Archive News
Time for Mountbellew Moylough to take their beating
Date Published: {J}
IT’S straying into dangerous territory when publicly commenting on a controversy between two clubs which is now holding the Galway senior football championship to ransom, but that doesn’t prevent us from trying to reflect public opinion on a protracted dispute which is now back to where it started – almost three months later.
Let’s first wind the clock back. At the end of May, Micheál Breathnach’s took on Mountbellew/Moylough in the second round of the county championship at Pearse Stadium. It was a tight struggle but when last year’s county finalists led by two points 12 minutes from the end, they were expected to complete their expected victory over the Connemara men.
Breathnach’s have tended to produce tough and honest teams over the years, but lacking the in-depth class to compete strongly for county honours. Few neutrals gave them real hope of pulling off a shock result against Mountbellew, but they fought like demons with late points from Fiach Ó Bearra and Cian Ó Griallais sparking understandable scenes of wild celebrations after recording a 1-11 to 0-12 victory.
Within a few days, however, the local GAA bush telegraph was getting wind of a potential Mountbellew objection and, sure enough, the north Galway club launched an appeal to the local Competitions Controls Committee (CCC) over the legality of a Breathnach’s player.
We wondered had the Gaeltacht side imported an outsider and played him under a pseudonym or fielded someone who was working in the area for the summer? It had to be a grave offence to warrant such extreme action.
Surely, as was to transpire, Mountbellew weren’t basing their objection against a young footballer who had been playing with Breathnach’s since U-14 level, had transferred from the neighbouring parish of Na Piarsaigh and only came on as a substitute in that controversial match in the 46th minute. Sadly, they were, and all on the basis that Tommy Conneely was not registered to line out at adult level with their opponents.
In my view, it’s the most minor of technicalities, but some individuals in Mountbellew obviously saw the matter differently and have been involved in boardroom appeals and objections ever since as the matter has bounced back and forth between the Galway County Board and Connacht Council before ending up with the DRA last week. I’ve always had serious reservations about this body and that view was confirmed again in their handling of this case.
The DRA regrettably didn’t make a ruling on the substantive issue, but rather got bogged down in the technicalities of the various hearings at county and provincial level. The net result now is that Mountbellew’s objection has to be heard all over again, starting with the Galway CCC which will have to be comprised of different personnel this time. It’s gone beyond a joke with genuine fears that the Galway football championship could be delayed by months.
Already, Salthill Knocknacarra and Milltown have reached the semi-finals, while Claregalway face a quarter-final replay against Corofin, but the ‘fourth side’ of the title race is obviously way behind schedule and, frankly, in a mess. It’s not fair on the other clubs and nor it will it be fair on the new Galway senior management who could have their early season preparations compromised as a number of players may be unavailable due to the local championship dragging on.
I can tell the Mountbellew Moylough GAA club that I haven’t met a single neutral who supports their stance and, in fact, most sports people are appalled that they haven’t possessed the good grace to accept their beating on the field of play. I appreciate that emotions are running high in the club and, maybe, some officials and players feel they have the right to go down the road they have gone , but no matter how you look at it, their objection – though having some basis technically – has no right morally.
For the broader sake of Galway football and, in particular, this year’s county championship, the Inside Track is making an appeal of its own to the Mountbellew Moylough GAA Club: swallow your pride and let Micheal Breathnach’s advance to face Cortoon Shamrocks in the next round – a right they have already earned on the field of play. It’s never too late to turn back going down the wrong road and would also help to salvage the club’s reputation.
Finally, I can’t help wondering about the scruples and motives of the individual who fed Mountbellew Moylough the information about Conneely’s possible ineligibility in the first place. It was obviously someone close to the scene and who had an axe to grind with Micheal Breathnach’s. That person should be ashamed of himself/herself.
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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