Fiona Murtagh is well used to making a splash in the world of rowing, having claimed medals at national, European, World, and Olympic levels, but she did so in an unusual fashion at the Irish Rowing Championships last weekend.

The Galway woman – who won Olympic bronze with fellow Galwegian, the now-retired Aifric Keogh, as part of the Irish crew in the Women’s 4s at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 – was leading the way in the final of the women’s single sculls in the Sunday morning session when misfortune struck.

Rowing in what was a strong crosswind, she was about 500 metres from the finish line when she lost the grip on one of her oars after it clipped the water, and her boat tipped over. There was some concern as for a short spell she appeared to have been caught under the boat, before surfacing and then being taken out of the water.

“My blade [oar] clipped the water and just shot out of my hand. It was like a bullet. And by the time I realised it was out of my hand, my face was in the water,” she explained of the incident.

“My heel restraint was quite tight, so my ankle got stuck. I was stuck under the boat for a bit, which was a little bit scary. But the safety launches are great.

“That was my first flip in a single. And it’s been captured on TG4 and on YouTube and on national television – we can teach the kids flip drills [with the video],” she laughed.

However, in a display of her undoubted class as an athlete, she came back to race in the women’s eight final for University of Galway in the evening session, and stroked them to a victory over a Skibbereen/Trinity composite.

That women’s eight win was not the only Galway success over the weekend, which opened on Friday with Siobhan McCrohan of Tribesman BC claiming the second title of the day, crossing the finish line first in the Women’s Lightweight Single Sculls. She went on to finish seocnd in that race in which Murtagh capsized.

The evening session on day one saw eight finals taking place, with Galway success in two of them: Coláiste Iognáid won the Men’s Junior 18 double sculls final; while University of Galway took gold in the Men’s Club 4s.

There were three Galway wins on Saturday, with Zach Meegan of University of Galway taking the Men’s Intermediate Single Sculls in the morning session; the college club took the Men’s Intermediate Double Sculls; and Galway RC landed the Women’s Junior 16 8s, later in the day.

The final day of racing saw Coláiste Iognáid take the Men’s Junior 18 4+ title; and University of Galway won both the Men’s Intermediate Double Sculls and the Men’s Intermediate 4s; before Murtagh rounded off a bizarre weekend by leading home the college club in the Women’s Senior 8s in the Sunday evening session.

Pictured: Fiona Murtagh pictured after the Women’s Single Sculls semi-final at the 2025 World Rowing Cup in Lucerne last month. Photo: Benedict Tufnell/Sportsfile.

Warm Air is the debut single from Galway singer-songwriter Si Noble and comes from his forthcoming debut solo album.

The single, produced by the Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, marks the return of Si, who is originally from Oxford but has been based in Galway for 20 years and is well-known on the local music scene.

Warm Air is a reflective, anthemic song with acoustic guitars and strings, that “builds to an Elbow-like crescendo”, according to its creator.

“It’s about someone being in a situation, or a relationship, they know is at an end,” says Si. “They are stuck in a paralysis about doing anything about it, but the ‘ warm alr’ is the payoff when they summon the courage to take a step forward and release themselves from this paralysis.”

He’s delighted to have Ed Harcourt on board for the single and album.

“I’ve always been a massive fan of Ed, so to have him work on my debut solo recordings is amazing.

“I took a chance and contacted him on Instagram. He liked the music I was writing and wanted to work with me. It’s been an incredible experience,” he says.

The B-side of Warm Air is Parting Lines, which will also feature on the debut album.

Si has been involved in the Galway music scene for two decades and was leader of the Brit-rock influenced band Mugger Dave, which released the album, What’s She Doing Here? in 2010.

He was also lead singer of indie-rock band Cranky Face, which released a number of singles in the late 2010s.

Now living in Conamara, Si works as a producer with TV production company Fíbín, and has continued working on the solo material for his album. Titled The Witching Hour, it’s due for release in February 2026. A second single from the album, Kiss Goodnight, will be released later this summer.

Meanwhile, Warm Air is available now and can be downloaded via Bandcamp and iTunes.

Pictured: Si Noble whose debut solo album is due for release in February.

AN opening-round FAI Cup tie against non-league opposition which had, on paper at least, the look of a routine night at Eamonn Deacy Park, has taken on new levels of stress, with Galway United under pressure to deliver a big win against Tolka Rovers in Eamonn Deacy Park tonight (7.45pm).

