Galway In Days Gone By

1919

Sinn Féin outlook

To an American journalist, Mr. de Valera gave a few days ago the clearest definition of the Sinn Féin outlook on English policy in Ireland that we have yet seen. That outlook is shared fully by five-sixths of the Irish people.

“England,” he said, “never intends to give Ireland anything that would be deserving the name Dominion Home Rule” – that is, England would never give Ireland a constitution such as that of Canada or Australia or South Africa.

“They imagine they will be willing to give up their title to the whole loaf in order to get half; but the moment they got them ready to accept half, they imagine the time has come to cut it down to a quarter; and when they have reached the stage at which they are likely to accept the quarter, they will cut it down to an eight. As there is no sincerity in any of England’s offers of Dominion or Colonial Home Rule, I refuse to discuss them further, except to tell the people of America that these offers are simply devices of Englishmen to divide, if they can, they Irish People.”

Football surprise

The Co. Galway football team’s display on Sunday came as a surprise to Gaels everywhere in Ireland, and not the least to many of their most ardent admirers in this county.

Forebodings of defeat were mainly due to the fact that for the past seventeen years Galway had not appeared in an all-Ireland semi-final.

Since 1901, when it went under to Tipperary, things had not gone well with the G.A.A. in the county. The unfortunate split that occurred some years ago in the Co. Board brought much adversity to the clubs and teams; and a period of listlessness seemed to have set in.

This was augmented by the conditions brought about by the war, and things appeared to have gone from bad to worse when the association, through no fault of its own, lost the services for prolonged periods of its most active members, such as Mr. Stephen Jordan, its secretary; Mr. G. Nicolls, solr., president, and many others.

In spite of these adverse circumstances, things began to improve latterly, and Ballinasloe deserves no small credit for being foremost in preserving the county’s honour in football during those dark days.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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