| Local News 2005
Christmas Day Swim 2005
The well established annual Christmas swim took place at twelve noon at the golf links beach on Christmas Day.
There was a large turnout as weather was unseasonably mild for the time of year.
All swimmers were sponsored and proceeds go towards the senior citizens party which will take place in the near future.The males outnumbered the females by a sizeable margin.
Click the picture above to see some of the lineout.
To: Seamus Murphy in New Zealand & Christine Falvey McAllister in the USA
 A little reminder of the view from your former front doors here in Waterville. The magnificence of that noble rock of legend Carraig Eanna, is as spectacular now as when you lived here, whether in the calmest of weathers or when the crashing waves rush like wild horses to the defenceless shore.
(Click the picture to enlarge)
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Local Girl Weds In Big Apple (November '05)
 Congratulations and best wishes to Jennifer Courtney & Aidan Boland who celebrated their wedding in the US in November.
Jenny is the daughter of Joan Courtney and the late John Joe who was a prominent member of our club for many years both as player and club officer.
Jenny's husband has local connections as well since his mother was born and raised at Emlaghlea, Ballinskelligs (Siobhán Murphy).
Jennifer's bridesmaids were her sisters Miriam and Colette along with "Beenbaner" Noreen McCormack (O'Dwyer). Mike Murphy, husband of Colette, "gave her away".
Jennifer's mother Joan, sisters and friends travelled to the US for the happy occasion.
(Click the photos to see more)
We wish Jennifer and Aidan many years of happiness together and look forward to seeing them join us here in Waterville in the future.
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Concannon’s Hardware Closes Doors (November 2005)
 On Friday 5th of November Mrs. Kay Concannon closed her hardware store for the final time, after serving the local community for a period in excess of forty years. From nails to knobs, pictures to paints, brushes to buckets, Concannon’s had them all. Prices were reasonable and expert advice was given freely by Kay and her long time assistant Catherine Kelly. The garage end of the business had closed a few weeks earlier.
Born in Fermoy, Co. Cork in 1929, Kathleen Fenton was educated locally in the loretto Convent and worked for ten years in the Munster Arcade in Cork City. She married Maurice Concannon her childhood sweetheart in 1956.
Maurice's family had moved to Fermoy when Maurice was but a young boy. His father was a sergeant with the weights and measures office. Maurice qualified as a radio officer and spent a year with Irish Shipping on board “The Irish Oak”. In 1955 he applied for and got a position as an Operating Technician in the Cable Station in Waterville. However, the advance of technology caused the demise of the Cable Station and it closed in February 1962. 
The Concannons were not to be disillusioned and a month later they had purchased Harry Wharton’s garage and a career change had occurred. Shortly afterwards they purchased the adjoining property from Tim Cronin and this was later to become the hardware store after starting off as an electrical shop.
Kay and Maurice had five children and life certainly threw up more than a fair share of challenges. Young son Clement died tragically in1973 at age eight. Kay was left a widow in 1980 with the passing of Maurice. Oldest son Paul took over the running of the garage at the age of twenty but again tragedy struck in 2003 when Paul passed away after a brave fight against illness. He was a valued and highly respected member of our GAA club.
Kay has now decided to retire and move to Killarney to reside with her daughter Mercy and her family. A lady of no airs but with many graces, she'll be greatly missed and we hope she will visit us regularly. We wish her many years of contentment and good health in her well-deserved retirement. Click photos to see more.
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Academic Achievement
 Local man Dominic O'Sullivan of Baslicon has achieved remarkable success in the academic field.
Dominic who is the son of Margaret and Dan O'Sullivan and brother of Rachel was conferred with a Ph. D in University College Cork recently. His field of study was "Environmental Energy".
Dominic is no stranger to academic success having been awarded college scholarships by the Academic Council of UCC for outstanding results two years running while studying for his B.Eng degreee. He was also awarded a P. J. Hegarty sponsored fellowship while studying for his Masters Degree which took him to the universities of Santa Cruz and Berkeley in California.
