PHOTO: An Irish Golfing Hero Stopped Off In Tralee On Sunday

Posted in Something Cool, Sport, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

WGC Bridgestone Champion Shane Lowry was in Tralee on Sunday.

YOU CAN’T come across anyone more likable or well regarded in the Irish community than the golfing star who recently stopped off in a local pub here in Tralee.

Offalys Shane Lowry, who is currently sitting at 21st in the world golf rankings, was in town with his brother Alan and a few friends where they stopped off in The Castle Bar on Rock Street.

The 2009 Irish Open and 2015 WGC Bridgestone Invitational champion was seen by many enjoying the last few days of his time off before he pre-season practice begins anew in January.

Two staff members of the bar were able to snag a photo with Shane and his brother Alan, where they no doubt wished him well for the 2016 season.

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Alan and Shane Lowry pictured with Adrian and Gerard O’Sullivan of The Castle Bar. Photo Credit: The Castle Bar Facebook

28Dec2015

Two Great Tralee Running Events Are Up For Top Awards

Posted in National, Sport, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

Danny O’Shea crossing the finish line of the Tralee 100k in August. Photo: Born To Run

TWO GREAT sporting events here in town have this week been nominated for the ‘2015 Running in Ireland Awards’ and now need the help of the public to secure the wins in their respective categories.

First off, the increasingly popular Tralee International Marathon, now entering its fourth year, has been nominated in the ‘Marathon of the Year’category, while the Tralee 100k Ultra Marathon has been put forward in the ‘Ultra Marathon of the Year’ category.

The nominations are a great recognition of the huge amount of work and preparations that go on behind the scenes, not just for the runners, but by the organisers, safety stewards and volunteers that help out on the day.

The events need your (the publics) help in securing votes so feel free to spread the word to as many people that you feel would be interested.

You can cast your vote for the two local events HERE.

22Dec2015

VIDEO: Father Of Tralee Student Reacts To Seeing Her Doppelgänger

Posted in Something Cool, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

Michael was visibly shocked at how much the looked alike.

IN A follow up to our very popular story recently in which a young Tralee student met her almost identical twin through the ‘Twin Strangers’ website (see previous story here), a follow up video has now been uploaded by the site.

The new video shows the reaction of Tralee’s Shannon Lonergan’s father Michael as he sees his daughter and her Swedish doppelgänger, Sara, together for the first time.

We imagine that Michael genuinely struggled for a second or two to identify Shannon from the two, such is the extreme likeness between the two.

“I had to look, I really did. I was shocked, they do look an awful lot alike. I’m still getting over it,” he laughs in the video.

Watch Michael’s reaction video below, courtesy of Twin Strangers.

22Dec2015

Status Yellow Wind Warning Issued For Kerry

Posted in Kerry News, Tralee, Weather by Fergus Writes Things

Met Eireann have issued a wind warning for Kerry.

IN news that you’d certainly not want to hear in these (last few shopping) days leading up to Christmas, Met Eireann have issued a ‘Status Yellow Wind Warning’ for Kerry for Wednesday, December 23rd.

The warning will be in place from 1pm tomorrow until approximately midnight on Wednesday.

The statement on their website reads that:

“Southerly winds of mean speeds of 60 to 65km/h gusting 100 to 110km/h are expected Wednesday evening and early Wednesday night.”

This warning has been issued to a number of areas including Leinster, Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim, Roscommon, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

18Dec2015

PHOTOS: Tralee Is Looking Well In The Run Up To Christmas

Posted in Christmas, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

IT’S HARD to believe that it’s only a week until Christmas Day, 2015 has (in this writers humble opinion) just flown by.

With the festive spirit well and truly imbued in all of us, we took a trip around town in the early hours of yesterday evening and captured what we think are some truly beautiful images of Tralee, all lit up.

While many among us will have been out and about in the evenings and soaked up the wonderful atmosphere around the town, spare a thought for those amongst us who can’t make it back this year and might need a little taste of home.

These photos are for those guys (and everyone else of course) to enjoy…

Christy is in fine festive company as the big day approaches. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

The Square was silent and beautiful late last evening. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

Looking well, again. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

The rest of the Square certainly scrubs up well also. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

The blue on the Christmas tree is just something we had to share. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

The Mall is certainly getting into the festive spirit. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

There’s a real ‘winter feel’ about the decorations on Denny Street. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

Again, from a different angle, they really stand out as a highlight of the decorations. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

The intersection at the Mall is wonderfully bright. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

Castle Street is looking well. Photo by Fergus Dennehy

Ashe Street is tranquility personified here in this festive picture. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

These trees on Denny Street are a wonderful addition to the Christmas decorations. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

The Kerry County Museum is all lit up for Christmas. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

Finally, Denny Street in all its festive majesty. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

17Dec2015

PHOTO: Tralee Sign Answers One Of Our Most Asked Questions

Posted in Something Cool, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

LET’S face it, while we all love that bit of fun and craic’ on our nights out, there still comes a time when we just need to take that bit of time to ourselves and just just sit in our little bubble.

