Archive News
May 8, 1913
Date Published: 08-May-2013
1913 – GAEL DAY
Seldom, if ever, have such crowds assembled in Spiddal and Furbough as were seen there on Sunday last at the great hosting of the Gael. It was regrettable that owing to an unforeseen hitch, or a series of hitches, rather, the Aeraidheacht and public meeting were not held at midday, and the venue of the hurling final was Spiddal, not Furbough, as originally arranged.
But in spite of all, the match was witnessed by many hundreds of spectators. The play was excellent. Galway was to the fore at half time, which put great determination into the home team, with the result that the final score was: Spiddal 3 goals, Galway 2 goals 2 points.
1938 – GARDAI STONED AT WEDDING
A surprise visit paid to a wedding by a party of Gardaí on revenue duty was recalled at Derrynea District Court on Tuesday, before District Justice Sean Mac Giollarnath, when Michael McDonagh, Carraroe, and his daughter Brigid (now Mrs Beatty) were charged with obstructing the Gardaí in the discharge of their duty, and with assaulting Garda Anthony Duggan.
Garda Fitzgibbon, Carraroe, said that on November 16, he was in charge of a party of Gardaí who visited defendant’s house in search of poteen at 2am. There was a wedding in progress at the house and there were around forty persons present. The Gardaí searched the house, and then proceeded to search outside.
The crowd came rushing out of the house led by Michael McDonagh, who adopted a threatening attitude. Brigid McDonagh carried a shovel in her hand.
1963 – FIRE THREATENS VILLAGE
A mystery fire, which destroyed a £4,000 dance hall in Kilkerrin early on Sunday morning, threatened to engulf a corner of the tiny village (population 250). Flying sparks from the fire, which started before 4 o’clock, and blazed for nearly five hours, showered the area and endangered nearby petrol pumps, a hay shed and church property.
Captain John Keeley said the cause of the fire was a complete mystery. The fire started about forty minutes before the brigade was called. How the fire started is being investigated by the Gardaí.
1988 – SALTHILL’S SHAME
A scathing attack has been made on Galway corporation for allowing the Salthill seafront to deteriorate into a tattered and neglected state. The salvo has been fired by Deputy Bobby Molloy, who said the promenade area had come to present an ugly face to tourists – all for the sake of a few thousand pounds.
Deputy Molloy listed broken benches, rundown public toilets and below-standard swimming facilities as examples of how the area had become so rundown.
And the Salthill P.D. Deputy – who has lived all his life within a stone’s throw of the beach – called for the compilation of an overall plan for the seafront from the Claddagh to Knocknacarra, but added that running repairs are imperative before the summer season.
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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