Louth GAA legend Stephen Melia passes away

Stephen Melia in action for Louth against Offaly in the 2000 National Football League Division Two final

The death has occurred after illness of Louth GAA’s most capped player, Stephen Melia.

No one featured for the Wee County more in the county’s history than the towering midfielder, who made his debut in November 1984. He would remain part of the panel until early 2002, with his last appearance coming in July 2001.

Melia’s 17 years with Louth is a record shared with Michael ‘Muckle’ McKeown and Leslie Toal, one behind Benny Gaughran and two behind Eoin “Ine” Markey.

Throughout his 179 appearances, his greatest achievement was helping the county to Division Two league success against Offaly in 2000.

Twice named County Player of the Year, Melia started his playing career with the John Mitchels and was a key component to their 1992 junior championship success.

He later transferred to Dublin side O’Dwyer’s before joining St Joseph’s GFC in Dromiskin. While he kept his age a close secret, he was arguably one of the oldest players to win a Senior Championship medal when he lined out in midfield for the the Cluskey Park outfit in their 2006 County Final success over St Patrick’s GFC. It is believed he was in his mid-40s at the time.

Remarkably, Melia never played for the county at minor level but did represent Leinster numerous times in the Railway Cup.

Off the field, Melia featured as part of Paddy Clarke’s management team in 2000/2001 and under Eamon McEneaney in 2006 when the county clinched the Division Two league title against Donegal.

Commenting on his passing on Twitter this morning, St Joseph’s clubman Jonny McGailey said: “Gutted to learn of the passing of my former team mate, mentor and friend Stephen Melia. Words can’t describe how great he was. Gutted.

“An absolute warrior whose work ethic and leadership knew no bounds. One of the most inspiring and influential people I’ve ever known.”

St Joseph’s GFC tweeted: “Stephen Melia was not only a great player, but an even better person. A sad loss. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam.”

Funeral arrangements will be made later.

Paddy Clarke hosting National Portrait Week event this Saturday

National Portrait Week gets underway tomorrow with a local photographer Paddy Clarke in Jocelyn Street taking part.

For just €25, you can receive a desktop sized portrait in a folder, with 100% of your donation going to charity. This year’s proceeds will go towards the LauraLynn children’s hospice.

Visit www.paddyclarke.ie or drop in to his studio tomorrow to take part.

Grand Final of Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series to be live screened this Friday

Benny Traynor is one of the four semi-finalists hoping to land the grand title on Friday night

Over the past three months, pool players from all over Dundalk and Armagh took part in an eight week series of pool held every Friday night at The Sportsman’s Bar.

This year’s series is playing on three World Supreme Championship tables with ranking points on offer each week. The top four ranked players have now been invited back for the Series Grand Final this Friday night.

With over 30 players competing in this year’s series, it brought out some amazing quality and the following players finished in the top four: Benny Traynor (Dundalk), Paddy Clarke (Newry), Peter O’Hagan (Bellurgan) and Dominic O’Connor (Dundalk). They all return to The Sportsmans Bar to play-off for the Grand Final 2015 title.

The Series Grand Final will be live streamed this Friday night by www.RedDishTV.com who promote cue sports all over Ireland. It will consist of two semi-finals in a best of nine, and the final, a best of 11. Benny Traynor plays Dominic O’Connor in the first semi and Paddy Clarke takes on Peter O’Hagan in the second.

The tournament on the night will start at 9pm and the final is scheduled for approx 11pm.

The Sportsman’s Bar would like to invite all pool fanatics on the night to support the players in action and there will be a short presentation at the end for both finalists. With this being the second year the event has taken place it was great to see such a big interest in the series. Best of luck to the four players taking part.

Wee County yearbook now on sale

The Wee County GAA yearbook went on sale at the weekend is available to buy for just €4.95.

The book looks back on the fortunes of Louth GAA in 2014 and that of each of the 41 adult clubs in the county.

There’s also interviews with Paddy Keenan, Andrew McCrave, Padraig Rath, Grace Lynch, Paddy Clarke, Colin Kelly, Conor Grimes and Emma Singleton while the Team of the Year is also unveiled.

Wee County 2015 can be found in all good bookstores and newsagents around the county.

