Archive News
Below par Galway pay price for mistake-ridden display
Date Published: 22-Aug-2012
Cork 3-10
Galway 0-12
Eoghan Cormican at Nowlan Park
OH dear. Galway camogie has seen many a black day in its long litany of frustrating chronicles, but this must surely rank among them as one of the most trying defeats as the out-of-sorts Tribeswomen self-destructed against a more streetwise Cork.
It was certainly not an easy day being a Galway supporter in Nowlan Park on Saturday as the harsh reality sunk in that the Westerners would not be returning to Croker for a third successive year.
Crucial to note, however, is that it was not Cork who denied Galway a September showdown with Wexford or a chance to bridge a 16 year gap to the county’s last O’Duffy Cup success – no, the Galway players were fully responsible for their own downfall on this occasion.
There were plenty ifs and buts about this All-Ireland semi-final loss, not least a rudderless forward unit which squandered a handful of guilt-edge goal openings, but on the balance of the hour’s play, Cork were deserving of their victory as they completely outgunned Galway in terms of sheer desire to win and attacking know-how.
Not surprisingly, post-mortems were in full flow in the immediate aftermath of the game and no doubt, many more were conducted this week, but why Galway came out second best lay in the fact that they delivered a sub-standard, error-ridden performance.
Things like clearances out of defence going astray, an inability to win primary possession around the middle, the pick-pocketing of Galway defenders close to Susan Earner’s goal and five clear-cut goal chances being spurned, all cost Galway dearly in the end.
Added to this, too many of the players were found wanting over the hour. It really says something that aside from the hard-working Niamh Kilkenny, whose two second half points were of the highest order, Galway’s top performers were two players who have given over 15 years service in the maroon and white.
One can only hope that we haven’t seen the last of Veronica Curtin and, in particular, Therese Maher, but it must be soul destroying to exhaust every last ounce of energy and effort for the cause, while others all around you were content to hide in the wings.
Overall, it was a disjointed Galway display, particularly as they had controlled this contest early on. By the 10th minute, Tony Ward’s charges led 0-6 to 0-2, with Niamh McGrath (2), Curtin (2), Martina Conroy and Orla Kilkenny finding the range.
Jenny O’Leary’s accuracy from both play and frees proved a lifeline for Cork in the opening quarter, but Galway continued to hold the upper-hand and Aislinn Connolly clipped over a neat point to make it 0-7 to 0-4 after 16 minutes.
Though Galway bossed the opening exchanges, the key period, arguably, was the 13 minutes leading up to half-time when Cork hit 1-4 in reply to just a solitary minor from the Tribeswomen to take a 1-8 to 0-8 interval lead.
Gemma O’Connor initiated that sequence with an absolute belter from distance and though Niamh McGrath (free) issued an instant response, Cork were beginning to play with more confidence and guile.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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