Sports
Greenfields women complete cup and league double in terrific style
Greenfields 4
NUIG 1
GREENFIELDS Hockey Club completed the double for the second year in a row by beating NUIG in the Connacht Senior Cup final on St Patrick’s Day in Dangan to add to the provincial senior league title.
The game was played in glorious conditions and began at a fast pace. NUIG enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the first ten minutes but were unable to convert their chances into goals with the Greenfields defence of keeper Sinead Collins, Megan Forde, Mary McDonald, Kelly Dunleavy and Carmel Heery standing firm.
It was a nervous start from some of the younger Greenfields players but after great build up play from captain Neasa McGettigan the ball eventually found its way to Trish Garrett who made no mistake with the finish to give Greenfields the lead somewhat against the run of play.
This settled Greenfields and approaching the 20 minute mark Neasa McGettigan found Alma Whelan on the right hand side of the pitch who beat her marker and raced towards the circle and laid off for the inrushing Ellie Noone who bravely and cooly slotted the ball into the goal to make it 2-0. Greenfields continued to press with some fine defending from NUIG and they were unlucky not to add to their tally.
They dominated the second half from the start despite the best efforts of NUIG’s stand out player Freddie Timmons and tireless work from Rachel Bradley. However this pressure eventually led to Greenfields third when Alex Hunt fired home a well worked short corner after a clever switch from Mary McDonald at the top of the circle.
NUIG never gave up and were rewarded with a goal following a short corner with four minutes left on the clock. They continued to press but were reduced to ten players for the last two.minutes. The resultant short corner was cooly finished by Kate Hennessy after a well executed pass by McGettigan at the top.
It was a great team performance from the winning team with some fine displays with the Player of the Match going to Siobhan Divilly of Greenfields. Connacht President Yvette Quinn presented the Connacht Senior Cup to team captain Nessa McGettigan.
It capped another great season for Greenfields Hockey club who were also presented with the Kennedy Connacht Senior League Cup by Ger Comer. Greenfields remain undefeated for two seasons and have once again completed the league and cup double.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Galway United 1
Longford Town 0
Keith Kelly at Eamonn Deacy Park
IT is six of the best from Galway United on Friday night as Darren Clarke got one over on the club he joined United from in the off-season when his cross was deflected past visiting goalkeeper Jack Brady by Viktor Serdeniuk for an OG 15 minutes from time to see the Tribesmen start a season with six wins on the bounce for the first time in the history of the club.
United have often found Longford to be obdurate opponents – most recently, the Midlanders ended their previous unbeaten start to last season – and they almost proved party-poopers again on Friday when the hosts failed to turn their almost complete dominance of possession and territory into goals.
It was a tough watch at times, with United lacking that bit of quality up front, and while they got away with it on Friday night, those ongoing struggles in front of goal must be a concern at this stage, with Rob Manley surely worth a chance to prove his worth in upcoming games.
That is for another day, though, and should not take away from the achievement in making it six wins from six, which already has the Tribesmen six points clear at the top of the table, and has been such a statement of intent that Waterford FC have already blinked.
The Blues sacked manager Danny Searle earlier this week after their own ordinary start has left them 10 points behind United, albeit having played a game less after their meeting with Treaty United in the Markets Field last Friday was called off due to an unplayable pitch.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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GALWAY United’s perfect start to the season sees them up at the top of the pile and there to be shot at, but assistant manager Ollie Horgan says that is exactly the kind of pressure all at the club were hoping for heading into the season.
The Tribesmen have won their first six games of the season for the first time in the club’s history, and they will bid to extend that – and match its best-ever run of seven on the spin – by taking all three points from their trip east on the M6 this Friday to take on Athlone Town at Lissywollen (7.45pm).
“Ah, we will take that pressure any day of the week, it is a little bit different, I had been in that position with Finn Harps way back, being top of the league, and Wexford eventually caught us because we couldn’t keep it going. We need to keep it going and if we are playing poorly, we need to try and pick something up,” says United assistant manager, Horgan, referencing the 2015 season when Harps finished second in the table to Wexford, having led for much of the campaign.
“We have a hugely difficult game on Friday against a damn good Athlone side. A lot of teams struggle down there, Finn Harps struggled down there in Athlone’s first home game; Treaty were 2-0 up and Athlone were down to 10 men and they got back into the game.
“They are a handful, they have energy, they have good players and a lot of pace and power about them. Athlone are a much better side than they were last season and we are just hoping we are a better side than last year also,” Horgan said.
The Midlands outfit have made a decent start to the season, winning the Midlands El Classico 3-1 away to Longford Town on the opening day of the season, and following that up with a 3-1 win at home to Harps the following week.
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.
Galwegians 12
Belfast Harlequins 31
A week of rain gave way to some early spring sunshine last Saturday at Crowley Park, but it shone mainly for the visitors as this defeat for Galwegians coupled with Enniscorthy’s win at home to Malahide, saw the Blues fall to the foot of the table.
Galwegians got the afternoon’s game underway kicking off towards the clubhouse end, and the first five minutes consisted of kick tennis and several lineouts, with Galwegians looking the better of the two sides, winning the first four lineouts.
The Blues set-piece put the visitors under immense pressure, forcing them back to defend on their goal line, but as has been all season, Galwegians would prove to be their own worst enemy, a knock-on at the line costing them the chance, and Harlequins then cleared their lines after winning a scrum penalty.
The Belfast side worked themselves into a scoring position after Galwegians’ ill-discipline allowed the visitor to creep within range of the posts, and centre Paul Kerr’s kick cleared the posts from inside the 10-metre line, to give the Ulster men a 3-0 lead.
Harlequins soon found the first try of the afternoon off the back of an overthrown line out, with Kerr putting on the footwork, turning back against traffic and finding a gap in the Galwegians’ defence, to sail over the whitewash. Kerr pushed them further ahead as he added the extras to make it 10-0.
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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