Into the West Magazine - June 2014-Digital Edition

Vol 5. Issue 1June 2014

OFFICIAL GAA PUBLICATION 2.50

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Sligo win juniortitle again!

Sligo win juniortitle again!

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IIss mmiissee,, llee mmeeaass JJOOHHNN PPRREENNTTYY,, RRuunnaaii,, CCLLGG CCuuiiggee CCoonnnnaacchhttaa

A Chairde Gael,

WE are halfwaythrough the year, butwe have beenblessed with some tremen-dous football and hurlinggames already from a Con-nacht point of view.Roscommon reached the All-Ireland U-21 final and this isthe fourth year in a row with aConnacht team contestingthe final. Surely this is a posi-tive statement about the fu-ture of Connacht football.Roscommon were hugely im-pressive in the Connachtchampionship, particularlytheir resourceful forwards.For most of the game theycompletely outclassed Corkin the semi-final while in theAll-Ireland final againstDublin it just didn't happenfor them. Well done to theirmanager Nigel Dineen and toRoscommon County Boardon the ongoing progress andsuccess of underage footballin Roscommon. Congratulations is also dueto Sligo on their success inConnacht Junior Footballchampionship, and we wishthem well in All-Ireland se-ries.Well done to the Mayo hurlerson winning the Connacht In-termediate championship.They had terrific perform-ances in the Christy Ring Cupand this young side will gofrom strength to strength.Both Mayo and Galway sen-iors had very impressive winsin New York and London re-spectively and it was a goodbeginning for both teams.It was amazing the extent ofthe support both countieshad and I know that the out-ings were enjoyed by all. Thegames were significant socialoccasions for the Irishabroad and it was great tosee them supported so vehe-mently. Roscommon faced Leitrim inthe quarter-finals of the sen-ior championship and theylooked very impressive com-ing off their Alianz League Di-vision 3 win. Leitrim, undernew manager Sean Hagan,prepared their young sidewell and hopefully their ef-forts will come to fruition inthe future. They now face

Down in the Qualifiers and wewish them well.The Roscommon-Mayo semi-final played at Hyde Park wasa real hard-fought battle. Wehad a low scoring first-halfbut the sides really faced upto each other in the secondwith Mayo showing their ex-perience in the end reclaim-ing a three-point deficit withonly eight minutes to go. Itwas a great performance byRoscommon and for Mayo, itwas the kind of battle wherecharacter was needed andfound.Galway and Sligo are in theother semi-final and that toopromises to be a close en-counter. Sligo, under newmanager Pat Flanagan, havethe benefit of the record onrecent encounters, but thisyoung Galway side were re-sourceful and impressive inLondon.There has been much debateabout the penalty and 21-metre free in hurling and as amember of the ManagementCommittee I'm pleased thatthe matter is being clarifiedand that the resolution is rea-sonable. What was develop-ing was unbecoming anddangerous.Many football clubs in theprovince are looking forwardto hosting Feile Peile na nOgand it promises to be a mo-mentous occasion. It is agreat opportunity for clubs torenew, refresh and attractnew members. I thank all involved in thepreparations particularlyPadraig Carolan and MichaelO Connor. I'm confident it willbe a huge boost to football inthe province.Is mise,

FRANK BURKE,President, Connacht Council GAA

Secretarys NotePresidents Note

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Into the West

Into the West is produced by the Connacht GAA Council.Editor: John Fallon. Published by: Pdraig Corcoran.

News and photographs for inclusion can be emailed to [email protected]. To obtain an electronic copy of the maga-zine each quarter, free of charge, email: [email protected]. Next edition: August, 2014. Deadline for advertising and copy will beannounced on the Connacht Council website www.connachtgaa.ie.

MAIN COVER PIC Roscommon supporter Willie Tiernan from Boyle dur-ing Connacht GAA Football senior championship semi-final betweenRoscommon and Mayo at Dr. Hyde Park.

Photo: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE OFF LEAD PIC Sligo captain Johnny Martyn receives the cup fromUachtarn Comhairle Connacht Proinsias de Brca.

Photo: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE

Crafty Mayo reach provincial final .............................4Mayo get defence up and running..............................7Walsh helps Tribesmen run riot .................................8Slick Rossies condemn Leitrim to Qualifiers ..............10All-Ireland hopes bite the dust (U-21s).......................12Mayo take provinical hurling crown...........................13Spluttering Galway take the win ................................14Tribesmen's tamed by Cats........................................16Galway clinch Division 2 title ....................................17Tribesgirls power into the final..................................18Sligo crowned Connacht junior champs again............19Leitrim beat Galway to reach decider .......................20Don't lose the faith urges Coleman ............................21Time to close the gap says Mulholland.......................22McDermott enjoying the hard life ..............................23Moran happy to park injury trouble...........................24Kavanagh a doubt for Galway ....................................25Connacht Writers Player of the Month .......................26Mayo exit Christy Ring Cup .......................................28Connacht Schools Championships..............................30St Gerald's take Connacht title...................................31Roscommon's Mercy shine in Camogie ......................32Connacht impress in Wheelchair inter-pro.................34An Taoiseach welcomes Claddagh Gaels ....................35Tribesgirls slip in battle for league success................37Focus on Ladies GAA..................................................38Focus on Mayo ...........................................................40Mixed views on FRC proposals ..................................50Roscommon draw winners.........................................52Hodson Bay weighs in as sponsors.............................53Athleague-Tremane take the honours........................54Calry/St Joseph's shine at quiz time ..........................57St John's rule at minor level ......................................58Focus on Galway senior championships .....................59All the winners from Galway......................................64Focus on Leitrim ........................................................68Allianz Cumman na mBunscoil...................................69

Sligo are junior All-Irelandchampions again!

Considine and Turlough partways

Kavanagh a major doubt forSligo semi

Annette Clarke is the May Playerof the Month.

Galway advance to next round ofsenior championship

Crafty Mayo reach provincialfinal.

Roscommon U21 All-Irelandhopes dashed by Dubs.

Galway girls clinch Division 2 decider.

Mayo .................0-13Roscommon .........1-9

By DECLAN ROONEYMedia West Ireland

MAYO gave youth its chance, but in theend they had veteran Andy Moran tothanks for reaching a fourth consec-utive Connacht final.

James Horan punted on fresh faces, butMoran's introduction two minutes after Cia-ran Cafferkey's goal gave Roscommon thelead for the first time turned the game onits head.

John Evans followed Mayo's ace with atrump of his own and Diarmuid Murtagh re-sponded with two points in a minute, but arun of five points in the final ten minutessaw Mayo into the provincial decideragainst either Galway or Sligo.

In a shocking first-half Mayo did-n't help themselves with a tallyof ten first-half wides and aim-less deliveries, which meantthey didn't deserve to leadby more than 0-4 to 0-3 atthe break.

Two minute in JasonDoherty kicked a finepoint to get Horan's menoff to a good start, butKevin Higgins respondedwith a sweet curled effortfrom the right.

By the ninth minuteMayo pulled ahead whenCillian O'Connor landedthe first of his six frees,but for the next 25 min-utes just one point wasscored as neitherside raised theirstandards abovethe average.

O'Connorkicked that point to putMayo 0-3 to 0-1 ahead, but a good point fromplay from Senan Kilbride was matched byKevin McLoughlin a minute from the break,and Donie Shine's injury-time free left apoint in it at the interval.

Senan Kilbride had a great goal chance forRoscommon three minutes after the restartwhen he benefited from a slip by Ger Caffer-key, but the scramble Mayo defence meant hehad to be satisfied with a point.

But five minutes later Cafferkey rattledthe net when Naill Daly sent him in on goaland the wing-back finished superbly to beatRobbie Hennelly.

That score triggered Mayo's emergencyplan and after O'Connor kicked a quick free

in response to the goal, Moran discarded histracksuit.

O'Connor and McLoughlin kicked pressurefrees to wipe out the Roscommon advantage

as it appearedthat Mayo had shakenoff their lethargy.

But Diarmuid Murtagh

CONNACHT SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

Crafty Mayo reach provincial finalAlan Dillon, Mayo,kicks for goal as Mayoseal a Connacht finalberth.

Photo: Barry Cregg /SPORTSFILE


Page 5

pushed Roscommon a pointahead with two excellentpoints and after DonieShine departed with anasty looking knee injury,Senan Kilbride and substi-tute Mark Nally addedpoints to stretch thegap to three withjust eight min-utes remaining.

But that's where Moran came tothe fore. The skipper had the calm-

ness required to kick two long rangepoints that propelled Mayo to a 0-13 to 1-8

lead deep into added-time.Murtagh cut the gap to a point with a 75th

minute free, but Finbar Crgg was unable toforce the replay in the final play when DonalVaughan and McLoughlin smothered his driv-ing run.

ROSCOMMON: D O'Malley; N Carty, NCollins; R Stack, N Daly, C Cafferkey 1-0; CShine, K Higgins 0-1; D O'Gara, I Kilbride, CCregg; S Kilbride 0-3, 1f, D Shine 0-1, 1f, CMurtagh.Subs: E Smith for I Kilbride 43 mins; DMurtagh 0-3, 1f for C Murtagh 47; M Nally0-1 for D Shine 54; F Cregg for O'Gara 54; MFinneran for S Kilbride 68; D Smith for CCregg 68.

MAYO: R Hennelly; K Higgins, G Cafferkey,T Cunniffe; L Keegan, C Boyle, D Vaughan; AO'Shea, S O'Shea 0-1; D O'Connor, C O'Shea,J Doherty 0-1; C O'Connor, 0-5, 5f, A Free-man, K McLoughlin 0-4, 2f. Subs: A Moran0-2 for C O'Shea 45 mins; A Dillon for D O'-Connor 54; M Sweeney for Freeman 61; RFeeney for Doherty 73.

REF: Eddie Kinsella (Laois).

Roscommon midfielderKevin Higgins in actionagainst Aidan O'Shea.

