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Are you in or close to Thurles, Co Tipperary, tomorrow afternoon, Friday October 11th? Why not take a ‘Late Lunch,’ if you are, because Lár na Páirce, the G.A.A. Museum situated here on Slievenamon Road, in the town, will be re-opening its doors, following extensive renovation and upgrading, with the event beginning at 2.30pm.

To perform this official re-opening tomorrow G.A.A. President, Liam O’Neill, will be in attendance, to cut the customary blue and gold ribbon and the museum itself will continue to remain open to the public from 2.00pm – 4.00 pm. To facilitate your visit tomorrow, historian Mr Seamus King and his team will be on hand to take you on a free tour throughout this wonderful newly revamped facility.
For those of you not familiar with the museum building of late, Lár na Páirce was the first museum in Ireland dedicated to telling the story of Gaelic Games, well why not, after all lest we forget it was here in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, that the Gaelic Athletic Association was first founded in 1884.
What Can We Expect To See At Lár na Páirce?
Following latest renovations Lár na Páirce GAA Museum will again welcome tours on a regular basis. Visiting groups can choose to explore the collection on their own or be guided by one of the expert tour guides on hand. Throughout the year, a range of special offers will be made available to visiting groups; e.g. primary and secondary schools, bus tours, active retirement group, GAA clubs, etc.
There are true-to-life exhibitions on Hurling, Gaelic Football, Handball, Camogie, Hurley Making, Sports Broadcasting, and of course the rare Sam Melbourne Collection of GAA memorabilia, latter worthy of viewing solely in its own right.
The newly vamped museum will now be open Monday to Saturday 10.00 am – 5.30 pm, so do come and follow the path of Irish Sporting Legends and learn about the history and development of Hurling and Gaelic Football, from the myth and legend right through to modern times.
You can call to book your group for a tour of this amazing facility by Telephoning 0504-22702.
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Click on “Green Icon” on map for directions.
 Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary
Enda Kenny was busy down in Castlebar today, attempting to make 60 Senators redundant.
Meanwhile back here in Thurles, Co Tipperary, those placed with the custodial responsibility for the property of others, were also busy little bees, behaving in a somewhat secretive and similar fashion, attempting to reduce the turnover of one of our town’s historical landmarks and a world renowned place of annual pilgrimage.
Receiverships, even in Ireland, are normally observed as an equitable solution whose purpose is to protect a distressed company’s tangible and intangible assets. The obligations of receivers, both moral and otherwise when appointed, come under two headings;
(1) Secure and realise the entity and assets of the company to which they are assigned and where possible retain employees.
(2) Manage the affairs of the company in order to resolve all / any debts outstanding.
As a former employee of the hotel industry for many years, I find myself, when in need of a cup of coffee or a bite to eat, being drawn more to Hotels rather than the Tea Shop or the local Take-Away. As a lover of local history and folklore, you can therefore usually expect to find me supping my cup of coffee in a quiet corner of our famous landmark hostelry known worldwide as Hayes Hotel, home of the GAA and situated here in the very heart of Thurles.
In April last, Hayes Hotel, Thurles, went into receivership. No great shame on its current owners, who had dared to dream, taken a business gamble which if successful would have offered badly needed and considerable full time and part-time employment to our rural community. Six years ago encouraged by our now retired bankers they borrowed and were encouraged to do so, in the name of further necessary business expansion. This encouraged business accepted finance, gambled and lost heavily, when those who had offered umbrellas on sunny days recalled same at the first sign of cloudy sky. (Our readers will have met some of these same banking fraternity today, who despite being in receipt of vast pensions, were contracted to ‘strut their stuff’ behind polling booth tables, drawing lines through voters names, practically everywhere around this island of ours. This is despite the needs of 410,000 unemployed persons who could have happily undertaken this work and supplemented their meagre incomes.)
Having fallen on hard times, KPMG appointed receivers to Hayes Hotel, who confirmed that business would continue as normal and there would be no noticeable interruptions to current day-to-day trading activity. The hotel would continue to fully honour all customer bookings, all deposits and all current memberships.
The appointment of this new management operation was seen here by Thurles residents and business people as yet another blow to an already ailing uncertain rural town economy forced to resort to the use of savings to retain their essential staff and fund new trading stock.
I had noticed during my past few visits to Hayes that my favourite good humoured receptionist was missing, so on my visit this morning I had reason to query her absence as two friends had asked me to book a double room for next weekend. “She does not work here any more and we do not offer accommodation presently,” came the rather apologetic reply from the polite receptionist. With offers of help to obtain alternative accommodation I retreated to the bar area and having concluded other business, I left to make further discreet local inquiries as to the hotels welfare.
The following information gleaned from others, including previous employees, (Current Management point blankly refused to discuss the situation) revealed that since going into receivership in April there has been a systematic down grading of the profitable aspects of this establishment.
Hard working staff have now been cast out to exist on the generosity of the Irish Free State via Dole and Redundancy payments. In recent weeks essential staff; e.g. two Receptionists, two Night Porters, a Resident Disc Jockey and two House Keepers have had their employment terminated. Bedrooms are now closed, the nightclub is closed. Unconfirmed reports from these staff also state that essential maintenance is being undertaken by non local contract operators.
