Helping those who live half lives in the half light

Thu, Nov 28, 2019

This city has changed much over the past 30 or 40 years. The type of people who live in it have a different perspective from those who once did. The buildings have changed, the public spaces, the street coverings, the ambience.

Yet, the one constant that exists is the cold breeze that lashes through the town, winds it way up the streets, finding every nook and cranny. It is a breeze that is as much a charm as a curse.

Fantasy Football round 14 preview

Tue, Nov 26, 2019

Game week 13's action concluded as Aston Villa secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Newcastle in Birmingham on Monday night. Elsewhere Liverpool's assault on the Premier League title continued unabated with a hard fought 2-1 success over Crystal Palace; Leicester strengthened their grip on second spot with 3-0 win over Brighton; Man City defeated Chelsea 2-1; and Man United made a Lazarus like comeback to secure a 3-3 draw with Sheffield United in south Yorkshire.

Don’t let insurance issues suck the life out of our communities

Thu, Nov 21, 2019

About an hour after I press the send button on this article, my fellow coaches and I will be stood on a muddy pitch while a band of determined U-12 girls will lash footballs at us for the betterment of their skills. For 90 minutes, we will attempt to pass on some of our perceived wisdom, until they go home, muddied, energised, happier for the participation, and hopefully, slightly better players.

The scene is replicated on pitches and community grounds and dimly-lit community centres across the country. People who are clerks by day become trapeze artists by night as they scale lighting rigs on century-old halls to set up for amateur drama productions; Saturdays are taken up by hardy souls having to line pitches, to repair football nets; to get ready for fetes and fairs.

Fantasy Football round 13 preview

Wed, Nov 20, 2019

It was ultimately a disappointing international break for Irish fans as the 1-1 draw with Denmark in Dublin on Monday night was not enough to secure a place at Euro 2020. Mick McCarthy's men will have another shot at qualifying for the continent's football jamboree next summer but that is at the end of March and we have plenty of Premier League action to keep us occupied over the coming months.

The never-ending lowering of that bar

Thu, Nov 14, 2019

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So here we are again, not that we ever thought that lessons had been learned. Here we are with utterances that are making life more horrible for people. Here we are, playing the same old card because maybe the lads said that this card worked wonders the first time it was played, the lads who said 'sure isn’t it just what everyone is saying', the words ringing in your ears, that it’s OK to say these things, to make these suggestions.

So here we are again, not that we ever thought that lessons had been learned. Here we are with utterances that are making life more horrible for people. Here we are, playing the same old card because maybe the lads said that this card worked wonders the first time it was played, the lads who said 'sure isn’t it just what everyone is saying', the words ringing in your ears, that it’s OK to say these things, to make these suggestions.

A mourning for an age of innocence

Thu, Nov 07, 2019

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In semiotics, there is the signifier and the signified.

Fantasy Football round 12 preview

Wed, Nov 06, 2019

Another round down and Liverpool look like they are in no mood to relinquish their best chance of winning a league title in 30 years. The Reds managed to complete another comeback with a late win against Aston Villa on Saturday thanks to a 94th minute effort by Sadio Mané.

The wonder of Galway's downtime

Thu, Oct 31, 2019

There is something nice about downtime. When you can throw off your work clothes, slip into your comfiest gear and lounge around the house secure in the knowledge that nobody will be calling, when effectively you're in for the night. Galway is a city that is built on downtime — its streets and clubs and restaurants and hotels are all based on soothing those who are on downtime, who come in search of it, to have their weary heads nursed back to an equilibrium of calm and resilience.

Fantasy Football round 11 preview

Thu, Oct 31, 2019

Game week 10 of the 2019/2020 Premier League season will be remembered for one thing; Southampton 0 - 9 Leicester City. Yes Brendan Rogers' charges equalled a Premier League record on Friday night as they eviscerated the 10-man Saints in front of their home faithful.

Let’s look after each other this wintertime

Thu, Oct 24, 2019

And so to wintertime. In a year when the seasons seemed in a hurry to pass one another out, we reach the stage where the clocks go back, where darkness becomes our constant companion, there when we leave home in the morning, there to greet us in the evening.

It is as if we are cocooned inside a large tea-cosy — slowly descending, preventing us from living our lives the way we want to. Everything seems much more of an effort in winter. Roads and paths are slippery, getting out and about to do the things we want is more involved. The escapes that you create for yourself in summer and spring are temporarily sidelined.