Photo: Matt Browne /SPORTSFILE

Crafty Mayo reach provincial final

McLoughlin:We alwaysbelieved thewin wouldcome

By DECLAN ROONEY Media West Ireland

ANDY Moran was a huge influence, butthe Mayo win wasn't down their cap-tain alone and corner-forward KevinMcLoughlin played a huge role forHoran's side, including kicking a superfree from the sideline in the 50thminute which pushed Mayo aheadafter Cafferkey's goal.

McLoughlin said that despite trailingby three points with eight minute re-maining Mayo always believed theyhad the ability to reel in Roscommon.

We knew that there was plenty oftime. It is a long game. As long therewasnt a big gap the biggest gap wasthree points and that is very reach-able for us, said the Knockmore at-tacker.

We were certainly tested today,right to the wire and it will stand to usfor the rest of the championship.

He also said they expected a physi-cal test from the hosts: It is theleast I expected. Roscommon al-ways bring good intensity to agame. We never except anythingeasy here.

They defended very well and itwas very hard to get a good shot of.They probably frustrated us a smallbit in the first half, we just had tokeep calm, hold onto the ball andthe opportunities would come andthey did.


Page 6


JAMES Horan said he was mighty relievedto get the chance to lead his side in theirquest for four Connacht titles in a row,but he said it was a tough call to leave hismatch winning captain on the sidelines.

Horan gave starts to Diarmuid O'Connorand Conor O'Shea instead of Ballaghaderreenattacker Andy Moran, but he says he gavethem the nod after impressing in training.

Ah look, it's always tough a decision likethat but we've always said we'll try and playform players. And some of the guys havebeen playing very well.

Andy's been playing well too, it was atight call, but with Andy the guy he is yousaw his response today, that's the way itshould be.

Yeah Andy did very well, got a couple ofpoints and set up a few. Alan Dillon did verywell, won a few crucial breaks and ran theline very well, that's what you expect fromguys who are top inter-county players.

We got jolted a little bit during it but tocome through a game like that we're de-lighted, said Horan, who confirmed GavinDuffy still remains part of his squad, despitebeing excluded from the match-day 26.

With the clock running out last year's All-Ireland runners-up looked destined for a trip

through the Qualifiers, but the Mayo bosssaid he was impressed with the resiliencehis side shown with defeat stared them inthe face.

They went three or four ahead of us atone stage, they had momentum, they hadthe crowd and the wind, they had everythingwith them.

It could have been easy to lie down a lit-tle bit but the character and resolve the guysshowed out there was excellent.

We weren't playing well, we knew that,we were making poor decisions but we keptgrinding away, got three points on the trotand I think five on the trot to win the game.From that point of view I'd be very happy,said Horan,

Roscommon manager John Evans beamedwith pride at his young side's performanceafterwards, but he said it was wrong for thePrimrose and Yellow to pile too much pres-sure on their promising youngsters.

One of this year's U-21 stars, DiarmuidMurtagh looked to have put the Rossies onthe patch to victory with a couple of quickpoints after his introduction, but despite de-feat, Evans says they will learn from somebasic errors.

I'm hugely proud of what the lads did.We absolutely believed in the game plan we

had coming in here, said the former Tippboss.

We believed that we could shake Mayoand more than shake them believe it or not.We believed that this five- or six-to-one onwas ridiculous odds.

Our team is a young team and they areinside there and they are devastated. But Illtell you one thing fine and straight, I gotthem to stand up inside there. Im proud ofwhat they did.

They made mistakes and it was absoluteinexperience that beat them out there. Theyhad the game and had the chances. Inexperi-ence, and you can't put an old head on youngshoulders. But how wonderful they were,said the Roscommon manager.

Evans pointed to the introduction of expe-rienced players like Moran and Alan Dillon asthe major difference between the sides, butthe Killorglin man says he sees plenty to bepositive about from his side's display.

It was close enough, but I knew we'dneed another couple of points. Look you aredealing with a team that's four or five yearsin the making.

I remember this Mayo team up againstKerry four years ago in Croke Park playing ina semi-final and they were making the samemistakes we were making.

But we've learned now and will learn aswell, and we'll learn from those hard knocks.I can't fault their attitude. The game planworked, he said.

In total Evans sprung four of this year's U-21 All-Ireland finalists from the bench in thesecond-half as he sought youthful legs to out-run a fading Mayo. Keeping his young stars inreserve was key, he said.

We were holding out U-21s, he said.But you can't be hanging your coats onyoung fellas. You must build the foundationfirst and bring them into it because they aretalented young players.

But there will come a time whenRoscommon will have all those players andthe experience underneath their belt. Andthat'll be their time.

He (Moran) made a big impact. And Ithink that it's a good ploy by Mayo that theydid that.

He has huge experience and he showedhis wares in the second half when he didcome in.

Now having said that lads, who wouldyou be going for if you were on the market.Would you be going for young Murtagh orwould you be going for Andy Moran?, saidEvans.

Relief all round forHorans boys

Ciaran Cafferkey celebrates after scor-ing Roscommon's goal against Mayo.

Photo: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE

CONNACHT SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER-FINAL

Mayo ..................4-18New York .............0-8

By COLM GANNONMayo Advertiser

MAYO breezed into the semi-final ofthe Connacht football champi-onship with a mauling of New Yorkin the Bronx to launch the 2014 champi-onship.

The home side were no match for theConnacht champions who, thanks to foursecond half goals two of them fromCillian OConnor penalties crushedthe Exiles challenge.

James Horan was able to give gametime to Alan Dillon for the first time sincethe All-Ireland final, while Diarmuid OCon-nor will remember his debut for the seniorteam after he bagged a goal and ConorOShea came on to join his brothers Aidanand Seamus on the pitch for a good halfan hour of the contest.

The second-half was a cake walk forMayo thanks to Diarmuid OConnors earlygoal.

His big brother Cillian kicked off hischampionship with 2-5, both of the goalscoming from the penalty spot in the 20thand 27th minute of the second half, whileEnda Varley put the icing on the cake withMayos fourth goal in injury time.

While there will be still lots of questionsfor Mayo to answer as the year goes on

they will be happy to have got this winunder their belt after the way they fellapart against Derry in the league semi-final three weeks earlier.

The game sprung into life right from thethrow in with Vaughan pointing after 28seconds.

That was quickly followed up by aKevin McLoughlin score after he wasplayed in by Andy Moran.

Mayo extended their lead again aminute later when Andy Moran pointedfrom close range after Jason Dohertyforced Keith Scally to turn over the ball.

The home-side registered their firstscore five minutes in when BrendanQuigley kicked a huge effort from out be-yond the 45m line. However, Mayo re-sponded within seconds with Vaughan

scoring his second of the af-ternoon.

Jason Kelly pointed a freefor New York on the seven

minute mark, butany thoughts thatNew York had ofmaking a come-

back was quicklyquashed as Mayo

went on tooutscore themby 0-7 to noscore over thenext 28 min-utes.

AndyMoranfisted overafter theball broketo himfrom re-

bound from an Aidan OShea goal attempt,the Breaffy man had a second goalchance on the ten minute mark but sawhis shot crash back off the post.

Jason Gibbons drove the ball over thebar after linking up well with SeamusOShea down the Subway station side ofthe field. New York were struggling to getto grips with the Mayo midfield and half-forward line who were dominating the pos-session.

Cillian OConnor kicked two points withLee Keegan and Andy Moran also findingthe target before the half time whistle.

There was one downside for Mayo withMcLoughlin having to leave the game latein the half to be replace by Enda Varleyfollowing a tough challenge from RonanMcGinley which saw the New York manpick up a booking.

SCORERS Mayo: Cillian OConnor 2-5 (2-0pens,5f), Enda Varley 1-1, Diarmuid OConnor 1-0, AndyMoran 0-3, Aidan OShea, Kevin McLoughlin andDonal Vaughan 0-2 each, Jason Gibbons, Lee Kee-gan and Darren Coen 0-1 each.New York: Jason Kelly 0-3 (3f)f, BrendanQuigley, Alan Raftery, Ross Wherity, JohnnyMcGeeney and Gary ODriscoll 0-1 each.MAYO: R Hennelly; T Cunniffe, K Keane, K Hig-gins; L Keegan, C Boyle, D Vaughan; J Gibbons, AO'Shea; D O'Connor, S O'Shea, J Doherty; KMcLoughlin, A Moran, C O'Connor. Subs: E Varley for McLoughlin (35), R Feeney forDoherty (h-t), T Parsons for Gibbons (42), A Dil-lon for D O'Connor (44), C O'Shea for Moran (54),B Harrison for Higgins (58), D Coen for C O'Con-nor (68).NEW YORK: G Joyce; R McGinley, G McCartan, KO'Connor; K Scally, P O'Connor, D O'Sullivan; BQuigley, A Raftery; P Boyle, J Kelly, R Wherity; JMcGeeney, K Quinn, G O'Driscoll. Subs: C McCormack for K O'Connor (h-t), N Far-rell for Boyle (39), L Maguire for Farrell (62), JHuvane for O'Sullivan (66).REF: P O Sullivan (Kerry).

Mayo get defence of title off to aflying start

Keith Scally, New York, in action against Seamus O'Shea, left, Cillian O'Connor, and TomParsons, right, Mayo. Photo: Pat Murphy / SPORTSFILE

Keith Higgins stays tight to Niall Farrell of New York. Photo:Pat Murphy / SPORTSFILE

Page 7


Mulholland happywith opening salvo

By BILL KIELY Media West Ireland

GALWAY manager, Alan Mulholland, believes that his sidemay have caught London on the hop in Ruislip in theirConnacht GAA championship opener.In a game that was forecast to be a bit of stumbling block

for Galway, they made light work of the opposition winningon a scoreline of 3-17 to 0-7.

It wasnt (a championship contest in terms of intensity),I think the stuffing was knocked out of London after thefirst 10 or 15 minutes, said Mulholland.

