CITY TRIBUNE
Renmore still in driving seat thanks to late Boyle winner
Mervue United 3
Loughrea 2
WHEN Loughrea created something of shock with a 3-0 away win over second placed West United early in December, it was the first win for the newly promoted side in the Western Hygiene Supplies Premier Division.
It was an occasion when Loughrea played well, took the chances that came their way and were rewarded for their efforts with a merited outcome.
However, the same good fortune has eluded them on many other occasions this season and such a situation occurred in Fahy’s Field on Sunday morning when they went down against Mervue United.
For the majority of the game, Loughrea were the better side and led by 2-0 at the break. Allied to that they had loads of other opportunities, but their failing in front of goal was to come back to haunt them.
Indeed, it was only the second occasion in nine league games that they scored more than one goal and when you are at the foot of the table that sort of form only leads to a season long struggle.
According to Mervue United manager Gareth Gorman afterwards, “we played for 15 minutes today when we got the three goals and no doubt Loughrea deserved some reward as they were the better side for most of the contest.”
The reality is Loughrea are much better than their lowly standing in the table, but points have to be earned and there are few soft games out there. Now, they are three points adrift of Salthill Devon and Corrib Rangers who lie directly above them, while three other sides in mid-table will be looking over their shoulders as just six points separate the bottom six teams in the table.
On Sunday, the visitors were the dominant side from the off and were rewarded with the lead when Neil O’Leary finished a Darren Creaven cross at the far post, before they added the second when Gary Madden released Gavin Shaughnessy behind the cover and he duly got the better of Lorcan Doyle in a one-on-one situation.
If those gaols were the highlights, there were many other opportunities that went abegging. Brian McGee, Creaven and Shaughnessy spurned chances as they deserved much more than a 2-0 interval advantage.
In contrast, Mervue United’s rich goal scoring spell was kick started by the decision of referee Vincent Carew to award a free kick against visiting goalkeeper Chris O’Shea for delaying his clearance. It was a harsh call for an infringement that is rarely penalised in the current game and Carew’s decision was punished in full by Barry Moran as he fired home the resulting set piece.
As heads dropped in the visitors camp, very quickly further goals by Dave Smith and Simon Walsh put the home side 3-2 ahead and it was enough to give them a win and close the gap to leaders Athenry to just four points at the top of the table.
The closing stages were played out in the Mervue half and deep in additional time, Loughrea goalkeeper O’Shea powered a header goal wards following a corner, but was denied a merited equaliser when Keith McHugh somehow cleared off the line. It just wasn’t their day, with their downfall set in motion by a referee’s decision that changed the course of the game.
Premier League
Aided by a second half Shane Concannon hat trick, Corrib Celtic blew away the challenge of Corrib Rangers as they emerged 4-0 winners at Westside.
With the Annaghadown based side fielding their strongest selection for some time and also boosted by the return of Mike O’Malley they were dominant for the majority of the action, with Laurance Forde finishing a Cian Forde cross to give them an interval advantage.
The fortunes of St Bernard’s are much changed from last season as the defending champions are finding life much tougher. The concession of a last minute penalty resulted in a 2-1 loss against ten-man Salthill Devon in Drom on Friday night.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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