Allianz Football League Division One
Galway 0-26 (0-7-12) Mayo 0-16 (0-1-14)
By Colm Gannon at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park
Galway saw off Mayo in ease by 10 points in Castlebar, thanks in a large part to their expertise of taking advantage of the new rules. They kicked seven two pointers in total, with two of them coming from Mayo giving away frees for not having three men back in their own half.
Mayo had held a narrow one-point lead at half time, having twice battled back from four-point deficits.
The hosts struck first, with Seán Morahan scoring within the opening minute, it was followed by a ’45’ from Conor Gleeson and a close-range point from Paul Conroy, giving Galway an early advantage.
Conor Reid quickly levelled for Mayo, but Galway responded strongly, with points from Sean Kelly, Shane Walsh, and Dylan McHugh pushing them three points clear.
Kelly then squandered a clear goal-scoring opportunity, his shot saved by Colm Reape, but it didn’t take long for Conroy to extend Galway’s lead to 0-6 to 0-2.
Mayo attempted to begin their comeback with a point from Frank Irwin, and Davitt Neary looked to have narrowed the gap further, but his score was disallowed due to a Mayo not having three players in their defensive half and Cillian Ó’Curraoin converted the resulting free, restoring Galway’s four-point cushion.
Mayo’s response was swift. Paul Towey scored a fine point, and Conor Reid added another to reduce the deficit to two.
Towey then hit for the game’s first two-point score, levelling the match at seven points each. Donnacha McHugh put Mayo in the lead, but then missed a chance to extend it, scuffing a close-range shot wide. Sean Kelly equalised for Galway, but Towey scored his third point of the half just before the break, giving Mayo a 0-9 to 0-8 lead.
The second half began with Walsh immediately putting Galway into the lead with a long-range two-point effort effort. Ó’Curraoin then added a point to put Galway two infront, and his two-point free extended their lead to four.
Neary responded for Mayo, but Walsh landed another long-range shot, giving Galway a commanding 0-15 to 0-10 lead with fifteen minutes remaining and he repeated the trick on 49 minutes and Galway were seven to the good and the two league points firmly in their back pocket for the trip home.
There was still time for Galway to add nine more points before the end of the game with Cillian Ó’Curraion adding a brace of two pointers and Walsh adding another two pointer to his personal tally as they ran out comprehensive winners.
Scorers for Galway: Shane Walsh 0-9 (2 2pt, 2 2ptf), Cillian Ó Curraoin 0-8 (1 2pt, 2 2ptf, 1f), Paul Conroy 0-3, Seán Kelly 0-2, Rob Finnerty 0-2 (2fs), Dylan McHugh 0-1 and Connor Gleeson 0-1 (45)
Scorers for Mayo: Paul Towey 0-5 (1 2pt), Ryan O’Donoghue 0-3 (3fs), Davitt Neary 0-3, Conor Reid 0-2, Sean Morahan 0-1, Donnacha McHugh 0-1, and Frank Irwin 0-1.
Galway: Connor Gleeson; Johnny McGrath, Séan Fitzgerald, Daniel O’Flaherty; Dylan McHugh, Liam Silke, Séan Kelly, Paul Conroy, Cillian McDaid; John Maher, Finnian Ó’Laoí, Céin Darcy; Cillian Ó’Curraoin; Shane Walsh, Sam O’Neill.
Subs: Jack Glynn for Sean Kelly, Robert Finnerty for Sam O’Neill, Cathal Sweeney for Cillian McDaid, Johnny Heaney for Finnian Ó’Laoi, Colm Costello for Shane Walsh
Mayo: Colm Reape; Sam Callinan, Rory Brickenden, Enda Hession; Stephen Coen, David McBrien, Seán Morahan; Donnacha McHugh, Matthew Ruane; Conor Reid, Fergal Boland, Davitt Neary; Paul Towey, Frank Irwin, Ryan O’Donoghue.
Subs: Darren MacHale for Fergal Boland, Diarmuid O’Connor for Conor Reid, Eoghan McLaughlin for Matthew Ruane, Bob Tuohy for Diarmuid O’Connor, Cian McHale for Frank Irwin.
