Sports
Galway make short work of outclassed exiles
Galway 2-18
New York 0-8
NEW York was always going to be ‘one of those games’ for Galway: damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Red-hot favourites to advance to the Connacht quarter-finals, if Galway somehow managed to lose Stateside, it’d send a tremor through the GAA World across the Atlantic Ocean; win, which they did, comfortably in the end, and it barely registers a ripple.
When they win it, by 16-points, everyone says ‘of course you did, sure it’s only New York’. And they’d be right. Though New York put up some strong early resistance, particularly the first 20 minutes, a shock was never really on.
Managed by Kerryman, Ian Galvin, New York are physical, fit, organised and committed to the cause. But they are limited. Though many players have inter-county experience, at best New York are playing at a standard of a fairly decent club side, although PJ Banville, the former Wexford forward, was as good as any player on show and bagged all bar one of the Exiles’ eight scores.
Despite a very sluggish opening quarter, Galway did enough to win, and win well, with notable displays from Damien Comer and Shane Walsh who each tallied 1-4. They got their 2015 Connacht Championship campaign off the ground but it’s hard to read too much into this performance and it’s difficult to gauge where Galway ‘are at’ in their development.
There are so many factors in the mix that it can almost be discounted. There’s the travel – the flight to the Big Apple is six hours, and add in the five-hour time difference. Irish people aren’t ‘made’ for 26 degrees Celsius sun – the heat in the Bronx was punishing even for spectators, never mind the players.
Throw in the unfamiliar, and unorthodox, synthetic surface; the unusual throw-in time (it was 8pm back home); strange food and surrounds; and the fact that five of the panel got a mystery bug, including goal-keeper Brian O’Donoghue, who had to withdraw five minutes before throw-in after throwing-up behind the end-line. Tom Healy got the nod in goal while Eddie Hoare and Comer were late changes for bug-hit Michael Lundy and Patrick Sweeney. All things considered, is it any wonder Galway couldn’t get motoring early?
When they adjusted and did get going, Galway over-ran New York, whose challenge fizzled out the longer the match went on. This was all about the result, though. Galway was never going to learn too much about their championship credentials from this fixture; that will become clearer against Leitrim on Sunday week.
And yet it wasn’t a completely wasted exercise. The four or five nights abroad will do no harm for team bonding. Man-of-the-match, Damien Comer, bagged his first senior championship goal; Tom Flynn and Danny Cummins, who were sidelined with injury for parts of the National League, returned to the fray. Killanin’s Cathal Sweeney, Seán Denvir and Peadar Óg Ó Gríofa from CLG Micheál Breathnach made their senior championship debuts; and Paddy Naughton came on as a late substitute, to become the first Barna player to represent Galway at senior since current selector Seán Conlon lined-out in 1994.
Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
GALWAY United need to guard against any kind of complacency when they make the short hop down the M18 this Friday to take on Treaty United at the Markets Field (7.45pm).
The game is a meeting of the two form teams in the division, and as in previous meetings between the sides, will have an additional edge given the number of former United players in the home side’s ranks, and the pair of Limerick lads playing for United.
There might have been just the eight meetings between the sides since Treaty became the latest iteration to represent Limerick in the League of Ireland in 2021, and while United have yet to lose to the men in the candy-cane strips, there has never been more than a goal in four of their eight wins.
The most recent of those was back in February, when Rob Slevin scored the only goal of the game in Eamonn Deacy Park after a tough battle against a side who made a slow start to the season, before finally finding their groove in the past month.
Having taken just three points from their first six games before finally getting a win against Longford Town, they reverted to type with just one point from their next three games, but are now on a run of four wins on the spin, scoring 12 goals and conceding just one.
Their most recent win was a 3-0 victory away to Longford Town last Saturday, and they could have won by double that against the only side to have beaten United this season. That in itself is a warning.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Soccer Wrap with Mike Rafferty
While the Salthill Devon men’s team might have lost their grip on the Connacht Junior Cup that they held for two seasons, the club’s women’s side have picked up the mantle and on Sunday last in Headford were crowned provincial champions with a 4-3 win over Manulla.
Following midweek wins for Maree/Oranmore and Knocknacarra, the stage is now almost set for the semi-finals of the Michael Byrne Cup with Salthill Devon meeting St Bernard’s on Sunday in an outstanding quarter-final, with the winners advancing to a semi-final against Maree/Oranmore, while Colga will face Knocknacarra in the other last four contest.
Just one league issue remains to be decided, with the Championship runners-up position up for grabs, as Dynamo Blues have to win their two remaining games in order to overtake Colemanstown United who have finished their programme.
WOMEN’S CONNACHT CUP FINAL
Salthill Devon 4
Manulla 3
Ellerose O’Flaherty scored twice as Salthill Devon were crowned provincial champions with a win over a Mayo side who were losing in the final for the second year in succession.
Backboned by a number of players who previously had League of Ireland experience with Galway WFC, Devon suffered an early set back when Jess Nolan put Manulla ahead, before O’Flaherty levelled matters with a cracking finish on 20 minutes, which was quickly followed by a long-range free-kick from Aoife Walsh.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
