Looking back over July 2022 in Tipperary - Nuns thanked for 158 years of love and service

July 7, 2022

Glory and disaster arrived at the same moment in a sensational finish to the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor hurling championship final at UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday, July 3, which saw Tipperary collect their 21st crown in the grade and a first since 2016, overcoming Offaly on a scoreline of 1-17 to 1-16.

With the game almost up, Tipp’s Paddy Phelan lobbed a free invitingly in around the square and Paddy McCormack proved the hero of the hour when he rose high among a forest of hurleys and flashed a one-handed shot to the net. “It was incredible, quite incredible,” wrote sports editor Eamonn Wynne.

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A local family bought the Deanery in Cashel for just over €1m at a public auction in the Cashel Palace Hotel on June 29, far surpassing the guide price of €800,000, wrote Eoin Kelleher.

Bidding started rising from about €600,000 and after many bids it eventually went to a local Cashel based family who bid €1,020,000.
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District Cathaoirleach Cllr Mary Hanna Hourigan performed the official opening of a new social housing estate in Tipperary Town on Saturday, June 25.
Aherlow Meadows, which is located at Knockanrawley, consists of 28 new houses built on a site that was originally intended to be a 22 house estate consisting of self builds.

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July 14, 2022

The summary Tipperary Town Centre Health Check Report 2022 highlighting the findings of a collaborative town centre health check of Tipperary Town was launched in the first week of July.

As part of the project, representatives examined and measured the views of business people and consumers living, working or frequently visiting the town. Many felt there was an opportunity for Tipperary Town to, among other things, improve its liveability and accessibility, (walking and cycling), and to upgrade its historic built environment, enabling greater visibility and repurposing of its natural and cultural heritage.
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In early July the owners of the derelict Clonmel Arms Hotel engaged contractors to erect hoarding at the building to prevent people from accessing it, Tipperary County Council’s July meeting was informed.
It was claimed up to 100 people with drug addictions had been visiting the building to take heroin there.

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South Tipperary Disability Groups Forum were delighted with the support from all who came along to enjoy their Picnic in the Park on Wednesday, July 6in the Sensory Garden on Church Street in Cahir.
Many people came along to enjoy a bit of a picnic in the glorious sunshine on the day. There were groups from Moorehaven Centre in Cashel, Brothers of Charity from Cahir and Clonmel, the Irish Wheelchair Association as well as many members of the Cahir Tidy Towns Group. Cahir Men’s Shed Band and Stefan Grace and Company entertained everyone with music.

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In the summer 2020, in the midst of ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, the last six Presentation Sisters of the Fethard Convent departed quietly bringing to a close 158 years of dedicated service to the local townspeople. 

It was fitting that those six Sisters, Sr Maureen Power, Sr Juliana Purcell, Sr Rosarii Treacy, Sr Maria Fletcher, Sr Kathleen Dooley and Sr Mary Martin, accompanied by sisters who previously served in Fethard and other convents, returned  to be publicly acclaimed by a grateful Fethard community.

The celebration began with Mass in the parish church concelebrated by Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly with Fr Liam Everard, PP, Canon Tom Breen, AP, Fr Pat O’Gorman AP and Fr David Fitzgerald, OSA representing the Augustinian Abbey. 

The combined parish and Abbey choirs, Fethard Choral Group, supplemented by children of Holy Trinity National  School, provided wonderful music throughout the mass.

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Looking back over June 2022 in Tipperary - Village in state of shock as two bodies found

July 21, 2022

A young Clonmel couple who endured the most unbearable of grief when they lost their first child at birth were supporting parents going through the same ordeal, wrote Eamon Lacey in July.
The people of Clonmel, inspired by the story of Luke Kelly and Sinead O’Donnell and their beloved baby son Freddie, showed enormous support for a campaign to assist the bereavement and loss maternity services at Tipperary University Hospital.
On the first anniversary of the day Freddie was born asleep at the hospital on July 2, 2021, the couple held a fundraiser for the bereavement services.
Over €13,000 was raised between the workout/coffee morning at their Elevate gym in Clonmel, and a Go Fund Me page they set up.

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One of the most important parts of the Clonmel Busking Festival, the family fun day in Denis Burke Park, had to be cancelled, wrote Eamon Lacey.
Organisers said that the allocation from Tipperary County Council was not adequate enough to allow them to run the popular family fun day. A sum of €10,000 was allocated for the Busking Festival which was to be held on August 5, 6 and 7 in Clonmel, a reduction of €5,000 from council funding allocated for the festival prior to the outbreak of the Covid pandemic.
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In July C-SAW Community Suicide Awareness expanded its coffee mornings to Tipperary Town, every Monday morning (incl. Bank Holidays) from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Monday, July 11 in The CJ Kickham Brass and Reed Band Hall on Davis Street was the first morning and the committee was absolutely delighted with the response they received from the general public.
The organisers extended an invitation to join them in a homely environment to have a chat and seek further support in confidence.
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The local community in Clogheen were delighted to welcome 21 Ukrainians from their war-torn country and immediately made them feel very welcome in their new settings.
Clogheen Community Council wasn’t found wanting and a welcoming get-together was organised in St Paul’s on Saturday evening, July 16. Fr Bobby Power welcomed everyone to the hall where locals and our visitors mingled while having a cup of tea and refreshments were served.

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July 28, 2022

In late July Eamon Lacey reported on our front page that An Bord Pleanála had decided to refuse planning permission to a developer to build over 100 houses in Cashel.

The developer, J Osoina Ltd had applied to An Bord Pleanála for permission to build 108 residential units, and a two-storey childcare facility with an outdoor play area.
The decision was taken because the application did not allow for the expansion of the adjacent GAA facility and would mean the loss of an entrance to the car park at the front of Cashel King Cormacs’ grounds at Leahy Park. Flooding concerns were also raised by An Bord Pleanála.
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An act of vandalism during the summer caused great upset to the family of one of Clonmel’s most famous poets and writers.
The plaque over the archway of the Gashouse Bridge with an excerpt from CJ Boland’s Retrospect inscribed was vandalised recently.
His granddaughter Jane Clare who was in Clonmel to speak at the Clonmel Junction Arts Festival paid a visit to the quayside to see the plaque.

The plaque was first erected in 1943 to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of CJ Boland.
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An exciting and busy build-up to the Rose of Tralee Festival for Tipperary Rose Aisling O’Donovan became even more hectic as she was engaged while on a romantic holiday in Italy with boyfriend Colm Barry.
“It was unexpected. We had the holiday in Italy planned for some time and the proposal came as a total surprise to me really. He surprised me, I didn’t see it coming,” said Aisling.
Aisling and Colm have been going out with one another for the last seven years. The couple live in Cashel and they both work as teachers in Fermoy in separate schools.
Aisling took part in the Rose of Tralee Festival from August 19 to 23.