Traynor triumphs on Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series debut

Benny Traynor

The Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series broke off with another Series debutant taking the spoils for a second week running. Although no player has won a series event twice, last week there were three previous event winners – Paddy Clarke, Peter O’Hagan and Dominic O’Connor – all gunning down maximum points.

However, in the end it was the well-known Dundalk pool player Benny Traynor who showed a great display of pool and earned the precious 10 points by pipping Clarke in an exciting final.

Traynor had no easy run to the final, needing to beat Event 2 winner Peter O’Hagan and last week’s runner-up Tony Greenan.

Clarke also had a tough semi final, coming from behind to progress against last week’s winner Dominic O’Connor.

The final started very slow. Both players were focusing on the position of their balls in play. However, an unforced error from Paddy, in which he lost the white late in the frame, let Benny finish his reds and black to get the early lead. 1-0.

Rack two was broke by Traynor but he came up short and Paddy had the choice of the table. This was an important rack in which Paddy produced some excellent cue ball positions by potting all seven reds. The black ball up towards the top right pocket just wouldn’t drop though. Still, Benny had a lot of work to do but the easy snookering of Paddy meant with two visits to the table, Traynor potted all eight balls and stretched his lead to 2-0.

Rack three was smashed hard by Clarke, sinking two balls of each colour. Choosing yellows, he continued slowly between shots. And five more yellows and the black meant Clarke had preformed a brilliant break-and-run display to get the score back to 2-1.

Rack four again was high paced. Traynor broke, potting a red, but was badly hampered near the baulk cushion and he was forced to give Paddy another chance. Paddy wanted his second title, playing a few important defensive shots before he knocked in an expressive seven yellows. A long rail shot for the black would have been the clearance of the night had it dropped but it would take Clarke a few visits later before he evened up the score for what would be a great last rack. 2-2.

Clarke broke off the deciding fifth rack scratching the cue ball and leaving Traynor with a great chance to call the shots. With just one shot available from the foul, Traynor didn’t have much space to work with from the baulk. His fourth shot went well wide of the pocket smacking into a loose yellow and dropping into the middle. Traynor held his hand up to apologise for his fortune but surely continued on to finish the rack and claim the Event 5 Title. A good solid victory for Traynor, though it took maybe one important piece of luck.

The 8-Ball Pool Series takes a week’s break this Friday due to some Series players travelling to the Irish Pool Open in Tullamore. The 8-Ball Series would like to wish Dominic O’Connor, Barry Keane, Ciaran Lavelle and JP Toner the best of luck in their group matches on the Irish Tour.

Event 6 of the Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series will be on the Friday 30th January where it is expected that another highly competitive field will aim to get closer to the Grand Prize! Players are reminded tables are available free for practice from 6pm and the tournament starts at 9pm. Stay connected to the Series News by following The Sportsman’s Bar on Facebook.

Dominic clinches latest event in the Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series

Event 4 Armagh and Louth Players compete at The Sportsmans Bar Dundalk

Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series Event 4 winner Dominic O’Connor

The Sportsman’s Bar hosted the fourth event in the Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series last Friday.

With lots of new players joining the series from the Armagh League, ranking points were becoming very hard to come by. However this week both Paddy Clarke and Peter O’Hagan were absent giving other players a great chance to get the maximum points. Both players were joint top on series points before the event started at 9pm.

Dominic O’Connor joined the tour this week and came through a Preliminary Round in strong fashion. The Sportsman’s Raven player then advanced through the quarter final coming from behind to beat Emmett Fearon and convincingly knocking out Ciaran Lavelle 2-0 in the semi final. On his debut, Dominic reached the final of event 4 and looked like nothing was going to stop him winning.

On the other side of the draw, former Northern Ireland home international player, Tony Greenan, also looked very strong from the start. Another debutant to the series, he produced great pool winning his quarter. His competitor Patrick McArdle did nothing wrong in the second semi final, but it was Tony who advanced by producing an amazing break-and-run to the delight of the crowd watching.

That left Dominic and Tony to go head to head in the final, which enjoyed great support.

Dominic won advantage from the lag-off and broke to start the match which was best of five. After potting two reds he switched over to the more spaced out yellows but on letting Tony get his first visit to the table and only five reds left, there was a lot of space for him to work with.

Tony got down to the black but a tight cut left it hanging over the middle bed. Dominic showed he had the fire for the final when he knocked in all five yellows and black to get the first peg on the board. 1-0.

