Sports
Connacht Rugby is on a roll
Connacht Rugby made it two wins from two when edging past Edinburgh 14-13 in Murrayfield on Friday night.
It was a scrappy game, riddled with errors from both sides and disrupted by overly fussy refereeing, but that won’t bother Connacht as they head in to this Friday’s clash with Leinster in the Sportsground full of confidence.
Perhaps Edinburgh’s huge win away to Munster at Thomond Park in round one had lulled them into a false sense of security in this one, but they shouldn’t have allowed that as Connacht usually match up well with them. The home side started better on the scoreboard with-out half Tom Heathcote kicking two penalties with fine precision. Darragh Leader meanwhile missed two long range efforts for Connacht in that period.
After a spell of Edinburgh dominance came to nothing, thanks to stern defence, Connacht finally had their first sustained period of pressure and from a collapsed scrum in the home 22, they earned a close in penalty which Leader converted to make it 6-3 midway through the first half.
The set piece superiority helped them draw level on 36 minutes with another Leader penalty but, at that point, the visitors would have been regretting a serious of promising attacks that had failed to yield a try . . . yet, level heading towards half time wasn’t a bad place to be, so what transpired in the final seconds seemed like a huge setback when Cornell Du Preeze to score the game’s opening try which Heathcote converted from the touchline for a 13-6 half time lead.
Connacht narrowed the gap on 55 minutes through the boot of Leader, and Willie Faloon crossed for the game-clinching try five minutes from time and while Jack Carty’s conversion tailed just wide, Connacht produced 10 strong phases of unyielding defence and after a turnover at a scrum on the 22, they played out the last two minutes precisely executing five phases of safe play before kicking to touch to seal a second win.
Galway 2-18
Antrim 1-10
John McIntyre in Darver
WE are little the wiser about the All-Ireland credentials of the Galway minor hurlers after their routine victory over a committed Antrim outfit at the Louth GAA Centre in Darver on Saturday.
Making their debut in the Leinster championship in the first of three round-robin group fixtures, Galway got the job done without setting off too many fireworks in a more competitive tussle than anticipated.
Though Fergal Healy’s charges didn’t look anything exceptional, there were mitigating factors, not least an extensive casualty list, the tiring long journey to the Louth venue, and it being their first outing of the championship.
Yet when Antrim full-forward Orrin O’Connor sent a low shot to the opposition net in the 49th minute, it left only six points between the teams (1-15 to 1-9). This wasn’t the expected script as Galway were not having things all their own way.
There was no sense of alarm, however, either on the field or on the sideline, as the Westerners quickly responded to that Antrim green flag with an unanswered 1-3 to leave them in good heart for this Saturday’s encounter with Laois at O’Moore Park.
For decades, Galway minors were accustomed to playing their first championship match in August and while their debut in the title-race has been brought forward in recent years with the introduction of All-Ireland quarter-finals, now having to start their campaign in late March does take a little bit of getting used to.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Kerry 3-11
Galway 0-17
Ivan Smyth at Tuam Stadium
GALWAY ladies footballers suffered their first defeat of 2023 as Kerry secured first blood with these sides set to meet again in the League final on April 15.
Despite both teams being assured of qualification for the decider at Croke Park before throw in, this was an entertaining affair with Kate Slevin’s eight point haul not enough to prevent Galway suffering their second successive defeat to Kerry after also losing out to to the Kingdom in the opening round of the championship last year.
Ultimately, Galway will be disappointed to lose this one. They led this game 0-7 to 0-2 but from the 22nd to the 48th minute, Kerry outscored their hosts 3-8 to 0-4 with the Tribeswomen falling eight points behind in the final quarter. Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh slotted 2-3 in the opening 30 minutes before being replaced at half time with the Kerry camp stating afterwards that the three time All-Star’s substitution was a pre-planned move.
With Galway shipping 2-3 and scoring just a point from the 22nd minute to half time, joint manager Fiona Wynne admits the side’s concentration in the moments before the break needs to improve: “We saw something similar when we played Cork in Pearse Stadium. We seem to be going very well and were well on top ,but towards the end of the first half in both scenarios we did get caught. Really happy with how we reacted to going behind against Cork. A little bit to do after today but it’s something we definitely have to look at.”
Chellene Trill, making her first start of the year, was given the arduous task of tracking the Corca Dhuibhne clubwoman. The Claregalway defender played well, storming out of defence twice with possession in the early stages but Ní Mhuircheartaigh at times was double teamed and still managed to kick scores that few others could.
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.
Westport 21
Creggs 19
Kevin Egan at the Sportsground
SOMEWHERE around the West of Ireland right now, there’s probably a newspaper report that would describe the dramatic scenes at the end of last Sunday’s Connacht Junior Cup final as bearing resemblance to the plot of a Hollywood movie.
If you travelled to the Sportsground to support Westport in their bid to win a first Junior Cup since 2015, that description might feel apt this week. However if you travelled in hope of watching Creggs end their 30-year drought in this famous competition, the manner in which the Galway-Roscommon border club had their double dreams shattered felt almost Shakespearean; like a cruel tragedy where it wasn’t enough to simply plunge the knife into the tragic hero, but there also had to be a considerable element of irony, and of expectations being flipped on their head.
As newly-crowned league champions, Creggs went into this game as favourites, and that weight of expectation was only encumbered further by the firm astroturf surface and the relatively benign conditions (notwithstanding a first-half downpour, but 80 minutes of good weather in Galway is too much to expect in July, never mind March).
Their skill and craft, particularly in the back division, was expected to slice open the West Mayo side, who many expected to struggle in the latter stages of the contest. Instead, it fell to a hugely promising young back from Westport, 18-year-old full back Cormac Lyons, to strike in the fifth minute of stoppage time and cancel out what looked like a match-winning try and conversion from Shane Purcell just six minutes earlier.
That Creggs would have trouble coping with the sheer power of the Westport pack was no surprise, and for the opening 15 minutes, the club that has recently become known as “The Bulls” did everything they could to live up to that name.
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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