Go on the Parish - Maigh Cuilinn win Connacht Title
Connacht Final
My sons and I have been following our local Gaelic Football team Moycullen all year and last month they won the Galway Senior Championship for only the second time in their history and there was much rejoicing! This was huge for the club, who have had players playing with Galway over the years, but never won the Galway club championship. Players like Padraig "Dandy" Kelly wore the maroon and white of Galway for years and will have been smiling down on his three sons Seán, Paul and Eoghan today from heaven, having tragically died in 2001 aged just 40 years of age.
As I explained in my last post on Maigh Cuilinn, usually when you win the club championship, you progress to the provincial championship and if you win your provincial title, you get a chance to contest the All Ireland semi final. Unfortunately for Moycullen the 2020 championship was cut short because of Covid-19, so they never got the opportunity to contest Connacht and see if they could progress beyond Connacht.
This year the lads got the chance to compete in Connacht and dispatched their first opponents Westport in some style on a scoreline of 3-18 to 1-11, before struggling to a 0-7 0-7 draw against Strokestown of Roscommon two weels ago. They kicked in extra time and won comfortably by 2-08 to 0-7 in the end which set up today's Connacht final with Sligo Champions Tourlestrane.
This Moycullen team have serious talent and boasts 4 county players. Next year I suspect that there will be more, with Peter Cooke a certainty for a call up in my opinion and other players also doing everything they can to turn Padraic Joyce's head.
After recent knock out wins against Salthill, Westport and Strokestown, Moycullen were firm favourites with the bookies to beat Tourlestrane with Paddypower giving odds of 1/8 on Moycullen winning.
Here is how the teams lined out on a sunny and windy afternoon in Pearse stadium. Anyone familiar with Pearse stadium knows its near the see and the wind almost always blows hard from right to left as you look out from the stand.
Wind played a part
The Galway lads are well used to Pearse stadium, the Sligo lads not so much and it showed today. Maigh Cuilinn opted to kick into the wind in the first half and were very cute with possesion, not giving Tourlestrane many chances to kick points while patiently eeking out chances for themselves.
As you can see from the flags behind the Maigh Cuilinn goal in the photo below, there was a strong breeze out there and Maigh Cuilinn managed to build a 0-4 to 0-3 lead going into half time. Given that Maigh Cuilinn are almost always stronger in the second half and had a good wind advantage, I was confident they would kick on and win in the second half.
Some action shots
Here are a few shots from our vantage point up in the stand.
As I said it was 0-4 to 0-3 at half time and in the second half Maigh Cuilinn kicked on as expected and during one 3 minute passage of play they brought the game to 0-8 to 0-4 and that proved to be the turning point as Tourlestrane struggled to get near them. As the half wore on, it looked like the Sligo Champions would need a goal to get back into the game and they had chances. In the end though, they didn't get that goal and the match finished:
Moycullen now march onto the All Ireland semi-final for the first time in their history and they have a great chance to make it to the All Ireland Final on January 22nd which would be collosol for the club and the community.
Trophy Presentation
Maigh Cuilinn captain Dessie Conneely hoists the Connacht Championship cup aloft to massive applause and excitement 👏
Memories
These will be great memories for the boys, going along to support their local team and even better today they got on the pitch and had a ball with them to kick a few points over the bar like their heroes and there were some penalties as well.
What a great family day out it was.
Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.
Peace Out
What a great day out, indeed! I'd love to be able to watch a Gaelic football game at some point; from what I can tell it looks like a pretty fast paced game with a lot of action. I'll really need to do some digging to see if I can get it on tv or streaming anywhere.
The County championship between March and July usually has some games on Sky Sports if you can access that?
Not directly, but I might be able to purchase a game here or there for streaming. Would definitely be fun to watch!
Pretty cool your local team won and you guys got to watch this historic moment.
Thanks man, two wins away from All Ireland winners which would be huge and very special. They have their work cut out though, as they first have a match against the Ulster champions and if they get through that Kilmacud Crokes from Dublin will likely await them in the final, and they are formidable opposition as well.
That is pretty bloody brilliant, and even if they don't become All Ireland winners what a season it will have been.
Dreams do come true, so will be looking to see how they got on against the Ulster champs!
What a shame about Dandy Kelly, but as you say I am sure he would have been proud as punch and smiling down from on down high!
Thanks man, ya it's so great for the parish and to be fair we are blow ins, as we only moved to the area two years back, but my three sons play for the team and the Galway Captain Seán Kelly from last year is on the same, and this year's captain Dessie Connelly may well break into the Galway starting team next year, as he's had a great year and will be giving Padraic Joyce something to think about.
They will definitely have to up their game considerably to play the Ulster champs, as they always bring serious fitness and physicality. In fairness they won on Sunday without getting into fifth gear at all, so a good bit in the tank, it certainly makes for an interesting semi final, no idea where they will play it yet, but will likely pick someplace around equidistance for each team and supporters to travel.
Seán Kelly, Dessie Connelly and Padraic Joyce ooh those Irish names, how cool is that!
It is great that even though you are from outside the area so to speak you have got your boys involved in the local team. I know when I moved to the Orkney Islands as a kid, a great way to be accepted was by joining the local rugby team.
Ya man, hit the nail on the head there big time, it's a great way to fit in and get to know the people of the community better.
Ha ha, yep those a fairly Irish names alright, all that's missing is a John Murphy!