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Irish Daily Mirror
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dublin hurling thriving and one club encapsulates what is building in the GAA
'And we're all off to Dublin in the green, in the green, "Where the helmets glisten in the sun, 'Where the camans flash, and the hurleys clash, 'To the rattle of the game hard won...' - The Dubliners (sort of) 1969 There are 30 senior hurling clubs spread across three senior divisions in Dublin and Thomas Davis — founded in 1888 — can hold their heads up with any. They have been county champions, one of only 27, but remain a village/community club - indeed their nickname is 'The Little Village' Tallaght may be the largest 'village' in Ireland but don't doubt its sporting acumen. Thomas Davis are a dual-code senior outfit while Shamrock Rovers reside nearby and Tallaght AC has been Rhasidat Adeleke's springboard. But as club chairman Paul Nugent, Games Development Officer Stephen Stewart, club stalwart Terry Carthy and senior hurler Jack O'Connor can attest, Dublin's 2025 inter-county hurling side is in 'The Ready Position' - just one win away from a first All-Ireland SHC final in 64 years. That was before The Dubliners — with local hero Ciaran Bourke (tin whistle, flute, guitar) one of their three founding members — released their iconic version of The Merry Ploughboy, in 1969. Nugent played all the way through the club's age-grades, senior for 20-odd years, has been involved at intercounty level (1988-91), managed the senior team, been involved in the committees, been football chairman and occupied a few different roles too. But in his first year as chairman he knows there is something very special going on – the surge of excitement about the hurling team can almost be touched. 'Last week and this week has just been phenomenal. I suppose over the last 20 years, it was all about football, and obviously, with the six-in-a-row team, everyone was interested in that but it probably died down a little bit. 'You know, we used to get 82,000 into Croke Park all the time for the footballers but I suppose winning too much can breed a little bit of neglect, let's say. 'When Dublin won that match against Limerick, the surge in anticipation was plain to see, straight away we had hundreds of applications for tickets for the next match — I suppose people are longing to see them doing well. 'It's been creeping up over the last 10 years of effort put into Dublin hurling. I suppose it takes time to compete with the Kilkennys and Corks, who are hurlers all their lives and by nature go to school with a hurley, but we're getting there!' These weeks are camp weeks across the GAA; here on Kiltipper Road they alternate between football and hurling week on week and Thomas Davis is awash with kids, a reflection of a burgeoning underage section. 'We cater for 300 four-to-seven year old kids in our Saturday morning Academy and another 600 at CCC1 and CCC2 levels at weekends,' says Games Development Officer Stephen Stewart, who combines his work at club level with responsibility for 10 primary schools. His is an interesting combination, blowing his whistle, keeping the volunteers busy, handling logistics for different groups/different ages – he's a watchman, full of encouragement and perhaps helped by his primary schools' role, he seems to know every kid's name! Club dual star and 2022-24 Dublin minor football panelist Jack O'Connor is working skills with 11 year-old Ruairí Ó Murchú, part of a wider group on Thomas Davis's astro-pitch. 'Watching the last game and the lads pulling through with the red card. I was in more shock than anything,' says O'Connor. 'I think they kind of just bonded, came together as one team instead of trying to play as 14 individuals unlike the Limerick team on the day. 'They held together, stuck to their tasks, did the basics better. I really like their mix within the team, sure, some are more disciplined than others, some would be more skillful than others, but they've worked these things together and that's been a thing. 'Overall, style-wise I really like the way they work off the ball, try to play easy transfers, and they have been getting into acres of space for free shots, I think that's a great part of their skill. 'Sean Currie has been an unbelievable player for them, highest scorer for Dublin and the highest scorer in the Championship, also Conor Burke, Conor Donohoe.' This semi-final could be a game specifically about goals... 'Especially with the way the Limerick game unfolded. Cian O'Sullivan and John Hetherton's two goals in space a minute proved vital because the Dubs only won by two points. 