Kildare Post

Naas ladies dominate in European championships

kildare — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:59:04 +0000

THE IRISH JUNIOR Women’s Volleyball Squad will represent Ireland in a European Championships for Small Nations qualification tournament in the Faroe Islands today (Jan 10th) with a large representation from Kildare.
The Junior Squad has an amazing seven players of the 12 player squad from Naas. The team is also coached by Naas Cobras Head Coach Marie Sheridan, assistant coached by Naas Cobras Premier League player Claire Walsh and managed by Naas Cobras Division 2 coach Crona Byrne.
In fact the Junior Irish team is captained by St Mary’s College and Naas Cobras player Katie Nolan who was recently selected as the Evening Herald Sports Star of the Month, a very big achievement for Katie. The other members selected for the squad are Aebhín Nugent, Aisling Clance, Heather Clancy, Orla Lynch, Sarah Benn and Karen Benn.
Ms Sheridan remarked: “Naas have been heavily involved in volleyball for years now and it is a very proud time for both the school and the club to have so many Naas players involved. A lot of hard work has gone in to coaching these girls both in school and the club and it is great to have so many reach the highest accolade in Junior Volleyball.”
Coach Sheridan also went on to say: “It is going to a tough week in the Faroe Islands as we face some serious opposition in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and hosts the Faroe’s. There are two qualification spots up for grabs and we are definitely in with a big chance of stealing one of them.”

Tournament kicks off
The tournament begins this Thursday (Jan 12th) when the Junior Squad take on the hosts at 7.30pm and the action continues the following day when the Irish girls will play Liechtenstein at 5.30pm. Their final match will be against Luxembourg on January 14th at 1.30pm.
The top two teams will win a place in the European Championships for Small Nations Finals, which will be held in Cyprus next April.
The remainder of the Irish team is made up of players from Galway, Mayo and Kilkenny, and together with the coaching staff they have been working hard for the last two years preparing for this event.
“The girls have been working very hard for two years now, and especially over the last few weeks, where they had to leave the Christmas cheer and join the training camp in Naas on St. Stephen’s Day for almost two weeks! Now the training is over we are looking forward to hopefully playing some great volleyball in the Faroes,” the coach added.

A touch of Hollywood

kildare — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:57:32 +0000

BEING A PROFESSIONAL actor at the age of five is one thing, but sharing the stage with A-list names like Glen Close, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Pauline Collins, Mia Wasikowska, Brendan Gleeson and more is another. But, that’s exactly what happened for young Rhys Burke from Narraghmore when he secured the role of George Moore in the film, Albert Nobbs. And of course this is no ordinary film, as it has just received three Golden Globe nominations.
Six-year-old Rhys won the role when he took part in an audition through the Talented Kids Agency, who have branches in Naas and Kilcullen.
Rhys can also be currently seen on the Lyons Tea advert, two Aldi adverts and was also recently on a Republic of Telly comedy sketch.
Rhys’s brother, Bradley Burke (12) was also cast as an urhin in the film. Bradley has also had lead and supporting parts in Camelot, Primeval, Transport 21 TVC, short films and is the voice of Con in the cartoon ‘Punky’.
The film is adapted from a short story by Irish author, George Moore.

Work to begin on €7.8m facility

kildare — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:54:12 +0000

WORK IS OFFICIALLY about to begin on a €7.8 million Primary Care Facility in Newbridge.
The paperwork is now fully complete with Sammon Construction Ltd having signed the contract on Friday last to commence work on the project. This public/private venture between Clarington Primary Care, Centric Health, Kildare VEC and the HSE has been in the pipeline for the past three years. Creating 250 construction jobs and an estimated 100 in the facility itself following its completion, Friday was tagged a “great day” for the town and county. And, what’s more- two similar facilities are planned for Celbridge and Leixlip.
“The main aim of the Primary Care Centre model is to offer more healthcare services where clinically appropriate in a community setting rather than a hospital setting, this is generally preferable for patients,” said Dr Maurice Cox, CEO of Centric Health.
Adding: “Working in partnership with local general practitioners alongside HSE services will allow for the greater integration of healthcare services. This means that the patient also gets improved access to public healthcare and can avail of a multi-disciplinary and a more integrated care plan.”
The three storey Primary Care facility will extend over 34,000sq ft and will incorporate several medical consulting and treatment rooms, dental treatment rooms, an occupational assessment room, a pharmacy, speech and language therapy rooms, a physiotherapy gymnasium, childrens’ health rooms and a café. Diagnostic imaging and a range of specialist services from opthalmalogy will also be available to patients. The third floor will be a purpose built further education facility for the VEC.

