By Teresa McGowan

AS CHELTENHAM fever grips the nation the Farney county are resting their hopes on Oliver Brady’s contender Maralan, who will run in the Grand Annual Chase tomorrow (Friday).

The owner of the seven-year-old gelding, Blayney based business woman Rita Shah, said she is hoping the promising horse will get out there and “do it for Monaghan.”

“There is always such great support for our horses at Cheltenham. it would be fantastic to give the fans something back,” gushed Rita.

Maralan is trained by Rita’s business partner Oliver Brady in his stables based in Bawn and has won his last two outings.

Both Oliver and Rita will travel to the world’s most prestigous racing festival tomorrow for the racec while the horse was taken there earlier in the week to climatise to the grounds.

“We wouldn’t be taking him to Cheltenham if we didn’t think he had a serious chance, “ said Oliver Brady, “I only bet on my own horses and I got him at 50/1 six weeks ago. He’s done to 12/1 now. Monaghan should get behind him.”

Oliver and Rita have had two previous achivements at Cheltenham in the past. Last year Baron De Feypo road at third place in the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle and in 2003 Balapour came second in the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle.

But this year they’re looking for a winner: “The Cheltenham Festival is so exciting and just to have a horse running is a huge honour and we’re really excited about the race,” Oliver said.

“It would be out of this world to win,” Rita added: “I’ve only placed a very small bet of €5 each way. The steak money will do me if we win!

“I just would love to see him do it for Monaghan and Ireland. If we get a result it will be for them.”

FORMER staff at the now defunct voice newspapers in Monaghan and Cavan say they were “shocked” at the way they were made redundant last week.

The Monaghan Post and Cavan Post newspapers will be offering jobs to some staff from the Voice newspapers which last week went out of business in the Cavan and Monaghan areas.

In a statement released yesterday (Wednesday) workers at the former Voice Group newspapers said that the manner of the closure was “brutal and shocking” and that the payment of wages and expenses had so far not happened as promised.

As the Monaghan Post gets ready to enjoy it’s first anniversary this week, the company owning the Post newspapers, River Media, has been offering interviews to the staff of the two papers.

“The first year of any business is always the most difficult but the fact that we have seen off the Monaghan Echo and the Monaghan Voice in our first year of trading in Monaghan shows how popular the Monaghan Post has become,” said Associate Editor Miss Teresa McGowan.

According to a statement issued The Voice papers shut down due to “unprecedented competition”.

One former member of the Voice sales staff in Cavan and Monaghan said advertisers preferred the Post.

She said: “In Monaghan and Cavan one thing we were constantly being told by advertisers was that they were happy with the Post. When the papers closed we were all told that we’d done a great job but we just could not compete.”

Daniel Browne Operations Director for River Media, the owner of the Post titles, commented: “20 people have lost their jobs and some of these are good people that I would happily have working for us.”

By Gillian McVeigh

SUCH is the popularity of the RTÉ 2FM’s skit How to Speak Monaghanese, the Nob Nation crew have now released a third parody featuring the infamous Monaghan Man.

How to speak Monaghanese One and Two has gained a cult following throughout Monaghan and further afield.

In the Monaghan Linguaphone a number of well-known Monaghan phrases are translated into better-known English.

And now Monaghan Man has made it into another edition of Nob Nation in a surprise element to the Dublin 4 Linguaphone.

As Callan impersonates Kevin Myers interpreting D4 man Ryle O’Sullivan Nugent. Monaghan Man makes a rude entrance saying “Come ‘ere hi Myers, what routing are ya at the day?”

The genius behind the hilarious satire is Inniskeen man Oliver Callan. The Monaghan native was previously involved with the Gift Grub team at Today FM, but later moved to 2FM and scored a daily slot in The Gerry Ryan Show on 2FM.

In his Nob Nation skit show, Callan impersonates famous Irish personalities, with hilarious consequences.

To hear the latest bit of Monaghanese log on to www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_nobnation.xml

By Cliona Connolly

A HEATED meeting took place in Caledon, Co Tyrone on Tuesday night last where many locals voiced anger over the proposed €3.5 million project set to re-open the Knockaginney and Annaghroe bridges, the last two crossings between North and South to be re-opened.

Locals are concerned that this substantial sum of exchequer money will be wasted on what they believe to be roads going nowhere for the benefit of very few leading to unwanted and increased volumes of traffic in a now tranquil area.

