Talking Sport
Top Galway road runner is still pounding out the miles
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
THIS Sunday, the ‘prodigal son’ of Connacht athletics will make its return when the resurrected AAI Connacht 10km Road Race Championships takes place around Ballybrit Racecourse – service road – and the surrounding roadways.
After a lapse in excess of two decades, the Championships – spearheaded by Loughrea AC – is part of the Great Race Galway and all combined, the multi-faceted event is sure to attract athletes of all ages and abilities from clubs right across the province.
One man who would love to be running in the provincial road race is former five-time winner Gerry Ryan from Attymon but, unfortunately – or fortunately – he is putting the final touch on his preparations for the European Veterans Athletics (non-stadia) Championships which take place in Upice, Czech Republic later in the month.
Ryan, who these days runs in the Craughwell AC singlet, is no stranger to Galway, Connacht, national and international athletics, having featured prominently on all four fronts over the last three decades – between track, cross country and road race events.
Indeed, in the late 80s, he was one of the top Irish athletes and in 1988 he was duly recognised by the Galway Sports Stars for his achievements in the previous 12 months, which included road race victories in Loughgeorge, Ballinasloe and, most notably, the Moyne 10k in Thurles, where he finished ahead of a top quality field.
His successes were not only confined to the road that year as he also won the Galway cross-country title – no surprise as the year previous he had come within 13 seconds of claiming the national cross country crown. In all, Ryan has won the Galway cross country title six times, the Connacht crown seven times and he has two silver and a bronze medal in the national competition.
Then again, running is very much in his blood. His father Kevin was an All-Ireland senior cross country champion and he, along with Ryan’s mother Mary, nurtured this love in Gerry from an early age. Consequently, Ryan competed in both national and secondary school events while also honing his talents in his teens with Athenry Athletics Club.
“I won some pretty good titles at a young age and I got noticed by the BLE – now Athletics Ireland – and they asked me if I was interested in going on a scholarship to United States – to Villanova University, which was one of the top colleges in the States. I wasn’t fully 17 and I thought over it for a while but nobody really encouraged me to go, I suppose,” he says.
“To make a long story short, I decided against it. It became a serious regret, particularly when I was hitting my late 20s. I said ‘what sort of a fool was I that I didn’t actually go over’. I suppose, although I have three sisters, I am an only son at home and we have a farm and that may have had an impact on my decision. I felt obliged to stay at home.”
In any event, Ryan didn’t go and, instead, transferred to Loughrea AC which had a more “stable” senior section at the time. He immediately reaped the benefits and over the ensuing years claimed a plethora of titles between the three disciplines.
“I also got selected to run for Ireland internationally. There was a famous road race called the Quinlan Cup in Tullamore, with the cream of all the senior athletes in Ireland taking part. In fact, it was really an international race on the road and anyone who finished in the top three in that was guaranteed to race for Ireland. Most years, I finished in the top three.
“Anyway, the first international I got was in Gateshead in the North of England. I remember Steve Cram (1983 1,500m World Champion) was in that race and I finished fourth in that event. It was kind of a shock to the system though because I was moving up another class from what I did in Ireland.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
THE dramatic finale at the Sportsground on Saturday ought to have made the RTE Six One News sporting headlines, but there wasn’t a mention of Connacht’s extraordinary late heroics against Gloucester which keeps the province’s hopes of reaching the European Champions Cup quarter-finals alive.
Instead, the rugby spotlight was on Munster’s away defeat to champions Saracens. Later during the sports segment on the Six One News, Connacht’s never-say-die comeback was relegated to the last match of the Champions Cup wrap up. RTE, in their wisdom, believed that Munster’s 15-6 loss and Leinster’s routing of a makeshift Northampton on the same day were somehow more meritorious.
If Leinster or Munster had achieved what Connacht did in the latest round of European pool matches, can you imagine how gushing RTE’s coverage would have been? When a Tipperary man with a strong GAA background starts taking offence over Connacht not getting the coverage they are entitled to, it does give an insight into why rugby in the West feels hard done by in terms of national acclaim.
