Latest news with #GarethO'Brien
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Climate
- RTÉ News
Increase in presence of pesticides in water supplies
Pesticide users have been urged to be vigilant to protect drinking water supplies ahead of the warmer weather expected over the coming weeks and months. It comes after there has been an increase in the number of drinking water supply samples that have exceeded the legal limits for pesticides. Uisce Éireann's public water supply monitoring programme found that of the 34,000 samples tested last year, pesticide levels exceeded legal limits 66 times. This figure is up from 52 exceedances in 2023. However, overall, the trend is down by more than 50% since 2017. The River Dee in Co Louth runs through one of the areas where Uisce Éireann has detected recurring pesticide levels that are above the legal limit. Uisce Éireann also announced that two other catchment areas have been identified where recurring pesticide exceedances have been detected. These are Hacketstown, Co Carlow and Foynes Shannon Estuary in Co Limerick. The utility has said while the pesticide levels detected in areas such as these do not pose a risk to public health, it is advising all stakeholders to stay vigilant to protect drinking water supplies. As a result, catchment-based focus groups have been established in these areas to co-ordinate targeted actions at a local level and prioritise these areas for "further work" in 2025. Similar targeted action in recent years in areas such as Belturbet, Co Cavan and Newport, Co Mayo has successfully eliminated pesticide exceedances in those water supplies. A pesticide is a substance that prevents insects, weeds and other pests from harming plants. T hey are used in many industries, including agriculture, forestry, transport, domestic gardens and amenities such as public parks and golf courses. Most public drinking water supplies in Ireland come from surface water, for example rivers, lakes and streams. The HSE National Drinking Water Group has said that pesticides can get in to surface water in a few different ways: By direct spraying of rushes and other weeds with pesticides close to a river or stream From pesticide run-off from land into a stream during heavy rain; and Sprayed pesticide can drift in the wind onto a stream, river or lake Pesticides can also get into drinking water through misuse or careless handling of containers during storage or disposal. Therefore, the National Pesticides and Drinking Water Action Group is reminding users of herbicides and other pesticide products to always take account of the vulnerability of their local drinking water supplies. The body, which works to achieve compliance with the EU Drinking Water Directive, is also asking pesticide users to be aware of how their actions could impact their community's drinking water. Asset Strategy, Technical Lead with Uisce Éireann, Gareth O'Brien has said water supply samples taken from the Greenmount catchment area in Co Louth continue to exceed the legal limits for pesticides. "The water flows through Ardee along the River Dee and is extracted about ten kilometres upstream at the Greenmount water supply. "The water undergoes the water treatment process here and that is where we test the final treated water and that is where we are getting the pesticide exceedances. "We're asking all pesticide users in the catchment area just to be mindful of the water supply and whenever using pesticides just follow best practices and advice," Mr O'Brien added. Alan McEvoy is a 33-year-old agronomist and crop advisor living in the Ardee area. His role involves carrying out farm inspections before providing advice to farmers on what pesticides should be applied and in what quantities to ensure such substances are used safely and also yield the greatest crop return. Mr McEvoy has said that while farmers, greenkeepers and amenity owners must evaluate their use of pesticides, those at home also have a role to play. "In the public eye, the main thing people see is a sprayer driving through a town or village and most people think, 'there's the fella or the woman that's basically polluting the water that I'm drinking'. "Nine times out of ten, or even more, it's actually the home use of pesticides on hard surfaces that is really doing more damage than the farm. "The farmer is usually trained to apply the pesticides, they are after getting professional advice, they're sticking to within their guidelines, including the limits within the buffer zones. "If you're spraying at home, your garden with a lawn-care or the weeds around your house, there's usually more damage done with that because you're spraying onto a hardcore surface and there's nothing there to bind the pesticide and prevent run-off." In the first instance, Uisce Éireann is advising farmers and landowners not to use pesticides if at all possible, or else consider using an alternative. If pesticides must be used, the utility has said there are basic steps that can be taken to reduce the risks to drinking water sources and the aquatic environment. These include using a pesticide correctly as directed by the product's label, not using pesticides if rain is forecast within the next 48 hours, and by being aware of the location of all nearby watercourses, including drains, wells and springs.
