Dundrum

Soldiering on: Having a cracking good time over at Nimble FingersJAKE Nourse made a new friend when he called to Nimble Fingers Toy Shop recently, at Stillorgan Shopping Centre, where the store was busy preparing for its upcom-ing 50th Christmas celebrations. As part of the seasonal fun, Nimble

Fingers are hosting a Christmas Countdown on Saturday, Decem-ber 1, from 1pm to 3pm. Well-known Christmas characters, face painting, balloon making and much more will make the day a delight for children and adults alike.

Council set for winter freeze BAirBrE Ni BhrAoNAiN

DUN Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council maintenance staff are pre-paring for the possibility of some harsh winter months ahead in their new state-of-the-art operations facil-ity, which is located off the Ballyo-gan Road.

The facility houses an array of grit-ting materials in case winter proves particularly bad.

A council spokesperson said: “As in previous years, the council is doing everything possible to prepare for the bad weather we may encoun-ter during winter.

“We have stockpiled more than 600 tonnes of salt in our new opera-tions facility in Ballyogan, and we are keeping a close eye on the long-range weather forecast.”

Full Story on Page 10

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

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

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

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

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

Month XX, 2012

ONE ‘ANGRy mAN’: Fintan O’Toole talks to The Gazette about his new show Page 11

INSIDE: Superquinn Ballinteer’s fun day for LauraLynn House gives

everyone a great time Page 6

November 29, 2012 Find us on

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Hurling: Kilmacud man inducted into hall of famePage 31

Athletics: DSDAC shine on national and European stagePage 30 and 32

2 DUNDRUM Gazette 29 November 2012

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reserve the right to omit or suspend or alter any advertisement(s) in any of its publications. we also decline any responsibility in the event of one or more of a series of advertisements being omitted for any reason whatever, nor do we accept liability for any loss or damage caused by an error or inaccuracy in the printing of any advertisement. if your advertisement appears incorrectly, contact the Advertising department immediately, as responsibility cannot be accepted for more than one week’s incorrect insertion. responsibility cannot be accepted if the complaint is made more than two weeks after insertion. if one places an advertisement for more than one week and then cancels it after the first week, no refund or credit will be given for weeks cancelled. The advertiser undertakes to indemnify the proprietors against any liability for any civil action arising out of the publication of the advertisement or any other matter printed or published in the blanchardstown Gazette, Castleknock Gazette, Clondalkin Gazette, dundrum Gazette, dun laoghaire Gazette, lucan Gazette, Malahide Gazette and swords Gazette. The placing of an order or contract will be deemed an acceptance of these conditions.

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rETAil Chain to open first dublin outlet

aidan McDonnell, commercial director with Pat McDonnell Paints, brushes up on

his Dublin knowledge ahead of the chain opening its first Dublin outlet in February

paint firm to create 10 jobsTEN jobs are to be cre-ated by Ireland’s largest independent painting and decorating retailer when it opens its first Dublin store in Rathfarn-ham next February.

Pat McDonnell Paints already has six outlets in five counties across Ire-land, employing 80 peo-ple. The company will increase that number to 90 with the opening of its Old Nutgrove Centre store in Rathfarnham.

The company was set up by Cork couple Pat and Cora McDonnell in 1977, and now has stores in Kerry, Galway, Kilken-ny, Athlone and Cork.

Aidan McDonnell, company director, said there were positive growth signs in the trade.

He said: “The business has changed radically over the past number of

years, with an increas-ing concentration on the domestic market, while the professional trade market has also become more focused on quality private work.

“Householders are still anxious to maintain their properties to the highest levels possible, and we’ve seen major success with our home colour consul-tation service. I’m really excited about bringing this, and more, to Dub-lin.”

Local Labour coun-cillor Grace Tallon wel-comed the jobs boost.

She said: “It’s wonderful for the area, and fan-tastic that McDonnells have chosen Nutgrove to locate their first Dublin store.

“Hopefully, they will

BaiRBRe Ni [email protected]

expand in the future, and there will be more jobs on the horizon in the next year or two.”

The new store will open in early February in the Old Nutgrove Shop-ping Centre next to the old Rathfarnham Fire Station, and will offer a full range of paint brands, including Dulux, Color-

trend and Farrow & Ball.The retail positions

currently on offer include store manager, assistant manager, and sales and interior design staff.

Applicants for the posi-tions can find out more information about how to apply for the roles at www.patmcdonnell-paints.com.

29 November 2012 DUNDRUM Gazette 3

ballinteer Customers thanked for patience

AFTER weeks of work, the newly-refurbished Superquinn store in Ballinteer reopened on November 17.

The refurbishment included widening the store entrance to improve accessibility for shop-pers. The store’s aisles

have also been widened, and upgrades were per-formed on the off-licence and fresh food sections, as well as the cafe.

General manager of the store Ger Joyce paid tribute to the new-look store and shoppers’ patience over the past

weeks while the work was being done.

“We are very excited to be officially reopening our new-look Ballinteer store. The store will have a unique offering for our customers, with an unmatched selection of fresh Irish produce.

“We would like to thank our loyal shoppers who have been putting up with the disruption over the past few weeks; their patience is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to having them back in the store,” said Ger.

Refurbished Superquinn reopens

Site to help promote Knocklyon business BaiRBRe Ni BhRaoNaiN

[email protected]

A NEW website to encourage local people to hire local tradesmen and professionals has now gone live, and the organisers are looking for businesses to sign up with them to add to the grow-ing database of contacts.

The Knocklyon Local Initiative Project (KLIP) was established earlier in the year, and its online incarnation – www.klip.ie – marks the beginning of a business directory and skills database.

KLIP is a not-for-profit venture of the Knocklyon Network, whose aim is “to encourage and foster

the growth of the local community by encourag-ing tighter links between business, community and employment”.

At the moment, organ-iser Eve Horan and her crew are working on building a database for the new site’s profession-als listing and trying to drum up support from local businesses.

She said: “We’re all working hard to get this off the ground, as it is to support local business and employment, as well as providing community news.

“We are very conscious of the challenges encoun-tered by the local busi-ness community in these

difficult economic times, and so we are providing support and help by offer-ing business networking opportunities, and men-toring and training cours-es, where appropriate.”

Horan sees the new online service as a future self-sustaining employ-ment hub for the Knock-lyon community.

“We are also encourag-ing jobseekers to check our website for vacan-cies and, if they wish, they can provide us with their details, which can be viewed by prospec-tive local employers. The hope is that local jobs will be filled by local people, where possible.”

The website aims to

service the community, not only in terms of job encouragement, creation and the use of local skills, but will also act as an informative social point of contact for Knocklyon and the surrounding areas by providing up-to-date news items and informa-tion on local activities, societies and clubs.

Horan and her col-leagues are looking for volunteers to get involved with the whole scheme.

To help out and become involved, contact Eve Horan at [email protected].

KLIP is part of the Knocklyon Network, sup-ported by Dodder Valley Enterprise Board.

enterpriSe: loCal foCuS in new initiative

a cool pair: a furry nice new friendGRaCe Kendal couldn’t bear to be parted from this cool character when she visited Nutgrove Shopping Centre recently – just in time for Santa Claus to arrive. Organised by the Irish charity, Bothar, which has an outlet in the centre, the entertainment was a great way of helping to promote the char-ity’s work – and, in particular, how donating an animal to an impoverished family through the charity makes a life-changing difference around the world. However, in Nutgrove, Grace was just delighted to meet this friendly creature.


Supporting ourlocal business

Shop local The Gazette continues its focus on the many ways that sustaining retailers in turn helps the community

WITH Christ-mas almost here , i t i s important to remember in

the rush that almost eve-rything you could need for the festive period is available right on your doorstep.

With that in mind, the Churchtown Busi-ness Association (CBA) is campaigning to raise awareness of the array of services available to local people this Christmas.

This year, the associa-tion has organised with Churchtown Business Park, along with busi-nesses from the sur-rounding area, to hold a Christmas fair on December 8 at the busi-ness park.

It is important, now

more than ever, that we support our local econ-omy, and Donal Fingle-ton, of the CBA, says that supporting local busi-nesses means supporting local jobs.

“It’s not just promot-ing small businesses, it’s trying to encourage people to shop locally and spend locally, and to support local business of any size.

“Our members range from the sole traders up to SuperValu. It’s about sustaining local jobs and supporting local busi-ness,” he says.

The vast majority of CBA members employ mostly local people, so the money spent with those businesses stays in the community, helping to sustain and strengthen

the local economy.There has been much

said and written about Ireland’s changing atti-tude towards the notion of community, but one thing that all locals can do to ensure a vibrant community is to avail of services from the local providers, with many not aware of the plethora of businesses around the corner from their own front doors.

Fingleton says: “Peo-ple don’t realise how many businesses are available to them on their

doorstep and the idea behind our initiative is to encourage awareness of the goods and services that are available in the Churchtown area.

“It is important that people are well-informed that they don’t have to go outside the area. We want to encourage the mindset of thinking locally.”

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

For the Christmas fair, which will start at 2pm on December 8, the stores within the business park, including Connections, Danish Kitchen Design, Le Pet and Skon Wardrobes will have special offers for the day, and a host of market stalls will set out their wares and will have an array of Christmas gifts for sale.

The main attraction will see Santa himself arriving at 4pm – with a Garda escort, no less – to turn on the Christmas

lights for all of Church-town.

Anuna , I re land ’s national choir, have taken time out of their busy schedule to sing all the Christmas favourites at the market, and a local choir will be given the chance of performing alongside Anuna.

Le Pet will be hosting a charity dog show, in association with Autism Assistance Dogs Ire-land. Registration for the event costs just €2 and

all proceeds go towards the charity’s work with people with autism, and there will be a host of prizes on offer.

As well as the Christ-mas Market, there will be live performances on stage (with special guests to be announced), a Leinster Rugby skills exhibition, a Christmas Treasure Trail, and much, much more.

For further informa-tion, see www.church-town.ie.

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‘One thing that all locals can do to ensure a vibrant community is to avail of services from the local providers’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LOcaLMaTTerSS u p p O r t L O c a L b u S i n e S S

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The Gazette continues its focus on the many ways that sustaining retailers in turn helps the community

With such a diverse range of services and retailers found across the region, and not just in Churchtown Business Park, supporting them

will, in turn, have a positive outcome for the community

SUPPORT

LocaLBUSINESS

SHOP LOCALLY

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6 dundrum Gazette 29 november 2012

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

SUPERQUINN in Ballinteer has recent-ly began hosting fun days in store in aid of LauraLynn House, Ireland’s

first children’s hospice that supports chil-dren with life limiting conditions and their families.

The hospice opened in September 2011 and has since cared for over 100 families.

The fun days at the recently renovated supermarket include activities such as face painting and balloon modelling to entertain the young children.

Fun at SuperquinnJasmine O’Keefe with her father and mr Balloon man. Pictures: Geraldine Woods

albert and Ceile Wall with mr Balloon man

daniel donlon

daniel Gilbert

Luke Gilbert

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29 November 2012 duNdrum gazette 7

8 DUNDRUM GAZETTE 29 November 2012

Deputy Mary Mitchell

O’Connor (FG) joined

local politicians in calling

for clarity on abortion

legislation, following the

recent death of Savita

Halappanavar (right)

Politicians call for action on X Case BAIRBRE NI BHRAONAIN

[email protected]

LOCAL Dail deputies and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown councillors have been commenting in the wake of the death of Savita Halappanavar in Galway last week on the need to legislate for abor-tion in certain circum-stances in Ireland.

