Campaign begins Poorly for Minors:-

Supporters of Mullinahones minor footballers travelled to Ballingarry on Saturday afternoon last for the start of the 2005 campaign. Opponents were St Patricks Gaels a combination team of the parishes of Drangan/Cloneen and Grangemockler/Ballyneale. After the game supporters will be seeking solace in he old Irish provers "bionn gach tosnu lag" or translated "every beginning is weak". The final score was 0-12 to 1-1 in St Patricks Gaels favour. At half time the eventual winners led by 0-7 to 0-1. Early in the second half Donal Cody was dragged down and Adrian Doheny dispatched the resultant penalty to the net to bring the gap back to five points. However this score did not revive the Mullinahone teams fortunes. Manager Kyran Vaughan and selectors Kevin O'Meara and Bill Tobin will be disappointed. The fact that a number of the players were involved in a youths soccer cup tie earlier in the afternoon didn't help thier cause. Mullinahone may not be too disappointed as St Patricks Gael are probably the strongest team in the section. Of the fifteen who started on Saturday eleven are in the proper age group 17/18 for minor football. Substitutes were also plentiful enough and with a number of players rejoining the panel the future may not be too bleak. Some of those not present on Saturday were on the injured or holiday list.

Better This Year:-

The 2nd annual Jack Brett Memorial Golf Competition took place in absolutely wonderful weather conditions on Saturday last. This year the competition took place at Slievenamon with almost seventy "golfers" taking part. In the end victory in the challenge went to the Mullinahone / Drangan contingent to reverse last years result. the magnificent Jack Brett Challenge Trophy was presented to the winners by Conor Brett. A number of the late Jack Bretts family had come home from England to take part in he competition. Overall it was a terrific day and the wisdom of delaying the challenge to Easter from January/February was fully justified. Could we be seeing the start of a regular Easter Saturday event? Among the local prize winners in the competition run in conjunction with 'the challenge' were Peter Ryan (Kilvemnon) and Michael Hickey (Clonagoose). The numbers involved this year showed an increase on those involved in 2004. Already ideas are floating as regards the event in 2006 re venue, format etc. Monies raised by the Mullinahone section of the challenge will be donated to the South Tipperary Hospice Movement. The organisers would like to thank all those who took part and express special gratitude to Slievenamon who had the course in top class condition and the greens in perfect order. Anybody who missed a vital putt and there were some, could not blame the putting surface (even if they tried). Once again thanks to all.

Easter Ceremonies:-

St Michaels Church Mullinahone was well filled last week for the Holy Week Ceremonies which began with a Penitential Service on Palm Sunday evening. A special service for the sick took place on Spy Wednesday evening while the Easter Ceremonies proper on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Saturday were very well attended. After the bareness of the Church on Good Friday parishioners were full of praise for the way St Michaels was decorated with flowers for Easter itself. Locals were also interested in the he ceremonies on television which were relayed from the cathedral in Thurles whit some well known faces being visible. the Spring (Easter) collection was also taken up in the parish recently and thanks to all who subscribed. Those who have not done so or forgotten can still do so. If you haven't got an envelope don't allow this to be a barrier to your subscription. The parish would like to extend sympathy to the McGrath and Hanly families on the recent deaths in London of Joan McGrath and in Carlow of Angela McWey nee Hanly. May they reset in peace. Grateful thanks to all those who took part in the Easter ceremonies or helped to organise them. Next big parish day will be Wednesday April 20th when the archbishop will ad minister the sacrament of Confirmation in St Michaels Church.

Reflection:-

Go the extra mile its never crowded.

