but the old homestead in County Wex-ford.

On a chilly November day, my husband and I decided to make the vigil to New Ross to see the birthplace of Patrick Kennedy, John’s great, great-grandfather. Jack Kennedy also made that same journey in 1963, and spent time there as a young man.

We stayed in the delectable Dunbrody House, which is close by, and can be tricky to get to, especially after dark, so make sure you have good direc-tions or a reliable GPS.

The house, which dates back to the 1830s, is set on 300 acres of garden and estate. We arrived in the early evening and were welcomed with some freshly-brewed tea, served in pretty

bone china – very civilised.Our room was straight out

of Downton Abbey, and I gave a wry smile as my husband, Brian, pointed out that we had been placed in Her Ladyship’s Suite. “How apt,” my husband laughed!

There was some lovely clas-sical music playing in the back-ground, and a long hot bath was most definitely required after the three-hour drive.

We dressed for dinner and went to seek out the beautifully restored Champagne Seafood Bar for an aperitif.

We were greeted by one half

of the celebrity couple who own Dunbrody, Catherine Dundon. She dashed about, chatting to guests, giving that little bit of personal care to everyone.

The Harvest Room restau-rant, which is a vast drawing room, has high ceilings and a beautiful open fire, with turf crackling away. The menu fea-tures some firm favourites.

We started with an amuse-bouche of potato and lemon soup, which was delicate and creamy, and perfect on a wet November night.

My starter of scallops were so fresh you could taste the

sea, and were perfectly cooked, whilst Brian’s pork belly was melt-in-the-mouth, with deli-cious crackling.

For our main, we settled on the rib of beef, which is cooked for two. It came with a bear-naise sauce, as well as a beef cheek sauce served in a sepa-rate saucepan.

It was delicious; perfectly cooked and, as my husband

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‘The house, which dates back to the 1830s, is set on 300 acres of garden and estate. We were welcomed with some freshly-brewed tea, served in pretty bone china. Our room was straight out of Downton Abbey.’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A delightfully relaxing way to enjoy A Most Peculiar Afternoon Tea at The Westin DublinFOR something that little bit different – if not verging on the absolutely eccentric – why not try A Most Peculiar Afternoon Tea at The Westin Dublin?

Taking advantage of its team of award-win-ning mixologists, The Westin Dublin has cre-ated a quirky afternoon tea, in partnership with Hendrick’s Gin, serving a classic high-tea menu, alongside an innovative cocktail “tea” to com-plement the distinctive cucumber and rose petal essences of Hendrick’s Gin.

The pot of Hendrick’s G and Tea also provides a perfect foil for delicate sandwiches – cucumber with cream cheese and chive, watercress and egg, and oak-smoked Irish salmon with spinach – as well as freshly-baked fruit scones, banana bread and signature chocolate brownies, all served with fresh cream and jam.

Delightful sweetsDelightful sweets include luxury lemon tartlet,

white chocolate and strawberry tartlets, and chocolate truffles.

However, if this G and Tea is a bit too “out there” for your taste, try the classic tea, with a glass of Taittinger Brut nv Champagne.

Served in the airy but intimate surroundings of the Atrium at The Westin, where the pretty surroundings perfectly complement this elegant tea, A Most Peculiar Afternoon Tea is available from 2.30pm until 6pm daily, at €24 per person.

To book a table, call 01 645 1000, or, for further information, see www.thewestindublin.com.

GazetteTTRAVELRAVEL

Dunbrody House served up a treat in ‘JFK country’

Rugged Donegal could hold the key to a super

Solis Lough Eske Castle is set in a wonderful location by Lough Eske, with Donegal’s ruggedly beautiful landscape adding to its great appeal

Dunbrody House, which is close


The airy, comfortable Atrium at The Westin is

a perfect place to enjoy a special G and Tea

on Irish shoresEdited by

Mimi Murray

pointed out, you could dine out on the beef cheek alone.

We apologised to Cather-ine for not being able to finish, as the portions were rather hearty.

We retired to the bar for after-dinner drinks, and got sucked in to a small wedding that was taking place in the house. Kevin Dundon, the other half of the proprietor couple, was also

at the bar with celebrity chef, Richard Corrigan.

I’m a fan of both, and had to tell Richard how much I loved his appearance on the Great British Food Revival series on BBC2 recently. Apparently, the price of mackeral has sky rock-eted since his appearance.

I told him I wasn’t a fan of the fish, but, being a persuasive man, I have promised to give

it another try, if only for the Omega 3.

Next morning, we dined on a scrumptious breakfast before setting off in search of the hum-ble beginnings of one of the most historical families in the United States.

