An official at the Department of Social Protection in Sligo has been found not guilty by direction of the trial judge on a charge of coercion at Sligo Circuit Court this morning, Tuesday.
Social welfare official found not guilty on coercion charge
No decision on Carew
DESPITE wanting another year in charge of the Sligo Senior Gaelic football team, Niall Carew is anxiously awaiting a Sligo GAA County Board review of the campaign just completed before he will get the go-ahead to take the Sligo hot seat for a third term.
In August of last year the Kildare native was handed a two-year term by the County Board after his debut in the Yeats County delivered a Connacht final appearance and a place in the last 12 of the All-Ireland series.
At the time, County Board secretary Gerry O’Connor explained the decision to award Carew and his backroom team a further two campaigns in charge.
“We did not want any change to the routine at the moment. Niall has just had 12 months in charge and we feel that progress has been made.”
“We expect that Niall has plans for the future and he, and his staff, deserve another two years to see where we go from here.”
For more on this story, see this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper. In shops now!
Bridie brings home gold, silver and bronze
Sligo woman Bridie Nicholson touched down in Dublin Airport on Sunday last with more baggage than when she had left – in the form of three medals from the European Transplant Championships.
Packed programme of events revealed for upcoming Sligo Festival
The launch of the official programme for the first annual Sligo Festival took place in Kennedy’s Bar last weekend.
The event was attended by a capacity crowd of figures from across the local art and political scenes who have lent their support to the festival.
Rory Concannon and Karl Kelly, two of the organisers, spoke briefly once again about their ambition to bring a new annual summer fair to the county which showcases Sligo’s rich culture through a plethora of platforms including street performances, exhibitions, family events and live concerts.
The 34-page programme covers every aspect of the festival down to the finest detail and promises to cater to all tastes.
Trad enthusiasts missing the party atmosphere of the Fleadh can look forward to two weeks of music sessions across the town, beginning in Thomas Connolly’s this coming Monday (July 25 and August 2), followed Shoot The Crows (July 26 and August 2), Lillies Bar (July 27 and August 3), McGarrigles (July 28 and August 4), Early’s Bar (July 28, July 30, August 4 and August 6) and Foley’s Bar (July 30 and August 6).
If you have ever been curious about the art of crafting beer, then there will be a unique opportunity right on your doorstep as Thomas Connolly hosts an introduction to craft beer and craft beer tasting on Thursday, August 4 at 5pm.
Photographers will also have an opportunity to get creative as the Sligo Pic Fest returns. The online photography competition welcomes entries from everybody, with the only stipulations being that they show Sligo at it’s best and that photos are uploaded to the Sligo Festival Facebook page accompanied by the tags #sligopicfest and #sligofestival. There a prizes to be won along with the finalists having their photos framed and displayed in venues around the town.
The competition opens this Sunday (July 24).
Family’s looking for a day of fun need look no further on Sunday, July 31 when O’Connell Street will be closed to traffic to host a range of exciting activities including interactive galleries, puppet shows, face painting, street and music performances.
The Blue Raincoat Theatre will be active throughout the festival with performances at the Factory Theatre (1.10pm on weeks from July 25-August 5), The Sligo Courthouse (12 noon-6pm on July 30).
The festival will wind down with three nights of free performances at the Stephen Street Car Park starting with local musician Kieran Quinn playing one of his ever-popular theme nights (Thursday, August 4) followed by The Strypes, Jerry Fish (Friday, August 5) and The Stunning (Saturday, August 6).
This of course is merely the tip of the iceberg as many other events make up the festival, all of which can be found in a downloadable version of the programme, available on www.thesligofestival.com.
Calls for more resources for Co. Sligo’s library service
There were calls for more resources from central government for Sligo’s library services at a Sligo Municipal District meeting on Monday.
Donald Trump’s running mate has Sligo roots
By Alan Finn
SLIGO could have it’s very own man in the White House in the next year depending on the outcome of November’s presidential election in the United States.
Donald Trump, who secured the Republic candidacy on Tuesday night, announced last weekend that Mike Pence, the Governor of Indiana, would be his running mate.
The 57-year-old is an Irish-American representative whose roots can be traced back to south Sligo.
It is understood that his grandfather, Richard Michael Cawley – after whom the vice president hopeful is named – emigrated to the United States from Tubbercurry in 1923 where he went on to work as a bus driver in Chicago.