After the Exiles surprise assault on the Connacht cham-pionship in 2013, Mulholland knew that his side couldnt af-ford to underestimate the opposition.

We knew coming over here wed a job to do and we weregoing to have to perform very well to win, so we left no stoneunturned in terms of preparation.

Galway now face a daunting away trip to Sligo in front of theawaiting Sky Sports cameras.

The Tribesmen will be full of confidence after their openingwin, however Mulholland knows that this will be an altogether dif-ferent proposition.

The intensity wasnt quite there so were going to have tohave our heads screwed on for the visit to Markievicz Park, heconcluded.

Galway ...............3-17London ................0-7

By BILL KIELYMedia West Ireland

AFTER Galways victory over Cork inthe 2013 All-Ireland U-21 footballchampionship Shane Walsh wasfast-tracked for greatness and he deliv-ered scoring 1-6 to help Galway to a 19-point victory over London in Ruislip.

The Kilkerrin/Clonberne clubmanbegan the game at centre-forward andduly obliged after just 15 seconds to getGalways first score of this years Con-nacht championship.

Despite reaching the provincial deciderlast term, London were hapless to resistan early onslaught from the visitors andwhen Michael Martin added 1-2 by thesixth minute, Galway never looked back.

There was no let up from a Tribesmanoutfit that sensed blood and they went onto dominate the first-half with Danny Cum-mins speed a constant threat and it washis point in the 28th minute that had Gal-

way 1-8 to 0-0 in front.Their opponents lack of edge in front

of goal meant that Adrian Faherty, theirgoalkeeper and one of six Galway nativesin the London team, got their first scorejust before half-time.

Another free from the former Claregal-way stopper, had the teams going in at 1-9to 0-2 at the break.

Any chance of Galway easing and al-lowing London to get back into the gamewas quelled when the brilliant Walsh gothis goal to put the Tribesmen 13 pointsahead.

And with the teams going tit for tatfrom here until the finish, Galway were tofind the net once more before time ran out.

Cummins was this time rewarded forhis endeavour and the visitors went on tofinish with six different scorers in a fineteam display.

Ruislip has recently been a stumblingblock for Connachts elite and Galwaysnext opponents, Sligo were famouslybeaten there last season.

Nevertheless it is only Mayand its vital Galway dont getahead of themselves like theydid after a similar annihilationof Roscommon two years

ago, with Sligo the ones to profit from thatpsychological trauma.

Losing to Sligo in Markievicz Parkwould still give Galway a place in the final12 of this years championship, however

Page 8

Walsh helps Tribesmen run riot


the bigger prize and a date against thewinners of Roscommon and Mayo in aConnacht final is surely in the back of theirmind.

And if Walsh can continue to providethe fulcrum and lead from the front it couldwell prove to be an interesting summer forthe Tribesmen.SCORERS Galway: S Walsh 1-6 (2fs, 1 '45'), MMartin (1f), D Cummins 1-3 each, E Hoare 0-3, MLundy, A Varley 0-1 each. London: A Faherty (3f), L Mulvey (2f) 0-3 each, JFeeney 0-1.GALWAY: M Breathnach; D O'Neill, F Hanley, JDuane; G Bradshaw, G O'Donnell, P Varley; F O

Curraoin, T Flynn; M Lundy, S Walsh, J Kavanagh;M Martin, E Hoare, D Cummins. Subs: G Higgins for O Curraoin (47), A Varley forMartin (51), D Comer for Lundy (51), J O'Brien forFlynn (57), C Mulryan for Bradshaw (60), E Con-cannon for Hoare (68).LONDON: A Faherty; P Butler, S Curran, D Mc-Carthy; S Hannon, T Gaughan, M Walsh; MGottsche, M Carroll; G Crowley, D Dunleavy, CO'Neill; E O'Neill, P Geraghty, J Feeney. Subs: L Mulvey for C O'Neill (h-t), B Collins forMcCarthy (h-t), M Miskelly for E O'Neill (47), SMulligan for Carroll (61), L Colfer for Feeney (62),B Mitchell for Walsh (66).REF: F Kelly (Longford).


Galway attacker Shane Walshsays he cannot wait to get histeeth into Sligo after his 1-6haul in his first championship

start helped Galway pastLondon last weekend.

And theKilkerrin/Clonberne

clubman says thepressure is now on

the Tribesmen'sexperienced

playerswho missed

out throughinjury toforce theirway backinto theside be-fore thetrip to

face theYeats men at

Markievicz Park infour weeks time.

There is nobody taking places forgranted at the moment, we still havePaul Conroy and Sean Armstrong tocome back.

But the pressure is on them aftertoday. We'll all want to hold our spotsfor the next day. But we are reallylooking forward to Sligo now, saidWalsh.

Walsh, a product of the St Jar-lath's College footballing nursery,made his first championship ap-pearance in last year's mauling atthe hands of Mayo in Pearse Sta-dium.

But a first start for Galway on

foreign soil in Ruislip was still a tricky out-ing for the 20-year-old.

Coming over here, it was a new experi-ence travelling to London for a game. Butwe came out in the first 15 minutes and justgot the job done, Walsh told Galway BayFM.

I wasnt keeping count of what I got, wejust wanted to keep the scoreboard tickingover and the team was getting the scores. Iwas just complementing the lads, it wastheir hard work that got the scores, I justfinished them.

The platform was set at the back and wekept them scoreless for almost a full half. Itstarted from there and worked its way out.We dominated at midfield and that made iteasy for the forwards then. It was a greatteam effort, he said.

HOME FORM HOME: Galway's Shane Walshswaps shirts with fellow Kilkerrin/Clon-berne native Damien Dunleavy who fea-tured for London in Ruislip.

Photo: Ray Ryan / SPORTSFILE

Page 9

Walsh helps Tribesmen run riot

Walsh continues to impress

BATTLE: London's MarkGottsche and Galway's PaulConroy faced off ahead oftheir Ruislip tussle.

Photo: Diarmuid Greene /SPORTSFILE


Roscommon ........1-18Leitrim ...............0-13

By JOHN CONNOLLYLeitrim Observer

THE home side justified their pre-match favouritism with a sparklingfirst half Connacht Senior Champi-onship display as they dissected Leitrimsdefensive set-up with clinical and deadlyefficiency.

Roscommons 1-12 in the first half, allbut one from play, left Leitrim with an ab-solute mountain to climb in the second halfand realistically, the contest was all butdecided when Ronan Stack jumped topunch the ball to the Leitrim net in the thirdminute of added time.

That Leitrim cut the gap to five pointsspeaks volumes for their character, for thepride in the jersey and their defiance but itcant hide the fact that Roscommon weresimply the superior side.

Roscommon supporters, hyper-criticalof their own teams, blasted the perform-ance as not one capable of upsettingMayo but John Evans side opted for apolicy of containment rather than all out at-tack in the second half.

The loss of Cathal Shinein the middle of

the park disrupted their previous domi-nance but what was telling was the factthat any time Leitrim managed to stringtwo or three or four points together,Roscommon would up the pace once

more with two or three scores of theirown.

Manager Sean Hagan and playersspoke afterwards of the 1-2 scored inthe last five minutes of the first half

being the difference betweenthe teams and, in strict

terms, that is certainly the case as Leitrimclosed what seemed like a yawning tenpoint gap to five points with eight minutes

to go.But even before the goal,

Roscommon were manag-ing two points to every oneLeitrim scored during thefirst half as their incisive

passing and long rangeshooting from distance cut the

heart from the Green & Golds strategies.Truth was, Leitrim struggled with

Roscommons physical power during thefirst half and there was a real sense thatthe home team were doing just enough tostay in front during the second half.

Sean Hagan took something of a gam-ble by altering the line-up that had pros-pered so well in the League, perhaps alltoo well aware of the scoring threat posedby Roscommon. The match-ups sought byLeitrim appeared well founded with DonalWrynn suited to the immense physicalpresence of Donie Shine and Paul Bren-nans combativeness and energy to nullifySenan Kilbrides threat.

But with Shine moving all over the field,dragging Wrynn out of position and open-ing up passing and running lanes and Kil-bride benefitting from unpressurised ballcoming into him, Leitrim didnt get the bestout of either Brennan or Wrynn.

When Barry McWeeney moved back tothe corner, it stopped the rot defensivelyand we also saw far more of what Bren-nan in particular can do going forward asthe Melvin Gaels man was central to the

Slick Rossies condemn Leit rim to Qualifiers

Page 10

Donie Shine kicks a point for Roscommon.

Photo: Piaras O Midheach /SPORTSFILE

Barry Prior, left, and Robert Lowe, Leitrim, leave the field dejected after defeat to Roscommonin the Connacht championship quarter-final. Photo: Piaras O Midheach / SPORTSFILE


Page 11

second half improvement in form fromLeitrim.

Brennans energy, a combative PaddyMaguire, subs Gerry Hickey & RobbieLowe adding urgnency and the likes ofBarry Prior and Wayne McKeon improvingtheir form significantly in the second halfmeant Leitrim were on the front foot agood deal more in the second half.

One of the biggest talking points wasthe late call-ups for Conor Beirne andMicheal McWeeney to the starting line-up,a gamble that didnt come off and causedquite a lot of debate among supporters af-terwards.

The cauldron of a championship en-counter against Roscommon was a toughspot for young McWeeney to make his firstSenior start and the young St. Marys manstruggled to find his feet.

Beirnes inclusion was no real surpriseas Leitrim sought to produce a goal threatbut Roscommon were well prepared, leav-ing a man back in front to protect theirbackline and the big Eslin man neverthreatened the impact desperately sought.

It probably wasnt fair to expect somuch from Beirne, only a month after re-joining the panel, as he struggled to matchthe intensity and pace of Senior champi-onship action and it might have been bet-ter if he had been introduced as an impactsub.

Barry McWeeney was another to get asurprise start after rejoining the panel amonth ago and while he struggled earlyon, the Aughnasheelin man contributedwell during the second half.