There’ll never be a better opportunity to end the poor run United are on – three defeats in their last four games, and no goals scored in the last two – and with all due respect to tonight’s visitors from Dublin, United really need to fill their boots ahead of crunch league ties at home to Waterford and away to Cork City in the next fortnight.

Results last weekend conspired against United, and a side that had previously flirted with the top of the table has now slid down to 8th in the table, one place and six points above Sligo Rovers in the relegation play-off spot.

Having finished in fifth last season, and narrowly missing out on European qualification, this season has been a struggle and certainly hasn’t seen United build on the promise of last year.

Gone is the defensive solidity which saw them concede just 29 goals in 36 games – they have already passed that mark this season (30 conceded) with a third of the campaign still to go.

They were at least scoring a few more, but the departure of top-scorer Moses Dyer – 10 goals in 20 games – hasn’t helped matter, and neither has the talk about other players following him out the door.

The likes of Jeannot Esua, Pat Hickey, and the club’s best player of the season so far, Rob Slevin, have all been rumoured to have been the subject of approaches from other clubs, and whether true or not, that has to have an unsettling effect on a squad struggling for confidence.

“It’s just a bit of a difficult time for us at the moment, we can’t buy a goal,” United manager John Caulfield said after last Friday night’s defeat in Dalymount Park.

“Look, I don’t want to be critical, we’re going through a bit of transitional stage and you know, we’ve had a good few changes to our team, but we have fellas coming in and we have fellas there and they’re not playing as well as they can. That’s frustrating for them and for our supporters because, you know, they’ve given massive support.

“We have a week to get it right for a massive cup game on Friday night and we need a few goals and we need to win a match and that’s what we have to try and do,” he said.

Tonight’s match is followed by those two absolutely crucial league games, but for the United management, the only focus this week is on the cup.

“For me, it’s about our next match, and that is the cup game. We’re at home, we’ve gone two games without scoring, we’ve had a few chances, and to be fair to Malcolm [Shaw], he’s working hard, and Walshy [Stephen Walsh] is working hard.

“The only way is to go back to the training ground and work hard and try to lift everyone. The lads have to lift themselves. We have amassive cup game Friday and we have to try and get it right for that.”

There is always the temptation to make changes for a cup game, especially when the draw has been as generous as it has, and tonight will afford the opportunity to get game-time in to some players.

“You’re trying to get the game time into players at least. [Aaron] Bolger got 70 minutes, we can see he’s a very good player but he needs more game time and [Axel] Piesold as well.

“We need to get more game-time for Malcolm because you know, for a fellow who hasn’t played since November, to come in and start two games, we are asking him to do everything.

“We know a bit about Tolka Rovers, we have done a little work on them already and we know their strengths, but at the same time we have to start putting the ball in the back of the net and win a match.

“We need to crowd behind us and we need the lads to try and get their form back in.

“Then it is up to me and the management to maybe make a few tweaks to see, can we get a bit more energy to our team.

“We have to dig in, the confidence in some of our better players is just down a bit at the moment,” Caulfield says.

Season tickets do not apply for cup games, with match-day tickets on sale now on the club website, or from O’Briens on Williamsgate Street.

Pictured: Malcolm Shaw in action against Lewis Temple of Shelbourne in United’s most recent home game. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.

It’s 25 years since Áras Éanna Arts Centre opened on Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran Islands.

From modest beginnings, it has grown into a space that’s recognised for hosting exhibitions, concerts, performance events and artists’ residencies – attracting visual artists, singers and writers from Ireland and further afield.

Áras Éanna Celebrating 25 Years of Visual Art, its latest show, is a diverse exhibition featuring work from artists who have shaped – and been influenced by – the centre over the last quarter-century.

Running until the end of September, it includes painting, printmaking, textiles, sculpture and photography from artists based on Inis Oírr, elsewhere in Ireland and as far afield as New York, Germany and Switzerland.

Pieces from the centre’s own collection are being exhibited alongside pieces from invited artists, and participants have provided short texts, reflecting on how their residencies on the island have influenced their work.

Fiona Hession co-curated the exhibition, along with Áras Éanna’s Artistic Director, Dara McGee and describes it as a special experience.

