Latest news with #Ballinasloe
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Spirit of Garbally alive in campaign to incorporate name in new amalgamated school
Ciarán Fitzgerald tells a story during his time as captain of the British & Irish Lions on their tour to New Zealand in 1983. Each of the squad members was assigned to a school which adopted them for the tour, as a result of which Fitzgerald spent a day at Christ's College in Christchurch. Fitzgerald was shown around the school's classrooms and sports facilities, before being presented to the 200-plus pupils and teachers in the main auditorium. 'Nice words were spoken on both parts and then there was an open question-and-answer session with the pupils,' recalls Fitzgerald, who points out that this was long before the internet and social media. 'They knew I went to Garbally [College], they knew what sports Garbally played, they knew when I went and others who had been there, like Ray McLoughlin, and asking me how Garbally could turn out players like that, and was it totally rugby? READ MORE 'No, I said, there was a very strong hurling and athletics culture there as well, but with a strong rugby orientation. This was before the internet and stuff, so I was a bit blown away.' Next September, the all-girls' school Ardscoil Mhuire and the all-boys' school St Joseph's College, Garbally Park are to be amalgamated into a mixed school under the name Clonfert College. The new name was agreed in March 2024 but past pupils of the boys' school, including Fitzgerald, are urging the amalgamated Ballinasloe schools to retain the Garbally name. Fitzgerald, the former Connacht, Ireland and Lions captain, along with former GAA players Conor Hayes, Michael Duignan, Oliver Kilkenny and Seán Silke, as well as former Irish rugby international Noel Mannion and current Connacht players Colm Reilly and Matt Devine, are all backing the 'Spirit of Garbally' campaign, which was launched last month. They are calling for the school to be named Clonfert College at Garbally Park and for the school's sports teams to continue playing under the name Garbally and wear the traditional blue-and-white hooped jerseys. The proposed name for the amalgamated school was inspired by the origins of both schools, with St Joseph's College in Garbally founded by the Diocese of Clonfert and Ardscoil Mhuire founded by the Sisters of Mercy of the Diocese of Clonfert. The past pupils have launched a campaign calling for the retention of Garbally's name, especially in a sporting context, due to the school's past sporting achievements. Ireland's Ciaran Fitzgerald at the England vs Ireland Five Nations Championship match in Twickenham in March 1986. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho Garbally have won the Connacht schools senior cup 47 times, most recently in 2020, and have won the junior cup 43 times, last doing so in 2019. In addition to Fitzgerald and Mannion, other ex-Garbally pupils to play international rugby include Ray McLoughlin, PJ Dwyer, Johnny O'Connor, Tiernan O'Halloran and John Muldoon, while current Connacht chief executive Willie Ruane is another ex-Garbally player. As part of the campaign, a survey is being conducted to gather views and assess support for the petition, with the group saying such a change would 'honour' the heritage of the former school while 'embracing the future'. 'If there's any possible way of incorporating the Garbally legacy into the new amalgamation I would appeal to the board of management and to the bishop and whoever else is involved to do so. I would suggest it's well worth doing,' says Fitzgerald, who, along with his allies, fully supports the amalgamated mixed school. 'I'm 100 per cent in favour of the inclusivity and amalgamation with the boys and the girls and the new college,' he says. 'I think it's absolutely fantastic and very good for the college, for the region, and for all the people who will attend the school. Going forward, the sporting legacy, in my view, should not be abandoned, because it's important, it's relevant and I think it will benefit future boys and girls who will go on to represent that. They will have that badge with them and they carry on all that tradition.' Others involved in the Spirit of Garbally campaign include Jack Murray, founder and chief executive of MediaHQ, and Des Ryan, now director of sport at the University of Galway, who formerly worked with Connacht and Arsenal. They have brought on board other alumni to help raise funds with the express purpose of helping coaching and improving facilities for the various sports teams at the newly amalgamated schools. 'He's trying very hard to be proactive,' says Fitzgerald of Murray, 'by dipping into the legacy of the alumni plus the tradition of Garbally, which can be a positive benefit going forward, and also a financial support for the new school. He's mentioned the people he has lined up and he is well organised.' Fitzgerald tells another story of making his Connacht debut in the early 1970s against Ulster at the Sportsground. The then 19-year-old hooker packed down in the middle of a frontrow containing the McLoughlin brothers, Ray and Feidlim, with a secondrow of Mick Molloy and Leo Galvin. All five were products of Garbally College and all five went on to play for Ireland. 'As a 19-year-old there I was, sitting in an armchair of a frontrow between the two McLoughlins, and the two lads behind, and talk about being looked after. That was the legacy of Garbally as well.'
