Connacht Tribune
UHG colleagues vying for Rose of Tralee crown
Excitement is likely to reach fever pitch for staff at UHG when this year’s Rose of Tralee comes on the telly – because they’ll be cheering on, not one, but two of their colleagues in their battle to wear the crown!
Galway Rose Niamh Elwood from Castlegar is a staff nurse in the Acute Medical Unit – and the Offaly Rose, Jennifer Byrne, is a junior doctor in the Accident and Emergency Department.
Both come from sporting families and, while Niamh is associated with Liam Mellows GAA club, Jennifer plays soccer in the National League for Galway WFC. Indeed, in the club’s most recent home game in Deacy Park, she scored in Galway’s unexpected but comprehensive 5-1 win over league leaders Peamount United.
Jennifer Byrne is a tall 24-year-old, standing five feet eleven inches, and comes from Clonaderig near the Offaly/Westmeath border, 20 km south of Athlone and 10 km east of the monastic settlement at Clonmacnoise. She went to school in Ballinahown and Our Lady’s Bower in Athlone, a school which has a fine sporting tradition. And following her Leaving Certificate, she studied medicine at NUI Galway.
As well as starring for Galway WFC in the National League, Jenny has played for the past five years with the NUIG women’s team and scored the winning penalty to decide the 2016 WSCAI All Ireland Premier Division title. She has represented Ireland at U17 and U19 level and in the World University Games and she played on the Irish women’s team in the World University games in South Korea in 2015.
Jennifer played centre-half in the European Under 17 Final in 2010 when Ireland unfortunately lost out on penalties to Spain.
When asked about her best moments in her sporting career, she said: “Playing on the Irish team that beat Germany in the U17 European Championship semi-final in 2010 and then going on to reach the quarter-final of the U17 FIFA World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago the same year.”
She also played Gaelic football and was corner-forward on the Westmeath team that claimed All-Ireland Intermediate honours in 2011 by defeating Cavan after a replay in Croke Park.
As a medical student, she volunteered at Barretstown, a charity set up for children living with a serious illness and their families.
She has also volunteered in Mpongwe Mission Hospital in Zambia through a charity called Volunteer Services Abroad.
“For me, this was a life-changing experience and opened my eyes as to how fortunate we are here in Ireland”, she said.
Niamh Elwood is 23 years of age comes from Castlegar, not far from Ballybrit, the home of the Galway Races. She was chosen as the 2017 Galway Rose at a banquet in the Clayton Hotel in May.
Niamh spent four years studying in GMIT where she was awarded an honours degree in general nursing.
She has been working as a staff nurse in the Acute Medical Unit, University Hospital Galway since December 2015 where for a few months she worked side by side with Dr Jennifer Byrne!
While Jennifer likes many sports as well as soccer and Gaelic football, Niamh is a true ‘Gael’, having a long association with Liam Mellows GAA club in Galway city. As a teenager, Niamh played hurling with the boys but she also played hockey when she was at school in Taylor’s Hill.
In 2005, her mother Deirdre was instrumental in setting up the Liam Mellows Camogie club so that Niamh and her sister could play with their own club.
Her father Paul has been her trainer for many years and her brother Paul is currently a member of the Galway Under 21 hurling panel. Her late grandfather Mickey Elwood played for Galway and Liam Mellows in the 1950s.
Niamh loves travelling and has visited New York, Boston, Paris, Malta, Budapest, Prague, Australia (Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Barrier Reef), Amsterdam, London, Portugal and Barcelona.
Both girls are actively involved in voluntary work in their spare time.
Jennifer supports the ‘I’m A Friend’ anti-bullying initiative which was founded by her friend, Charlie Wynne from Ferbane. She also volunteers with the Irish Kidney Association.
Niamh has been closely involved with the Galway Hospice and hopes to raise awareness and funds for the hospice during the coming year. She hopes to do a unique ‘First Responses’ demonstration, should she reach the televised stages of the competition in Tralee.
They have both been to the Rose of Tralee Festival as teenagers in the past and often dreamt that they might be up onstage representing their counties. Both are excited about and looking forward to what promises to be a great experience during the third week in August.
Chatting with them it is clear that there is no rivalry whatsoever and the goodwill shown by staff, patients and visitors is overwhelming.
Indeed, while we took the photographs in the grounds of the hospital on a quiet Sunday afternoon, there was a constant stream of well-wishers passing by and stopping with a word of good luck or to take a shot on their phones.
With the added interest of the Dubai Rose, Lisa O’Donohue being a native of Dangan on the outskirts of Galway city, the 2017 Rose of Tralee Festival will generate more interest than usual throughout County Galway.
The Festival begins on Wednesday, August 16, and runs for a week until Tuesday, August 22.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
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.
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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.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