Rebecca VIP:-

Rebecca Meagher is a pupil of Poulacapple NS. On March 17th Rebecca was one of the most important people in the whole country. Many thousands of people saw the St Patricks Day parade in Dublin in the flesh or on television. They could also have seen Rebecca who was seated among all the other VIP'sas a member of the judging panel for The Spirit of the Parade Competition at the festival. Rebecca who had a birds eye view of the parade had been invited to join the judging panel because she was a prize winner in a special art competition run on RTE's The Den programme. Rebecca accompanied by her mother Mary began the big day with a champagne reception in the dining hall of Trinity College. No doubt something other than champagne was provided for Rebecca. From Trinity Rebecca went to the VIP viewing stand in O'Connelll Street where she completed her duties. After the parade Rebecca and all her family were invited to dinner at the Conrad-Hilton Hotel for the prize giving ceremony. It was certainly a St Patricks Day Parade to remember for Rebecca and quite an honour for her, her family and her school. Well Done Rebecca VIP.

Weight Watchers:-

If Lent didn't do the trick or if Easter did the damage and you want to get rid of those extra pounds for the summer you are invited to come to the Knocknagow Community Centre on Wednesday night March 30th at 8pm. If you can't make this Wednesday night there will be weight watcher follow ups every Wednesday night.

Dinner Dance:-

The local GAA Dinner Dance will be held in the Springhill Hotel Kilkenny on this Saturday night April 2nd. Tickets cost EU25 each and can be obtained from any member of the committee.

Driving School:-

This time the subject of cars not golf though the proprietor of the new Slievenamon Driving School is quite adept at the game where you sink the little white ball. Don Bolger has set up the Slievenamon Driving School which covers the Slieveardagh area. Don is an ex garda Driving school instructor and guarantees safe courteous and professional instruction. Nervous drivers and beginners are specially catered for. Don has a dual controlled instructors car and will provide a door to door service. Of special importance is a fee 30 minute pre driving assessment session. We would like to wish Don well in his new venture as he provides yet another practical and valuable service in our community. Don may be contacted at home at 052-53840 or at 087-9151140.

Local Lotto:-

The local lotto jackpot was not won on March 21st. the winning numbers were 3, 11, 15 and 17. We had two match three winners who shared EU150. Next draw is on Tuesday night March 29th (due to the bank holiday).

Burial Grounds:-

Michael and Nora Larkins "Mullinahone Parish - Burial Grounds (a record)" has been met with an excellent response within and without of the parish. The booklet priced at only EU5 provides a comprehensive record of all burial grounds in St Michaels Parish Mullinahone. Some local burial grounds not included because they are not in the parish of Mullinahone are Lismolin, Killamery and Kilbride. the book includes maps and indexes of the six burial grounds in Mullinahone Parish. These are in booklet order Mullinahone Graveyard, St Michaels graveyard Killaghy, Kilvemnon graveyard, Isertkieran, Modeshill and Church of Ireland graveyards. The demand for this work grew from repeated requests from exiles and those compiling family trees. Included is a fast finding index with names in alphabetical order, a map or sketch showing approximate positions of numbered grave sites, a record of all legible inscriptions, numbers, family names etc. It should be noted that the booklet does not purport to be a complete record of all those buried within the graveyards. many graves especially in older times were not permanently marked and completed records may not have been kept. neither does the booklet purport to give the size of plots only thier approximate location. Some will be critical of these points and others will misread them but this is a valuable reference work that till stand the test of time. It represents superb value at only EU5 and great credit is due to Michele and Nora Larkin and everybody connected with the booklet. A copy should be available in every household and may who reside far from Mullinahone will also be interested.

Underage GAA:-

The underage GAA scene is ready to explode into action and a number of local personalities have been involved in early season action. Donal Cody has been in the St Kierans senior hurling panel. Kevin Bolger was a member of the Tipperary Vocational Schools hurling side which qualified for the All Ireland VS hurling final when Tipp beat Galway in the semifinal. He was joined on the team by his Scoil Ruain team mate Damien McCormack. At under 16 level Kevin Valzer and Joseph O'Meara were both members of the South Tipp -16 divisional team beaten by East Clare in the Munster quarter final on Easter Monday. Martin Cody club runai was a selector on this team. Well done to all concerned and best whishes to those who have future games to play.