Archive News
Portumna in no mood for mercy against Dunloy
Date Published: {J}
STEPHEN GLENNON
REIGNING All-Ireland club champions Portumna boast a clean bill of health ahead of their semi-final showdown against Dunloy at Parnell Park on Sunday (2:30pm).
But manager Johnny Kelly and his management team do have somewhat of a selection headache, as hardworking wing-forward Niall Hayes will miss the clash through suspension. Hayes, somewhat unfortunately, received his marching orders against Loughrea in the county decider, and, consequently, must serve his one-match ban in this competition.
He will, though, line out earlier in the day for Galway senior hurlers at the same venue as the Tribesmen face Dublin in the Walsh Cup decider. No doubt, that should keep Hayes sharp, but it has left a selection dilemma as Kelly seeks to fill the right half-forward position.
There are three front-runners for the berth. Ciaran Ryan – a real goal-getter for Portumna in their 2008/’09 campaign – and the experienced David Canning both look to be the safe options, but if Kelly is tempted to take a chance on another young player – as he did with Martin Dolphin last year – then 21-year-old Conor O’Hare could be in line for a call-up.
Other than that, there should be little change from the side that demolished Loughrea on a scoreline of 5-19 to 1-12 in the 2009 county final. Ivan Canning will line out between the posts, with Aidan O’Donnell, Eugene McEntee and Ollie Canning forming the full-back line partnership.
Garret Heagney, Michael Ryan and Peter Smith should make up the half-back line, while Eoin Lynch and captain Leo Smith will undoubtedly renew a midfield partnership which has served Portumna so well in recent times.
Centre-half forward Kevin ‘Chunky’ Hayes will spearhead the attack, with Andrew Smith flanking him on the left wing. As noted, the right-half forward position is up for grabs, but one scenario could see the versatile Martin Dolphin move from corner forward to wing-forward to accommodate any of the leading contenders for the then vacant position in the corner.
In any event, the inside threat will be posed by Damien Hayes and Joe Canning, both of whom were in scintillating form for the club in last year’s championship. In the county final alone, Hayes finished with a whooping 3-3 from play, while Joe Canning hit an incredible 1-10, all from placed balls.
Indeed, Canning looks to have carried that form into 2010, scoring 3-8 (3-3 from play) in LIT’s 3-14 to 1-6 round robin Fitzgibbon Cup win against UCC in the Mardyke recently. Praising his full-forward, manager Kelly said: “In fairness to Joe, he has been working very hard, be it with Portumna or the college or by himself, which a lot of the other guys have been doing as well. Joe did very well for LIT last week, but, then again, Joe might not get the same freedom against Dunloy. If that happens, then it will be up to the other guys around him to provide.”
Another impressed with Canning’s early season from was captain Leo Smith. “Sure, it is better he is getting,” said the Portumna midfielder. “He is something special alright. Every day, he goes out, there is pressure on him to perform and he never lets anybody down. Be it training or a challenge match with Portumna, he never misses any of those and he always gives it 110%. His work-rate is phenomenal and you often see him tracking back. He has a great attitude, which is exactly what you need.”
No doubt, the form of Canning – along with that of Damien Hayes – will not only be crucial to a Portumna victory against Dunloy, but also to any hopes of the reigning champions securing a coveted, unprecedented three-in-a-row of All-Ireland club titles.
For more, read page 56 of this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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
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.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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