One local who attended the meeting said “the majority of people were against the bridges being re-opened and had quite strong opinions on the matter.

“Several seemed to think the €3.5 million could be better spent on local needs such as Monaghan Hospital, especially since the Northern government is not providing any funding.”  

Monaghan County Council recently received approval from the Department of Transport to appoint the Engineering consultancy firm of Mott McDonald Pettit as Clients Representative on the Annaghroe/Knockaginney Cross Border Bridges Project.

This project consists of the replacement of the two previously demolished bridges over the River Blackwater at Annaghroe and Knocknaginney, Glaslough, County Monaghan.

The approach roads to the bridges will be resurfaced also. A grant of €900,000 had been allocated by the Department of Transport in respect of costs to be incurred in 2008 as part of the overall €3.5 million project.

The next meeting on the project will take place tonight, Thursday 13 March in the Oakland’s Recreation Centre, Glaslough from 6.30 until 8.30pm. All those interested in the project are asked to attend.

By Cliona Connolly

CLONES Weather Station will cease to operate as an observations station on April 7, the post can confirm. This move means that weather reports will never be the same again as Clones will literally be taken off the map.

The partly automated station will be replaced with a fully automated station in Ballyhaise agricultural college, Co Cavan. Met Éireann said the encroaching housing developments surrounding the station in O’Neill Park made accurate reports difficult.

Opened in 1957, the station is currently manned by Station Manager Sean Bonner and Michael McDonnell. Joe Burke, spokesperson for Met Éireann, said the 2 jobs would not be moved to Ballyhaise but would be devolved or allocated work in the Clones area. Mr Bonner voiced great sadness and disappointment at the news. “Our motto was ‘never leave until your successor arrives’ so it will be a very sad day locking the gate after 37 years.”

Mr Bonner arrived in 1970 there was 5 full time staff working “Its very sad for the local community, Clones had built up a high profile on weather reports. This station is a part of the town’s fabric.

“A lot of people have come through this station and many men met their wives in Clones. Schools from 6 counties visited the station on a regular basis.

“We will miss the schoolchildren and they will be disappointed with the news. It’s an awful pity it wasn’t kept in Clones in order to maintain our climate records going back over 50 years. While progress may be a necessity it’s not always a good thing.”

Met Éireann explored the possibility of buying land to facilitate new stations. “Sites need to be reasonably open in order to get complete exposure to the elements.

“We assessed the location of the stations around the country and unfortunately a few of them were not suitable anymore for this reason. Land owners are happy to lease us the use of the site, but ask them to guarantee there will be no building all around it then it is a very different story,” Liam Keegan of Met Éireann said.

Almost all of the 15 weather stations in Ireland will be affected by the automation policy over the next year. 

By Joe Hanratty

LAST Friday morning a specially commissioned sculpture to commemorate the bombing of Castleblayney on March 7 1976 was unveiled in Main Street by Nobel Peace Laureate John Hume.

Mrs Anna Mone-McEneaney, widow of Mr Patrick Mone who was killed in the bombing incident exactly 32 years ago, was also there to unveil the monument that is named after her husband.

Among the special guests were the members of the Blayney Gardai who were on duty on that terrible evening.   All of them are retired now and all of them still reside in Castleblayney.

A minute’s silence was also observed and a lament was played by a lone piper. An ecumenical dedication and prayer service was conducted by Fr. John McCabe PP, Rev. David Nesbitt and Conon Jonathan Heyhoe.

Mr Packie Mone was 56 when he died in the bomb. He was sitting in his car which was parked beside the vehicle containing the bomb which exploded at 8.20pm destroying the Three Star Inn outside which it was parked.

Fifteen people were also injured in the blast which caused major damage to many buildings in Main Street and other streets in the town.

The monument contains hand carved lettering, various clock parts, an image of Mr Mone and some bicycle parts which recalls Packie Mone’s work as a bicycle engineer.

It was designed and made by renowned artist Remco de Fouw and was commissioned by The Remembrance Commission which was established by the Government in 2003 to provide financial assistance to victims of the Northern troubles from the Republic of Ireland.

There was a large attendance present for this special occasion many local people who recalled that fateful night in 1976 when the Northern troubled touched Castleblayney in a devatsating and tragic way.

By Gillian McVeigh

MONAGHAN based charity, the Christian Blind Mission, will be aired nationally as TV3’s Sinead Desmond visits Rwanda to witness their great work there.