Kildare filmmaker in storyland finals

kildare — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:48:05 +0000

A KILDARE FILMMAKER has made it to the final eight of this year’s RTE Storyland 4. StoryLand is a competition for the best online drama series as voted for by viewers and it is a great way for RTE to identify and develop up and coming talent for the future.
Having set up ‘Fail Safe Films’ in 20011 with a number of past college classmates, The Curragh’s Richard Boland has been working hard since. Their show ‘Talk It Out’ is about Martin (Mark Doherty – A Film with Me in It) an unlucky psychotherapist, crumbling under the weight of his own problems as a rival hypnotherapist Dr. Garry (Peter Coonan – Between the Canals, Love/Hate) is undercutting him and stealing his patients. When he starts taking advice from his own patients, things quickly spiral out of control. Other cast members include Bernard O’Shea of Republic of Telly and Aoibhinn McGinnity also from Love/Hate.
Richard worked as a producers on the show and says he was “delighted” with how the first episode went. “We hope that we will be back to do the second episode and maybe go all the way and win it. Seeing previous winners such as The Hardy Bucks go onto to now be a full proper series on TV is very encouraging and gives us the incentive to strive to the best we can and possibly see our stuff following suit down the line. It is a great competition and there are a lot of talented filmmakers involved so it’s not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination but we relish the challenge and it can only propel us to work even harder to achieve our goals,” he added.
The first episode goes online on February 13th and you will be able to vote up until the February 19th on www.rte.ie/storyland

Young guns show how it’s done!

kildare — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:46:43 +0000

A GROUP OF Transition Year students are certainly laying foundations for their future having set up their own company, Slapz!
The eight bright youngsters from Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge decided to import a watch, which has a straight strap on it. You ‘slap’ it onto your arm and the sides fold down in an instant, making it a very versatile item for many people. And, hence the name.
“Our company’s aim is to offer people a cool, fun way of wearing a watch as well as providing a watch that is stylish and very practical,” the group said.
Available in a range of “funky” colours, “the coolest thing by far about our watches is the slap on mechanism, it is so simple.”
The idea was forged after one of the students, Ciaran Glynn, the group’s MD, was on holiday in France and noticed their popularity there. On his return, the group got together and formed a company importing Slapz into Ireland.
Among the eight are Ciaran Glynn (Managing Director), Diarmuid Hartley (Finance), Ciaran Troy (Fundraising), Dylan Downey (Advertising and Promotion), David Hobbs (Marketing&Research), Jack Higgins (Organiser) and Shaun Harrington (Photography). The youngsters are currently involved in two mini company competitions through the Enterprise Board and Junior Achievement Awards.
The eight have created a website www.slapz.tk where the public can find out more about Slapz. Why not log on and show your support.

A touch of Hollywood

kildare — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:45:05 +0000

100 years and counting!

kildare — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:18:37 +0000

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS, Kildare man Thomas O’Brien is one of the first to receive communication from our new president, Michael D Higgins.
Receiving a letter and cheque from the president on the occasion, The Kilteel native led the celebrations last weekend as a party was held to mark the occasion.
A resident of Peamount Healthcare, Thomas had lived in Kilteel until he suffered a stroke last January. Thomas’ life spans the history of the nation. He recalls talk of World War 1 and the Easter Rising, while he himself witnessed the burning of the Custom House in 1921 when on a visit to Dublin with his father. Though it was cold last year, Thomas himself says he remembers harsher winters in ’62 and ’63 and most especially 1947 which was “real, real bad”. A sheep and cattle farmer, Thomas has enjoyed working outdoors all his life.
Peamount which is almost 100 years also, is an independent voluntary organisation that provides a range of high quality health and social care services. “We help people return home after a serious illness, we provide safe and homely residential care for those who need it, and we support people to live as independently as possible in the community,” a spokesperson said.

