Mitchelstown was suffering from an empty beer barrel epidemic – The Avondhu investigating the proliferation of barrels strew around the New Square area, following several telephone calls of complaint to our head office. A preliminary foray into the Square saw our intrepid reporter count up to 50 ‘empties’, with many of the offending items being put to other uses other than holding beer – namely being upended for the purpose of seating, as well as propping up the various stages and equipment, following the arrival of ‘the Merries’ in town for the 1995 Festival of the Galtees. Contacting Murphy’s Brewery in Cork, a spokesperson in the marketing department told The Avondhu they were ‘gobsmacked’ and couldn’t understand where the barrels had come from. One local business person was pointing the finger of blame on the market traders ‘who take them from outside licensed premises for their stalls’. Murphy’s Brewery in turn assured The Avondhu that the offending empties would be collected.
Minister for Agriculture, Ivan Yeats TD, presented the 12th Annual Upjohn Quality Milk Award to John Sweeney of Shanballymore. John and his wife Elaine managed a 60 cow dairy enterprise and were supplying their milk to Dairygold. Jim Woulfe, Dairygold, who nominated the Sweeneys for the award, commented that they had ‘developed a style and consistency that guaranteed a perfect end product’, with nothing concerning hygiene or safety left to chance.
Galbally village and surrounding area was nearing tip-top shape, with plenty ‘good humoured grafting’ by locals helping ensure the South Limerick village would be ready for the visit of Her Excellency, President Mary Robinson. Aherlow NS band would see her escorted into the village, with the Liam Lynch Pipe Band striking up the presidential salute. Her Excellency would unveil a special plaque in the Square, to commemorate the local effort which helped capture the 1994 national Tidy Towns title. Kim’s People would entertain on stage during the day, while the local school’s ballad group, winners of the county Community Games gold title, would also perform for Ms Robinson.
The runaway ‘porker’ which we reported on previously, having escaped its owner en route to the Mitchelstown slaughter house, ‘had been located and imprisoned by a farmer from Shanballymore’. Nicknamed ‘Streaky’, the piggy had become somewhat of a celebrity, even receiving two mentions in the national newspapers. The pig’s owner, ‘a doctor from Doneraile’, had decided to give Streaky a reprieve, and would use her for breeding. All’s well that ends well!
Dairygold footballers had their sights set on Kiltimagh, Co Mayo where they were due to meet with local side, Glenfitt Traders in the All-Ireland inter-firm final. A 2-page Avondhu feature charted the side’s progress in the competition, which saw them defeat sides from Garda, Civil Service (county finalists), Taylor Made and Lee Strand (Munster finalists) on their path to the national final, with the All-Ireland semi-final v Leinster champions going uncontested, with both Leinster finalists ‘being thrown out of the competition’. Local representatives on the panel included: Phil Quirke, Vincent Fahy, Joe O’Brien and Paudie Walsh (Glanworth); Declan Power, Damien Cremins, Willie Kenneally, John Gubbins, Paudie Donegan, Diarmuid Lynch and Denis Maher (Mitchelstown); Mark Hennessy (Fermoy); Willie Roche, John Breedy and Derry Cadogan (Galtee Gaels); Eamonn Maher (Ballyporeen); Mick O’Donovan (Mallow) and Mick Monaghan (Kildorrery).
Fermoy Urban District Council were calling for ‘unified action and a big extra effort from the whole community’ in order to improve the town’s rating in the 1995 Tidy Towns competition. Running from early June right through to the end of July, the main focus of the programme was to create and maintain a litter-free town and to encourage improvement in the appearance of buildings. As well as being aesthetically pleasing, improving the town’s appearance was deemed beneficial in terms of attracting industry, tourism, etc to the area, leading to the creation of employment and greater prosperity for all.
In brief: Linda Cahill, representing Tod’s Bar, was crowned the Queen of the Galtees in 1995. Peter Falvey of Farrell Motors Fermoy was announced as overall winner of the NISTEC 1995 competition, having taken the award in Nissan’s European headquarters in Amsterdam. Curraghagalla United defeated White City 2-1 to take the league cup final (North Cork League) in June 1995 – a double strike from Elton Pierce enough to secure victory.