We took the tiny roads that lead to the old Kennedy com-pound – a far cry from Hyannis Port, and the myth of Camelot

surrounding the Kennedy clan. It was hard to believe what a

momentous day that must have been for the people of New Ross, to have that handsome young man, who was also presi-dent of the United States, step onto his home turf and take a cup of tea with the locals.

For more details on Dunbro-dy, go to www.dunbrodyhouse.com, or call 051 389600.

FOR A festive season to remember book into Solis Lough Eske Castle this Christmas, and enjoy a magical Irish holiday in Donegal.

To start things off, guests can celebrate the onset of the Christmas season with the Annual Switching-On Ceremony on Sunday, December 4, where the festive lights will be officially switched on to launch the holiday season.

Not only does this

event mark the begin-ning of the hotel’s Christ-mas celebrations, but it also launches the hotel’s charity drive to assist disadvantaged children and families in Donegal, by collecting food items, so that they can have a happy Christmas, too.

To add to the festivi-ties, guests can enjoy a delightful seasonal twist on the traditional after-noon tea, on December 4, and again on Decem-ber 11 and 18, with a

special Teddy Bear’s Tea Party, where children have a chance to get a photograph with Santa Claus, while enjoying fin-ger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, and a range of festive pastries, including mince pies and Christmas cake, all washed down with your choice of a cup of tea or a glass of champagne.

For those in need of more than the pre-Christ-mas build-up, and the chance to totally escape

the stresses and strains of the festive period, why not experience the Lough Eske Castle Christmas Festive Package from December 24 to 27?

With daily cooked or buffet breakfast; two, three-course table d’hote dinners, and a delicious, traditional Christmas day lunch – complete with all the trimmings – you defi-nitely won’t go hungry.

In addition to the copi-ous amounts of food, fun outdoor activities on St

Stephen’s Day for all ages and nightly festive enter-tainment and more, will ensure that boredom is not an option.

The Christmas Fes-tive Package is avail-able for guests staying from December 24 to December 27: Court-yard Guestroom, from €635 per person sharing; Deluxe Guestroom, from €670 per person sharing.

For further information visit www.solislougheske-castle.ie

Christmas break in stunning Solis Lough Eske

to New Ross, is a perfect venue with delicious food, creating a perfect spot from which to explore the historic region


Splash out on a lovely break with the tranquil surrounds of Lough Erne Resort in Co FermanaghLOUGH Erne Resort is a beautifully tranquil setting at any time of the year, but it is particu-larly gorgeous at Christmas.

Two- and three-night Christmas packages combine all the finest elements of a stay at Lough Erne Resort, with many extra treats.

On arrival, a seasonal fruit basket awaits you in your room. Enjoy mulled wine and mince pies by the open fire after a wonderfully brisk walk on The Collop Walk, within the grounds of the hotel, and offering stunning views over the Fermanagh Lakelands and Lough Erne Resort’s championship 18-hole golf course, The Faldo Course.

With carol singers providing pre-dinner sea-sonal music on Christmas Eve, there will also be charming music from the resident harpist and resident pianist during some meals and in the evenings.

Of course, children will not be forgotten – they, too, will have some very special treats to look forward to, including gifts from Santa Claus.

A two-night festive stay at Lough Erne Resort, including full Irish Breakfast each morning, mulled wine and minced pies on arrival, Christ-mas Eve dinner, transfers to local church serv-ices, Christmas Day lunch and Christmas Day evening buffet, costs from £170 per person per night, based on two people sharing.

The three-night Christmas packages rates start from £150 per person per night, based on two persons sharing.

For further information on this lovely break, call Lough Erne Resort on +44 (0)28 6632 3230, or see www.lougherneresort.com


Some Thing weirdHaving a Ripley moment ... When faced with a cunning, murderous, shapeshifting alien that’s stalking the remote Antarctica base she’s

trapped on, plucky scientist, Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) does what any sensible person would do – reach for a flamethrower ...

GoingOUT

GazetteENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

Who ya gonna call? Gho-Oh, wait, the scientists in this film have to face an otherworldly horror by themselves

KATE CROWLEY

WELL folks, here we are again – December, AKA the month that I can reliably expect Mr Crow-ley to start humming “Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat” whenever I get dolled up for a night out.

Still, knowing perfectly well what a (Christmas) cracker Mr Crowley pulled on his trip down the aisle, I ignore any such gibes on his not-exactly-slim-himself-either part, as we in the Crowley household all look forward to some annual festive cheer.

Speaking of goose – or geese? – it brings to mind someone whose goose is in danger of being well and truly cooked in this week’s film, with another plucky protaganist who seems to have curiously lemming-like instincts for survival once things start going bump in the night.

Or, rather, once some ... Thing starts messily

bumping her colleagues off in the night, in the day, in the snow, in the base she’s trapped on ...