Deputy Mary Mitch-ell O’Connor (FG) last week issued a statement supporting the passing of swift legislation on abor-tion, and said that legal clarity on terminations was needed to ensure that doctors did not prioritise their own legal protection over the life of a woman in their care.

Depu ty Mi t che l l O’Connor said: “It is not

in anybody’s interest that a patient could be allowed to suffer unnecessarily. We cannot leave doctors in a position where they feel they have to treat a living, sentient human being in a way a vet wouldn’t treat an animal, because there is a lack of legal clarity about how they should act.

“We failed over many years to give legislative expression to a right guaranteed by our Con-stitution and voted for in successive referenda by the people of Ireland, and I don’t want any more deaths at my door.”

In 1992, the Supreme Court, ruling on the X Case, found that abor-tion is constitutionally allowed in Ireland in cer-tain circumstances when the life of the mother is

at risk, including at risk of suicide. However, over the subsequent 20 years, six governments have failed to introduce legislation to enact the ruling.

More local reaction came from Councillor Niamh Bhreathnach (Lab), who said: “If we had legislated for the X Case, this death might have been prevented. We must legislate now.”

Cllr John Bailey (FG) said: “I think the Gov-ernment should take immediate action on this matter. It shouldn’t be left to the conscience of one doctor.

“This is a matter of life and death, and it has been going on for years. We should set out serious guidelines for doctors to follow in these cases.”

HEALTH Representatives seek clarity on abortion

In a Dail speech deliv-ered in April, South Dub-lin Deputy Olivia Mitchell (FG) urged the Govern-ment to legislate on the X Case, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s find-ings.

She said: “The failure to provide clarity has not stopped terminations tak-ing place. It has merely made them less safe,

and more expensive and stressful.”

She also called for immediate legislation to provide clarity on abor-tion for the people of Ire-land: “I personally fully support the introduction of legislation and regula-tion, in line with the deci-sion made by the Irish people in at least two ref-erenda.”

ENTERPRISENEWS

THE word Mentor, originally Greek, means “trust-ed advisor, friend and confidant”.

Everyone running a small business encounters issues – specific or general – where another view would help, especially if this is coming from some-one experienced who is able to take a detached view.

For this reason, the Enterprise Board has a panel of Mentors who are appointed to small businesses for a series of meetings on a one-to-one basis, to help the entrepreneur through whatever issues are of concern.

The Mentor assigned to the company has a clear objective – to help the owner manager grow and develop skills to enable them to overcome barriers which are impeding the business’ development.

The Mentor is able to give the business the ben-efit of a vast amount of experience, together with an objective view of the issues which it is facing.

The Mentor’s role is to guide and advise on the course of action to be taken in a given situation. The Mentor doesn’t become actively involved in the day-to-day running of the business, nor do they take on a role of an executive of a company.

Typically, an assignment is of six months dura-tion and during this period, the business owner will meet the Mentors five times. Further details on the Mentor Programme, and an application form are available on the Board’s website: www.dlrceb.ie or please call (01) 494 8400

Do you need a friend to help you start or grow your Business?

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Council gets set for winter gritting BaiRBRe Ni BhRaoNaiN

[email protected]

DUN Laoghaire-Rath-down County Council maintenance staff from depots all over the coun-ty are preparing for the possibility of some harsh winter months ahead in their new, state-of-the-art operations facility.

Located just off the Ballyogan Road, the facility has more than 600 tonnes of salt on hand to help keep local roads open and safe for commuters.

It also houses an array of gritting materials, in case the winter proves particularly bad, and maintenance vehicles are at the ready to respond to whatever weather condi-

tions winter may bring. There is also a fleet of

150 vehicles, and garages to maintain them.

A council spokesper-son said: “As in previ-ous years, the council is doing everything possi-ble to prepare for the bad weather we may encoun-ter during winter.

“We have stockpiled more than 600 tonnes of salt in our new opera-tions facility in Ballyo-gan, which also houses our full fleet of vehicles, and a central stores for

materials and equip-ment.

“The location of our new facility provides easy access to the M50 and other road networks, making it easier for us to respond to any emer-gency situation that may arise.

“We are keeping a close eye on the long-range weather forecast, and will have crews out gritting, when required.”

A new telemetry con-trol centre is also housed in the operations build-ing. This monitors any water leaks anywhere in the county’s water dis-tribution system, and is part of the Water Reha-bilitation Project that is still ongoing in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown.

transport: more than 600 tonnes of salt at new operations site

all credit to them: saving institution’s staff attain specialist qualificationsStaFF from Dundrum Credit Union had every reason to look pleased when they recently graduated with qualifications, follow-ing their studious efforts with LIA , the professional education and development association for those who work in all areas of the finan-cial services industry.

The branche’s Joan O’Mahony, Francis Nolan, Joyce Flood, Anne Bell, and Pauline Hayden were some of the almost 300 successful credit union students who undertook studying with LIA, with stu-dents attaining their CUG (Credit Union Governance), CUA (Credit Union Adviser), various APA (Accredited Product Adviser) and QFA (Qualified Financial Adviser) designations.

Choirs to help St Michael’s BaiRBRe Ni BhRaoNaiN

[email protected]

ST MICHAEL’S House, the care provider for peo-ple with intellectual dis-abilities and which has centres in Goatstown in Dundrum, Churchtown and Sandyford, has been selected as Iarnrod Eir-eann’s Christmas charity.

At a recent ceremony to turn on the Christmas tree lights in Heuston Station, the charity’s organisers, and the CIE male voice choir, performed Christ-mas carols for waiting commuters.

From December 1 to 23, professional choirs, as well as school groups and musicians, will be entertaining commuters in Heuston and Connolly Stations, with collection points for the charity.

charity

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‘The facility also houses an array of gritting materials’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

29 November 2012 duNdrum gazette 11

people The Gazette talks to Fintan o’Toole

All fired up over the state of the nation BairBre Ni BhraoNaiN

[email protected]

DUN Laoghaire-Rath-down journalist Fintan O’Toole, along with Dep-uty Shane Ross (Ind), economist David McWil-liams and journalist Nick Webb, were part of an interactive show in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre this week that discussed the state of the nation.

He spoke to The Gazette about the show that, he hopes, will be such a hit it will return to the Dublin stage.

“We did something like it before in the National Concert Hall, and it went very well, but we discov-ered some weaknesses in that run.

“The main one was that there wasn’t enough time for audience participa-tion. So, this time, we have to be more disciplined with the egos involved, to let the audience have its say.”

The four panellists are joined by Olivia O’Leary, who acts as an impar-tial compere during the show. If Fintan is one of

the angry men, we asked, what, then, is Olivia? “She is the calm, magiste-rial woman and the friend of the audience,” said O’Toole.

The format of the show is like a debate. “We present our ideas for 15 minutes each. There is a break, during which questions are collected from the audience, and the second half is all audi-ence participation.”

When asked if the forum for such discussion should not be more pub-lic, free of charge and so,

Journalist and commentator, and one of the stars of Four angry men, Fintan o’toole

more democratic, O’Toole said: “Yes, ideally that would be great, but to get a stage on that scale costs money – it’s expensive, and a lot of people have to be paid.

“Still, we’ll be lucky to break even with it, and if there’s a demand for it, we’ll come back to Dublin for a second show.”

O’Toole then consid-ered the likelihood of turning his sharp com-mentary into active politi-cal action.

“It’s not an ambition of mine, but it’s a reasonable prospect, if I could make a difference.

“If so, it would be my duty to step up, but I have to be cautious because the

public is always looking for a media messiah, and I wouldn’t want to disil-lusion them further if it wasn’t successful.”

Four Angry Men started its run on November 25 in Cork, before moving on to the Bord Gais Energy Theatre on November 27. It will finish up in Galway on December 2.

Santa to visit the DSPCA BairBre Ni BhraoNaiN

[email protected]

THE DSPCA, based in Rathfarnham, is organ-ising a special visit to see Santa in the Dublin Mountains surrounded by all kinds of animals.

Children can book their place to visit Santa, and will receive a personalised letter from him ahead of the meeting. Once there, children will get a special gift, as well as plenty of drinks and biscuits.

Santa will be at the DSPCA’s centre at Mount Venus Road, Rathfarn-ham, on December 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22 and 23. Children can enjoy story time with Santa, beginning with the first reading at 12pm, and continuing every 30 min-utes up until the last read-ing at 4.30pm.

children


29 November 2012 Gazette 13

feature

Gazette

Jedward will star in the Dublin Bus Christmas panto,

Jedward and the Magic Lamp, at the Olympia theatre

Pantomimes aplenty for ChristmasTis the season to be jolly, and what better way to make it even jollier than a trip to the theatre to see this year’s Christmas pantomimes.

Dublin is getting ready to shout “He’s behind you”, and watch familiar faces dress up in elabo-rate costumes as they star in the shows. This week, the Gazette takes a little look at some of the pantos that are grac-ing city stages in the run-up to Christmas.

This year, the Gaiety Theatre is taking a look at the classic tale of Cin-derella, but giving it a panto makeover.

There are two nasty, bullying ugly sisters, a quirky fairy godmother, a handsome prince and single glass slipper, all

the ingredients needed to complete the story of Cinders finding hap-piness and seeing her dreams come true.

This panto is spon-sored by Tayto and runs for six weeks from December 2 to January 13.

standard tickets are priced from €25 and are on sale now from usual outlets nationwide. For more information, see www.gaietytheatre.ie.

At the Tivoli Theatre, the Cheerio’s Panto is snow White and the Adventures of sammy sausages which opens to the public on Decem-ber 18.

This show stars TV3 presenter Alan Hughes as sammy sausages, singer Niamh Kavanagh

as the Evil Queen and Brian Dowling as the Mirror. Nadia Forde will star as the Good Queen, while iTV superstars finalist Niall sheehy plays Prince Charming. The show also introduc-es Molly Lynch as snow White.

The Cheerios Panto snow White and the Adventures of sammy sausages opens Dec 18 with previews from Dec ember12 and runs until January 13, 2013. Tick-ets cost from €15 and are now on sale from The Tivoli Theatre at 01 454 4472 or on www.tivoli.ie

Meanwhile, ireland’s most energetic twins, Jedward, star in the Dub-lin Bus Christmas panto, Jedward And The Magic

Lamp, at the Olympia Theatre from Wednes-day, December 19 to January 6.

The show features an all-singing, all-dancing cast of over 100.

The script is written by

scriptwriter, broadcaster and journalist Fiona Looney.

Tickets for this show cost from €25 and are available now through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.ie

FusiON sundays World Christmas markets are set to start this year in New Market square in Dublin.

Fusion sundays is Dublin’s only ethnic bazaar and has a wide array of international stalls, ethnic food, live music and entertain-ment for the children.

The market will celebrate many different Christmas traditions, with over 30 stalls selling fare from around the world. There will also be a Laughteryoga session, African dancing and several other workshops running throughout the day.

The market will be held from 11am until 5pm on sunday, December 9 at the Dublin Food Co-op, 12 New Market square, Dublin 8, and subsequently every second sunday of each month.

travel

Ethnic bazaar set out stalls for Christmas

14 Gazette 29 November 2012

dublinlifeGaze

tte

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

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

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

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

Get involved with the Gazetteschoollife

PRoMoTEyourschoolT E l l u s a b o u T y o u R s c h o o l’ s E v E n T s

c o n Ta c T T h E G a z E T T E c a l l 6 0 1 0 24 0

erica o’sullivaN

Fingal Community College

ON MONDAY, Octo-ber 12, Fingal Commu-nity College held an art exhibition, curated by transition year students, displaying the Junior Certificate art, craft and design projects of 2012.

