Donegal Town News and Blog

Two arrested in Donegal Town still in custody (From OceanFM) Aug 22, 5:32 pm Two men arrested in Donegal Town in seperate incidents over the weekend remain in custody today. Both men appeared at a special sitting of Donegal Town District Court on Sunday evening last. Gardai arrested an Iranian national following a stabbing at the Cliffview hostel on the Killybegs road in Donegal Town in the early hours of Sunday morning. 26 year old Mohamid Ompor, with an address at Cliffview hostel appeared before a special sitting of Donegal Town District Court on Sunday evening and was remanded in custody to Castlerea prison having been charged with assault causing harm to a man from Kuwait who also lives at the hostel. Mr Ompar who will reappear at Donegal District Court on Thursday afternoon next. The injured party did not require hospital treatment and is today recovering from the ordeal. Meanwhile, Gardai arrested an 19 year old Derry man following a high speed pursuit in the early hours of Sunday morning which ended with a car crashing into the roundabout at Drumlongher, Donegal Town. James Coyle from 9, Greenhall Crescent, Racecourse Road in Derry was arrested following a high speed pursuit of a stolen car which began in Ballyshannon in the early hours of Sunday morning. Two thousand euro of damage was caused to a Garda car which was rammed by the offending vehicle at Drumlonagher on the main Letterkenny to Ballyshannon road just before 3am on Sunday. The accused was charged with seven counts of dangerous driving, one of having no insurance, failing to stop for Gardai and an unauthorised taking of the vehicle. Mr. Coyle is being detained at St Patrick’s Institution in Dublin and will also reappear in Donegal Town Court on Thursday next. Bail was not granted by Judge Conal Gibbons.
There hasn’t been much in the news lately (that might be a good thing).

There always seems to be a political headline popping up in the Donegal Times. Bush & Co. should think about how their actions affect the folk in Donegal Town.

www.donegaltimes.com
I think the editorial gang at the times should stick to writing about the war on the streets - 3am on a bank holiday Sunday morning after the crowd spills out of the Abbey.

This is as big as it gets folks…celebrity spotting in Donegal Town.
Johnny Briggs, the actor who played Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street, visited the Alzheimer Society of Ireland’s office in Donegal Town on Thursday 3rd August. He was there to take part in a Golf Classic in aid of the society organised by Nora and Tommy Gallagher, which was held at Donegal Golf Club in Murvagh.
Taken from the donegaltimes.com website.

DONEGAL‘S inability to put away teams while on top finally caught up with them in Saturday‘s All Ireland quarter final in Croke Park.
Ciaran Bonner‘s 72nd minute effort almost earned Donegal a deserved draw, however, they should have had the game won long before that.
By the tenth minute Donegal were completely dominating proceedings and led by 1-01 while Cork failed to register a single score. Donegal were solid in defence, dominating midfield, moving the ball well up front but could not turn their possession in to scores.
However, Donegal shot a number of bad wides and repeatedly gave away possession before Cork won a penalty in what was a harsh decision by referee Tomas Quigley. John Hayes poorly struck spot kick was almost saved by Paul Durkan but the ball ended up in the corner of the net and suddenly Cork were back in it.
experience
Speaking after the game a clearly devastated McIver said that his team lacked experience and panicked on the ball. While Leon Thompson has been a revelation for Donegal this year, his inexperience showed midway through the first half when he was put through on goal with only the keeper to beat, he decided to chip the ball over the bar. A goal at that stage would almost certainly have killed off any Cork comeback. Donegal started well with a fine Rory Kavanagh point on the run in the first minute.
Three minutes later Donegal had the ball in the back of the Cork net when a Michael Doherty 45‘ dropped short, Kavanagh broke the ball to the in rushing Christy Toye who fisted to the net. It was a wonder start for McIver‘s men but they failed to turn their dominance into scores and Hayes‘s 10th minute penalty threw them a lifeline.
Cork‘s forwards didn‘t fare much better and only registered their first score from play in the 24th minute before Thompson responded with a wonder score from a seemingly impossible angle. Cork moved the impressive Derek Kavanagh to midfield towards the end of the second half such was the dominance in that sector by Neil Gallagher and Brendan Boyle. Barry Dunnion scored a fine 35m point but Cork responded points from James Masters and Fintan Gull. Despite Donegal dominating all over the park they only led by two points and it was Cork who went in at the break with their tails up. However, even at that stage, it was hard to see Cork pulling anything out of the game but surely Billy Morgan used that as a motivating factor in the dressingroom at half time.
Half time; Donegal 1-05, Cork 1-03