This may almost sound like a jolly update of Clue-do, but, to give you a bet-ter clue about what this film is about, I’ll nod (like the filmmakers) towards The Thing.

You remember it, right? That old 1980s film star-ring Kurt Russell, which was itself a remake of the classic 1951 film, starring Nobody Who Anyone Remembers Now?

Well, sorry folks, it ain’t that Thing, but this The Thing is kind of almost

a remake of the former Thing, not the latter Thing.

I Thing we’re all getting confused now, so let’s get on with the Thing to hand – The Thing – and its con-nection to cooked geese. (Bear with me, folks.)

It’s Tuesday, 1982, and brainy science lady Kate (Winstead) is called upon to head off to a remote base in Antarctica, where a team of Norwegian and American scientists have discovered something, or some... Thing.

Actually, it’s a space-ship, which has a frozen extraterrestial, or ET, in it.

(Sadly, it’s not the kind that likes telephones and messing about on bikes during moonlit flits, but the human-slaughtering sort instead.)

Kate, and pals, haul the ET back to base, where, after retrieving a tissue sample, there’s much cel-ebration at their discovery – at least until the ET, or The Thing, as we’ll call it from now, defrosts, wakes up, and sets about assimi-lating the scientists and then, presumably, con-quering the world.

Followed by, presum-ably, messing about on moonlit flits on bicycles.

However, quicker than you can say “Science will save us now!”, Kate and pals realise that The Thing is trying to pick them all off, one by one; that the parasitic entity has the ability to absorb and then perfectly mimic any life-form, be it animal or man; that at least one of the people on the base is now, in fact, a murder-

ously cunning alien bent on killing (and copying) them all, and that there’s some Thing very fishy going on.

“Science! Science will... err... not maybe work as well as a nice flamethrow-er,” Thing the scientists.

Cue paranoia, panic, mistrust and rampant fear, as through various attacks by The Thing, and by the dwindling survi-vors upon each other, every Thing just goes from bad to worse, leading to their geese being well and truly cooked.

Trapped and isolated in a place where anyone and everyone around you could be some Thing you really don’t want to be stuck with, Kate’s forced into an increasingly night-marish situation – yet one that turns out to be lead-ing directly to the events seen in the 1982 film, and that film’s load of disgust-ingly gory special effects.

Hurrah! So, it’s not all bad news, then.

FILM OF THE WEEK:The Thing (16) 102 mins

OUR VERDICT:NOT, perhaps, what many would see as a traditional Christmas film for the season, this gory horror film is an interesting feel-bad film. It rachets up feelings of tension, stress, fear and panic on a remote Antarctica base, where there’s snow escape for a group of scientists – AKA “dinner” – as a shapeshifting alien hides among the group. But who (and how many) among them is now The Thing?

Director: Matthijs van Heijningen JrStarring: Joel Edgerton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ulrich Thomsen, beardy scientists in grave peril

PAVILION 01 231 2929John Spillane

WITH Christmas fast approaching, The Pavilion is showing no signs in letting up on its roster of outstanding musicians, with award-winning John Spillane coming to the Dun Laoghaire venue. Well-known for his engaging performances, and, of course, his superb music, the Irish singer-songwriter will be supported by Lisa O’Neill, another fine singer from Cavan’s heartlands. Catch the show at 8pm on Friday, December 2, with admission costing €19.

MILL THEATRE 01 296 9340 The Spirit of Christmas

PRESENTED by the perenially popular Drawing Room Opera Company, The Spirit of Christmas will celebrate the season in superb musical style on Sunday, December 4, with a number of festive favourites and operatic pieces creating an event to savour. As if that wasn’t a tempting enough treat, a special meal deal with Roly Saul’s restaurant sees a two-course meal for two, bottle of wine or complimentary third course, and two tickets for the show on offer, all for just €110. Non-dining tickets cost €27.

DRAIOCHT 01 885 2622CREATEability

AS PART of its engagement with all of the community, and families, Draiocht’s CREATEability event should be one not to miss. This unique family day for children with special needs, between the ages of 8 to 13, will see Draiocht’s artists joining families to work together and create art in a hands-on way, exploring different themes and various artworks in the galleries. For further information, contact Sarah at 01 809 8029. This free event runs at Draiocht on Friday, December 2, from 1.30pm to 2.30pm.


SHANE DILLON

BENDING the rules of this page just a little – and because I’m also very interested in tech news and kit, and sometimes cover such content – I thought I’d take a look at a serious contender for the near-ubiquitous iPhone – and what better than the HTC Radar, running Windows’ Mango OS?

In urgent need to replace my ever-faithful, but quite basic (and by now, geriatric) Nokia 6300, I was considering a number of smartphones, before the HTC Radar, well, crossed my radar.

