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BreakingNews.ie
11-07-2025
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Ireland's Greenest Places 2025: Nominations to close on July 19th
The final countdown is on for entries to Ireland's Greenest Places 2025 with only days remaining for people to submit their nominations. To enter all you have to do is write a short submission outlining the contribution the special place or project you're nominating makes to a genuinely greener environment. Advertisement But you'll have to act fast to be in with a chance to claim the title for the place you select, as the closing date of July 19th is fast approaching. So far 85 nominations have been received but organisers are hoping to see that figure rise over the next week. The initiative which has been launched by The Irish Times, in association with Electric Ireland, will see each nominated place judged on specific criteria including its beneficial environmental impact, level of ongoing collective engagement by the community and evidence of behavioural change by people. The Chair of the Judging Panel, Irish Times Features editor Mary Minihan said they will be looking for places which offer a vision of a more sustainable future. Advertisement 'We chose place because it's a deliberately broad term. People can nominate a suburb, village, town or community such as a peninsula, island or other distinct area anywhere on the island. The key will be how it measures up against the criteria outlined above as well of course as care for nature and the local environment. Pictured at the launch of The Irish Times Ireland's Greenest Places 2025 in association with Electric Ireland are Beth Healy (12), Laura Gargiuto Keenan (12) and Jaxon Okon (2). 'Over the next couple of months our judges will draw up longlists and shortlists based on the submissions, visit the front-runners, choose winners in each category and eventually choose an overall winner. We are looking forward so much to hearing from people from each of the 32 counties as soon as possible to help us identify Ireland's Greenest Places 2025. But please submit your nominations as soon as possible, as the closing date is July 19th.' Former Green Party leader and minister for the environment Eamon Ryan, who is one of the judges, said one of the key objectives of the competition is to showcase the contributions people and communities are making to a greener Ireland. "We know that Irish people care about climate change and that they are concerned about its effects on their lives. We also know that place-based solutions deliver climate actions that really work because they are developed and underpinned by community ownership.' Advertisement Pictured at the launch of The Irish Times Ireland's Greenest Places 2025 in association with Electric Ireland are Beth Healy (12) and Jaxon Okon (2). 'With this initiative we want to celebrate what's happening in so many locations around the country, share those learnings as widely as possible and encourage more people to get involved in making their community a better place to live now and into the future." Electric Ireland's Lisa Browne said the company is proud to partner with The Irish Times as the sponsor of Ireland's Greenest Places and that she is looking forward to seeing the wonderful stories come in from communities around Ireland about their journey to a more sustainable life. Joining Mary Minihan, Eamon Ryan and Lisa Browne on the judging panel will be Irish Times Environment Editor Kevin O'Sullivan and Senior Features Writer Rosita Boland. If you know a place in Ireland that deserves recognition for its contribution to a greener future, visit to submit your nomination.
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Is your community letting wild flowers grow or encouraging cycling? Could your area be one of Ireland's Greenest Places?
The Irish Times is looking for readers to nominate Ireland's Greenest Places , which they believe deserve to be recognised for their projects - big or small. Is your town planting bee-friendly bulbs or native trees? Is your suburb encouraging cycling and walking with better cycle paths or pedestrianisation? Is your community letting green spaces grow wild or using non-toxic weed solutions? Is your village helping younger people to understand the nature around them? You can nominate a suburb, village, town or community across Ireland's 32 counties for any of their wide-ranging efforts to improve our environment. How can I nominate a place? Below is find a simple form that allows you to enter a short 'pitch' of up to 300 words for your nominee for best green place, in association with Electric Ireland. The categories are: READ MORE Ireland's greenest suburb Ireland's greenest village Ireland's greenest town Ireland's greenest community You can read some of the entries so far: From Dún Laoghaire's active travel to Kiltimagh's biodiversity park You can read more from Kevin O'Sullivan on the competition here.