The exhibition was followed by an awards ceremony.

Projects from art, home economics, wood-work and metalwork were displayed in the school hall, and there was a competition for the best project in each subject.

Transition year stu-

dents Jodie Morris and Saoirse Traynor intro-duced the exhibition, which was officially opened by Julie Clarke, arts education officer, Fingal County Council.

Refreshments were served by the transition year catering team.

trophiesThe winners in each

category were awarded trophies, and they were named as Donna Foger-ty, art; Megan McK-eown, home econom-ics; Damien McGlynn, metalwork and Kyle Maguire, woodwork.

The parents of stu-dents who submitted

a Junior Cert project were invited to see their son or daughter’s work, and to hear the winners being announced.

Fif th class pupils from the Old Borough National School, Swords Educate Together, Holy Family National School and St Colmcille’s Boys School were invited to join the fun, and were highly enthralled by the quality of the artwork.

The students would like express their sin-cere gratitude to all who helped make the event such a success.

The exhibition would not have taken place without the generos-

a brush with great artexhibition: awards follow showcase of students’ work

ity of sponsors, Philip O’Neill Photography, Pat O’Farrell School Uni form Suppl iers , Woodgrey Ltd, Elliot Engineering and Zara McDonnell Boardman.

The principal, Mrs Sharon McGrath, con-cluded the exhibition with the announcement of plans for an annual art exhibition at the col-lege

Megan McKeon and principal sharon McGrath

Donna Fogarty


Gazetteschools

aisliNG O’FiachaiN

and Julia RyaN

Sixth Year, Notre Dame

ON WEDNESDAY, November 13, our school hall was transformed into a wacky, wondrous, world of science.

Throughout the room, our tansition year and sixth year students had set up amazing experi-ments to let the invited

primary schools in the area get a close-up, hands-on approach to science.

We didn’t think it was possible that this year’s Science Fair could sur-pass the success of last year’s, but it ended up being even better!

Here is what people thought of our Science Fair ...

Alison and Katie, from

Holy Cross National school, said: “We really liked the Yop experi-ment.”

Ali, from the Muslim National School, thought it was “amazing and the best school trip of the year”.

Jamie Murphy, from the Divine Word Nation-al School, found the giant bubble experiment to be “a bit nerve-racking, but

very good”.A teacher from the

Muslim National School had nothing but positive things to say about the fair. “It was excellent – I feel bad for the students who didn’t get to go.”

experimentDiane, from Holy Cross

National School, said the giant bubble experiment was “really fun – I didn’t

realise I was in a bubble until it popped”.

Sarah, a student of Notre Dame Junior School, loved the slime experiment, and found it “cool, disgusting and sci-entific”.

Lisa Walsh, Prep 6 teacher, Notre Dame Junior School said it was: “A wonderful, interactive hands-on experience for all the children.

“They absolute ly loved it, and said it was the highlight of science week.”

Ryan, Rathfarnham Parish National School, said that “seeing how things work is fun and exciting”.

Ms Byrne, another teacher from Notre Dame, thanked the stu-dents of Notre Dame, as “the fair wouldn’t have

been such a success with-out the help of the transi-tion year and sixth year students”.

As you can see, eve-ryone had a wonderful time. Now, we just can’t wait for next year’s fair!

The students of Notre Dame would like to thank the science teach-ers for all of their hard work, as it truly was a day to remember.

Bubbling with enthusiasm for teststhe experiments set up were all popular, but the giant bubble (right) was a particular hit with students, thanks to its fun, hand-on way of showing a scientific principle at work

16 GAZETTE 29 November 2012

DUBLINLIFEGAZE

TTE

BUSINESS

FASTBUSINESS

Blanch-based PayPal wins Employer of the Year award

FOREST Enterprises Ltd (FEL), a national forestry company with its headquar ters in Lucan, has scooped the Leadership Award at the ActionCOACH Busi-ness Excellence Awards 2012, along with a merit award in the Best Team category.

FEL has been in busi-ness for more than 20 years and has become a recognised leader in forestry management in Ireland.

The Leadership Award was presented to Daragh Little, managing direc-tor, FEL and, according to Richard Cullen, of ActionCOACH: “Daragh was selected for the Leadership Award based not only on his vision for FEL, but also the forestry

sector in Ireland.“He has grown from a

forest manager to a true business leader, building the business, developing his team, influencing the industry and Govern-ment policy both at local and European level.

“As a result, he secured ongoing funding for for-estry and established forestry higher and higher on the investment agenda.

“He instil led this vision and energy in his team, which also led him to being awarded in the Best Team category.“

In 2010, forestry con-tributed to 1.3% of Irish GDP, and the sector is projected to significantly grow in the next 10 years due to a high demand in timber.

Pensions made simple

THE European headquarters of PayPal based in Blanchardstown has won Employer of the Year at this year’s Fingal Business Excellence awards.

The global online payment com-pany employs 1,500 people at its facility in Blanchardstown. The awards, hosted by TV personality Marty Whelan, took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry on Friday, November 16, and recog-nised how highly PayPal values and treats its employees.

Judges said PayPal more than met the criteria for this award: “They really value their people and do eve-rything in their power to ensure that each and every employee is treated with respect, dignity and fairness in a creative and innovative atmos-phere.”

Louise Phelan, PayPal’s Ireland-

based vice president of global opera-tions for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “At PayPal, we under-stand that our success as a company is based on how we value and treat our employees. We are very proud the be part of the business commu-nity in Fingal and hope that our phi-losophy can inspire others to keep employees front of mind, keeping them positively engaged, motivated and inspired.

“While times are tough for busi-ness, it is within everyone’s grasp to create a workplace that really brings the best out in people and ultimately contributes to a better bottom line.”

Meanwhile, the company also won two awards and were highly commended in a third category at the Contact Centre Management Association (CCMA) industry awards.

Lucan forestry firm leafs the competition behind

Marina Bleahen, managing director, ActionCOACH

Ireland; Daragh Little, managing director, Forest

Enterprises Ltd; Richard Cullen, business coach,

ActionCOACH Ireland and Vivian Peelo, business

banking, AIB

FEL has already more than doubled its size in a four-year period, bring-ing its current employee number to11.

Earlier this year, FEL opened two regional offices in Sligo and Cork, announced four new jobs, and launched an information website on commercial forestry.

In the past two years

alone, FEL have invest-ed more than €250,000 in their IT and manage-ment systems.

Speaking on winning the award, Little said: “I am delighted to win the leadership award. I have worked in forestry for more than 20 years and proactively established myself as a solution pro-vider to policy makers.”

AWARD: PRESTIGIOUS LEADERSHIP WIN FOR COMPANY

Supported by AIB

CONTINUING my analysis of pension parameters from last week, I can tell you that if you are thinking of setting up a pension plan, there are four main compo-nents that should be considered:

1. The strength of the insurance company where the pension fund is based;

2. The performance of both that company and the specific fund where the pension funds are maintained – though you would have to discount the last year or two, owing to the credit crunch impact;

3. The annual management charges associated with the pension fund by the insurance company, and

4. The commissions, or fees, payable to the interme-diary/broker who sets up the pension plan.

Outside of the complex self-employed, company owner, director and senior employee pension options, there are two basic employee schemes – defined ben-efit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) schemes.

The former are where employees receive 66% (50% if in the public sector) of their final year’s income, irre-spective of the performance of the fund to which the employee or their employer or both has been contrib-uting, and providing the full 40 years’ service has been completed.

The latter schemes see the employee and/or the employer contribute into a fund, out of which will fund the monthly pension when the employee retires. That is, if the fund is still there at that time.

This is why rigorous annual reviews should be

undertaken on all DC pensions. Even those in both schemes can supplement their pensions through an additional tax saving scheme called additional volun-tary contributions (AVCs).

Therefore, take steps now – have a look at the age threshold; have you room to start AVCs and, impor-tantly, can you afford it? It is very tax efficient BUT you may have more pressing priorities. Whatever you do, don’t procrastinate, and seek expert advice before it is too late. Remember, the younger you start, the better, as the following shows (with pension maturity values at national retirement age, NRA, 65) – starting at age 25, the estimated maturity value at NRA would be €679,059, providing a yearly pension of €37,114.

Starting at 35, the NRA value would be €332,135, providing a pension of €18,567. Starting at 45, the NRA value would be €145,161, providing €8,299.

If in doubt, talk to an independent and professional adviser, or email me. More next week.

Contact John with your money questions at jlowe@moneydoc-

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

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

of Money Doctor

Pictured are (from left to right): Joe Foran, Castleknock Hotel & Country Club

(award sponsor); Siobhan Moore, president, Fingal Dublin Chamber; Louise

Phelan, PayPal vice president and TV presenter Marty Whelan at the Fingal

Business Excellence awards where PayPal won Employer of the Year 2012

KEELINGS, the fresh produce company, are celebrating the launch of their LazyTown Sports-Candy range by welcoming the star of the popular children’s show, Sportacus, to stores around Dublin this week-end.

LazyTown is a children’s enter-tainment brand dedicated to pro-moting health and well-being in a fun way, and Keelings’ Sports-Candy range includes kid size apples, ready to eat mini pears, pre-sliced carrots, washed off-the-vine grapes and easy peelers, all contained in easy to carry punnets.

Keelings is a 100% Irish owned and family run business with an annual turnover of €300 million and employs over 1,400 people in Ireland and a total of approximately 2,000 people across the group.

Sportacus will be in Dunnes Stores, Cornelscourt on Friday, November 30 at 4pm, Tesco Extra in Naas on Saturday, December 1 at 10am, in Tesco Dundrum at 4pm, and at Tesco Clarehall on Sunday, December 2 at 10am. Children are encouraged to wear their LazyTown outfits and join Sportacus in his dance moves.

Keelings Sports-Candy launched


You’ll be left wanting more! hiromi mooNey

YOU can achieve your biggest dreams, even if you hail from a small place. A little girl from the Isle of Man once dreamed of becoming a big star some day, and, after many years of hard work, that dream has come true.

Now aged 22, Samantha Barks can call herself a West End theatre star and an international film star.

Samantha trained at the Arts Edu-cation School in Chiswick, and first graced television screens in 2008 on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s competition on BBC One’s, I’d Do Anything.

This was a nationwide search for an actress to play the role of Nancy in Cam-eron Mackintosh’s production of Oliv-er! To show their support for Samantha,

the Isle of Man even renamed itself for one day as the Isle of Sam.

Although she finished in third place in the competition, she is now playing Nancy in a touring production of Oliv-er!, which is coming to the Bord Gais Theatre next month. Although she is

busy with rehearsals, she took time out to speak exclusively to The Gazette.

She said: “When I first got the role, it was amazing because it had been part of my life for about four years ... It was my first insight into the showbiz world, with an audition for that part.

“I’d worked so hard when I was 17 in the TV show, so to be actually playing it just felt more special, I think, because I’ve had that long-standing sort of a relationship with the role.”

Samantha said that she loves being a part of Oliver! because it is “such a laugh”.

“You can be on stage with such a talented bunch of people, but also just have so much fun.

“Nancy is such an interesting charac-ter to play because, on the one hand, she

is the life and soul of every party – eve-ryone loves her, she’s so much fun.

“But then, on the other hand, she’s this dark, dark character that comes from a very abused background. She is very mistreated by her boyfriend, but she’s facing a moral dilemma – does she fight for the man that she loves, or does she fight for the greater good?

“She meets this boy, Oliver, who has an effect on her like nothing before – it’s greater than her love for Bill, in the end, and that’s her sort of emotional strug-gle.”