There have already been a number of Win-dows Phones, with each iteration of the OS driving it – in this case, Windows Phone Operating System 7.5, or Mango, to use its user-friendly title – evolv-ing to keep up with user trends and espectations.

Given Apple’s near dominance of media headlines, with Android phones also slugging

it out for market share, Microsoft really needed to up its game in offering an OS that could com-pete.

Thankfully, Mango, coupled with HTC’s hard-ware, seems like a very natural fit, and fit for the challenge.

Firstly, speaking of a natural fit, the phone itself has a lovely build; ergonomically, it feels extremely comfortable to hold and use, and, as smartphones go, I imag-ine this will fit most users’ hands somewhat better than similar phone.

Compactness is, for

many, a negative point in phones, rather than a positive.

Personally, I prefer a bit of heft in a handset, rather than jabbing at something that’s seemingly designed for pixie hands, yet the Radar also slips perfectly comfortably into my pocket. So far, so good.

However, the Radar’s real selling point is, of course, the Windows’ OS that drives it, as phones stand or fail on their soft-ware.

I know that Microsoft have been keen to point out hundreds of addi-tions and improvements to its latest OS over pre-vious versions – however, I just wanted to see what Mango does, rather than know what it was.

And what it does well, it excels at, and its OS really made me regret not upgrading my phone sooner.

Taking a different stance to the “apps” functions of other phones, Mango’s (user-customisable) Tile-based interface cleanly

shows whatever informa-tion you’re looking for – I quickly and easily pulled apart the default layout to push “my” content to the fore, chief among that being social content.

After all, its People Hub pulls together all the infor-mation on my friends and contacts that I’m interest-ed in, giving me updates on what’s going on, while letting me filter out other content.

It’s pretty neat, seeing content from, say, Twit-ter, Facebook and MSN neatly integrated into one space, rather than spread over disconnected apps.

Of course, being a Microsoft OS, it also neatly pulls in what’s con-nected to my XBox Live gaming account, with a Marketplace section connected to the phone, while, perhaps more seri-ously, there’s also a dedi-cated Office Hub.

That’s likely to be a key selling point for, say, many students and busi-ness users, as the office software, and its integra-

tion with other platforms, would be very important for many users.

Coupled with the Cloud-related SkyDrive storage, which provides a lot of gigabytes of storage, and that’s an awful lot of brain- and storage-power to slip into your pocket, which would also link very well to its compre-hensive calendar func-tions.

Something that I liked a lot is the “threads” func-tion, as messages remain grouped together, leaving naturally flowing conver-sations – complete with nicely integrated picture messages, where relevant – all of which is quite a change from my faithful old phone (now retired to a bedroom drawer)!

Coupled with all of the bells and whistles you’d expect both HTC and Microsoft to cram into a handset (which includes a pretty decent camera), and the HTC Radar, run-ning Windows’ Mango, seems like a pretty tasty smartphone to pick up.

GazetteGAMINGGAMINGTiles of style in this new Windows phone

The HTC Radar, running Windows’ Mango OS, is

available from a number of outlets in classic grey

(above, or white, depending on availability). It comes

with 8GB of internal storage, and has a wide range

of features, ranging from 3G connectivity to a 5MP

camera and flash, ZUNE player and HTC Watch.

AS MENTIONED last week, I’m taking a look at Halo: Anniversary, which should interest gamers allied to pretty much any console.

Available exclusively on the XBox 360, the title marks the ten-year anniversary of an icon-ic gaming title, and series, and also marks an almost unheard of event in gaming – reheating and reserving an old title for modern tastes.

However, the game hasn’t been simply dusted off and shoved out into the shops again, as the (re)developers have taken the original game, slapped a HD and re-modelled gloss over it to compete with modern titles, and then brought it to market.

The interesting thing is that, at any point during the gameplay, the player can press a button and swap back and forth at will to see what the level/game looked like in the original engine.

It’s quite a shock, seeing today how ... simple the orginal title looked, especially when the more intricate modern version looks so much prettier.

Still, the original Halo, as now with its “reheated” version, still holds up very well, with some excellent AI, imaginative locales, challenging environments, and quite simply, lots of fun.

I’ve had quite a blast – liter-ally – by running around as the title’s hero, jumping around glossy alien landscapes and

spaceship interiors, and then swapping back and forth to see their practically prehistoric equivalents in the ten-year-old original engine, all the while fac-ing the exact same enemy AI.

Of course, the Anniversary title comes with some cool attractions in the package,

such as some great multiplayer maps, and a number of other “upgrades” to look out for.

For my money, the orginal Halo was the best in the series, and this finely executed tribute is both a fitting testament to the game it honours, as well as a great game in its own right.

