News
Garda colleague to be remembered at annual school blitz

By Michelle Crean
Football fever is set to take over the town this Monday as schools from across the county - including Killarney town - pitch against each other.
18 schools - 17 from Kerry and one from Cork - a total of 270 pupils - will battle it out on the pitch for the Killarney Garda National School 7-a-side Football Blitz which is now in its 16th year.
They've waited quite some time for the annual blitz as the last one was held in 2019 before the pandemic stopped all events.
One of the organisers, Garda Eddie Walsh from Killarney Garda Station, said that it was "great to have it up and running again".
"Every school looks forward to playing in Fitzgerald Stadium," he told the Killarney Advertiser.
"This year we're paying tribute to our colleague Paudie Twohig who was involved in the blitz from the beginning. We're also inviting his family, his wife Diane who also works in Killarney Garda Station and daughters Tara and Olivia."
He added that the event is only possible through the kind sponsorship and cooperation from all those involved.
"I'd like to say thank you to Der Brosnan, Chair of Fitzgerald Stadium and his staff, all the Gardai in the Kerry District including retired members, our sponsor Tom Spillane Auctioneer, Daly's SuperValu, McCarthy's Londis Rathmore, and Tom Tobin Trophy World, the Kerry County GAA Board, Tim O'Sullivan Easy Clean Glenflesk and all the teachers and pupils from each school."
And new this year is the Tadhg O'Suilleabháin Memorial Cup which will go to the winners on the day to honour the late Lissivigeen National School principal who established the first national schools’ competition for young footballers in East Kerry in 1954.
"We are very grateful to the Killarney Gardaí who initiated and organise the Garda National Schools Blitz and who have welcomed this trophy to honour Tadhg’s work with schools' football," the O'Sullivan family said. "We are delighted to see the national schools’ competition thriving. We know that Tadhg would be immensely proud to be associated with this competition.”
News
GAA stars set to gather for A Night With Legends
By Sean Moriarty Over 1,500 people are expected to attend Fossa GAA Club’s ‘A Night With Legends’ on Tuesday night. GAA royalty will grace the INEC stage as part of […]

By Sean Moriarty
Over 1,500 people are expected to attend Fossa GAA Club’s ‘A Night With Legends’ on Tuesday night.
GAA royalty will grace the INEC stage as part of an ambitious fundraiser by the club.
The event will be styled on RTÉ’s popular pre All-Ireland Final show ‘Up for the Match’ where footballing legends will tell some of their life stories in between music and songs.
It will be hosted by author and raconteur Billy Keane and horseracing photographer Pat Healy. The event is one of the key fundraisers for the expanding Fossa GAA Club.
Coming just days before Kerry’s All-Ireland semi-final with Dublin, ‘A Night With Legends’ will also serve as a light-hearted preview to the important game.
Kerry greats like Pat Spillane, Mike Frank Russell, Paul Galvin and Eamon Fitzmaurice will be joined on stage by Dublin hero Bernard Brogan Sr. Killarney greats Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper and Ambrose O’Donovan will also be there.
“This is not going to be a boring night, it is going to be filled with fun and banter, music and craic,” Fossa GAA chairman, Dermot Clifford, told the Killarney Advertiser.
Several raffle and auction prizes are up for grabs on the night too, the most unusual being a chance to bid on a racing greyhound, donated by the Murphy Family from Brosna.
The fundraiser has already raised €10,000 thanks to a recent auction organised by Paul Nagle. The local rally star sold one of his world championship helmets for €25,000 with the balance going to Recovery Haven in Tralee.
Limited tickets are still available at a cost of €25 per person or groups can buy a table of 12 for €250.
Ticket enquires: nightoflegends2022@gmail.com.
News
Salvias are valuable plants for any gardener
By Debby Looney, gardening expert One plant which I think is a super addition to borders and pots is the salvia. There are many to choose from, but there are […]

By Debby Looney, gardening expert
One plant which I think is a super addition to borders and pots is the salvia. There are many to choose from, but there are two broad differences, one is the bedding salvia, with its spikes of fire-engine-red flowers – though they come in cream and purple also.
These have become less popular with gardeners over the years, as slugs eat them with relish. I have found the product ‘Grazers’, a spray, excellent as a slug repellent. As an aside, ‘Grazers’ also do a rabbit, deer, lily beetle and caterpillar repellent, all of which are organically certified and perfectly safe to use. They are also quite effective products. Secondly, everyone knows the herb salvia, or sage which goes perfect with chicken, roast squash or parma ham, it is a flavour of autumn.
However, there are over 500 salvias to choose from, and happily, nurseries are taking notice of them. This year a notable addition to most garden centre stock is the hybrid Wish collection. There are three; ‘Love and Wishes’, ‘Ember’s Wish’ and ‘Wendy’s Wish’. Being the greedy gardener I am, I planted all three, and have been rewarded by large bushy plants with masses of colour. I planted them in a free draining, sunny part of the garden, where they have plenty of space. The plants themselves reach about 80cm, flower spikes being at least 20cm long in colours pink, aubergine and orange.
Another beauty is S. Amistad, which every garden with a flower border should have. They grow up to 1.2m, with lush dark green foliage, topped by dark blue flowers. The calyces (the bit the flower comes out of!) are almost black, giving it a fantastically dramatic look. S. nemerosa is a hardy variety, used in Irish gardens for years, as it spreads happily keeping weeds at bay. ‘New Dimension Blue’ is a lovely variety, with rich blue flower spikes. S. nemerosa does not grow that tall, about 30cm. It is also one of the few salvias which will tolerate heavy soil and a lot of winter rain.
S. roemeriana ‘Hot Trumpets’ is also a low growing spreading salvia, about 30cm, with the brightest red flower spikes I have yet to see rivalled! It grows well in dappled shade, adding great splashes of colour. Another red is S. x jamensis ‘Hot Lips’. It is an evergreen perennial, which loves full sun. It grows to about 50cm, and has flowers from April through to the first frosts. The flowers are bicoloured red and white, like little flags. ‘Killer Cranberry’ is another beauty with magenta flowers.
All salvias are attractive to bees and other pollinators, and as such are valuable plants for any gardener. They look great grouped with other perennials, as well as in pots or on their own in beds.