Ireland AM are currently airing the week long series Rwanda in Sight each morning at 08:30am, until Friday. The series follows Ireland AM’s Sinead Desmond as she travels in Rwanda in February 2008.

In the programme, Sinead follows the Christian Blind Mission field operators as they travel to remote villages to help locals affected by blindness.

The show follows the stories of two Rwandans who are being helped by charity.

One story traces the life of three-year-old Jean D’Amour who has been blind from birth.  

Sinead met with his mother Albertine and accompanied them both as they travelled to the Christian Blind Mission’s Children’s Eye Clinic in Kabgayi, in southern Rwanda. 

The second story tells the tale of 90-year-old, who has been blind for 20 years. Sinead visited him at his home in a remote mountain village before accompanying him on the journey to Ruhengeri Hospital in northern Rwanda. There, Christian Blind Mission surgeons performed a successful operation.

Ireland AM then arranged for his family to come and greet him and his reaction on seeing his sons and their children for the first time is truly inspiring.

The Christian Blind Mission has their national offices based in Monaghan Town. Fundraising and operations manger for the Christian Blind Mission told the Post that Monaghan was chosen as an ideal location, due to its proximity to both Belfast and Dublin.

By Joe Hanratty

IT WAS the end of an era in Lake View during the week when work began on the dismantling of the old Customs Post located in that part of the town.

Since the foundation of the state and the setting up of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic that customs post was a physical reminder of that division. For decades lorries stopped and had to check in there and have their cargo inspected by the customs officials.

It was the base for the mobile patrols and over the years it became very much part of the local landscape and indeed a landmark in the town.

Over those years many customs officials from all over Ireland served there with the late George Leonard being one of the longest serving officials at the Lake View post and one the last customs officers to serve at lake was Gerry Kennedy.

With the development and introduction of various European legislation, including the free movement of goods and services the days of the Blayney customs post were numbered and it was eventually closed. When then site is cleared the new facilities for the sub aqua club will be built on it.

The removal of the Custom’s Post is part of the wider plan for the development of that lake shore area.

While the town and the local residents are delighted with this new development there was nonetheless a sense of nostalgia voiced by the locals.

The Post held many memories of times gone by when locals as youngsters played in this area.

When lorries stooped they always needed helpers to travel north of the border and for many young residents this was a good opportunity for employment and earning money.

Indeed as a result many young people in the area had a greater familiarity with Belfast than Dublin.

Nonetheless the new development is welcomed and it is hoped that it won’t be long before the development is complete. 

By Joe Hanratty

THE 19th Annual Drama Festival ended last Saturday note with Full House notices going up.

The festival organisers were delighted with the quality of the productions in both the Open and Confined sections and they were also delighted to see so many people attend especially the high number of young people.

There was great praise for the Adjudicator Roma Tomelty who gave a public adjudication on each production each evening and a private adjudication to each of the competing groups. 

There was also great praise for the sponsors and all who helped in any way to make the festival such a success.

In the Open section it was the Dundalk Theatre Workshop who took the premier award with the Production of Dangerous Liaisons by Christopher Hampton, and their producer /director Matt Murphy won the producers award.

In the Confined Section it was the Kilrush Drama group from Co Wexford who took first place with their production of Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan and their Producer Michael Byrne won the Producers award.

Other award winners were Open Section: Best Actor Conor O’Connell and Colin Malone (Silken Thomas) Best Actress Aine Corcoran (Dundalk); Best Supporting Actress Marie McStay (Newpoint Players); Best supporting Actor Tomas Winston (Breffni Players); Best Set: Tony Rice (Dundalk); Best Lighting Seamus Farrell (Dundalk). Adjudicators Award Backburners; Confined Section : Best Actor Paddy Farrelly (Sillan); Best Actress Claire O’Malley (Lislea); Best Supporting Actor Kerry Rooney (Lislea); Best Supporting Actress : Ellie Condren (Kilrush); Technical Award: Cripple of Innishmaan; Best Set :- Backburners; Centre Stage Drama Holiday –Darren O’Reilly (Sillan).

By Cianna McNally

MONAGHAN General Hospital recently held an Environmental Week to promote the positives of reduce, reuse and recycling to staff, patients and visitors.

Operating a hospital to the highest possible international environmental standards is no easy task.