Irish Times
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
My daughter drags us on to rollercoasters but is wary of the monkey bars. People are a mystery
Here are my earliest memories of funfairs: I remember being in a bumper car with my father, and my mother being unhappy because we were doing a little too much bumping. After that, I'm a teenager, during the October fair in Ballinasloe . The ride, which was popular, consisted of a large circular frame, divided up into sections for each person to stand upright. No one was strapped in. The only safety feature was a flimsy chain across each section. It would spin furiously, until the centrifugal force had pinned everyone into position. Then it would rise on one axis, giving the customers a queasily rotating view of the ground and the sky. But on this occasion, one of the customers had (presumably) spent some quality time in the pub beforehand. The combination of a few pints plus the physical sensation of being hurled around proved too much. What was ghoulishly fascinating was the trajectory of the puke. It erupted from the person, but because we were still locked in a thunderous spin, it didn't go anywhere. It hovered in the middle of the ring. Everyone watched it: knowing that as soon as the loop slowed down, the laws of physics would cause someone to be splattered with regurgitated Guinness. READ MORE All I can remember is that it didn't land on me. It may have been this experience, but at some stage I came to the conclusion that I really don't enjoy funfair rides. I avoid them when I can, though for a lot of my life that hasn't been possible. I blame the children. Because of them, I've been hurled around the place and spun through the air. I usually pass the time by trying to calculate where I will land when whatever contraption I'm strapped into snaps off. [ Seán Moncrieff: The word 'old' has become an insult. If you're old, it's all over Opens in new window ] Daughter Number Four is particularly keen on this kind of thing. Because of her, myself and Herself had to board a swinging, rotating monstrosity on St Patrick's Day that jangled our nerves so completely we had to sit on the pavement for a while afterwards. She is a veteran of Emerald Park and has badgered us into taking rides that combine not just physical dislocation, but a thorough soaking. The last time we took The Viking Voyage, the drying machine was out of order. I spent most of the day looking like I had wet myself. No, I hadn't. It's got to the stage where myself and Herself are simply refusing to board some of these rollercoasters, but Daughter Number Four is quite happy to get on alone. And afterwards, she'll be shining with joy, her system pumped with adrenaline and endorphins. The experience triggers her fight-or-flight response, but not, it seems, to an alarming degree: deep down, she doesn't believe anything can go wrong. [ Nothing pushes my BS detector into overdrive more than a hotel spa Opens in new window ] What's curious about all this is if you bring Daughter Number Four to a playground, she can be nervous about climbing monkey bars, even though she's much closer to the ground, she's not spinning and she has far more control over the situation. She is aware of this contradiction – because we keep pointing it out – but can't explain it. We once brought her to Disneyland Paris , where many of the rides were physical rollercoasters, but also had a virtual reality component. And even though the experience was pretty much the same, I found them far less disturbing. I can't explain that either. Similarly, I'm not at all scared of flying, even though planes do crash occasionally. I'm convinced that even if the plane does crash, I'll survive it intact. No reason for that. Understandably, science tries to find mechanistic explanations as to why people are scared of one thing but not scared of another. Past trauma. Anxiety. Lack of control. But such explanations are usually insufficient and often contradictory. Perhaps it's better to accept that people are often a mystery. Especially to themselves.
