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Continuing our review of stories we brought you in 2018, here’s the news from October…
• GARDAI issued an appeal for witnesses or information into an alleged abduction of a young man in Tralee.
The young man was taken in a car from John Joe Sheehy Road against his will in a white Ford Estate by two men who were known to him.
He managed to escape by jumping from the car at Dan Paddy Andy Cross in Lyrecrompane later that evening.
• THERE were emotional scenes at Lottery HQ in Dublin as a Kerry dad promised to share his entire €500,000 EuroMillions fortune with family.
It was a life changing day for the man who picked up his winnings after buying his ticket in Der O’Sullivan’s in Tralee in late September and his numbers came up in the EuroMillions plus draw.
The winning Kerry man who wishes to keep his win private was surrounded by his large family when he handed his ticket into lottery officials as he announced that he would be sharing the prize among the close relatives in attendance.
• ANOTHER Kerry player has decided to retire from the Kerry inter-county scene.
After the recent retirements of Donnchadh Walsh and Kieran Donaghy, two-time All-Ireland medal winner Anthony Maher made the announcement on October 3.
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• A SPECIAL vigil was held in the Square in memory of Emma Mhic Mhathúna who passed away on October 7.
The vigil to remember the brave 37 year old mother of five saw hundreds attend to pay tribute to the woman who highlighted the CervivalCheck scandal.
• THERE were thousands of homes in Kerry without power and a number of road blockages due to Storm Callum on October 12.
However, there was no significant damage in the Tralee area and only Kearney’s Road was flooded. A Status Orange warning was in place for the county.
• KERINS O’Rahillys exited the championship at the semi-final stage courtesy of a defeat by Dr Crokes. The better side went through to the final of the Garvey’s Supervalu Kerry SFC, but up t0 the 54th minute the Tralee side were within a point of the champions. Two late goals and a furry of points saw the Killarney side win by 2-19 t0 2-10.
• FOUR-TIME All-Ireland senior medal winner Darran O’Sullivan was the latest player to announce his retirement from the Kerry senior football team on October 16.
He followed the recent retirements of Kerry stalwarts Kieran Donaghy, Donnchadh Walsh and Anthony Maher.
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• A TRALEE man who lit up the U20 Munster Championship for Kerry signed a two year contract with AFL club Geelong Cats.
Stefan Okunbor of Na Gaeil was named Munster U-20 Player of the Year in October, but his talents didn’t go unnoticed and he will join fellow Kerry man Mark O’Connor at the club on a rookie contract.
The former Kerry minor All-Ireland winner from 2016 had previously attended trials at an AFL Camp in Florida back in January 2017.
• A RADIO documentary about the injustice suffered by a north Kerry family has won a major international radio award.
The 65th Premios Ondas Awards have just been announced in Barcelona, Spain with a Documentary On One production from RTÉ Radio 1 winning 1st prize in the International Radio Award (across all genres of radio).
The winning Documentary On One production, titled ‘In Shame, Love, In Shame’, was produced by Listowel native Conor Keane and Liam O’Brien, Series Producer of the Documentary On One and Conor Keane narrated. The documentary told the story of Peggy and Breda McCarthy from Finuge.
• THE results of the Kerry count in the Presidential Election saw the county give a resounding yes to another seven years for Michael D Higgins in the Áras.
The incumbent got 25,078 votes or about 50% of the vote, beating off the challenge of Peter Casey who came from last place in the previous polls to second in the one that mattered.
His comments about the Travelling community and people on benefits certainly influenced some people to vote for him and he finished up with 13,752 votes or about 27.5%.
Liadh Ní Riada was third with 4,253 votes (8.5%), Joan Freeman got 3,102 (6.2%), Sean Gallagher with 2,856 (5.7%) and Gavin Duffy with 1,037 (2%).
