From this week’s Galway City Tribune –  The return – after an absence of six years – of the ‘Salthill Fives’ this June Bank Holiday weekend should prove a welcome boost to the seaside resort as the tourist season revs into gear.

The five-a-side soccer competition in Salthill Park which ran for four decades will have 64 adult men’s teams who will be guaranteed to have three games on the Saturday.

Half of those will then enter a knock-out contest on the Sunday before the eventual winner receives the Luke Nolan crystal trophy.

There will also be 48 U13 teams – 32 boys’ teams and 16 girls’ sides – who must be entered from their soccer clubs.

Pete Kelly was among the original committee members in Salthill Devon FC which organised the tournament to raise funds to create a home ground for the team.

They were able to first move to Millar’s Lane before using the money to secure a loan for their permanent home ground and impressive facilities in Drum.

“In its heyday of the 1980s and early 1990s we had up to 130 teams competing. In the past the League of Ireland used to be in winter so we had professionals play, but now they play through the summer and club won’t allow them to play – and that changed the nature of the Fives,” he recalled.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the March 17 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.