Connacht Tribune
Ruthless Connacht run riot against Ulster
Connacht 44
Ulster 16
SO Connacht finish 2017 with their best performance of the year and a record breaking one at that. Highest ever points haul against a provincial side and a biggest ever win over Ulster. It was a seventh victory in nine outings to end the year and they now roll into 2018 in good spirits with plenty to be optimistic about.
Perhaps the Leinster and Munster away fixtures in the coming weeks will bring the men in green back down to earth, but for the moment at least, the glass is half full at the Sportsground and Kieran Keane is looking like an emboldened figure in post game press conferences.
The New Zealander has only once before led a professional coaching team and that was at the Tasman provincial side where he took them to a Division 2 title before leaving them on a strong footing in Division 1. His work as a backs coach with the Chiefs was well renowned and his technical expertise fairly widely regarded, but the head coach position can bring an added spotlight, especially in this part of the world.
Overall, he’s handled this new element in his own unique way and the post game press conferences are invariably engaging and informative, sometimes feisty and unusual, and never anything short of entertaining.
Saturday’s was no different. Keane batted away any questions that veered off the game, the ones looking for a simple headline about new contract extensions etc and, at the same time, he spoke openly and honestly about how this win might be a “turning point” in the season and might lead to his side and the Connacht rugby organisation as a whole being taken “a little more seriously.”
In this run of nine games, Connacht have remained near perfect in Europe, winning four from four in the Challenge Cup and picking up PRO14 wins over Munster, the Cheetahs and Ulster. Heck, they even managed to notch two valuable bonus points in one of their two away defeats during the run but that second loss was a stinker in Parma and, perhaps, dominated the headlines for longer than Keane would have liked or even expected from his New Zealand experience.
He has bristled since the week after that encounter but he might well be quietly pleased at how it’s all panned out. There has been a bit of a ‘circling of the wagons’ in recent weeks with the free scoring wins over Brive back-to-back before this stunning effort on a good night for rugby, slight winds but with mild temperatures.
The start to this contest spoke volumes of the side’s new collective sense of mission. As a group, they seem on the same page and determined to deliver on this new ethos of rugby that has probably taken a while to get to grips with. The line breaks are now coming in waves, 21 to 11 here and the opposition defenders are missing tackles against the men in green at a remarkable rate too.
Bundee Aki is back and beating a fair chunk of defenders on his own. He made 85 metres with the ball in his hands and on 11 carries, he beat six defenders. He has varied his game in recent weeks to either be a defensive stalwart or an electrifying attacking threat depending on tactics and opposition. In this one it was all about the attack play and Ulster had no answer to his prowess.
John Muldoon was back too and after a much needed break, he was the team’s key man for tackles leading the way with 12, he kept the carries to a minimum leaving that to his comrades in the backs. The back row trio as a whole excelled, Jarred Butler is only just back from a two month injury lay-off and put in a remarkable shift considering while Eoghan Masterson had a try and another stunning effort at blindside flanker.
Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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
