Galway restore some pride

Galway recovered from an inauspicious start to finish a respectable fourth at the Euro Indoor Hockey Club Champion’s Challenge this weekend. Coach Richie Malone, who guided Connacht to their fist interpro title at U16 level last year, had highlighted the importance of the westerners’ participation at Lousada in Portugal last week, and Galway will no doubt be better for the experience. Malone’s young charges had gone down 2-1 to Serbia’s HK Bask – a game they were well capable of winning – and 5-1 to eventual winners Slagelse from Denmark on Friday, but they bounced back well to defeat Welsh outfit Howardian LHC 3-1. Eavan Murphy opened the scoring in the third minute with Lynsey Trainor adding the second on the stroke of half-time. Michelle Daltry pulled one back for Howardian, but Emma Glanville rocketed home a corner to give Galway their first-ever European win. They followed that with a 3-1 defeat to the Portuguese host side AD Lousada, Murphy getting the only Galway goal before rounding out the tournament on Sunday morning with a 1-1 draw with Cankaya Bld SC from Turkey. Elaine Newell scored the equaliser seven minutes from time from a corner to end the tournament on a relative high. Final standings (points/goal difference): 1. Slagelse 15pts (+23), 2. AD Lousada 12pts (+7), 3. Cankaya Bld SC 5pts (-6), 4. Galway 4pts (-5) 5. Howardian LHC 4pts (-7) 6. HK Bask 3pts (-15)