Archive News
Keary’s late goal keeps Loughrea treble on the cards
Date Published: 12-Nov-2009
A WELL-taken Neil Keary 55th minute goal proved decisive in turning the tide for Loughrea in this highly entertaining Pier Head Restaurant Minor ‘A’ hurling championship final at Duggan Park, Ballinasloe on Sunday.
As the game entered its final minutes, St. Thomas’ looked on course to win back-to-back titles, but then a superb run and a great handpass inside by Johnny Coen, sprung from full-back to operate in midfield, set up the prolific Keary for his side’s third and all-important goal late in the game.
By this time, St. Thomas’ had led 1-14 to 2-9, but once Loughrea hit the front with Keary’s netbuster, they were not going to be denied. In the final five minutes, Leo Keary’s charges outscored the reigning champions three points to one, with Keary (2) and substitute Raymond McMahon tallying for the victors, while full-forward Anthony Kelly posted the sole riposte for Thomas’.
It was a thrilling end to what was a thoroughly enjoyable and skilful hurling decider. In many respects, Loughrea concluded the contest as they had started, racing into a 1-3 to no score lead in the opening seven minutes. Points from Patrick Hoban and Keary (free) settled the challengers early, before Keary bagged his first goal on six minutes.
A powerful shot from Hoban brought the best out of Thomas’ goalkeeper Patrick Skehill, who repelled the initial effort. However, he could do little to prevent the on-rushing Keary from pulling first time to the net for the opening goal of the contest. When Keary added a point a minute later, it looked as if champions Thomas’ were in danger of being whitewashed.
Perhaps they sensed it themselves, but in the ensuing minutes they finally jumped to life, rattling off four unanswered points through Cian Kelly, the excellent Conor Cooney (2) and Gabriel Egan in a six-minute spell to reduce the arrears to two at the end of a whirlwind first quarter.
However, just as St. Thomas’ were getting some sort of a foothold on the game, Loughrea ambushed the champions once again. A sweet cross-field ball from centre-forward Hoban created the opening for Conor Quinn, who was on hand to steer the sliotar to the Thomas’ net on 16 minutes.
Again, though, Thomas rallied, hitting 1-2 in the ensuing three minutes. First, Cooney struck over a great point, before Egan clipped over his second shortly after. Then, on 22 minutes, Cooney delivered in a probing ball, which eluded several players on both sides, before Stephen Murray latched onto it and dispatched the sliotar with the crispest of ground strokes to the Loughrea net.
It was no more than St. Thomas’ deserved as they had created the greater number of scoring chances, but incredibly they hit eight wides in this period compared to Loughrea’s one. As it was, Loughrea entered the interval in the lead, 2-4 to 1-6, after Keary tapped over a 29th minute free.
Nevertheless, there was plenty of speculation at the break on the outcome. St. Thomas’ were the reigning champions – they had the experience to see this one out – but a gritty and equally as stylish Loughrea now had the wind at their backs, and this was sure to be an advantage.
By the 41st minute, though, it was St. Thomas’ who had edged in front for the first time in the game. Despite points from Loughrea duo Daniel Quinn and Coen in the opening two minutes, Thomas’ rattled off similar efforts through Cooney (three frees) and Anthony Kelly to take a 1-10 to 2-6 lead.
A Patrick Hoban point sought to disrupt St. Thomas’ momentum, but further efforts from Cian Kelly and Anthony Kelly and Cooney strengthened the reigning champions’ stranglehold on the cup. Points from outstanding Loughrea centre-back Paul Hoban and Keary (free) again looked to break St. Thomas’s run, but Martin Fahy’s charges hit back again with a James Regan point on 54 minutes to maintain their two-point advantage.
However, then came player of the match, Keary’s second goal – Loughrea’s third – on 55 minutes and the dynamics of this contest changed as the victors outscored their opponents three points to one in the final five minutes or so.
For Loughrea, this victory – their sixth at this level in all – marked the 30th anniversary of their last minor win way back in 1979 and completed the second of a possible treble this year. Already with the Junior ‘A’ and minor titles in their back pocket, Loughrea now have the opportunity to add the senior crown to their collection this Sunday. What an achievement that would be.
Key to the minor victory, though, was All-Ireland minor winner Neil Keary, who tallied an impressive 2-6 on the day. He was ably assisted by the two Hobans – Paul and Patrick – while Johnny Coen played his best hurling when released from the confines of full-back. Of the remainder, Peter Quinn, Alan Cormican and Daniel Tully were also to the fore in a solid team performance.
For St. Thomas, defenders Darragh Burke and Cathal Burke, player of the match contender Conor Cooney and Anthony Kelly did well, while Cian Kelly, captain James Regan and Gabriel Egan also toiled diligently on the day.
Loughrea: A. Madden; G. Rooney, J. Coen (0-1), D. Tully; A. Cormican, Paul Hoban (0-1), P. Quinn; S. McCormack, I. Hanrahan; C. Quinn (1-0), S. Sweeney, D. Africano; D. Quinn (0-1), Patrick Hoban (0-2), N. Keary (2-6, 0-3 frees). Subs: R. Mahon (0-1) for Africano (55 mins.)
St. Thomas’: P. Skehill; P. Caulfield, S. Skehill, E. Daly; D. Burke, C. Burke, P. Connors; C. Cooney (0-7, 0-4 frees), C. Kelly (0-2); M. Gleese, J. Regan (0-1), S. Murray (1-0), P. Brady, A. Kelly (0-3), G. Egan (0-2).
Referee: C. Browne.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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