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Connacht Tribune

GAA legends reap rich rewards from ‘cocooning chats’

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Double All-Ireland winning Galway football manager, John O’Mahony, has ‘enjoyed immensely’ a novel project involving local GAA sporting legends chatting with people cocooning during the coronavirus crisis.

Along with a number of other sporting personalities from the county – including Cyril Farrell, Joe Connolly and Ray Silke – the Mayo man who guided Galway to All-Ireland football successes in 1998 and 2001 has spoken to many ‘cocooners’ over recent weeks.

“I think that I enjoyed it more than the people I was talking to. It really was a most enjoyable project to be involved with and some of those I spoke to, triggered memories of some things that I had forgotten about myself.

“It even brought me into the world of Zoom [conference video style telephone chats] with a number or residents from the Cheshire Home in Galway city.

“To be honest about it, most of the time I just enjoyed listening to the stories that these people had to tell. One man from Loughrea had gone to an incredible number of All-Ireland finals in football and hurling over the past 60 years,” John O’Mahony told the Connacht Tribune.

The Galway GAA Legends On-Call project was the brainchild of Oranmore’s Paul Byrnes – a former Executive Editor of GAA with RTE Sport – and Galway city ‘Community Champion’ Brendan Mulry.

“People like Cyril Farrell, John O’Mahony, Joe Connolly and Ray Silke, who have given many magical and memorable moments to Galway GAA fans, have very kindly made themselves available for this project,” Paul Byrnes told the Connacht Tribune.

Community Champions have been appointed by the Government as part of their outreach programme to help communities cope with the impact of the COVID-19, and Brendan Mulry has been delighted with the response to the Galway Legends initiative.

“While there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules with the project, the focus is really on these fans who need this most.

“Think of a parent or grandparent who is at home isolating who would love to chat all things GAA with a legend of the game,” said Brendan Mulry.

Galway GAA Chairperson, Pat Kearney, said that the idea was ‘a great one in unprecedented times’ and he also praised the ongoing role of Galway hurling icon, Iggy Clarke, who had done a huge amount of work in ‘chairing’ the county’s health and wellbeing committee.

While Galway All-Ireland successes against Kildare in 1998 and Meath in 2001 were the obvious big ‘chat lines’ with John O’Mahony, he said that the conversations embraced a whole range of GAA events.

“I suppose that having retired from politics and with the coronavirus restrictions in place, I found myself with a bit of time on my hands, and it really was wonderful to chat about so many GAA memories.

“These were very knowledgeable people on all-things GAA and the only thing I can say is, that if they enjoyed the chats, half as much as I did, then we’re all winners,” said John O’Mahony.

Even though the cocooning restrictions have eased somewhat over recent weeks for the elderly and those with medical conditions, the chats are still ongoing.

Anyone wishing to participate – or who might know of a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or elderly friend interested in taking part – can do so by contacting Brendan Mulry on 087-2194243 or online at: brendan@equalireland.ie

Paul Byrnes also thanked the GAA clubs around the county for their ‘trojan efforts’ in helping those most in need during those difficult times.

“At this time of year, we should be looking forward to the height of the championship season, but that seems a long way off at the moment.

“However, the GAA is still a major social outlet, and although the absence of the games is hugely felt, the clubs – and their members – are still doing great work to help those most in need,” said Paul Byrnes.

Connacht Tribune

West has lower cancer survival rates than rest

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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.

A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.

For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.

These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.

“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.

In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.

Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.

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Connacht Tribune

Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents

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Galway's Aaron Niland is chased by Cillian O'Callaghan of Cork during Saturday's All-Ireland Minor Hurling semi-final at Semple Stadium. Photo: Stephen Marken/Sportsfile.

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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Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety

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Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche

GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.

Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.

Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.

“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.

“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.

He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.

“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.

“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.

He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.

The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.

“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.

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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