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
Our Senior Footballers make the trip to Castlebar on Sunday to face Mayo in Round 2 of the Allianz Football League:
Sunday February 2nd 2025
Hastings Insurance MacHale Park
2.30pm
Commentary on Galway Bay FM, and RnaG Spórt
Live score updates via WhatstheScor App
Watch Live on TG4
Buy Match Tickets online and in selected Centra and SuperValu stores⬇️⬇️
https://am.ticketmaster.com/gaa/buy/25HM0202
Best of Luck to Pádraic Joyce, Team Management and our Senior Football squad on Sunday
By Cian O’Connell
“It has been football since day one, nothing else,” Feargal Ó Sé says about growing up in a famous Connemara sporting family.
The links with An Cheathrú Rua’s glory days in the 90s when Galway SFC glory was earned are strong with his Dad and uncles influential figures in that triumph.
Ó Sé has heard the stories about the games, and the memories that matter in the Gaeltacht club. “Dad was on the team, and I had four uncles – Ronan, Edward, Peter, and Jarlath, who were all playing on the same team together,” he says.
“They’d a great bond, and they proved that they could do it, winning a county final, and were unlucky not to go further, really.”
In the intervening decades An Cheathrú Rua, Galway standard bearers in 1996, continued to operate in the top tier until two recent relegations in 2022 and 2023 ensured a return to the junior grade.
An Cheathrú Rua responded. “I suppose, we just knew we had to make a change, really,” Ó Sé responds.
“After all of the losses, it was make or break. You’ve to change the momentum, where it was going, we knew we had to make a change, and that is what we did.”
An Cheathrú Rua forward Éanna MacCormaic. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Galway and Connacht glory has been secured with a trip to Croke Park on Saturday for an AIB All-Ireland Club JFC Final with Naomh Pádraig imminent. Suddenly, there is hope in An Cheathrú Rua hearts again. “There is a good buzz around the town, there is a real sense of community around the place,” he says.
Emerging players are beginning to contribute and that is one of the chief reasons An Cheathrú Rua people are optimistic about their local outfit again. “It has been big, especially the young lads that are coming through, they’ve been in a few county finals,” Ó Sé reflects.
“Obviously, it shows, they’ve come through putting their name forward to start. I haven’t been in many county finals at underage and there isn’t many left from the teams I played with that are left playing now.
“It is more so for the younger lads coming through this year, you can see they’ve the experience of winning and getting to finals. It has really helped us along.”
Some of the An Cheathrú Rua panel will be playing football at GAA headquarters on Saturday and back at school early next week. “We’ve Fionnan (Ó Conghaile), Maitiú (Ó Domhnaill), Sean, all the young lads that are still in school.
“They’ve been a big help to the team, we’ve come a long way, and they’re really standing up, doing their part for the team.”
Tá an scéal seo díreach ag tosnú.
Click here to listen to an interview as Gaeilge with An Cheathrú Rua’s Feargal Ó Sé.
The GAA can confirm the AIB All-Ireland Club JFC Final fixture.
Saturday January 25
AIB All-Ireland Club JFC Final
An Cheathrú Rua v Naomh Pádraig, Muff, Croke Park, 3.10pm, TG4
Referee: TBC
(E.T & Winner on the Day)
The game will be part of a triple header along with the Allianz Hurling League Division 1B encounter, Dublin v Antrim (5.15pm), and Allianz Football League Division One game, Dublin v Mayo (7.30pm).
AIB All-Ireland Club JFC semi-final
AN CHEATHRÚ RUA 1-9 BALLINAGAR 0-11
By Kevin Egan at King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park
Paudie Mac Cormaic wrote his name into the history books of An Cheathrú Rua GAA club when he sent over a sensational winning point from the narrowest of angles to send the Gaeltacht club through to the AIB All-Ireland junior club football final in three weeks, while simultaneously sending a dagger into the hearts of a Ballinagar club who have been on a fairytale journey in recent seasons.
The Offaly club, one of three clubs in their rural parish, famously voted to join up with their larger neighbours from Raheen in recent years, but when that approach was rebuffed by Raheen, they refocused their efforts on turning around their fortunes, having spent almost all of their existence in the junior ranks.
A strong focus on underage harnessed the potential that some local building projects offered, and under the guidance of former St. Brigid’s (Roscommon) manager Benny O’Brien, they embarked on this year’s campaign and secured unprecedented victories in Offaly and Leinster.
Up against An Cheathrú Rua, who played senior football in Galway as recently as 2021 and who seemed to gather a lot of momentum through their Connacht campaign, Ballinagar were pegged as real underdogs by most neutrals, and it seemed like they might be in for a particularly tough afternoon when the Connemara club exploded out of the blocks, kicking three excellent points from Michéal Ó Briain, Pádraig Ó Loideáin and Galway underage player Maitiú Ó Domhnaill in the opening four minutes.
