Galway Hockey Club’s first XI made history recently with a record three sets of fathers and sons.
Dermot and Jack Nolan, Alan and Tom Stevens, and Martin and Harry Hughes were part of the team that took on Mullingar HC in the Irish Hockey Challenge Cup recently - the team ranging in age from 15-year old Harry Hughes to four elders in their fifties.
Galway Captain Dermot Nolan says a few of the team, like himself, are happy to be still able to play competitive hockey at their age.
“It’s also pretty special to play as father and son, and we had three such pairings as part of our team today. We have a great group of individuals keeping men’s hockey alive and well in Galway Hockey Club and we are grateful to Mullingar for hosting us here this afternoon.”
In a competitive game, Mullingar’s free-flowing hockey eventually paid dividends, and by the final quarter they were dominant, running out winners by a score of 4-0.
The game had started at a highly competitive pace, which did take its toll on some of the Galway players, with Alan Stephens going off injured in the seventh minute.
Galway held their own in the opening exchanges, with Fergal Moynihan pressing hard in attack and sweeper Matthew Lohan and Tom Stephens tidying up at the back. However, their luck failed when a deflected ball cruelly looped high over goalkeeper Martin White to drop into an empty net. Galway responded quickly when Harry Hughes, on his senior debut, won the ball in midfield, made a penetrating run into the circle for left-wing John Folan to fire a blistering shot at goal which unfortunately drew a fine save from the Mullingar keeper. And moments later, Dermot Nolan’s aerial ball was met by a diving Moynihan, but, unfortunately, his goal was disallowed.
And with limited roll-on roll-off substitution options, Galway began to tire visibly in the third and fourth quarters. Martin White made some incredible saves which helped keep the score somewhat respectable, but he could not keep out Mullingar’s final two efforts.
