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All-Ireland winning captains set for Galway charity event
It will easily set a new world record – up to seventy senior All-Ireland winning hurling and Gaelic football captains, whose success spans eight decades, will descend on Galway this week for a unique walk for charity.
The All-Ireland winning captains are one of the highlights of what will be the greatest gathering of past and present GAA legends ever when hundreds of the all-time greats of Gaelic football, hurling and camogie take part in the 100,000 Steps for Cormac.
The three-day event, in memory of the late Cormac Connolly, is in aid of Pieta House and takes place next weekend from Thursday to Saturday, August 28-30.
Brian Smith, Meath’s All-Ireland football captain in 1949, and Jimmy Finn, who led the Tipperary hurlers to glory in 1951, are among the earliest captains to agree to take part.
Last year’s senior All-Ireland winning hurling captain, Clare’s Pat Donnellan, is also on board for the event which highlights the work of suicide prevention charity, Pieta House.
The captains’ gathering, on Saturday week is the third leg and culmination of the three-day monumental event that aims to raise awareness, as well as €100,000 for Pieta House.
The driving force behind the event, Cormac’s uncle, Galway All-Ireland winning captain in 1980, Joe Connolly, explains that exactly 100 All-Ireland winning captains are alive today.
Of these, seven from Kilkenny – including current manager Brain Cody and six of the panel – as well as three from the current Dublin football squad and Michael Murphy from Donegal, are unable to attend due to commitments on the field of play.
“As of now, we have between 60 and 70 All-Ireland captains who are coming. It is absolutely unbelievable. A gathering of all living All-Ireland winning captains has never been done in the history of the GAA. I got a letter from Tommy Wall, 1958 Tipperary winning captain who was on the millennium team and he said, ‘It should be great’. Everyone is really looking forward to it,” said Joe Connolly.
Saturday’s Walk with the Captains starts at 1pm in Athenry, through to Oranmore, on to Castlegar and finishing at Ballybrit Racecourse.
Fittingly, legendary RTÉ broadcaster, Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh will be at Galway Racecourse to MC and interview on the night. Ollie Turner, of Galway Bay FM, and Jim Carney of the Tuam Herald, will be involved in interviews over the three nights.
The event begins next Thursday, August 28 at 1pm with the Walk with the Clubs starting in Portumna and heading to Killimor, Mullagh and finishing at Kiltormer pitch.
The special guests are representatives from all Galway GAA clubs that have won All-Ireland titles including seven hurling clubs, three football clubs, five camogie clubs and one ladies football.
The organisers hope that representatives from every GAA club in Galway will participate in this leg, and will wear their club colours to show support for the work being done by Pieta House, to help those struggling with suicidal thoughts and mental health difficulties, a problem that afflicts all parishes.
The final leg of the first day’s walk, from Mullagh to Kiltormer, will be particularly poignant. Cormac Connolly won medals at U16 and minor for Castlegar and he played against Kiltormer in the final; and so Castlegar and Kiltormer will join forces on the day and walk the last leg together.
Cormac died of an inoperable brain tumour at the age of 24 on July 25, 2011, but his family chose to support Pieta House in this event, to help prevent other families from going through the pain and suffering of losing a loved one.
The Walk with Champions is on Friday, August 29 at 1pm from St Thomas’ pitch in Peterswell to Loughrea, on to Sarsfields and from Bullaun to New Inn. Pupils at New Inn primary school are dancing 100,000 steps for Cormac to raise funds for the event.
The special guests on this ‘champions day’ are representatives of Galway’s All-Ireland winning senior teams including six football, three hurling, two camogie and one ladies football from 1956 to 2013. The 94 Galway All-Stars from 1971 onwards in all GAA codes have been invited to walk on Friday, too.
Joe Connolly stresses that all clubs – not just GAA clubs – are welcome, and encouraged to participate, be they bridge clubs or rugby clubs or whatever.
“It is open to everyone. It is built around the captains but we want everyone to take part. The GAA isn’t in competition with other sports – the competition is drink and drugs and mental health,” he says.
For more information on how to get involved on make a donation:
Visit 100kstephsforCormac.com or visit the Facebook page.
You can also register to do the walk here or make a donation here or call Joe Burke on 085 7388908 or email Cormac100ksteps@yahoo.ie
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.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
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.
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.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
