Sports
Mystics advance to semi-finals of National Cup
NUIG Mystics are through to the semi-finals of the Women’s National Cup thanks to a 57-53 victory over Killester in Oranmore on Sunday.
Training had been going well for the team and, buoyed by their league win over Castleisland, confidence was high going into the game.
Mystics started with Leah Cunningham, Ailish O’Reilly, Nicole Krusen, Deirdre O’Shea and Marine Airnault and got off to a great start playing some great defence and holding Killester scoreless for the first six minutes.
The quarter ended on a scoreline of 13-2 in favour of NUIG and also saw the return of Hannah Coen to the floor after her cruciate ligament operation last season. This was a welcome return as Lauren Murray was unable to play after being admitted to hospital on the previous day.
The second and third quarters were evenly matched on scorelines of 13 -13 and 17-17 respectively but Mystics’ strong start stood to them and they led 43-32 at the end of the third quarter.
Killester started strongly in the fourth and through a mixture of turnovers by the home side and good scores from Killester the lead was brought back to four points with 3.20 left on the clock. Mystics rallied and, with both teams trading scores and hitting some big free throws, Killester never quite managed to cut the deficit and NUIG ran out winners on a scoreline of 57-53.
This was a great team effort from NUIG Mystics and leaves then with a semi final against Portlaoise Panthers in January. The league takes its Christmas break now and returns on January 3 when the Mystics and Portlaoise will have a dress-rehearsal for that semi-final when they meet in the league in the NUI Galway Kingfisher facility.
NUIG Mystics: Marine Airnault (9),Sarah Grealish, Nicole Krusen (15), Tena Thornton, Kate Lyons (5), Emer Smyth, Leah Cunningham (4), Ailish O Reilly (13), Hannah Coen (10), Deirdre O’Shea.
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
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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.
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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