Darren Clarke withdraws himself from Louth panel a month before the championship

Darren Clarke

Darren Clarke has left the Louth panel just weeks ahead of their Leinster Championship opener against Westmeath in Mullingar on Saturday May 17^th.

Writing via his Twitter page last night, the forward said: “Sad to say, I’ve had to withdraw from the Louth senior panel for the rest of ‘this’ year. Wished the lads all the best. #AnLuAbu”

He later added: “Focus is now back with the club. Big win tonight. Nice to be back playing 60 mins competitive football. #StMarysGFC”

Clarke cut a peripheral figure this year under manager Aidan O’Rourke. While the Ardee man had his injury problems, he was used sparingly throughout a disappointing league campaign and was even substituted after being introduced in one of the games.

The fact Clarke played for his club St Mary’s in their 3-19 to 1-8 victory over Dundalk Young Irelands last night shows that his withdrawal from the county panel is not injury-related with relations between him and the management team understood to be strained.

The fact he said “this year” in quotations marks suggests he does want to return in future but at a stage when O’Rourke is no longer at the helm.

The manager’s future is likely to come under scrutiny at the end of the season after the side picked up just two points from their entire league campaign and failed to win a single match. If a disappointing championship campaign follows then it is likely many clubs will back up threats to call for a change in direction.

Dundalk striker Hoban insists he never set out to hurt Derry’s McBride

Pat Hoban after collecting the SWAI Player of the Month award last season

Dundalk striker Pat Hoban has taken to Twitter to insist he did not mean to intentionally hurt Derry City defender Ryan McBride in last night’s 3-0 victory at Oriel Park.

The pair clashed heads in the 29^th minute with a 13 minute stoppage ensuing as both players required treatement.

McBride by far came out worse from the incident though having swallowed his tongue before being stretchered off and taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

After the game, a number of Candystripes fans took to Twitter to hit out at Hoban with threats and abuse towards the Galway native.

The situation wasn’t helped by an interview which Derry City boss Roddy Collins gave after the game, in which he branded Hoban as “cowardly”.

“I believe he done him,” said the Derry boss before adding that he felt the referee Tom Connolly “bottled it” by not sending off the striker, who had already been booked for an earlier challenge on the defender.

Commenting on Twitter this morning, Hoban explained that he was jumping in the air to contest the ball and didn’t mean to hurt anyone.

He said: “To say I went on to the pitch to hurt some1 is beyond ridiculous contesting for the ball nothing more. Hope Mcbride is okay #speedyrecovery.”

Dearey hits out at Fine Gael’s use of Dundalk Tourist Office to ‘shift tickets for party soirée’

Cllr Dearey’s tweet

Local Green Party councillor Mark Dearey has hit out at Fine Gael for using the publicly funded Dundalk Tourist Office to promote a local event.

The Spirit Store publican, who is running in both the local and European elections in May, was one of many to receive letters from Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick last week inviting him to attend the ‘Night of History and Heritage‘ event in the Crowne Plaza Hotel this day week.

The event is in memory of Michael Collins but will be chaired by Fine Gael TD Fitzpatrick and will also feature local Fine Gael election candidate Paddy Malone and ex-party TD Nora Owen.

However, Cllr Dearey clearly took exception to the fact the Dundalk Tourist Office is being used to sell the €10 tickets by commenting on his Twitter page: “Sure isn’t it grand and handy to have the local tourist office to shift tickets for your Party soirée.#irishpolitics”

Louth top of the table when it comes to Tweeting

The people of Louth are the biggest Tweeters in the country, according to new research from Bank of Ireland.

The study shows that the people from the Wee County are the biggest Twitter users in the country.

People from Louth have been sending an average of 6,588 messages from every 1,000 people in the county. That’s more than 1,500 messages clear of second placed Waterford, which had 5,096 tweets per 1,000 of the population.

The research, commissioned by Bank of Ireland, looked at all Irish tweets that included location information.

The data is accurate as of July 2013, with the analysis being carried out on the bank’s behalf by Eightytwenty.

Ward signs deal for 2014 with Dundalk

Keith Ward putting pen to paper on a new deal at Oriel Park this evening

Dundalk FC have added Keith Ward to their ranks for the forthcoming season after he put pen to paper on a contract with the Lilywhites this evening.

The midfielder, who is in his second spell at the club, had played a part in all of the club’s 17 fixtures last season before suffering knee ligament damage late on in the 2-1 win over St Patrick’s Athletic at Oriel Park last June.

He has been out of action ever since but had been involved in training sessions for Stephen Kenny’s side, despite not featuring in the pre-season games against Barnsley and Wexford Youths.

However, the 23-year-old confirmed via his Twitter page late last month that he has been given the all clear to return to action, with the club rewarding him with a contract as expected.