The 42
28-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Waterford crowned All-Ireland minor hurling champions for first time since 2013
Waterford 1-17 Clare 0-10 Páraic McMahon reports from FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles WATERFORD ARE ALL-IRELAND minor hurling champions for the fourth time after producing an impressive display to overcome Clare for the second time this year. A first All-Ireland minor title since 2013 is the reward for James O'Connor's Déise who emerged as deserving winners on Saturday evening. 12 years ago their side included Stephen Bennett, Tom Devine, Austin Gleeson, Patrick Curran and Shane Bennett but the class of 2025 were led by marksman Cormac Spain, Tommy Kennedy, Shane Power and Darragh Keane to ensure goalkeeper James Comerford received The Irish Press Cup from GAA President, Jarlath Burns. Burns in his presentation speech noted that victorious manager O'Connor was in the third year in charge, a tenure which began without recording a championship victory in year one, the journey included one win in year two but the destination arrived at is the promised land for his third year at the helm. Played in front of an attendance of 16,411, Waterford had the wind at their backs in the opening half of the Electric Ireland minor final. They had a dream start when wing forward Pierce Quann goaled inside the first minute as the Clare defence were caught napping. Points from Cormac Spain and Shane Power followed as they built up a five point advantage. By the 13th minute, Clare had made it a one score game with only three points between the sides. However, Waterford produced a very strong second quarter which included an unanswered tally of five points to close out the half and hold a 1-12 0-5 interval lead. Advertisement Waterford's Eanna McHugh with Clare's Evan Cleary and Dara Kennedy. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO Ger O'Connell's Clare needed to start with a bang in the second half and they had three scores on the bounce via John Barry on the double and one from Ian O'Brien. That was as good as it got for the Banner who only hit two points for the remainder of the game. Ballygunner ace Cormac Spain continued to be the scorer in chief over the hour, finishing with eleven points to his name, he picked some off excellent efforts and it was made all the more impressive as he was visibly carrying a knee injury but persevered. Waterford stayed resolute despite holding a comfortable lead and through Spain and Shane Power they kept their account ticking over to run out as deserving winners by a margin of ten points, an increase on their six point victory when the sides met in the Munster championship at the beginning of May. Dara Kennedy and Zak Phelan impressed for Clare who found that their attacking threat was well nullified on the day. Spain was player of the game excelling at full forward with Shane Power effective in the air and when given the time to shoot. Tommy Kennedy, Gearoid O'Shea, Bradley Penkert and Darragh Keane also stood out for the All-Ireland champions. Scorers for Waterford: C Spain (0-11 6f), P Quann (1-0), S Power (0-3), G O'Shea (0-2), E McHugh (0-1), T Kennedy (0-1) Scorers for Clare: J Barry (0-3 3f), P Rodgers (0-2 1f 1SC), L Murphy (0-2), B Talty (0-1), I O'Brien (0-1), D Murrihy (0-1). Waterford 1. James Comerford (Ballygunner); 3. Darragh Murphy (St Mary's East), 4. Darragh Keane (De La Salle), 2. Conor Lynch (Geraldines) 5. Bradley Penkert (Mount Sion), 6. Hugo Quann (Lismore), 7. Tommy Kennedy (Mount Sion) 8. Éanna McHugh (Roanmore), 9. Gearóid O'Shea (St Molleran's) 12. Shane Power (De La Salle), 11. Jack Power (Ballygunner), 10. Pierce Quinn (Dungarvan) 13. Dylan Murphy (Roanmore), 14. Cormac Spain (Ballygunner), 15. Jamie Shanahan (Erins Own). Subs Clare 1. Leon Talty (St Joseph's Doora/Barefield) 3. Jack O'Halloran (Sixmilebridge), 2. Niall Doyle (Éire Óg), 4. Zak Phelan (Sixmilebridge); 5. Evan Crimmins (Newmarket-on-Fergus), 6. Dara Kennedy (Ballyea), 7. Colm Daly (St Joseph's Doora/Barefield); 8. Graham Ball (St Joseph's Doora/Barefield), 9. Evan Cleary (Ballyea); 13. Ian O'Brien (Cratloe), 10. Rory Ralph (Clarecastle), 11. James O'Donnell (Broadford); 14. Paul Rodgers (Scariff), 15. Liam Murphy (O'Callaghans Mills), 12. Ben Talty (St Joseph's Doora/Barefield). Subs 20. John Barry (Inagh/Kilnamona) for Ralph (28) 21. Gavin Marshall (Parteen/Meelick) for B Talty (45) 17. Darragh Murrihy (Inagh/Kilnamona) for Cleary (51) 24. Jake Gibbons (Whitegate) for O'Donnell (60) 22. Donncha Mahon (Clooney/Quin) for Murphy (63) Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim)
