Connacht Tribune
Paddy (93) takes charity walk in his stride!
Students from a North Galway school gave a standing ovation to a 93 years old local man who comfortably completed a five mile walk for charity.
And Paddy Coleman from Garrafrauns, from a strong GAA background, admitted that he hasn’t “an ache or a pain” and really enjoyed the experience.
In fact, Paddy has participated in the past three walks organised by Dunmore Community School and was proudly joined by his daughter Jean Ryan and her two sons Sean and Dara. And he is still hale and hearty.
He is still a very familiar face at GAA matches and has been a Dunmore MacHales GAA Club stalwart for many years. He is the brother of the legendary Bertie Coleman who passed away back in 2007 and is the father of John and Pat Coleman who represented the club at the highest level.
But the enthusiasm with which he was greeted by the students of Dunmore Community School after he completed the walk proved very emotional for Paddy who has always kept fit throughout his life. The students were amazed by his stamina.
“It’s great, I don’t have an ache or a pain”, he told the Connacht Tribune after completing the walk. He was joined by various family members on the event who left him to his own devices along the route.
Paddy came from Cappagh, a small village outside Dunmore and had three brothers, Bertie, Cecil and Kevin. He won a county medal with Dunmore back in 1953 when they defeated Oughterard in the final and remains a keen cyclist.
Back in 1952 Paddy married Mary Agnes Nestor and they had nine children. Paddy and Mary Agnes owned a shop and a bar in The Square in Dunmore and ran a terrific business to support their children.
Paddy drove lorries for the local merchant, Collins, bringing eggs and flour from Dunmore to Dublin. He also drove lorries for Coca Cola as well as the local school bus.
Paddy has always had a great love for the GAA and has spent nearly every Sunday of his life going to matches all around the country. A loyal Galway supporter, this year alone he travelled as far as Letterkenny and then more locally to Pearse Stadium to support the Galway footballers.
His grandson, Sean Ryan said that Paddy is also frequently seen around Dunmore on his bicycle and often cycles in and out from Garrafrauns to the town.
“Paddy, in fact, was one of the first people in the county to own an electric bicycle, which he purchased in Holland,” Sean said.
Paddy has 21 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren and shows great interest in all of their outdoor pursuits.
“He is an extremely positive person who always sees the brighter side of life. Every day he says he had a great day, whether it was farming, watching a match, visiting his children, reading a book, listening to music or simply relaxing,” Sean added.
Paddy told to the Connacht Tribune that: “I may as well do it now, because when I get old I won’t be able to”.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