In her varied career, to date, Saman-tha has starred in the lead role of Zoe in the Disney TV series, Groove High, and she made her stage debut as Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

Continues on Page 23

Starring as Nancy in the upcoming production of oliver! at the Bord Gais theatre, Samantha Barks is a young actress with an already impressive resume. While set to delight

audiences with her role in oliver!, Samantha will soon also be seen on cinema screens alongside anne hathaway, russell Crowe and hugh Jackman in Les miserables.

OUT&ABOUTMOTORS P22cineMa P20 aSdfSdaf P27

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

azeT

Te

TheaTRe: excluSive inTeRview wiTh acTReSS aT The heaRT Of OliveR!

TRavel P24

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

‘Nancy is very mistreated by her boyfriend, but she’s facing a dilemma – does she fight for the man that she loves, or for the greater good?’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Samantha Barks- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PetsdOn’T Buy a PeT ThiS chRiSMaS – adOPT fROM a cenTRe, inSTeadTHE DSPCA are urging the public to Adopt, Don’t Buy a pet this Christmas as part of a campaign to prevent trafficking and to provide a second chance to many of the pets in its rescue centre.

According to the DSPCA, Christmas sees thousands of pets given as presents, many of which are bought online from unscrupulous breeders.

The DSPCA is asking people to give pets in rescue centres, such as the DSPCA’s, a second chance by adopting them as gifts rather than purchasing.

According to Gillian Bird, head of education, the DSPCA, the society dealt with 3,319 cases of reported animal cruelty, and took in more than 4,400 animals last year alone.

She said: “We hear upsetting stories reported to us in the DSPCA every week, and the public can help in many ways.”

For further information, see www.dspca.ie.

Pets aren’t just for

Christmas, so think

carefully before you

bring one home

Awear €65

Debenhams €40

Littlewoods.ie €200

Penneys €20

Heatons €40

Stylist Easy Curl €39.99

Debenhams €153

Debenhams €47

Penneys €13


OUT&ABOUT Gaze

tte

STYLE

Dunnes €15

Harvey Norman €129.99

Laura Webb

the time has come to think about others and give them gifts that are, truthfully speaking, on our own wishlist. this week, Gazette Style has put together a wish-list for females in the family. From perfume, to make-up, coats to hair styling tools, we’ve got it covered.

all you Gazette Style readers have to do is chose one that will make your mother, sister, best friend or nieces Christmas, and don’t worry we won’t tell anyone where you got your ideas from.

Don’t miss Gazette Style next week, when we will showcase the men’s wish-list. happy shopping!

Awear €60

Christmas Guide - for her!

YSL See stockists for details

Lancome See stockists for details


John Paul Jones, RobertPlant and Jimmy Page of Led zeppelin, were joined on stage at the O2 in London by Jason Bonham

As A youth of some sum-mers past, I was handed a well-worn copy of a strange looking record, adorned with a photo of a painting of a man with a bundle of sticks on the wall of a partially demol-ished building. No track titles, no words at all, just four symbols.

“What is this?”“Just the best rock

record ever recorded...”“Okay,” I replied, pop-

ping it into a Woolworths bag and heading home to play it.

My fr iend wasn’t wrong. Led Zeppelin IV was an incredible record. Though I was aware of stairway To Heaven, the album opened up a por-tal to a style of rock that

did not exist before nor has been created again - epic, sometimes pastoral, widescreen and elemen-tal like a hurricane.

Though a few years disbanded when I first listened to them, Zeppe-lin became the go-to act when nothing less than rock would do.

I spent years tracking down bootlegs, savouring the BBC sessions and the Remasters box set...

Then, in 2007, 27 years after the band broke up in the wake of the death of drummer John Bon-ham, the impossible hap-pened. I joined in with the estimated 20 mil-lion people worldwide who applied for tickets for their one-off show at

the O2 Arena in London after the band were reu-nited after the passing of their long-time friend and mentor, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, who had taken a punt on the English blues band in 1968.

A legendary night was had by all (though not me) but, five years later, Atlantic have released a recording and DVD of that night in London in the form of Celebration Day.

With the surviving members back on stage with Bonham’s son, Jason, on drums, Zep-pelin put on a remark-able show and this is a remarkable testament to their enduring legacy and

contribution to the last 40 years of music.

Featuring all of the 16 tracks played that night, sympathetically and dynamically mixed by another legend, producer Alan Moulder, the album captures all of the antici-pation, the power and the glory of one night in December when the planets aligned and Zep-pelin were once more united on stage, where they were always at their most vital.

This was no in-it-for-the-paycheck reunion, it was as though Zeppelin had never stopped play-ing together and that shows through in every single track on Celebra-tion Day.

From Bonham’s count-in and Jimmy Page’s pile-driver of a a riff on Good Times, Bad Times that opened proceedings, to the final curtain call after a triumphant Rock And Roll, there was a palpable love and respect for each other and the material among the band, a deter-mination to do not only themselves and their back catalogue justice, but to provide a fitting tribute to the man who helped make them the band who still hold so much affec-tion and regard among music lovers, critics and fans worldwide.

A simply essential pur-chase, and one that will make nations happy on any Celebration Day.

dfdfgfgdfg

Gazette

FASTtunesMUSIC

GEORGE Harrison once sang All Things Must Pass, but as we remember him on his 11th anni-versary this week (November 29), it’s clear not all things belonging to Harrison have. The so-called “quiet Beatle” features on what’s just been declared Britain’s rarest record. A recording by the band that preceded The Beatles: The Quarry Men from 1958 is the most valuable vinyl in the UK. Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon feature alongside Harrison on the single of That’ll Be The Day/In spite of Danger which is valued at nearly €250,000. And if you are indeed a Beatles’ fan with a few quid, then you might like to know Harrison’s infamous leather jacket is going up for auction soon. It’s expected to go for around €150,000 at Bonham’s in London on December 12. Now I wouldn’t mind that in my Christmas stocking... but that’ll be the day.

Dee Woods @ Radio Nova

review: a testament to the endurinG power of led zeppelin

Rock of ages past

Beatles for sale...

with Dee Woods

OUT&ABOUT CINEMA

20 gazette 29 November 2012

Gaze

tte

theatremore

I AM having a crisis, dear readers.

This time of year inev-itably brings too many good films, meaning my inner curmudgeon doesn’t get the chance to stretch its legs.

With last week’s sur-prisingly excellent The Sapphires and the highs of Argo comes end of Watch.

Unlike last week’s review, there is noth-ing surprising about the brilliance on show here. Written, directed and produced by David Ayer, this is unsurpris-ingly a cop movie.

When I say unsur-prisingly, it is important to note that Ayer is the man behind the script for 2001’s Training Day, was the director of 2006’s outrageously good and criminally

OUR VeRDICt:THERE are small stumbles, small little frustrating stumbles, but all in all, this is a great piece of cinema. Brave, unflinching and superbly acted, End of Watch is as good a cop film as there is, but is abundantly more. A great dissection of character, a fantastic look at male relationships and a thoroughly brilliant piece of film-making. See it. See it now.

Director: David ayerStarring: Jake gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, anna Kendrick, Natalie Martinez, David Harbour, Frank grillo, america Ferrera

underseen Harsh Times and 2008’s decent but disappointing Street Kings.

Take into account that he also wrote SWAT and Dark Blue and you come to the conclusion that, yeah, this guy likes his men in uniform.

Which is not to say that his canon is one-dimensional. Ayer ’s experiences on the streets of South Central LA in his 20s have given him a keen eye for the realities of the street and a finely attuned

sense of realism is always attached to his films.

Except for SWAT and The Fast and The Furi-ous.

Oh, and he did write U-571, the most histori-cally inaccurate film of all time. But he’s apolo-gised for that, so we can just enjoy his LA films.

Much l ike 2006’s Harsh Times, End of Watch takes a look at a pair of cops on one of LA’s tougher beats.

And again like Harsh Times, there is a white guy and a Hispanic guy.

But that is largely where the similari-ties end. Where Harsh Times looked at the subjects with a strange-ly compelling detached air, End of Watch buzz-es with a familiarity

An exciting watch

and an almost childlike energy.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Officer Brian Taylor, a jovial, sarcastic show-off who, along with his partner Mike Zavala (Michael Pena) stum-bles across a case that is a few stations above their pay-grade.

Like all good movie cops, the two dive head first into it, eschewing the rules, guidelines and protocol of the LAPD.

With many scenes being shown almost entirely through hand-held camera, there is a sense of proximity and almost voyeurism in what we’re seeing.

Ayer throws off that idea whenever a scene needs more scope or scale and, far from being a jarring juxtaposition, it actually works quite nicely.

The grubby corners of LA that Ayer is obvi

Jake gyllenhaal and Michael Pena take aim at the bad guys

Cops and robbers: Jake Gyllenhaal and miChael pena Join the forCe

Film OF The Week: end of Watchh h h h h (15) 109mins

the pavilion theatre 01 231 2929rte vanburgh Quartet with nobuko imaiTHIS concert brings together the internationally-acclaimed RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet with the sensational Nobuko Imai, regarded as one of the most outstanding violists of her generation. Noted for her flawless technique and warm, expressive tone, Imai has performed as a solo artist with many of the world’s finest orchestras. December 1, tickets are priced at €17/€15.

mill theatre01 296 9340miracle on 34th stENJOY such popular songs such as Pinecones and Hollyberries, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas and My State, My Kansas, in this joyous, heart-warming musical of pure family entertainment. Miracle On 34th Street tells the story of a mother and daughter that are much too practical to believe in Santa Claus. Macy’s hires a kind, white-bearded, older gentlemen to play Santa at the store, but when the man proclaims to be Kris Kringle and Santa himself, his sanity is called into question. Presented by Glencullen Musical and Dramatic Society and directed by Tom Ronayne. December 5-15 at 8pm, tickets are priced at €20/18.

CiviC theatre 01 462 7477abba foreverIT’S Christmas! It’s party time! It’s ABBA! From Waterloo to Dancing Queen, expect a dazzling, fantastic performance including the most iconic hits, Mamma Mia, SOS, Money, Money Money, The Winner Takes It All and many more. December 10 and 11, tickets are priced at €20.

PaUl [email protected]

ously so familiar with are easily explored with the handhelds, while the action of the film’s sec-ond and third acts can be properly portrayed with the less intrusive camera angles.

Yes, the bad guys are fairly shallowly drawn, but in this case it doesn’t matter.

Their menace is real and Gyllenhaal and Pena infuse their cops with so much likeabil-ity, their mere survival is enough to make you root for them.

Gyllenhaal is an actor who has quietly gone about establishing him-self as one of Hollywood’s most capable, and odd, leading men.

Though he will likely miss out on Oscar rec-ognition for this, his per-formance should be seen.

CINEMA

GAZETTEGAMING

29 November 2012 GAZETTE 21

NINTENDO: NEW CONSOLE IS ALMOST HERE

SHANE DILLON

THE Wii is dead – long live the Wii U. Confused? I don’t blame you, as the news that Nintendo has a new console may be, well, news for many parents and casual gamers.

N i n t e n d o h a s announced that, as of now, it no longer has any new first-party Wii games in development – this means that it will continue to support the Wii, but not to make any new games for it, while it focuses on its all-new Wii U console instead, which launches this Friday, November 30.

But, as Nintendo pre-pares to put its perfectly

decent (and particularly family-friendly) console into sleepy retirement, the company has finally unveiled its next console – the Wii U – with which it looks set to finally pose a challenge to Microsoft and Sony.

Although arriving late to the games party, at least Nintendo have finally rucked up with some hardware of note, and with, seemingly, a

more astute sense of how to position itself, and to make its console a real contender as a platform for gamers to embrace.

