Talking Sport
New Tribes Water Polo Club is making a big splash
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
TRIBES Water Polo Club may only be in existence three years or so but already its teams have begun to dominate competitions at various age levels nationally, while a significant number of the club’s players now also form the core of Ireland’s underage sides.
Founded by the Mooney sisters, Deborah and Amanda, the story of Tribes is no doubt a remarkable one and both women readily admit they never envisaged the club could have grown so quickly in so short a length of time.
It all started three years ago when, observing the large number of girls leaving swimming as a sport in their mid teens, the twins decided to find a viable alternative to entice these teenagers to stay involved and remain physically active.
“There is a provision for a boys’ water polo club there with Corrib but there was nothing for girls,” says Amanda, a swimming teacher and coaches’ tutor who has also served as Chairperson of the National Educational and Development Committee for Swim Ireland. “So, we decided to put on an Easter Camp in 2010 to see if there was any interest. We had 40 children who attended and we decided we would give it a go.”
Her sister Deborah Heery, who is Club Chairperson, takes up the story. “We finished the Easter camp and parents were ringing asking was it (a club) going to start in September. So, we said why not? That September, we would have started with kids from the ages of 10 to 16, just to get us going. The very first week we had about 29 and we couldn’t believe it because we only needed 16 to get the club going.”
The two women, who were aided at the Easter Camp by Irene Geary, Sam Knight and Michael Heery, set to work, both undertaking a course in water polo, with Amanda also travelling to Scotland to further her education on the sport.
“Water polo for women has been around for a very long time in Ireland, going back to the ‘70s, but in Galway, it had been years and years since the game had been played. You are probably talking about the ‘70s. So, it had gone out of Galway a long time ago.”
Of course, Corrib Water Polo Club, which caters for males, has flown the flag locally in recent times but because of its success and growing numbers, it has not the pool hours to expand to include girls or women’s water polo.
That said, they have been hugely supportive of Tribes, providing equipment for the cash-strapped club when it was starting up, while the advice from people like Shane Heskin was pivotal in steering Tribes in the right direction in the early days.
“So, we approached Leisureland to get an initial hour and, basically, we pushed the ‘Women in Sport’ initiative at the time, saying that we were trying to encourage more women into sport,” continues Amanda. “We discovered afterwards – and this wasn’t the reason we started – that there is an 80% drop-out of girls from all sports in Ireland between the ages of 13 to 15.”
One of the reasons for this, Amanda believes, is that only a few individuals will ever make the podium with the others becoming disillusioned by the lack of opportunity for success. She says they identify their success and failure in the pool with their self worth and this should not be the case.
Still, Tribes Water Polo Club has proven if there is an alternative there for teenage girls, many will avail of it. The fact that it is a team sport also offers a different perspective for young girls, who do not become as hung up about winning or losing but rather focus on the journey.
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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