Archive News
St. ThomasÕ hit new heights
Date Published: 19-Feb-2013
St. Thomas’ 0-15
Loughgiel Shamrocks 0-7
STEPHEN GLENNON IN CLONES
GALWAY champions St. Thomas’ took their game to a whole new level when they showed composure, backbone and succinct moments of genuine flair to oust reigning All-Ireland title holders Loughgiel Shamrocks in a compelling senior club semi-final replay in Clones on Saturday.
This may not have had the vast number of scores of the drawn game but it took little away from a contest that was simply fascinating in the manner in which the tactical battles – in particular, breaking down the opposition’s resolute defence – were being fought.
In the past, question marks had hung over the St. Thomas’ rearguard. Most of these questions had been answered in their victories over local rivals Gort and Loughrea in the county championship semi-final and final respectively, but they threatened to come to the fore, once again, when they conceded three goals in the drawn game against Loughgiel.
However, in Clones on Saturday, the maturity displayed by the likes of the Burke brothers – Cathal, Sean, Darragh and substitute Eanna – and the tigerish Sean Skehill was pivotal in holding Loughgiel Shamrocks to a single point from play over the 60 minutes. It really was a joy to behold.
In many respects, this was the performance – even more so than their county final victory or their recent offering in Parnell Park – that announced St. Thomas’ have arrived and a remark uttered by a knowledgeable hurling man that this outfit could be the ‘new Portumna’ certainly has merit. Of course, only victory over Leinster champions Kilcormac/Killoughey on St. Patrick’s Day will add any weight to this assertion.
While the defence must receive due praise, many of the plaudits must pass to speedy forward Bernard Burke who shot four of the most inspirational points you were likely to see on the day – all at times when they were needed.
Burke’s first effort arrived on nine minutes – after an opening period in which Loughgiel looked to blow Thomas’ away with an early barrage of goals. In all, the Antrim men had three goal opportunities – compared to Thomas’ one – in a frantic spell of top-drawer hurling and Burke’s point provided just the tonic to dilute Loughgiel’s early ambitions. Consequently, after 21 minutes, the Kilchreest/Peterswell side led 0-5 to 0-2.
Loughgiel had started the contest as they had finished the last with Liam Watson striking over a free on two minutes before corner forward Benny McCarry, who was left unmarked inside, blazed an effort wide 30 seconds later.
St. Thomas’, themselves, sought to gain a foothold – Shane Cooney had a goal effort charged down – but the early momentum was with Loughgiel and Shay Casey – denied by a Cathal Burke flick – and Watson spurned further goal opportunities on six and eight minutes.
As it was, midfielder James Regan had already cancelled Watson’s opener by the time Burke hit his first point on nine minutes and St. Thomas’ subsequently settled down to the task in hand. Further points from Kenneth Burke, his brother David and Conor Cooney (free) catapulted them into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead . . . Watson issuing the sole reply for Shamrocks.
However, by half-time, Loughgiel had reduced the arrears to a point, with Watson pointing two placed balls – after St. Thomas’ conceded some very cheap frees – and wing-forward Eddie McCloskey tallying a great score after a fine run.
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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