But first, what is the Wii U? Put simply, it’s very much a modern games console that, in many ways, is comparable to the power of the XBox 360 or the PlayStation 3 – a nota-ble step up in pure oomph from the Wii’s modest capabilities.

Nintendo being Nin-tendo, they’ve sought to do something that dif-ferentiates it from the competition; in this new console, that’s very much the case with its special controller – and how.

The GamePad is a large,

Wii U is here for, umm, you

SHANE [email protected]

WIN A GREAT KINECT GAMEYour chance to get sporty with XBoxTHE Gazette has teamed up with Microsoft again for another great XBox 360 giveaway – and, once again, there’s a fun Kinect title up for grabs (which, as you’d expect, requires a Kinect body-tracking sensor to play).

With Christmas almost upon us, family party games are always a real hit at this time of year, as well as games that you can return to time and again for lots of fun – so, what better game to pick up than Kinect Sports Ultimate?

For those who aren’t as superfit as me (cough), you’ll have lots of fun getting breathless (or showboating your skills) in a wide range of sports, including soccer, football, golf, skiing, tennis, boxing, darts, baseball, bowling, track & field, table tennis, beach volleyball and basketball – if that’s not enough to suit any sporting interest (or to get granny showing off her previously little-seen volleyball skills), well ...

Not only that, but we’ll (okay, Microsoft) even bung in some extra prizes for each

of five lucky winners: a Gold three-month XBox Live sub-scriptions, as well as 2,100 Microsoft Points.

So, to win your copy of Kinect Sports Ultimate, and the other goodies, just answer the following question ...

In which sport would you use a racket?A. TennisB. GolfC. Darts

Email [email protected] with your answer before noon on Friday, December 7. Please include your full name and address; one entry per applicant; five correct winners will be selected at random, with prizes posted out the following week.

COMPETITIONgiveawaygiveawaygiveaway

chunky controller with a centralised touchscreen, which offers all kinds of interesting options for games, once designers get to grips with it (no pun intended).

For example, that screen could show all kinds of information that directly relate to the on-screen action – such as to be an always-on map of where the player is in that game’s world, with lots of other obvious uses such as showing rankings, inventories, and so on.

AttractivenessAdd to that the tactile

attractiveness of swiping through and selecting content on this second-ary screen, which has an instant relevancy to the on-screen action, and it’s clear that this feature alone has the potential to make the Wii U a very cre-atively interesting console, and gives it a unique sell-ing point over its rivals.

What’s under the hood? Suffice to say that it holds its own against the 360 and PS3, with graphics that are a signifi-cant step up from the Wii, if programmed right.

A few points of note – it can support high defini-tion graphics, with this HD capability a first for Nintendo, as well as using Flash storage for on-board saves.

The GamePad can be used to play some games without the TV, with other peripherals also usable, and on the way.

Because nobody in the world really cares about how many tiny elves it whips on treadmills to make the machine proc-ess sub-pixel shading – yawn – let’s jump straight on to what will be a huge selling point for many.

The fact that it’s back-ward-compatible with Wii games, meaning that Wii fans, families, those trading up – and even a certain Mr S Claus – can breathe a sigh of relief, as the new console supports all those Wii games peo-ple already have.

Lastly, in what’s likely to be of most note to hard-core gamers, it’s also worth pointing out that several “heavyweight” games and franchises are also being ported to the Wii U, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Aliens: Colo-nial Marines, Assas-sin’s Creed 3, and many more.

W h i l e N i n t e n d o remains the most family-friendly console out there – to its detriment, some would say, as it hasn’t pre-sented much choice or use for more mature gam-ers – it’s great to see that the Wii U will offer a “bet-ter” range of games.

As expected for a launch console, it ain’t cheap, folks – kiss good-bye to at least €400, for the console and a few good games – but for a great, interesting new console, with some already note-worthy launch titles – this could be what Wii, or U, have been waiting for ...

STEP UP TO A CHALLENGING ISLANDMadness, mayhem – and lovely views – in Far Cry 3THIS weekend, lots of gamers will be heading to a beaufitul island paradise to get Lost (see what I did there?) with Far Cry 3 – the latest and very pretty, yet pretty violent addition to the popular open-world franchise.

Available on PlayStation 3, XBox 360 and PC, the game sees you searching for your girlfriend, and friends, on a beautiful island chain – beautiful, that is, except for some of the inhabitants – very bad men with guns – who aren’t best pleased to have some tourist interlopers ...

I rambled – or rampaged – though an extensive hands-on advance preview of the game recently, and can confirm that it’s a great shooter, with an interesting (if slightly unhinged) plot and set of characters, as well as a frequently stunning open-world setting.

So, for gamers looking for a lovely-looking (and often frenetic) shooter, you don’t have very Far to look ...

OH, DELL ...Latest results underline crisis in the PC sectorTHERE are all kinds of fascinating, bizarre – and occasionally worrying – stories happening across the tech sector at the moment, with former hardware and software giants suddenly facing into unexpected battles.

One such battle lies ahead for PC maker Dell, with a number of tech sites and reports picking up on its latest quarterly results, which show pretty hefty drops in both revenues and operating profits – these, in the same year in which its share price has also taken a drastic dive.

Former tech giants, such as HP and Blackberry-maker, RIM, have seen a drastic reversal of fortunes in this time.With traditional PC/laptop sales plateauing, at best, or simply slumping around the world, as users migrate to tablets instead – not to mention the inexorable rise of smartphones – Dell, as with rivals and allies alike, faces a challenge to turn things around, before it drifts a little too close to beleaguered MySpace territory ...

IF SPOTTED ...Tech figurehead continues to evade police in BelizeAT THE time of writing, a story that’s been fascinating tech reporters and, well, just reporters around the world has been the bizarre tale of multimillionaire internet entrepreneur John McAfee – yes, that McAfee, whose antivirus software many readers have on their PCs – who remains on the run in Belize, after being named as “a person of interest” in the shooting dead of his neighbour, Gregory Faull, with police looking to interview him for their enquiries.

Unfortunately for San Pedro police, and to help with the enquiry into the late Mr Faull’s murder, McAfee has, to use an old-fashioned phrase, gone “on the lam” around the tiny country – a curious decision to make, yet one made even stranger (and attracting intense media attention) by his decision to start a blog, and to contact international media, both protesting his innocence and detailing the ways in which he has avoided Belize police, how he has disguised himself, and so on.

Perhaps the best, last word on this continuing situation (at the time of writing) should be left to Belize’s prime minister, Dean Barrow, who has said of McAfee’s evasion: “It strikes me that he is extremely paranoid ... I would go as far as saying he is completely bonkers.”

BYTES&PIECES

The sleek lines of Nintendo’s Wii U is very much in keeping with

modern design trends – and, thankfully, it’s got plenty of power,

too, along with a potentially very interesting controller (left)


Ibiza is great value with VW reliability

n CormaC Curtis

Sit ting in to the SEAt ibiza last month was a reassuring expe-rience for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the car simply had a very well-put-together feeling to it, but what really put me at ease was that SEAt were supplying me with pretty much the most standard spec of the ibiza range that anyone on these shores is likely to come across.

no leather uphol-stery, no heated seats and steering wheel, no 22” bling alloys, no premium sound system named after an electric guitar and it certainly didn’t make coffee… this was possibly the most honest car that i have been trusted to review in some time,

and SEAt are clearly more than confident that the car speaks for itself.

And it does.As i said, the ibiza is

a solid motor from the off, and you can feel it.

i actually watched a recent British motoring tV programme where two of the present-ers were blindfolded and given the task of assessing the interior build quality of two saloons – a silly bit of tV, but it did make me

think of the cars i have driven recently and how i would rate them in terms of value for money.

After i considered points of contact, such as the steering wheel, gear knob, window but-tons and audio/climate controls, as well as upholstery, dashboard materials and how the doors felt opening and closing, the ibiza was very hard to beat.

Cons ide r ing th i s car would be a good €10,000 less than most of the other cars i have tested in recent months, it was very difficult to look past it as top of the value heap.

Praisethe highest praise

from a passenger in the car came from my highly-critical other

half – she doesn’t suffer poor quality and has a bit of an obsession with the VW golf, but that didn’t stop her taking the words out my mouth and comparing the ibiza to the classic Volkswagen hatchback.

it has to be said that the ibiza 1.2 Style has a great deal more going for it than the golf ever did back in the day.

not only is the qual-ity bullet proof, but it comes with a serious shopping list of features as standard, some of the more eyebrow-raising additions are the very pretty 16” Stratos alloy wheels that match the body very nicely indeed, a tinted rear window, up-to-date new foglights with cornering, the rear view mirrors and door handles are heated and come in body colour.

As far as the illu-mination goes, there are sparking chromed headlights and rear LED lights.

going back to com-fort and points of con-tact, the gearstick and steering wheel are both leather, and the car comes with air condi-tioning and a stereo that has Bluetooth, USB and Aux connections to its six speakers.

So a spacious, five-door, economical motor with bang up-to-date styling and a host of extras for well under €16,000, what else are the 18- to 25-year-olds looking for these days?

this car represents some of the best value on the market and as part of the VW group, it should be every bit as reliable as its stable mates.

the ibiza comes with a serious shopping list of features as standard

Young artists invited to dream up carCrEAtiVE kids will be delighted to hear that toyota ireland have announced the launch of the annual Dream Car Art Contest. the national competition invites budding irish artists under the age of 16 to dream up their car of the future.

nine irish finalists will be awarded prizes which range from a nintendo DS, Digital Camera, iPod shuffle and art supply vouchers, as well as the chance to win an unforgettable trip to Japan if they are successful at a global level.

A panel of three judges, rtE presenter Diana Bunici, lecturer in Fine Art at nCAD Oliver Whelan and a representative from toyota ireland have the tough job of selecting three finalists in each age category (under 10 years, 10-12 years and 13-15 years) as the national winners. these winners will be announced in March 2013.

Young artists are being asked to draw or paint their vision of a Dream Car using standard art materials (digital submissions will not be accepted). All entries must be in colour and include a car and a background or setting on A3 size paper.

All submissions can be entered by dropping art work into an authorised toyota dealership or sending it to toyota ireland, Killeen rd, Dublin 12 and clearly mark it toyota Dream Car Art Contest. the submission must be accompanied by an entry form which can be downloaded from www.toyota.ie . the contest will be open until February 28, 2013.

the nine irish winners’ works will go on to compete against international winners for gold, silver and bronze in a global competition with a grand prize of a once-in-a lifetime trip to Japan.

seat: spacious, economical motor with up-to-date styling

NOISEroadOUT&ABOUT ga

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MOTORS

n 0 – 100km/hr: 13.9 secs

n top speed: 163km/h

n Co2 emissions : 125g/km

n tax Band: B

n Current tax rate:

€225

n Price: €15750 (metallic:

€345, as driven: €16,095)

specs: ibiza 1.2 style

at the launch of the annual toyota Dream Car art

Contest was tV presenter and competition judge

Diana Bunici. Diana was on hand at the radisson

Blu st Helen’s to help Kayla o’toole (5) and matthew

Lawless (6) kick-start their competition entries

29 November 2012 DUNDRUM GAZETTE 23

MOTORS

GAZETTEFEATURES

Continued from Page 17

However, Samantha’s career took another turn when she made her West End debut as Eponine in the classic musical, Les Miserables.

After a year in the part, she played this role again in the Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert at the O2 Arena in London in 2010.

Stunning news came when Cameron Mackin-tosh announced that The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper had cast her as Eponine in the upcom-ing Les Miserables Holly-wood movie.

