St. Patrick’s Boys’ School win County final
Congratulations to St Patricks Boys School who won the Under-11 C hurling final against Upperchurch played in Semple Stadium on Thursday 9th June. The boys had three very close matches against Ballyporeen, Grange and Boherlahan to reach the final. Full match report later.

Broadband Update
On the basis of correspondence with Eircom, there have been substantive changes to the original GBS proposal submitted for Fethard. The changes relate to a number of issues, including the area that is covered by this proposed project, the number of households & businesses that will be capable of receiving a broadband service under this project, the details of the broadband service, the expected minimum speed that Fethard subscribers should experience, etc.

Taking these changes into account, Matthew Collins, Communications Development Division, Department of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources, asked if these changes are acceptable from the Fethard community's perspective. Taking in to account the proposed 'Wireless Broadband Service' for this area, which will service areas outside Eircom's proposal, it was decided to accept the following amendments:

Summary of Changes to Fethard GBS Proposal

• Service Coverage Area: The proposed service coverage area has changed. Broadband  will now be provided to Fethard Town and surrounding area up to a 3 kilometre  radius. This is unlikely to include Cloneen, Killusty, Knockbrit, or Moyglass  which were included on the original map. A new map indicating the 3.5 Km   radius was provided.
• Households/Businesses Covered: It is estimated that the Fethard Town plus a 3.5-kilometre  radial area includes 501 households and businesses. Eircom believes that up to  400 of them will be able to get a broadband service, i.e. 80% of households  and businesses in Fethard Town.  
• Subscriber Projections: Eircom expects to have 120 broadband subscriber by month  12 of the project.
• Product Details: Eircom has doubled the download speeds that were originally included  in the proposal. The uploading speed and contention ratio are unchanged.   
• Downloading Speed: A subscriber in Fethard should expect to experience a lowest download  speed of about 800 Kbps (where they have subscribed to a 1,024 Kbps, ie. 1  Mbps service).  
• Customer Support: Information on customer support arrangements has been  provided.  
• Network Security: Information on network security has been provided.
• Wholesale Products: Further information is being prepared by Eircom about the full range  of wholesale products available to other operators on the Fethard  exchange.
  

At the Match

Fethard fans photographed at the senior hurling Munster semifinal match between Tipperary and Clare in Limerick last Sunday. Tipperary won and will now play Cork in the Munster final.

Colm’s Country
Fethard is one of the ‘stopping off’ points on a new tour, which takes tourists off the beaten track. The man behind the venture is local entrepreneur, Colm McGrath. The tours begin in Kilkenny and visit Kells, Kilree, Sliabh na mBan, Fethard, Cashel and Ballingarry, taking in monastic remains, castles, Celtic crosses, Sheela na gigs, amongst many other sights. Colm will be familiar to many as the man behind the medieval re enactment group which recently started up in Fethard.

Best of luck to him in his new venture. More information can be had from his website www.colmscountry.com or by contacting him on his mobile Tel: 086 3502360.

The Well Golf Society
The Well Golf Society results from last Saturday's outing to Rathdowney are as follows: Nearest the pin: Brian Mullins, Aiden Grant.
Ladies: 1st: Mary Kenrick, 2nd: Mary Stakelum.
Gents (18-24): 1st: Vincent Phelan, 2nd: Pat Woodlock.
Gents (1-17): 1st: Brian Mullins. 2nd: Joe Corbett. 3rd: Billy Phelan.

Our next outing takes place on Saturday 25th June to Abbeyleix Golf Club. This is another new venue for the society and according to those who have played it, it's one not to be missed.

Fethard Juvenile GAA Club

Fethard team and trainers above, and on the left is referee with two captains at the start of the game L to R: Tommy Sheehan, captain Fethard team, referee Keith Delahunty and Michael McCullagh, captain Commercials team.


