Hurling showdown leaves Spiddal family with split loyalties!
The Conneely clan of An Spidéal are all smiles now – but come 3.30pm today, county loyalties will come to the fore.
Mary Conneely from the hurling stronghold of Freshford will be shouting for her native Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park. But Mary is outnumbered at their Connemara home – her husband Patsy Ó Conghaile, and sons, Gearóid and Pádraic, will be roaring for Galway.
The three men of the house are hurling mad, too . . . so much so that they might just have managed to convert Mary into supporting the men in maroon and white.
“I’ll be shouting for Kilkenny but deep down I’d love to see Galway winning,” says Mary, who has lived and worked in Galway for 23 years.
Patsy is a coaching officer in CLG An Spidéal, and the two children, Gearóid (16), who is in Coláiste Chroí Mhuire, and Pádraic (12), who is in Scoil Éinde, An Spidéal, attend hurling Cúl Camps locally and in Saint Lachtain’s GAA Club in Freshford every summer.
An Spidéal is considered ‘football country’, and isn’t always thought of as a hurling village, but that’s the wrong impression, says Mary. They have an obsession with hurling – and that’s why she’d love to see Anthony Cunningham’s men triumph today.
“The lads are so passionate about hurling in our house. It’s eat, sleep and drink hurling in this house here in An Spidéal and in Kilkenny. For the game of hurling, and for Galway and the game of hurling in Galway, it would be great to see Galway win it. It’d give them a lift and it would shorten the winter. It would boost morale in Galway. They’ve been waiting 27 years – maybe now is the time.
“I am passionate about Kilkenny hurling but now that I’m living in Galway so long, I’d love to see them get the chance to win it. It would do so much for the game of hurling and for the children that are coming up who are just passionate about the game. It would do wonders.
“I’ll be shouting for Kilkenny but deep down I’d love to see Galway winning and if they win it I wouldn’t be a bit disappointed, I’d be delighted for them. I’d say that to everyone. I’d love to see Galway winning even though I’m from Kilkenny. May the best team win,” she adds.