For all that, last Saturday was another thumping experience on College Road. With their European Championship knock-out ambitions on the line, it was victory or bust for Caolin Blade and company. But when Connacht trailed by 24-13 with less than six minutes remaining, it was impossible to see how they could salvage a result.
A pragmatic Gloucester already had the four-try bonus point in the bag. They may have trailed 10-7 at the break having faced the elements, but tries from Mark Atkinson (two) and captain Lewis Ludlow turned the game on its head. Connacht were remaining competitive but the breaks were going the way of a team they had never previously beaten.
The home fans in the crowd of 6,800 were understandably resigned to the worst. The yellow carding of Ludlow for a deliberate knock on meant Gloucester were reduced to 14 for the closing minutes, but nobody at the Sportsground thought much of it. Connacht were 11 points behind with time running out. They needed a miracle.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
MICHEÁL Donoghue faces the biggest challenge of his management career so far after Galway’s latest subdued display of 2019 at Pearse Stadium last Sunday. A lot of the same personnel are still there from the team’s magnificent All-Ireland triumph of two years, but the form of a number of influential players has nose-dived since last September’s championship loss to Limerick.
After a late collapse against Waterford in the National League quarter-final, Galway had some questions to answer ahead of their Leinster campaign and not withstanding their significant injury problems over the past few months, the Tribesmen’s stock has continued to decline judging by this month’s displays against both Carlow and Wexford.
Though it’s far from a full-blown crisis and we must keep a sense of perspective, there’s no point being wise after the event. On the evidence of what have seen to date this summer, Galway are dicing with an unexpected premature exit from the championship unless the squad can rediscover the hunger, intensity and quality which characterised many of their performances in 2017.
The continued absence of Joe Canning – and it is a mighty blow – can’t explain everything. Sure, Daithí Burke, Joseph Cooney, Jonathan Glynn, Adrian Tuohey and John Hanbury, an important introduction against Wexford, remain short of competitive action, but as a package, Galway should still be better than this.
Failing to find the net against either Carlow or Wexford, together with the lack of fluency and sharpness, has some local alarm bells ringing, leaving the team management with plenty to ponder on ahead of Sunday week’s big collision with Kilkenny. Lose that and Galway’s season will hang on getting a result at Parnell Park – an unforgiving venue at the best of times.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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.
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
WHAT was meant to be a few minutes of soundbite ahead of St. Thomas’ All-Ireland senior club hurling semi-final clash against Cushendall on Saturday has metamorphosed into a full-scale Talking Sport interview. Simply, because, Claude Geoghegan is an interesting guy.
For the past decade, Geoghegan has been the man behind the scenes and in his own inimitable way he has contributed just as much to St. Thomas’s success story as anybody else in Kilchreest and Peterswell. Perhaps, even more so.
As club secretary, he presided over St. Thomas’ historic county and All-Ireland club victories in the 2012/2013 season while, in the past three years, he has served as selector under managers John Burke and Kevin Lally, winning a county senior crown with each in 2016 and 2018 respectively. It is a proud record.
“I have held a few positions alright over the best part of a decade now — four or five years as secretary — and this is my third year involved now with the senior team. It is a way of life, I suppose, more than anything else,” begins the 31-year-old.
“When you are from a rural locality, it is what you are brought up with. It is what you know. If I wasn’t involved in the club in some capacity, I would feel I had a bit too much spare time on my hands. I would feel a bit odd without it, being honest.”
A history teacher at Presentation College, Athenry, Geoghegan explains his family are steeped in GAA tradition. His father Seamus hurled with the club before managing the intermediate team, as it was back then, while his older brother James has also done his duty as club secretary.
“Also, when the club amalgamated in 1968, my father was on the U14 team that won the county championship that year. We actually haven’t won the ‘A’ championship at U14 since. We have won plenty, but not that.”
Indeed, three SHC county titles in the last seven years would suggest that St. Thomas’ is a very special club but Geoghegan argues they are no different to any of the other clubs around. “Every other club is putting in the time that we are putting in. We are not special in any way in comparison to anyone else but we are incredibly fortunate to have a special group of players who have come together at one time.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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.
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