Dominic now works as an Energy Consultant in Cork with a company called "Eirdata". He advises companies how best to reduce energy costs, something that is becoming more and more important with spiralling fuel costs world wide.
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We congratulate Dominic and wish him continued success in the future.
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Debs Night Out 2005
 The young men and ladies who completed their Leaving Certificate this summer, along with their partners celebrated their debs night out in the Lodge Hotel on Friday 9th of September.
They were blessed with a glorious evening which allowed them to gather outdoors in the front yard, renew aquaintances and trade stories about their school days. 
The gentlemen were attired in their evening suits and even a few had matching top hats while the ladies looked radiant in their vast array of colour and style which would have done justice to a film premiere at Hollywood.
All guests had their photos taken and then sat down to a delicious meal which provided sustinence for the long night and morning that lay ahead.
We wish all these young people the best for the future in what ever career they wish to pursue. |
Rowing Club News
 The rowing club made the long journey to Wicklow town on the weekend of Aug 21st/22nd to take part in the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation Championships.Tthe trip was deemed a huge success with the minor boys taking fourth place overall and the senior men coming fifth in their event.
This undertaking was a great achievement and congratulations to alll involved. Click the pic to see the minor crew with cox Noel Clifford.
The final regatta of the South Kerry rowing season took place at Portmagee on Sunday 4th September.
Our local club had another fine outing, taking second in the mens and third in the minor boys races. The senior ladies performed very well too but failed narrowly to get some hardware.
The club has been going from strength to strength over the past few years and the early morning and late evening training sessions proved worth while in the end.
Plans are at an advanced stage to improve facilities locally in conjunction with the GAA club with a view to having a gym available to facilitate winter training etc. We'll keep you informed of developments in this regard as they occur over the coming months.
 In the picture to the right is Colette O'Sullivan who is a driving force behind the club and a member of the senior ladies crew. To the left are Ciaran Dennehy & Brendan Dennehy (not related) who are valued members of both the GAA club and the rowing club.
Click the pictures to see some action from the Portmagee regatta
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Rose Of Tralee 2005 (August)
Local Young Lady is Kerry Rose
The parish of Dromod had a very special interest in this year's Rose of Tralee contest.
Representing Kerry was Siobhán Ryan who hails from Direen, Mastergeehy. She is studying hotel management at Shannon College of Hotel Management and is currently on placement at Sheen Falls Lodge near Kenmare. Apart from her skills in management Siobhán is an accomplished singer and is well known locally for performing with her siblings when her busy schedule allows.
Siobhan performed very well and she did her parish and county proud.
We wish her well in her future career.
Click the picture above to see more. |
Local Hotelier Reaches Special Milestone (End July 2005)
 Popular local business person, Deirdre Curran celebrated a special birthday recently. (Her previous birthday was 39).
Deirdre, along with husband Gerard run the Villa Maria Hotel and bar which is a favourite haunt of both young and old. The party was secretly organised by Gerard and Deirdre's former work colleagues and took place in the Lobster Bar.
Friends, neighbours and her many relations were there to wish her well. Some had even travelled from the UK to be there for the occasion.
Deirdre is pictured left, along with her granny Dolly from Farranahown. Click the picture to see more of the family.
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Finian's Tce Celebrates Fifty Years
 A unique event occurred in St Finian’s Terrace, Spunkane on Friday July 1st when the residents celebrated the 50th anniversary of the building of their homes.
Activities began with mass outdoors at 8:30, celebrated by Fr. Broderick and Fr. Griffin. A special altar had been erected on the street in front of Galvin’s / O’Shea’s houses. All the deceased residents were remembered with a great deal of emotion during the prayers. The floral arrangements for the altar were artistically prepared by Pat Keating.
Sheila Sugrue the oldest original female resident cut the birthday cake afterwards and there was a plentiful supply of food and beverage for the large crowd in attendance.
