Inside Track
Gort keep their best until last in unseating champs
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IT’S doubtful if there was a more disorganised senior hurling team in Galway last spring than Gort, but when it came to the crunch they were sufficiently prepared – both on and off the field – to lay the foundation for the club’s seventh county championship triumph at Kenny Park last Sunday.
Difficulties in putting a team management together meant Gort were vulnerable for the start of the title race last April and a poor effort against Loughrea in the opening round followed by a close shave against Liam Mellows led to the South Galway men being generally dismissed as serious contenders for the Tom Callanan Cup.
But in a remarkable transformation, Gort subsequently managed to leave their early season turmoil behind and the extent of their improvement was underlined in Athenry at the weekend when they emerged deserving winners over a Portumna outfit which struggled to establish any sustained fluency and whose decision-making at times did them no favours.
Ultimately, we got a better final than its belated timing deserved. The heavy surface demanded unrelenting commitment and Gort certainly weren’t found wanting in this regard while they fact that they were the younger and hungrier team was also critical to the outcome. The new champions had their mental fortitude seriously tested in a dramatic conclusion, but they never flagged and finished in a blaze of glory.
An estimated crowd of 4,000 turned up at Kenny Park to witness a county final which was extremely competitive in heavy underfoot conditions. Surprisingly, Portumna opted to face the wind in the opening-half and though an interval deficit of 0-9 to 0-5 was hardly insurmountable, the title holders still had significant ground to make up while several key players were struggling to make an impact.
Yet, when the All-Ireland champions drew level in the 57th minutes thanks to a terrific Kevin Hayes first-time strike after Ollie Canning had done the spadework, the smart money would have been on Portumna completing the job, but within 60 seconds a determined Gort had regained their three point lead when substitute Wayne Walsh found the net at the second attempt.
Amazingly, for a final whichhad scarcely threatened a goal until three minutes from the end, we were now treated to three of them in less than 180 seconds as Gort then put the seal on a momentous win when veteran Gerry Quinn intercepted a half-hooked Conor O’Hare clearance before expertly putting Albert Mullins in the clear. The team’s centre forward still had work to do, but he avoided the challenging Joe Keane in applying a neat finish.
Gort’s joy was unconfined and no neutral could dispute that they were the better equipped outfit on the day. From the start, half backs Grey Lally, the crispest striker on the field, and Aidan Harte emerged as hugely influential figures and both players picked off rousing opening-half points into the bargain. Lally dominated in the number six jersey and though he had a difficult ten minutes on Damien Hayes at the start of the second-half, the Gort captain gradually began to reassert and was critical to their second county title success in four years.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
SOMETHING very odd happened to Tyrone in the Ulster championship in early April. On their home turf of Healy Park, they were doing nearly everything expected of them when leading Monaghan by five points at half-time. You couldn’t say for definite that the match was done and dusted, but the 2021 All-Ireland champions were in pole position.
You would have expected them to drive on against an honest if limited Monaghan outfit. Instead, Tyrone didn’t score for the opening 16 minutes of the second-half and in an enthralling finale, were left stunned by defender Ryan’s Toole’s stoppage-time goal snatching the honours for the Farney men on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline.
A couple of weeks later, Monaghan themselves had exited the Ulster title race when Derry comfortably got the better of them (1-21 to 2-10), leaving us more puzzled than ever by Tyrone’s dramatic decline since overcoming Mayo to claim Sam barely 20 months previously. Last year, they crashed out of Ulster by 11 points to Derry and subsequently came up six short against Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Against that background, their recent loss to Monaghan shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Tyrone may have made a shambolic defence of the All-Ireland title, but there is still a lot of quality in their ranks. They have an adventurous ‘keeper in Niall Morgan, while the long-serving Peter Harte, Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry, Cathal McShane, Conor Meyler, Mattie Donnelly, and Conn Kilpatrick are all top-class performers when in the mood.
There’s hardly been a word about them for the past six weeks. Tyrone are lying low, desperately trying to rediscover the verve and cohesion which took them all the way in 2021. Their pride is on the line. It makes them dangerous opponents for Galway in the opening round of All-Ireland group matches at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
GALWAY footballers won’t get much credit for their easy victory over Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht Final in Castlebar, but when a team achieves something that hasn’t been done for 20 years, perhaps we should be a little more appreciative of the Tribesmen retaining the JJ Nestor Cup for the first time in two decades.
To be honest, if Galway were to live up to their standing as serious All-Ireland contenders, they needed to be doing a number on Sligo. In this year’s National League, the counties were three divisions apart and though Tony McEntee’s team achieved promotion and were on a nine-match unbeaten run, a serious rise in class faced them at MacHale Park.
Granted, Sligo made a bright start with three points in the opening five minutes from Pat Spillane, Sean Carrabine and the accurate Darragh Cummins, but they would only manage two more by the break despite having the wind behind them. Though wing back Luke Towey was catching the eye with his runs up-field, Galway rarely looked under pressure.
Sligo were bravely committing numbers to the middle third, which meant they were a little light in numbers around their own posts. They couldn’t afford to lose possession coming out of their own half, but that’s what happened in the build up to Galway’s second goal. Damien Comer overturned Cian Lally and from his counter-attack, Matthew Tierney expertly finished to the net at the near post.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IS the Leinster hurling championship something of a sham compared to its Munster counterpart? Everybody knows who will end up in the provincial final in the east, but nobody knows the two teams who will feature in the ultimate battle for supremacy down south.
All-Ireland champions Limerick aren’t guaranteed to even make it out of the province, never mind reach the Munster final, after their narrow loss to Clare in Saturday evening’s epic at the Gaelic Grounds. Everything is still on the line for the five counties involved, although Waterford are again under serious pressure after losing their opening two matches.
In Leinster, there is little of that drama. Galway and Kilkenny are miles ahead of the rest; the only thing at stake is whether Dublin or Wexford – they meet in Croke Park on Saturday – will be the third team to emerge for the All-Ireland series. It’s a game which is hard to call. Wexford are going backwards while Dublin look callow as Micheál Donoghue is trying to build the nucleus of a new team.
Though Antrim are improving – they held the Dubs to a draw and only lost to Wexford by four points – the men from the Glens would be out of their depth in Munster; while Westmeath are proving cannon-fodder for everyone else. Since Galway headed east in 2009, they have clashed with Kilkenny in seven Leinster finals and another showdown is inevitable next month.
In contrast, every match in Munster is virtually do-or die. When Clare rolled into Limerick last Saturday, they knew another defeat after losing to Tipperary in the opening round would leave them on the precipice of exiting the championship. There’s a real dog-eat-dog appeal about all the games. In Leinster, there are two big hounds, and the rest are chihuahuas.
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.
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