'I think they will need to think clinically about goals against Cork but they have shown they definitely have goals in them, especially from those long, driven frees.' And yet Dublin hurling is not just about attaining a first All-Ireland final for seven decades, even if it is on the back of All-Ireland titles for Na Fianna (2025) and Cuala (2018 & 2017). They are the first Dublin clubs to have won that but this it was on the shoulders of a hell of a lot of club building - there have been 124 Dublin senior hurling Championships, dating back to 1887. Thomas Davis were on board for the county Championship within a year, a little-known entity from a tiny village against the backdrop of the Dublin mountains, its future as one of the city's thriving sprawls a long way off. Says Nugent of then and now: 'Our current facility was only bought in 1982, before that we were down near the village. We used to have a pitch there that we rented from Kevin Molloy, the local publican. 'Kevin was a barrister by trade, a very professional guy and on the committee here, and was instrumental in us buying this land in the late 1970/80s and starting us off here which was fantastic. 'We have an all-weather facility here albeit it's down 20 years and for which we are hoping to raise a lot of money, maybe ¤500k, to get it recovered alongside two main pitches, one we purchased from An Post probably six or seven years ago and we've recently developed. 'So we have great facilities but we also have over 100 teams so you never have enough facilities. It's always a battle with the county council to try and get enough pitches to cater for maybe 50 home games every weekend or during the week.' Dublin-Cork match will be the focus of this weekend for those who go to Croker, but there will also be those in a heaving and excited clubhouse catching the action. 'Yeah, we have our travel organised, one of the lads here has coaches and buses (Gerry Moore's Ridgway Coaches) so whatever is required it's kind of put out. There's at least a couple of buses going and if the demand is there for more he just puts them on. 'The clubhouse will be packed. We are not simply 'open' to the public for the day, we would always be welcoming to anyone in the local community, and over the last couple of years we've developed what we have to offer here. 'We have a cafe that opens at 9am, serves breakfast and then lunches up to half-two, then Thursday to Sunday we have food upstairs anyway.' Drop down if you are near! Thomas Davis are confident you'll like what you see, a modern, well-run operation, part of the identity of thriving Tallaght. 'It's a big community hub here and we field 100 teams each week. There's just loads of people giving a hand, running things like the Tallaght Festival or the St Patrick's Day parade, you put a small committee together and you try and get things done. 'There's two or three mentors with each team, then you have ground staff, you have committee staff, you are always looking for people to come in and help out and we've over 300 volunteers here -— volunteerism, as most people understand, is actually where the GAA is.' 'Actually it is the young people who are the lifeblood of this club,' says longtime club veteran Terry Carthy. 'They're fantastic, you take those helping at the camps today, they're going to be the Paul Nugents of tomorrow. 'Paul was a coach here one time too — now the young coaches are they're going on to play senior football and senior hurling. That's the way it works here. 'They are a fantastic group of young people, you couldn't get better in any area, in any other sport, because the idea is that it has to be that it is self-sustaining, that has to be your target.' 'You're always working at something,' says Nugent from the Thomas Davis bridge. 'I suppose, there's always a bit of fundraising going on, and here in Tallaght, a lower income area, it can be harder to raise funds. 'Our senior hurlers are in Division 1B, one down from the top echelon. We kind of went up and down a couple of times over the years but it's a big jump and we've struggled with it. 'Our footballers are in the top division, we got to the Championship final in 2020 and we'd be optimistic this year, we have a couple of lads who came back from abroad so it has strengthened our team. 'We have an intermediate team playing in Division 3 and our junior team is playing Division 5 in football so to have three teams at one, three and five is excellent. 'The girls' section is just thriving, imagine we have just one minor (Under-18) boys team but three minor girl teams. 'Obviously then, we are looking to re-cover our all-weather pitch, you're always trying to get a few grants and South Dublin County Council have been good to us over the years, or the government, let's say, with the grants originally. 'We have a big facility here that helps the whole community and we are proud to represent it too.'
