Dunmore MacHales 0-9

Monivea-Abbey 0-8

By Mike Rafferty at Tuam Stadium

Dunmore picked up their first win in this year’s championship in Tuam Stadium on Saturday evening, which was good enough to qualify them for the preliminary quarter-final and a meeting with Naomh Anna, Leitir Móir in the knock-out stages.

After playing with the advantage of the wind in the opening half and only enjoying a two point lead at the break, they looked to be in trouble on the resumption as three unanswered scores edged Monivea-Abbey ahead.

Then, after not scoring for the first 20 minutes of the half, Gary Delaney’s side took control of proceedings for a spell with four points of their own to open up a gap.

It was a margin that Monivea-Abbey were unable to breach and while they got the last two scores of the day, they were not able to get the equalising score that would save them, as they had previously drawn with St James, while Dunmore had lost their two previous encounters.

On a day when a swirling wind made scoring difficult at both ends of the park, there was a smashing exhibition of finishing in the early exchanges by Jake Slattery and Brian Moran, as both kicked the opening three scores each for their respective sides.

While Dunmore might have enjoyed the advantage of the elements in the opening half, it was Monivea-Abbey who enjoyed the vast majority of possession – but boy did they waste it. Playing a brand of Gaelic football that might be acceptable in the beginners class, they hand-passed the ball over and back and sideways, as they did everything possible not to put pressure on a Dunmore side that had to win in order to avoid the relegation play-offs.

After flogging the handpassing to death, they then almost refused to shoot when within the target area, as no responsibility was taken when a shot was on: a total of three wides tells its own story of shyness in front of the posts.

They have scored just 2-20 in their three group games (1-7, 1-5 and 0-8) and these are not the type of figures to win games.

County stalwart Cillian McDaid is not the cause or solution to all their ailments, but if he is going to be played at the edge of the square, he has to be given some sort of supply – be it arial or delivered in front of him. He got neither and only received possession twice in the opening half, on 9 and 23 minutes.

Pictured: Cillian McDaid of Monivea-Abbey has his progress halted by the Dunmore MacHales’ Danny Forde as Colin Lyons looks on. Photos: David Cunniffe.