Captain Emlyn Mulligan delivered prob-ably his best championship performancefor the Green & Gold, leading from thefront and causing Roscommon no end ofproblems. It wasnt just his eight points buthis leadership, driving his team forward,and his defiant spirit that really capturedthe imagination.

Paddy Maguire, despite a few dodgymoments in a ferocious battle with CathalCregg during the first half, stopped the rotin the second half.

Despite the improved second half dis-play, overall it wasnt the sort of blood andthunder encounters we expect fromLeitrim and Roscommon as Leitrimhavent kicked on from their promisingLeague form.

The Qualifiers await and with Leitrimcoming in at an earlier stage this year,there is still plenty of hope for this yearschampionship but work needs to be done.LEITRIM: C McCrann, B McWeeney, P Maguire, PBrennan, G Reynolds (0-1), D Wrynn, B Prior, DMoran, D Sweeney, W McKeon (0-1), E Mulligan(0-8), M McWeeney, K Conlan (0-1), J Glancy, CBeirne (0-2). Subs: R Lowe for M McWeeney (24),G Hickey for Sweeney (29 - BC), S McWeeney forGlancy (47), A McLoughlin for Beirne (53), R Coxfor Brennan (62).

ROSCOMMON: D OMalley, S McDermott, NCarty, N Collins, D Keenan, N Daly (0-2), C Caffer-key (0-1), C Shine (0-1), K Higgins (0-3), D OGara,D Shine (0-2), R Stack (1-0), S Kilbride (0-3), CCregg (0-1), C Murtagh (0-2). Subs: E Smith for CShine (41), M Nally for Cafferkey (49), D Murtagh(0-2) for Kilbride (54), F Cregg for C Cregg (61), CBurns (0-1) & D Donnelly for OGara & Stack (69).

Haganhas no complaintsin defeat

By JOHN CONNOLLYLeitrim Observer

HE might have felt that his teamdidnt get the breaks but man-ager Sean Hagan admitted thatthe better team won on the day.

We just didnt get any breaks inthe second half, said Sean, Weneeded to get the goal to get backinto the game, unfortunately, we did-nt get that opportunity. We just haveto wish Roscommon the best of luck,I thought they were the superior teamon the day.

The Leitrim manager pin-pointedRoscommons 1-2 before half-time asthe crucial factor - We felt at half-time, we would have been going infive points down and unfortunately, Ithink they scored 1-2 in injury time inthe first half and ultimately that iswhat cost us the game, we couldntrecover from a ten point deficit.

However, Sean paid tribute to histeams strength of character -Roscommon kicked phenomenalscores in the first half, as good asyoud see anywhere in the countrybut I thought our backs as a unitwere magnificent in the second half,they really tightened up.

Asked what he said to inspire histeam at half-time, Sean said Thereare a lot of experienced players inour dressing room and they knewthey didnt do themselves justice inthe first half.

There was a bit of team spiritthere and they felt they didnt dothemselves justice there in the firsthalf. Our lads are real quality foot-ballers and they put in a big perform-ance in the second half.

Every man, it was an individualeffort to get his own performance inorder and then the unit would cometogether and that is basically that iswhat happened but unfortunately, itwas too much of a come-back to im-plement on the day.

Lads could have gone missingbut they didnt, they responded well.We have known that all season thatthere is lots of character in thisteam.

Slick Rossies condemn Leit rim to Qualifiers

Leitrim's Emlyn Mulligan, right, shares a joke with Donie Shine, as he is interviewed by DaraghSmall, Media West, after the game. Photo: Piaras O Midheach / SPORTSFILE

Dublin .................1-21Roscommon .........3-6

By Ian Cooney Roscommon Herald

OF all days not to turn up. Whether ex-pectation crippled them or they weresimply swamped by Dublins early mo-mentum, the Roscommon U-21 team implodedwhen they were taken to embrace the occa-sion.

Dublin were very good but all teams have aspring in their step when they are afforded thelatitude to do as they please, and theres nobetter county in the business to pile on themisery when the opposition is off-colour.

A few days later, its still hard to find an an-swer, some sort of excuse for Roscommonsrotten display, particularly in the opening half.Nigel Dineen had quality players at his dis-posal, personnel that had taken out other bighitters in the GAA fraternity like Mayo andCork. But they went missing on Saturday whenthe tide was turning against them, as it didfrom the opening exchanges.

When Man of the Match Conor McHugh fin-ished off another slick team move with theDubs only goal in the 35th minute, the score-board read 1-17 to 0-1. It was nearly too muchto take in. How could a contest that had beenearmarked beforehand as being tight be soone-sided? The fact that Roscommon re-sponded with three goals in four minutes tookthe sharp edge off the scoreline but it didntdisguise the despondency. As Dublin captainCormac Costello lifted the Clarke Cup, deflatedRoscommon supporters stared into space, un-able to make sense of it all.

Perhaps Roscommon should have becomemore defensive when Dublin opened up a six-point advantage at the end of the openingquarter. Any hopes of a revival had just beenquashed when Donie Smiths tamely-takenpenalty was easily saved by Dublin goalkeeperLorcan Molloy in the 13th minute.

As the half wore on, the worse Roscommonbecame, kicking possession into no mans land.Dublin deployed Conor Mullally as a sweeper infront of their full-back line. The Cuala playersurely couldnt believe his luck as Roscommonkept kicking possession into his grateful arms.As a result, Diarmuid Murtagh, the ten-pointhero from the semi-final success against Cork,was a spectator.

Roscommon were decimated at midfield.Dublin grabbed breaking ball as if their livesdepended on it. Whats more, they deliveredpossession into the space in front of a lethalfull-forward line that accounted for all butthree of Dublins final tally of 1-21. Roscommonalso let their opponents take short kickouts,and the Dublin momentum built from there.

The only positive from the opening half wasthe performance of full-back Sen Mullooly. Hetried manfully to plug holes but there was sim-

ply too much to do. Dublin couldnt miss fromplay or frees. Their levels of intensity were at adifferent level and the subsequent damagesunk Roscommons ship.

A huge Roscommon support made its way toTullamore. Buoyed by the ladies successagainst Antrim, anyone who chose to look atthe Dublin warm-up would have been worried.It was laden with purpose and intent, and thematch itself followed a similar path.

Paul Mannion opened the scoring underpressure without any Roscommon player get-ting his hand on the ball from the throw-in. ButRoscommon could have goaled moments later.Good work by Mark Healy along the endlinesaw the ball arrive invitingly for Donie Smith.The Boyle player palmed possession first-timetowards goal but Molloy got a hand to the ballto keep it out. Then Ultan Harney kicked a mar-vellous point from 40 metres. Little did anyonein the stadium think that it would be Roscom-mons last score of the half.

The Dubs soon showed their class. Theirrunning and movement cut Roscommon toshreds and the scores followed with increasingregularity. A free from Mannion from a difficultangle was followed by points from CormacCostello and three on the bounce from ConorMcHugh. When Mannion seamlessly slottedover a 45 after referee Barry Cassidy over-ruled his umpire in the 12th minute, the Dubswere 0-7 to 0-1 ahead.

Roscommon were being swamped all overthe field but their chance to make inroads intoDublins advantage arrived a minute later.David Byrne dragged Donie Smith to theground, a foul that resulted in a black card forthe Dublin full-back. But Smiths resultantpenalty hardly troubled Molloy and the chancewas gone.

Dublin went on to pile on further misery.Their wing-back Eric Lowndes and McCaffreywere causing all sorts of trouble. Midfield wasrampant and, as a result, Mannion, Costelloand McHugh, were receiving the sort of ballthey craved in acres of space. It was nigh im-possible for the Roscommon full-back line todefend against torrents of Dublin attacks.

Only a brilliant Niall Scully effort from theright wing disrupted the flow of scores comingfrom Mannion, Costello and McHugh as Dublinestablished a 0-14 to 0-1 lead at the break.

Surely there would be some sort of Roscom-mon response. Initially there wasnt as Man-nion (2) and McHugh landed rapid-fire scores.Then McHugh combined with his full-forwardline team-mates to steer the ball beyond ColmLavin.

Nineteen points behind, what was there tolose and credit to Roscommon for sticking at it.Ronan Daly set up Murtagh for a point beforethe St. Faithleachs player combined withAdrian Gleeson to find the net. Gleeson was in-volved again when he flicked Mullollys hopeful

CADBURY ALL-IRELAND U-21 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

All-Ireland hopes bite the dust

Ronan Daly is tackled by Niall Scully of Dublin. Photo: Dire Brennan / SPORTSFILE

delivery into the path of Ciaran Kilcline and theRoscommon Gaels player goaled emphatically.

Amazingly, a third goal arrived in the nextattack as captain David Murray set up Murtaghfor another Roscommon green flag. Sure weonly need another three goals, joked someonein the press box but thats where the funended.

Dublin slowed the game down to take thesting out of any possible Roscommon revival.Ultan Harney and Enda Smith did kick a coupleof fine points from play but the Dubs werenever in any danger as McHugh, McCaffrey,Mannion (a free) and substitute Shane Cun-ningham found the range.

The Dubs were soon celebrating. Roscom-mon were plunged into a period of reflection, aprocess that will take some time.

DUBLIN: L. Molloy; R. McGowan, D. Byrne, R. Mc-Daid; E. Lowndes, J. Small, J. McCaffrey (0-1); P.OHiggins, B. Fenton; N. Scully (0-1), S. Boland, C.Mullally; P. Mannion (0-8, five frees, one 45), C.Costello (0-4, two frees), C. McHugh (1-6). Subsused: E. OConghaile for Byrne (14 mins, blackcard), G. Hannigan for Boland (44 mins), G. Ivoryfor OHiggins (45 mins), S. Cunningham (0-1) forCostello (50 mins), N. Walsh for Mannion (60mins).

