Painting The Town
Corofin Tidy Towns committee is very busy at present ensuring that the village is shown at it’s best over the coming months and endeavouring to improve on the mark Corofin received in the 2012 national tidy towns competition. Volunteers meet on a weekly basis to work on projects designed to enhance the area and more volunteers are always welcome to help out. The group recently bedecked the village with hanging flower baskets which have added a welcome splash of colour and further plans are afoot. They have recently appealed to householders to donate any unused masonry paint which can be used to provide a makeover to some local unoccupied buildings and derelict sites. Anyone who has paint to donate should contact Joe O’Connell or Brendan Kearney.

Family Fun Day

A family fun-day sponsored by Centra will take place at Pairc Finne, Corofin on Saturday next June 29th from 10.30am to 12.30pm. The morning session will feature skills training for young hurlers and footballers with members of the Clare hurling and football panels participating. A Bar B Q will be held following this session with a bouncy castle and face-painting adding to the fun. The McCarthy Family which is the face of Centra’s national advertising campaign will also be in attendance and everyone is invited to attend.

Walk In The Park

One of the most popular activities in the North Clare area in recent weeks has been participation in the series of guided walks in the Burren National Park organised by the National Park Information Centre in Corofin. The next walk in the series takes place on this Saturday June 29th. The meeting point and start of the walk will be Gortalecka Crossroads in Kilnaboy where the walk will commence at 2.15pm. The NPWS is advising that booking is essential as numbers on the walk will be limited. Anyone interested in taking part should contact 065-6827693 or email burrennationalpark@ahg.gov.ie Walkers are also reminded that they can avail of the free bus service from Corofin village to the National Park, which operates on a daily basis, for this event.

Community Games

A party of twenty five athletes represented Corofin-Kilnaboy at the county Community Games track and field finals held at Lees Road¸ Ennis at the week-end. The local group took part in the pre-games parade for the first time in several years and were awarded the O’Sullivan Shield as the best presented small area at the event. Many of the athletes performed very well on the day, reaching the finals of their respective competitions but were unlucky not to finish among the medals.

Tourism Meeting

A meeting of Corofin Tourism Association was held last week to agree a range of promotional initiatives. A revamp of the Corofin website to make it more attractive and user friendly is one of the options being considered. The local association is concerned that the free bus service to the National Park will be under threat if it is not utilised more extensively and they are committed to the promotion of this service through their members for the rest of the summer. The meeting also heard of a bus service from Corofin to the Cliffs of Moher which operates every day except Sunday. It leaves Corofin at 2.45pm arriving at Moher at 3.20pm and returning to Corofin by 7.00pm. Dysart O’Dea Castle is one of the members of the local association and it has just announced an exciting event to be held in the castle on Friday July 21st, with further details to be furnished later.

Schools Camogie

Kilnaboy National School’s camogie team represented their school with pride and passion at the school’s camogie finals held at Cusack Park, Ennis on Tuesday of last week, before losing out narrowly to Mountshannon NS. The School’s Parent’s Association organised a party for the team and supporters at the school halla following the final.

Galway Bay

Weather conditions in Corofin deterred many members of Corofin Golf Society from making the relatively short trip to Oranmore for the June outing of the society recently. The reduced numbers meant that prizes were only awarded for first and second place, with Paul Ryan taking the award ahead of David O’Dell.

Results week 19 June 21st 2013
To join contact 086 803468

€400 Debbie Telford, Laghtagoona, Corofin

€200 Shane Egan, Roxton, Corofin

€100 Kaia Kenny, Laghtagoona, Corofin

Seller’s prize: Martin O’ Donohoue

Next Draw: Hogan’s Bar
Friday June 28th 9.30pm

Facebook: Corofin Fivehundred

One of the big success stories of the recent Festival of Finn was the revival of a village market in Corofin. The organisers were delighted with the response from stallholders and from the general public with the result that it seems likely that a monthly market will be held in the village over the coming months.

Trader? Download the Corofin Craft & Food Fair Vendor Application Form here.

One of the biggest sporting events ever to come to Corofin village is scheduled for Sunday July 14th when the All Ireland Tug O War Championships will take place at the GAA complex at Pairc Finne.