However, the management and staff of the General Hospital have implemented a number of initiatives to ensure environmental targets within the hospital are reached.

“Waste Management is a serious and costly environmental problem for all hospitals. Risk waste is expensive to treat and dispose of and non-risk waste needs to be segregated into recycling and non-recycling fractions,” said Nial O’Connor from the Environmental Services in Monaghan County Council.

And he added: “A comprehensive segregation scheme is in place and continued education and awareness of waste issues is a top priority for Monaghan General Hospital to ensure full compliance with waste management procedures.

“The running of Environment Week in the hospital was part of an overall environmental management programme that the hospital is operating at present. 

“The Waste Prevention team from Monaghan County Council’s Environment Section provided assistance during the week by giving out information on waste management, energy efficiency and water conservation to staff and visitors.“

Monaghan County Council is participating in a demonstration project as part of the National Waste Prevention Programme, which is being funded by the Environmental Protection Agency through the Environment Fund.

“Waste Prevention is the best form of environmental management, if you do not create the waste you do not have to deal with it and therefore there are no environmental implications,” continued Mr O’Connor.

Currently Monaghan County Council is assisting St. Davnet’s, St. Mary’s and Monaghan General to improve their already high environmental performance through adopting a preventative approach to waste management.

By Cianna McNally

ORGANISERS of the first Blackwater 10K Run ‘n Walk praised the tremendous support the event received at the launch which was held last Wednesday night at Monaghan United Kingspan/Century Park.

The 10K Run ‘n Walk is set to take place on Sunday, May 18 in Rossmore Park, Monaghan.

As a first event of this nature for Monaghan, the organisers were delighted to have Frank Greally from Irish Runner magazine along to support this exciting new event.

Frank commented that, “the buzz and enthusiasm of the evening along with the nature of the event promises to be a worthwhile venture that will attract many runners on the day.”

Brendan Sherlock, local veteran runner called the Run ‘n Walk “a dream come true” He also said that he had been running in Rossmore Park for many years and that the Park is a wonderful venue which everyone will enjoy. 

Funding had been received from Blackwater’s Natural Resource Tourism project. The Blackwater Natural Resource Tourism Project kindly received financial help to the value of £1,096,250 part-financed by the European Union through the INTERREG IIIA Programme.

As planning continues, for the big event, anybody who is interested in signing up for an opportunity of fun and fitness is welcome to do so. Councillor Sean Conlon, active Board member of Blackwater Regional Partnership said: “We look forward to people of all levels of fitness from the local communities and beyond to participate in what will be a tremendous day of enjoyment for all the family and in turn supports a good cause.” 

All proceeds from the first Blackwater 10K Walk ‘n Run will be in aid of two worthwhile charities, Monaghan Hospice Homecare and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

For further information about this event and/or to register please contact Blackwater Regional Partnership offices on 0044 (0) 28 3756 9102 or e-mail maevemurray@dungannon.gov.uk  

By Joe McCabe

FOLLOWING Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Duffy, Bishop of Clogher, The Minister for Children, Brendan Smith, TD, officially opened the new and refurbished buildings in The Patrician High School.

The new building provides the school with an impressive sports hall, new science laboratories, subject specialist rooms, a computer suite, a new canteen, a new staff room, a fully refurbished library and new general purpose classrooms.

Speaking to students, teachers, parents, local representatives and many distinguished guests, Minister Smith spoke of the long, proud tradition of the school in Carrickmacross. The Patrician High School has served the educational needs of generations of students from Counties Monaghan, Louth and Meath since its foundation in 1902.

Addressing the assembly in the new sports hall the Minister said that he was confident that the exceptional, state of the art buildings would stand as a physical symbol of the bright future of the whole school community.

Minister Smith emphasised the continuing commitment of the Government to investment in school buildings. A total of €4.5 billion is due to be spent under the National Development Plan. The Minister said that he was particularly pleased that The Patrician High School had been allocated a total of €5 million for its building project and that, henceforth, the students would be educated in such comfortable and stimulating surroundings.

Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan/Monaghan, Deputy Margaret Conlon, also welcomed the re opening of the new and refurbished buildings.

Speaking after the official opening ceremony, she said: “I want to wish the staff and students at The Patrician High School all the very best in their new school building, which includes an impressive sports hall, new science laboratories, subject specialist rooms, a computer suite, a new canteen, a new staff room, a refurbished library, and new, general purpose classrooms.

