Sports
Magnificent Connacht clinch home semi-final by flooring the champs
Connacht 14
Glasgow 7
FOR a brief moment in the final five minutes of Saturday’s gripping end of season encounter at the Sportsground, we were treated to one of those moments where you have to stop and take it all in.
Connacht were leading by seven, Glasgow were fighting for a draw that would secure home advantage in a play off semi final and it was all hands on deck at the saturated College Road venue.
Packing down in the scrum in those closing minutes were Tom McCartney at loosehead prop, the Kiwi hooker was scrummaging for the first time in over half a decade because of all the injuries, Dave Heffernan at hooker, the industrious and unbreakable Ballina man was fourth choice at one point this year, and JP Cooney at tighthead, option number six for that role at the outset of the season.
That scrum held firm, didn’t shudder and provided the ball Eoin McKeon needed to burst off the back and get Connacht going again. That scrum epitomises a season where the westerners have completely re-written entire sections of the manual, .
In front of what must have been the loudest Pro12 crowd of the season, Connacht delivered on their final objective. Having secured Champions Cup rugby weeks ago and a first ever top four play off position just last week, Saturday was about the top two and a home semi final, as it happens, it will be against Gregor Townsend’s Glasgow Warriors. The reigning champions will be a little wiser when they return in two weeks but no less beatable too.
Last season ended in late May away to Gloucester in Kingsholm. A play off game for Champions Cup rugby qualification after Connacht’s strong Pro12 campaign had yielded a seventh place league finish. We thought the 40-32 extra time defeat that night would remain etched in the memory for years to come, but that heroic effort has been pushed way back in the memory banks. This team has determinedly ensured that.
After that game, the fears for the following campaign were very real, Connacht were not active in the market of signing new players. There appeared to be a deficit of talent in key positions and the chances of holding their seventh spot seemed difficult at best. At that point, no one could have believed that Pat Lam’s men were about to kick on to whole new level and reach the top two.
In Saturday’s 23, only one player wasn’t in Connacht’s squad at the start of last year – AJ MacGinty was signed in October after the World Cup. That’s a key stat when trying to come to terms with what the management team including Dave Ellis, Andre Bell, Jimmy Duffy and Conor McPhillips have achieved here. Big money signings don’t fix all the problems. Connacht certainly spent some money in 2014 but then said, that’s enough. Time to put the work in too.
For more, read this week’s Galway CityTribune.
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.
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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.
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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.
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