The event will attract teams from all corners of Ireland and will feature national and world champions in the line-up. The Burren Tug O War Club under the stewardship of Gus O’Loughlin has been keeping the flag flying for the sport in Clare and their success in recent years is mainly responsible for the championships coming to Corofin at this time. It is understood that TOW officials were very impressed with the job done recently in hosting a round of the Munster League in the village and with the facilities available at Pairc Finne. Meanwhile the North Clare club finished the league campaign on a high with victory in the 640kg at the final event at Watergrasshill in Co. Cork on Sunday last. The win saw the local side capture both the League and Cup trophies in this division for 2013.

The championship gets under way on Sunday next with the first round taking place in Thurles. The panel used throughout the campaign so far includes, Kieran Flanagan, Paul Linnane, Kevin O’Connor, David O’Loughlin, Martin Gilligan, Pat Hoey, T.J. Garrihy, Billy Hogan, Brian Curtin, Michael Flanagan, Martin Fitzgerald, Michael Considine and Raymond Casey. The club will hold a fund-raising social at Crowley’s Bar, Corofin on Sunday June 2nd.

David O’Dell was the winner of the May outing of Corofin Golf Society which was held at Nenagh Golf Club in Co. Tipperary recently. Michael Ryan, Tubber, was second with Geraldine Lynch, third. The June outing of the society will be to the Galway Bay Golf Club in Oranmore on Saturday June 15th.

A vintage Car and Tractor Run will start from Corofin village on Sunday July 7th which is bound to prove a big attraction. All proceeds from the event will go towards Clare Crusaders and the Corofin Senior Citizens Committee.

The participants in the Clare 250 mile Cycle arrived in Corofin on Sunday evening as they made their way to the finish in Ennis. They got a very good reception in the village in particular the local representatives, Stevie Malone who was completing his 21st event and Emma Collins from Kilnaboy and Martin O’Donohue from Corofin.

The intermediate hurlers opened their 2013 championship campaign with a win over Ennistymon on a score of 1-14 to 0-16 in a hard fought game. Corofin trailed by four points going into the last five minutes but two unanswered points and superb 21 meter free from Damian Ryan sealed the victory for Corofin in a very spirited overall team performance. This result means Corofin get the Clare Cup league points also which was agreed between the clubs prior to the game.

In the other game played in this group Sixmilebridge and Whitegate shared the points in a drawn game. The combination of Corofin and Ruan U14 hurlers reached the county U14B championship semi final. They hosted Eire Og in the last group game at the weekend. Having gone unbeaten to date they trailed their opponents by nine points at the break but an excellent second half team performance saw them win by three points on a score of 6-11 to 6-08. The result put them top of the group and into the semi final. The U12 footballers continued their league campaign. In all games to date they have fielded two teams. In this round they hosted Eire Og having had good wins over Lisdoonvarna, Doora-Barefield, Clondegad. They won one and lost one to Cooraclare.

Results week 14
17th May 2013

€400 Paddy O’ Dell
€200 Peter Barry, Dysart, Corofin
€100 Declan Cummins, Killeen, Corofin

Sellers prize: Tommy O’Doherty

Next Draw: Mack’s Bar, @ 9.30 pm on 24/05/2013
To join contact 086 8034685. For more info see CHAF 500 Club Draw

The Burren National Park, managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, is one of four sites competing in this year’s BioBlitz challenge. The aim is to record as many species as possible within a 24 hour period.

The BioBlitz will be kicking off on Friday 24th May at 17.00 and will finish on Saturday 25th May at 17.00. There will be a number of interesting activities taking place both in the Burren National Park and at the Burren National Park Information Point in Corofin. Activities include a Bat Walk, Dawn Chorus Walk, Art in the Park and a Scavenger Hunt for kids, Burren Flowers Walk, Burren Insects Walk and a Geology Walk. On Saturday evening Dr Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington of NUIG will be finishing off the event with a talk about Turloughs.

Everyone is welcome and all events are free. Booking is required for the Art in the Park and Scavenger Hunt. For further information or to book contact the Burren National Park Information Point on 065 6827693, or email burrennationalpark@ahg.gov.ie. A list of events is available to view on their website www.burrennationalpark.ie.