Galway clubs grab slice of Feile glory at juvenile festival
Date Published: 29-Jun-2011
Niall Canavan
THE great festival of hurling, camogie and handball that is Feile na nGael took place in Galway last weekend. The action started with the first round games on Friday prior to the Feile parade going ahead that evening in Loughrea.
Despite the inclement weather conditions a huge crowd descended on Loughrea for what turned out to be the biggest ever Feile parade with over 5,000 participants. Subsequent group games took place on Saturday last before finals day at Pearse Stadium and The Prairie.Galway achieved considerable success at Feile with Padraig Pearses, Mountbellew-Moylough and Sylane taking divisional hurling titles, St.Colman’s won the Division 4 camogie title while Abbeyknockmoy, Annaghdown and Micheal Breathnachs won handball titles.
In hurling, O’Loughlin Gaels of Kilkenny defeated Na Piarsaigh from Limerick in the prestigious Division 1 hurling title. Their star man Robert Buckley scored 1-5 in his side’s 3-7 to 0-4 victory thus seeing the Christy Ring Trophy head to the Kilkenny club for the first time.
In the Division 2 hurling final, Raharney (Westmeath) defeated Portlaoise (Laois) by 4-9 to 1-3 with Killian Doyle shooting 4-6 for the winners. Kiltale of Meath had a comprehensive 8-7 to 1-2 victory over Muinebheag of Carlow in the Division 3 final.
The Division 4 final saw an all Galway pairing as Padraig Pearses took on Abbeyknockmoy with Pearses taking the title by 3-4 to 2-5 after a titanic battle. Three Keith Connell goals saw Pearses into a 3-3 to 1-1 half time lead but with Calem Mulry in top form and Lee Cosgrave also impressing Abbeyknockmoy stormed back into the game.
Padraig Pearses goalkeeper Jarlath Healy saved superbly late on from Conor Mannion as his team held on for a narrow victory. Keith Connell scored 3-1 for the winners, Brian Sweeney shot two points while Lee Murphy scored an excellent sideline cut.
For an Abbeyknockmoy side that shot 13 wides, Martin Finn and Lee Cosgrave scored goals with Liam McCarthy tacking on three points and Calem Mulry two.
Late goals by Brian Higgins and Conor Fahy saw Mountbelolew-Moylough defeat Naomh Eoin frm Sligo by 3-5 to 1-5 in an exciting Division 5 final. A Colin Ryan goal had seen Mountbellew-Moylough into a 1-3 to 0-3 half time lead before Naomh Eoin responded to lead by 1-5 to 1-3 late in the game.
Subsequently, Mountbellew-Moylough’s two goals arrived to help the North Galway club carry the day. Conor Fahy scored 1-2 for Mountbellew-Moylough with Brian Higgins and Colin Ryan both scoring 1-1 each. Their other point came via Joseph Whyte while John Daly made an excellent second half save at a time when Naomh Eoin were in the ascendancy.
For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.