About Time!

Well, it is most definitely time to put this wrong to right. I got so busy over the festive period and sick too, that I forgot to do a Sports post for almost a month. Sorry @cryptoandcoffee and co, I have not forgotten about you!

If I'm not mistaken, it's been thirty days since I brought you this post about our local parish Gaelic Football team Maigh Cuilinn who made history this year by first of all winning the Galway Senior Football Championship and then progressing through Connacht Quarter final, semi final and final.

https://hive.blog/hive-101690/@ablaze/go-on-the-parish-maigh-cuilinn-win-connacht-title

They were not always at their blistering best, but a good team knows how to win a match when they are not at their best and it is a quality that differentiates between the teams that win things and the nearly men.

So what is it about this Maigh Cuilinn team that has catapulted them to the cusp of history? I will address that question below. What is clear though is that they have a massive opportunity this Sunday to put themselves firmly down in history. They will contest an All Ireland semi final at Croke Park, an 80,000 seater stadium in Dublin. So what is it about this Maigh Cuilinn team?

Star Quality

Any team can win a match on it's day, but what separates good teams from great teams is that they they keep winning matches and eventually they go on to win trophies. That is exactly what Maigh Cuilinn have done this year winning the Galway championship, followed by the Connacht Championship.

Team effort and cohesion is paramount for teams to win in my opinion, but you do need some star quality within a team as well if you want to win the top competitions, and for club footballers the length and breadth of Ireland, the All Ireland Club Championship is that pinnacle.
So, who are Maigh Cuilinn's star men?

Dessie Conneely

Let's start things off with Maigh Cuilinn captain and regular free taker Dessie Conneely. At just twenty two years of age, Dessie has a bright future ahead of him and surely it's only a matter of time until he forces his way into the starting line up of Padraic Joyce's Galway senior football team. Dessie has scored many pivotal scores this year and produced man of the match performances in two matches in the championship.

Here he is lifting the Connacht Club Senior Championship trophy aloft with great elation. He will have a huge say in whether Maigh Cuilinn can get beyond Ulster champions The Glen next Sunday at 3:30pm at Croke Park.

Seán Kelly

Seán was the Maigh Cuilinn captain when we won the county championship in 2020 and he was also the Galway captain last year, as Galway narrowly lost out against a very strong Kerry side.

Seán is a player who leads by example and in all of championship matches this year he covered more ground than anybody on the pitch and made vital interceptions, launched attacks and even notched a few precious scores himself. He is the man that makes this team tick.

Peter Cooke

Peter Cooke for me has been one of the best players for Maigh Cuilinn this year. He has quite an unusual style of play and sometimes seems to be sauntering around the pitch, but his vision, turn of pace and tenacity are second to none.

He works for an American company and was based in USA, meaning he missed the Maigh Cuilinn win back in 2020, so this year is super important to Peter. He played in the 2021 championship and also featured for Galway, but again due to his job he missed Galway's great run to the All Ireland inter county final last year, where Galway came agonisly close to winning the Sam Maguire trophy, which has not been resident in Galway since 2001.

Peter talks a little below about the set up at Maigh Cuilinn and I include a photo I took at the Connacht semi final win over Strokestown of Roscommon.

“There is a great link. Getting the right structures in place and knowing what is needed from an underage perspective and even at senior level, there is a huge amount of structural and development work done at the clubhouse over the last few years - a gym being put in place and dressing rooms."

“All of the sponsorship and everything, people that donate money, it is unbelievable some of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. It does feel special, I know a lot of clubs around Ireland that would say the same thing, but I definitely think Maigh Cuilinn has gone above and beyond.”

“It is probably a testament to a lot of the work that has been done in the background over the last five to 10 years,”

“You don't get instant gratification for all of the underage structures that have been put in place. Even from the age of 14, 16, 18 we've always had very good coaches, people that have looked after us in Maigh Cuilinn."

“I think we are reaping the rewards of that, long may that continue. I know there is a really good structure in place, Paul (Clancy) as chairman now, he is driving that on, and Don (Connellan) as our senior manager, he really has a good group involved and contributing in the same direction.”

Owen Gallagher

Owen's story is perhaps the most interesting of all, as not only is he not a Galwayman or Maigh Cuilinn native. The Antrim man only first set foot in Galway around seven years ago, when he was accepted to study medicine in NUI Galway.

Gallagher had written football out of his plans, as studying to be a doctor, as you can imagine is very time consuming.Then Don Connellan, the former Roscommon player and current Moycullen manager, intervened. He knew of just how good Gallaher was having worked with him on the NUIG Sigerson cup team that himself and Mayo’s Maurice Sheridan were in charge of.

“But to be fair to Don he came back to me and said, ‘Look I think you should probably just stay with your club at home. There’ll probably come a day in the future you’ll have to transfer but if you can keep playing for your club at home, just keep playing. That was his advice so I stayed then.

“So I’d almost decided I wasn’t going to play football this year. That I couldn’t fit it in. I was happy enough to just let it slide. Then actually during the summer I was in the queue with few of my friends one Friday night for Monroes, getting a few takeaway pints to take back to my house around the corner.

“Don pulled up in the Garda van and beckoned me across the road. He pretty much gave me the ultimatum to come to Moycullen training the next day or get in the back of the van!"

The rest is history, he laced up the boots and started togging out for Maigh Cuilinn and even got called up to the Galway Senior team.

Managerial class

Last but not least let's talk about Don Connellan. You see you can have all of the star quality that you like, but without somebody at the helm calling the shots and motivating fellows and making changes when they are needed, you will win nothing.

So Galway team Maigh Cuilinn have a lot to thank Roscommon man Don for. He has guided them exceptionally over the past three years and many think that this may be his last year in charge and that he will be handed the Roscommon Senior Football manager job in the near future. That may well be the case, but Don and his backroom team are going to give absolutely everything they have this Sunday to bring Maigh Cuilinn to the All Ireland final.

What it's all about

The wall below shows all of the clubs from all around the country and this shows you how many teams start off the season hoping to be crowned All Ireland champions, so I am extremely proud of our boys who have made it to the last four and are now two wins away from putting Maigh Cuilinn's name down in the history books.

This wall is on display as you walk into Croke park and the clubs dotted around every city, town and village in Ireland is the life blood of the GAA and is a very important part of our heritage and identity as Irish people.

Maigh Cuilinn vs Glen

The match is on next Sunday at 3:30pm and will be live on TG4 for anyone in Ireland that might want to tune in like @blanchy @niallon11 @deirdyweirdy @killerwot

I'm not sure whether I'll be able to get these two on the pitch at Croke park for a few kicks after like we've done all year! Doubtful I'd say, but if Maigh Cuilinn get to the final and somehow win we will 100% be on that pitch in croker!

The GAA Club Championship in Ireland is truly special and so is the Inter county championship. No segregation of fans. No crowd trouble. No malice. Just history. Proud Irish men and women celebrating sporting traditions handed down over many years in a bid to defend and retain Irish traditions, language and past times. We sit together side by side with the opposition and shake hands at the full time whistle. What other sport in the world would you see this in?

These photos are all my own taken on my Samsung smartphone

Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.

Peace Out