South Galway

THE intensity and work rate that Galway will need to beat Kilkenny on Sunday must be twice what it was against Tipperary, according to captain, David Collins. The Liam Mellows clubman said the positivity that is in the squad this year has helped him. “If it wasn’t, I would be sitting down and out and would not be playing. The depth in the squad is massive and we need that going forward,” Collins told The Clare Champion. Asked at what stage in their semi-final against Tipperary did he feel that it would be their day, he replied, “When I saw Johnny Glynn hooking Maher and Mannion picking the ball up and putting it over the bar, I said ‘this is it, this is our game, we are on the curve’. The work rate and the intensity that the boys kept bringing was superb and we need to keep that going now. “We have kept it going in training and we …

HAVING players from one’s club involved with the county panel on All-Ireland final day heightens the interest within the club, Gort club chairman John Quinn believes but he equally holds the view that being involved in the All-Ireland final means as much to the clubs that don’t have a player on the panel. “Having club members involved creates additional interest and gives a connection with what is going on. It also creates a problem with the distribution of tickets, which is a challenge as well and it’s a nice problem to have. It is a policy in our club that members will be looked after first, in particular working members who are active in the club week in and week out. It would be the right thing to do to distribute the tickets amongst the grassroots of a club.” Aidan Harte and Greg Lally from Gort are part of the Galway senior panel this year, Jack Grealish is a member …

A little over 12 months ago, there were doubts as to whether or not Anthony Cunningham would be given another term in charge of the Galway senior hurlers. They had been knocked out of the All-Ireland race and some supporters were impatient but the St Thomas’ clubman, who had just completed three years in charge, clearly believed in the players. “You always want to stay with a team you believe in and I believed that these guys have talent. We have worked hard in the last three to four years in bringing the standards up. Kilkenny have led that. The work that goes into inter-county teams now and what they do on their own is massive and I am delighted to have had the chance of working with this group,” he said. Looking ahead to Sunday’s date with Kilkenny, he confirmed that the Tribesmen have no injury worries. “We came out of the game the last day [Tipperary] really well. …

Gort’s John Commins is one of a relatively small band of Galway hurlers to win All-Ireland minor, U-21 and senior hurling championship medals. He can readily appreciate what it means to be contesting both finals on Sunday. He told The Clare Champion, “It’s great for Galway hurling to be in the minor and senior finals this year. I am delighted to be involved with the minors. From the senior perspective, it’s great to be back in the final after 2012 and I am looking forward to both games”. In addition to his medals with Galway, Commins won a county title with Gort in 1983. He went on to add a Connacht medal, while he is the holder of two Railway Cup medals with Connacht. He was drafted into the Galway minor team in the early 1980s and won an All-Ireland medal in 1983. He was called up to the U-21 squad and won All-Ireland honours with them in 1986, after …

As All-Ireland hurling final day fast approaches, this week’s  Clare Champion (out September 3) provides comprehensive coverage of the build-up. Galway face the formidable Kilkenny in the senior decider, while their minors, after beating Kilkenny in a replay, take on Tipperary for the Croke Park spectacle. After many disappointments, the Tribesman believe 2015 is their year to bring both the Liam MacCarthy Cup and the Irish Press Cup across the Shannon. There’s great excitement in Galway, following their single point win over Tipperary in a pulsating All-Ireland semi-final clash a couple of weeks ago. Several members of the team are from clubs in the South Galway area and they have many links with clubs, families and friends in neighbouring Clare. The Clare Champion has interviews with players, former players and club officers, as a well as an overview on  Sunday’s Croke Park showdown, and the underlying air is that of confidence, but with the caveat that nothing short of a …

THE much anticipated Bullseye Wood Project will be launched on this Wednesday next as an initiative of Galway Community Archaeology Advisory Project, in partnership with Woodford Parish Development Group. The project will involve the sensitive cleaning of a small children’s burial ground within woodland and the organisers are recording it as a community archaeology training programme. The site is located over the border in Galway, just outside the village of Woodford and the aim of this project is to have the site included in the Heritage Council’s Adopt-a-Monument Scheme. The Adopt-a-Monument Scheme (AaM) aims to empower communities to become actively involved in the conservation and interpretation of local archaelogical heritage sites by providing expertise, mentoring and support. The initiative originates in Scotland, whereby the local community will be involved long term in the management and maintenance of the site. It is also planned to create a green walkway around the site as a local amenity so that the archaeology, ecology …

AN exhibition relating to Kinvara during the War of Independence opened in the village at the weekend. Kinvara Company, Irish Volunteers 1916-23 will remain open daily from 11am to 3pm until Saturday. The exhibition coincides with National Heritage Week but organisers from the Kinvara Folklore Digital Archive are hoping it will kick-start plans to mark the contribution of men and women in the area to the War of Independence. “Hosted by the Kinvara Community Council and assembled by members of the community, this exhibition has unique oral and written histories of a small town’s effort within a bigger conflict,” explained Eilish Kavanagh of the Kinvara Folklore Digital Archive. “A lot of areas, not just Dublin, were active in 1916 and Kinvara was one of those places. Lately, I have attended a couple of heritage meetings about the county’s plans to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising and it struck me that there was no mention of Kinvara. It highlighted …

Evidence of a bronze age settlement has been discovered in South Galway. Recent preliminary investigations have revealed that at least one crannóg, and possibly up to four, may exist on Ballinakill Lake, close to Lough Cutra. The 90-acre lake may also include a causeway linking one of the prehistoric man-made islands to the shoreline. Just one of the crannógs is above the water level in the lake and according to Christy Cunniffe, community archaeologist with Galway County Council, “the submerged features warrant further examination”. The archaeologist also suggested that a seemingly linear rock formation under the water may have been a causeway joining one or more of the crannógs to the shore but added that log-boats may also have been used. “Crannógs would not be that common in South Galway. These are significant. A 90-acre lake with the potential to have at least three crannógs in it and other prehistoric monuments around it, suggests that there was a strong pre-historic …