Fantasy Football round 10 preview

Thu, Oct 24, 2019

Game week nine's action came to an end with Arsenal's old frailties coming to the fore as they went down 1-0 to Sheffield United in south Yorkshire. Elsewhere, Man United produced a much improved display to earn a 1-1 draw against league leaders Liverpool at Old Trafford, Leicester extended their fine form with another three points via a 2-1 victory over Burnley, and Spurs' woes continued limping to a 1-1 home draw against bottom placed Watford.

Let the sea be a symbol of our openness

Thu, Oct 17, 2019

For too long we have looked away from the sea, been blind to its potential, to its possibilities. Even when JFK mentioned going to the Claddagh and seeing the O’Flahertys working on the docks in Boston on that clear day, we put it away with our misty-eyed memories and never gave it another thought.

But the sea, our sea, our ocean, laps right up to our coast here in this city. In times past, it brought many colourful and mysterious people to our shores, merchants, sailors, travellers. They brought with them ideas, and cultures and ways of living, that over the centuries went on to make Galway and its people a place and kind of its own. And to be fair, this difference has been maintained in the city and it is a difference that we try to implement.

Fantasy Football round nine preview

Wed, Oct 16, 2019

So the second international break has concluded and for Mick McCarthy and Ireland fans, it was one to forget. A drab 0-0 draw against Georgia in Tbilisi on Saturday was followed up by a meek 2-0 defeat in Geneva to Switzerland on Tuesday night.

Minding the heart of our community

Thu, Oct 10, 2019

Next week, an honour is being bestowed on Galway city — when the country’s top cardiologists will attend the opening of the Irish Cardiac Society’s 70th annual meeting. The event will mark 70 years of the society and its role in bringing together the best minds in the field of cardiac care.

However, the fact that this landmark event is being held here in the west is also a tribute to the great steps that have been taken to ensure that we benefit from the highest standard of heart and stroke treatment — and for that we thank Croi.

Fantasy Football review

Wed, Oct 09, 2019

Round eight of the Premier League ended with another disastrous defeat for Man United as they went down 1-0 down to struggling Newcastle. Elsewhere Liverpool maintained their 100 per cent record with a dramatic stoppage time winner against high flying Leicester, Man City succumbed 2-0 at home to dogged Wolves, and Spurs struggles continued with a 3-0 thumping at Brighton.

Our disused buildings can change our communities

Thu, Oct 03, 2019

One of the most important but underrated festivals that populates our calendar here in the west is Architecture at the Edge. When it first came about, one friend said to me “oh good, another chance to see into people’s houses, to see how the other half lives, to see how the other half builds.”

Since then the prurient aspect of enjoying architecture when it is someone else’s house has been diluted somewhat by the Sunday night gorgefest when we see Dermot Bannon take someone’s rundown shack and turn it into a condo.

Fantasy Football round eight preview

Thu, Oct 03, 2019

Round seven of the Premier League drew to a close on Monday night as Arsenal and Man United battled out a 1-1 draw in Manchester. The previous two days' action saw Liverpool maintain their perfect start to the campaign, with Leicester maintaining their great beginning to the term by putting five past a hapless Newcastle side.

Let us never take Cancer Care West for granted

Thu, Sep 26, 2019

Sometimes in society, what we cannot see are the most important things; the groups and people we take for granted. That what lies in front of us is hidden, until it is most needed. And then like a genie hiding behind a bush, it leaps out and supports you, and takes your hand at the very time you need your hand taken.

For those who receive a diagnosis, they are suddenly sailing along and then bang, they are a vulnerable piece of mass; their life in the care of others. And all the pretence there is about how great we are just melts away into a mush. And then everything is flipped on its head, because what used to matter doesn’t matter anymore. And what used not matter, now matters very much.

Fantasy Football round seven preview

Thu, Sep 26, 2019

Although some minds may be trained on what is happening in the Far East, at Advertiser Towers we are concentrating on what is happening across the Irish Sea as the Premier League moves into its seventh round of matches, and we know that you want to know our top three in the Advertiser Tribal League in association with Monroe's Tavern.

Never before have we so needed the concept of meitheal

Thu, Sep 19, 2019

It has been a difficult week. A week in which tensions have been allowed to fester. Locally and globally, listening to the news has not been pleasant.

So it was timely that last evening’s programme launch of Galway 2020 has happened when it did. When we look at the importance we attribute to arts and to culture, there has always been a contrarian attitude that doubts the benefit it brings us individually, and as a community. There are questions asked if there is anything that can be taken from all that masquerades as culture. But if we have learned at all from the journey of the past few years, it is the defining of what is seen as culture. That we are a culture; that we are not just consumers of a culture, but creators of it, and curators of it.

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