Archive News
Maree Oranmore out of luck in top of table First Division fixture
Date Published: 20-Dec-2012
Mike Rafferty
TUAM Celtic took a firm grip in the title chase for First Division honours when they came from behind to defeat second placed Maree Oranmore by 4-3 on Sunday last and, in the process, got adequate revenge for the only league defeat they suffered to date when going down to the same opposition last October.
Though it was the visitors who made the better start as Declan McHugh fired them ahead, the opening half was really controlled by the home side as they responded well to lead by 3-1 at the break.
Anton Mannering levelled matters when he picked up a Lonan O’Farrell pass to open their account, before a John Latchford finish following a corner put Maree Oranmore ahead. They continued to build on that advantage when Mannering slotted home his second of the day from the penalty spot.
In total contrast, the second half was all about Tuam Celtic as they crashed home three goals without reply. From a Gavin O’Connell delivery, Ger Cuniffe started the recovery with a header before Aengus Tierney set up Ricky Kent to tuck the equaliser into the bottom corner.
Just when matters looked like they were going to finish all square, a long ball by David Kilkelly was picked up by McHugh and the ace predator calmly slotted home the fourth for the late winner.
The victory moves Tuam Celtic five points clear of Corrib Celtic, Maree Oranmore and Oughterard who all share joint second position as they chase the two promotion spots for the top flight next season.
PREMIER LEAGUE
St Bernard’s continue to take points from the top sides when they held joint leaders Mervue United to a scoreless draw in Abbeyknockmoy on Sunday.
A brilliant save by home custodian Denis Farragher to keep out a Stephen Larkin header was the highlight of an ordinary game as the visitors created the better chances. Daryl Finn failed to finish in the home side’s best opportunity after a defensive lapse set up the chance.
Athenry maintained their impressive recent form with a 1-0 home win over Hibernians. Chances were generally pretty scarce throughout, with the hosts Conor Cannon denied at one end, before a top class stop by Andrew Walsh kept out a Keith Ward free kick in the other goal.
The breakthrough arrived just after the hour mark when Stephen Rabbitte headed an Anthony O Conghaile free kick into the path of Cathal Fahy and the striker duly applied the close range finish for the winner.
Ray Moran, Gary O’Donnell and Cannon all had further second half opportunities to increase the margin, but failed to take them.
SECOND DIVISION
Two clubs who certainly have known better days played out a scoreless draw on Sunday morning as Renmore and Kiltullagh could not be separated in their Second Division contest.
The home side were picking up just their fourth point of the campaign as they prop up the table, while at least Kiltullagh’s form is a little more impressive as they inch their way out of the relegation area.
A smart early save by the visitors Aenais Lawless denied Ronan O Seanain as the midfielder broke through with just the goalkeeper to beat. Lawless and his opposite number Nigel Walsh certainly impressed as a number of smart saves thwarted Derek Talbot, John Finnegan, David Skehill and Tommy Madden. Madden when closest to a second half breakthrough, but was denied by a post.
For more, read this week’s Galway City 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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