BBC News
17-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
The wild results that made Super League so compelling
Super League's opening weekend of the 2025 season had a stark contrast in results across the first six fixtures of the champions Wigan - off the back of a history-making quadruple-winning season in 2024 - played out an incredible record-breaking scoreless 80 minutes against town rivals Leigh, who eventually won 1-0 in golden point extra low-scoring affair was a total contrast from St Helens' whopping 82-0 win over Salford Red Devils just two days a remarkable gameweek came to an end, BBC Sport looked into the archive to see where these results stack up in comparison to some notable fixtures in years gone by. Have there been other low-scoring wins? The scorecard for Leigh's emphatic win over Wigan last week had just one name on there - Gareth O'Brien, who kicked the decisive drop-goal to gift the Leopards victory after an astonishing 80 minutes which resulted in the first 0-0 draw in the competition's 29-year history."I got my head down, got my foot through it and it went over," he said to BBC Radio Manchester of his match-winning kick."For it to be 0-0 it just shows what sort of game it was. The defences came out on top."The low-scoring affair at the Brick Community Stadium is not the only time tough defence has decided a crucial game of rugby league and resulted in a scoreless 80 minutes, took on Hull in a Challenge Cup semi-final in March 1988 which ended 0-0 and required a replay to decide who would reach that season's final at narrowly edged out the Airlie Birds four days later in another tight affair, running out 4-3 winners at Elland Road, before they were well beaten 32-12 by Wigan in the final a month later in front of 94,000 in the capital. Fast forward nine years and Salford - in their first game in Super League - kicked off their top-flight campaign with a narrow 4-0 win over Castleford at the Willows in March last week's remarkable fixture in Wigan, that was the joint record lowest scoring Super League fixture, alongside St Helens' 4-0 win at a muddy Celtic Crusaders in March 2009, Saints' edgy 4-0 win over Castleford in 2019 and Warrington's dour try-less 4-0 victory against Hull FC in because a fixture is low-scoring does not indicate lack of effort - indeed, St Helens' supporters paid tribute to the Crusaders at the end of their narrow 2009 win, cheering the Welshmen off the pitch for their win against Castleford 10 years later was a well-earned victory off the back of a chastening defeat at Wembley by Warrington in the Challenge Cup the week before, however it did herald the beginning of a remarkable era of dominance at the turn of the decade which saw the club win four successive Super League results were in contrast to Warrington's 2022 triumph over Hull, however, with then-head coach Daryl Powell doing little to hype up the result in the aftermath of their victory."Both teams looked nervous, the crowd were nervous, the coach was nervous and we just needed to come out of the other side of it with a victory," he said. Salford's other drubbings in the Super League era St Helens ran in a whopping 15 tries to demolish Salford Red Devils 82-0 on Saturday to register the biggest winning margin in Super League win did come against a Salford side which named just 16 players in their squad, including eight debutants, because of a salary cap imposed with their takeover still to be what fixture did Saints' impressive victory dethrone? Well, at the turn of the millennium both Leeds and Bradford won by an 80-point margin, with poor old Salford on the receiving end of one of those 1999, Leeds defeated Huddersfield 86-6 with Iestyn Harris scoring four tries and Paul Sterling also registering a hat-trick on a dismal day for the 12 months later in June 2000, Jamie Peacock claimed a hat-trick and Robbie Hunter-Paul scored four tries of his own as Bradford almost broke the 100-point barrier with their 96-16 thumping of fact, the Red Devils have some unwanted pedigree with such results - having also been on the end of a 70-6 hiding at Wigan in the past 10 years, Warrington have twice scored 80 points against an opponent - first against Wakefield in a whopping 80-0 win in 2015 and again three years later in a Super 8s contest against Hull FC when they ran out 80-10 winners."I hate looking for excuses but over the last month I think we have spent around two hours as a team training together, for the simple reason I don't have enough people. We have just got to suck it up at the moment," then-Wakefield boss James Webster said having, to his credit, faced the media after the received the backing of Trinity chairman Michael Carter in the aftermath, but left the club just a month later. Wigan narrowly missed out on setting the record themselves in 2013 off the back of beating Hull KR 84-6 at Craven rivals Leigh have also been on the end of a morale-depleting thrashing - having been hammered 78-4 by St Helens in 2005, in a game where a 17-year-old Chris Hill made his senior what about a stalemate? In 1994, the highest scoring draw took place as Leeds drew 46-46 with Sheffield Rhinos came from 12-20 down at half-time to claw back some glory in a remarkable second half which saw two tries scored in the final three minutes.