Mackintosh made the announcement on stage during a curtain call of Oliver! in Manchester last February, and Samantha’s stunned reaction can be seen on YouTube.

“I was literally just as shocked and surprised as I looked,” said Samantha. “I still can’t even remem-ber [the moment]! It was just the most incredible moment of my life, where everything just changed in such a quick moment, and to have that on record

– that I can actually watch and go ‘Actually, that did happen; that wasn’t a dream’ – it’s really cool.”

Samantha later learned that she was chosen to play the part over other famous stars, such as Taylor Swift and Lea Michele.

“Whenever you go for a role, you always know that you’re up against all of these wonderful actresses – it’s just that you don’t necessarily know who they are.

“So, I just keep this as my motto: ‘I’m not going to gain anything by know-ing who I’m up against, or who’s been seen’. It’s not very productive and it’s not a positive energy to go in with into an audi-tion room.

“I just try to block that kind of gossip out of my mind, and be the best that I can be,” she said.

“You’ve got to be com-pletely 100%-focused on your audition and what you need to do – not what other people are doing.”

The Les Miserables film, which opens early next year, is set to be memora-ble for its music as all of

the singing was recorded live on set, instead of hav-ing the actors mime to the pre-recorded audio.

This allowed the actors to make their acting deci-sions spontaneously while in the heat of the moment.

Samantha appears in the film alongside Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Amanda Seyfried, and Barks is being touted for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

“It was fantastic. It was an amazing experience. The whole cast was a nice bunch of people.

Overwhelming“It was overwhelming

in one way to be work-ing with people like that, but also they were a nice bunch of people, so they made me feel as relaxed as I possibly could be,” she said.

“We were all supportive to each other, and it was amazing – just the whole fact that everybody had such support for each other. It was very excit-ing.”

So, from being a little

girl on the Isle of Man to becoming a Hollywood star on the rise, what advice does Samantha have to be successful?

“Literally, you have to work your socks off. You can’t just sort of let things happen, and sit back and go: ‘Oh yeah, that’ll hap-pen’, or ‘Why isn’t that happening for me?’

“I tend to just set my sights on something and then work as hard as I possibly can.

“Some things happen, some things just don’t. You need to not dwell on something when some-thing doesn’t work out for you. Use that negative energy and put it into the next thing that you want to happen.

“Celebrate your suc-cess, and don’t dwell on any failures that you might come across,” she advised.

Samantha has dreamed a dream, and it has come true. You can see her in action on stage in Oliver! at The Bord Gais Energy Theatre from December 12 to January 12, or on the big screen in Les Misera-bles from January 11.

Focused on her artTHEATRE: ACTRESS CHANNELS ‘POSITIVE ENERGY’

A feature of Samantha Bark’s role in the upcoming big-budget production of Les Miserables (above) will be live, on-set singing, adding extra vibrancy to her performance

24 DUNDRUM gazette 29 November 2012

OUT&ABOUT Gaze

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You’ll fall for lodge’s comfort and luxury laURa webb

BAGS packed and ready to go – road-trip. I had heard of the stunning views of Sheen Falls Lodge at Kenmare in Kerry, so I was really looking forward to see-ing it for myself.

Checking the journey ahead, I was warned by my Sat-Nav that it would take more than four hours to get there from Dublin – so, it was time to get moving.

I picked up my friend,

Anne, and we were well on our way as we trav-elled down the M7.

Merging onto the M8 towards Cork, we decided to take a quick pit-stop.

Once we were fed and watered, it was back on the road, excited about the destination ahead.

On reaching Cork, we stayed on the N25 – or so we thought. It was our first wrong turn of the journey, and we were now heading towards Waterford – not the des-

tination we were looking for.

So, it was time to turn back and head back the way we came, but, unfor-tunately, it wasn’t the right way either.

After much circling around, we finally real-ised we should have con-tinued straight on the N25, rather than turning off to the left.

By the time we left Cork, it was dark and we were longing to be at Sheen Falls, but our nightmare journey didn’t

although tucked away in Co Kerry, the journey to Sheen Falls lodge is undoubtedly worth it, with its welcoming luxury and comfort – not to mention its wonderful location in the Kingdom

kerry: the lonG drive to kenmare is worth it – thanks to this hotel

stop there – diversion signs, oh dear!

We finally arrived and I have never been so happy to see accommodation.

On arrival, the staff were more than help-ful, and we were given a mini-tour of the lodge.

Our room was situated in the sailing quarter, and had spectacular views of the lake and forest, which were wonderfully lit to enhance their beauty at night.

Dinner at La Cascade was booked, a place where dressing up for the occasion is a must.

As we waited for our order, we were given a selection of artisan bread, which Anne was delight-ed to taste because she is currently studying pro-fessional baking.

The selection was Ital-ian herbs and seeded rye

bread, as well as some potato rolls. They were each freshly baked and cooked to perfection.

I had salmon for my starter, and venison for my main – both delicate-ly cooked, and comple-mented by flavour.

The lodge is situated just off the main road at Kenmare and is hidden away from the hustle and bustle of life.

It is an ideal place for a couple’s retreat, for those the hotel bedrooms are as inviting and comfortable as you could wish for

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

‘The whole feel of the lodge is pure relaxation, where you feel like you are a far cry from civilisation’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TRAVELfast

Take a oui break and celebrate the festive season in EuropeESCAPE the winter chill and embrace the festive season in one of Europe’s favourite cities with a perfect pre-Christmas getaway.

Stay three nights in romantic Prague from just €167 per person with GoHop.ie. The package includes return flights from Dublin, three night’s accommodation in a three-star hotel, and all taxes and charges, travelling on December 9.

Alternatively, see the sights of Copenhagen with a four-night stay in a four-star hotel, from just €300 per person, travelling on December 7.

Why not ring in the New Year beneath the Eiffel Tower with a five-night stay in a four-star hotel in Paris? Travelling on December 29, the package is available from just €348 per person. All prices include return flights from Dublin, accommodation, taxes and charges.

For more winter break offers, see www.gohop.ie/specials.php.

Step back in time at Strokestown ParkFOR any family looking for a Christmas Day out with a difference this festive season, then perhaps taking a trip back to Victorian times could lead you straight to Strokestown Park in Co Roscommon.

Visitors will be greeted at The Woodland Walk Cafe and travel through the secret tunnel into the underground rooms of Strokestown House – for the very first time – where guests will meet Santa’s Elves and enjoy a delicious hot chocolate.

While children will have a chance to meet Mr and Mrs Claus, adults will enjoy the old-world Christmas gift shop with Irish crafts, magical books and a chance to create a personal Christmas hamper.

A family ticket (two adults and three children) is priced at €50; single adult tickets are €7, while tickets for children availing of the whole magical experience are priced at €15. All bookings, including group bookings for larger groups and schools, can be made at www.strokestownpark.ie.

29 November 2012 DUNDRUM gazette 25

Travel

although tucked away in Co Kerry, the journey to Sheen Falls Lodge is undoubtedly worth it, with its welcoming luxury and comfort – not to mention its wonderful location in the Kingdom

who just want to enjoy each others’ company, to relax and maybe try out some of the many attrac-tions the lodge has to offer, such as fishing, fal-conry, clay pigeon shoot-ing, tennis and horse-rid-ing, to name but a few.

After some gentle exer-cise, a spa treatment is a must and that is what we decided to do the morn-ing after we arrived.

However, before our treatments, it was time for some breakfast, which was served at the restau-rant we ate at the night before.

Seeing the view during the day was even more magnificent. The whole feel of the lodge is pure relaxation, where you feel like you are a far cry from civilisation.

Again, the food was well presented and tasted

as good as it looked. We were offered a

European-style buffet with pastries, fruit, cereal and yogurts among other things, or you could order Sheen Falls breakfast specials such as pan-cakes, omelettes, French toast or a good aul’ Irish brekkie.

Full to the brim, it was time to relax and attend our treatments at the health club. The Sheen Falls Health Club offers an array of treatments, from massages to mani-cures – it caters for a full body experience.

I was treating myself to a Yonka Aromastone 60-minute massage.

This was a hot stone massage that would relax even the tightest of muscles. There are two types: a full body or a back, shoulder and neck

massage.I received the latter

massage, which is con-sidered the better option for an hour’s treatment.

Again, the staff could not have been nicer, and worked wonders on making Anne and me feel more relaxed, and we both ended up feel-ing like we were on cloud nine.

The return journey took a little over four hours, which showed that the day before had just been one of those disaster trips – but we weren’t at all put off by the journey, and would go back in a heartbeat.

While I would admit that this lodge isn’t easy on the pocket, you do have to pay that little extra for life’s luxuries and, for me, Sheen Falls is luxury at its best.

Gazette

Support Leinster Rugby in ClermontWHILE Round Three of the Heineken Cup will no doubt prove to be Leinster’s most difficult assignment when they travel to Clermont and face the former French Top 14 Champions this December, the sporting clash will be a must-see.

Joe Walsh Tours have a selection of flights and overnight packages available for the game, as well as official match tickets from €359, plus tax.

Departing on December 8 for one night, the package includes direct return flights from Dublin to Clermont, including hotel transfer, one checked-in bag and one night at the three-star Kyriad Prestige, or the four-star Holiday Inn Garden Court, in Clermont city centre, on a B&B basis. The package also includes transfer to Stadium Marcel Michelin, and back to the airport on December 9.

For further details, or to book your package, see www.joewalshtours.ie/leinster, telephone 01 241 0800, or email [email protected].

TRAVELfast

Escape to Malta’s sun for ChristmasWITH some choosing to revel in the winter weather when it comes to Christmas time, sometimes a break away is exactly the winter warmer that you really need.

Whatever your Christmas budget, Concorde Travel is offering a range of packages to whisk you away to the island of Malta. Packages are available for three or seven nights, in a wide range of accommodation.

Depart on December 21 for seven nights and stay at the three-star St George’s Park & La Vallette, from €594PP; stay at the four-star Hotel Maritim Antonine, from €634PP, or stay at the four-star Hotel Cavalieri, €704PP. Travel on Christmas Eve and spend seven nights at the four-star Cavalieri, from €670PP, or treat yourself at the five-star Radisson Blu Bay Point, from €764PP.

The Christmas packages include return flights, taxes, transfers and accommodation. To book your Christmas break, see www.concordetravel.ie, or phone 01 775 9300.

Splash out on – or in – any of the hotel’s many features,

all designed to leave you relaxed and refreshed

DunDrumCLASSIFIEDS 26 dundrum gazette 29 november 2012

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

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volunteers: fanaGan named adult manaGer of the year at the aviva stadium

third time uNlucky for louGhraN: FORMER Mount Anville student Sine-ad Loughran was left on the runners-up side for a third consecutive year in the NCAA hockey championship final as University of North Carolina fell to Princeton 3-2.

For each of the past three years, UNC have fallen at the final hurdle by the same scoreline after epic runs to the final of the competition.

Loughran’s univer-sity had won their regional confer-ence before beating Syracuse 6-1 – who featured fellow Dub-liners Emma Russell, Liz McInerney and Gillian Pinder – with Loughran on the score sheet in the national semi-final.

local heroes honoured for selfless services to sportLORETO hockey club member Sally Ann Fanagan was honoured this week with the Adult Manager of the Year Award at the Irish Sport Coun-cil’s National Awards to Volunteers in Sport in the Aviva Stadium.

Fanagan was awarded the gong fol-lowing an amazing service to Irish hockey, taking over as the Irish senior women’s team manager in 2006.