“Spending time on the island, revisiting the collection and tracing the journeys of artists, past and present, has been inspiring and thought-provoking. Inis Oírr offers something rare – a space for artists to disconnect from outside noise and fully immerse themselves in their work,” she says.

The show was officially launched last weekend Áras Éanna’s first Artistic Director, Val Balance, who spoke of his own time on the island and the centre’s legacy.

For current Artistic Director, Dara McGee, one of the centre’s most important roles is giving artists time to develop their process in a place that is transformative.

The artists in this anniversary exhibition are Seán Ó Flaithearta, Hughie O’Donoghue, Mick O’Dea, Geraldine O’Reilly, Carel Lanters, Mick Mulcahy, Daniel Coleman, The Clarin Arts Group, Inis Oírr National School, Maureen Fleming, John Behan,  Mary Fahy,  Joey Mason, Url Manfred, Tess Urbanska,  Dara McGee, Dan Ó Flaithearta, Margaret Tuffy, Mary Lee Murphy, Togra Muintir na nOileáin/áisitheoir Ceara Conway, Cecilia Danell,  Pat Quinn, Cyril Ó Flaitheartam Máirtín Taimín Ó Conghaile, Aisling Nic Craith, Mara Zsuzsanna, Dolores Lyne and Trish Conneely.

The show also features a selection of currachs from the Centre’s acclaimed 2021 currach exhibition and a selection of buoys from 2023 buoys exhibition. For more information on Áras Éanna Arts Centre on Inis Oírr, go to www.aras-eanna.ie.

Pictured: A currach created by sculptor John Behan, is one of the works on display in the exhibition.

Galway City Councillors have given their backing to the drawdown of a €60 million ‘capital investment’ loan — a significant portion of which will go to fund the fitout of their new HQ at Crown Square in Mervue.

The Council borrowed €45.5 million in 2022 to purchase the new office block, which it conceded earlier this year had haemorrhaged by €8 million in value since.

Following a special meeting to discuss Crown Square on Monday morning, and a behind-closed-doors meeting on Monday afternoon, they approved the drawdown of the loan at their normal public meeting on Monday evening.

All but two of the councillors present at Monday backed seeking the loan from the Housing Finance Agency — a State-backed lender — which Director of Finance Helen Kilroy told the meeting would require a €3.1 million annual repayment and would be borrowed at an interest rate of 3.3%.

An annual repayment of €1.6 million is already being made to cover the borrowing for purchasing Crown Square, at an interest rate that the meeting was told was less than 2%.

The meeting on Monday evening heard that the €60 million loan would also be used to partially fund a number of recreation and amenity projects, an upgrade of the City Museum and an upgrade of public lighting which was damaged in Storm Éowyn.

However, neither councillors nor the public have been told the breakdown of how the €60 million will be spent.

Ms Kilroy said this was to protect the Council as they set about procuring contractors to carry out these projects, while she stressed the urgency of proceeding with the loan.

“Regarding not putting forward a breakdown of the loan — that is not to obscure. That decision is to protect the integrity of the procurement process. It could undermine our negotiating position and, ultimately, drive up costs.

“The timing here is critical. Any delays will only cause costs to grow because of inflation,” she said.

The entirety of the loan may not need to be drawn down if costs do not require it, continued Ms Kilroy, who described it as a “flexible fund”.

In order to “ensure transparency”, she said, the Executive would inform the Corporate Policy Group (CPG) of the Council of drawdown amounts when they occurred.

The loan would need to be approved by the Minister for Local Government following the councillors’ approval, continued Ms Kilroy.

All but two of the 17 councillors present on Monday backed the loan — the two Social Democrats, Cllr Alan Curran and Cllr Eibhlín Seoighthe, voted against it.

Cllr Curran said the first he had heard of the loan was one week before they were being asked to vote on it — and in the period since, it had risen from €50 million to €60 million.

He said he was “not against the idea of a loan” and proposed that the decision be deferred to allow councillors more time to consider the proposal, but that his proposal was defeated.

Supporting the loan, Cllr Mike Crowe (FF) said it was an investment in the city and described it as “a brave decision to make”.

“I have trust in senior management and I think we should give them the go-ahead and trust that they will manage and mind this money — because there has been money wasted before,” he said.

The Mayor, Cllr Mike Cubbard (Ind) echoed this trust of the Executive and said councillors had “a mature conversation” about the loan at their in-camera meeting.

