The Salthill Fives came back in style at the weekend when crowds thronged Salthill Park for two days of non-stop football and entertainment.

Salthill Park was transformed with three 5-a-side pitches, a food village, music in the bandstand, pilates, yoga, circuits, kids coaching sessions, football KitBox with their unusual shirts, and the barbershop where hair and beards were trimmed all weekend; while Croí was on site as designated charity partners offering free blood pressure checks.

The centre-piece, however, was the actual football, which saw three tournaments held over the weekend: competitions for U-13 boys and U-13 girls, and the main event, the men’s tournament, with Deputy Mayor, Cllr Mike Cubbard, on hand to present the medal’s after the various finals.

Marvoy’s Classic Seven emerged as victors with former Galway United star, Padraic Cunningham, scoring the winning goals as they came from a goal down to beat Corrib Rangers. To cap a perfect weekend for the Headford native, he was also awarded the Diarmuid Fadden Player of the Tournament Award.

The ‘Ray Healy’ award for fair play was awarded by the referees to Eoin Roche of Smack your Pitch Up, who was presented with his award by Ray’s mother Christine; while a new award this year, The Spirit of the Fives in memory of Pat ‘Chippy’ Colman, was presented to Jimmy Jennings of Corrib Rangers.

Speaking on the pitch after the final, Salthill Devon Chairman Pete Kelly, thanked everybody who made the event possible.

“Where would we be without sponsors? Ground & Co came on board as main sponsors; Seven Bar, Seapoint Leisure and Blackrock Cottage were pitch sponsors with the boys and girls being sponsored by Dough bros and Curry’s Funfair.

“In addition, the support of the Village Salthill and the Salthill Devon committee made the ‘Return of the Fives’ a resounding success. The support of the Galway City Council was, as ever, an invaluable element in the entire operation – these partnerships can deliver quality events for the city, and planning has already started for 2024,” he said.