Is it impossible to make a profit from an already established popular weekend Nightclub and is it impossible not to make a profit from bedroom accommodation, even if staff employed were being paid slightly over and above the minimum hourly wage? Why are profitable aspects of this trading enterprise now being closed up?
Local readers stop and think for a moment and ask the questions; “What would Liberty Square be like if this hotel is to be abandoned?” Is Hayes Hotel being deliberately reduced to a valueless entity in time for the next AllSop Space auction? Is it now to be a case of “Last out, please turn off the lights?”
KPMG and their appointed receivers know the answer, but may need reminding that Hayes Hotel is not simply just another property. For many it is a place of annual pilgrimage and a national monument, whose patrons should not be angered. Politicians would do well to remember that Tipperary fired the first shots of the war of Independence once before and just may decide to do the same again before the next election.
If ten jobs had being made available in Thurles this morning, Enda Kenny, RTE, the head of the IDA (whatever his name is), Richard Bruton, Noel Coonan and their ‘handlers’ would have all been strutting around town displaying puffed up chests, spitting out dodgy CSO statistics on their success in creating employment. Unemployment like emigration on the other hand are dirty words best not discussed in any great detail.
Let us see if our Dublin orientated national news seeking journalistic friends will cover this catastrophe, concerning rural Ireland, in their newspapers this week.
 Montjue / Finsceal Beo Colt
A son of ‘Montjeu,’ out of ‘Finsceal Beo,’ (Latter Irish translation “Living Legend”) is heading to Ballydoyle, Fethard, Tipperary, having sold for €2.85 million to Michael Vincent (MV) Magnier, son of Coolmore supremo John Magnier.
Montjeu, who won the French and Irish Derby’s as well as the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe and the King George, was a high-class sire for Coolmore, who died last year aged 16. During his lifetime he sired three Derby winners as well as the Champion Hurdler ‘Hurricane Run.’
The 2006 European Champion filly Finsceal Beo is one of only two horses ever to win both the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the English 1,000 Guineas. She missed her chance at a “Triple” when she ran second in France to Darjina in the 2007 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches at Longchamp Racecourse.
While not quite a Goffs Orby sale record, Montjeu is the most expensive yearling of the past 25 years, outshining the previous €2.4 million paid for Jane Eyre in 2007, latter which until now was the second most expensive horse ever to be sold at an Irish auction. The record of €3.1 million still stands unsurpassed by Authaal, the Irish St Leger winner; latter a Shergar colt purchased in 1984.
An opening bid of €1 million for the colt were initially sought, however the auctioneer had to revert to €100,000 to get proceedings underway. Bids quickly bounced back and forth in quick succession, eventually silenced by the winning bid of €2.85 million.
The Al-Eile Stud bred colt is the third foal out of Finsceal Beo and his sale remains the highest price for any yearling in the northern hemisphere for this year.
The Tipperary County Board have announced new hurling managers at Under-21 and Minor levels.
The Under-21 side will now be managed by TJ Connolly of Cashel King Cormacs while the Minors will be managed by Liam Cahill, Ballingarry.
The news comes after the board confirmed earlier that Ken Hogan and William Maher had stepped down as Under-21 and Minor hurling managers.
Speculation about Ken Hogan’s managerial future is now likely to intensify. The Lorrha-Dorrha clubman has been linked with the vacant Limerick and Offaly jobs in recent weeks, following the departure of John Allen and Ollie Baker.
Hogan had completed four years as Under 21 manager and led Tipperary to Munster and All-Ireland titles in 2010, while Maher led the county to Munster and All Ireland Minor hurling titles in 2012.
The new appointments were confirmed at last night’s County Board meeting in Semple Stadium, Thurles, Co Tipperary.
North Tipperary’s Greg Broderick and the five-year-old mare Arraghbeg Clover produced a stunning victory for the Irish Sport Horse Studbook at the World Breeding Championships at Lanaken in Belgium.
Despite some poor weather conditions earlier this week, the event attracted an enormous crowd of enthusiastic breeders, producers, riders, trainers, owners and experts from around the world, all who thoroughly enjoyed their annual reunion.
These Championships have long been recognised as the perfect place to share ideas, and compare the merit, development, innovation and success of the studbooks, old and new, which produce the latest stars of the modern day sport of Jumping.
The gold-medal-winning partnership of Greg Broderick and the ISH Arraghbeg Clover were eighteenth to go, and they set an unmerciful target when breaking the beam in 39.72 seconds after a scorching round in which the Tipperary rider took every risk.
This mare, by Captain Clover who is a son of the legendary Irish stallion Clover Hill, has a mix of breeding that combines the toughness of the Irish horse with the quality of the thoroughbred, Bonnie Prince, on his dam’s side and with the Dutch influence of Animo.
Greg, who celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday, is a prolific producer of good Irish horses and Arraghbeg Clover has earned €19,000 in prize money in the last few months having won the Irish Sport Horse Studbook 5-Year-Old League and the Breeders Classic, while also finishing third in her age category at Dublin Horse Show in August.
Arraghbeg Clover – Captain Clover x Bonnie Prince – is jointly-owned by her rider and Declan Orpen.
From a start list of some 242 horses, 63 qualified for yesterday’s 5-Year-Old final in which 25 went through to a jump-off.
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