Latest news with #Athenry
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Potential Galway Plate coup as local horse goes from 25/1 to 8/1
Galway has been buzzing all morning about a potential local coup in the Plate. Whispers recalling the exploits of meeting winners such Oh So Grumpy (1994), Ansar (2001), the legendary Caradak (2004), Sir Frederick (2007) and Blazing Tempo (2011) ran on the wind. As talk that Athenry's Paul Gilligan could be about join the list of those such as Jessica Harrington with Oh So Grumphy, Dermot Weld with Ansar and Willie Mullins with Blazing Tempo, who had landed sensational gambles at Ballybrit. The odds on Gilligan's eight-year-old Buddy One for the Galway Plate and who will be ridden by his son Jack were as a high as 25/1 just five days ago had come in as far 8/1. A high-class hurdler, the son of Sans Frontieres counts a win at Cheltenham's November meeting on his CV as well as two wins at Galway, including over the same distance as today's Galway Plate. As it stands, Paul Gilligan is no stranger to success at his local track, but a win in the €270,000 feature race of the seven-day meeting will be the biggest win in his and Buddy One's career. 'Buddy One has long been on our radar as one to keep an eye on in the Galway Plate and the support for this horse has been relentless," notes Brian O'Keeffe, spokesperson for Boyle Sports. "If father and son duo Paul and Jack Gilligan land this big pot, there will be tears of joy for a whole host of punters and tears of sorrow for a lot of us bookies.' Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
BreakingNews.ie
02-07-2025
- Climate
- BreakingNews.ie
Last month was the fourth warmest June on record
Last month was the fourth warmest June on record, according to Met Éireann. The highest temperature recorded was 29.6C in Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon on June 20th, which is also the warmest temperature this year. Advertisement Mean temperatures for the month ranged from 13.7 °C (1.2 °C above its LTA) at Knock Airport, Co Mayo to 15.6 °C (1.7 °C above its LTA) at Phoenix Park, Co Dublin. The final third of the month has been remarkably hot for Europe, when an intense area of high pressure built over mainland Europe, provoking heatwave conditions to develop over it. While this happened over mainland Europe, Ireland stayed on the cloudier northern edge of the heat dome, which brought some uncomfortably high nighttime temperatures, contributing to the high June temperatures overall. All of the warmest June temperatures have been recorded in the last 20 years, with the other warmest June's in 2023, 2018, 2010 and 2006, with 2023 the warmest in history. Advertisement The average temperature last month was 15.10 °C. It was also the wettest June since 2022, and the 24th wettest since 1941. Percentage of monthly rainfall values ranged from 56 per cent, the month's lowest monthly rainfall total of 47.0 mm, at Cork Airport, Co Cork to 206 per cent, the month's highest monthly rainfall total of 165.0 mm, at Athenry, Co Galway. The highest daily rainfall total was 42.6 mm at Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin on Saturday June 14th. The number of rain days* ranged from 19 days at both Dublin Airport, and Casement Aerodrome, Co Dublin to 26 days at both Athenry, Co Galway and Claremorris, Co Mayo.
Irish Times
19-06-2025
- Climate
- Irish Times
Ireland weather: Hottest day of the year recorded in Roscommon
The hottest day of the year so far has been recorded at Mount Dillion in Co Roscommon where temperatures peaked at 27C, according to provisional figures released by Met Éireann tonight. It surpassed the 25.9C that was measured in Athenry, Co Galway at the end of April. Several other stations including Athenry, Mullingar, Casement Aerodrome in Dublin and Shannon Airport all reached at least 26C over the course of the day which started off misty across much of the country followed by long spells of summer sunshine. It is likely to be more of the same of Friday with temperatures set to reach close to 29C in some parts of the country. It will be hottest in the north of the country and overall dry, although showers may break out locally. READ MORE There will be mostly moderate southeast breezes. UV levels will be high (6-7) in the coming days. Met Éireann advises a UV index of 3 or above calls for additional protection due to the potential for skin damage. Seeking shade during midday hours and using SFF are both strongly encouraged Plan your day to limit time in the sun when UV is strongest, typically between 11am and 3pm. High night-time temperatures in summer can be more impactful than high daytime temperatures, especially on the vulnerable, the forecaster warns. Saturday will see a continuation of the warm sunshine with a scattering of showers, some heavy and possibly thundery. Temperatures are expected to reach up to 25 degrees and it will be warmest across the eastern half of the country, with light to moderate southwesterly winds. Sunday looks fresher and breezier with highest temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees, according to Met Éireann. There will be some showery rain alongside the sunny spells, with brisk westerly winds. Looking ahead into the start of next week, similar conditions are likely to prevail with fresh westerly winds steering in a scattering of passing showers and sunshine at times in between.