Pictured: Galway City Hall: Council aims to get the ‘maximum return’  from the sale of the city centre four-acre site.

Results haven’t been what they could be, and performances probably fall into that bracket as well, but Galway United captain Greg Cunningham is not reaching for the panic button just yet.

The hopes of building on last season’s fifth-placed finish look a distant prospect as United find themselves in a bit of a slump, with just one win in seven games and a tumble down the table to eighth, just one spot above the relegation play-off spot.

They haven’t scored in their last two games either, but they will hope to park their league woes tonight when they host Tolka Rovers in the Second Round of the FAI Cup, with Cunningham saying the players are determined to use the game to bounce back to form.

“We are creating chances, I think the worrying sign is if you if you’re not creating anything, but we are. We just need it to fall for us and it’s just not at the minute.

“We just have to stick together and get through this sticky period, and hopefully the floodgates will open and we can get back to winning ways,” the former Republic of Ireland international said in the aftermath of last Friday’s 3-0 defeat away to Bohemians.

That was United’s heaviest defeat since losing the 2022 First Division play-off final to Waterford FC by the same scoreline, and the two sides will lock horns this night week in what will be a crucial game in the bid to climb away from the foot of the table.

Cunningham is very aware of the importance of the next few league games – following that game with The Blues, United will take to the road the following Friday night for a meeting in Turners Cross with basement side, Cork City – and he’s not shy in highlighting the importance of those games.

“There is frustration and disappointment in that changing room, because you know, we have got to be winning games that we aren’t at a minute, and that’s football sometimes.

“The boys are frustrated and fans are frustrated, and rightly so, it is just a case where we all have to just stick together. We have the cup game and then we’ve got [Waterford at home and] Cork away, which is in my opinion, is a must-win, the goal just needs to fall for us,” he says.

Tonight will see United face non-league opposition in the cup for the 20th time, and they will be hoping to avoid just a second defeat in that run: they lost 3-1 away to Cobh Ramblers – then a non-league side – in the first-round proper of the cup in February 1981, with the late John Herrick scoring for the visitors, who were at the time playing under the name ‘Galway Rovers’.

Pictured: Greg Cunningham in action against Aaron McEneff of Shamrock Rovers back in April. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.

Galway West TD Catherine Connolly’s bid to emerge as a united left-wing presidential candidate gain momentum in earnest this week with meetings with Labour and Independent Ireland.

Yesterday she formally launched her campaign on Raidió na Gaeltachta before fronting the national media outside the Dáil in Dublin.

She had confirmed her decision to run to the Galway City Tribune last Friday after winning support from a number of the smaller parties and senators.

She estimates that she is well past the magic number of 20 to get her name on the ballot paper — the Social Democrats with twelve TDs, People before Profit’s two votes, as well as a number of senators have backed her bid. Sinn Féin, Labour and Independent Ireland have yet to declare their intentions.

This week she told the Galway City Tribune that it had taken months to finally take the leap.

“It was tortuous for me — it was the biggest hurdle. It took months, it didn’t happen overnight, it happened organically. I’m happy the process is over, and I thank your paper for helping me get over that hurdle, it’s a relief, and I’m ready for the campaign now,” she remarked.

Asked what she believed would be the biggest hurdles between now and election day — expected to be in October — she repeated her disapproval of how campaigns are described.

“I don’t like those terms vicious, I think it’s a bullying tactic. I expect to be questioned extensively, I’m sitting on the Public Accounts Committee where I question public bodies every week and rightly so,” she said.

“Equally politicians — anyone who dares to put themselves forward — should be able to answer questions, I’ve no difficulty as long as they’re in a manner that’s respectful. I don’t think the campaign should be used to stop people running.”

She said the overwhelming support of the public from all counties in Ireland — through letters, emails and calls — had helped make up her mind to run as a successor to Michael D Higgins.

“I’d like to be a unifying left candidate. Labour came back last week and invited me to a meeting, and I did that yesterday and they said they’re going to make that decision within two weeks. Sinn Féin are going through their own process, and I respect that, I’ve had great support from individual TDs on the ground,” she said.

After running the last two Dáil campaigns from her own resources, she said she would be seeking financial contributions from the parties and the public to run.