BBC News
14-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Leigh beat Wigan in extra time after historic 0-0 draw
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Betfred Super League Wigan Warriors (0) 0 Leigh Leopards (0) 1 Drop-goal: O'Brien Match ended 0-0 after 80 minutes Leigh beat reigning champions Wigan in golden-point extra time of the opening game of the 2025 Super League season - after the two sides played out the first 0-0 draw in the competition's 29-year history. Gareth O'Brien kicked the decisive drop-goal three minutes into the additional time, ensuring a losing start for last season's Quadruple winners. The defensive discipline of both sides shone during a physical contest between these two near neighbours, with neither able to break the deadlock in an attritional but engaging 80 minutes. O'Brien's one-pointer sparked massive celebrations and secured Leigh's first win at Wigan since 1983. Live music from The Lathums, pyrotechnics before kick-off and legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer welcoming the teams to the field all contributed to the big-event feel on the opening night of the Super League season. What transpired afterwards was a game lacking in points but with no shortage of endeavour, defensive brilliance and late drama. Leigh scrambled superbly to deny Jake Wardle and Tyler Dupree in the first period, while Wigan's Jai Field had a score midway through the second half ruled out by video referee Jack Smith for an illegal ball steal earlier in the move. At the other end, against a Wigan side that did not concede a try in any of their final four games of last season, winter recruit David Armstrong was unable to find a Leigh team-mate having escaped three Wigan tacklers. With the final hooter looming, Leopards half-back Lachlan Lam leapt high near his own posts to claim Harry Smith's lofted kick which seemed destined for the onrushing Bevan French. Having grasped the ball, the grounded Lam was tackled dangerously by Adam Keighran, for which the Wigan centre was sent to the sin-bin. Up against 12 players and having seen off Wigan's first set of six tackles in extra time, Leigh worked the ball into position for O'Brien to land the match-winning drop-goal. Wigan captain Liam Farrell, who himself had been shown a yellow card earlier in the match, created a moment of Super League history early in the second half. One of the new additions to the competition this season is the captain's challenge, which allows teams to contest certain on-field decisions made by the referee. Farrell appealed against Liam Moore's ruling of an illegal ball steal, which was rejected following a video review. 'Surreal we've won 1-0 - but I'll take it' Wigan head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester: "I hope it's spoken about for years to come and credit to Leigh - they didn't come here and fluke or nick a win, they earned a win and fair play to them. "It was great pre-match - [it had] energy and a buzz and was exciting for a packed crowd. The game matched up to it. "I've been involved in a lot of play-off games and finals over the years and it had that sort of feel about it, where you're just waiting for a mistake or a penalty. It was a great standard to start." Leigh head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester: "It's a bit surreal that we've won 1-0 but I'll take it. "When you've got so many new players in the group and four or five making their debuts, there was some uncertainty and nervousness about how we were going to play. "One thing I wanted to see from the group was to see that they were connected together and that they would be resilient - and I got that in abundance. "I'm really happy. If Wigan had won 1-0, I would have been as happy as I am now because it's going to take some time to develop this group and I'm looking forward to that journey." Wigan: Field; Eckersley, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall; French, Smith; Byrne, Leeming, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis. Interchanges: Mago, Dupree, Hill, Forber. Leigh: Armstrong; Brand, Niu, Hanley, Charnley; O'Brien, Lam; Trout, Dwyer, Mulhern, Halton, O'Neill, Liu. Interchanges: Ipape, Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis. Referee: Liam Moore.
