Maigh Cuilinn 0-18

Tuam Stars 1-14

By Pádraic Ó Ciardha at Pearse Stadium

IT’S five senior finals in six years for the Maigh Cuilinn footballers as they booked their place in this year’s county final thanks to a win by the narrowest of margins over Tuam Stars last Saturday night. Peter Cooke was the hero for Cathal Clancy’s side, coming off the bench for his first appearance of the campaign to kick 0-3 in a helter-skelter closing ten minutes.

A beautiful, trademark two-point score from Cooke drew Maigh Cuilinn level in the 54th minute before he put his side ahead for the first time since over half an hour not long after with another curling effort. A huge fetch in midfield and a majestic pass into the full-forward line later led to what proved to be the game-winning score from Fionn McDonagh.

Cooke’s introduction in the 38th minute coincided with Maigh Cuilinn taking a firm grip on the midfield battle as Tuam struggled to retain possession from their own kickouts, allowing their opponents to ramp up the pressure. When Tuam did manage to get a hold of the ball in the closing stages, their finishing let them down.

A 25m free in front of the posts which Jack Grugan failed to convert in the 57th minute was the most egregious miss but he wasn’t the only one. Tuam had eight shots in the final quarter but managed just three scores, including a two-pointer from Shay McGlinchey, as the game slipped away.

The nature of the defeat and the missed chances only further highlighted the loss of top-scorer Brian Mannion to injury but Maigh Cuilinn were far from faultless in the shooting department themselves, converting just 17 of their 32 shots, but they had their hot streaks and, crucially, kicked 0-6 from eight shots in the final 15 minutes.

Niall Walsh put in a superb performance for the victors, kicking 0-4 and providing some incision when Maigh Cuilinn looked a bit flat in the first half. Dessie Conneely matched Walsh’s final tally on a night when he made the most of the opportunities that came his way while Cooke, Johnny Moloney, Seán O’Connor, Michael Moughan, David Wynne and Seán Kelly were also among their top performers.

With it being the first of the semi-final double header, we didn’t get the full ‘Saturday Night Lights’ effect until the closing stages of this one but you couldn’t have asked for much more favourable conditions in Salthill. There was an October chill in the air but not a puff of a breeze when Austin O’Connell threw the ball in.

That being said, it took both sides a little bit to find their shooting boots and it was the ever-dependable David Wynne who opened the scoring in the fourth minute, knocking a shot over from the left-hand side with his ciotóg. Niall Walsh then doubled Maigh Cuilinn’s tally four minutes later when he burst through from the 45m line and flashed a shot just over the crossbar.

Pictured: Fiachra Mac Donnacha of Maigh Cuillin tries to hold off the challenge of Tuam Stars’ Brian O’Donnell during Saturday’s Senior Football semi-final at Pearse Stadium. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.