Sports
Connacht show mercy in trouncing Russians
Connacht 47
Enisei STM 5
PERHAPS the end justifies the means. Connacht were never in much danger of missing out on the quarter finals before Saturday’s comfortable Sportsground win over the emerging European rugby outpost from Krasnoyarsk, but a home quarter final was out of the question and that appeared to be a missed opportunity. Yet when the last eight pairings were confirmed on Saturday night, the landscape looked a lot brighter.
Grenoble will be favourites in their April showdown with Connacht and they’ll expect to win, but Lam’s men will have no fear either and they’ll also feel that the fixture is eminently winnable. That would leave them with a home semi final (a scenario that wouldn’t have been possible had they secured a home quarter final) probably against Harlequins. Now that would be something.
We’re getting way ahead of ourselves here but this competition is back on the table as a genuine target and you get the feeling from the players here that they are fully aware of what is possible. One important proviso for all this will be the injury count come spring – a fully fit squad will just about be able to handle Leinster at home, Ulster away, Grenoble away and Munster at home in a four week period. Anything less and that becomes hugely challenging.
In the meantime, Lam and co will be keen to park thoughts of Europe and dreams of finding their way to a final in Lyon in May. The Pro12 returns and while they remain in the top 4, they’ve clearly lost their way of late and face second placed Scarlets at home this weekend. Connacht will feel they owe the west Wales men after the last gasp loss in Llanelli, but the visitors will see this as a huge opportunity to put the Westerners’ threat firmly in its box.
Saturday’s eight try win over the Siberian side that have done themselves so much justice in this competition with wins over Newcastle and Brive on Russian soil was certainly the most complete performance in quite some time. It also underlined the reality that these games aren’t always a ‘no win’ scenario, four tries in either half and a consistent flow of high paced attacking rugby meant this game was supremely entertaining throughout.
John Muldoon knew from the outset that a bonus point win was essential. In that scenario, the only way Connacht could be usurped by Brive was if the French side scored a bonus point victory in Newcastle. Few thought that likely. For that reason, the Portumna man went against the normal Connacht wisdom and played with the wind from the start in a bid to get the job done early. It proved a sharp call.
Full match report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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.
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.
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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.
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
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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