Irish Times
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Limerick great insists half-empty Croke Park played key role in Dublin hurlers' shock win
Limerick , victims of their own success. It is an intriguing take on the All-Ireland hurling favourites' unlikely loss to Dublin that the muted surroundings in an 'empty stadium effectively' got to a team more used to operating, and thriving, in the chaos and turbulence of packed-out grounds. A fortnight after contesting an epic Munster final in front of a sell-out 43,580 at their own TUS Gaelic Grounds base, former Limerick forward Graeme Mulcahy reckons Croke Park last Saturday afternoon probably felt like a ghost town in comparison. Limerick's All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin was the first game of a double header that attracted 36,546 in total. Even if they'd all been in the stadium at the one time, the place would have been less than half-full. READ MORE When the volume did crank up in the second half, it was mainly because of the Dublin football fans arriving in advance of their team's All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final against Cork . Mulcahy says this had a '15th man' effect for the Dublin hurlers, offsetting the earlier dismissal of Chris Crummey. Speaking ahead of the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor championship finals, Mulcahy pointed to the unlikely early wide struck by Aaron Gillane as an indication of a team not quite tuned in. 'I think it can have a massive effect,' said Mulcahy of a quiet stadium. 'Psychologically, if you're not prepared for that and if you haven't spoken about it, it can have a huge effect. I think if that game had come down to Thurles, you would have had probably three times the amount of Limerick fans at the game that were in Croke Park. 'On the flip side of that, you wouldn't have had as many Dublin fans travel. I think that would have added to giving Limerick an edge, certainly in terms of their performance. That was lacking in Croke Park.' Former Limerick hurler Graeme Mulcahy at the launch of the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor championship finals at Croke Park. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho Mulcahy, a five-time All-Ireland winner, called it quits at county level after the 2024 season. He has vast experienced of the cauldron-like atmosphere on Munster championship game days and in All-Ireland finals when Croke Park is full. 'I think trying to come down off a Munster final, and probably a Munster final that will live long in people's memories in terms of the drama, and then going to Croke Park a couple of weeks later, an empty stadium effectively with little or no atmosphere, you could hear the referee's whistle echoing around the stadium for the first five, 10 minutes,' said Mulcahy. 'It was just a completely different experience for that Limerick team. The whole game felt flat for that first 15, 20 minutes, aside from maybe a bit of intensity that Dublin brought. 'I think in the first couple of minutes of the game, Aaron Gillane had an easy enough free by his standards and it just went wide. Even the umpires weren't tuned in at that point and it went to Hawk-Eye. 'Whatever little atmosphere was in the stadium was sucked out of the stadium at that point. I think that really played into Dublin's hands, just allowing them to get a bit of a foothold in the game. 'It didn't allow Limerick to make the blistering start they might have wanted to make. Dublin then just kept in the game for that first 15, 20 minutes. Obviously they had a sending off and after that, I think they got a bit of confidence and they got a bit of oxygen. 'The Dublin football fans coming in as well, they effectively gave Dublin back that 15th man. I just think Limerick were never really hitting the pitch that they wanted to hit.' Finishing a year without any silverware for the first time since 2017, and for only the second time in John Kiely's nine-season reign, has prompted talk of the end of an era. Mulcahy doesn't buy it. His expectations are as follows; that Cork will win the All-Ireland, that Limerick will lose a player or two in the usual winter reshuffle and that Kiely will stay on to lead a freshly energised group in 2026. 'I think people want to see it as an end of an era,' he said, pointing to rival counties. 'They want Limerick gone away and I just hope that's not the case. You'll always lose a couple but I think if they keep the core group together and take the learnings from this year, I think they'll be competitive again next year.'