During her tenure, she amassed 155 caps before she retired in June, taking in three European championships, two Olympic qualifiers, two Champions

Challenge campaigns and one World Cup qualifier.

The awards are a collaboration between the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Irish Sports Council and the Federation of Irish Sport which represents over 70 sports in Ireland.

In attendance at the event was Min-ister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring who acknowledged the exceptional work of the honoured vol-unteers in sport

“For me all our winners epitomise

true sportsmen and women who not alone get a great deal out of sport but perhaps just as importantly put a huge amount into sport,” he said.

Also on the list of award winners was Cormorant swimming club coach Mar-ian Fenton, martial arts administrator Brendan Dowling and Gymnastics Ire-land’s Mary Murray.

Blackrock Flyers founders Colm and Shelagh Leech also received one of the awards on the back of the fan-tastic work they have done in disability sports and in particular, the Special

Olympics. The Leeches have been volunteers

with Special Olympics for over 15 years during which time they have taken on a variety of different roles working at national, regional and local club levels. Their daughter, Tara, is a participant in the Special Olympics in gymnastics, basketball, athletics and golf.

In 1989 the couple were among a group of parents to establish a Special Olympics Club in Bray before they went on to found a further club in Blackrock.

former irish women’s hockey manager Sally ann fanagan, centre, celebrates her national volunteer award with, left to right, alex Speers, lisa Jacob and emma Gray

athletics P30sPorts awards P28 asdfsdaf P27

Fastsport

c o n ta c t sacting Sports

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Phone: 01 651 6205

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[email protected]

FINGAL Cricket Development Officer Reinhardt Strydom, with the help of Simi Singh, recently presented an ICC introduction to coaching course in the Fingal area.

The course was delivered at Corduff Sport Centre, Blanchard-stown last week and was attended by 13 participants who were rep-resented by clubs from different areas of Fingal and Leinster.

The course ran for four hours explaining the basic laws of cricket, how the game works

and to show different small sided games that can be played in the schoolyard.

The session started with a demonstration of how the game of cricket works along with the basic rules with a layout of a cricket field.

Following that, batting was demonstrated with the grip and stance shown along with the exe-cution of the forward drive.

The bowling element concen-trated initially on the basic action before progressing to run-ups and follow-throughs.

To finish, the teachers were

shown hand-eye co-ordination skills and games and also four dif-ferent cricket games to play with their students.

These games included Pairs cricket and Continuous cricket.

Participants arriving with lit-tle or no knowledge of cricket learned a lot over the four hours.

“They left understanding the game better, had fun, learned to bat and bowl and were all looking forward to trying out these games with their relevant classes.

This will hugely help the growth of cricket in Fingal and special thanks have to go to all

the schools and teachers who attended.

“A very successful course with many positive outcomes resulted from the day’s activities.

“The council are committed to developing sport in Fingal and cricket is a major part of that plan.

“This programme gives teach-ers the basic skills of the game and enables them to pass on what they have learned to their students through fun and active games,” said Niall Mc Guirk, sen-ior sports development office for Fingal County Council.

Fingal host cricket coaching development event

Recent participants in one of the ICC introduction to

coaching courses

SPORTGaze

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HSTARof the

MONTHsean byrnest JOsePH’s striker sean byrne pro-duced a fine showing for the republic of Ireland as he got on the mark for the U-16s as they played out a highly competitive pair of matches against estonia.

HTEAMof the

MONTH

2012 dUblIn sPOrts awards nOvember nOmInees

barry mUrPHytHe alsaa swimmer broke a string of national records to show his form at the european short course champion-ships in Chartres, France. He topped his best mark in the 50m butterfly and the 50m breaststroke.

ava HUtCHInsOnlOndOn Olympian ava Hutchinson picked off the national intercounty cross country title, showing her form leading into the european champi-onships with victory in the senior women’s race.

WITH winter closing in, local stars are continuing to warm the sports landscape with a string of blistering performances. Dundrum South Dublin AC’s runners claimed the most of the first major cross-country crowns of the winter with Ava Hutchinson’s performance chief among them. A string of local soccer stars are forging their way into Republic of Ireland squads while Barry Murphy’s record-breaking feats were part of an immaculate Irish swimming team overall performance.

From a team perspective, November has seen numerous clubs shine on the Leinster GAA scene but none more so than Castleknock’s footballers. From a collective perspective, Lucan Sarsfields’ immaculate work at underage level has borne fruit in abundance as they annexed their 20th camogie title in six seasons. Swords Celtic have similarly blazed a trail on the soccer front.

CastleknOCk JUnIOr FOOtballleInster junior championship glory was annexed last sunday to go with dublin honours as they had too much in the tank for st Fintan’s last week-end at Parnell Park. a truly breath-taking season continues.

swOrds CeltICaFter an eighth successive win at the start of the month, swords Celtic have rocketed to the top of the lsl junior leagues and look in great shape for promotion up to the intermediate ranks as the midway mark nears.

lUCan sarsFIelds CamOGIea memOrable month for the 12th lock club, their minors won a third suc-cessive a championship - the fifth top tier underage in quick succession - while three of their senior team have been added to the dublin panel.

dublinGazettenewspapers

TALENTED Killiney native David O’Caoimh ended his year with a tenth place finish at the final wakeboarding world cup event in Palembang, Indonesia last Sunday.

Despite negotiating 33 degree heats, the teen-ager did well to storm his way through the qualify-ing heats but he came unstuck at the semi-final stage whilst performing one of his most technical tricks.

Nonetheless, the result continued his rise into the top 20 in the world in a growing sport that is looking toward poten-tial inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games.

It is quite the achieve-ment for the 18-year-old who, despite the elements in Ireland working against the sport in many respects

– the climate one of the major factors – he has been making waves on the international scene.

O’Caoimh has been on the water for the guts of three quarters of his life, first following in his par-ents footsteps. They were keen windsurfers and introduced him to that sport initially during sum-mer holidays in Cavan but he soon graduated to the wakeboard, a hybrid of water-skiing, snowboard-ing and surfing with added gymnastics.

Pulled along by a speed-

boat at 20 to 25 miles per hour, competitors use the wake of the boat to per-form flips and spins to spectacular effect.

And, since the turn of the year, O’Caoimh has been one of the foremost protagonists, training on the ice cold waters of Ire-land year-round.

In 2012, his winning season kicked off when he won the gold medal in the junior men’s division at the European wake-boarding championships in South Africa in Febru-ary.

It led to an invite to the prestigious wakeboard world cup in Australia to which only the top 20 male riders in the world are selected.

There, he was up against full-time profes-sional wakeboarders from

all over the world, manag-ing to take fifth place.

A few weeks later he went on to compete at the US Wake Games and took bronze in the junior pro men’s category.

He then defended his national pro title in Ireland and, a fortnight

afterwards, he took the top spot at the Irish open wakeboard champion-ships.

From there, it was off to Germany to compete at the prestigious Chill and Ride international com-

O’Caoimh flying high in the wakeboarding world Killiney teenager has entered the wakeboarding world’s top 20 with stellar performances in Asia, South Africa and Australia all while continuing his studies in Ireland

Killiney man David O’Caoimh has produced an incredible year on the world wakeboarding scene

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‘I am so happy to have had such a fantastic season and I’m really delighted with my titles’ - David O’Caoimh- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ST Luke’s National School in Tyrrelstown cre-ated history for their school by winning the first ever GAA trophy this week when they won the final of the Dublin 15 local schools league, played in Parnell Park against Tyrrelstown Edu-cate Together.

Both teams brought large numbers of support-ers who created a fantastic atmosphere in the ground.

St Luke’s shaded a close match and were inspired by their midfield duo of Michael Afuye and Chris Sombete. The match showcased a huge level of school pride and team spirit and proved a fantastic day for the young people of Tyrrelstown.

Speaking about the game, St Luke’s teacher Kris O’Connor said: “The whole school is extremely proud of their boys, who remained undefeated for the duration of the league and represented the school with great dignity.

“The victory has done huge things for GAA in the school and has provided encouragement for younger children to get involved. Hopefully, this is the first of many trophies to be won by the children of St Luke’s National School.”

O’Connor was part of the team’s coaching team along with Conor Lynch who gave their own time to train, coach and mentor the boys along the road to their success, fostering a strong commitment in the team.

St Luke’s create school history in Parnell Parkpetition where, for the

second year in a row, he won the gold.

Speaking about the incredible run of results, O’Caoimh said: “I am so happy to have had such a fantastic season and I’m really delighted with my titles.”

While many of his opponents can afford to compete full-time, O’Caoimh is currently combining competing with his studies.

Despite travelling to Asia, Australia, South Afri-ca, the USA and Europe to train and compete, he managed to find time to sit the Leaving Certificate and is currently in first year at UCD.

But he is hoping that by the time he finishes col-lege, he could be looking at an Olympic campaign. Wakeboarding has been shortlisted for the 2020 Olympic Games and the world championships are now held under the aus-pices of the IOC.

In addition, the first Wakeboard Cable Park has recently been given planning approval and is expected to open in the Dublin Docklands next spring.

stephen [email protected]

Fastsport

Gazette 29 november 2012 DUnDrUM gazette 29

Polar Plunge set for 40 FootTHE fourth annual Polar Plunge will take place on Saturday, December 1 from 11.30am at the Forty Foot in Sandycove with all funds raised going to Special Olympics Ireland.

Participants are requested to raise €25 to plunge into the Irish Sea.

Refreshments will be available afterwards while the Newtown-park gospel choir and the Howth coast-guard will provide entertainment.

For more informa-tion, go to www.specialolympics.ie/easternregion while you can request spon-sorship cards from Brenda or Paul on 01 891 2000 or [email protected].

R1

SPORTGaze

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Fastsport

NEXT Saturday, two former Old Wesley players Ross Johnson and Matt Crockett will be step-ping into the boxing ring at the Leopardstown Pavilion to raise money for Motor Neurone disease Ireland (IMNDA).

The IMNDA, in conjunction with White Collar Boxing, is bringing a special show to the venue for the first time with 36 men and women of all ages, weights and fitness levels committing them-selves to eight weeks of intensive boxing training two evenings a week in the High Performance Gym at the National Boxing Stadium.

The group are being coached by a member of the elite high performance coaching team, Eddie Bolger, who trains Joe Ward (Irish light-heavy-weight champion).

At the end of the training period, they will be matched with a suitable opponent who they will step into the ring with on Saturday and go three rounds.

Tickets for Fight Night are now available priced at just €20 while there will be special guests and exciting prizes which include boxing gloves signed by Katie Taylor.

Each ticket also includes discounted admis-sion into Club 92 afterwards.Tickets can be pur-chased on 1800 403 403 or go to www.imnda.ie.

Wesley duo ready for the Pavilion Punch Up event

[email protected]

DUNDRUM South Dublin’s Ava Hutchin-son and Joseph Sweeney were both on the top step of the podium as they claimed glory at the Woodie’s DIY national intercounty cross-coun-try championships and juvenile even age group championships that took place last Sunday in Tat-tersalls in Ratoath.

On the men’s side, they were tasked with the challenge of run-ning five circuits of the 2km course. Michael Mulhare of Laois took an early lead on the first

lap but defending cham-pion Sweeney soon over-hauled him in a time of 33.27.

Commenting after-wards, Sweeney said: “I ran that conservatively, I wanted to save myself for two weeks’ time. I am really looking forward to the Europeans now.”

The senior women’s race produced a tre-mendous battle between Dublin’s Hutchinson and Cork’s Lizzie Lee.

Olympic marathon representative Hutch-inson duelled with Lee for the majority of the 8km race. At one point it looked like Lee would

break Hutchinson as she made a move on the final circuit.