Halo: Anniversary is a great tribute to a ten-year-old title

Saying Halo to a fondly-remembered classic

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

‘What it does well, it excels at, and the Windows OS really made me regret not upgrading my phone sooner’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


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GazetteSportSport


Charity BoxingFight night for Hope SourceC

YSTIC Fybrosis charity, the CF Hope-source Foundation, held a very suc-cessful fundraising white-collar boxing

evening at the Wright Venue in Swords last weekend. The charity, which is working to create isolation beds for cystic fibrosis patients in Temple Street hospital, were delighted with the turn-out for the 15-fight card, which saw local fighters battle for bragging rights in a fun event. Ways to make donations and more infor-mation about the charity’s efforts can be found at http://www.malahidecffightnight.com/. The organisers wish to thank all the sup-port they received from friends and families of the fighters.

Barry Holland and Callum Riches get in close.

Action from Patrick Ferguson v Conor Sheils

Colm Hanratty v Alan Lee

Steven Daly v Andy Beirne. Pictures: www.eventphotosireland.com

Alison Beirne v Lisa Foran

Action from the bout between Lorcan Gibney and Jack Brennan The ref keeps a close eye on Ger Byrne and Ritchie Hogan

in association with


Rally Director, Bobby Willis at the announcement of the Circuit of Ireland rally

Challenge in place for 2012 rally race

[email protected]

NORTH county rally star Robert Barrable is set to return to the roads of Ireland next year when he takes part in the famous Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally which will be part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) series.

The 13-round IRC series will travel Europe with the Circuit of Ire-land being the only Brit-ish or Irish round on the calendar, which will be hosted in its traditional Easter slot of April 6 and 7.

Broadcas t across

Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas by Eurosport, the IRC series last year boasted a global viewing audience of 79 million and affirms the Circuit of Ireland’s arrival once again on a worldwide sporting stage.

Irish drivers have com-peted well on the IRC series in recent years, which was won by Dun-gannon’s Kris Meeke in 2009 and last year fea-tured Irish drivers, Jonny Greer (Carryduff), Craig Breen (Water ford) , Robert Barrable (Dub-lin) and Alastair Fisher (Trillick).

Bobby Willis, event

director of the Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally said: “The country can look forward to host-ing a truly world-class sporting event in 2012, a rally that will captivate the fans and the general public alike as we bring the rally to the people.”

Dungannon driver, Kris Meeke, who won the IRC series in 2009 said: “Hosting such a high-profile event here is unbelievable and is fantastic news for rally fans in Ireland.

“As anyone who watched the series over recent years will testify, it’s highly competitive and makes compulsive

viewing.“I’m certain the reign-

ing IRC champion, Nor-way’s Andreas Mikkelsen and all the competitors and teams will receive a warm welcome here next Easter from the thou-sands that will attend.”

Precise details sur-rounding the rally will be launched in the next few weeks, but Willis has promised another super special stage in a new host city which is sure to showcase the skills of the IRC and Circuit of Ireland competitors.

For more information go to www.ircseries.com or www.circuitofireland.net

RALLY: INTERNATIONAL SERIES RETURNS TO IRELAND

STARof theMONTHGARY THOMPSON

THE North Dublin star of the

track has been marked as a

possible F1 star of the future,

and continues to impress with

his progress on the Asian cir-

cuit, shining on the Japanese

F3 championship over the last

two years, with his appear-

ance behind the wheel in end-

of-season trials in Formula

Nippon another affirmation of

his potential.

NOVEMBER is just gone and still it’s like the middle of autumn — but that hasn’t stopped some excep-tional Dublin sports stars emerging to take their honours.

Gary Thompson is slowly but surely building a significant career in motor racing, and his appearance behind the wheel in Formula Nip-pon in Japan puts him in the foot-steps of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. It is only a matter of time before we see Gary moving into the realms of world championship racing.

The Lucan Sarsfields’ camogie section have achieved a massive and

historic success this year, winning all of the juvenile age-level titles in Dublin. With hurling at the club a huge success, it was inevitable that the camogie section would follow.

Let us know!Let us know about your achieve-

ments in sport, so that the Gazette can tell the rest of Dublin — and give you, or your team, a chance of being one of our monthly stars.

Contact us on 01 601 0240 or [email protected] to tell us all about your successes, and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/gazettesportII.

LUCAN SARSFIELDS

THE 12th Lock side

made Dublin history

this month when they

claimed the last of an

impressive run of cam-

ogie titles at Parnell

Park; the club’s ladies

now own the Under-13

to minors’ crowns in the

county. With the small-

ball code in the ascendancy at the club, their achievement is a

tribute to the youth section at the club and the young players.

