Galway Hockey Club's first XI took on Mullingar HC in the Irish Hockey Challenge Cup on Saturday last on the Wilson's Hospital Pitch in Mullingar. It was a tight, competitive game, but 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 Galway team was made up of a record of three sets of fathers and sons - Dermot and Jack Nolan, Alan and Tom Stevens, and Martin and Harry Hughes. The team ranged in age from the 15-year old Harry Hughes to four elders in their fifties.
After a friendly off-pitch welcome to Mullingar, the game started at a highly competitive pace. This quickly took its toll on some of the Galway players, with Alan Stephen's going off injured in the 7th minute. This left Galway managing with just two substitutes for the remainder of the game - a fact that would become critical as the game entered the final quarter.
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. Credit to them, Galway responded quickly. Harry Hughes, on his senior debut, won the ball in midfield, made a penetrating run into the circle, passing the ball off to left-wing John Folan near the base line. Folan’s blistering shot at goal drew a fine save from the Mullingar keeper. Moments later, Dermot Nolan's arial ball into the circle was met by a diving Moynihan, but, unfortunately, his goal was disallowed. That close call was the catalyst for a period of intense Mullingar pressure, which resulted in another deflected goal, to leave the score at 2-0 to the home side at the break.
Mick Brennan, team coach, had been active up and down the slideline during the first half and he delivered a motivational talk to the men of the west at half time. Notwithstanding his exhortations, Galway, with limited roll-on roll-off substitution options, began to tire visibly in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Injuries took their toll on the men in red. Mullingar exposed weaknesses and exploited gaps with some fine hockey. Martin White made some incredible saves which helped keep the score somewhat respectable, but he couldn’t keep out Mullingar’s third effort. Following some fine ball-transferring across the pitch, Mullingar created a fast circle penetration on the left base line that drew out White. Mullingar got a pass back to the waiting TK Hwato, who coolly dispatched the ball to the net, despite some desperate defence by Martin Hughes. A fourth goal followed, close to full time, to leave the result in no doubt.
It was in impressive performance by Mullingar, for whom Synnott scored twice, and Hwato and Kenny were also on target. Despite the loss, the Galway men can also look back on some good passages of play and take some valuable lessons forward to their next match.
After the match, Galway Captain Dermot Nolan said, “ A few of the team, like myself, are happy to be still able to play competitive hocky at our 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.”
Galway’s hard-working keeper on the day, Martin White, said, “We came here to compete, and we are proud that we did. Mullingar played some fine hockey and put us under a lot of pressure, but it was a very enjoyable game. We are going to build on our performance today and are looking forward to our remaining matches”