Speaking on Twitter last week, Ward said: “6 months after me op I got the all clear today from the doc to go back playing and looking forward to the season now with Dundalk good times.”

He also thanked everyone at Dundalk FC, his physio Paul Cheshire and the PFAI for their support in recent months.

Ward now goes straight into the reckoning for tomorrow night’s Malone Cup match against Drogheda United in United Park.

Kearney brothers have parody Twitter account set up in their honour

They say you know you’ve made it when you have a Twitter parody account set up in your honour.

Whether or not rugby star brothers Dave and Rob Kearney see the funny side of the new @boringkearney Twitter account remains to be seen though.

The account was set up by an anonymous individual following the pair’s appearance on the Late Late Show a fortnight ago, an interview which was deemed boring by a number of TV critics due to the number of Twitter references by host Ryan Tubridy.

The Willville brothers will be of plenty of interest at the weekend though, with both tipped to start in Ireland’s Six Nations match against Wales.

Here’s a selection of some of the tweets in recent days…

Local Senator calls for Nek Nomination game to end

Senator Mary Moran

Local Labour Party Senator Mary Moran has called for the controversial ‘Nek Nomination’ game to be stopped immediately.

The mother of five made the call via her Twitter page following the deaths of two young men in Dublin and Carlow who took part in the drinking game at the weekend. Five other deaths have also been contributed to the game in the UK.

Commenting on the matter, Senator Moran – a mother of five and former schoolteacher – said: “Tragic weekend for two families who lost sons through social media sick game #neknomination.”

She added that the game “needs to be stopped immediately” and said she had “huge admiration” for the father of Jonny Byrne, a 19-year-old who died after taking part in the game in Carlow, for appealing publicly for people to stop taking part in the game.

‘Neknominate’, which is believed to have originated in Australia, sees an individual face a challenge of downing a pint as quickly as possible.

They then challenge two friends by nominating them to neck a pint. Those nominated have to do so within 24 hours and post it on social media or face a financial penalty or the ultimate humiliation of losing face amongst friends.

The craze has taken over Facebook in this area in the last week with more and more nominations being made on a daily basis.

While many of the Nek Nomination games here have been relatively mild in nature, around the world people have been trying to outdo each other by taking greater risks – actions which resulted in the two deaths at the weekend – with fears locally that people are beginning to take greater risks here as well.

Dundalk expected to add Ward to their ranks in the coming days

Keith Ward

Dundalk FC are expected to add Keith Ward to their ranks in the coming days.

The midfielder, who is in his second spell at the club, had played a part in all of the club’s 17 fixtures last season before suffering knee ligament damage late on in the 2-1 win over St Patrick’s Athletic at Oriel Park last June.

He has been out of action ever since but had been involved in training sessions for Stephen Kenny’s side, despite not featuring in the pre-season games against Barnsley and Wexford Youths.

However, the 23-year-old confirmed via his Twitter page today that he has been given the all clear to return to action, with a new contract at the Lilywhites anticipated if he can prove his fitness in the remaining pre-season games.

Speaking on Twitter, Ward said: “6 months after me op I got the all clear today from the doc to go back playing and looking forward to the season now with Dundalk good times.”

He also thanked everyone at Dundalk FC, his physio Paul Cheshire and the PFAI for their support in recent months.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a very happy new year for Louth County Council

 

Sinn Féin councillor Tomás Sharkey clearly had his Weetabix this morning as he’s been busy on Twitter querying a number of decisions made by Louth County Council in recent years.

Cllr Sharkey – who will be seeking re-election next May – has reported that the Celtic Roads Group appealed a land valuation on the M1 motorway and won their case in the Supreme Court, leaving the local authority with a €500,000 legal bill.

He has also been querying a number of land purchases made by the council, most notably the €6.23m paid for land in Dunleer, which had been earmarked for housing but which no homes are now going to be built on. Cllr Sharkey described this as a “financial mess” and has also asked for a review of a purchase of land for €1.1m “despite the fact that a manager advised against that price.”

Furthermore he called for caution after it was revealed that the council are about to buy a house in Ard na Mara in Blackrock for €261,400 when the last house to sell there in 2011 went for just €200,000.

We’ll keep you posted on any further developments on any of these issues.

McClean gives Dundalk duo his seal of approval

Ireland and Wigan winger James McClean has given his seal of approval to Dundalk pair Stephen Kenny and Pat Hoban, branding them the best manager and player in the League of Ireland at present.

McClean was taking part in a Q&A on his Twitter recently when he was asked who the best League of Ireland manager was.

His response was: “Easily Stephen Kenny.”

He was then asked “who would you say was the most impressive player in the LOI last season?’. To this he replied: “Hoban of Dundalk done wonders for them.”

The former Sunderland ace made his breakthrough in Irish football with Derry City and clearly still retains an interest in the league.