Sports
Bad day for Galway city clubs
FOR Galway city club St Michael’s, Sunday was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
St Michael’s first senior county football final appearance, the proudest day in the life of the city club, was tainted with regret as Corofin ran riot to retain their crown, and win their 16th Frank Fox Cup.
The honour and huge sense of achievement of reaching a first ever county decider since the club was formed in 1956, was tinged with a deep sense of disappointment, as St Michael’s were hit for five goals and ended up on the wrong side of an 18-points avalanche.
Buzzing after beating Barna in the semi-final replay the previous week, St Michael’s were brought crashing back down to earth with a bang against a Corofin outfit that was in devastating form and operating at a different level that most club teams, and even some inter-county teams, would struggle to match.
The final score read 5-12 to 0-9 . . . not a pretty sight.
This group of players from the Bushypark / Newcastle / Westside club will always be remembered as a pioneering bunch. They’re the first from the club to taste action in a senior county final; the first from the club to savour the experience of the biggest Gaelic football occasion on the local sporting calendar – the buzz of the build-up, the roar of the crowd, the nerves of the pre-match parade and the goosebumps as Amhrán na bhFiann blares out. Those memories can never be taken away.
But, unfortunately, too, they join a long list of decent teams that suffered an unmerciful spanking at the hands of Corofin, who were far and away the better team and had the match pretty much wrapped up after 10 minutes or so.
Former Galway player, Gary Sice was chief tormentor, finishing with 1-5, plus several assists. Two-goal hero Michael Lundy was outstanding as well, his first goal on four minutes setting the tone of the demolition job that was to come.
Full-forward Martin Farragher set-up his older brother, captain Michael Farragher, for the second goal of the day, which gave Corofin a 2-3 to 0-1 cushion after just 12 minutes. Effectively that was game-over. It was no longer a matter of whether Corofin would win; it was now all about the margin of victory.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.
LESS than a third of a second proved the difference for one Galway rower who came up just short of a medal at the European Rowing Championships in Lake Bled, Slovenia last weekend.
Siobhán McCrohan of Tribesmen Rowing Club missed out on a podium finish by a whisker, finishing fourth in the lightweight single sculls on Sunday.
It was Ireland’s best performance at a meet where Irish rowers failed to take any silverware.
The Canadian born Claregalway resident was lying sixth after 1,500 metres of the final but she powered home with the fastest final 500 metres.
Her late rally came up just short of a medal by 0.27 of a second behind Czech Republic’s Kristyna Neuhortova who took bronze.
Gold medallist Ionela Cozmiuc of Romania dominated the race, and finished almost three seconds clear of silver medallist Evangelia Anastasiadou of Greece.
McCrohan qualified for the final after winning Friday’s repechage, which she led from the start, and she had finished second in her heat.
A two-time Galway Sports Star recipient, McCrohan was making her return to international action for the first time since 2016, according to Rowing Ireland.
Describing her as an “incredible woman”, Tribesmen Rowing Club said that it was proud of McCrohan’s efforts and she was “inspiration to us all”.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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Galway United 3
Athlone Town 1
THERE are games in every season which will never live long in the memory, and this was one of them for Galway United, despite John Caulfield’s side extending both their winning run at home, and their lead at the top of the First Division.
The league title now looks a formality after United stretched 12 points clear at the top of the table thanks to this win, and Waterford’s draw with Longford Town 24 hours later, and with this Bank Holiday weekend’s double round of fixtures marking the half-way point in the season, United can begin the long goodbye to the bottom tier.
This made it nine wins on the spin at home, a run which began with the play-off semi-final win over Longford Town at the end of last season. They have now won 15 of their 16 games this season – they finished last season with 17 wins from 32 games. This is just different gravy altogether.
There is still one issue that someone at the club really needs to address and that its the antics, for want of a better word, on the bench. Caulfield has already served a one-match ban for being sent off and his assistant manager, Ollie Horgan, has served a one-match ban for five yellow cards.
Club coach Chris Collopy is now one booking away from a ban of his own after a yellow card on Friday night – and Caulfield also went into the referee’s notebook. There seems to be a clampdown from match officials throughout the league on backchat from the bench – and some of the men in black have completely lost the run of themselves when dishing out cards like they were sales reps from Hallmark.
That said, if you know how fragile these officials are, then stop giving them the excuse to flash a yellow or red at the bench, especially for petulant outbursts and rattle-throwing that we have seen at times throughout the two divisions from grown men who should know better.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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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By Pádraic Ó Ciardha
THE away jerseys and the Factor 50 will both be in the bag this Saturday as the Galway senior footballers take their first trip out of Connacht in this championship campaign and head to Cusack Park in Mullingar to take on Dessie Dolan’s Westmeath.
After the torrid rain and, let’s be honest, torrid enough football that marked the Tribesmen’s opening game in Group 2 of the All-Ireland SFC against Tyrone, the Galway management, players and supporters will be hoping for something a bit more seasonal to kick off the June Bank Holiday weekend.
A win on Saturday (5pm) will keep Galway on track for top spot in the group and a direct path to an All-Ireland quarter-final, something that would make a repeat of last year’s journey all the way to the decider a whole pile easier.
Pádraic Joyce’s men should be heading into the game full of confidence as well. Even if the three-point win over Tryone a couple of weeks ago wasn’t the easiest on the eye, the way Galway managed the game should have pleased the manager.
Once the rain drenched Pearse Stadium before throw-in in that one, and especially once Tyrone were reduced to 14-men, it was always going to be a case of minimising the mistakes for Galway and keeping the opposition at arm’s length. Yes, Galway probably went too far in terms of caution and, yes, they failed to go for the kill when they had the chance, but they had a handle on their opponents throughout and whenever Tyrone looked like clawing their way back level, Galway came up with a response and protected their lead.
Saturday should offer the Tribesmen the opportunity to open up a little more and, hopefully, they’ll respond by going for the jugular when the chance presents itself.
That being said, Joyce will have warned his players against taking Westmeath lightly. There’s no denying that when the draw was made, last year’s Tailteann Cup winners were seen as the probable whipping boys in a very tough-looking group. Last Saturday’s performance against Armagh will have made people sit up and take notice, however. Having led for most of the match, Westmeath were very unlucky to come out of the Athletic Grounds empty-handed with Conor Turbitt’s late goal propelling Armagh to a 1-13 to 1-12 win.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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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.
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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.
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