Inside Track
Tough week on Connacht fails to get any better in Coventry
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IT was always going to be a big ask for Connacht to get something from their away European Champions Cup clash against in-form Wasps last Sunday, but in a week where the camp must have been rocked to the core by Pat Lam’s revelation that he would be standing down as Head Coach at the end of the season, the Westerners’ prospects of upsetting the odds had to compromised even further.
Though the Connacht squad live and work in a professional environment, it can’t have been easy for John Muldoon and company to stay focused on the trip to Coventry given the massive fallout and publicity over Lam’s shock decision. At best, it was a challenging and emotional week, and it is to the players’ credit that they didn’t look a distracted outfit against Wasps in the Ricoh Arena.
In fact, with 60 minutes gone on the clock, Connacht had a great chance to equalise but, unfortunately, Jack Carty was narrowly wide from a relatively routine penalty and from there to the finish, Wasps put the squeeze on. Carty, whose overall conversion rate is below average this season, was also off-target with a similar effort in the opening half.
In a match of such tight margins over the first hour of action, those misses were real body blows. Connacht had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory during that period, but simply didn’t make it count despite a terrific try from the outstanding Kieran Marmion – following a great off-load from Muldoon – and an opportunist effort from reserve Rory Parata after he intercepted a loose loose from Wasps out half Jimmy Gopperth.
Connacht were given their English Premiership hosts no shortage of grief in the scrums, but their line outs were a disaster area in the opening 20 minutes. It prevented them from exploiting some typically crisp handling as they carried the fight to Wasps. Overall, the visitors just weren’t clinical enough when they were in the opposition 22, but injuries in their back division was also a big mitigating factor.
Australian Kurtley Beale, on his debut for the club, may have given the Wasps the lead in the seventh minute when he managed to spin out of Stacey Ili’s tackle, but Connacht didn’t blink and they were still bang in the contest when only trailing 13-10 at the break. However, their hopes suffered a big blow when the influential Nathan Hughes crashed over for a try early in the second-half, with Gopperth’s conversion leaving ten points between the teams.
Wasps were upping the ante but were immediately knocked back on the heels with Parata’s intercept try. The game was back in the melting pot, but the closing 20 minutes proved tough on Connacht. With injuries forcing the retirements of Tiernan O’Halloran, Cian Kelleher and Ili, the resulting disruption did them no favours as the pressure mounted from the hosts. It resulted in tries from the Joe Launchbury, who had earlier forced a couple of vital turnovers, and winger Josh Bassett in securing a bonus point 32-17.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
SOMETHING very odd happened to Tyrone in the Ulster championship in early April. On their home turf of Healy Park, they were doing nearly everything expected of them when leading Monaghan by five points at half-time. You couldn’t say for definite that the match was done and dusted, but the 2021 All-Ireland champions were in pole position.
You would have expected them to drive on against an honest if limited Monaghan outfit. Instead, Tyrone didn’t score for the opening 16 minutes of the second-half and in an enthralling finale, were left stunned by defender Ryan’s Toole’s stoppage-time goal snatching the honours for the Farney men on a 2-17 to 1-18 scoreline.
A couple of weeks later, Monaghan themselves had exited the Ulster title race when Derry comfortably got the better of them (1-21 to 2-10), leaving us more puzzled than ever by Tyrone’s dramatic decline since overcoming Mayo to claim Sam barely 20 months previously. Last year, they crashed out of Ulster by 11 points to Derry and subsequently came up six short against Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Against that background, their recent loss to Monaghan shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Tyrone may have made a shambolic defence of the All-Ireland title, but there is still a lot of quality in their ranks. They have an adventurous ‘keeper in Niall Morgan, while the long-serving Peter Harte, Darragh Canavan, Darren McCurry, Cathal McShane, Conor Meyler, Mattie Donnelly, and Conn Kilpatrick are all top-class performers when in the mood.
There’s hardly been a word about them for the past six weeks. Tyrone are lying low, desperately trying to rediscover the verve and cohesion which took them all the way in 2021. Their pride is on the line. It makes them dangerous opponents for Galway in the opening round of All-Ireland group matches at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Inside Track with John McIntyre
GALWAY footballers won’t get much credit for their easy victory over Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht Final in Castlebar, but when a team achieves something that hasn’t been done for 20 years, perhaps we should be a little more appreciative of the Tribesmen retaining the JJ Nestor Cup for the first time in two decades.
To be honest, if Galway were to live up to their standing as serious All-Ireland contenders, they needed to be doing a number on Sligo. In this year’s National League, the counties were three divisions apart and though Tony McEntee’s team achieved promotion and were on a nine-match unbeaten run, a serious rise in class faced them at MacHale Park.
Granted, Sligo made a bright start with three points in the opening five minutes from Pat Spillane, Sean Carrabine and the accurate Darragh Cummins, but they would only manage two more by the break despite having the wind behind them. Though wing back Luke Towey was catching the eye with his runs up-field, Galway rarely looked under pressure.
Sligo were bravely committing numbers to the middle third, which meant they were a little light in numbers around their own posts. They couldn’t afford to lose possession coming out of their own half, but that’s what happened in the build up to Galway’s second goal. Damien Comer overturned Cian Lally and from his counter-attack, Matthew Tierney expertly finished to the net at the near post.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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.
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IS the Leinster hurling championship something of a sham compared to its Munster counterpart? Everybody knows who will end up in the provincial final in the east, but nobody knows the two teams who will feature in the ultimate battle for supremacy down south.
All-Ireland champions Limerick aren’t guaranteed to even make it out of the province, never mind reach the Munster final, after their narrow loss to Clare in Saturday evening’s epic at the Gaelic Grounds. Everything is still on the line for the five counties involved, although Waterford are again under serious pressure after losing their opening two matches.
In Leinster, there is little of that drama. Galway and Kilkenny are miles ahead of the rest; the only thing at stake is whether Dublin or Wexford – they meet in Croke Park on Saturday – will be the third team to emerge for the All-Ireland series. It’s a game which is hard to call. Wexford are going backwards while Dublin look callow as Micheál Donoghue is trying to build the nucleus of a new team.
Though Antrim are improving – they held the Dubs to a draw and only lost to Wexford by four points – the men from the Glens would be out of their depth in Munster; while Westmeath are proving cannon-fodder for everyone else. Since Galway headed east in 2009, they have clashed with Kilkenny in seven Leinster finals and another showdown is inevitable next month.
In contrast, every match in Munster is virtually do-or die. When Clare rolled into Limerick last Saturday, they knew another defeat after losing to Tipperary in the opening round would leave them on the precipice of exiting the championship. There’s a real dog-eat-dog appeal about all the games. In Leinster, there are two big hounds, and the rest are chihuahuas.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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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