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The Midlands Simon Community is organising a relay race with a difference as part of its fundraising efforts for National Simon Week. The event, which is being hosted by Athlone Institute of Technology, will provide a unique way for people across the Midlands to show solidarity with some of the most vulnerable in our society and help end homelessness across the region, while having a great day out.

Joe McGann can’t wait to return to Ireland and, as the lead role in the touring production of Fiddler on the Roof, he will have his chance when a seven performance run of the show starts in the brand-new Royal Castlebar Theatre and Event Centre on September 30. “I was supposed to be with the company when we brought Fiddler on the Roof to Killarney in August,” explains Joe, “but I broke my elbow and unfortunately could not make it. We have had a great time touring with the show. We have been in 30 different venues; from my home city of Liverpool to Sunderland, Edinburgh and Manchester. Our tour finishes at the Royal Theatre Castlebar, which I am reliably informed is a wonderful new venue. As a man with a proud Irish heritage, I am delighted to be able to come over to Ireland. My elbow has just now recovered enough to allow me to return to work and it is a great thrill to be able to get back on stage.”

The Midlands Simon Community yesterday launched their programme of activities in the first ever ‘Simon Week’, a nationwide initiative designed to increase awareness and understanding of the issue of homelessness. The week will also celebrate the vital contribution made by volunteers to the work of Midlands Simon Community.

Attaining a requisite level of consistency was an issue. It has been rectified. For that Jeff Kenna and Ian Foster should take a bow. They also deserve to be commended for deploying Jay O’Shea in a fresh and exciting role that ensures Galway United enter every game with aspirations again.

As Mayo footballer supporters, one of our most important assets down through the years is our optimism. With all of the news about corporate bail outs, bank rescues, layoffs, falling stock prices, and businesses going belly up, I have to admit that it is hard to stay positive at times. We are really fed up with reading bad news, and listening to the prophets of doom. And so, I was eagerly looking forward to the start of the National Football League and some good quality football in order to see a few smiling faces for the first time in ages. I arrived in Ballina in good time and was met at the showground entrance by the ever so jovial Barry McLaughlin, who was doing his bit for the local club by managing traffic flow at that end of the ground.

So Stephen Folan’s cross channel venture continues. A splendid spell sprinkled with hope has brought Galway’s freshest footballer into reserve team fare at the tender age of 16. Though only nine months as a professional with Newcastle United smooth progress is being made by Folan in the north east of England.

I was in Aughamore with Crossmolina for a challenge match against the local club last Friday night. It was an opportunity for both sides to have a workout as they try to shake off their winter coats before the commencement of the league in a few weeks time. Aughamore have really impressive facilities and their flood lit pitch, in particular, is a credit to everyone involved up there. We were delighted with the opportunity to stretch the legs, after a number of weeks of circuit training, against a young talented team that have caught the eye in recent times. The underage structure in Aughamore is very obviously paying dividends at senior level and having seen them up close I now appreciate that they will have no problem whatsoever in mixing it with some of the big boys in the senior championship later this summer. Incidentally they were deserving winners on the night.

Brian “Skeach” Kelly will more than likely line out for his beloved Palatine as they try to dethrone reigning champions, Éire Óg, in next Sunday’s county senior football final. Nothing unusual in that you might think. Sure hasn’t he been playing senior football for Pal for the best part of a decade and a half. Well three months ago, Skeagh was in no position to take to any football field. In actual fact his very life was under threat! Following a clash of heads in the Palatine’s clash with Kildavin/Clonegal he was left with quite a bruise on the side of his head. He went to hospital immediately after the game as a precaution but was discharged that evening and told to take it easy for a few days. That he did and was ready and willing to return to the training field. However he was still complaining of headaches and blurred vision. He thought nothing of it but the Pal management team were not happy to let him return. That first night back he was practising a few frees before training when Mick Lillis Pal’s trainer told him he was unhappy to let him resume. The club arranged an MRI scan in Dublin to make sure everything was alright and it was from there that things began to get interesting! He returned home but almost immediately was summoned back to Beaumont hospital where he was informed that he had a life-threatening clot on his brain. As he said himself, he still didn’t realise how serious the situation was. He felt fine. It was only when he asked a member of the medical team attending him to rate the severity of his condition on a scale of one to ten that it really became clear to him. She told him it was at least nine and a half! At that moment all thoughts of playing in this year’s county final disappeared from his mind! The doctors told him that if he had taken part in that training session and received even minimal physical contact, it could have been enough to have killed him. If the clot had moved as much as one milimetre it would have been fatal. He was immediately put on clot busting drugs in the hope of avoiding surgery and thankfully these were successful. Still he was not to go near a football field for at least the rest of the year, if not for ever. But once he was on the road to recovery like any GAA player, the lure of the game was too much. He was back for the latter part of the championship and apart from the unusual sight of him sporting a rugby scrum cap, everything is back to normal and he will be looking for his second county medal on Sunday. That possibility was far from his thoughts three months ago when, as he put it, “they were thinking of opening my skull!” Brian’s story may be an aside but it is just one of those things that add to the occasion of any county final. Every club has its own stories. Reasons why they just cannot afford to let this opportunity slip. I’m sure Éire Óg have their own. As I said here last week, it’s one of the things that makes a county final unique. 

Crucial contests and Galway United has been the 2008 cocktail. Two more will be added to the list in the next six days. A trip to Richmond Park for a combat with St Patrick’s Athletic and an FAI Cup semi-final with Derry City are brimful of importance. When such matches are arriving thick and fast a footballer’s life glimmers with possibility.