“Travelling Raiders”

kildare — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:13:58 +0000

By Sinéad Ballantyne
editor@kildarpost.com

GANGS OF RAIDERS are believed to be targeting areas around Kildare for ‘easy pickings’, a leading garda source has said.
With several burglaries around the county, it is believed the “motorway” is providing quick access for those from larger areas to target.
The latest raids occurred in the Monasterevin area. With a quad bike stolen in Kildangan along with the owner’s Red Toyota Jeep on the 25th November, the jeep was later recovered in Tallaght, Dublin without the quad.
Several other thefts took place over the course of the past week with a lot of horse tackle having been stolen.
Items were stolen from a local horse trainers stables in Hybla including animal medicines and horse clippers- which cost several hundred euro. Further items were taken in Rathmuck, Kildare where five saddles were taken and horse clippers here also.
A local garda sergeant remarked: “There are a lot of travelling criminals. You can buy a car now for €100 and use it for a few days and abandon it and with the motorway it doesn’t take long to get here. Traceability is very hard.”
Gardai are appealing to people to be vigilant with their property and have adequate security in place.

Locals set to march

kildare — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:30:45 +0000

By Sinéad Ballantyne
editor@kildarepost.com

LOCALS AND POLITICIANS alike appear ready to mount pressure on the HSE after its decision last week to close more beds in St Vincent’s Hospital, Athy.
“We passed a motion (at Athy Area Meeting on Monday) to support and ensure that services are maintained and increased here going forward,” says Athy native Cllr Martin Miley (Jnr). “Everyone in Athy was either born in it or has had a relative die in it. It’s a vital facility here. Everyone has an affiliation to it. The service has been there since 1840.
“The fear is if they diminish the service enough, it will get so small that they will close it,” Cllr Miley adds.

Beds closed in ’09
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation reported last week that St Mary’s Ward containing 24 beds was to close. The hospital, which is a Care of the Elderly facility in recent years suffered a tough blow in 2009 when 26 beds were closed.
Derek Reilly, INMO Industrial Relations Officer says: “Morale is quite low. The people of Athy are the ones most hurt by it.”
A spokesperson for the HSE has dismissed rumours of 24 beds closing, claiming that the number is actually eight. Though, Derek is adament: “It’s definitely 24. It’s a full ward. At the moment there are 24 people in these beds.”
The INMO has a meeting schedule with the HSE on Thursday. Derek remarks: “I’m going to try and reverse the decision…talk sense to them.”
While in Athy it appears that a march is likely to take place next week in a bid to halt the move.

Benefit night for injured player

kildare — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:00:03 +0000

MILLTOWN GAA ARE holding a Benefit Day on Saturday December 3rd 2011 for one of their footballers who suffered a horrendous injury during a freak accident at a training session in February of this year.

Ongoing treatment
Darren O’Shea has been ongoing treatment since. Darren’s rehabilitation is on-going as a result of this injury and he has been unable to return to work. In spite of Darren being unable to play football this year his tremendous commitment to the club has not faltered, he has been heavily involved with the U12 and U13 underage teams during the year.
“To help support Darren we are planning a ‘Novelty Football Match’ with guest appearances by a number of senior county players along with our own senior men and senior ladies on Saturday 3rd December 2011 at 2.30pm in Milltown GFC,” a spokesperson for the club remarked.

Social
The club is also running a social in the Milltown Inn on the night with live music and food at 8.30 pm. Tickets priced at €10 each admit to both events,
“All support is greatly appreciated.”