Irish Times
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Sean Cavanagh believes ‘the sight of a Dublin jersey' can inspire Tyrone to come of age
If Tyrone fail to beat Dublin in Saturday evening's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final, that'll be just nine wins in the championship from 21 outings since they won the All-Ireland four years ago . Dig down into that poor record and it reveals three seasons that ended early: at the qualifier stage in 2022, at the quarter-final stage in 2023 when they were heavily beaten by Kerry, and at the preliminary quarter-final stage last year, when Roscommon dumped them out. Only once have they won two championship games in a row in that period, while they were dumped out of Division One earlier this season . Seán Cavanagh understands that if Tyrone lose to Dublin at Croke Park on Saturday, it's going to be another long winter. READ MORE He is in an optimistic mood, though, when speaking at a promotion to highlight the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor championship finals. For starters, he feels Dublin are in the same boat; needing to win to avoid the season being a failure but knowing that, if they do win, anything is then possible. Having viewed the last few years since that 2021 All-Ireland final defeat of Mayo as 'rebuild territory', he reckons the foundations are now in place for a new era of Tyrone success. 'What a chance this is to re-announce ourselves back at the top table of football,' said Cavanagh, who won three All-Irelands in his playing days with the Red Hand County. 'I said this to the boys when I was leaving [in 2017], when Dublin beat us well, that there was an All-Ireland in this team,' he recalled. 'It almost felt that 2021, when they did win it, was the work of a seven-, eight- or nine-year period. 'A lot of those lads, the Mattie Donnellys, Petey Hartes, Conor Meyler, all those lads, Paudie Hampsey, they'd been building and had been the backbone of our 2015 All-Ireland Under-21 winning team. Kieran McGeary obviously as well. 'So I almost felt that was the pinnacle of that group, 2021. It felt like we were in a bit of rebuild territory after that and there were a lot of guys that left the year after. 'It's only really now that we feel we're kind of back where Tyrone football should be. But equally, and this kind of goes back to needing to win on Saturday evening, would beating Cavan and beating Donegal represent a great championship season for Tyrone? I don't think so. Former Tyrone footballer Seán Cavanagh at a preview event for the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor finals at Croke Park. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho 'And look, the Donegal game was brilliant, a good performance, but I think we need more this year. So where we find ourselves is that if we want to get more, then we have to take out the Dubs in Croke Park. You can flip that around very quickly and say to the lads, 'look, what an opportunity this is for that team to really go and announce themselves'. 'I think if we were to come to Croke Park and beat the Dubs, that would be as good a performance as we had in the All-Ireland in '21.' Asked if the rebuild in Tyrone is complete, or if it will take another couple of years to fully integrate players from the All-Ireland winning Under-20 teams of 2022, 2024 and 2025, Cavanagh was again optimistic. 'I think the balance we have across the team, the age profile we have, it's really good,' said the five-time All Star. 'You have Petey Harte and Mattie Donnelly and these lads who are absolutely at the top end of their careers. The experience they can give is huge. 'We have a lovely bunch of players in the mid-to-late 20s category then. Then we have an incredible array of underage lads that are all going to drop into the mix and have dropped into the mix already. Just look at Eoin McElholm from the 20s and what he can bring. 'You get the feeling there's a big opportunity in the next few years in Tyrone to go back to being in All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, and expecting to be there. 'I think watching our near neighbours Armagh win last year and seeing where they're at at the minute, that will have stoked the fires enough for us to say, 'yeah, we have to get back there and we have the talent to get back there and we have the management to get back there'. It feels like all the building blocks are there for us to do it. It's just about time now that we have to arrive.' That vital consistency is the final missing piece for Tyrone. Their results so far in this year's championship sums things up for them; beat Cavan, lose to Armagh, beat Donegal, lose to Mayo, beat Cavan again. Cavanagh expects the sight of the Dublin jersey to inspire their best form. 'I think the sight of Croke Park and the sight of the Dubs and the sky blue jersey will definitely bring out whatever's in those players right now,' he said. 'As a supporter, I do feel there's a big performance in the team. I think the players all see it in that way. They'll all see it as an opportunity to bring it on Saturday night. 'Any time Tyrone has a good year, it usually takes a big game and the sight of something that will energise and excite the team to get it out of themselves. So I'm cautiously optimistic that the sight of a Dublin jersey on a Saturday night in Croke Park will do that.'