Tony broke off rack two and continued on potting. On his first visit to the rack he again made it down to the black and this time instead of dropping it to level the match he again rattled the pocket leaving it tight to the back cushion. Tony showed lots of frustration watching Dominic pot all six of his reds with great positioning for the black. O’Connor stayed focused at the task in hand potting the eight-ball and taking a two frame lead in the Event 4 final. 2-0.

Rack three was again broken by Dominic. He pot three reds after that and hoped to leave the situation awkward for Tony by leaving the cue ball right down near the baulk cushion. This didn’t stop Tony potting a splendid long shot, giving him some hope to claw a rack back. Four yellows on and one to go Greenan needed something special to develop the black off the middle of the top cushion. The yellow juggled back out and the white knocked the black closer to the pocket. Dominic now had a superb chance to finish it up, which he did in great fashion, potting all four reds and coming off three cushions to line up for the black. Both players shook hands but it was Dominic O’Connor who won the final 3-0 to shoot up the rankings to fourth overall.

With the Dundalk 8-Ball Pool Series just halfway through its calendar there is plenty of time for players new and old to compete in the event for points. All players are welcome to register on the night and the tournament starts at 9pm. Tables are available free to practice from 7pm.

Full details along with weekly reports are available on the Sportsmans 8-Ball Event Page on Facebook and spectators are more then welcome to attend with no door charge. Event 5 will take place this Friday January 16th.

8-Ball Series Event 4 Finalists, Dominic O’Connor and Tony Greenan

Ardee Road reopens to traffic

The scene at the Ardee Road on Sunday. Picture courtesy of Marko’s Pizza, Clanbrassil Street, Dundalk

The Ardee Road reopened to traffic.

The road – the N52/R171 – had been closed since the weekend due to heavy flooding in the Mounthamilton area.

It resulted in a substantial loss of business for a number of outlets, including Paddy Clarke’s Texaco filling station.

A number of residents along the road are still dealing with excess water on their properties but the fact the road has reopened should alleviate some of the traffic problems that the town has been experiencing in recent days.

Colin Kelly appointed new Louth manager

New Louth manager Colin Kelly

Colin Kelly was last night appointed the new manager of the Louth senior team.

The former Newtown Blues and Dreadnots player is one of the top scorers in the county’s history having played inter-county football for the Wee County from 1991 to 2002.

Kelly, who succeeds Aidan O’Rourke in the job, has previous managerial experience having guided the Louth U-21s to a Leinster final in 2012 and his ex-club the Dreadnots to this year’s County Final, where they went down by 0-12 to 0-10 to St Patrick’s.

He has been handed a two year term, with the option of a third pending a review.

Kelly will be assisted in the role by two other former county stars, Eugene Judge and Ollie McDonnell. It is Judge’s second time as part of the setup, having previously worked with Paddy Clarke and he also brings a wealth of club management experience having won Louth SFC titles with the Newtown Blues.

Meanwhile, Louth were last night paired with Westmeath in the first round of the 2015 Leinster Championship – the same fixture as earlier this year – although this time it is a ‘home game’ for the Wee County.

The winners of that game will face Wexford with Wicklow or Meath awaiting in the semi-finals should the side progress that far.

Paddy Clarke to host two National Portrait Day events

Paddy’s studio in Jocelyn Street

Dundalk photographer Paddy Clarke will host the IPPA National Portrait Day in his studio in Jocelyn Street on Saturday March 29^th and Saturday April 5^th.

The National Portrait Day event allows you to have your photo taken by a professional photographer, with all proceeds going towards the ISPCC.

During the IPPA National Portrait Days in association with Canon, you can have your picture taken by your local Irish Professional Photographers Association (IPPA) member for just a €25 donation.

These events have been running since 2006, with more than €250,000 raised for various charities since then.

For further details or bookings call 042-9335746.

Paddy Clarke nominated for IPPA awards

Paddy’s studio in Jocelyn Street

Local wedding photographer Paddy Clarke has been nominated for three top awards at the Irish Professional Photographers’ Association’s (IPPA) Photographic Awards.

Paddy, whose studio is based in Jocelyn Street is a finalist in all of the wedding categories – Classical, Contemporary and Reportage.

The awards will be presented at the annual awards night in The Lyrath Hotel in Kilkenny on Sunday March 23^rd.