Archive News
Salthill hold out against spirited St Bernard’s
Date Published: 15-Dec-2009
THREE up before the hour mark, Salthill Devon seemed to be coasting to a comprehensive victory in this Connacht Junior Cup tie at Drom on Sunday morning, but a tremendous revival by a ten man visiting side ensured that the home team had a lot of very nervous moments before the finish.
Bernard’s not only pulled it back to 3-2, but also missed a penalty in the process, while Devon’s last score came courtesy of an Alan Gilmore spot kick in injury time.
On a crisp and cold morning, it was the visitors who were the more threatening in the early exchanges, but a lack of a killer instinct was to cost them dearly. Kevin Ruane was badly off target with a close range header following a corner, while the same player couldn’t get the better of ‘keeper Colm Smith when put through with an excellent Eoin Roach pass.
Devon woke from that early slumber and for a spell put the Abbeyknockmoy side under serious pressure. Brian Gaffney and Gilmore had close range efforts blocked while stand-in goalkeeper Damien Flaherty kept out shots by Kieran O’Sullivan and Ronan Geraghty.
The intense pressure eventually paid off and the breakthrough arrived on 34 minutes when Luke Dunlea cracked in a shot from about 25 yards and the strike made it 1-0 with the assist of a post. A free kick by Eoin Roche tested Flaherty before the home side secured a terrific second.
It was right full Ronan Silke who started the move with a ball down the line to Gaffney and from the by-line his cross was finished at the far post by the inrushing Geraghty to make it 2-0. Textbook stuff, but a lack of consistency was to prevent them pulling away from a side unbeaten in First Division football.
Indeed, the visitors had opportunities to reduce the margin before the break, but following a Ruane cross, JP Keary had a volley clawed away at the far post by Smith, while later Ruane was closed down in the area as he tried to wind up a shot.
The early minutes of the restart saw Bernard’s start well again and Keary had a header kept out by Smith, while the same player just couldn’t get on the end of a Roach delivery as it pinged across the box.
Then almost without warning Devon made it 3-0 on 53 minutes. Geraghty delivered from the left and Tom Forde completely miscued his clearance, allowing Brian Gaffney to fire home unopposed from close range. Continuing to hold the upper hand, Dunlea and O’Sullivan had efforts just outside the woodwork, before the home side lost their way.
The game continued to contribute an inordinate amount of chances and in successive efforts both Ruane and Daryl Finn were denied down low by smart Smith saves. Now Bernard’s were not having much luck and their cause seemed to be a totally lost one on 66 minutes when Adrian Roach collected a second yellow for what seemed a timid challenge in midfield.
Within three minutes, they kick started their recovery when Ruane chased a Tracey long ball and from seemingly an impossible angle he beat Smith at the near post to reduce the arrears to 3-1. By now it was all Bernard’s as Smith was kept busy with a series of saves.
Then when Devon’s Eoin Roche impeded Daryl Finn in the box on 79 minutes, a penalty was the award but leading scorer Ruane inexplicably fired his effort outside a post. Just five minutes later there was a repeat spot kick after Cian Fadden upended Finn in the area and on this occasion Ruane was less casual as he made it 3-2 with a low effort into the corner.
Despite being down to ten men they continued to threaten, but chances became scarce in the final minutes and on 90 minutes, substitute Gerry Dolan broke through at the other end and was upended by Flaherty. From the resulting penalty, Alan Gilmore was true with a powerful effort into the top corner to seal a 4-2 win.
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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