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Michael O’ Brien has been involved in politics for as long as he can remember although his interest didn’t stem from family history.

The 90th Claremorris Agricultural Show will be opened on Sunday afternoon byJames Drury, star of The Virginian television series. James, who is on his first ever trip to Ireland from Texas, will perform the official opening at 2pm. A film crew from RTE will be at the show to record the event.

The inaugural Féile on the Mall was launched in style this week in the county capital. The one-day charity event will see the Mall in Castlebar transformed from its usual serenity into a hive of activity with bungee jumping, live stage music, bouncy castles, arts and crafts and much, much more on Saturday August 30.

For the second year in a row, Clonmore will contest the intermediate football championship final after they overcame the Fighting Cocks by 2-5 to 0-10 in an epic battle on Saturday last in Dr Cullen Park.

Galway’s Olympic track star was back in his home town of Athenry last Saturday evening after his successful campaign in Beijing a few weeks earlier.

Amidst the debate over poor Leaving Certificate mathematics results, Galway's new Fox Tutorial Centre vows to make maths fun for its students, and still get positive results.

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.

Justin McCarthy would have had a wry smile on his face last Sunday afternoon. As you all know he resigned from his post as the county team’s hurling manager a number of months ago after a “heave” from his own players. It had become apparent, in the wake of a heavy defeat to Clare in the Munster championship, that some of the players were unhappy with McCarthy. Much was made of Dan Shanahan storming off the field that day and refusing to shake Justin’s hand when substituted. As in that game big Dan was totally anonymous last Sunday, barely touching the ball, until he was rescued from the action or, should that be non-action! I wasn’t too enamoured with the Waterford players at the time as I felt it was another example of player power being exerted, something that has become quite common this year. Remember it was McCarthy who took Waterford to three Munster titles and also to the brink of All-Ireland glory. It wasn’t his fault the players choked when so near the finishing line. They had the perfect excuse last year. The system militated against them, they said, as they had played three consecutive Sundays in a row. The manager is always the easy scapegoat after failures and these players must have felt the need to apportion blame to someone. Justin is obviously a proud man. He walked before it got ugly and, other than issuing a brief statement at the time, he kept his powder dry. I am not sure if he went along to Croke Park last Sunday, but as the game unfolded he would have felt fully justified in having walked from the job when the players had the audacity to question his methods after seven relatively successful years in charge.

A special model boat display will be held in the Claddagh Basin on Saturday organised by Baidoiri an Cladaig - the Claddagh Community Boat Club.

Have you ever wondered about the effect a manager can have on a group of footballers? Let me highlight just one example of how a single individual has transformed the fortunes and the mood of a club in the space of a week. We are witnessing an astonishing turnaround in the fortunes of Spurs in a matter of days, since the arrival of new manager, Harry Redknapp. I take a casual interest in the fortunes of this particular team as my wife Audrey is a lifelong supporter of the Spurs. In the last few months we witnessed one of the biggest clubs in England with big star players struggling in the relegation zone of the Premier League and facing relegation if the fortunes of the club didn’t improve immediately. Harry arrives on the scene and within days these underperforming stars are like men inspired. They grabbed their second thrilling comeback in five days last weekend, this time against table toppers Liverpool. I am perplexed and slightly intrigued as to how Harry has got them into a team of believers, with the mood of the club changed considerably in the space of a few days. People within the club have suggested that the fun has returned to the training ground and now everyone feels part of the team. Another suggested that they are now treated with respect. Harry apparently told them they were good players! This would suggest that previous management didn’t tell them that! Under previous manager Ramos a number of first team regulars were banished to the reserves without explanation, in the process undermining the morale and camaraderie within the whole group. There is a lesson here for all managers. If you lose the dressing room, in other words the very people you are expected to inspire and develop into a winning team, they will lose confidence in your ability to lead them. This should be the signal for you to walk.