ROSCOMMON: C. Lavin; C. Kenny, S. Mullooly, D.Murray; R. Daly, J. McManus, C. Daly; U. Harney(0-2), T. Corcoran; C. Kilcline (1-0), M. Healy, E.Smith (0-1); D. Murtagh (2-3, two frees), M. Nally,D. Smith. Subs used: M. Gunning for Nally (23mins), T. Featherston for Kenny (25 mins), N.McInerney for C. Daly (30 mins), A. Gleeson forGunning (half-time), S. Flynn for R. Daly (51mins), S. Killoran for Healy (59 mins).

Mayo ..................2-12 Roscommon .........1-11

By Michael Commins Mayo News

MAYO were crowned Connacht Intermedi-ate hurling champions for 2014 in DrHyde Park. It was a hard-earned win forthe Mayo lads against a resurgent Roscommonside who led for most of the game. The reliefwas palpable at the end as Kenny Feeneyhoisted the cup aloft. It was a good finish to adecent season for the Mayo hurlers.

Claremorris-based manager Christy Phillipsexpressed delight with the outcome. The ladsput in a huge effort all year. Winning this titlewas the icing on the cake. We also won theKehoe Cup Shield earlier in the year. We havesome fine young hurlers coming through. CoreyScahill and Shane Boland made a huge impactwhen they came on today.

Roscommon were up for the challenge andwe had to battle all the way to the end. ShaneMorley and Aidan Connolly and Pdraig OFlynnand the lads showed great heart. When theRoscommon challenge was at its height, theynever panicked, and their composure and expe-rience saw us over the line, concluded theLimerick native.

Mayo, on the back of some good perform-ances in the Christy Ring Cup, entered thegame as favourites. But they were sluggish forlong periods, failing to regain the momentumof recent games. Instead, they were peggedback by a resilient Roscommon team whoplayed their best fare of the season.

The teams were level on five points eachafter 25 minutes with Brian Hunt, Joe Kennedy,Donal OBrien and Kenny Feeney on target forMayo and Gerry Fallon notching three Roscom-mon points along with others from CathalKenny and Adrian Murphy. Cathal Kenny routedthe ball to the Mayo net from a goal areascramble just before half-time, and the Rossiesheld a 1-6 to 0-7 lead.

Roscommon, backed by the wind, had agreat start to the second half with excellentpoints from Gerry Fallon and the industriousToms Seale as they moved into a five-pointlead.

Mayo needed some urgent inspiration andthey got it in the form of two young subs Corey Scahill, who fired over a terrific point tostart the comeback rally, and Shane Boland,who netted Mayos first goal after 11 minutes ofthe second half. Those scores were central inhalting the Roscommon march and providedthe spark that re-ignited the Mayo resurgence.

Adrian Murphy and Robbie Fallon respondedwith two splendid points for Roscommon topush the margin out to three again. When thecall to service was at its greatest, the Mayo de-fence came thundering into the game. Shane

Morley fromTooreen, back onthe team after alengthy lay-off,was forceful andskilful in the exe-cution of his du-ties. PdraigOFlynn and AidenConnolly providedsome real inspira-tion when the cause de-manded most, effectingsome wonderful intercep-tions and delivering long-range clearances.

Mayo moved up a gear inthe closing quarters andsome wonderful strikes fromShane Boland, David Kennyand Pdraig OFlynn sawthem level the game fiveminutes from the end.

When Kenny Feeneyedged them ahead twominutes later, youcould almost feel thesense of relief of thesquad who had turnedaround a five-point deficit to shade it in the fin-ishing straight.

But it was only when Brian Higgins fromWestport neatly rounded the Roscommon de-fence to crack home a goal a minute from theend that the title looked destined for Mayo.

Ciaran Charlton, Kenny Feeney, Gary Nolan,Donal OBrien, David Kenny, Brian Higgins andsubs Corey Scahill and Shane Boland wereamong those who also contributed handsomelyto this Mayo win.

The Mayo management team of ChristyPhillips, Leo Connor and Austin Kenny were de-lighted to have secured the silverware. A wordis also due for kit manager Michael Moran fromKiltimagh and physio Karen Lacey from West-port.

Frank Burke, president of the ConnachtCouncil, presented the cup to Mayo captainKenny Feeney as the team was accorded awarm reception by the appreciative Mayo sup-porters.

MAYO: D OBrien (0-1); A Brennan, A Connolly, SMorley; J Kennedy (0-1), P OFlynn (0-1), D Kenny(0-1); C Charlton, B Higgins (1-0); G Nolan, KFeeney (0-5, 4f), B Hunt (0-1); F Boland, D McDon-nell, S Hoban. Subs: C Scahill (0-1) for S Hoban; SBoland (1-1) for F Boland; O Collins for D McDon-nell.

ROSCOMMON: P Nolan; S Curley, M McLoughlin,C Kelly; S Melia, M Kelly, C Dolan; T Seale (0-1), JMoran; R Fallon (0-1), G Fallon (0-6, 5f), HRooney; C Kenny (1-1), N Connaughton, A Murphy(0-2). Subs: I Delaney for N Connaughton; C Kellyfor H Rooney.REF: C Browne (Galway

CONNACHT INTERMEDIATE HURLING FINALCADBURY ALL-IRELAND U-21 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

All-Ireland hopes bite the dust

A dejected Thomas Corcoran after the All-Ire-land U-21 final loss to Dublin.

Photo: Dire Brennan / SPORTSFILE

Pdraig O'Flynn,Mayo.

Photo: Barry Cregg /SPORTSFILE

Mayo hurlers finishseason on a high

Galway ...............1-22Laois ..................0-23


THERE was a lot of puffed out cheeksand wiping of brows in the Galwaycamp after this one as the Tribesmenneeded a Jason Flynn-inspired final quarterto escape Portlaoise with victory.

The result was in doubt until acouple of seconds from the finalwhistle when Iarla Tannian saved a 20-metre free from Laois keeper Eoin Reillyand Joe Canning emerged from a ruck inthe Galway area with possession.

Had the ball rattled the net nobodywould have denied that Laois deserved thewin, but in the calm after the battle, it has tobe said that Galway remained cool underpressure to clinch a semi-final slot againsteither Kilkenny or Offaly.

Flynn proved the catalyst for the Galwaycomeback though. He was introduced inthe 51st minute as Anthony Cunningham'sside trailed by six points. He split the postsless than a minute after his arrival and re-peated the action three minutes later in arun of six unanswered Galway points whichlevelled the game. Cunningham was re-lieved that his changes worked a treatagainst an underrated Laois.

In a game that produced just 19 frees intotal there was a remarkable number oftalking points. Laois will look to a ConorCooney point in the 42nd minute whichkept Galway within five points of Laois. Al-though Jonathan Glynn was yellow carded

for an off-the ball foul in the build up toCooney's point, they score was strangelyallowed to stand.

On the other side of the fence, NeilFoyle might be deemed lucky to escapewith just a yellow card for an early hightackle on Aidan Harte, but for the large partCathal McAllister did his best to allow thegame to flow.

Early on it appeared that Galway's bigday knowledge would dominate Laois' re-cent championship game-time.

Jonathan Glynn got the Tribesmen off toa flying start when he poked in a goal atReilly's near post in the second minute and

when Johnny Coen, David Burke andPadraig Brehony added quick points, itseemed as if the Tribesmen would canterto victory.

But from the ninth minute to half-time,Galway only added another four points asLaois began to shoot the lights out.

With a strong wind behind them the or-ders were clear: shoot on sight. And JoeFitzpatrick (2), Tom Delaney and TommyFitzgerald all hit points from long range asLaois pulled level at 1-3 to 0-6 by the 17thminute.

Conor Cooney was handed the free tak-ing duties ahead of Joe Canning once

LEINSTER SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER-FINAL

Cooney calls for Tribesmen to kick onBy DECLAN ROONEYMedia West Ireland

GALWAY'S in-form attacker ConorCooney says the Tribesmen willneed to improve massively if theyare to have any chance of challenging fora second Leinster hurling title.

Cooney was the stand-out performerfor Galway as they scraped past Laois atO'Moore Park to set up a semi-finalagainst Kilkenny or Offaly, but he admitsthat Anthony Cunningham's side were aworried bunch when they trailed by sixpoints at half-time.

Even late on, Cheddar Plunkett's sidehad the chance to take a deserved win butgoalkeeper Eoin Reilly's free was keptout. It was a huge relief said the StThomas' man.

It was real tough going out there sowe were delighted to get away with a win.We never underestimated Laois, we knewthey gave us a tough game last year. Weknew it would be no different this year so,happy to come away with a win.

Well obviously, when your six pointsdown at half-time, youre going to be wor-ried. But look, we knew we had enough inthe tank, we knew we were good enoughto come back and we did the business in

the end, said Cooney, who broke into theGalway team during their only Leinstertitle season of 2012.

Cooney hit seven points for the Tribes-men, including four from play, and also re-tained the free-taking responsibilitiesahead of Joe Canning.

And while he is happy with his ownform, he admits that Galway need to do alot better as a team if they harbour anyhopes of a successful season.

I got a few points there myself, but Iwould like to be winning by a bit more,said the talented centre-forward.

Individual performances arent thatimportant when the team isn't coming

Spluttering Galway take the win

Niall Burke, Galway, in action against Laois at O'Moore Park. Photo: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE

Tough day atthe office forCunninghamand Co.


AFTER watching his side recover ad-mirably from a disastrous 25 minutesbefore half-time that plunged Galwayinto dangerous waters, manager AnthonyCunningham was a mighty relieved man.

An error strewn first-half from theTribesmen, which featured countless poorfirst touches and lethargic play, was re-placed with a calm final quarter that sawGalway reach the semi-final. Relief all roundwas evident.

That was a tough day, conceded Cun-ningham. I'd have to say that the sharp-ness of Laois was very, very evident there.

We got off to a good start, got somegood scores, 1-3 there early on but Laois area very, very team and I think the hurlingpublic have to acknowledge that.