Glasgow Times
10-06-2025
- Glasgow Times
Sex attacker tried to rape woman on Glasgow street
Stephen Stewart, 59, was spotted on top of the victim by a shocked passer-by as she headed to work in Glasgow city centre early on October 10, 2023. She immediately dialled 999 - officers soon arrived to find the younger woman still on the ground and Stewart sitting next to her. He later lied: "It is my pal's bird - she asked me to sleep with her." Stewart has now been jailed for four years after he admitted to an attempted rape charge. It emerged at the hearing at the High Court in Glasgow today that he already had 115 previous convictions stretching back to the early 1980s when he was a teenager. None were for sexual offences. Stewart had also been freed early from another prison term when he struck. Prosecutor David McDonald told how the woman had got chatting to Stewart and two other men as she looked for directions. More: Serial sex attacker raped woman he met on Tinder She had never met any of them before. Stewart and the woman later briefly went to where he was staying at the time before heading towards a pub. They eventually ended up at the Clyde Walkway area. Both took drink and drugs. The court heard the woman's next memory was being back where she lived the next afternoon. But, that morning, Stewart had taken advantage of the intoxicated victim. A passing cyclist at the Clyde Walkway had wrongly believed there was "some kind of consensual sexual activity" happening. Mr McDonald: "The woman remained lying on the ground and the witness noted no movement or response from her." A few minutes later, another woman walked past and spotted Stewart with his trousers down. More: 'Disgusting lowlife': Serial ticket scammer conned his own friends She thought he was "attempting to have sex" with the victim "while she was unconscious" and "lifeless". Police arrived and they got the woman up into a seated position, but she remained "unstable". During the probe into the sex attack, she later told officers: "I would not have gone near him with a barge pole." Billy Lavelle, defending, said Stewart had little memory of the incident, but accepted he had done what he had pleaded guilty to. Lord Colbeck cut the jail-term from four and a half years due to the plea. Stewart will also be supervised for a further three years on his release. The judge: "You have received numerous custodial sentences before and were released early from the last of those when you committed this crime. "This was opportunistic having been committed against a woman you had only met the previous day." Stewart was also put on the sex offenders list indefinitely.
Perth Now
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Perth influencers ROASTED by comedians
Stephen Stewart & Brett Quilter. Picture: Alan Chau / The West Australian Five local comedy acts roasted Perth influencers, providing ample laughs for the in-house audience. Attendees enjoyed complimentary drinks and appetisers and included Married at First Sight stars Awhina Rutene, Stephen Stewart, Jesse Burford, Booka Nile, Tracey Jewels, Tell Williams, Vanessa Romito as well as influencers and Tiktokkers. Hosted at The Comedy Lounge, the event was to showcase the venue as purpose built for Perth comedy that is open every week Thursday through to Saturday. Different every time, no two lineups are the same, so whether you go once, twice or a hundred times you'll never see the same show twice.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'A major psychological milestone': Gold surges above US$3000, expected to keep running up
The price of gold surpassed US$3,000 per ounce early on Friday, hitting a symbolic milestone that precious metals mining executives have long thought could rejuvenate investor interest in their sector. 'Gold breaking through US$3,000 is a major psychological milestone,' said Stephen Stewart, chair of Toronto-based Ore Group, which has a long history of starting gold exploration companies. 'While it may test this milestone multiple times before holding, history suggests that once it breaks through barriers decisively, it tends to keep running.' The price of bullion has been steadily rising for more than a year. In 2023, it dipped below US$2,000 per ounce, but has since climbed back and risen more than 38 per cent in the past year alone, spurred by central banks around the world buying bullion and increasingly by investors looking for a safe haven that is disconnected from the volatility of equity markets. Stewart predicted the first impact of gold hitting US$3,000 would be for the so-called majors — industry slang for gold mining companies that are already producing ore — to expect to post larger profits. That will attract more investors, strengthen their balance sheets and grease the wheels for more acquisitions, he said. Eventually, he said, the benefits will 'naturally trickle down' to junior miners, who are exploring for gold, but do not yet have a source of revenue. As a general rule, gold mining and exploration companies have not enjoyed the same bull run during the past few years that has propelled the yellow metal they mine to ever higher peaks, but that's changing. The VanEck Gold Mining ETF, a US$13-billion exchange-traded fund primarily indexed to companies that mine gold and silver, is up 42 per cent in the past year as of Friday morning, which is more than gold itself. The VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF, a US$4.7-billion fund indexed to precious metal explorers, has risen 50.5 per cent in the same timeframe. 