Archive News
Sensational finish sees Larkins grab Minor A title glory
Date Published: 14-Nov-2012
Tommy Larkins 4-8
Turloughmore 2-13
Noel Carney in Athenry
IT has taken two enthralling games to separate these wonderful young teams, but we finally got a winner at Kenny Park, Athenry last Sunday when Tommy Larkins came from behind to turn an eight-point deficit into a thrilling victory after possibly the game of the year in the replayed Minor A hurling championship final.
Champions in 2006, Larkins seemed to have lost their chance when falling 2-10 to 1-5 behind at the three-quarter stage against a Turloughmore side that had been reduced to 14 players after Michael Morris had been red-carded only minutes after kicking his team’s opening goal early on.
That blow only served to rouse Turlough to double their efforts, however, and they quickly surged into a 2-4 to 1-1 thanks to an Ultan Hurney goal after a tremendous run at the defence by Conor Shaughnessy. They were five points clear at the break and they were looking good until things started to go wrong in a disastrous four-minute spell early in the final quarter as Larkins came roaring back.
Firstly, big Jason Flynn caught a dropping ball and lashed it to the net, then he quickly added another and to compound Turlough’s woes they had brilliant corner-back Eoin Flaherty sent off for a foul on an opponent. Tommy Larkins now had the bit between their teeth and finally wore down their gallant opponents who found the numerical advantage too much for them.
All credit to the Woodford-Ballinakill side though. Ciaran Fahy’s lads seemed to have missed their opportunity with a little over ten minutes left. They never gave up on their dream and finally succeeded, but spare a thought for a young Turloughmore side that started with no less than eight under-16 players. They played out of their skins, were the better side for much of the match and actually led for most of it.
It was Larkins who scored first when Flynn, who was to play such a crucial role for them, drove over a free but Shaughnessy turned it around by converting two at the other end. Even though Stephen Keon blasted a goal for Larkins at the end of a move started by Andrew Moran, Turlough got a point from a Shaughnessy free and although he was foiled when another placed ball came back off a post, Morris was on hand to snatch a vital goal.
The unlucky Morris was then sent to the line when he appeared to swing at the ball but connected with an opponent, but it didn’t seem to affect his colleagues much and when a point from a long range Jamie Holland free was followed by a Hurney goal they were 2-4 to 1-1 ahead. Conor Gardiner and Hurney then swapped scores as did Jason Flynn (free) and Sean Linnane, who showed delightful ball control before driving over. The hard working Gardiner had the final score of the half to leave his side trailing, 2-6 to 1-4, at the change of ends.
For more, read 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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