Talking Sport
Portumna Golf Club going strong for one hundred years
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
PORTUMNA Golf Club will mark its centenary year by launching a comprehensive history of the club – penned by well-known local historian John Joe Conwell – at the course’s facilities on Friday evening and according to Chairman of the Centenary Committee John Harte, its publication – along with the myriad of events running throughout the year – has been some time in the planning.
“It is three years in the planning,” outlines Harte. “Interestingly, when you look at the book, 2013 is not really our Centenary but you will have to read it to find out why? 1907, I think, the club initially affiliated according to the GUI but Colonel Coates did not become [the first] captain until 1913 and we had to take that year because golf was only being played here locally in an unstructured way before that.”
Of course, the Golden Jubilee of the club had already taken place back in 1963 so the Centenary Committee’s collective hands were, by and large, tied to 2013. In any event, the extended period gave Conwell, who has written three successful local history books previously, the chance to put together what is an exceptional, top quality offering.
“With this, I was about three years putting it together although when it came to the early section of the book, I would have had a lot of stuff gathered back through the years. The more recent stuff is more difficult. You have to be accurate because it is in living memory. If you make a mistake going back to the early period, I don’t think Colonel Coates will cause you any problems!” he laughs.
According to Conwell, the 228-page book – titled ‘From Little Acorns: A Centenary History of Portumna Golf Club – charts its development since the game was first played on lands rented from a number of tenant farmers in the townsland of Claggernagh on the opposite side of the road to the present club.
Among the prime stakeholders in establishing the golf club were a Mr. Suggett, an engineer working on the bridge in Portumna; Mr. Harrison, a local inspector of the RIC; and Fr. Dignan, a Catholic curate and later Bishop of Clonfert. Colonel Coates, an army doctor at Portumna Workhouse, was the first captain and he held that title for 20 years.
The book subsequently documents the progress the club and its nine-hole course made in the first half of the 20th century right up to the war years and ‘The Emergency’ when Portumna GC – recognising the shortage of household goods, fuel and other items, such as cigarettes due to the harsh economic climate – cleverly offered these same things as prizes in their competitions.
Punctuated by an extensive range of photographs, the book also pays tribute to those who served the club in good stead over the decades, such as a talented golfer named John B. Stronge, who died at a young age in December 1951, and former Club Secretary Michael Bermingham, who was to the fore in arranging the 99-year lease for the club at its present location back in the ‘50s.
Following the Golden Jubilee celebrations in ’63, an extension to the clubhouse was built in ‘66 before a new facility was erected altogether in ’71. It would not be until 1992, however, that the 18-hole course would be opened although the club did secure the freehold title to the property by buying out the lease from Coillte, along with some additional land, the following year.
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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