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 Mickie Courtney of nearby sea view Terrace was invited to check the quality of quinness, located in the temporary free bar and he immediately gave it the thumbs up.
In spite of the light mist and the earlier than usual onset of darkness festivities continued well into the evening with much singing and dancing. Old acquaintances were renewed and many a story was related about times gone by.
A usual Paddy Fogarty provided the music with Tony Donnelly doing MC for the evening. John Galvin spoke on behalf of his neighbours and welcomed everybody and reminisced about his experiences as a child in the terrace.
The whole event was a wonderful example of community spirit and neighbourliness. |
Birthday Girl (June 2005)
Maureen O'Sullivan @ 90
 Waterville GAA vice president Maureen O’Sullivan reached another milestone in her long life when she celebrated her ninetieth birthday in the home of daughter Nuala and husband Michael.
The gods smiled kindly and provided a beautiful sunny evening for the occasion as Frs. Broderick and Griffin celebrated mass outdoors in the back garden. The whiff of cooking wafted through the air as Denis Doody of Kingdom Kitchens tended the barbecue nearby and prepared an array of food fit for a royal banquet.
 Joining Maureen were her seven children, Brendan, Nuala, Eileen May, Pat, Vincent, Jerry and Elizabeth along with most of her twenty-one grand children and nineteen great grand children. Also present were her sisters Noreen (Barrett) who resides in Midleton and Peggy (Greensmith) who lives in Tralee, along with many other friends and relations.
Club chairman Paddy Fogarty presented Maureen with some glass in appreciation of her many years of support.
Maureen is never found wanting when it comes to entertaining and gave a fine rendition of her party piece “Teddy O’Neill”
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Maureen was born in Beenbane on the twenty seventh of June 1915. She still fondly remembers her very good childhood pal, Bob O’Shea who later married Seán Cronin.
Maureen married Jimmy O’Sullivan who earned a crust as a ghillie and postman. They raised their seven children in South View Terrace and Maureen worked as a waitress for thirty-nine years in the Butler Arms Hotel, serving dinner to celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin and Walt Disney.
 Maureen was one of a family of nine but tragedy struck in 1939 when two of her sisters, Eileen and Patricia died through illness within ten days of each other. Eileen was married to a Kilkenny man by the name of Mellamphy who was a quartermaster in the army. Eileen was twenty-six while Patricia had just reached the tender age of eight.
Jerome, Betty and Joan have also gone to their eternal reward but John Michael who is domiciled in London was unable to travel home for the celebrations.
Waterville GAA wishes Maureen many more years of continued health and happiness. Click the pictures to see more. |
Birthday Boy
Returned New Yorker, James Dwyer, Beenbane celebrated his fortieth birthday on Saturday night along with his charming wife Sharon (Kilkenny), his family and many neighbours and friends. James who has been in the Big Apple for almost twenty years is home on vacation and we wish him continued health and happiness.
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Youth Club Presentation (April 2005)
Fair play to the Waterville Youth Club who have shown that they too feel a sense of responsibility towards their locality. Through various activities during the year they raised €500.00 and decided that it would forwarded to IRD Waterville to help pay for the Christmas Street Lights.
This was a marvellous gesture and shows we have young people of whom we can be truly proud.
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 The picture on the left shows Ciarán Dennehy along with some members of the Youth Club, making the presentation to IRD Chairman, Michael O'Sullivan. Click the picture to get a better view. |
Race Night in Waterville Inn (Saturday April 16th)
 A great night's entertainment was had by all at the Race Night in the Waterville Inn on Saturday night. Excitement was rife and punters were eager to place bets all night long. All races were sponsored by generous supporters and at the interval there was a raffle with seventeen terrific prizes on offer.
Much revenue was generated and both clubs are appreciative of the voluntary work and tireless effort of so many helpers to make the venture a resounding success.