The Independent
14-02-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Super League season kicks off with Michael Buffer and historic 0-0 draw
Michael Buffer brought a touch of glamour but Super League failed to 'rumble' on its opening night as Leigh beat champions Wigan 1-0 in golden-point extra time after an historic 0-0 draw. The renowned boxing announcer bellowed out his famous catchphrase having been flown in for the team introductions at the Brick Community Stadium. Yet on what was a bitterly cold Thursday night, the game proved notable largely as the first in the competition's history to finish scoreless after 80 minutes. It was left to Gareth O'Brien to kick the winning point with a drop goal, securing Leigh's first win at Wigan since 1983. It was not what the bumper 21,748 crowd had arrived expecting. The 'voice of boxing' had been just one element of the pre-match hype, with an appearance from Wigan rock band The Lathums, fireworks, a laser show and plenty of promotion for the Warriors' upcoming trip to Las Vegas thrown into the mix. Yet for all the excitement, the action on the field did little to thrill. Wigan threatened a couple of times early on but Jake Wardle lost the ball attempting to dive over the line and a Bevan French kick was too strong for Luke Thompson. Leigh, who have a new look this year after losing a raft of players, spent most of the opening period in their own half but did enjoy a spell of attacking possession before the break. Keanan Brand, back at the club after a loan spell at Widnes, had a chance out wide but was hit by a powerful tackle from Wardle. Wigan went close when Tyler Dupree was stopped just short of the line after clever play by Harry Smith and Jai Field. The start of the second half saw the competition's first use of the new 'captain's challenge' system but Wigan's appeal against a Leigh penalty for an infringement by Adam Keighran failed. Wigan faced heavier punishment when skipper Liam Farrell was sin-binned for kicking the ball away in frustration after a French kick ran dead. That at least provided some spark for the home side and Field thought he had opened the scoring but the video referee ruled out his try for a ball-steal by Liam Marshall. Leigh tried to capitalise on the reprieve but Tesi Niu – one of five new signings in their side – was pushed into touch. Keighran was sent to the sin-bin in the closing minutes of normal time for a swinging arm but the deadlock could not be broken before the hooter. The drama belatedly came in the first additional period as O'Brien landed the game's only point with a well-taken long-range drop-goal.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Leigh beat Wigan in extra time after 0-0 draw
Betfred Super League Wigan Warriors (0) 0 Leigh Leopards (0) 1 Drop-goal: O'Brien Match ended 0-0 after 80 minutes Leigh beat reigning champions Wigan in golden-point extra time of the opening game of the 2025 Super League season - after the two sides played out the first 0-0 draw in the competition's 29-year history. Gareth O'Brien kicked the decisive drop-goal three minutes into the additional time, ensuring a losing start for last season's Quadruple winners. The defensive discipline of both sides shone during a physical contest between these two near neighbours, with neither able to break the deadlock in an attritional but engaging 80 minutes. O'Brien's one-pointer sparked massive celebrations and secured Leigh's first win at Wigan since 1983. Champions Wigan the hunted as Super League returns Captain's Challenge & what else is new in Super League? Live music from The Lathums, pyrotechnics before kick-off and legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer welcoming the teams to the field all contributed to the big-event feel on the opening night of the Super League season. What transpired afterwards was a game lacking in points but with no shortage of endeavour, defensive brilliance and late drama. Leigh scrambled superbly to deny Jake Wardle and Tyler Dupree in the first period, while Wigan's Jai Field had a score midway through the second half ruled out by video referee Jack Smith for an illegal ball steal earlier in the move. At the other end, against a Wigan side that did not concede a try in any of their final four games of last season, winter recruit David Armstrong was unable to find a Leigh team-mate having escaped three Wigan tacklers. With the final hooter looming, Leopards half-back Lachlan Lam leapt high near his own posts to claim Harry Smith's lofted kick which seemed destined for the onrushing Bevan French. Having grasped the ball, the grounded Lam was tackled dangerously by Adam Keighran, for which the Wigan centre was sent to the sin-bin. Up against 12 players and having seen off Wigan's first set of six tackles in extra time, Leigh worked the ball into position for O'Brien to land the match-winning drop-goal. Wigan captain Liam Farrell, who himself had been shown a yellow card earlier in the match, created a moment of Super League history early in the second half. One of the new additions to the competition this season is the captain's challenge, which allows teams to contest certain on-field decisions made by the referee. Farrell appealed against Liam Moore's ruling of an illegal ball steal, which was rejected following a video review. Wigan head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester: "I hope it's spoken about for years to come and credit to Leigh - they didn't come here and fluke or nick a win, they earned a win and fair play to them. "It was great pre-match - [it had] energy and a buzz and was exciting for a packed crowd. The game matched up to it. "I've been involved in a lot of play-off games and finals over the years and it had that sort of feel about it, where you're just waiting for a mistake or a penalty. It was a great standard to start." Leigh head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester: "It's a bit surreal that we've won 1-0 but I'll take it. "When you've got so many new players in the group and four or five making their debuts, there was some uncertainty and nervousness about how we were going to play. "One thing I wanted to see from the group was to see that they were connected together and that they would be resilient - and I got that in abundance. "I'm really happy. If Wigan had won 1-0, I would have been as happy as I am now because it's going to take some time to develop this group and I'm looking forward to that journey." Wigan: Field; Eckersley, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall; French, Smith; Byrne, Leeming, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis. Interchanges: Mago, Dupree, Hill, Forber. Leigh: Armstrong; Brand, Niu, Hanley, Charnley; O'Brien, Lam; Trout, Dwyer, Mulhern, Halton, O'Neill, Liu. Interchanges: Ipape, Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis. Referee: Liam Moore.
