Local Notes: Ballyhaunis hat-trick heroes are awarded match balls
Shane Sebanda, Ted Murphy and Heath McDonagh of Ballyhaunis Town under-13 team were awarded their season match balls having scored a hatrick each during the 2B Mayo League which Ballyhaunis Town won after a playoff against Swinford
Retired army officer Earnán Naughton has recalled an emotional journey to Knock Airport in May 1999 with the body of Ballyhaunis soldier Billy Kedian who will be remembered at a special commemoration on July 20th. As captain and commanding officer of Private Kedian’s unit, it fell to him to make the solemn journey back to Ireland, explained Naughton.
“I accompanied Billy home, we flew commercial from Tel Aviv to London and then we were met at Heathrow by an Air Corps Casa aircraft which flew us to Knock. I remember the torrential rain on arrival and then meeting the Kedian family on arrival.”
Naughton returned to the Lebanon a week later. Now, over two decades later, he’s expecting up to two dozen of his former soldiers to travel to Ballyhaunis to honour their fallen comrade. One of those is Larry Carty, a comrade of Private Kedian who has helped organise the event with local volunteers.
A monument to Private Kedian will be unveiled at a ceremony commencing at 12 noon on July 20th near the deceased soldier’s birthplace in Moneymore.
Naughton has campaigned for a posthumous medal for bravery to be awarded to the Kedian family during the event. He has questioned the merit of an Army regulation which requires medals to be awarded within two years of the act being recognised.
“Like every other military and police force in the world, the award should be made on the merits and not the timeline.”
Today retired from the military, Earnán Naughton is also known as a spokesperson for the Mayo senior football team.
Congratulations to local musician Liam Foody who has released a new single, ‘Take Your Hand’, which is available on Spotify and other streaming services.
Liam said: “I wrote this song when I was in the US last year. It’s about enjoying all the good moments in life and not stressing over the little things. The rock drums and guitars drive the song with sing-along vocal lines like ‘I wanna dance tonight like no one’s watching’. The track was produced by my good friend Kriss Burda of Kilkelly.”
Recently appointed president of University of Galway, Ballyhaunis native Professor Peter McHugh is a frequent visitor to the town.
“Yes, I visit Ballyhaunis a few times a year,” he told this column. “My parents passed on over 20 years ago, but I do have cousins in the locality, and there are quite a few people who remember me I hope, and I still have a very strong emotional connection to Main Street where I grew up. My house was where Eddie Murphy’s Menswear is now, opposite the Courthouse.”
Professor McHugh was appointed Deputy President and Registrar earlier in the year and part of that role is to deputise for the President.
“Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh’s decision to step down from the role of President was unexpected, creating a vacancy. The Governing Authority of the University - Údarás na hOllscoile - essentially oversees all the major decision-making at the University, and their considered view was that an Interim President should be put in place for a year, starting in September. I am delighted that Údarás asked me to take on this role and to have been given the opportunity to lead the University.”
Asked about the priorities for his tenure, Professor McHugh explained: “University of Galway is a great institution with a proud history stretching back over 175 years so it is an enormous privilege for me to be given the opportunity to lead the University. Being faithful to this history and looking to the future, my priorities will be to strengthen and build upon our international reputation for excellence and impact in teaching and research, to strive for the very best student experience, and to empower our staff to achieve.”
Mayo County Council has made a major investment in St Mary’s Abbey, Ballyhaunis with the purchase of a €20,000 ride-on lawnmower.
Padraig Flanagan, the council’s head of services for the Claremorris district, of which Ballyhaunis is part, explained: “Yes, it’s a great investment of approximately €20,000 paid for by the council for the maintenance of the grounds and also the area around the Old National School. It’s an industrial mower and thanks to the RSS [Rural Social Scheme] for operating it. The old mower badly needed replacement.”
A noticeable reduction in litter on local roads and laneways appears to be driven by the Deposit Return Scheme, which pays consumers to return plastic bottles and aluminium cans to local retailers.
Anecdotal evidence suggests local teens are using the scheme to generate pocket money: one local retailer explained the Deposit Return machines in his store are particularly popular with youths.
Another local explained how a youth had earned €16 on a bag of bottles and cans collected at a soccer match recently in Ballyhaunis.
“The machine has been flat out since we installed it,” explained the retailer who said he had noticed a considerable tidying effect on local streets since plastic drinks bottles and cans became redeemable for cash. “I even find myself picking up a bottle if I’m out some where and I spot one.”
The Deposit Return Scheme was introduced by former Green Party leader Minister Eamon Ryan, who recently announced his retirement from politics at the next election.
A Drogheda-based construction company has been installing a pedestrian walkway along the bridge over the Dalgan River at Bridge Street as part of a widening on the structure.
Seamus Walsh Construction, also known as SL Walcon, has been hired to do the work, with a crew staying in the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris during the two weeks the job is expected to take, a member of the team explained.
Works on the bridge were originally included in 2022 in Mayo County Council’s draft budget for 2023. The limestone bridge over the Dalgan River was included in the “National Road bridge rehabilitation works” category in the budget, with works originally to be completed in 2023. The works will include a widening of the bridge to incorporate separate steel-built pedestrian crossing to the side of the bridge.
The annual Urlaur Pattern - this year held on August 4 - will be the venue for the launch of a book by local army veteran Jim Casey.
A 21-year veteran of the Irish Defence Forces, Jim’s book ‘A Divided Paradise’, recounts his service in Cyprus during an invasion of that country by Turkish forces.
Casey drew on United Nations military operations log sheets, situation reports, and humanitarian documents from 1974 to 1977 to tell the story of the invasion and subsequent fall out.
‘A Divided Paradise’ is now available for purchase directly from the author, for order from bookstores and libraries and via online retailers such as Amazon.
Congratulations to Jimmy Devine, Brickens, winner of €500 in the Ballyhaunis GAA 50/50 draw on July 7th on an envelope sold in SuperValu.
A popular volunteer-led bike repair cafe returns on July 20th at the Community Hall. Running from 09.30am to noon, the volunteers running the clinic will be fixing punctures, brake cables and other bike faults. There will also be a few donated bicycles for sale at the clinic, which is organised on a monthly basis by Ballyhaunis Community Council.
Free coaching is being offered to women who’d like to try table tennis as part of a Special Participation scheme run by Ballyhaunis Table Tennis Club and funded by Mayo Sports Partnership. Women are invited to attend the table tennis programme on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8pm at the Community Hall.
A survey of two dozen immigrants of various backgrounds in Ballyhaunis has revealed that most are not planning to stay long-term in the town due to the difficulty in securing long-term housing.
The survey was conducted by Ballyhaunis Language Café during a presentation by local auctioneer and realtor Gerry Coffey. Only four of the 20 surveyed said they sought to remain in Ireland and purchase a home here with the others stating that property remains outside their current earning ability. One respondent said he spends nearly half of his €400 weekly salary on rent.
Government, said Coffey, will have to take a more active role in the housing sector by funding construction or taking equity in homes to make them more affordable to build, particularly for lower income workers.
Population growth, said Coffey, requires the construction of 50,000 homes per year whereas the current figure stands at 30,000 completed residential units per year. Like Coffey, opposition parties including Sinn Féin and various leftist parties have long called for increased government involvement in housing construction.
