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Murphy is thrilled his young charges proved their point

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Date Published: {J}

STEPHEN GLENNON

WHATEVER about Mattie Murphy walking on water, he must certainly be floating on air this week after securing his sixth – Galway’s ninth – All-Ireland minor hurling title.

A blind man could see what last Sunday’s All-Ireland victory over Dublin meant to the Galway manager. The delight was palpable – infectious even. His excitement no less than when he won that first national minor title many moons ago.

No doubt, you have to admire the Turloughmore native. For almost two decades now, he has continually moulded teams that have been as impressive in their attitude and endeavours as they have been inspiring. The class of 2011 proved to be a prime example.

“You would be hoping that they all bring something different to the table and each panel you work with has a different dynamic as a group,” beams Murphy. “In this particular group, a lot of them were very disappointed last year after the [semi-final] defeat to Kilkenny.

“We had 13 players from that who carried over to this year and they knew that they hadn’t done themselves justice. They had a point to prove that they are as good as any team that are in the country.

“So, it was easy to work with them. They bought in to what we were at. You saw it there yourself. They showed ferocious commitment. They threw their bodies on the line and they got in tackles, hooks and blocks. Anything they were asked to do, they did. We have a few hurlers then, who are able to pick off the scores when ball breaks down.”

To this end, Murphy praises a number of players individually, including Player of the Match Padraig Breheny, team captain Shane Moloney, among others. “Everyone in Galway knows what Breheny is like. He was probably the single most effective player in the Galway senior championship last year. And he was only 17.

“He is off to DCU now to do physiotherapy, so as well as being a good hurler, he is a smart cookie as well. We would hope, though, he can come back and lead a revival of Galway hurling at senior level in years to come.”

High praise, indeed, for the Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry teenager, one of three on the Galway starting XV. Murphy believes the other two – captain Shane Moloney and full-back Paul Killeen – also had the potential to have big futures with the county . . . as do a number of others, including effective defender Padraig Mannion, who limited Dublin top scorer Cormac Costello to just one point over the hour last Sunday.

“Padraig had a very good game against Clare [in the semi-final] out on the wing. I suppose, if a fellow gets 4-2 in a game [as Costello did against Waterford], you are going to put your best man marker on him. As the game went on, he probably broke Cormac’s spirit. Cormac had a football match, though, here last week and it didn’t go particularly well for him either. He is still underage next year and he is a very special talent at both codes.”

Indeed, both Costello and Dublin came into the game with big reputations, but, over 60 minutes of hurling, Galway dismantled those with succinct precision. “Sure, you know, after the Clare match we were 1/3 in the betting, so what are reputations at minor level?” says Murphy.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

Galway in Days Gone By

The way we were – Protecting archives of our past

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A photo of Galway city centre from the county council's archives

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

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Archive News

Galway have lot to ponder in poor show

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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.

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Archive News

Real Galway flavour to intermediate club hurling battle in Birr

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Date Published: 23-Jan-2013

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