Then Robbie Gallagher took on three defenders and won a free out of nothing when it looked like he was isolated, and once Stephen Dwane converted the score, the Offaly side settled into the game and didn’t look back. Strong defensive showings from Brian Malone, Declan Crombie and Diarmuid Finneran gave them the platform, Geordi O’Meara was heavily involved in the middle third and up front they had a willing runner and first receiver in Conor Bracken, and the individual star of the show in 19-year-old Gallagher.
Conor McGuinness came agonisingly close to swiping in a goal for the midlanders but even without that boost, Ballinagar were full value for their 0-5 to 0-4 lead, after 24 minutes, when Gallagher read a bouncing diagonal delivery and added a good finish.
An Cheathrú Rua crucially tagged on two points before half-time, a 45 from James Ó Flatharta and a fine strike off Pádraig Mac Donnacha’s right boot, but they failed to carry that momentum into the second half and really struggled to match the energy and heart of Ballinagar.
Geordi O’Meara struck a free to level the game and U-20 All-Ireland winner Morgan Tynan nudged Ballinagar back into the lead with the next play, confirming his emergence as a key figure in the middle, and An Cheathrú Rua were in real trouble all over the field.
Feargal Ó Sé, one of the brightest young prospects in the club, took the game by the scruff of the neck in the 41st minute when he used his pace to explode past Jack Gorry and float a handpass across goal for Paudie Mac Cormaic to attack. The substitute slapped the ball off the post, and the rebound fell perfectly for Maitiú Ó Domhnaill to fire a first time shot to the net for what looked like a decisive score.
Instead, Ballinagar came again. O’Meara and Adam Strong pointed to get them back on level terms, and it looked like their magical journey was set to continue when Jacob Beatty came off the bench to kick two points and give them the lead going into stoppage time.
A place in Croke Park was within touching distance, but the reason that slot on the hallowed turf in Dublin 3 is so revered is because it’s so hard to obtain. Huge questions were asked of An Cheathrú Rua, and while Ballinagar’s defence held firm, James Ó Flatharta (a 45) and Mac Cormaic had the composure and the skill to kick two outstanding scores to retake the lead and clinch victory at the end of a thrilling hour of action in Roscommon.
Scorers for An Cheathrú Rua: Maitiú Ó Domhnaill 1-1, James Ó Flatharta 0-2 (45s), Pádraig Mac Donnacha, Padraig Ó Loideáin, Fionán Ó Conghaile, Michéal Ó Briain, Feargal Ó Sé (f) and Paudie Mac Cormaic 0-1 each.
Scorers for Ballinagar: Geordi O’Meara 0-3 (0-2f), Robbie Gallagher 0-2, Steven Dwane 0-2f, Jacob Beatty 0-2, Morgan Tynan 0-1, Adam Joyce 0-1.
An Cheathrú Rua: James Ó Flatharta; Johnny Ó Tiarnaigh, Iarlaith Ó Conchubhair, Darragh Mac Sheónín; Ethan de Paor, Colin Ó Domhnaill, Myles Mac Donnacha; Stiofáin Ó Briain, Pádraig Mac Donnacha; Pádraig Ó Loideáin, Maitiú Ó Domhnaill, Fionán Ó Conghaile; Éanna Mac Cormaic, Micheál Ó Briain, Feargal Ó Sé. Subs: Oisin Ó Lochláinn for Ó Tiarnaigh (41), Paudie Mac Cormaic for É Mac Cormaic (41), Colm Ó Cualáin for Ó Conchubhair (48), Cian Ó Domhnaill for Ó Conghaile (54), Michéal de Bhailís for S Ó Briain (57).
Ballinagar: Ryan Kinahan; Jack Gorry, Diarmuid Finneran, Declan Crombie; Adam Joyce, Brian Malone, Aaron Gorman; Adam Strong, Morgan Tynan; Geordi O’Meara, Conor McGuinness, Jack Sheil; Stephen Dwane, Robbie Gallagher, Conor Bracken. Subs: Shane Finneran for Strong (24-HT, temp), Jacob Beatty for Dwane (38), Jamie Ballesty for Sheil (39), Eoin McGuinness for C McGuinness (48), Eibheann Gorman for Gorry (60)
Ref: Enda McFeely (Donegal).