TEAMof theMONTH

2011 DUBLIN SPORTS AWARDS NOVEMBER WINNERS

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

U C D A F C h a v e announced recently that they will host two friend-ly matches at the Belfield Bowl against Scotland’s St Johnstone FC on July 10, and Spain’s Villarreal CF on July 16.

St Johnstone finished eighth in the SLP last season, and have a long tradition in Scottish football. Former players include Sir Alex Ferguson and Ally McCoist.

Villarreal finished fourth in last seasons La Liga and so are qualifiers for next season’s Cham-pions League. As well as this, they have a wide range of talented foot-ballers at their disposal with Barcelona target and former Manchester United player, Giuseppe Rossi, on the top of the list.

GazetteSport and UCD are giving lucky

readers the chance to win pairs of tickets to these matches.

Simply answer the fol-lowing question:

Where was Villarreal striker Guiseppe Rossi born?

Send your answer, together with your name, address and mobile phone number, to [email protected], with “UCD Friendlies” in the subject line of the mail.

Win tickets to see UCD in friendlies

UCD’s Robbie Benson

Leo’s launch: Leinster star releases bookLEINSTER captain, former Blackrock College player, and proud holder of the Heineken Cup, Leo Cullen, was pictured last week , at the D4 Berkeley Hotel, with his family at the launch of A Captain’s Story, his diary of the epic 2010/11 season that led to another historic success in Ireland and Europe. Picture: inpho.com

GazetteSportSport


Ladies’ night: St Sylvester’s celebrate seasonST SYLVESTER’S senior ladies foot-ballers celebrated a great year of football with a presentation evening at the club last Saturday.

The team took both the Dublin and Leinster junior championship titles this year, and Sinead Aherne was rewarded with an All-Star award, and was also winner of the Puma Golden Boot for the top scorer in TG4 Senior Football Cham-pionship in 2011.

Picture: GAApics.com

FastSport

[email protected]

MALAHIDE United duo Andrew Brown and Colm Deasy fly out to Qatar this week as part of the Republic of Ireland panel who go to the Aspire Academy for a high-quality training camp.

It is the fourth time the Irish side have trav-elled to the Middle East to take on this type of camp, playing a pair of full-time teams as manager Niall Harri-son starts to mould his panel.

In the wake of the SFAI Umbro Kennedy Cup at the University

of Limerick in the sum-mer, there was a panel of 18 players who went on to play in the Hiber-nia Trophy.

Since then, Brown and Deasy have taken part in a four-day train-ing camp to which 36 players were invited. There, the players were assessed by Harrison and five other coaches before settling on this latest squad.

Harrison, though, has been at pains to point out this group is a fluid one with the key task to deliver a large group of players to John Morling at U-16 level,

The duo’s potential

opponents in Qatar provide a stiff test as a group who play full-time with a high level of focus on technical aspects of the game.

“I’ve been to Aspire with Irish squads in the past and the trip has always stood to the players,” he said this week.

“It’s a world-class facility where the best players from Africa and Asia are brought and given the best coach-ing.

“Our lads have always got a really technical test from Aspire teams and this should be the same.”

He added that the time together allows them to get a taster of what is required to be a professional represent-ing their country.

“This trip is all about life lessons, not just football, and will be a real learning experi-ence for the players,” Harrison added.

Further assessments of this group will take place in late December to see how the players have progressed fol-lowing the programme, before they play six international games in the New Year, poten-tially featuring against Belgium among other

opposition.E l s e w h e r e , t h e

Republic of Ireland U-17 and U-19 inter-national teams learned their UEFA elite quali-fying fate at a draw at UEFA headquarters in Switzerland.

Paul Doolin’s U-19 squad will travel to Por-tugal for the elite quali-fying phase where they will face Israel, hosts Portugal and Ukraine from May 23 to 28, while John Morling’s U-17 squad face a mas-sive task, drawn against c u r r e n t E u r o p e a n champions, Nether-lands alongside Serbia and Albania.

Malahide pair for Qatar

SOCCER: UNITED DUO TRAVEL TO MIDDLE EAST FOR TRAINING

The duo from Malahide United will be a part of the Republic of Ireland panel who will line out at the Aspire Academy, pictured aboveFingal’s barren season continues at ALSAAFINGAL’S wait for a first Leinster senior league win continues as YMCA’s claimed their fifth success of the campaign that saw them narrow the gap to a point at the top of hockey’s division one as they plundered a 3-1 victory at ALSAA.

Fingal had won the equivalent fixture in the Neville Cup two months earlier but they were stung early on as YMCA built a two-goal lead.

Marcus Richardson stole the ball on the 25, drawing the goalkeeper before playing in Jamie Tobin for the first goal.

