Talking Sport
Long serving Galway star still relishing the battle
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
If you could bottle the enthusiasm and love of the game that former All-Ireland winner and Galway ladies football midfielder Geraldine Conneally has and put it on the open market at a competitive price, you would become a very rich person, indeed. Mega rich.
Conneally is just one of those people who cultivates optimism and generates hope but, then, she is a nurse by profession. It’s in her nature. After coming off a 12-hour night shift – for the third night in succession – she still radiates positivity at 8am in the morning.
“Last night was not too bad; it was the best out of the three,” remarks the Dunmore player. “I am finished now until next week. I was supposed to do four nights but one of the girls covered for me. It is usually four and then back to three but I will pay her back next week. So, I will have the raw deal next week,” she laughs.
Given the demanding nature of her profession – most will agree the nurses are the backbone of the health service in this country – and her club and county commitments, you would wonder how Conneally can keep going. Nay, you would wonder why she keeps going.
“I suppose, I have it off to a tee at this stage. The girls I work with on the ward (St. Michael’s Ward at UHG) are very accommodating and they will swap shifts because they also enjoy the football scene. They are a great bunch and that makes it easier from a work perspective but I do miss trainings.
“You can’t make every session with work but the management in the club and county are both very understanding. I suppose, I have got a good few years of practice trying to juggle between the lot so it does come a bit easier. Once you enjoy it and you get a kick out of it, you don’t feel it is demanding.”
This Sunday, Galway ladies footballers bid to secure the three-in-a-row of provincial titles when they face Mayo in the decider at McHale Park, Castlebar. The last time Galway completed the three-in-a-row was between 2004 and ‘06 when the county was at the height of its powers.
That first Connacht crown in 2004 provided the platform for the Tribeswomen to launch a successful bid for a first ever All-Ireland senior title, defeating Dublin in the decider, and Conneally, like her team-mates, believed the world back then laid at their feet. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Although Conneally looks to secure an incredible eighth Connacht senior medal this Sunday, the return to the summit at national level has proved to be out of Galway’s reach. You would not blame her if at this stage of her career she had become disillusioned, but Conneally is not that sort of person.
“When we won the All-Ireland in 2004, it was brilliant. In 2005 then, we seemed to breeze through all the games and then we were in an All-Ireland final. I think we, maybe, got complacent. We arrived up to Croke Park not expecting the bombshell Cork were going to drop – they arrived on the scene that year – and next thing we were defeated.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
THE dramatic finale at the Sportsground on Saturday ought to have made the RTE Six One News sporting headlines, but there wasn’t a mention of Connacht’s extraordinary late heroics against Gloucester which keeps the province’s hopes of reaching the European Champions Cup quarter-finals alive.
Instead, the rugby spotlight was on Munster’s away defeat to champions Saracens. Later during the sports segment on the Six One News, Connacht’s never-say-die comeback was relegated to the last match of the Champions Cup wrap up. RTE, in their wisdom, believed that Munster’s 15-6 loss and Leinster’s routing of a makeshift Northampton on the same day were somehow more meritorious.
If Leinster or Munster had achieved what Connacht did in the latest round of European pool matches, can you imagine how gushing RTE’s coverage would have been? When a Tipperary man with a strong GAA background starts taking offence over Connacht not getting the coverage they are entitled to, it does give an insight into why rugby in the West feels hard done by in terms of national acclaim.
For all that, last Saturday was another thumping experience on College Road. With their European Championship knock-out ambitions on the line, it was victory or bust for Caolin Blade and company. But when Connacht trailed by 24-13 with less than six minutes remaining, it was impossible to see how they could salvage a result.
A pragmatic Gloucester already had the four-try bonus point in the bag. They may have trailed 10-7 at the break having faced the elements, but tries from Mark Atkinson (two) and captain Lewis Ludlow turned the game on its head. Connacht were remaining competitive but the breaks were going the way of a team they had never previously beaten.
The home fans in the crowd of 6,800 were understandably resigned to the worst. The yellow carding of Ludlow for a deliberate knock on meant Gloucester were reduced to 14 for the closing minutes, but nobody at the Sportsground thought much of it. Connacht were 11 points behind with time running out. They needed a miracle.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
MICHEÁL Donoghue faces the biggest challenge of his management career so far after Galway’s latest subdued display of 2019 at Pearse Stadium last Sunday. A lot of the same personnel are still there from the team’s magnificent All-Ireland triumph of two years, but the form of a number of influential players has nose-dived since last September’s championship loss to Limerick.
After a late collapse against Waterford in the National League quarter-final, Galway had some questions to answer ahead of their Leinster campaign and not withstanding their significant injury problems over the past few months, the Tribesmen’s stock has continued to decline judging by this month’s displays against both Carlow and Wexford.
Though it’s far from a full-blown crisis and we must keep a sense of perspective, there’s no point being wise after the event. On the evidence of what have seen to date this summer, Galway are dicing with an unexpected premature exit from the championship unless the squad can rediscover the hunger, intensity and quality which characterised many of their performances in 2017.
The continued absence of Joe Canning – and it is a mighty blow – can’t explain everything. Sure, Daithí Burke, Joseph Cooney, Jonathan Glynn, Adrian Tuohey and John Hanbury, an important introduction against Wexford, remain short of competitive action, but as a package, Galway should still be better than this.
Failing to find the net against either Carlow or Wexford, together with the lack of fluency and sharpness, has some local alarm bells ringing, leaving the team management with plenty to ponder on ahead of Sunday week’s big collision with Kilkenny. Lose that and Galway’s season will hang on getting a result at Parnell Park – an unforgiving venue at the best of times.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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.
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
WHAT was meant to be a few minutes of soundbite ahead of St. Thomas’ All-Ireland senior club hurling semi-final clash against Cushendall on Saturday has metamorphosed into a full-scale Talking Sport interview. Simply, because, Claude Geoghegan is an interesting guy.
For the past decade, Geoghegan has been the man behind the scenes and in his own inimitable way he has contributed just as much to St. Thomas’s success story as anybody else in Kilchreest and Peterswell. Perhaps, even more so.
As club secretary, he presided over St. Thomas’ historic county and All-Ireland club victories in the 2012/2013 season while, in the past three years, he has served as selector under managers John Burke and Kevin Lally, winning a county senior crown with each in 2016 and 2018 respectively. It is a proud record.
“I have held a few positions alright over the best part of a decade now — four or five years as secretary — and this is my third year involved now with the senior team. It is a way of life, I suppose, more than anything else,” begins the 31-year-old.
“When you are from a rural locality, it is what you are brought up with. It is what you know. If I wasn’t involved in the club in some capacity, I would feel I had a bit too much spare time on my hands. I would feel a bit odd without it, being honest.”
A history teacher at Presentation College, Athenry, Geoghegan explains his family are steeped in GAA tradition. His father Seamus hurled with the club before managing the intermediate team, as it was back then, while his older brother James has also done his duty as club secretary.
“Also, when the club amalgamated in 1968, my father was on the U14 team that won the county championship that year. We actually haven’t won the ‘A’ championship at U14 since. We have won plenty, but not that.”
Indeed, three SHC county titles in the last seven years would suggest that St. Thomas’ is a very special club but Geoghegan argues they are no different to any of the other clubs around. “Every other club is putting in the time that we are putting in. We are not special in any way in comparison to anyone else but we are incredibly fortunate to have a special group of players who have come together at one time.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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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