Continuing our Review of 2014, here’s the news we brought you from September…
• September began with the disappointing news that a volunteer with the Tralee Red Cross had €3,000 worth of his belongings stolen from his van while doing work for the Red Cross.
The theft took place from Sean O’Callaghan’s vehicle which was parked outside the Red Cross building in Killerisk while he was volunteering for the organisation. (click here)
• THE Chief Executive of the Rose of Tralee International Festival hit out at critics of the event in a strongly worded open letter in September.
Anthony O’Gara defended the festival and the Roses from what he saw as “zealous, angry, if perhaps, misguided social commentators” and said our festival is “by a country-mile the best festival in Ireland”. (click here)
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• We brought you the amazing video of a bicycle kick goal scored in Mounthawk.
Scored by Gintaras Paketuras, the ‘worldie’ came in a pre-season friendly match between Tralee Dynamos senior team and Limerick City U19. (click here)
• Kerry fans got a chance to wish their heroes well for the All-Ireland final at the supporters open day at Fitzgerald Stadium in early September.
A crowd of more than 1,500 people turned up at the famed venue and left happy as the players signed jerseys, posed for selfies and chatted with fans just two weeks before the match with Donegal.
• There was great news in September as Tralee retained its Gold Medal status in the Tidy Towns competition.
Tralee got 303 marks, an increase of five from their 2013 mark of 298. (click here)
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• A bid from IT Tralee to buy Kerry Technology Park was rejected in September.
The bid, thought to be in the region of €3m, was turned down by Shannon New Co., the body which replaced the Shannon Airport Authority and Shannon Development. (click here)
• We brought you reports and photos from the big match in Dublin as Kerry were crowned All-Ireland champions for the 37th time. (click here , here and here)
• Of course, when there’s an All-Ireland victory, there’s inevitably a homecoming and in Tralee it was one of the biggest ever. We were there to capture the atmosphere. (click here )
• We also told you about John Dowling, the Ardfert man who tore up his ‘ticket’ for the All-Ireland so that his club would receive €2,000 from AIB. It ended well thug. (click here)
• We also told you about the latest Kerry celebrity fan, Jack O’Connell, who is currently in the cinemas playing the lead role in World War 2 drama ‘Unbroken’.
O’Connell was born in Alvaston, Derby in the UK and his father, John Patrick O’Connell hailed from Kerry. (click here)
• There was fantastic news on September 26 when it was announced that Tralee won the Gold medal, the highest award possible, in the Entente Florale Europewide competition.
Tralee was the Irish representative in the international competition established to recognise municipalities and villages in Europe for excellence in horticultural displays. (click here)
• Kerry’s great GAA stars felt the pain as they had their legs waxed for a great cause in the Fels Point Hotel, eventually raising €20,000.
Hosted by RTE’s Miriam O’Callaghan, the ‘Kerry GAA Stars Lovely Legs Competition’ was a fantastic occasion attended by over 300 people, who made a great contribution to the Palliative Care Unit at Kerry General Hospital. (click here)