Archive News
Manner of Limerick win could be the making of Tipp
Date Published: 30-May-2012
TIPPERARY hurlers were tottering on the brink of a shock Munster championship exit to fired-up Limerick midway through the second-half at Thurles last Sunday. The team rated the single biggest threat to Kilkenny this summer were in deep trouble trailing by seven points and one could sense that the knives were already being sharpened for manager Declan Ryan.
Limerick, full of vigour and intensity, had already made their statement in the opening-half and though only leading by a point at the interval having had the assistance of the wind, it was clear the Division Two League finalists were up for the contest. All over the field, they were harrying and blocking, while front men Graeme Mulcahy and Shane Dowling were picking off some invaluable scores.
In contrast, Tipperary were labouring with errant free-taking not helping their cause. They struggled to cope with Limerick’s intensity and badly needed Pa Burke’s well executed 18th minute goal after an intelligent lay-off by Brian O’Meara, who got through some effective work in the opening-half when many of his team-mates were off the pace. Midfield, in particular, was a problem area for Tipperary with the out of sorts Brendan Maher and James Woodlock, who was replaced before half-time, finding it difficult to give the Munster champions a platform in the sector.
Similar to their league semi-final exit to Cork, several key players appeared to be waiting for things to happen, but with O’Meara, Burke and Noel McGrath hitting the target every so often, they were still only a point behind at the break despite Limerick doing most of the hurling. It must have been a worrying situation for John Allen and his mentors, but their players were undaunted and really exploded out of the blocks at the start of the second-half.
Frankly, Tipperary didn’t know what hit them as the men in green thundered into everything. In arguably the best period of hurling we have seen from a Limerick team in years, they scored six unanswered points with Kevin Downes, David Breen, Mulcahy, Dowling, Conor Allis and Seanie Tobin all registering white flags. Pa Burke eventually stopped the rot with a pointed free, but when Dowling fired over again in the 54th minute, the challengers led by 1-16 to 1-9.
To be honest, Tipperary looked a busted flush. They were losing most of the 50/50 battles for possession and couldn’t establish any serious momentum or rhythm. It amounted to a full-blown crisis and represented a major test of Tipp’s character and bottle. Their sideline was now under savage pressure to stop the haemorrhaging and it was to the credit of Declan Ryan’s led management that a raft of changes helped to turn a thrilling contest on its head in the final quarter when the home team outscored the Shannonsiders by 1-11 to 0-3.
Reserves Shane Bourke, Conor O’Brien, Shane McGrath and Seamus Callanan all got onto the scoresheet, while another substitute, Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher was heavily involved in the lead up to O’ Meara’s priceless 64th minute goal. In the sweltering conditions and with their all-action earlier efforts taking a toll, Limerick were out on their feet in the final ten minutes. They had no more to give and also lacked the indepth strength of the Tipperary squad.
It was a tough outcome for Limerick having done so much right for so long, but they are obviously on the right road. Corner back Tom Condon typified their admirable commitment on the day and they have the makings of a decent team. A fully fit Declan Hannon will aid their cause in the qualifiers as will the likely return of injured defender Seamus Hickey, but they need more from full forward Kevin Downes.
Tipperary were a real mixed bag but this game could be the makings of them. They had to fight for their lives in the closing 15 minutes and weren’t found wanting. Callanan and Maher, who both had been long term injury victims, will be back in contention for the semi-final against Cork, while Lar Corbett will also be pressing for inclusion after coming out of his self-imposed exile. Sadly, however, the end of the road is dawning for Eoin Kelly, who has lost that dash of pace and made no impact last Sunday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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