Whatever happens tomorrow when Ireland play Saudi Arabia, a World Cup will be won in Galway later this month. For the fourth year in succession, the Western Health Board and Foróige are organising a Youth World Cup weekend which will kick off on Friday, June 21st.
The National Fun Soccer Tournament is aimed at disadvantaged young people between 14 and 16, and last year over 300 from all over Ireland participated. The event is run along similar lines to the contest in Japan and Korea, with each team representing a country and being given a group from which they must qualify.
So the Bohermore Youth Development Project of Galway will wear the Irish colours in Group E, while Donegal Foróige play for Saudi Arabia. In Group A, Ballina Youth Project are Senegal, while Boyle Youth Project of Roscommon are France. In all there are 32 teams, or "nations", in eight groups.
The first and second rounds will be on June 21st, and the third round and finals the next day. There will also be a "Shield" competition for those who do not qualify for the final rounds. The emphasis is on fun, and there is also a prize for the team which designs the best kit, flag and banner for their "country".
It has been compared to Bannockburn in Scotland. Almost four centuries ago, the Battle of Knockdoe in north Galway was regarded as the greatest muster of Gaelic lords and their gallowglasses or "axe-wielding mercenaries" that ever took place.
In retrospect, historians view it as a useless sacrifice. None of the combatants had taken the field in the interests of the English king, and their stance reflected Gaelic society at the time, "decolonised, fragmented and utterly unprepared for the turbulent century that lay ahead".
The event is the theme of this year's fifth Tuam Summer School,entitled "A Vision of Connacht in the 16th century", which takes place on June 28th to 30th in St Mary's Cathedral. Apart from lectures, there will also be an outing to the battlefield itself. For booking and information, contact Ms Bridget Tynan, Tuam Summer School, 4 Bel Air Drive,Tuam, Co Galway at 093-24522.
Eva Bourke, Kevin Bowne, John F. Deane and Sabra Loomis are among the readers at an evening of music and poetry which the Achill Heinrich Böll Association is organising in New York this Thursday. The Böll cottage in Dugort, Achill, Co Mayo, has been in use as a residency for artists and writers since 1992 and was recently purchased by the voluntary committee which runs it.
All proceeds from the evening will go towards the cottage's artists' and writers' residency. The event is at Glucksman Ireland House, 1 Washington Mews, New York (entrance on 5th Avenue, above Washington Square), at 7 p.m., and admission is $20.
The Galway Civic Trust has erected a plaque to mark restoration of a "shoeing stone" in Pump Lane in Galway. The work was a joint project with Galway City Council, in conjunction with a FÁS Community Employment Scheme.
The plaque, which was unveiled by Mr Bill Scanlan, president of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, reads: "This shoeing stone . . . was an essential structure which enabled the blacksmith to place the metal rim on the wheel of a cart".