'There's a real disconnect between people's perceptions and reality,' said Ammar Al-Joundi, chief executive of Toronto-based Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., which in February surpassed Colorado-based Newmont Corp. as the world's largest gold mining company and now has a market cap of more than $74 billion. Since 2000, the price of gold has multiplied 10 times, which Al-Joundi characterized as a greater value appreciation than the stock market, broadly speaking. But he said most gold mining equities have not risen tenfold during that period. 'The (gold mining) equities haven't kept up with gold, so people look at the equities and say gold is a crappy business, but actually gold is quite good,' he said. Al-Joundi said many gold miners have not managed their capital well in the past, having blown holes in their balance sheets during the last bull run between 2010 and 2012, when gold first poked above US$2,000 per ounce, only to settle down to a range between US$1,400 per ounce and US$1,200 per ounce until around 2019. Although gold poked through US$2,000 per ounce in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic shook investors, it ultimately dipped below that milestone until after Russia invaded Ukraine. Afterwards, Canada and many other Western countries imposed sanctions to freeze Russian assets. Many analysts say the current rise in gold prices can be attributed to increased purchases by central banks, particularly the People's Bank of China, which is often seen as a preemptive defensive action to preserve economic independence as geopolitical turbulence rises. For example, central banks in 2022 and 2023 purchased 1,082 tonnes and 1,037 tonnes of gold, respectively, compared to average annual purchases of 492 tonnes between 2012 and 2021. On top of that, United States President Donald Trump has stormed back into office and asserted a more aggressive foreign policy and economic strategy, including threatening — if not always imposing — a wide array of tariffs that have spooked equity markets. Since early February, the S&P 500 has declined 7.5 per cent while the Nasdaq composite has declined 10.2 per cent. 'Right now, what's impacting gold is just (market) volatility,' Al-Joundi said, 'and people are looking at what's happening geopolitically, which is causing the craziness in the stock markets, which is causing people to worry.' But he said the longer-term trend underpinning the rise in gold's price is that it is both a monetary asset and a hard asset. As governments, such as the U.S. and Canada, print more fiat currency while running larger deficits, he said gold prices will rise. 'I've never considered myself a gold bug,' he said. 'I've considered myself a hard asset bug … as long as governments are printing money like crazy, it will continue to go up.' Such sentiments are widespread in the industry. Eric Sprott, the Canadian billionaire who widely invests in the precious metal exploration sector, recently predicted gold would rise to US$8,000 per ounce because of the U.S. government's fiscal irresponsibility. 'We've had an incredibly bullish stock market, so everybody in the stock market is making a fortune, so they're all saying, 'What do I need gold for?'' he said. But he said it's been 'a whole new era' since gold poked through US$2,000 per ounce in 2023, and investors are once again realizing that it provides a safe haven from many forms of risk. Still, he said hitting US$3,000 per ounce may be more symbolic than meaningful because gold mining equities continue to be grossly undervalued. Many gold miners and explorers trade at market capitalizations that don't provide full value for the gold deposits they claim to have discovered, suggesting perhaps that investors are skeptical they can actually pull it all out of the ground. Precious metal CEOs hope price surge will boost investor interest Canada gets wakeup call that world 'unstable and dangerous place' Aluminum, steel sectors brace for destructive trade war with U.S. Sprott said many junior miners, which are exploring but not yet producing, trade at prices that value their gold assets at US$10 per ounce, which he called ridiculous. 'Ultimately, it won't be very significant,' he said about the US$3,000 per ounce milestone. 'In reality, gold can get to US$8,000.' • Email: gfriedman@ Sign in to access your portfolio