However it wasn’t to be and Hutchinson pro-pelled herself to victory in a time of 31.06, ahead of second place Lee four seconds back.

On a good day for Dub-lin, Sarah McCormack finished an excellent third position (31.27), just ahead of Louth’s Fiona Roche (31.34).

Commenting after-wards Hutchinson said: “That was really hard, it was one of the toughest races I have had in a long time. I am really looking forward to the Europe-

ans now and I believe we can do very well as a team there.”

The combined junior and U-18 boys’ race saw a group of four athletes pull clear on the open-ing lap. The group con-sisted of Dublin trio Ian Guiden, Killian Mooney and Aaron Hanlon along with Armagh’s Stephen Kerr.

On the second lap the group was down to three athletes as Hanlon started to drop back. Kerr proved the strongest and strode to victory in a time of 20.53, Guiden battled all the way to the line to secure second place in a

time of 20.59. Mooney had the race of his life to place third overall (21.04) and first Under-18 athlete across the line.

Defending champion Siofra Cleirigh Buttner was the decisive winner of the junior and Under-18 girls 4km race.

Buttner, still only in the U-18 category, was the overall winner in a time of 15.54. DSD clubmate Killian Mooney took the U-18 men’s title with several other Dublin ath-letes winning in the juve-nile age groups including Blackrock AC’s Sarah Healy who took gold in the girls’ Under-12 race.

DSDaC triumph in Ratoath

athletiCS: national SenioR titleS DeliveReD at tatteRSallS

Joseph Sweeney stormed past the challenge of Michael Mulhare to win the national intercounty cross country title last Sunday

aNNe Griffin received a special achieve-ment award last Friday at the Dublin camogie awards night in Westmanstown for scoring the first ever two-point sideline cut. Griffin, centre, was presented with the

award by camogie association president Aileen Lawlor and Dublin senior manager Denis Murphy. She was one of three Bal-lyboden St Enda’s players honoured at the event along with Fiona Ni Shuilleabhain and Sile Nic Coitir.

top camogie awards for St enda’s players

boDen tRio honouReD

Sportswriter event set for MeadowbrookMEET the Sportswriters is a special free event organised as part of the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council writer in residence programme and will take place on Thursday, December 6 at 7.15pm in the DLR Leisure Services in Meadowbrook, Ballinteer.

The event will be

hosted by Katy Hayes, DLRCOCO’s writer in residence 2012-2013, and will afford the audience the opportunity to hear renowned authors and journalists John Breen, Declan Lynch and Johnny Watter-son read from their work and talk about their relationship with sport as writers.

To reserve your place, please contact Ciara King, assistant arts officer, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 01-271 9529.

Club NotiCeboard

Gazette 29 November 2012 DUNDRUM gazette 31

THERE was no winner of the Thursday,

November 15 lotto draw of €4,800. Next

week’s draw will be for €5,000.

Well done to the minor ladies foot-

ballers and management on fantastic

team performance in winning their

championship final two weekends ago

over Foxrock/Cabinteely.

Thanks to all who travelled to sup-

port the girls on the day, and to their

families.

Thanks to Dermot and all bar staff

for help in organising celebrations in

clubhouse afterwards.

Congratulations to the Under-21

footballers on their great victory over

St Brigid’s and qualifying for the semi-

final of the championship.

ballybodeN st eNda’s

waNderers

balliNteer st johN’s

CONGRATULATIONS to Fiona Ni Shuil-

leabhain, Anne Griffin and Sile Nic Coi-

tir who were presented with a national

league medal, a special achievement

award for scoring the first two point-

er line-ball and Justmaths.ie player

of the match award from the senior

one championship final, respectively,

at the camogie awards night in West-

manstown by camogie association

president Aileen Lawlor.

The camogie section AGM is on

Wednesday, December 5 at 8pm. The

football AGM is on Tuesday, December

11 at 9pm.

The Boden drama group is back with

laughter in the lounge for two nights -

Thursday, November 29 and Saturday,

December 1.

The show starts at 9pm. Admission is

free and guaranteed laughs.

As Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve

fall on a Monday, there will be no draws

on Monday, December 24 or Monday,

December 31.

Instead, there will be a double draw

on Monday, December 17 to cover

December 24 and a double draw on

January 7 to cover December 31.

Deadline for items for Christmas

Boden News is Friday, November 30 -

please submit to osuilleabhain.gear-

[email protected] or leave them in on

disk or a USB at the Members’ Bar. Its

up to each section to ensure items are

covered.

Bingo continues Tuesday nights at

8.30pm. The jackpot is €350. Lotto week

eight numbers were 16, 25, 2 and 8. The

jackpot of €4,500 was not won.

FULL Wanderers GAA club AGM on

November 29 at 8pm in Frank Kelly

Park.

There was no winner of the lotto

jackpot. Numbers drawn were 4, 6 and

19; €25 to Eileen Molloy, Mary Morris-

sey, Maurice Hickey, Rob Weldon. The

jackpot next week is €5,900.

A unique fundraising player’s calen-

dar will be released this month; con-

tact [email protected] for more

details or Mark on 087 6732628.

Juvenile training each Saturday is

from 11am-12 noon for all ages, and

each Wednesday from 6.30pm to

7.30pm for ages six and up at Frank

Kelly Park. All welcome.

Contact Niall for details on 086

8857303. Ladies training each Monday

and Wednesday at 7.20pm in Frank

Kelly Park. Contact Gerry on 086

8176361.

Naomh olafCONGRATULATIONS to our U-21 foot-

ballers who had another good win in

the championship against Craobh

Chiarain on a score line of 1-9 to 1-5.

They now face Good Council in the

quarter final due to be played this

coming Saturday, December 1.

Our Under-15 camogie girls had

a great win in the top four playoff

with a score line of 4-5 to 3-0 against

Raheny.

This week’s Jokers wild jackpot is up

to €620 after Joey Jackson drew out

the queen of spades. The draw takes

place every Saturday night at 10pm.

Come support and enjoy a great night

in the club.

Friday, December 30 sees Movember

come to an end and with this comes

the shave off. Some of the clubs well

known characters will be getting their

tashes shaved and one individual get-

ting their head shaved all in the name

of hard working charities.

The club’s annual clothes recycling

fundraiser takes place from Novem-

ber 30 to December 3. Any unwanted

clothes can be dropped into the club

on any of the dates. For more infor-

mation please contact Mary Gibney

on 087 2405222.

There was no winner of this week’s

lotto. The numbers drawn were 18, 25

and 28.

hurliNG: roCk iNduCted iNto hall of fame

tom Rock receiving the Hall of Fame award from former Dublin manager Jimmy grey last week

Crokes legend gets friends’ recognition

[email protected]

DUBLIN South bounced back from defeat to Kilkenny CBS in the Leinster Colleges sen-ior A hurling league as they got the better of St Brendan’s, Birr 4-21 to 5-10 in O’Toole Park.

Ballyboden St Enda’s club man James Roche tallied an incredible 3-7.

Birr settled the quicker but Mark O’Loughlin’s ninth minute goal was the catalyst for Dublin South to go on a scoring flurry which reaped 1-4 without reply.

Before the interval two goals from Roche had the Dubs 3-14 to 1-5 to the good.

Birr, however, hit 2-2 on the restart to close

the gap before Roche completed his hat trick six minutes into the sec-ond half.

Also on the mark was Round Tower’s livewire Gary Quinlivan who chipped in with three frees.

Elsewhere, Colaiste Eoin’s fine start to the competition was stunted by a 1-11 to 1-6 against

Wexford’s St Peter’s.They had impressed

early on this term when they defeated the mighty St Kieran’s of Kilkenny 1-14 to 0-11 after beating Dublin north 9-7 to 1-9 a week earlier.

Dublin minor of the past two years, Oisín O’Rorke, grabbed the goal 10 minutes from time.

Dublin South bounce back in SAHL

peteR caRRoll [email protected]

KILMACUD Crokes leg-endary player, manager, coach and chairman, Tom Rock, was honoured by the Friends of Dublin Hurling last week for his amazing contribution to hurling over the years.

The new Hall of Fame inductee was part of the Kilmacud team that won the intermediate double in 1982, putting Crokes among the senior rank-ings, before he coached the club to their first Dub-lin SHC title three years later, in a dual role as he was also acting as the

hurling chairman. He was also the chair-

man of the club between 1990 and 2001, and received a standing ova-tion when his name was called out amongst 360 of his peers at the award ceremony.

“I never expected to receive an award like this,” said Rock. “It was absolutely amazing and I can’t describe how much I appreciate it.

“To have my name called out in a room full of people that have done amazing things for the game, people that I believe deserve this a lot more than me, it was a moment

I’ll never forget.” Reminiscing on the

1985 championship win, Rock described how the county win was one of his favourite memories.

“What a team we had. All-Stars like Pat Cleary and Mick Bermingham. But what I was most proud of was that there were eight local lads on that team, all of whom were U-21, which made it even more special.”

Watching the years go by without further county championship success, Rock admits that he did have his doubts that it would be won again and described himself as “very

emotional” when Crokes lifted the championship in 2012, 27 years later.

“We always had foot-ball success, but I like to think we’ve caught up over the last five years with the hurling. I helped develop one of the minor sides that have been part of a fantastic run of suc-cess and there’s been a lot of work put in at the club and now I believe the hurling section is just as organised as the football.

“To see the lads win-ning the championship this year was a very emo-tional experience for me. I was overwhelmed and very proud of the team.”

all of your dundrum sports coverage from page 27-31 november 29, 2012

volunteer awards: Rathfarnham’s Fanagan named manager of the year for her services P27

GazetteSPORT

Irish olympian ava Hutchinson is just one of

dsdac’s star performers

peter carroll

[email protected]

DUNDRUM South Dublin Ath-letic Club, winner of the Athletics Club of the Year award for 2012, had seven club athletes selected to represent Ireland at the Spar European Cross Country Cham-pionships, carrying on the club’s “rich tradition in distance rac-ing” according to coach Eddie McDonagh.

Representing the club in the senior women’s division will be Ava Hutchinson and Linda Byrne, Joe Sweeney and Brendan O’Neill will run in the senior men’s category, Siofra

Cleirigh Buttner and Claire McCarthy will compete in the junior women’s category while Killian Mooney will run in the junior men’s category.

Also from the locality, Sean Hehir will be in action in the senior men’s category represent-ing Rathfarnham WSAF.

over the moon“We are over the moon with

the seven athletes that will go forward to represent the team in Budapest,” said McDonagh.

“It’s great for the club and although we have been well rep-resented in international tour-naments over the year, this is

particularly exciting because of the youth heading off this time.

“Our specialist area has always been distance and it’s great to see the club’s rich tra-dition in distance racing will be carried on by this group.

“We have high hopes for the athletes involved.

“Las t t ime a round Joe Sweeney came fifth in the Euro-pean championships and Siofra finished second in the U-17 cat-egory before, so I know that she will want to finish in the top 10.

“There really is a lot of talent heading over and I’m sure every-one will want to compete to the best of their abilities, and if they

do that, anything can happen,” said the veteran cross country coach.

Teresa McDaid, team manager for the Irish contingent heading to Hungary to compete, seems very happy with the team that has been selected and is confi-dent of having some success on the journey.

“We have solid teams compet-ing at this year’s championships with chances of quality perform-ances at junior and senior level.

“For many of our juniors this is their first year competing in this age category and they will be looking to gain experience from this competition.”

High hopes for dundrum seven

NOvembeR’S SPORTS STaRS: This month’s nominees for the GazetteSport awards P28

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