Olympic rowers Keogh and Murtagh headline Galway’s awards winners

By John McIntyre

IN the long and fabled history of the Olympic Games, numerous Galway competitors represented their country in the ultimate test of sporting greatness, but until 2021 none had ever returned west with a medal.

But two Galway rowers broke the mould at the delayed Tokyo Olympics last July. Aifric Keogh (Na Forbacha) and Fiona Murtagh (Moycullen) teamed up with Eimear Lambe and Emily Hegarty to win an historic bronze medal in the final of the Women’s Coxless Fours.

Aifric and Fiona’s outstanding achievement will be celebrated at the annual presentation of the 2021 Medtronic Galway Sports Stars awards which will be held in the Galway Bay Hotel on Saturday night, February 19.

It will also be a night to savour for Joe Connolly, the captain of Galway’s 1980 All-Ireland winning hurling team, as the Castlegar clubman has been chosen as the Hall of Fame award recipient – an accolade that was previously bestowed on his brother John.

Connolly was centre forward on that Galway team which ended a 57-year title famine by overcoming Limerick in the final. He went on to give what many acclaim as the outstanding All-Ireland Cup acceptance victory speech ever on the steps of the Hogan Stand.

With Galway regaining the O’Duffy Cup in 2021, it’s no surprise that camogie is again strongly represented among the awards. Aoife Donohue, who has given sterling service to her county, picks up the individual award; Cathal Murray is chosen as Manager of the Year; while the Tribeswomen – again captained by Sarah Dervan – pick up the Team of the Year honour.

In hurling, county player Conor Cooney has been chosen as the sport’s most influential local player of 2021. Joint captain of a St Thomas’ team which completed the four-in-a-row, Cooney led from the front with his scoring exploits critical to his club’s ongoing success.

It’s no surprise that St Thomas’ have been selected as the Club of the Year in recognition of an achievement which has eluded all teams since Turloughmore’s dominance of the Galway hurling landscape in the sixties.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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