In August 2005, Leaving Cert results were released and students returned to their former schools to collect them. CBS Mitchelstown’s Odhran O’Donoghue was among those to achieve the maximum 600 points. CBS students Ger Walsh of Anglesboro, James Fox of Marshalstown and Michael O’Brien of Mitchelstown all achieved over 560 points. High achievers also included Anne Ralph of Hazelwood in Glanmire, who was awarded 7 A1s.
Several complaints were made regarding the state of the town park in Mitchelstown, as members of the community worried about its future, after it had been taken over by the NRA (National Roads Authority). They claimed it was ‘only a mound of earth’ and ‘an eyesore’. One of the trustees, however, assured that after the motorway was finished, plans for the redevelopment of the park would be made public. Some two acres of land had been CPO’d for the motorway’s development, causing uproar amongst locals in the town.
Willie O’Mahony was named the Mayor of Ballylanders at the annual Pattern Day event, which saw celebrations into the small hours round out the well-attended festival. As well as the annual Mass, celebrated by Fr John O’Neill PP, the Pattern Day saw a hurling blitz, fancy dress parade, baby show and a final match for the Bruno de Rosa Cup.
RTÉ’s Six-One news ran a story regarding the Gradogue River, which runs through Mitchelstown, reporting that Dairygold’s milk processing facility was responsible for polluting the river and that an investigation was pending. While the information was confirmed to be true, Dairygold claimed the incident had been ‘blown out of all prorportion’. According to Dairygold, drainage works carried out on their land at Castle Farm resulted in damage to several drains, the EPA were notified of the surface water pollution and the incident was contained. A local fisherman also stated that the pollution was so minor, it had gone unnoticed and the river was healthy, with no recorded fish kill.
Elaine Dee from Rathcormac made history, becoming the first member of Castlelyons Pitch and Putt Club to win a national title at just 13 years of age. She captured first prize at the National Juvenile Strokeplay Championships, hosted by the Old County Club in Dublin.
SouthDoc, an out-of-hours co-op of doctors in Fermoy and Mitchelstown, commenced, operating out of Dr Deirdre O’Grady’s old practice in Fermoy, and out of the Medical Centre on Cahir Hill in Mitchelstown. Funded by the HSE, the service operated from 6pm to 8am, Monday to Friday, and from 1pm to 8am on weekends.
Mitchelstown’s Good Food Festival went down a treat, with numbers attending up significantly on the previous year. Within a large marquee, there were plenty of tasty treats dished up, solidifying the town’s reputation as a home of good food.
The town was also celebrating a successful year of the Farmers’ Market, hosted on a Saturday morning in New Square, run by stallholders in conjunction with Ballyhoura Development.
In Fermoy, vandals struck, taking a hacksaw to a public bench by the River Blackwater. The back-rest was entirely sawn through, destroying the €1,000 bench entirely.
Fermoy’s Fun Fish Festival, which saw an inter-pub and business sea angling competition round out the festival’s events, was already in the planning for the following year. All funds raised from the 2005 event were being put towards a new wheelchair accessible boat for the town, estimated to cost in the region of €18,500 at the time.
In sport – Ballygiblin U13 B team faced a replay with Ballyhea at Castletownroche, emerging victorious as the North Cork champions 1-10 to 1-4. Scorers on the day included Luke Stack, Barry Coffey, Seamus Barrett and James Sheehan. Captain, Ken Carroll, was delighted to lift the cup following two hard fought matches.
The club’s Minor hurling team were also winners, overcoming Doneraile in the North Cork B championship final replay, 2-11 to 2-6. Scorers for Ballygiblin included Ian Condon, Shane Cahill, Tiernan O’Rourke, Patrick Norris and Alan Lane. Vice chairman of the North Cork GAA Board, Daithi Pierce, presented the cup to captain Brian O’Gorman in Glanworth.
Elsewhere, the Glenroe GAA U12 team claimed the overall win in the Ground Hurling Blitz at Ballylanders Pattern Day Festival.
An All-Ireland semi-final win for Cork over Clare at Croke Park, 0-16 to 0-15, marking an exciting success in the championship which would, in September 2005, take the team to All-Ireland success. Locals Timmy McCarthy (Castlelyons) and Brian Murphy (Bride Rovers) were key players for the Rebels.
