Dawn at Brown Island

Here are a few from Brown Island,

A Wintery Scene from Brown Island

Frosty Morning at Brown Island

The Sun rises at Brown Island

Moore Head

Power Head is the headland just above Inch Bay,
Whereas it's actually private property, I don't think the owners mind anyone walking out there and admiring the wonderful views.
Here are a few shots from my most recent visit,enjoy.......

This one was taken at Inch Beach

The Cliffs at Power Head

The late evening Sunshine casts a warm glow at Power Head

The sun goes down at Power Head, East Cork.

The Kicking King....

Friday December 11 2009,
Thomond Park Stadium, Limerick.
Munster v Perpignan in the third round of the Heineken Cup.
Munsters season to date has been sadly lacking consistancy,
One of the worrying aspects of Munsters season to date is the well documented fall from grace of our "Go To" man, Ronan O'Gara.
Having recently lost his place in the Irish team,and he had a fairly indifferent outing in Munsters most recent defeat to Welsh side,Ospreys.
Perpignan came with a huge reputation. They are the current French Champions, and going well in the French Super 14.
Tony McGahan dropped a bombshell ,by dropping Munsters Marquee signing ,John De Villiers.
So how would it all play out....

If anyone doubted Ronan O'Gara, they won't doubt him again.
From midfield he controlled the match with pinpoint kicking from hand tp keep the French side pinned back in there own half for long periods of the game.His place kicking was excellent, getting all of Munsters 24 pts, including a gem of a drop goal of his "weaker" foot.
Even though Munster controlled the match for long periods, they gifted Perpignan 2 extremely soft tries.
The sides went in at half time level 12 pts each.

Dougie Howlett makes one of his trademark tackles

On the resumption the French came more into the match,but that man O'Gara kept on pulling the strings and stretched Munsters lead to 6 pts.

Perpignan scored a penalty of their own and then came the score of the night, when Paul Warwick kicked from his own 22. The ball was collected on the Perpignan 22 by Burger, and the former Cheetahs man scorched the lenght of the Thomond Park pitch, evading both Earls and Warwick before touching down in the corner in front of the Munster Faithful.His celebration was greeted with a shocked silence.Suddenly Munster were 2 pts down with time running out!

Donnacha O'Callaghan goes highest at the lineout

Well Munster don't do panic.They managed to achieve some good field position and as they launched attack after attack the french flanker Guiry stuck out and arm and got pinged for a high tackle om Mafi.

Up stepped O'Gara and another easy 3 pts.

Paul O'Connell retrieves the ball from the restart

From the restart ,Munster managed to retain posession and run down the clock.

Role on next week for the return fixture in France.

Philip Burger collects the ball and out sprints Paul Warwick and Keith Earls

    

Burger leaves Paul Warick in his wake

      

Burger goes over for his try

Burgers "celebrations" won't make him very popular with the Munster Fans

Inch Bay , November '09

Inch Bay is one of the many wonderful beaches in East Cork,
It's often a haunt for the surfing community,
But today I had it all to myself,
And I was in for a treat,
This evening there was a magnificent sunset.
One of those rare occasions when nature make us feel very humble........Enjoy!

Sunset at Inch Bay

Another view of the Sunset at Inch Bay

This is how it's all done, my Canon 7D mounted on a tripod.

More pics at www.flickr.com/carrig

Goat Island

Took a spin to Ardmore today,

Stopped off at goat Island. I hadn't been here before, so It was more a scouting mission then anything else.

Weather was a bit mixed, but it's a place I will revisit again.

Enjoy...........

Goat Island #1

Goat Island #2

Goat Island #3

This is the same shot as the previous one but this one was taken with a 10 stop filter,

So this one worked out at f22 @ 240 seconds

Goat Island #4

Again using the 10 stop filter,

f22@ 70 secs

Roches Point November 09

Roches Point Lighthouse sits at the entrance to Cork Harbour.
I spent some time there again this week.
These are some of the results.......

Ballycotton Cliffs

A few shots from Ballycotton taken this week....

Winter Sunshine at Ballycotton Cliffs

The Diving Platform at Ballycotton

Stairway to Heaven??

West Cork

I took a drive to West Cork yesterday.......

Atlantic Breakers at Red Strand

It's one of my favorite places to go.

Plenty of photo ops.

First stop was Red Strand, from there to Galley Head, onwards to Long Strand.

Abandoned Boat at Galley Head

Breaking Waves at Red Strand

The plan was to continue on to Owinahincha and from there to Toe Head.

Long Strand Panorama

Surfs Up

A Big Change in the Weather

Unfortunately, after Long Strand the weather turned for the worse and I had to abort.