Let's be honest, the first half perform-ance there would be way off championshipperformance but it's something we canbuild on. The second-half we got some nicescores and worked the ball well. We have toput 70 minutes of that together, said theGalway manager.

But for Cunningham and everyone in-volved with Galway on Sunday, relief wasthe major emotion.

The proof will be in three weeks timehow much we have kicked on from today.The big positive would be how much wekicked on in the second half.

We will need all that experience anddrive to win the next day. It's not going tobe easy but we are well placed, Cunning-ham said.

LEINSTER SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER-FINAL

again and visibly lifted by that vote of confi-dence, he went on to hit his side's next threepoints.

Unfortunately from a Galway point of view,the Laois players were all in good scoringform and six points in seven minutes manyproduced from high deliveries into Willie Hy-land gave them a five-point cushion by the24th minute, which had increased by half-time to 0-16 to 1-7.

A Cooney free immediately after the throwin gave Galway the start they desperatelyneeded to the second-half, but many of theO'Moore Park faithful began to believe itmight be their day to topple a giant whenStephen Maher, Hyland and Charlie Dwyer from a stunning side line cut gave the homeside a seven-point lead.

Cooney and Flynn stood tall though andfrom that juncture Galway went on tooutscore Laois by 0-13 to 0-4.

The key run of scores arrived between the52nd and 60th minute after Flynn's arrival onthe scene, and once Galway got a sniff thatthe win was there, they finally found theirchampionship gear.

The lead score fell to Paul Killeen fourminutes after his arrival, before Flynn andIarla Tannian tagged on two quick points toput Galway three points up.

But after Ross King's point couldn't be fol-lowed by a goal from Reilly's late free, Gal-way were relieved to take the win.

They didn't deserve it, but Cunninghamwill be relieved to have a three weeks to workon their issues with a vital championshipgame and victory now in their locker.SCORERS Galway: C Cooney 0-7 (3f), J Glynn 1-0, JFlynn 0-3 each, P Brehony, N Burke, J Canning 0-2each, J Coen, David Burke, C Mannion, D Collins, ITannian, P Killeen 0-1 each.Laois: T Fitzgerald, N Foyle, C Dwyer (1'sl), W Hy-

land, S Maher (3f) 0-3 each, T Delaney, J Fitzpatrick0-2 each, B Stapleton, J Campion, R King, J Walsh 0-1each.GALWAY: C Callanan; D Collins, R Burke, F Moore; AHarte (P Killeen 7-9 blood, 64), I Tannian, DaithiBurke; J Coen, P Brehony; C Cooney, N Burke, DavidBurke (D Hayes 48); C Mannion (J Flynn 51), J Can-ning, J Glynn (D Glennon 70).LAOIS: E Reilly; JA Delaney, B Campion (R King 63),B Stapleton; J Fitzpatrick, M Whelan, T Delaney; JCampion, J Walsh (P Whelan 58); S Maher, D Palmer,C Dwyer; N Foyle (J Purcell 56), W Hyland, T Fitzger-ald (J Brophy 60).REF: Cathal McAllister (Cork).

Galway supporters, from left, Lorcan Cunningham, aged 9, with his brothers, Eamon, aged 7, andEoin, aged 5, from Tynagh, Co. Galway, out to support their team.

Photo: Toms Greally / SPORTSFILE

Cooney calls for Tribesmen to kick onaway with the wins you want. I washappy enough with myself and we'll tryand press on from here.

Laois, theyve a tough set-up, theywere tough to beat. Theyve been com-ing good all year, and they put it up toClare during the league. We never un-derestimate them, we knew it would betough.

They had four or five tough champi-onship games coming in there and wecoming from a standstill so you cantbeat games, theres no replacement intraining for them. Well have to try andpress on from here and go a bit further,he said.

Spluttering Galway take the win

Jonathan Glynn climbs higher than John A De-laney during the Leinster hurling quarter-final.

Photo: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE

Kilkenny ..................1-16Galway ....................0-15


GAL-WAY hit justfour second-half points, butPadraig Walsh wasthe star of the showfor Kilkenny as theyreached the AllianzDivision 1A hurlingleague final.

The Cats gave apowerful display in the second-half at the Gaelic Grounds tocome back from a five-pointdeficit at the break with theKilkenny half-back domi-nant.

Galway showed heartand endeavour in the

first-half but gradually were ground out bytheir harder working opponents who cannow look forward to another shot at silver-ware.

The game was evenly poised early onwith the teams going point-for-point in theopening quarter.

Michael Fennelly got Kilkennys ac-count up and running in the fourth minutewhile Andy Smith equalised a minute later.

Scores from Henry Shefflin, Colin Fen-nelly and TJ Reid from a free, matchedthat of Galways Conor Cooney, NiallBurke and a monstrous free that Galwaygoalkeeper Colm Callanan hit from 100yards.

Daithi Burke was immense, winning thetussle in the Galway half-back line whileBrian Kennedy was keeping tabs on thereturning Joe Canning at the edge of thesquare.

Shefflins wonderful effort from over hisright shoulder was to be the Cats' lastscore until just before the break as Galwaywent on a scoring spree.

St Thomas' star Conor Cooney cameto the fore for Galway as his five points ina row added to the strike from CathalMannion gave Galway a 0-11 to 0-6 leadat the break with TJ Reids free the finalscore of the half.

However, as is so often happens withBrian Codys side, the Cats raced out ofthe traps in the second 35 minutes.

Five points in a row got them back onlevel terms, three frees from Reid withShefflin and Colin Fennelly adding to theirtallies with a point each.

Andy Smith replied for Galway but itmattered little as a Padraig Walsh pointand one more from Colin Fennelly addedto a superbly taken goal from John Power,gave Kilkenny some breathing space forthe first time at 1-13 to 0-12 in the 54thminute.

Kilkenny never looked back from there,despite some defiance from Cooney andDavid Burke, as points from Cillian Buck-ley, and another each for Shefflin and thesuperb Padraig Walsh sent the Cats roar-ing into the final.

KILKENNY: E Murphy; P Murphy, JJ Delaney, BKennedy; P Walsh (0-2), B Hogan, C Buckley (0-1);M Fennelly (0-1), R Hogan; W Walsh, C Fennelly(0-3), TJ Reid (0-5, 4f); J Power (1-0), M Kelly, HShefflin (0-4). Subs: L Ryan for W Walsh (56mins), A Fogarty for R Hogan (65).

GALWAY: C Callanan (0-1, 1f); J Coen, R Burke, DCollins; A Harte, J Cooney, Daithi Burke; DavidBurke (0-1), P Brehony; N Burke (0-1), C Cooney(0-8, 3f, 1 65), A Smith (0-2); J Canning (0-1), JGlynn, C Mannion (0-1). Subs: D Glennon for NBurke (46 mins), D Hayes for Brehony (56), KHynes for Smith (62), J Flynn for Mannion (69).

REF: James McGrath (Westmeath).


GALWAY hurling bossAnthony Cunninghamwas left to rue somedecisions that went againsthis side as Kilkenny's sec-ond-half drive got them overthe line and into the leaguefinal.

With time running outJonathan Glynn was pulled

back when in on goal andreferee James McGrath cor-rectly awarded Galway a 20-metre free, but ConorCooney's shot was thensaved. Cunningham wants tosee an advantage rule intro-duced like in football.

David Burke had a shotcome off the bar, we were inhard luck there that JohnnyGlynn was pulled up there atthe finish.

There are always going

to be close calls, but I thinkthat one was very unfair Ithink at that stage of thematch we were looking forthe advantage.

I'm not in any way beingdown on referees, but I thinkthe advantage rule in the All-Ireland (U-21 football) semi-finals was excellent, he said.

But in the end, missedchances will haunt Galway,with nine first-half wides thestand-out statistic.

A few of those chanceswere rushed and we missedtwo goal chances in the first-half and then, invariably, theydry up, he said.

Kilkenny had a strongsecond-half performanceand they had a lot of experi-ence there in that team.

At the same time we aredisappointed (to have lost).It's a game we could havewon and had enoughchances, he said.

ALLIANZ DIVISION 1A SENIOR HURLING LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL

Powerful Cats reach decider

Cunningham laments missed chances

PICK OF THE BUNCH: Conor Cooney was onceagain one of Galway's best performers in thisseason's national league.

Photo: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE

Galway ...............3-10 Westmeath ..........0-9

By JACKIE CAHILLMedia South

GALWAY Ladies will be playing top-flight football next year after beat-ing Westmeath to securepromotion.

It was a case of third time lucky for theGalway girls, who lost Division 2 finals in2012 and 2013, and their manager BarryDowney admitted that those defeats mayhave explained his team's nervous start inParnell Park.

We tried to deflect away from that asmuch as possible, but once the gameopened up a bit we were able to kick on. Iknew Westmeath would put us to the pinof our collar," he said.

I told the girls this would be one of ourtoughest tests of the year, including cham-pionship.

It is brilliant to be back in Division 1,and it is no less than the girls deserveafter all the hard work they've put in.

Although they laboured to break West-meath's resistance in the first half, Galwaywere the superior force after the break andhaving won nine games out of nine toreach this decider, they confidently kickedfor home.

The crucial score of the first-half wasGalway's penalty scored by AnnetteClarke in the 19th minute.

Louise Ward was put through on goalafter a pass from Caitriona Cormican andwas upended by Westmeath 'keeperSarah Keegan, who was sin-binned.

Clarke dispatched the penalty past cor-

ner-back Triona Durkan, who stepped inas replacement 'keeper.

Roisin Leonard and Fiona Leavy hitfour points apiece in the opening period,while Westmeath midfielder JohannaMaher was sin-binned in the sixth minute.

Leonard scored three points from playfor Galway, while Leavy kept Westmeathin touch with three of her four scores fromfree-kicks.

Galway's Lorna Joyce also hit twopoints from play as the favourites led by 1-7 to 0-7 at the break.

Clarke converted a second penalty inthe 44th minute, after Geraldine Conneallywas fouled by Westmeath captain AileenMartin, who was sin-binned.

