Continuing our review of the year, here’s some of the news we brought to you during February…

• A TRALEE woman was among teams and individuals who excelled in sport during 2016  honoured at the first ever Kerry County Council Annual Awards Event at County Buildings.

Four county teams were honoured with Certificates of Recognition from the full Council with each of the four Municipal Districts also presenting awards to those who had achieved greatness in their own fields last year, including Tralee’s Mary Sheehy for her golfing achievements with the Irish Senior Ladies Team at the European Championships in 2016 when she sank the winning putt to win the title for Ireland.

• GARDAI were warning the public to watch their pets after an attempt to snatch a dog in Ballyard.

Two people were seen hanging around in a car in the Beenoskee area of Ballyard. One of the passengers was a juvenile who went into driveways calling for a dog, which they hoped would materialise through a gate. A neighbour spotted what was happening and the two fled the scene. Gardaí believed they were targeting pedigree dogs which can be sold on for a lot of money.

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• A TRALEE couple received an amazing reaction after several media appearances where they got to show off their innovative business.

Joanna and Derek Kelly of Digital Greetings, based at HQ Tralee, featured on Today FM’s Dermot and Dave Show, TV3’s Ireland AM show oand on a feature on entrepreneurs on The Late Late Show, all in the one week.

They got over 2,000 hits on their website after appearing on the Late Late Show, with the attention only escalating over the following few days .

• A CROWD gathered at St John’s Park to remember Brother John Conway and his fellow missionaries who were killed with him in a guerrilla attack 40 years ago in Rhodesia.

The memorial was held at the monument dedicated to Br John in the estate. He was remembered as a man of prayer and geniality, and worked relentlessly at the Rhodesian mission station of St Paul’s in Musami.

He served there from 1954 until his death in 1977 when he was murdered in a guerilla attack on the mission he was assigned to.

• KERRY Airport welcomed Ryanair’s announcement that the airline would commence a new service from Berlin to Kerry in November 2017.

It was revealed the new route would operate twice weekly over the winter months from Berlin Schönefeld SXF, which is located just 22 KM from Berlin City Centre.

• TRALEE was already preparing for a Dublin invasion for St Patrick’s weekend as it emerged that with over five weeks to go to the Kerry’s league game against the champs match, there wasn’t a hotel bed to be had in town on Saturday, March 18.

Tickets for the game itself was sold out a month before the throw-in.

A search on booking.com for all accommodation in town revealed there was no bed in Tralee on the night of the match and all the hotels’ own websites booking services confirmed that.

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• CINEMAGOERS were happy af the OmniplexMAXX experience finally came to Tralee with the Omniplex getting a €600,000 makeover.

The giant silver screen, 15.5 metres wide and 9 metres high, with HD Digital projection and a Dolby Atmos sound system, fills the room with ‘moving audio’ which flows around each and every cinemagoer in the 300-seater theatre.

• IT was announced that works to convert Denny Street into a two-way and the creation of a pedestrian-friendly Mall area would begin.

John Craddock Ltd, a Kildare based contractor, signed the contract for the Tralee Town Centre improvement works funded by the Department of Transport and Kerry County Council as part of the Active Travel Town initiative.

The contract worth €1.7m would start in February with a completion date of November 2017 anticipated for the project.

• UP to 20 new jobs were created  in February when the new Lidl supermarket opened at its Edward Street location.

The building at the old Heiton Buckley site was their second store in Tralee and resulted in an investment of approximately €6.5million in the area.

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• BANNA Beach jumped to the top spot in the TripAdvisor Top 10 Beaches in Ireland Travellers Choice List.

The beach came seventh in 2016 and sixth the year before, but this year it gained the top spot and no wonder as it’s a spectacular long stretch of strand.

• Around 430 people gathered in Ballygarry House Hotel for the Austin Stacks GAA Corporate Lunch as part of the club’s centenary celebrations.

The highlight was the gathering of the four main protagonists together to discuss Mikey Sheehy’s famous goal against Dublin in 1978  and the impact it had on their lives.

They even recreated the goal in a special video clip shown on the night.

• The Tralee CBS Corn Uí Mhuirí dream was destroyed by a second half masterclass from a super St Brendan’s side.

The Killarney school beat the Green by 2-20 to 1-11 in Austin Stack Park.

• SOMEBODY from Tralee was €154,280 richer as they won a big prize in the Euromillions draw in late February.

They bought their ticket in O’Shea’s Gala store in Blennerville and enjoyed o a nice windfall.