“I was proud that I was able to run completely independently and show people they do not need an excessive amount of money to stand for local or national politics. But half a million euro has been estimated as the cost by the government parties — I’m not saying it’s going to be that much, but it’s too much for me alone.”

Her campaign team are already in place and she plans to visit every corner of Ireland.

“The presidency is here for the welfare of the people. We’re facing a united Ireland at some time in the future, we’re facing a world normalising war, a world normalising starvation, normalising genocide … there is a different way of doing this … there will be a united Ireland by consent and the president has an important role in that.

“Michael D has been very courageous at a point in the world when we need more courage against the devastating consensus that war is a way to get to peace.

“I see myself as enabling people, empowering people to find their voice.”

Pictured: Catherine Connolly TD, who has announced she will run as a candidate in the presidential election, pictured at the Westside Garden Open Day during the Westside Arts Festival at the weekend. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.

Beckett sa Chreig: Guth na mBan, four short works by Samuel Beckett is running at An Taibhdhearc Theatre until this Saturday, July 19, as part of Galway International Arts Festival.

Directed by Sarah Jane Scaife, it follows her award-winning Beckett sa Chreig: Laethanta Sona, a site-specific piece in conjunction with the Abbey Theatre, which premiered on Inis Oírr during the 2021 Arts Festival, for which Bríd Ní Neachtain won an Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Actress.

This piece Beckett sa Chreig: Guth na mBan, is a co-production between Sarah Jane’s Company SJ and An Taibhdhearc, and it brings together four short works by the playwright and novelist that explore the female voice, presence and body.

In Footfalls, May, a middle-aged woman, paces outside her unseen mother’s room as fragments of memory, rhythm and voice unfold into a portrait of care, loss and identity.

In Not I, a single mouth floats, unleashing a torrent of fragmented memories as a woman disowns her trauma with the repeated cry: ‘Not I.’

In Rockaby, an elderly woman, dressed for death, rocks on a chair as a voice repeats “time she stopped,” in a meditation on loneliness, memory and the search for companionship.

Fizzles 4 (from Beckett’s prose collection)  is a short, poetic text offering an image-rich meditation on existence, space and time.

These works are set against a West of Ireland backdrop and the broken colonial architecture of Dublin.

This immersive Irish language production, which is Inspired by the language and landscape of Inis Oírr, has English audio access for people without Irish.

It’s the first time these works are being performed together in Irish – in a new translation by Micheál Ó Conghaile, who also translated Happy Days –  alongside Mise Éire by poet Eavan Boland.

Performed by Caitríona Ní Mhurchú, Fiona Lucia McGarry and Nuala Hayes, set design is by Alyson Cummins, lighting is by Stephen Dodd and Sinéad Cuthbert designed the costumes, while music is by Matthew Martin and Fiona Lucia McGarry, and the film is by Arcade Film.

The production, billed as a “multi-sensory encounter that invites audiences into a layered world of memory, language and the body”, is at An Taibhdhearc, Middle Street, until this Saturday, July 19, at 8pm. Tickets €18–€20. Booking at antaibhdhearc.ticketsolve.com.

Pictured: The show is inspired by Inis Oírr.

A cash-strapped Galway City Council Executive has said it will lobby Government for the introduction of a ‘tourist tax’ to tackle budget shortfalls.

Director of Finance, Helen Kilroy, made the comments on Monday as she sought the approval of councillors to borrow €60 million to fund capital investment.

The fitout of the Council’s new HQ at Crown Square and the upgrade of a crumbling public lighting network are among the projects to be funded by the loan, which will cost €3.1 million annually to service over 30 years.

Ms Kilroy said that with last year’s increase in local property tax (LPT) and commercial rates, the Council had increased its budget — but more was needed.

“We are using that as a business case to push [Government] to maintain our full yield of LPT and to move up a tier in funding,” she said, referring to the City Council’s position among those with the lowest funding from central Government.

“We are looking at other areas, too. A tourist tax — we are asking government to make new legislation to allow us to generate an income from our own tourist tax,” she said.

The Council’s Corporate Policy Group previously considered the possibility of introducing taxes on tourists similar to those used in many European cities.

It was estimated that this ‘hotel bed tax’ or ‘visitor levy’ could net almost €2 million annually for the local authority, if applied at 2% per room.

Pictured: Director of Finance, Helen Kilroy.