Three minutes later, Galway got theirthird goal. Clarke turned provider for Bar-bara Hannon, who buried a low shot to thenet to put her side 3-9 to 0-7 ahead.

Westmeath failed to score in the sec-ond half until the 51st minute, through aLeavy free. Johanna Maher landed theironly other point of the half as Galwaycoasted to victory.SCORERS Galway: A Clarke 2-1 (2-0 pens), BHannon 1-1, R Leonard 0-4 (1f), L Joyce 0-3, CCormican 0-1. Westmeath: F Leavy 0-5 (4fs); RKearney, C Blundell, M Foley, J Maher 0-1.GALWAY: J Connolly; N Ward, M Coyne, O Dixon;R McPhilbin, E Flaherty, S Burke (c); A Clarke, GConneally; A Daly, C Cormican, L Ward; B Hannon,L Joyce, R Leonard. Subs: O Divilly for Joyce (37),E Gannon for Leonard (47), M Moloney for Burke(54), G O'Connor for Hannon (57), S Conneally forDixon (57).WESTMEATH: S Keegan; A Martin (c), R Dunne,T Durkan; J Rogers, A Giles, L Brennan; R Kear-ney, J Maher; C Blundell, M Foley, K McDermott; FLeavy, F Claffey, K Hegarty. Subs: C Kelly for Mc-Dermott (39), N Judge for Blundell (48), A Bradyfor Rogers (55), S Dolan for Leavy (57).REF: G Corrigan (Down).

TESCO LADIES NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 2 FINAL

Page 17

Galway captain Sinad Burke with the Divi-sion 2 cup after the game.

Photos: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE

CHAMPIONS: The Galway Ladies celebratetheir Tesco Ladies National Football LeagueDivision 2 final victory.

Galway clinch Division 2 title

Galway 3-23Meath 0-11

GALWAY Ladies footballers defeatedMeath to progress into the TescoHome Grown National FootballLeague Division 2 final where they willplay Westmeath.

A lightening start saw Lorna Joyce, An-nette Clarke, Roisin Leonard and GillianO'Connor put Galway four points up insidethe first five minutes and they neverlooked back from there.

Four more Leonard points and oneeach from Clarke and Joyce increasedtheir lead before Catriona Cormican foundthe back of the net in the 20th minute.

Meath enjoyed a brief purple patch andgot their first two points in the 22nd minutescored by Geraldine Doherty and KateByrne.

Galway added two more points in theclosing minutes of the half when Clarkekicked her third point and Cormican addedanother before an attempted quick kick-out was intercepted by Leonard who foundthe net in the 30th minute. Aoibheann Dalyand Ger Conneally added two more toleave the half-time score at Galway 2-14Meath 0-02.

Galway started the second-half likethey finished the first when Cormicanscored a point in the first minute but withthe assistance of the wind Meath scoredfour points without reply, two from Katie OBrien and one each from Geraldine Do-herty and Emily Davis.

Two more Cormican points kept thescoreboard ticking over for Galway butMeath matched that with two from sharp-shooter Doherty and one from SineadCoyle.

Galway finished the game as a contest

when Annette Clarke scored a penalty inthe 19th minute and added three morepoints in the closing stages by RebeccaMc Philbin, Clarke and Lucy Hannon.

Meath finished the game by adding twopoints, but Galway ran out easy winnersand remain unbeaten all season ahead ofthe league final.

Meanwhile, the EMP sponsored Gal-way minor team play Mayo in the Con-nacht final on Monday 5th May at a venueto be confirmed.

GALWAY: J Connolly; S Connolly, M Coyne, ODixon; R Mc Philbin (0-01) N Ward, S Burke; AClarke(1-4, 1-0 pen), G Conneally (0-1); A Daly(0-1), C Cormican (1-4, 1f), L Warde; R Leonard (1-6,1f), L Joyce (0-2), G O Connor (0-1)Subs: E Gannon for O Connor, O Divilly (0-1) forConneally, L Hannon (0-1) for Leonard, E Concan-non for Joyce, S Lynch for Daly, S Egan for Con-neally, N Burke for Ward, T Hession for McPhilbin, A Connaughton (0-1) for Cormican.

Galway ...............2-10Cavan ..................2-8

GALWAY Ladies footballers edgedpast Cavan to maintain their 100percent record in Division 2 of theNFL in Tuam.

In testing conditions, Cavan started thegame with the wind and got the first twopoints courtesy of Bronagh Sheridan.

A Roisin Leonard effort got Galway offthe mark in the 13th minute and she fol-lowed that up with a goal shortly after.

Two more points from Sheridan sand-wiched a Gillian OConnor strike, and withanother score, this time from CharlotteCooney, Galway took the lead again.

However, Bronagh Sheridan was infine form and the Cavan sharpshooterscored another point to bring the sideslevel with the score line, 1-3 to 0-6 at thebreak.

Eilish Gannon got proceedings under-way directly after half-time with a point toput Galway ahead but Bronagh Sheridanpegged them back once more.

Then, after a free caused confusion inthe Galway defence, it was the otherSheridan, Geraldine, who fisted the ball tothe net pushing Cavan into a three pointlead.

Two points from Leonard and one fromAnnette Clarke tied the game up oncemore but Ger Conneally was shown redfor a second bookable offence with 11minutes on the clock.

Nevertheless as so often happen thisseemed to galvanise the Tribeswomen asLeonard showed her class before passingEilish Gannon who fisted the ball home.

Galway scored three more points, twofrom Leonard and one from BarabaraHannon to give them an unassailable leadwith Bronagh Sheridan dispatching apenalty in consolation as the last act.

SCORERS R Leonard 1-5 (3f); E Gannon 1-1; AClarke, B Hannon, G OConnor and C Cooney 0-1each.

GALWAY: T Hughes; N Connolly, M Coyne, ODixon; R McPhilbin, M Maloney, S Burke; A Clarke,G Conneally; A Daly, R Leonard, O Divilly; B Han-non, G OConnor, E Gannon. Subs: S Conneallyfor Maloney, C Cooney for O Connor, C Cormicanfor Daly, S Egan for Cormican.

TESCO LADIES NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 2

Tribesgirls power into the final

Unbeaten Ladies impress against Cavan

Sligo.....................0-9Leitrim ................0-6

By LEO GRAYSligo Champion

SLIGO chalked up a fully up deservedwin over Leitrim in the Connachtjunior championship final at HydePark.

The Sligo men led all the way in a de-cider which was a low scoring affair.

As the game unfolded, both sides wereguilty of missing a number of clear-cutgoal chances over the sixty minutes.

However, Sligo's greater workrate overthe hour carried the day for them.

Free-taking proved to be the majorsource of the contest's closing scoringtally with eight of Sligo's 0-9 coming fromplaced balls, while three of Leitrim's 0-6also came from frees.

In this regard the accuracy of JamesHynes and David Rooney proved to matchthe winning factor for Sligo.

Stephen Coen put Sligo ahead whenhe shot the game's opening score, a sec-ond minute point from play.

Three minutes later James Hynes hitthe target from a close in free to put Sligofurther ahead.

Adrian Croal opened Leitrim's accountwhen he split the Sligo uprights from asixth minute Leitrim free.

Sligo had a let off two minutes laterwhen Jonathan Cassidy shot narrowlywide from close range with no one to beatbut Sligo 'keeper Aidan Devaney.

However, the Sligo men extended theirlead to three points by the 14th minuteafter David Rooney tapped over a free andJames Hynes sent a placed ball over from45metres.

Leitrim hit back with two points fromplay over the next five minutes to leavethe minimum between the sides.

Stephen McGurrin and Adrian Croalshot over in turn for Leitrim in this period.

Sligo 'keeper Devaney made a timelysave when he deflected a goal bound 20thminute Eanna Madden shot shot out for a'45.'

Meanwhile, Leitrim had a let off sixminutes later at the other end whenStephen Coen drove a goal chance incheswide with no one to beat but Leitrim netminder, Enda Lyons.

The Sligo goals had a narrow shave on28 minutes when Declan Maxwell failed to

get on the end of a Ronan Kennedy passthat would have put Maxwell in a goalscoring position almost on the goal line.

Sligo doubled their advantage overLeitrim when David Rooney tapped over a40metre free a minute later and JamesHynes did likewise with a 31st minute13metre free.

After holding command in general playfor the opening thirty minutes Sligo led by0-6 to 0-3 at the interval.

Leitrim narrowed the gap within threeminutes of the restart when RonanKennedy tapped over a close in free.

In the space of another minute a SligoStephen Coen goal chance was denied byLeitrim 'keeper Enda Lyons who advancedsmartly to smother Coen's shot.

After a ten spell without a score JohnMcKeon reduced the deficit for Leitrim tothe minimum when he shot over from play.

But James Hynes answered almost im-mediately with a 44th minute pointed Sligofree as Hynes opened the Yeats Countyssecond-half account.

Another Sligo goal chance went a beg-ging when a shot three minutes later bysubstitute Garry Cadden was stopped onthe goal-line by Leitrim corner-back NiallDuffy.

With eight minutes of normal time left

Adrian Croal reduced Sligo's lead to theminimum when he popped a free over thecrossbar.

After that Sligo lifted their game andheld Leitrim scoreless for the remainder ofthe action.

Victory was assured for Sligo whenAidan Devaney left his goals and went up-field to hit over a 56th minute 45metrefree.