Is údar mór brón do CLG na Gaillimhe an scéala go bhfuil ár n-iar imreoir Contae Jimmy Farrell imithe ar shlí na firínne.
27 September 1959; The Galway team. Back row, from left, Mick Garrett, John Nallen, Mick Laide, Jack Kissane, Mattie McDonagh, Frank Evers, Joe Young and Mick Greally. Front row, from left, Séamus Colleran, Jimmy Farrell, Seán Meade, Seán Purcell, captain, Michael ‘Hauleen’ McDonagh, Jack Mahon and Frank Stockwell. All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, Kerry v Galway, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit: Connolly Collection / SPORTSFILE
The St Brendan’s clubman lined out in Goal the 1959 All-Ireland Final vs Kerry with his two club colleagues Mick Greally (Corner Back) and Mattie McDonagh (Midfield).
At Club level he filled numerous club roles throughout a lifetime of involvement.
On behalf of Galway GAA, we express our deepest sympathies to his children Marie, Anne, Kevin, Seamus and Kathy, brothers Tommie and Brian, sisters Chrissie and Teresa, his grandchildren, in laws and extended family members. He will be sadly missed by his family, friends and the whole Galway GAA community.
Funeral details are as follows: https://www.galwaybayfm.ie/death-notices/james-jimmy-farrell-183829
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Is údar mór brón do CLG na Gaillimhe an scéala go bhfuil ár n-iar imreoir Contae Cyril Dunne imithe ar shlí na firínne.
The St Grellan’s clubman was a key player in the Galway Senior Football team of the 1960s, winning three consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals in 1964, 1965 and 1966. Dunne also helped his county to the Connacht championship on six occasions.
At Club level, he contested a County Football Final in 1971 and County Hurling Final in 1973 and he served in numerous club roles throughout a long and dedicated career.
On behalf of Galway GAA, we express our deepest sympathies to his wife Bernadette, his children Marie, Grellan, Carmel, Sinead, Eimear and Joseph, his sister Ann Hanniffy, his brother Jackie, his grandchildren, great-grandchild, in laws and extended family members.
He will be sadly missed by his family, friends and the whole Galway GAA community.
Funeral details are as follows https://rip.ie/death-notice/cyril-dunne-galway-ballinasloe-577087
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Galway GAA currently has a vacancy for a Lead Physiotherapist to support our Senior Football panel. The position will be based in the Galway GAA training venues.
Overview:
The Lead Physiotherapist is responsible for the development and implementation of the physiotherapy and rehabilitation services for the Galway Senior Football team. They will provide immediate medical care, injury assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation for players during training sessions and matches. The Lead Physiotherapist will work closely with the team management, coaching staff, and other medical professionals to ensure that players receive the best possible care and support.
Responsibilities:
· Develop and implement the physiotherapy and rehabilitation services for the team, including injury prevention strategies, treatment plans, and rehabilitation programs
· Provide immediate medical care for players who sustain injuries during training sessions or matches, including assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation
· Work closely with the team management, coaching staff, and other medical professionals to ensure that players receive the appropriate level of care and support
· Maintain accurate and up-to-date medical records for each player, including injury history, treatment plans, and progress reports
· Communicate regularly with coaching staff and other medical professionals to ensure that players receive the appropriate level of care and support
· Attend all training sessions and matches, and be available to provide immediate medical care as needed
· Provide pre-game preparation for players, including taping, stretching, and massage
· Assist with emergency care and stabilization of injured players
· Provide treatment and rehabilitation for injured players after matches and during the off-season to facilitate their return to play
· Manage and supervise the team of physiotherapists, including scheduling, performance management, and professional development
· Provide leadership and mentorship to junior physiotherapists and support staff
· Attend continuing education courses and seminars to stay up to date on the latest developments in sports medicine and physiotherapy/rehabilitation
Qualifications:
· Bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy
· All chartered physiotherapists should be CORU registered.
· Master’s degree in Musculoskeletal Practice or a related field is preferred
· Minimum of five years of experience in sports physiotherapy/ rehabilitation, preferably in Gaelic games or other team sports
· Strong knowledge of anatomy, kinesiology, and biomechanics
· Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team
· Ability to work under pressure and make quick decisions in high-stress situations
· Commitment to ongoing professional development and learning
· Experience in managing and supervising a team of Physiotherapists and support staff
Reply: Please reply with your CV and letter of application to secretary.galway@gaa.ie before 5pm on Wednesday, November 27th.
