Moycullen 0-11

Mountbellew-Moylough 0-9

 
Billy Coss reports from Pearse Stadium

DESSIE CONNEELY PLAYED a captain’s part as Moycullen maintained their grip on the Frank Fox Cup with a narrow victory over Mountbellew-Moylough in this afternoon’s Galway Senior Football Championship semi-final.

Don Connellan’s side have masted the art of winning tight matches inside the county boundaries and backed up their slender quarter-final success against Salthill-Knocknacarra with another tight tussle with their closest local rivals of recent times.

Conneely kicked six of their 11 points, five of which arrived during the opening half, while Peter Cooke and former Offaly captain Johnny Moloney came up trumps with crucial late scores when the fat was in the fire.

Mountbellew-Moylough never led over the hour but were always in contention and leaned heavily on a magnificent individual display from Eoin Finnerty. A return of just three second half points would prove costly for Val Daly’s side in the final analysis, however.

Three unanswered Conneely scores handed Maigh Cuilinn the perfect start and it was 0-4 to 0-1 on the quarter-hour mark after he traded scores with Finnerty who almost single-handedly dragged Mountbellew-Moylough back into contention.

Paul Donnellan landed the leveller for the men in black and amber and though Galway skipper Seán Kelly and Conneely nudged the eventual winners two in front, Mountbellew-Moylough had restored parity at 0-6 apiece at the break.

Finnerty kicked his fourth while the other came courtesy of Michael Daly making his first championship start since Mountbellew-Moylough’s ill-fated Connacht semi-final defeat to Roscommon’s Pádraig Pearses in the winter of 2021.

It was an arm wrestle with every scoring chance hard-earned and the tackling and defensive play out of the top drawer. The early stages of the second half followed a similar trend to the first with a go-ahead Maigh Cuilinn score from Owen Gallagher answered by Barry McHugh in the 37th minute.

Four of the next five points belonged to Maigh Cuilinn in what proved to be the defining spell of the game. Sub Micheál O’Reilly and the irrepressible Conneely created vital breathing space at 0-9 to 0-7 by the three-quarter mark and though McHugh responded for Mountbellew-Moylough, they were unable to keep their tally moving as Moloney and Cooke stretched the gap to three.

Mountbellew-Moylough battled valiantly to the bitter end, but an injury-time Gary Sweeney point was all they had to show for their late pressure. 

Without a Galway senior title before 2020, Moycullen move to within an hour of their third in four years. Corofin or Milltown will be their final opponents.

 
Scorers for Moycullen: Dessie Conneely 0-6 (0-3f, 0-1m), Seán Kelly 0-1, Owen Gallagher 0-1, Micheál O’Reilly 0-1, Peter Cooke 0-1, Johnny Moloney 0-1.

Scorers for Mountbellew-Moylough: Eoin Finnerty (0-4, 1m), Barry McHugh 0-2, Michael Daly 0-1, Paul Donnellan 0-1, Gary Sweeney 0-1.

 
Moycullen
1. Andrew Power

2. Conor Corcoran 5. Eoghan Kelly 4. Neil Mulcahy

9. Tom Clarke 6. David Wynne 7. Aidan Claffey

8. Peter Cooke 20. James McLaughlin

17. Johnny Moloney 3. Seán Kelly 13. Michael Moughan

12. Paul Kelly 15. Dessie Conneely (captain) 11. Owen Gallagher

Subs:

• 14. Niall Walsh for McLaughlin (37)
• 18. Micheál O’Reilly for Corcoran (37)
• 19. Daniel Cox for Gallagher (56)

Mountbellew-Moylough:

1. Damian Boyle

2. Mark Mannion (joint-captain) 4. Colin Murray 3. Billy Mannion

9. Ronan Griffin 6. John Daly 7. James Foley

8. Matthew Barrett 5. Shane Moran

10. Colm Mannion 11. Paul Donnellan 13. Patrick Kelly

14. Eoin Finnerty (joint-captain) 15. Barry McHugh 20. Michael Daly
Subs:

• 12. Leo Donnellan for Paul Donnellan (39)
• 16. Michael Foley for Damian Boyle (42)
• 17. Seán Miland for Colm Mannion (54)
• 22. Gary Sweeney for Griffin (60)