Waterville GAA and the Rowing Club pooled resources to make sure the event was a success. |
These ladies came appropriately dressed for the occasion. They moved around with class taking bets from the patrons. Well done girls !
These well known race-goers had a great night and even bought and old nag for the Auction Race. ( She's still running !)
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| Both clubs wish to express their appreciation of the support of their sponsors, those who bought horses and jockeys, those who gave spot prizes for the raffle and those who took advertisements in the race programme. A special word of thanks to the ladies who took charge of the Tote on the night, Norma Moriarty, Bridie Moran, Karhleen Curran, Eithne Garvey and Mary Cronin, not forgetting the "Runners" Colette O'Sullivan, Jackie O'Shea, Ola O'Shea and Jennie O'Sullivan. |
Confirmation 2005
Confirmation at Cillin Liath Church (14th April 2005)
The pupils of Cillin Liath and St. Finian's national schools were confirmed on Thursday 14th April by Bishop Bill Murphy.
It was a historic occasion in that the ceremony took place for the first time ever at Cillin Liath. Thirty five young people in all, from fifth and sixth classes were comfirmed and the club warmly congratulates them and their parents.
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 Local business people, Donal & Mary Cronin are the proud parents of son Micheál, who was confirmed by Bishop Bill Murphy.
 The Cliffords of Brookhaven Guesthouse, New Line Rd, along with daughter Julie who was also confirmed by the bishop.
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Cooking Experiment (March 2005)
 An experiment in ancient cooking methods was conducted at Tech Amergin in the village on Saturday 19th March 2005.
During the Bronze Age which occured roughly between 2000BC and 500BC people cooked outdoors at what we now refer to as Fulacht Fia. These were usually located hear a stream or in wet land. They consisted of a rectangular trough into which hot stones were put to heat the water. Meat was then placed in the boiling water to cook. As the hot stones were placed in the water they would shatter and the trough would have to be emptied of the broken stones frequently. This is how the tell tale horse shoe mound, which is the hallmark of a Fulacht Fia, was formed.
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The idea was to prove that this was indeed possible and meat could be cooked in such a fashion. The whole was dug, filled with water and stones were heated in a sizeable fire. The hot stones were put into the water and it did come to the boil in a relatively short period.
The meat was added and it did cook. All present had a sample and it was delicious.
Chef for the day was Robbie O'Mahony, assisted by Bernard McCarthy. UCC archaeologist, John Sheehan (Pictured left) gave a most interesting talk afterwards.
Our area is rich in such archaeological features but we must be vigilant they are not destroyed in the interests of "Progress".
Click the picture of John Sheehan to see the experimental Fulacht Fia. |
Kildare Wedding (Feb 2005)
 Many locals made the long journey to Kildare last weekend (Feb 18th) to attend the wedding of former Waterville, Kerry and Kildare star Karl O'Dwyer and his radiant bride Sandra O'Brien.
Karl is now domiciled in Kildare and teaches in Confey College, Leixlip. Sandra is a primary teacher and comes from Castledermot. She has one brother and one sister, Anne Marie who was her chief bridesmaid. Sandra is an avid follower of GAA and was a highly talented ladies Gaelic player herself.
Robbie Dwyer was Best Man while older brother John was Groomsman.The wedding ceremony took place at the church of the Blessed Trinity in Moone and the reception was held in the Killashee House hotel, Naas and many of Karl's former team mates on the Kildare County team were among the guests.
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Proud parents of the groom, Dr. Micko and Mary Carmel were in great dancing form and their performance in "The Siege of Ennis" was the pinnacle of tepsicorean artistry.
The Waterville club wishes Karl and Sandra long life and happiness for their future together and hope to see them in the village shortly.
Click the pics to see more. |
A Little Bit of Literature (Feb 2005)
Local poet Paddy Bushe has published his third book of poetry called "The Nitpicking of Cranes". The book was launched at Tech Amergin on Tues Feb 22nd by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Ireland's most famous female poet.
