Castlebar - County Mayo - G.M.I.T. @ Castlebar Sports News

GMIT CASTLEBAR BEAT ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONS!

On Wednesday 22nd the GMIT Castlebar Golf Team played the holders of the All Ireland Inter Colleges Golf Trophy, Sligo IT, in Sligo’s home venue at Co. Sligo Golf Course in Rosses Point.

Team manager, Pat Kilcourse, had a large panel to choose from and as always picking the players was a difficult decision but the manager’s word was final. Captain, Taidgh Sheehy, Paul Biggins, Shane Mulryan, David O’Malley, Liam Coffey and Colm Nicholson were the six eventually picked to play, but three subs, Nigel Mc Cormack, Gary Kilcourse and Damien Conway, were brought out also and played behind the team as the match was in progress.

The first pairing out were Mulryan and O’Malley. After a great start in their match, the Castlebar men suffered a shaky period in the middle part of their match. But O’Malley held his nerve and produced some great golf for the first of the vital points for the GMIT team.

The pairing of Coffey and Nicholson met stiff opposition who produced some brilliant golf. The Castlebar men were not phased by this and dug deep but were robbed of victory in the finishing straight.

With the match balanced on a knife-edge of one match apiece, it all came down to the pairing of Sheehy and Biggins. With light fading and tension rising, the pair sealed victory with a great par on the 17th hole, to close out the match and ensure victory for the GMIT team.

A return leg, to be held in Castlebar, has been organised for the New Year. Speaking after the win, Manager Pat Kilcourse commented, ‘I am delighted with the win and seeing what the lads did out there today, im sure we will go far at this years All-Irelands in Carlow and hopefully steal the Trophy from Sligo.’

Colin Mc Ellin
PRO
Golf Society

It was a quiet week beside this, with the hurlers and footballers having a week off, the only action was in the triple-header in Tallaght. The women’s basketball game proved to be a real cliffhanger as expected. In a reversal of last years result in castlebar the Dublin girls held on to win by a single basket to keep alive our keenest rivalry at this level and to leave the girls seeking revenge. With so many good young players on the team , such as Sharon Banville, Tracey Durcan, Ciara Griffin , Sandra Lynn and Sarah Syron confidence is high that the girls are set to establish themselves as a team to be reckoned with.
Neither of the men’s teams gave the Tallaght men as close a run although last years beaten finalists were given a fright for a long portion of the game before sealing it comfortably with a final quarter rally. The loss of Wayne Power who needed stitches to a cut below the eye from an elbow was always going to be hard to counter with an already depleted bench, but the lads will have learned a great deal and are looking forward to Letterkenny in a fortnight.
The Soccer team have that trip to make also but with less enthusiasm as they have to go back to the drawing board after a disappointing show against a very impressive Tallaght side. Damian Richardson had his side well prepared and on the immaculate surface in St Francis they played a very controlled game which, despite a dubious first minute penalty, the castlebar lads dealt with well. However as legs got tired the gaps appeared and this was a side well able to exploit this as they clearly demonstrated.
There was plenty to take from the game though as Alan McHugh got through a great amount of work despite having to play out of position, and John Mullins showing the touches that show what he could be capable if he could regain the fitness lost in his recent absence. Barry McLoughlin showed that the confidence placed in the first year by making him Captain was well founded. Had Terence Gallagher’s audacious effort from near the corner flag with the outside of his foot gone in, (it nearly caught the keeper off guard), we would have been hearing about it for months to come- what with Terence being so shy and all!!

Looking ahead we will soon see the dreams of two ladies fulfilled. Jackie McDonnell
(rugby) and Maeve Murphy (camogie), will both see the college fielding teams in the games they love. Their campaigns to get these teams up and running have been eventful, stopping just short of kidnapping classmates and chaining themselves to the college gates to make sure they got their way. Fair play to ye for the determination and best of luck with the games in the weeks ahead