The under/12 A Football South Final was played in Monroe on Tuesday 31st May and a great crowd attended. We were unfortunate to lose again to Commercials on a scoreline of 3-07 to 1-06. Playing against the wind in the first half we got a very bad start going 1-02 down in the first five minutes. We then settled and played some of the finest football one could see with Brian Delahunty, Frank O’Donovan, Ciarán O’Meara and Eoin Fitzgerald dominating the field. We got back into the game with points from Tommy Sheehan, Eoin Fitzgerald and a brilliant goal from Alan Lawrence. We were right back in the game at that stage but, just at half time and against the run of play, Commercials scored another goal to leave us 5 points down at the break, 2-05 to 1-03.


Tommy Sheehan heading for goal

With wind advantage in the second half, Commercials started better and scored first to stretch their lead to 6 points. Fethard dominated for the next fifteen minutes scoring 3 points, hit the post and had a ball cleared off the line. Time was running out and commercials surged up the field and score a goal to kill off any hopes of a Fethard win.


Fethard's Aaron Conran attacking Commercials defence

When the final whistle blew, Fethard had yet again suffered a defeat at the hands of their nearest rivals, Commercials. Fethard had many heroes on the night in our goalie, Gareth Lawrence, backs, Eoin Walsh, Ger Maher, Ciarán O’Meara, Ronan Fitzgerald. Frankie O’Donovan, Brian Delahunty, Jack Devaney, midfield, Eoin Fitzgerald, Eoin Dillon, forwards, Dylan Fitzgerald, Aaron Conran, Tommy Sheehan (capt), Cáthal Hurley, Alan Lawrence, Philip Maher, Michael Smith, Joe Morgan, Willie Morgan, and Andrew Maher. Thanks to Stephen O’Donnell, Paul Fitzgerald, Paul Dillon and Willie Lawrence, for their time and effort and hopefully it will be only a matter of time before this team will take home the honours. Our concentration must now go to the hurling.


Fethard's Alan Lawrence scoring a goal

Well done to Commercials we wish them the best of luck in the County we will be cheering them all the way to success.
Our under/6s, 8s, and 10s played commercials on Friday last in Marlfield. We travelled with 45 players and had a great evenings entertainment. This was the first time we fielded an under/6 team and it was great to see the stars of the future (many children of stars of the past) playing their first game for Fethard. We hope to have another outing in two weeks time.

There is an under/10 championship starting on the 18th June in football and hurling which will run consecutively for ten weeks, which is great to see. It is important that all players report for training. The under/10 managers are Willie Lawrence and Frank O’Donovan for football, and John Hurley and P.J. Ahearn for hurling.

The under/14 footballers played their last game on last bank holiday Monday and were unfortunate not to qualify for the semi-final. In fairness, size seemed to have been our biggest obstacle, as they played some brilliant football. Thanks to Willie Morrissey, Buddy Fitzgerald and Willie Quigley and to all the players for their effort throughout the year.

The under/16 hurlers played a challenge game against Killenaule and gave a very good account of themselves as they prepare for the championship. We hope this team will be in the knock stages later this year so keep up the good work.

There will be an under/12 hurling challenge against Moyle Rovers next Friday night in Monroe. All players are requested to be at the field at 6-15pm. The very best of luck to the school’s under/11 team who are playing in the school final in Semple Stadium in hurling this Thursday. Anyone looking for more information can contact club secretary Caroline on Tel: 086 1713502.

Fethard & Killusty Community Lotto
The numbers drawn on Tuesday 7th June were: 19, 26, 29 and 32. There was no Jackpot winner and no ‘Match 3’ winner. The following tickets were drawn and each won €50:
Sean O'Callaghan, St Patrick's Place, Fethard
Michael Russell. Drangan
Susan Carroll, Ballyrichard, Mullinahone
The three €50 Lucky Dip winners were:
Seamus Moloney, 7 Fr. Tirry Park, Fethard
Agnes Evans, 6 Congress Terrace, Fethard
Jimmy O'Sullivan, Main Street, Fethard
Next weeks Jackpot remains at €10,000 and the Jackpot sellers prize is €1,000.