Never Mind, I'll just have to go back again soon :)

Cliffs of Moher

I had to drop someone to Shannon airport last Sunday, so I drove out to the Cliffs of Moher, in County Clare.They were recently nominated to be one of the new Wonders of the World.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty poor.

A view of the cliffs looking north.

The cliffs of Moher are indeed one of the great natural wonders of Ireland, and as such they should be open for all to see and admire.But I suppose it's no surprise that the Clare County Council have in their wisdom decided to charge for the privilege.It costs €8 per car to use the car park.

The Cliffs are home to over 20,000 nesting seabirds and the well recognised Puffin can be seen from April to July. There are over 600 metres of safe pathways to walk with raised viewing platforms for enhanced views, this includes the newly reopened O'Brien's Tower.

Looking south along the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs of Moher is one of those places which everyone should see at least once.

I was unlucky with the weather on my visit ,but I was still impressed with the sheer beauty of the place, and hopefully ,if and when the weather improves,I will return.

Munster v Dragons

Munster played the Gwent Dragons at Musgrave Park,Cork on Sunday last .

The atmosphere was electric.We all came to see the new kid on the block, Jean De Villiers.Fresh from ,what must be for him ,the season of his life.South Africa have just won the Tri Nations and also come through a tough Lions series with a 2-1 series win.

A full house at Musgrave Park as O'Callaghan goes highest at the lineout.

As well as De Villiers,Munster welcomed back some of their "big guns",Donnacha O' Callaghan,Ronan O'Gara,and Thomas O'Leary.
For O'Leary it was his first competitive start since breaking his ankle at this same venue last April.

The first half was a tame enough affair with just a penalty a piece to show on the scoreboard at half time.Indeed the Dragons should have been ahead by 3 points when a perfectly good drop goal just on the stroke of half time was disallowed by the TV match official.I was directly behind the goal and the ball went right between the posts!
Whatever Tony McGahan said to his players at the interval, worked wonders.
Munster came out with all guns blazing and it was the forgotton man from New Zealand, Nick Williams, who showed them the way.At the final whistle he had gone over for 3 tries and came close on at least another 3 occasions.

Nick Williams going over for one of his three trys.

Dougie Howlett chipped in with a marvellous solo effort, and Munster ran out comfortable winners on the day,with a scoreline of 29-3.

Dougie Howlett scores a wonderful solo try at Musgrave Park

The only note of concern was the kicking performance of O'Gara.He missed a number of very kickable attempts.Lets hope that he'll have his eye in for next weeks big clash with near rivals a Leinster at the RDS.
Best for Munster were, De Villiers, Alan Quinlan(who went off injured) and the outstanding Nick Williams.

Carrauntohill

The Hags Glen at 7am is a magical place. As I walked through the Glen ,surrounded by Irelands largest peaks, the only sounds are from the river Gaddagh and the odd bird chirping as the Sun rises up from the East.
It's about a 2.5 mile trek to the base of Carrauntohil, and the closer you get , the more daunting it seems.It was a good day for climbing.Cool but not cold. Virtually no wind.So no excuses!!

The route I chose was up through 'O Sheas Gully and assuming all went well I planned to descend down through the aptly named "Heavenly Gates".
I managed to reach the summit after about 2.5 hours, a little bit out of breath , but none the worse for wear. I had the summit all to myself(first time this has happend for me).

Unfortunately by the time I had reached the top, the clouds descended and shrouded the summit.Visabilty was down to about 30-40 feet.
Soon, others started arriving, one guy was setting up a checkpoint for a charity hike.He told me that there were about 50 people taking part.

Another thing which caught my eye was this little plaque that was at the summit.I think it goes to show that the old saying "your health is your wealth", really is worth remembering, especially in our current economic climate.
I have since found out that the plaque was left here by Gerry Walker.
Gerry suffered from Cystic Fibrosis, and recieved a double lung transplant from Martin.
He has since gone on to climb the 4 highest peaks in Ireland,Scotland,Wales and England.
More info here....http://www.4peaks4life.ie/index.html

The Plaque which caught my eye at the summit.

So getting up was one thing and now my journey down...

From the summit, I headed down towards the Devils Ladder, before I got to the start of the Ladder,I turned left and was able to pick up the path to the "Heavenly Gates".

View from the Heavenly Gates

This is probably the easiest and most scenic route down from Carraun.It takes you down past the Kerry Mountain Rescue hut, and eventually down under the famed "Hags Tooth" until you reach Lough Gouragh .From there its a lovely trek back through the Hags Glen, to Cronins Yard.

The Gap of Dunloe

Finally the Sun came out for a few days.
After months of dismal weather, the Sun made an appearance this week......
So on with the hiking boots and off to Killarney!

I decided to take a trip into the Gap, and follow a route from a book written by Sean Higgisson.

