Sports
Lam lets fly at officials but Connacht have only themselves to blame for letting win slip away
Cardiff 17
Connacht 16
The Pro12 competition is a lot better these days, every game seems to matter that little bit more this season. Friday’s tussle at the Arms Park was a fine example, Cardiff won the game with a last minute try that won’t be forgotten by the club’s supporters for quite some time. That same score, Connacht players and management crestfallen at the sight of three vital points slipping through their hands.
The sense of despair soon turned to outrage towards the officials, as two dreadful calls cost Connacht dearly during the final flurry. A period of play that started with a baffling decision by the visitors to kick the ball down field to the Blues with 90 seconds remaining, finished 68 penalty-interrupted phases later with a try for the home side.
Those four penalties during the nine minutes of desperation helped keep Cardiff alive in the contest as for most of the attack, they were aimlessly going back and forth across the field with Connacht making tackle after tackle.
The 84th minute penalty in the sequence was the most disputed one, and Pat Lam’s ire was such that he decided to take a laptop into the press conference to clearly illustrate how bad a call it was. Touch judge Leighton Hodges spotted hands in a non-existent ruck, having missed a blatant knock-on, and the fact that no ruck had formed, and called the penalty.
A ridiculous call, neatly illustrated by Lam’s unusual decision to bring some video evidence to the media scrum more than half an hour after the game had ended. Yet, the coach’s clever work in that regard might well have been undone by the rest of the press conference, as he then raised a previous incident involving Welsh official Hodges that seemed out of context with events that had transpired on the evening.
At this point we really need to get to grips with the entire reality of the game rather than the reality of those last few minutes. The Connacht team and management were right to be fuming about a couple of the final decisions. The standard of officiating at a key point was pathetic at best, referee Lloyd Linton and the much maligned Hodges made calls that were below an acceptable standard.
Yet in the previous 80 minutes, their officiating was hardly the talking point in a game where Connacht’s first-half dominance had not been reflected on the scoreboard. Rodney Ah You was enjoying arguably his best ever game in a Connacht shirt, dominating at scrum time and making some big hits in broken play. His scrum work was wreaking havoc.
Connacht led 10-3 at the break thanks to a Jake Heenan try from the back of a rampaging maul but they should have had more, three fruitless visits to the home 22 proved costly. The most notable of them came at the very end when Connacht had won a free-kick from a Cardiff scrum five metres from the home line.
Those who rested easy for a second safe in the knowledge that Connacht would take the scrum in that situation and cause untold damage watched in horror as the otherwise on-song George Naoupu had a moment to forget, taking a quick tap and go while the rest of his team were standing still. It unsurprisingly ended in a turnover.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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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