With this in mind, one of the most frequently asked questions when one enters any establishment is to inquire about the WiFi situation and true to this, one restaurant’s sign here in Tralee has preempted this question by assuring would-be customers of what they can expect inside.

Check it out below…

The wonderful ‘tongue-in cheek’ sign spotted in Tralee today.

Hat-tip to Paul Bowler for spotting this out and about on his travels.

17Dec2015

PHOTO: Tralee Mother Sends Customs Officers A Lovely Note

Posted in International, Something Cool, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

One of the best things to receive when living away from home.

THERE’S NOTHING worse than missing a family member or loved one around the holidays and it can be especially hard when that loved one is living halfway across the world in Australia.

This was the situation facing Tralee mother, Jacinta O’ Mahony whose son Brendan has been living down under in Perth, Australia for the past four years.

As all ‘Irish Mammies’ are prone to doing, she decided to send a care package down to Brendan to help getting through those holiday blues just a little easier.

However, worried that some of the items in the package wouldn’t make it through the notoriously strict Australian Customs, she decided to write a genuinely lovely note for the officers there.

Jacinta O’ Mahony left this note for the customs officers in Perth.

It reads:

“Customs in Perth Airport. Happy Christmas from Ireland, just some goodies for my family. Please have a sweet and we will see ye in August when we hopefully get to visit your lovely country. Thanks for letting my gifts through.”

A lovely thing to read and something guaranteed to get you through to the weekend.

Hat tip to JOE.ie and Danny Roche.

16Dec2015

VIDEO: Tralee Student Meets Her Swedish Doppelgänger

Posted in Something Cool, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

Shannon Lonergan from Tralee met her almost identical twin, Sara in Dublin recently.

A YOUNG TRALEE student has recently had the very surreal experience of meeting her almost identical twin thanks to the team over at the TwinStrangers.com website.

Shannon Lonergan, a student from here in town signed up the website a while back and received an email from the site telling her that her doppelgänger had been found in 17 year old Swedish girl, Sara.

The video below details the very first meeting between the two with both girls exhibiting slight nerves before the big moment.

“I gave her a hug and then we just stood there like ‘Oh my God, this is so weird’,” said Shannon in the video.

“Our noses, our eyes… we have the exact same ears… lips, expressions, pout, smile… it’s just weird,” she finished.

Check out the pretty amazing footage below…

15Dec2015

Tralee’s Alanna Will Be Back On Our Screens This Thursday Night

Posted in Kerry News, National, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

Alanna Diggin will be talking about how the show impacted her life this week. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.

TRALEE’s Alanna Diggin is set to grace our television screens again this coming week when the follow up show to her acclaimed fly-on the-wall reality show ‘Connected’ airs this Thursday, December 17th.

Alanna was a mainstay in our living rooms in October and November of last year when she starred, along with five other women, in the reality show in which she filmed her life on a daily basis for over nine months.

It was at times a hard and tough watch, with the then 21-year old talking in detail about the sadness that she has suffered so far in her life.

Tears, along with moments of complete honesty and vulnerability were shared for the entire country to see.

The follow up show, aptly titled ‘Re-Connected’ will catch up with Alanna and the rest of the women in the show as they reflect on the shows impact on their lives.

It [my life] has changed in a big way. I grew a lot more confident in myself and my abilities. I would never have gone out filming myself in public a few years back, I had to with this. Being on camera isn’t so intimidating to me and it was something I always wanted to try. I grew as a person as I got to watch myself back and see what I did/didn’t like, got to see what I was like through the same way viewers saw me so I learned more about myself in that sense,” Alanna said, talking to this writer earlier on.

“It has made me want to work in the media, I’m not sure what section yet, but I have continued doing videos for YouTube in my spare time and I am currently part taking in a yearlong radio course,” she finished.

Re-Connected will air at 10pm on Thursday, December 17th on RTÉ 2.

12Dec2015

VIDEO: Strangers Band Together To Buy Struggling Man A Car

Posted in International, Something Cool by Fergus Writes Things

Mr Ford was overcome with emotion after hearing the good news.

IN NEWS that is almost guaranteed to warm your heart and restore your faith in humanity, a generous young couple recently took the kindhearted step of purchasing a car for a stranger after hearing about his struggles to get to work each day.

Sean Merrill and his wife Darilyn are the couple in question and who were driving home late one night when they saw a man walking along the side of the road, looking quite weary and carrying what looked to be a lunch box in his hand.

This man was school caretaker Robert Ford and who after accepting a drive from the obliging couple told them how he had missed the bus home that day and how his commute to and from work could sometimes take close to three hours.

Touched by his story, the couple decided to try and help raise a little money for the school caretaker to help buy him a car and so recruited Mr Ford sister-in-law Kathy into their scheme.

They set up a GoFundMe account and soon found themselves working with close thirty people who all helped to raise enough funds to not just buy a car, but also to help pay off a large chunk of the first years insurance.

All that was left after this was for the couple to go and surprise the unsuspecting Mr Ford with the keys to his new transport.

You can watch the emotional scenes in the video below, you might want to grab the tissues for this one…