A Doherty free opened the scoring for Donegal in the second half but Ger Spillane, arguably Corks man of the match, ran unchallenged along the end line to fist over the bar a minute later. The midfield dominance started to swing in Cork‘s favour and big Nichloas Murphy caused Donegal countless problems with his high fielding and surging runs. Murphy set up Pearse O‘Neill for the first of three unanswered Cork points before Donegal replied with Barry Monaghan, Doherty and a fine score from substitute Colin Kelly. Shortly after, the ineffective Kavanagh was replaced by Ardara‘s Stephen McHugh. Bonner scored his first point in the 57th minute to give Donegal a one point lead. However, Toye was dispossessed by Murphy as he came out of defence two minutes later and Masters finished the move with a fine point.
This proved to be the turning point in the game and inspired Cork to level the scores a minute later after Sean O‘Brien found himself in acres of space.
Then Toye hit another bad wide before being involved in a fine move with Doherty and Stephen McDermott which ended with the Glenfin man being snuffed out by the Cork defence.
A score at that stage might been enough for Donegal to hang on for a one point victory. Adrian Sweeney, on for Thompson, missed a 35m free two minutes from time before another Murphy and Spillane combination ended with the latter kicking what turned out to be the winning point.
However, Donegal could have had the last say in the last of the four minutes of added time when Doherty stepped up to kick a 47m free. Doherty‘s free lacked distance and was picked up by Bonner who ballooned a shot that looked to going over the bar but it eventually fell into the grateful arms of Cork goalkeeper Alan Quirke.
Most Donegal fans in the Hogan Stand behind the kick thought that the ball was dropping over the bar but it proved to be the last of many missed opportunities in the game and Cork held out for the win.
Best for Cork were Spillane, Murphy and Kavanagh while Lacey, Dunnion and Thompson shone brightly for Donegal.
Donegal: Paul Durcan, Karl Lacy, Eamon McGee, Neil McGee, Barry Monaghan (0-1), Barry Dunnion(0-1), Neil Gallagher, Brendan Boyle, Christy Toye (1-0), Michael Hegarty, Ciaran Bonner (0-1), Rory Kavanagh (0-1), Michael Doherty (0-3, 1 45‘,2f), and Leon Thompson (0-2).
Subs used:
Colin Kelly (0-1) for Hegarty, Stephen McHugh for Kavanagh, Stephen McDermott for Boyle and Adrian Sweeney for Thompson.
Cork: Alan Quirke, Michael Prout, Derek Kavanagh, Kieran O‘Connor, Michael Shields, Ger Spillane (0-2), anthony Lynch, Pearse O‘Neill (0-1), Nicholas Murphy, Sean O‘Brien (0-1), Fintan Gul (0-1), Kevin McMahon (0-1), James Masters (0-3, 2f), Donncha O‘Connor (0-2, 1f), and John Hayes (1p).
Subs used: Gary Murphy for Prout, Conor McCarthy for Gull and Kevin O‘Sullivan for Hayes.
Referee: Tomas Quigley (Dublin)
I thought I’d add this article. Football is over for another while…Taken from the Donegal News website:
http://www.donegalnews.com/gaa.htm

Donegal Bay
The Old Abbey, Donegal Town


A snowy Diamond, Donegal Town
Rossnowlagh Beach, near Donegal Town
Donegal Bay Sunset
Donegal Town from waterbus
St. Ernans, Donegal Town
An old view of Donegal Bay


Back in the old days the Coach House was pink. I think Del should go with pink too.

A typical rainy night in Donegal Town.
Some nice pics here, especially the old ones, all ‘borrowed’ from other blogs…thanks to those involved - you know who you are.

Is the dolphin still in the bay? Has he died from the pollution or has he been caught, fried and served up as ‘Donegal Wild Salmon’ to some fat tourists? He had several names but responded to none. Come back Frank, we miss you.

There are big plans for Donegal, but nothing seems to be happening. What’s your views on things?
The local newspaper are always on about the mythical development: ‘Donegal Times is led to believe that, following its editorial in the last issue, seeking a meeting between Keeney and Bennett, a request has been made at high political level to seek contact with both parties. A message delivered to the editor of this paper conveyed the news that one of our most senior ministers is on the job - hopefully this is so! It is our firm conviction that if the principals of those two companies got together and agreed a joint enterprise, it could create the most magnificent, imaginative and aesthetically pleasing town centre in the country. We would sincerely ask Mr Keeney and Mr Bennett to consider the political representations - and give a welcome to the Minister’s suggestions.’
Here’s a story from a few months back about what’s supposed to be happening:
‘Bennett Plan For Donegal Town Dunnes Unveiled’: Plans to bring Donegal Town to the forefront of development in the county are moving one step closer with the plans by Bennett Construction to bring a shopping centre and Dunnes Stores to the town almost complete. The proposed Shopping Centre for Dunnes Stores will be located at the Mullins, Donegal Town. Bennett Construction lodged their replies to Donegal County Council Planners’ request for ‘further information’ in respect of their Planning application for a new shopping centre on Friday of last week. The plans are for a 50,000sqft Dunnes Stores, an additional local centre retail of 20,000sqft, office space of 6,000 sq ft, a wine bar and restaurant, approximately 400 Car parking spaces. Bennetts are now awaiting a positive decision from the planners within the next couple of weeks. If the Planners give it the green light, then construction will start as soon as possible. John White, Development Director at Bennett’s stated that: "In the initial construction phase, 150 people will be employed on site, over an 18 month build period, giving jobs to construction workers and tradesmen while injecting millions into the local economy. On completion, over 350 permanent jobs will be created and millions spent annually on goods and services from local services providers, suppliers and growers. John White added: "It is hoped that there will be no objections as the detailed replies deal with any issues raised in observations. Objections will only delay for an indefinite period the building programme and opening of the centre. This would be a further setback to employment in the Town, that has more than enough employment problems." The Centre when open will attract shoppers to the Town, to the benefit of all, and be a major boost to the Town’s claim to become a Regional growth centre.
This has been going back and forth for months, if not years with no end in sight. Bring back Foodland I say.

The old Castle before the renovations. The Castle is a main tourist pull, but the side wall looks bad, they made a mess of it trying to ‘preserve’ it.

Should have gone to Specsavers…
Gardai in Donegal Town made an arrest in connection with a burglary at an opticians at Upper Main Street in Donegal Town last night. One person was detained just before 10pm.
Any ideas on who this burglar is?

Welcome to the Donegal Town blog.