David Rooney increased Sligo's win-ning margin to three points when he slot-ted a 20metre free from an acute anglenear the right hand sideline over theLeitrim crossbar.SLIGO: Aidan Devaney 0-1 (f); Eoin Flanagan,Johnny Martyn, Barry Walsh; Luke Bree, KevinMcDonnell, David Rooney 0-3 (3fs); Gareth Ryan,Conor Griffin; Damien O'Boyle, Eoin McHugh,Conor Kearins; Stephen Coen 0-1, James Hynes 0-4 (4fs), Barry O'Mahony. Subs: Gary Cadden forO'Mahony (42 mins.); Cathal Brennan for O'Boyle(42 mins).LEITRIM: Enda Lyons; Niall Duffy, JamesRooney, Jonathan Cassidy; James Glancy, JohnMcKeon 0-1, David Duignan; Stephen McGurrin 0-1, Pat Mollick; Gavin Sammon, Colin Ryan, EannaMadden; Ronan Kennedy 0-1 (f), Declan Maxwell,Adrian Croal 0-3 (2fs). Subs: Mark Creegan forCassidy (49 mins.); Niall Clancy for Duignan (51mins).REF: Jerome Henry (Mayo).

CONNACHT JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Sligo crowned Connachtjunior champs again

Sligo captain Johnny Martyn receives the cup from Uachtarn Comhairle Connacht Proinsias deBrca. Photo: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE

Leitrim ................2-9Galway ...............0-13


LEITRIM are in line for their first Con-nacht junior football title in ten yearsafter Ronan Kennedy and ColinRyan goals saw them reach the provin-cial final at Tuam Stadium.

Remarkably this win is Leitrim'sfourth over Galway teams in 2014after previous minor, senior and U-21 victories were followed by thisspirited victory over the Tribes-men.

Leitrim got off to a flying startwhen Kennedy goaled in the fifth minutefollowing a break by Declan Maxwell atthe edge of the square.

Points from Robert Hughes andJonathan Keane rewarded Galway's earlyefforts, but Martin McGowan'sside bagged their second goal inthe 12th minute, which was verymuch against the run of play.

Once again former senior starMaxwell was in the thick of thebuild-up and he left it easy forRyan to punch into the un-guarded net after 12 min-utes.

Galway appeared to be the better sidethough they were dominant around mid-field with Keane and Hughes in fine form and a powerful seven minutes midwaythrough the half got them back in the tie.

Hughes' second free put four pointsbetween the sides, before an excellentbrace from wing-back Cathal Sweeneymeant Galway trailed by 2-3 to 0-7 at thebreak.

Hughes trimmed that lead with hisfourth free a minutes after the restart, butLeitrim followed that with a crucial threepoints in a row as Eanna Madden,Stephen McGurrin and Kennedy put fourbetween the sides again.

Galway managed to pull back to withina point late on but Adrian Croal's latescore sealed the win for Leitrim.

SCORERS Leitrim: R Kennedy 1-3 (3f), C Ryan1-0, S McGurrin 0-2, E Madden, G Sammon, ACroal, N Clancy 0-1 each. Galway: R Hughes 0-6 (6f), C Sweeney 0-2, JKeane, S White, P Cunningham, F Cooney, KReilly 0-1 each

LEITRIM: E Lyons: J Cassidy, P Gilmartin, NDuffy; J Glancy. D Duignan, E Madden; S McGur-rin, P Moolick; N Clancy, C Ryan, G Sammon; RKennedy, D Maxwell, A Croal.Subs: J Rooney for Clancy (35), N Brady forCroal (60), C Kelly for Sammon (60).

GALWAY: N Walsh; C Maher, D Kyne, D Rattigan;D Moran, C Sweeney, D Reilly; S White, RHughes; R Cleary, J Keane, A Molloy; N Cunning-ham, K Reilly, C Raftery. Subs: F Cooney forRaftery (28), P Cunningham for N Cunningham(34), D Walsh for D Reilly (43).

REF: J Gilmartin (Sligo).

CONNACHT JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Leitrim beat Galway toreach provincial decider

Pat Mollick, Letrim, in action against KevinMcDonald, Sligo.

Photo: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE

Stephen Coen, Sligo, in action against Jonathan Cassidy, Leitrim during theConnacht GAA Football Junior Championship Final. Photo: Piaras O Midheach / SPORTSFILE

N E W S N E W S N E W S N E W S N E W S N E W S

Page 21


GALWAY hurling legend Michael Colemanhas encouraged the current crop ofTribesmen not to lose the belief that theycan end a 26-year drought for All-Ireland suc-cess.

Coleman, a three-times All-Star, and All-Ire-land winner in 1987 and 1988, was one of thedriving forces behind Galway's most recentLiam MacCarthy successes, and he still thinksthere is enough talent at Anthony Cunning-ham's disposal to end the wait for their fifthtitle.

The Abbeyknockmoy midfielder refused tolash the young Tribesmen for struggling toovercome Laois and pointed to how close Gal-way were to beating Kilkenny in 2012 as themain reason behind his belief in the team.

The way Galway hurling is, we have theability, we have the hurlers there, it's just amatter of getting things right on the day.

Two years ago you'll recall we had an All-Ireland nearly in the bag and it slipped away,so we're not that far away. But for a couple ofmistakes on the day Galway could have baggedthe All-Ireland. That's the luck of the game,said Coleman who was brought into the Galwaysquad in 1987 by Cyril Farrell.

We saw it last year with Clare. They camethrough the qualifiers, were the best all dayand they were very lucky to come away in the

drawn game with a draw. And the second dayout the same thing happened again. Clare werethe better team again but Cork still werewithin a hair's breadth of them at the end.

Hurling is gone very competitive. If youlook at the hurling championship last year, onany given Sunday any team who was willing toreally, really knuckle down could take a win.

Laois got a good run on Galway the lastday, but credit to Galway they reeled them inat the end. We used to have to play Roscom-mon and we played Kerry one time in a quar-

ter-final and we were lucky to come away withwins.

When you are at that level all they can do isgo out and do the job. They did it last Sunday,Coleman said.

Coleman was back in Croke Park two yearsago to celebrate the 25-year anniversary oftheir Liam MacCarthy victory and the team of87 were given a warm reception from the ma-roon supporters ahead Galway latest failure inthe final.

The Tribesmen have lost all four of their All-Ireland finals since their last win, but Colemanreckons it is just minor details that need to beadjusted to get over the line.

Even when we were in Croke Park after the25 years we were saying 'what's happened'. In'93 we had a good chance, '96 we had anothergood chance. Look at 2001 we were unlucky tohave lost that day.

We are all hoping that Galway will be thereor thereabouts though. Other teams havepassed us by in the last 15 or 20 years and havepicked off those All-Irelands, maybe it's just onthe day with Galway.

Something seems to go slightly wrong. Ithink you need to have things going right. I re-call back in 1990 we were seven points up with15 minutes to go we still conceded 4-3 in thelast 15 minutes and you ask yourselves wheredid it all go wrong.

But that's the game and you just getcaught. Maybe we just need that extra bit ofbelief to get us across the line, he said.


FORMER Clare hurling boss Tony Considinehas severed his links with Galway seniorclub Turloughmore midway through theirchampionship campaign.

Club chairman Adrian Mooney thanked Con-sidine for his hard work and says it was an am-icable parting of ways.

However, he also said he did not believe 'bignames' should come in from outside to takecharge of clubs. It's time to look closer tohome, he says.

It was an amicable decision, said chair-man Mooney. To be totally honest with you Iwanted to look locally from day one. Im onlyin as chairman this year and that process anddecision was done before I got in place and Ihad to honour that.

There are clubs in Galway and they arelooking for big names and I think it's a bit of ajoke. We should go back to the old way, have abit of pride in the club and the jersey. There isplenty of lads capable of doing that.

I know Mullagh did it with Mike McNamaraand St Thomas' did it with Colin Lynch as well.People think that when you get a name you are

going to win something but I totally disagreewith that. A name is not going to buy you suc-cess, said Mooney.

Considine's side escaped relegation fromthe championship thanks to a one-point winover Kinvara through the back door after theylost their opening game.

But after they lost to Craughwell in theirfirst group game, scoring just 0-10 along theway, chances of improving on last year's semi-final appearance look very slim with a guaran-teed two games remaining.

But as well as the very poor results, the Tur-loughmore chairman claims Considine a na-tive of Cratloe in Clare was not aware that hisside could have to wait up to two months fortheir next championship game.

I don't think Tony realised there was a bigbreak coming in the Galway championship. Wecould be out for a couple of months. It's a longway up and it's a long way down and that'stough going. But the way the results weregoing as well was a factor.

It was different when he was down in Lim-erick with Kilmallock, he was closer to home. Idon't think he realised what it was about at thetime. The break had a lot to do with it.

I think he was happy enough (to call timeon it) to be honest. The results contributed toit as well. It was a tricky one, said Mooney.

Efforts to contact Tony Considine were un-successful.

OUT: Tony Considine and Turloughmorehave gone their separate ways midwaythrough the Galway club hurling champi-onship.

Photo: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE

Considine and Turlough part ways

Don't lose the faith: Coleman

STICK AT IT: Former Galway midfielderMichael Coleman during the 1989 All-Irelandhurling semi-final.

Photo: Ray McManus/SPORTSFILE

N E W S N E W S N E W S N E W S N E W S N E W S

Page 22


DONIE Shine looks certainto miss out on Roscom-mon's Round 2 qualifierin five weeks time with newsthat he has ruptured his poste-rior cruciate ligament in hisknee.

Shine was stretchered offafter he collapsed under a highball, as John Evans' side lostnarrowly to Mayo in Hyde Parkon Sunday. And after undergo-ing a scan on Monday eveningthe knee ligament injury wasconfirmed.

Shine, who is expected to sitout the next two months action,tweeted the results of his proce-dure saying: Ruptured poste-rior cruciate. Not great, butcould be worse. Thanks for allthe messages.

There was some positive

news for Shine though, with theconfirmation that the ligamentdamaged was the posterior andnot anterior cruciate, which givehis some chance of returning tointer-county action later in thesummer, providing Roscommoncan put together a decent runthrough the back door.

His county manager JohnEvans was relieved to hearthere was no long-term damageto Shine's knee, but he con-firmed his star attacker will stillhave to undergo more inves-tigative procedures to discoverthe full extent of his problem.

A further exploratory investi-gation

Documents

Into the West Magazine - June 2014-Digital Edition