Earlier this year Dundalk girl Sarah McGuinness tied the knot with Joseph Canning in St Peter and Paul’s Church in Straide, Co Mayo before having a night to remember in Hotel Ballina.
Local photographer Paddy Clarke was there to capture the big day and it has since gone on to feature in VIP Magazine (as seen above).
Sarah is the daughter of Niall and the late Gráinne McGuinness, while she also has a sister Eimear – who was one of her bridesmaids – and brother David.
68 Belfry Drive in Dundalk, which sold for €183,000 at the start of September
Asking prices for houses in Louth have shown signs of stabilisation in the third quarter of the year, with the latest survey from property website MyHome.ie showing that the median price for a four-bedroom semi-detached home has remained unchanged for the third successive quarter at €179,000.
That means that prices have dropped by just €1,000 in the last year as the annual rate of decline has now dropped to just 4.4%. It also means that four bed homes in Louth are now €9,000 more expensive than a similar home in neighbouring Meath.
The price of a three-bed semi in the Wee County fell slightly during the last quarter by 1.1%, dropping back by €1,475 to €138,500.
Ben with Cardinal Brady
A man from St Patrick’s Parish in Dundalk made history over the weekend when he became one of the first married men to be ordained a deacon in the ancient see of St Patrick.
Benignus Ndubuisi was one of five welcomed into the ministry by Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Dr Eamon Martin at the weekend, with the latter describing the five as “bridge builders between the laity, priests and bishops.”
Benignus has been study for the post for the past five years and from now on will be referred to as ‘Rev Mr’.
He, along with Drogheda’s John Taaffe, Drumcree’s Martin Barlow, Cookstown’s Andy Hegarty and Tralee’s David Durrigan, will serve on a part-time basis in their appointed parishes, assisting with baptisms and funerals at the weekends and some administrative duties during the week.
Deacons cannot celebrate Mass or hear confessions though.
A health care worker by trade, Ben is married to Celestina and has four children.
Bryan McCrystal
Local man Pairic Duffy has started a social media campaign to try and force local waste recycling company Oxigen to do something about the alleged stink company from their facility on the Coes Road.
Mr Duffy claims that there is an “awful smell” coming from the facility that the number of flies in the area is on the increase because of it.
He has started a campaign on Twitter called “#stopthestink” and has called for the plant to be closed, claiming it is in the wrong location and should never have been built so close to residential areas.
Mr Duffy has contacted a number of local politicians about the problem but it remains to be seen whether his campaign gathers momentum or not.
The Dundalk Positive Mental Health Forum will present an art exhibition in the County Museum from Saturday October 5th to Saturday October 12th.
The event is aimed at celebrating mental health day on October 10th and the theme of the exhibition will be positive mental health.
Anyone interested in participating should contact Senator Mary Moran by close of business tomorrow.
An artist’s impression of the Narrow Water Bridge
A report in today’s Irish Times suggests that the Narrow Water Bridge project “hangs by a thread” and may be scrapped “within weeks” unless a funding shortfall is resolved urgently.
The newspaper reports that unless agreement on a funding package of up to €15 million is agreed upon soon then the EU money committed to the project earlier this year will have to be allocated elsewhere.
Despite governments on both sides of the Border agreeing to invest their own funds along with EU money towards the building of the structure earlier this year, their estimate of the cost of the bridge was well off.
That led to Louth County Council putting the project on hold but with the bulk of the money for the bridge coming form the European Regional Development Fund, any hopes of the plans being revived would surely be dead in the water were it to be withdrawn.
According to sources of The Irish Times, the scheme has “about a month” to secure the required funds. While councils in Louth and Down have been working hard on securing additional money along with a private benefactor, the gap is of such a scale that it would require intervention from eith the Irish or Northern Irish government to save the project at this stage.
Stormont has already said that they would be making no additional funds available, while it is unlikely the Irish government will inject money into it in the lead-up to the Budget.
The current Narrow Water Bridge project commenced in 2008 when Louth County Council engaged Roughan O’Donovan Consulting Engineers to design a bridge in keeping with the outstanding natural beauty in the area. The same company designed the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge on the M1 Dublin-Belfast motorway.
The single-carriageway, 195 metres cable-stayed Narrow Water Bridge is designed to connect Cornamucklagh near Omeath, Co Louth with Narrow Water near Warrenpoint, Co Down and the total length of the proposed scheme is 620m.