In a 2006 interview with The New York Times, he stated that he and his grandfather were “especially close,” and that he sees his “thrift and hard work in today’s immigrant generation.”
For more on this story, be sure to pick up a copy of this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper – in shops now!
‘Ulysses’ sold for €9,500
A limited-edition copy of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, owned by a Sligo doctor, sold for €9,500 after less than a minute of bidding at an auction in Dublin on Tuesday of this week.
Fairgreen work begins at last
It has been the subject of plans and proposals for several decades, but work finally commenced this week on the recreational park at Fairgreen, off Temple Street in Sligo Town.
Peers Testimonial is a six-goal thriller
The long-awaited testimonial of Sligo Rovers legend Gavin Peers took place yesterday (Wednesday) and certainly didn’t disappoint as they held Portsmouth to a 3-3 draw.
The first half saw Paul Cook’s men take a 3-0 lead in to half-time against a Rovers team consisting of many fan favourites of the past including Joseph Ndo, Danny Ventre and Keith Foy, but a reshuffled second-half team bounced back in style through a Kieran Sadlier brace and a Peers penalty.
Portsmouth took the lead after just nine minutes as Conor Chaplin broke down the right before teeing up Gary Roberts for a simple finish from point-black range.
It was soon a case of role reversal as Roberts saw his route to goal blocked by Ciaran Kelly, but Chaplin was on hand to pounce on a loose ball score into an empty net.
Former Pompey man Kieran Djilali had Rovers best chance of the first-half after 20 minutes, but his effort on goal was deflected away for a corner by Christian Burgess.
With five minutes remaining until the break, Portsmouth struck again through Chaplin as he found himself one-on-one with Kelly and made no mistake again as he fired past the FAI Cup hero.
There was wholesale changes for The Bit O’Red going into the second-half, as the current flock of Rovers players were given 45 minutes, including new signing Daniel Kearns.
Rovers showed their intent with just a couple of minutes on the clock when Phil Roberts saw a shot go narrowly over the bar.
Kieran Sadlier done well to fashion a clear-cut chance when he got in behind the defence, but Eric Grimes was equal to his effort. The ball came straight back to the ex-Peterborough winger who could only hit the side netting on this occasion.
Rovers were awarded a penalty as the game entered its final 20 minutes after Roberts was pushed in the box. Being a testimonial, it is an unwritten rule that the man of the night steps up to take a penalty, and Gavin Peers duly delivered with his final kick of the night as he slotted the ball low into the bottom right corner.
One soon became two when Cretaro took the ball around Grimes and chased down what looked to be a hopeless ball, but the forward kept it alive to square the ball to Sadlier who bundled it home from a yard out.
Rovers completed their comeback with two minutes remaining. Mikey Place saw a shot parried by Grimes, but he could only turn it as far as Sadlier who was never going to miss with the goal at his mercy.
Sligo Rovers first-half: Ciaran Kelly; Alan Keane, Gavin Peers (c), Liam Burns (Michael McNamara, 24), Keith Foy (Jason McCartney, 24); Kieran Djilali (Paul McTiernan, 24), Conor O’Grady (Matthew Judge, 31), Danny Ventre, John Dillon (Darren Mansaram, 31), Joseph Ndo (Colin Feehily, 33); Anthony Elding (Sean Flannery, 24)
Sligo Rovers second-half: Michael Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Gavin Peers (c) (Trialist, 70), Gary Boylan, Jimmy Keohane; Craig Roddan, John Russell (Chris Lyons, 79) Daniel Kearns, Kieran Sadlier; Raffaele Cretaro (Mikey Place, 86), Phil Roberts.
Portsmouth: Michael Crowe (Eric Grimes, 46); Drew Talbot (Chris Sessegnon, 46), Jack Whatmough (Ben Davies, 46), Christian Burgess (Adam Barton, 46), Brandon Haunstrup (Enda Stevens, 46); Adam May (Ben Close, 46), Michael Doyle (Danny Rose, 46); Ben Tollitt (Carl Baker, 46), Gary Roberts (Elyse Boris Konsiembo, 62), Milan Lalkovic (Kyle Bennett, 46); Conor Chaplin (Ben Tollitt, 79).
