Sports
Rank outsiders Abbeyknockmoy bidding to upset odds in All-Ireland intermediate final
IT’S the great dream of every player in the GAA to play in Croke Park and before the ‘waking up bit’ arrives, the trick is to lift the All-Ireland cup in the middle of ‘The Hogan’.
For Abbeyknockmoy’s intermediate hurlers, the first part of that scenario is in place on Sunday (3.45) when they face Kilkenny and Leinster champions Bennettsbridge, and the North Galway side will now have their sights firmly set on going all the way.
Mind you, the odds from the bookies suggest that maybe it’s not worth Abbeyknockmoy’s while turning up for this match as they’ll trot out onto the hallowed sod of Croker as 6/1 outsiders with Bennettsbridge an unbackable 1/10.
The Abbey lads though have a tradition of winning matches against the odds, going back to their sole senior success of 1988 when they toppled the mighty Athenry, so the underdogs tag on Sunday is nothing new to them.
Bennettsbridge do come into this final with one mighty impressive CV. Over the course of the past two seasons, they have now gone 29 league and championship games undefeated, in the process mopping up the All-Ireland junior title last year as well as the 2015 county and provincial intermediate crowns.
A village about five miles to the south east of Kilkenny city, Bennettsbridge have back the decades, won 12 senior titles – 11 of them in their golden era from 1952 to 1971 – before falling on leaner times, prior to their resurgence of latter years.
They have four All-Star winners in Jim Treacy (of the famous white head), Paddy Moran, Liam Simpson and nine times All-Ireland winner, goalkeeper Noel Skehan, while the names of Seamus Cleere and Pat Lawlor, will be familiar to hurling aficionados of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
Abbeyknockmoy though will be concerned about times more recent. Last year, Bennettsbridge went straight through from their junior success to take the Kilkenny intermediate title, beating St. Patrick’s, Ballyragget, in a replayed final.
By all accounts, Bennettsbridge came back from the dead in the drawn match, with centre forward Nicky Cleere on target from 15 frees, in a 0-20 to 3-11 contest while they won the replay by 1-16 to 1-14, with Cleere notching 10 of those points.
They have one current Kilkenny senior panellist in wing forward Brian Lannon but according to their manager Christy Walsh – a Kerry native – their real strength comes from a bunch of young players who won a county minor title about five years back.
“We got a crop of very good hurlers coming through from that minor success but before we won the junior title in 2014, we had lost two, so our success hasn’t come overnight,” said Walsh.
He described the bookies’ odds on the final as ‘totally ridiculous’ and said that it was now common practice for any Kilkenny team in an All-Ireland final to be installed as unbackable favourites.
“Like ourselves, Abbeyknockmoy have come through a tough programme of matches and they are a very good team – they wouldn’t have got to the final unless they were.
“I saw them against Creggan in the semi-final in Navan and I thought that they put in a very impressive second half. Physically they looked very powerful, their half backline played some great hurling, and they also picked off some excellent long range scores,” he said.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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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GALWAY United need to guard against any kind of complacency when they make the short hop down the M18 this Friday to take on Treaty United at the Markets Field (7.45pm).
The game is a meeting of the two form teams in the division, and as in previous meetings between the sides, will have an additional edge given the number of former United players in the home side’s ranks, and the pair of Limerick lads playing for United.
There might have been just the eight meetings between the sides since Treaty became the latest iteration to represent Limerick in the League of Ireland in 2021, and while United have yet to lose to the men in the candy-cane strips, there has never been more than a goal in four of their eight wins.
The most recent of those was back in February, when Rob Slevin scored the only goal of the game in Eamonn Deacy Park after a tough battle against a side who made a slow start to the season, before finally finding their groove in the past month.
Having taken just three points from their first six games before finally getting a win against Longford Town, they reverted to type with just one point from their next three games, but are now on a run of four wins on the spin, scoring 12 goals and conceding just one.
Their most recent win was a 3-0 victory away to Longford Town last Saturday, and they could have won by double that against the only side to have beaten United this season. That in itself is a warning.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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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.
Soccer Wrap with Mike Rafferty
While the Salthill Devon men’s team might have lost their grip on the Connacht Junior Cup that they held for two seasons, the club’s women’s side have picked up the mantle and on Sunday last in Headford were crowned provincial champions with a 4-3 win over Manulla.
Following midweek wins for Maree/Oranmore and Knocknacarra, the stage is now almost set for the semi-finals of the Michael Byrne Cup with Salthill Devon meeting St Bernard’s on Sunday in an outstanding quarter-final, with the winners advancing to a semi-final against Maree/Oranmore, while Colga will face Knocknacarra in the other last four contest.
Just one league issue remains to be decided, with the Championship runners-up position up for grabs, as Dynamo Blues have to win their two remaining games in order to overtake Colemanstown United who have finished their programme.
WOMEN’S CONNACHT CUP FINAL
Salthill Devon 4
Manulla 3
Ellerose O’Flaherty scored twice as Salthill Devon were crowned provincial champions with a win over a Mayo side who were losing in the final for the second year in succession.
Backboned by a number of players who previously had League of Ireland experience with Galway WFC, Devon suffered an early set back when Jess Nolan put Manulla ahead, before O’Flaherty levelled matters with a cracking finish on 20 minutes, which was quickly followed by a long-range free-kick from Aoife Walsh.
For more, read this week’s Galway City 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.
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