Sports
County champions decided at track and field finals in Dangan
The Galway Track and Field Championships for 2015 took place over two days last week, with some excellent competition in the event, which was held at the Dangan track.
Day One saw two very good distance races, with Dearbhaile Walshe of Craughwell taking victory in the Women’s 3,000m and Majella Ni Chriochain winning the Masters section; and Damien O’Boyle of Craughwell winning a high quality 5,000m in a time of 15mins 40secs.
Next home in the 5k was Peter O’Sullivan of Craughwell in 16.22, with Peadar Harvey also Craughwell third in 16.40, and Ollie Mullins of Craughwell AC the Masters champion. Aubree Piepmeier of GCH produced a very good run to take the Galway women’s 5000m crown in 17mins 32secs.
In the field events, Brendan Staunton of GCH took both the shotputt and javelin titles; while in the Ladies events there were also wins by Mary Barrett of Loughrea in both throws. Sarah Finnegan of Craughwell and Bob Bailey of Loughrea won the triple jump contests
Day Two saw sprint and middle distance track races, with Conor Duggan of Craughwell winning both 100m and 200m, in times of 11.05secs, and 22.85secs, into a strong headwind. Sinead Treacy of Craughwell AC took gold in both women’s sprints.
In the 400m, GCH athlete Evan McGuire opened his season with a time of 50:72 to win the Men’s 400m, while junior athlete Sarah McDonnell of GCH won the 400 m easily .
There was a good battle in the Men’s 800m with Peadar Harvey producing a storming finish to pip Conor O Rourke of GCH for the title. Dearbhaile Walshe of Craughwell was first in the Women’s 800m.
The 1,500m also saw an exciting race with Peter O’Sullivan coming from behind to take the win from front-running Jason Broderick, clocking 4.13 for victory.
O’Sullivan went on to claim another County gold in the longest event on the programme, the 10,000m, later on that day winning in 35.42, from Ollie Mullins in second. Helen Corbett of GCH won the County women’s title.
In the field, Brendan Staunton of GCH yet again came up trumps, winning Senior Discus, Hammer and 56lb Weight, while Tommy Farragher won the Masters events. Guest athlete Laura Dolan threw a huge 38.77 m in the Ladies, with Peggy Higgins taking county gold. Mary Barrett claimed the Ladies Discus title.
National Champion Cathriona Farrell of Craughwell AC produced an exhibition of high jumping to claim gold in the Ladies High Jump. Farrell cleared a season’s best of 1.75m to win, and narrowly missed 1.80m, showing her form is peaking just at the right time. Brendan Lynch of Loughrea took victory in the Men’s event.
Aidan Conneely produced a 6.07 m jump to win the Men’s Long Jump, with Sinead Treacy taking a third gold in the Ladies Long jump, to round off a great two days of competition.
For more, read 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.
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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
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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.
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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