The second was similar with Richardson intercepting, passing to Richie Pedreschi who returned the favour for Richardson to finish off his fifth goal of the campaign. Eamon Bane got one back just before half-time, sweeping home from the injector spot from breaking ball.

It was an eventful corner as David Bane and Ian McHugh collided, leaving the former in serious difficulty and needing a hospital visit.

The Fingal talisman had been injured in similar fashion earlier this season and was knocked unconscious by the collision but was cleared to leave hospital.

Stephen Parker got the clinching goal with a quarter hour to go when he swivelled on Andy Walker’s swept pass while Fingal’s best chance to level had fallen to Simon McK-eever.

His initial shot chipped over Iain Walker but spun away from goal with McKeever himself retrieving the ball only to flash a reverse across the face of the goalmouth.

It leaves Fingal tied at the bottom of the table with just one point from six games to date.

They face a battle against Monkstown in Rathdown on Saturday afternoon before playing Corinthian in their final league game before Christmas this year but will be look-ing forward to a Neville Cup semi-final date with Railway Union.

in association with


CLUB NOTICEBOARDST SYLVESTER’SMinor Hurling C Championship Final:

Raheny 1-11, St Sylvester’s 3-9.

This is our first-ever minor hurl-

ing championship victory and it was

all the sweeter with another trade-

mark performance by this fantastic

team.

Coaches past and present Martín

Meaney, Eddie McLoughney, Colm

O’Connor and Declan McGrath laid

solid foundations and instilled their

character into this team, which is

awesome to behold. This was a great

day for all.

Some of the younger players on

this team will represent Pobal Scoil

Iosa in the Under-16 hurling final on

Tuesday in Ballymun.

Under-21 Hurling Championship:

St Mark’s 2-6, St Sylvester’s 2-7. A

brilliant second-half performance

which limited the opposition to one

score was just enough for the win.

A lot of players were relying on

instinct and this team will improve

considerably.

The ladies celebrated their long list

of great achievements for the year

in their customary style on Satur-

day night.

Next Friday there will be a celebra-

tion to mark the 25year anniversary

of the 1986 adult hurling team. This

promises to be a very special night.

Next week’s Lotto jackpot is €4250.

It could be yours.

MINOR C FINALSt Sylvester’s 3-9

Raheny 1-11

[email protected]

ST SYLVESTER’S minor hurlers became the first in club history to win a championship title at this age group last Sun-day in St Anne’s Park when they got the better of host club Raheny.

It was a victory built on a first-half goal fren-zy as Syl’s netted three times before the break and, with a seven-point lead in the bank, they were able to roll with the second-half punches to land a richly deserved title.

Raheny had opened the score with a point from play within a cou-ple of minutes of throw in but the response was immediate as Thomas Richardson, on the run, burst through the Raheny defence and struck the sliotar in the back of the net.

It was soon followed

by points from play from Dereck Morris and Kevin O’Flynn to build a four-point lead before the hosts got a couple of frees to reduce the gap.

The respite was brief, though, as Gareth McGrath used h i s superb pace to carry the ball on a 50-metre solo run before delivering goal number two.

Two more points were added from Kevin O’Flynn from frees before the dynamic Sean Kane got the ball past the line for goal number three en route to an imposing 3-4 to 0-6 half-time lead

Facing into the wind, the second per iod always looked like the going would be that bit tougher as Raheny piled on the pressure.

It brought the best out of Conor Quinn, Conor Ryan and Alan Kavan-agh who were immense in the full-backline, while David Kennedy was a reliable force as

the last line of defence.B r e n d a n F l o o d ,

Stephen Keogh and McGrath worked tire-lessly in the half-backs, as did Stephen Cunning-ham and Kevin O’Flynn in midfield.

The seven-point gap remained intact for the majority of the half as Conor Meaney, Cun-ningham and O’Flynn all found the target to maintain the advan-tage.

Eoin Costello was introduced at corner forward and won some great ball with great support play from Colm

Byrne and Morris. With seven minutes

remaining, Raheny did break through the Syl’s defence and the margin was reduced to three points to set up a nervy ending as they got in range for the first time.

But Syl ’s showed true character to battle through with hard man-to-man hurling to hold the margin of three. And they got the clinch-ing score with the final puck of the ball when O’Flynn stood over a 65, drove it over the bar and high into the trees in St Anne’s Park.

HURLING: SAINTS’ SIDE WIN FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP

St Sylvester’s minor hurlers registered their first championship at this level last week with victory over Raheny

Sylvester’s minors register a first title

THE senior footballers were beaten

by St Mark’s and will now contest

the Intermediate championship next

year.

Tickets for the club car draw are

now on sale. Distribution or further

sales information can be obtained

from Declan Brady at dbrady01@

eircom.net.

The club shop will open on Sunday,

Ddcember 4 and 11 from 11am to 12pm

in addition to the Saturday opening

hours.

