Search Results for 'Congress'

Local MOHH salon owner Maeve O’Healy-Harte has recently secured the OMC European Championships in Hairdressing and Beauty for Ireland in May 2011.

Summer is here and the time has come to bare more flesh. So rather than hide under loose fitting clothes this summer why not feel proud to show off your body.

A special Camogie congress took place in sweltering sunshine in Croke Park last Saturday and a number of issues were up for discussion. The most major development to have occurred was that the Camogie association has voted overwhelmingly in favour of the ‘Go Games’ model where all counties will be participating.

The GAA's decision to scrap the scoring difference in favour of the head to head format left the association with egg on its face last weekend, as all bar one of the last round league games ended up being nothing more than glorified challenge matches. The only game of any real importance was the relegation battle between Dublin and Limerick.

The confirmation last evening of the story that we brought you first last week, that Galway is to host the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2012, brings to an end a remarkable series of negotiations that have concluded with a tremendous fillip for everyone here in the west. With the state of the economy and few lights on the horizon, the promise of this remarkable event is something that the entire region can plan around for the next two years.

Delegates at special congress last Saturday gave Galway and Antrim the green light to compete in Leinster for the next three years. There were a number of proposals down for decision but without a doubt this motion was top of the priority list. There has been a lot of changes in the association over the years with this being the most radical on-field change since the backdoor system was introduced in '97. Both Galway and Antrim have now been given the chance to bring the famous Bob O'Keeffe Cup to foreign lands, oh, how times have changed. It may only be for a three-year trial period but I for one feel it's a stepping stone to an open draw or a champions league style championship. Sure Kilkenny are dominant in Leinster at present, but I think this move undermines the great effort that Dublin, Wexford and Offaly are doing to catch up on possibly the greatest Kilkenny team of all times. This move will certainly make it harder for the aforementioned sides to reach the Leinster final- so how this is going to improve hurling in this province is beyond me. Take Dublin for instance, a county that is genuinely trying its best to promote hurling. Their players would look upon it as a huge honour to play in a Leinster decider, the new system could now rob them of that chance. Any player who has won a Leinster senior medal over the years should cherish it. The new championship should in fact be called the 'rest of Ireland championship' during this three-year trial. Everyone will have their own opinion and are well entitled to have it, but the sight of Galway running out on Croke Park for final day doesn't exactly excite me. Call me old-fashioned or set in my ways, but that's the way I feel at present. Maybe I'll feel differently about it after the three-year trial; I wonder what way will the Kilkenny County Board look upon it in three-year’s time if Galway take all three titles during that period? Once again we are victims of our own success! It’s ok for people to mess around with this province, if change was needed, and I'm not so sure it was, but they should have bitten the bullet and brought Munster on board for the champions league style championship.

Last weekend was a big day for the GAA. Special Congress made some real and important decisions and, in my opinion, most were of a progressive nature.

Galway are off to Leinster and with the draw for the 2009 Championship taking place this Wednesday we’ll soon know who is first up.

Professor Michael Stein - a former classmate of US President Barack Obama at Harvard - will deliver a public lecture at NUI, Galway.

Last weekend was a big one for the GAA. Special Congress made some very real and important decisions and in my opinion most of them were of a very progressive nature.