O’Halloran and Swift re-sign with Connacht
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By DECLAN ROONEY
Connacht have complete another major transfer coup by nailing down promising winger Tiernan O’Halloran to a new two-year deal.
And veteran lock Michael Swift has also been handed a one-year contract extension by the province, that will see him play with Connacht until the end of 2013.
O’Halloran, who has bagged four tries already this season, was signed on a development contract last season after graduating from the Connacht academy, but a series of eye-catching performances saw his stock rise rapidly.
As a result Connacht head coach Eric Elwood was delighted to secure the services of the Clifden native.
“Tiernan has been every present all year and he has been very consistent for us. He deserves his two-year deal: he has earned it, which was always something Tiernan and I have spoken about,” Elwood said.
“He has got this contract on merit and has gotten our attacker of the week on a few occasions. He is putting himself out there, his contribution and the consistency of his effort has been justified. He has been one of our top players all season.”
After been given his big break this season, O’Halloran was thrilled to see his hard work come to fruition with his home province.
“I am from Galway and I came in here straight out of school. Eric and everyone here have been very good to me since I got here and have given me a lot of opportunities.
“At the moment Connacht is the place for me to be because I am getting the chance to play. After injuries over the last few years I am very grateful to Eric for giving me the chance to play. It is one of the main reasons that I am happy to stay here,” said O’Halloran.
However it was not all good news on the western front as a number of key players have been ruled out of action for the coming weeks.
Top of the list is Brian Tuohy who underwent a successful surgery to his broken leg. He is expected to miss the rest of the season after sustaining fractures to both his tibia and fibula in last weekend’s defeat to Leinster.
A scan earlier this week confirmed that competitive flanker Johnny O’Connor suffered a triple fracture to his eye socket in the opening minutes of last weekend’s defeat – he played the full 80 minutes – and according to Elwood he will miss the trip to Aironi and Connacht’s remaining Heineken Cup matches at least.
Tight-head prop Ronan Loughney will also miss Saturday’s trip to Aironi because of a shoulder injury, while doubts remain about the availability of Swift and Ray Ofisa.
“We are very hopeful that we can have Swifty back this week because we all know what he can bring to the club, week in week out. Within the realms of the staff, management and players he is a legend. Amongst the crowd he is a legend also so for him to get a contract is richly deserved, he is fantastic,” said Elwood.
Cunningham set to be named Galway hurling boss
By JOHN FALLON
Anthony Cunningham will tonight be named the new Galway senior hurling manager.
The 46-year-old will be appointed to take charge of the Tribesmen for the next three seasons.
Cunningham, who guided Galway to the All-Ireland U21 title this season, will be joined by other members of his management team from that success, former All Star Tom Helebert and Mattie Kenny.
The Galway hurling board will be held at the Raheen Woods Hotel in Athenry this evening when delegates will be asked to ratify Cunningham’s appointment.
The St Thomas clubman was the choice of the seven-man committee, with Cunningham getting the nod ahead of Portumna boss Johnny Kelly and former Clarinbridge manager Mícheál Donoghue.
Cunningham will be given a three year term with a review scheduled at the end of the second year and he will be asked to adopt an overall strategy for Galway hurling, from underage through to senior.
Cunningham had a spell in charge of the Roscommon hurlers before turning his attention to football management where he has enjoyed enormous success with St Brigid’s of Roscommon and more recently with Garrycastle in Westmeath, even though he has no background in football as his home club St Thomas in the Kilchreest and Castledaly area of south Co Galway is solely a hurling club.
He led Garrycastle to their third successive county title recently and they will take on Longford Slashers on November 20 as they aim to go one better than two years when they were pipped in the final by Portlaoise in their bid to become the first Westmeath side to win the Leinster senior club title.
Cunningham, who captained Galway to their first All-Ireland minor title in 1983, also skippered them to win the U21 crown in 1986.
The only other Galway man to lead Galway to a brace of All-Ireland titles is Conor Hayes, who captained the victorious senior teams in 1987 and 88 which featured Cunningham at corner-forward.
Hayes was the last Galway native to manage the Tribesmen, having been replaced after the 2006 championship by former Clare boss Ger Loughnane before ex-Tipperary defender John McIntyre took charge three seasons ago.