The proposed location for the bridge is the scene of one of the bloodiest attacks during the Troubles, in August 1979, in which the IRA killed 18 British soldiers and seriously injured six more.
Source: Narrow Water bridge project hangs by a thread (The Irish Times)
Gardaí have appealed to the public for help in finding a 47-year-old Dundalk man who is missing in Dublin.
Gerry McCann was last seen in Stillorgan on the morning of Thursday September 26 at approximately 10am and it is believed that he then went to the Ballsbridge area.
Gerry is described as approximately 5ft 9in height, of medium build with blonde/greyish hair. When last seen he was wearing charcoal grey jumper, brown trousers and brown shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Blackrock Gardaí at 01-6665200, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Gerry, who is originally from the St Alphonsus Road, is an actor by trade and has appeared in the likes of Fair City and Raw.
Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny has his jumper returned to him by Stephen Egan of Panama Café
We know there’s not always major breaking news to report on but The Dundalk Democrat appear to be missing a scoop more than most.
A story appeared on their website over the weekend titled ‘Relief as Kenny jumper safely returned’.
The article centred around the fact that Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny left his jumper behind in Panama Café at the Market Square only to later have it returned to him.
Yep, that’s as interesting as it gets folks and the article has gone viral – but not in a good way – on social media sites.
Next week, we’ll have a report on how the Dundalk boss missed out on clubcard points at Tesco after forgetting to swipe his card at the till.
Source: Relief as Kenny jumper returned (Dundalk Democrat)
Newtown Blues’ Stephen Moonan lifts the Joe Ward Cup after his side’s victory over Cooley Kickhams
The Newtown Blues are the Louth senior champions for the 20th time after beating Cooley Kickhams by 2-15 to 0-13 in yesterday’s County Final in Drogheda to lift the Joe Ward Cup for the first time since 2008.
Cooley, who were aiming for a first senior triumph since 1990, had started the game well by racing into a four point lead but a goal from man of the match Andy McDonnell midway through the first half proved to be the turning point.
That inspired the Blues to kick-on and by half-time they led by 1-5 to 0-5, with unanswered points from Colm Judge, Derek Kierans, Andy McDonnell and John Kermode.
Cooley did manage to level shortly after the restart following three successive points of their own but a Kickhams revival was ended when substitute Conor Brannigan fired home with almost his first touch of the game to leave it 2-5 to 0-8.
That proved the killer blow as the Blues coasted to victory with captain Stephen Moonan going on to collect the cup at the end.
Elsewhere in Louth at the weekend, Kilkerley Emmets secured their senior status for next season with a 1-8 to 0-4 victory over Glyde Rangers that condemns the Tallanstown outfit to the intermediate ranks for next season.
Kilkerley had led by just a point with three minutes remaining but a mistake by Glyde keeper Gerard Carroll, which saw him allow a Ray Mulholland shot creep over the line, sparked a fine finish to the game for the eventual winners as they hit 1-3 without reply.
There were also celebrations for the Geraldines, who won the Louth Minor title by beating St Mary’s by 4-9 to 1-9. The Blackrock and Haggardstown outfit will now be aiming to complete a double when they take on neighbours St Brides in the Intermediate Championship final next weekend.
NEWTOWN BLUES: Conor Barton; Paul Moore, Thomas Costello, Niall Costello; Stephen Moonan, Eoghan Judge, James Murray; Keith Lynch (0-1), Colm Judge (0-3); John Kermode (0-1), Hugh McGinn (0-3), Andy McDonnell (1-3); Derek Kierans (0-1), Barry Sharkey, Robert Carr. Subs: Jamie Carr for Barry Sharkey, Brian Kermode for Thomas Costello (blood sub), Conor Brannigan (1-3) for Robert Carr, Brian Kermode for James Murray.
COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Richard Brennan, Keith White, Alan Page; Patrick McGrath, Conor McGuinness, Shane Marks; Brian Donnelly (0-2), Conor Rafferty; Aoghan McGuinness (0-1), Brian White (0-4), Darren Marks; Patrick Sheelan (0-3), Sean Donnelly, Ciaran Sheelan (0-1). Subs: Sean McDonald (0-1) for Sean Donnelly, Pj McGivern for Conor Rafferty, Michael Rafferty (0-1) for Darren Marks, Sean O’Neill for Shane Marks.
Talk of the Town 