Moustache Gala Night in the club

next Friday, December 2. Mo of the

Month will be announced; music, food

and craic. 27 club members are now

closing in on their €3,000 target. Fur-

ther information to follow this week.

Please check out http://ie.movember.

com/mospace/1361558/ if you wish to

donate.

For the first time in over 20 years,

Fins is preparing to enter two teams

into the camogie leagues start-

ing next March. We now have over

30 girls training every Thursday

evening from 6 to 7pm. Some are

absolute beginners, while others

have trained with the junior hurling

teams in Fingallians.

We are looking for new members of

any age group to come down, have

some fun, learn new skills, get fit and

make new friends. We would also wel-

come any individuals who can help

support training the girls with any

aspect of the game. Come down any

Thursday and join in the fun (training

equipment is provided).

FINGALLIANS

FINGAL RAVENSWELL done to our minor team on a

good win over St Maur’s in the semi-

final of their championship on Sun-

day. We wish all involved the very

best of luck next Sunday morning,

December 4, in the final against

Castleknock in Somerton, and we

ask everyone to come along and

support the lads.

Also, best of luck to our U-21s in

the semi-final of their championship

on Saturday, December 9 vs Thomas

Davis or Ballinteer St John’s.

We are hosting a 60th birthday

party for Pat McDonagh on Satur-

day, December 3 at 8.30pm in Ket-

tle’s Hotel. All past and present

members of the club are asked to

come along and wish Pat a happy

60th.

Pub quiz in Kettle’s Hotel last

Thursday night was a great suc-

cess. Thanks to everyone who

supported this fundraiser; to eve-

ryone who donated prizes; to Ket-

tle’s Hotel; to Carl our quiz-master,

and to Alan and Mick for organising

the night and to everyone else who

helped out.

Copies of A Rare Auld Season book

are available to purchase for only

€18. Contact Desy on 087 995 7429.

Our children’s Christmas party

will take place on December 11, from

3 to 5pm in Kettle’s Hotel.

We will also be holding a Christmas

raffle on December 17, with some

excellent prizes; turkey, hampers,

spirits, wine and lots more, see any

committee member for tickets.

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

Ga

zetteSPORTALL OF YOUR MALAHIDE SPORTS COVERAGE FROM PAGE 28-31 DECEMBER 1, 2011

CHAMPIONS: St Sylvester’s make club history with minor hurling title P31

Focus on promotion for Perth’s UnitedMalahide side will be in the first-round draw for the Senior Cup if they win, but manager has other priorities

Vinnie Perth’s Malahide United stand on the brink of a place in the FAI Senior Cup depending on their result this week

STEPHEN FINDLATER

[email protected]

DESPITE twice winning the FAI Senior Cup during his playing days with Longford Town, Vinnie Perth says that earning a place in the competition this season with Malahide United is way down his list of priorities.

The Gannon Park club face Belgrove on Thursday, December 1, in the third round of the Intermediate Cup on home soil, with victory not only assuring progression in the competition, but also earning United a coveted spot in the Senior Cup’s first-round draw.

To do so, the high-flying United will have to beat higher division opposition but they have the benefit of a flying start to their LSL Sunday Senior One campaign.

They currently hold a four-point lead over the chasers with more than half the season already played and are hoping to carry that form into the cup.

Malahide United’s manager Perth says it is a big test against a stalwart of the division above but believes Belgrove can be toppled though his side will have to step out of their comfort zone.

“Everything is looking really well at the moment, there are no injury worries at all. It’s been an excellent start to the season,” he told GazetteSport.

Bonus“It been so far so good. The cup will be

an added bonus, hopefully, and we’re fully focussed on it this week.

“We’ve watched them three times in the last couple of weeks.

“They had a good win over Phoenix last week, who are a top side, so we know it’s a huge challenge. They are a division above, so we’ll have to raise our game.

“But it’s good to play sides from the league above to see where you really are but, ultimate-

ly, the team to beat is them and the challenge is for us to step up.”

Speaking about getting back into the Sen-ior Cup, Perth was cautious not to get too far ahead of himself, saying any benefits accrued from any kind of a cup run in that competition will be a bonus, but it is clear that success in the All-Ireland contest is certainly not central to his season’s plans.

“I do have happy memories of the compe-tition, and that’s obviously close to my heart but, at the same time, Malahide probably aren’t going to win the Senior Cup.

“So, although its good prestige and, with a bit of luck, you get a good draw, but our focus is not on the FAI Cup. It’s focused on getting the club promoted and having a real go in the Intermediate Cup.”

After Thursday’s date, his side will go on to potentially play two more ties before Christ-mas, with the possibility of playing matches right up to December 18.

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