“This significant investment in the school will ensure that its students are educated in comfortable, state-of-the art facilities for some years to come.” 

By Alan Gunn

St Louis Monaghan 3-14

St Ciaran’s Ballygawley 0-3

FOR the ninth year in a row St Louis lifted the Ulster girls senior schools title after another wonderful performance at the superb St Oliver Plunkett Park Emyvale on Monday afternoon.

This fantastic unbeaten run never looked in doubt as the Monaghan side raced out of the starting blocks in electrifying fashion. Just 19 seconds had elapsed when they opened the scoring and from there they never looked back. This wonder school may have no pitch but they keep producing the players that nobody in Ulster can stop winning titles.

The management team of Pauline Devlin and Dave Mee had the side in great shape and it showed even against a strong wind as they had the game already wrapped up at the break. The side had an array of stars all over the park but at the finish it was Nicola Fahy on her home pitch that collected the player of the match award. The young midfielder had an outstanding game and along with Natasha Mohan they controlled the game from midfield.

In defence the Monaghan school were never really troubled and can be very happy at keeping Tyrone senior county player Sarah Connolly to just two pointed free’s and the opposition to just tree points in total. At the other end St Louis led the Tyrone defence a merry dance as they tore them apart. The only disappointing factor may have been their tally of 12 wides which on another day may have been costly. 

Facing a strong wind St Louis raced into a commanding lead. The excellent Natasha Mohan showed her speed and skill racing from her own half to open the scoring after just 19 seconds. Aoife McAnespie and Catriona Treanor added further points before Treanor rattled the netting from the penalty spot after just five minutes. The same player hit the crossbar within a minute prior to Ciara McAnespie opening a seven point advantage.

St Ciaran’s finally got an attack from which they opened their scoring through Seanan Loughran on eight minutes. County star Sarah Connolly held off the challenge of Ellanna Hacket to create a goal scoring change soon after but the Sean’s girl recovered to make a fine block.

At the other end Ciara McAnespie was denied by the St Ciaran’s keeper on ten minutes. Natasha Mohan and Sarah Connolly exchanged points (free’s) but the remainder of the half belonged to the eventual winners. Truagh’s Brid McCarron found the net twice on 18 and 30 minutes with Catriona Treanor firing a point between both majors. This give the Monaghan side an unassailable interval lead of 3-6 to 0-2.

Turning around to have the help of the wind St Louis were already on their way to victory. The result was never in doubt and St Ciaran’s could only manage one further point, a free from Sarah Connolly in the 43rd minute. The second period also saw St Louis take the foot off the pedal and their game become a little ragged as they shot eight wides in total.

However, they were always able to produce some moments of magic and some very impressive football. Caoimhe Mohan collected a pass from team captain Nicola Fahy to open the halves scoring with just two minutes on the clock. Their second point of the half was possibly their best of the game.

A sweeping move involving the hard working Laura Askin, Brid McCarron and Natasha Mohan was finished by Ciara McAnespie. Further points from sisters Natasha and Caoimhe Mohan and one from Brid McCarron extended the Louis’ advantage to 18 points.

The dominance was momentarily halted by Sarah Connolly’s free but a further three points in the final ten minutes wrapped up a comfortable 20 point victory. Those final scores coming off the boot of Ciara McAnespie (1free). Next up will be an All Ireland semi-final clash against their Leinster champions after Easter. 

St Louis: Barbara McKenna, Rebecca McKenna, Ellanna Hackett, Aisling McElvaney, Aoife McAnespie (0-1), Grainne McKenna, Tara McElvaney, Nicola Fahy, Natasha Mohan (0-3, 1f), Ciara McAnespie (0-5, 1f), Catriona Treanor (1-2, 1p), Sinead Maguire, Caoimhe Mohan (0-2), Laura Askin, Brid McCarron (2-1)

Subs: Louise McPhillips for S Maguire, Orla Whelan for T McElvaney

St Ciaran’s: Nicola Molloy, Carrie Monaghan, Noelle Holland, Ellen McGrady, Michelle Kelly, Nicola McAnenly, Shauna Shields, Maria Donnelly, Cathy Monaghan, Shauna Kane, Aileen Hackett, Seanan Loughran (0-1), Lisa Marie Skeffington, Sarah Connolly (0-2, f), Paula Donnelly

Subs: Julia Mallon for M Donnelly