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way by Elaine Feeney review – a satisfying tale of memory and place
Elaine Feeney's third novel, following the success of her prize-winning debut As You Were and the Booker-longlisted How to Build a Boat, focuses on Claire O'Connor, a woman who has moved from London back to Athenry in the west of Ireland in the wake of her mother's death. Her new life is disturbed when she finds her ex-partner Tom has moved in down the road. Or rather, that's one thread in a story that becomes steadily more interesting than this simple set-up from the romance novelist's playbook, as layers of family memory and trauma build up to form a portrait of the wider O'Connor family: all their history, the way it has shaped them and the traces it has left on the places around. Claire shows herself to be unusually attuned to the history of her home place, telling stories about nearby Thoor Ballylee, where Yeats lived; Lady Gregory's Coole Park; the place where Cromwell used to stable his horses. At first it seems a bit forced, a writer shoehorning in their research. But the tic begins to make sense as the marks of the past on Claire's family are revealed; slowly, one realises that the enumeration of these histories is crucial to the way the O'Connors live. Central to this gradual discovery is Feeney's use of stories-within-the-story; the novel is enlivened by a series of smaller, contained memories from Claire's childhood, and tales reaching back a century to the time when the O'Connors first lived in the family home. These are fascinating interludes breaking up the main plot, which is the slow and not very complex thawing of Claire's relationship with Tom, a recovery that seems to allow her to complete her cycle of grieving for her parents. In these shorter stories, which are like currants in the cake, we get access to the depths of her family's life: heartbreaking glimpses of her father's attempt to sell a horse to the queen of England's breeders, and of the appalling violence visited on the family by the Black and Tans. These are the kinds of memories that can go on to define whole lives, and illuminate the more humdrum present Claire is living in. It slowly emerges that really, this novel tells the story of a house. Feeney has created a brilliant metaphor in the O'Connor family home, a modern bungalow with the old farmhouse looming behind it. Like the fairy tree at the bottom of the farm, the family have come to believe they can never pull the old house down, lest it bring them bad luck; but this looming cavern of memory seems to offer very little access to past happiness, only past pain. By the end of Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way, the novel has become a story about what a family should do with its past. It's a hugely satisfying, sophisticated structure, and the apparent thinness of Claire and Tom's story ceases to matter, because it's only the first layer of a more complex work. Aspects of the novel are less successful. Claire finds herself drawn into the world of tradwives, and begins taking lifestyle tips from an Instagram account run by one of these women. This dalliance with what are essentially hard-right politics isn't particularly well ironised, and Claire seems to simply snap out of it. She realises there is no lost perfect time, only different hardship; but the discovery isn't given enough room to make sense, so all the pages of baking end up seeming like a fever dream that's never quite explained. Feeney is also capable of writing very, very unsuccessful dialogue: 'You're not dragging me into your murky confusion, Claire.' 'I forget sometimes.' 'Forget what?' 'All the people I've met – since.' 'Since?' 'Us.' This can make the characters sound a bit thick, which they manifestly aren't. However, the novel's baggy, complex, unfolding structure offers rich rewards. Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way by Elaine Feeney is published by Harvill Secker (£16.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
The Independent
05-06-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Ireland has warmest spring in 126 years
Spring this year had the highest average temperature ever experienced in 126 years of records held by Met Eireann, it has said. This year marked the first spring that was more than two degrees higher than the 20th century average for the same period. Overall, it was the sunniest spring on record, with most stations recording highest values for total hours of sunshine in spring, according to the meteorological service. The season's highest temperature was reported at Athenry in Co Galway on Wednesday with a temperature of 25.9C – the highest daily maximum spring temperature in 15 years of records. Spring 2025 was also relatively dry, provisionally ranking as the 16th driest since records began in 1941, and the driest since 2020. As a result of the warmer, sunnier and calmer conditions, a marine heatwave developed off the west coast of Ireland through April and May with sea surface temperatures reaching over 2C warmer than average in some coastal areas, and up to 4C warmer than average in offshore areas. The latest Met Eireann statistics show that Ireland had its warmest and sunniest meteorological spring on record this year. Blocking high pressure dominated through most of the season, bringing a lot of sunshine with it, it added. It said that this, along with predominantly easterly winds due to the high-pressure systems often setting up just to the north of Ireland and the UK, led to sea surface temperatures to the south and west of Ireland reaching record high levels during April and May. All three months saw air temperatures well above average at the majority of stations, leading to all but a few stations in the east having their warmest spring on record. March was mild, dry and sunny, with high pressure dominating through most of the month with weak steering currents aloft, it added. April was warm and sunny overall. The first half of the month was dominated by high pressure to the north bringing a dry easterly airflow. The second half of the month saw a wetter spell for a couple of weeks, where Atlantic low pressure dominated and brought several spells of heavy rain, especially to the Midlands, South and East. It settled down again towards the end of the month with high pressure bringing record warmth for April. May continued the theme of high-pressure dominance for much of the month. Blocking high pressure set up just to the north brought an easterly airflow with plenty of sunshine. The settled spell broke for the last week of the season, with Atlantic low pressure breaking through and bringing spells of rain or showers. Twenty-three of 25 stations had their warmest spring on record. Only Dunsany in Co Meath had its second warmest and Dublin Airport had its joint third warmest. Oak Park in Co Carlow, Moore Park, Co Cork, Athenry, Co Galway and Casement, Co Dublin recorded their warmest spring on record for the third consecutive years, while Roches Point, Co Cork and Markree, Co Sligo had their warmest spring for the second year in a row.