I Started at Kate Kearney´s Cottage at. It is an easy and fast ascent from Gap of Dunloe via Turf Path to the elevated bog plain around Strickeen Hill. Here the path ends and i passed Strickeen Hill on left, crossing the bog field and heading for the path on the foot of Cnoc an Bhraca. I arrived on summit after 1.5 hrs walk. Here are great views to the Reeks, the Black Valley and Purple Mountain.

Descending via Cnoc na dTarbh and Drishana, and from here following the fence to reached the Black Valley road southwest of the Madman´s Seat. Back through the Gap of Dunloe. The whole walk took around 5 hrs.

Carrig v Castlelyons

Beware the wounded hurler.......And Seanie Farrell.

Carrigtwohills Senior Hurlers maintained there senior status in a gripping encounter with Castlelyons in Ballynoe.
This was a game of two halves, the first half saw Carrig dominate their opponents in almost every position and go in at half time 6 points to the good. The cause was helped along nicely with a smashing goal from Thomas Hogan. At the interval the Large crowd must have thought that this game was over.
Castlelyons however had other thoughts, and faced with the spectre of playing Intermediate hurling next season,they came out with all guns blazing.
Their cause was aided greatly by Timmy McCarthy, who blasted home a 21 yard free to the roof of the net. From being 6 points down at half time ,Castleloyons were now a point to the good and only seven mins gone in the second half. Game on!
From where I was sitting , it was notable that Niall Mac, was still suffering with the shoulder injury, and as the match wore on, the Carrig manager Eoin O'Mahony made what was to be the master stroke of the night.
He switched Seanie Farrell and Niall Mac.

Seanie came more and more into the game and won a pile of ball.
He was able to feed Niall, now playing at full forword.
Niall blasted two fantastic goals, both goals came from Seanie Farrell passes.
This proved just to much firepower for Castleloyns, when the Final whistle sounded it was Carrig who will go into the hat for the senior hurling championship draw for 2010, and Castleloyns will play Intermediate hurling next season.

But this wasn't just about these two. This was truly a great team performance.
The Carrig Goalie, William McCarthy made some great stops, and his puckouts were very effective.Sean Lordan gave a wonderful display.Jason Barrett score some sublime points.Everyone of the Carrig players deserve great credit for the performance tonight, especially in the second half. When Castlyons asked the quistions ,Carrig came up with the answers.
Role on next Season!

Carrig V Midleton.......The Replay

After such an epic first encounter, I don't think many of us thought that this match could live up to our expectations.How wrong we were.

In front of a packed house at Castlemartyr, we witnessed one of the great championship matches of the year.Both teams gave their all and hurled themselves to a standstill.

It is often said at these types of matches......"no quarter was asked or given".Well if that applied to any match ,then this was it.

For the second time in sucession, 70 minutes couldn't seperate these two fine sides.
Carrig were dealt a double blow in extra time with the loss of Noel Furlong and Niall McCarthy.
This tipped the balance in Midletons favour and the managed to tag on 3 unanswered points to run out winners on the night.

So relief for Midleton, as they stay senior for another year at least.
For Carrig it means that they now have to go to the last chance saloon, and take their chances in the relegation final.
Castlelyons will be Carrigs opponents in the relegation match, and that match is to be played at Ballynoe.
In the meantime Carrig have an anxious wait on their injured players Niall and Noel, to see if they will be fit for the playoff.

Saltee Islands

Travelled to The Saltee Islands on Sunday 21st.





It was my first trip to the Islands, but it won't be my last.



The Saltees are located a few miles off of Kilmore Quay, Co.Wexford.Declan Bates ferries people back and forth throughout the summer months for a fee of €25.



The islands are privatly owned by the Neale family, but they allow full access to the public.All they ask in return is that you leave the islands as you find them.More info available at http://www.salteeislands.info/



The islands are a haven for all sorts of wildlife, but is probably most famous for it's bird population.Among the the many breeds to be seen are Gannets, Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills etc.There are many seals in abundance around the island as well.



The Gannet Colony (pic below)has to be seen to be believed....








Puffins seem the be one of the most photographed birds on the island. I was lucky to see plenty of them during my visit.I've heard that they can be hard to find at times.

What really struck me on my visit is ,how close people can get the birds.They don't seem to perceive us as a danger.You can easly get to within 20 feet of most of the birds.The gannet colony is the only place I saw some people getting to close to the birds.Here the birds are nesting and trying to protect their chicks.Yet some people still want to get within 2 or 3 feet.Some of the birds actually made attempts to fend off the offending people.

The Saltees are a national treasure.Well worth a visit. We should count ourselves really lucky that they are so close and open to all.If you do pay a visit, just remember the rule......Leave the Island as you find it.

More pics at www.flickr.com/carrig