GAA

The Galway GAA flag flies over Salthill on a sunny evening in September 2015. Out of the 3 All-Ireland finals contested by Galway in hurling this year, the Senior men and women (camoige) were defeated, by Kilkenny and Cork respectively. The Minor (under-18s) boys were victorious, beating Tipperary. Underneath the flag in this photo is the crew of the RNLI boat (stationed in the Docks in Galway), keeping a watchful eye over their colleagues, who are assisting the crew (a father and son) of a powerboat that ran aground earlier in the evening. The powerboat and RNLI crew were able to walk back to the shore, and the boat was refloated when the tide came in later in the evening.

The photo above shows the Galway GAA flag flying over Salthill on a sunny evening a couple of weeks ago. There is a row of them along Salthill Promenade, and there was a hope this year that those flags would herald the return of the Liam MacCarthy cup to Galway this year. It was not to be. Out of the 3 GAA All-Ireland finals contested by Galway in hurling this year, the Senior men and women (camogie) were defeated, by Kilkenny and Cork respectively. However, the Minor (under-18s) boys were victorious, beating Tipperary. The All-Ireland Football final is on today, between Dublin and Kerry – hopes of a Connacht victory were dashed again when Mayo were beaten in the semi-final reply 2 weeks ago (just the day before Galway lost to Kilkenny).

Underneath the flag in this photo is the crew of the RNLI boat (stationed in the Docks in Galway), keeping a watchful eye over their colleagues, who are assisting the crew (a father and son) of a powerboat (visible behind it) that ran aground earlier in the evening . The RNLI crew were able to walk the two back to the shore, and the boat was refloated when the tide came in later in the evening.

At very low tides, the ridges of rock extend quite a way out into the bay. Later this week, the city will experience the other extreme – very high tides are expected next weekend, meaning that the City Council will deploy their sea-barrier at the Spanish Arch. Hopefully, the sea will be calm.