The collection is the result of Paddy's trip to China and shows his keen awareness of humanity's desires and struggles. |
First Salmon 2005
As usual the salmon season opened on January 17th but due to difficult
weather conditions few boats were able to take to the water.
H owever, on the 21st Mr. Rob Wasmuth from Newbury in England, fishing
with ghillie Mikie O'Sullivan, formerly of the Lobster Bar, landed
the the first salmon of the season, weighing in at 9lbs.
The prize was caught at Brennans Bog, north of Morgan's Rock, up
near the Mink Farm. Coincidentally, Rob celebrated his 61st birthday
while in Waterville. What a birthday present!
Of course Rob is no stranger to the village having been coming here
for the fishing for in excess of twenty years.
He stilll feels he has learned the finer points of angling from
Mikie eventhough he has fished the trying waters of the Rio Grande
in Argentina and the renowned rivers of Scotland, Wales and all
through the U.K.
The Jimmy O'Sullivan Memorial Trophy was presented to Rob by Maureen,
his wife (90 in June) at the Lobster Bar.
 The
trophy was first presented in 1994 to two of Waterville's best known
sons, Gerard Cronin & Gerald Sugrue.
Click the pictures to see some more.
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Senior Citizens Party (Jan
16th 2005)
The local senior citizens held their annual party in the Bay View
Hotel on Sunday 16th of January 2005.
The day began with mass, which was celebrated by Fr. Danny Broderick
and afterwards a tasty meal was provided by the hard working local
committee.
The ever youthful Paddy and Rose entertained the gathering with
their large repertoire of songs and music.
Old friends met for the first time since last year's party and
many stories and yarns were exchanged.
Oldest female on the day was deemed to be Mrs. Mary O'Shea (93),
Lower Waterville while the most senior male was Mr. Donal O'Shea
(84), Octive.
Pictured above are Rita O'Leary, Garryglas and Eileen Sugrue, Spunkane
who won spot prizes for their agility and nimbleness of foot on
the dance floor. (Click the pictures below to see more) |
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| Debbie Dowd, Tarmons was in great form. |
Donal O'Shea, Octive took the prize for oldest male. |
Annie Sheehan entertained the crowd with some fine singing. |
Josie Dowd organised the seating arrangements. |
Maura O'Dwyer & Mary Curran share a yarn. |
Match Of The Day
 On
Sunday 2nd of January' 04 a unique football match was eagerly contested
in the local sportsfield.
Organised by the local rowing club, the married ladies challenged
the married gents in a game of Gaelic football.
Pictured above are the captains of the respective
teams. Seán "Jackie" O' Sullivan led the men while
Colette O'Sullivan, Beenbane had the priviledge of captaining the
ladies.
The game was played in good sporting spirit but was competitive
right up to the final whistle.
In the end victory went to the ladies after a last
minute goal in extra time and the cup was presented by the Lord
Mayor Mr. Seán O'Sullivan.
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 Pictured
here is well known underage coach Marion who vigourously encouraged
her side which led to eventual victory. (A little slow to release
the ball) Click the pic to see more.
Aside from the fun aspect of the game much needed funds were generated
for the rowing club and all spectators agreed that a terrific afternoons
entertainment was had by all. |
 In
goal for the ladies was Colette Curran, Murreigh. In spite of damaging
her pants she put in a Lady of the Match performance.
Click the picture to see the ladies team.
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 The
match was well supported and everyone enjoyed themselves. |
 Noel
Clifford was honoured for his long service as cox to the club. Click
the pic to see Colette Curran get her Lady of the Match
trophy. |
 Here
is ladies captain Colettte O'Sullivan receiving the trophy from the
Lord Mayor. |
 All
players gave 100%, especially Sinéad O' Sullivan, who had a
stormer. |
 Not
all tackles were according to the rule book.
Referee Eugene Dennehy had a busy afternoon
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