Sports
Galwegians retain Connacht Senior League
Galwegians retained the Connacht Senior league trophy at Cloonacauneen on Saturday when running out 38-11 winners over Corinthians.
Playing with the aid of a stiff first-half breeze, ’Wegians went on the offensive right from the start, and early dominance in the scrum had the home pack in all sorts of trouble. The pressure soon told and flanker Eoin Tarmey dived over from the base of a ruck for the game’s opening try, which was converted by out-half Ross Shaughnessy.
The hosts slowly worked their way into the game and opened their account with a 15th minute penalty from Philip Maher, but this was soon cancelled out by a penalty from Shaughnessy to restore a seven point advantage for the visitors.
Despite dominating matters, ’Wegians were making hard work of their wind advantage and were getting on the wrong side of the referee at the breakdown and the offside line. They were punished by the hosts who added a second Maher penalty after the half-hour mark for not rolling away.
At this stage a four-point lead was poor value for the Blues, and they needed a score to boost their half-time lead with the elements to face in the second-half. It duly arrived in the 35th minute when slick handling saw Colin Conroy come off his wing, and he took a brilliant line to slice through the cover before feeding left-wing Matt Dever who dived over for an excellent try. Shaughnessy landed a superb touchline conversion to give the Blues a 17-6 half-time lead.
Corinthians came out all guns blazing in the second-half with the wind at their backs, and with ’Wegians having a man in the bin for persistent offside, they immediately attacked the ’Wegians line. However they failed to take advantage of a succession of close-in penalties, and the hard-working Blues defence turned ball over and lifted the siege.
When the hosts were then reduced to 14 men with a sin-binning of their own, ’Wegians took immediate advantage by counter-attacking, and winger Dever showed a great turn of pace to cut through the midfield outside the 22 and dive over at the posts for his second try, which Shaughnessy converted for a 24-6 lead.
The game was never in doubt from this point, and ’Wegians showed killer instinct to press on and hammer home their advantage. A magnificent charge up the middle by the impressive prop Jason East punctured the home defence, and centre Gary O’Brien showed deft footwork to outwit the home defence and dive under the posts for a fourth try with 55 minutes played.
Both sides rung the changes towards the end, but there was no way back for Corinthians. And the second-half was summed up in the 72nd minute when Brian McClearn plucked a high ball from nowhere and some superb handling by his supporting pack created the chance for stand-in captain on the day Brian Murphy who dived over for a fifth try, and Shaughnessy made it six from six to land the conversion.
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
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.
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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