MAIGH CUILINN 1-17 

SALTHILL- KNOCKNACARRA 1-15       

By Kevin Egan at Pearse Stadium 

SATURDAY was yet another proud day for Maigh Cuilinn, as one of Galway’s most progressive clubs continued their rapid rise up the county’s roll of honour with their third title in six years at the expense of Salthill-Knocknacarra.

The heartfelt tributes that were paid to Don Connellan afterwards illustrated the emotion that helped carry them past their city rivals, and indeed demonstrated the quality in their ranks, something which was in no small way influenced by Connellan’s time at the club.

Yet to say that this was a comprehensive win would be to completely misrepresent the action, as it wouldn’t have taken a lot for the result to have fallen the other way. If ever there was a game where the value of tiny margins was plain to see, this was that game.

The two sides scored 14 times each. Salthill-Knocknacarra had the better of the kickout battle over the full hour, Maigh Cuilinn were more effective when it came to turning their smaller share of possession into an equal share of scoring chances.

Both sides had the upper hand with the breeze at their backs, but both will feel that they left scores behind them in that period. In a game where each team raised one green flag, Seán O’Connor’s shot on goal that was hit too close to Donal O’Sullivan and Michael Kitt hammering the ball off the crossbar were the big near-misses, also equally shared.Perhaps Tomo Culhane might have been able to test Pierce Greally if he had opted to pull the ball down and shoot from a tight angle rather than trying an audacious overhead flick midway through the first half, but it was less of a half-chance of goal and more of a quarter-chance, if that.

Extend the analysis further, and there are yet more areas where two competent clubs cancelled each other out. David Wynne provided leadership and graft to Maigh Cuilinn in the half back line and behind him, Eoghan Kelly battled manfully on a nightmare assignment, that of curtaining Robert Finnerty.

Meanwhile in light blue, Matthew Thompson’s star continues to rise as he shot 0-5 from play in a tremendous performance while Mark Mannion held his ground well and gave his club a solid pivot around which to build their defence.

If there was a decisive factor, it was this. Finnerty was excellent, causing problems with every possession despite being the centre of Maigh Cuilinn’s defensive attention. But Seán Kelly? He was out of this world.

Ask anyone in Galway if they would contemplate starting a county team without Kelly at the heart of it, and they would almost all dismiss the idea as a nonsense. Yet if you were to ask the same people if he has truly looked fresh and sharp for the past couple of seasons, and they would hesitate.

On Saturday night, he looked more fluid and unencumbered than he has done for a long time, and when combined with the natural element of raising his game with a championship on the line, he was little short of unstoppable.

In the first minute, Kelly drove through the heart of the Salthill-Knocknacarra defence, took a hard hit from Daniel O’Flaherty and still got his shot away, rolling it into the terrace side corner of the net to give Maigh Cuilinn a dream start.

Three minutes into stoppage time, at the end of a tumultuous contest where the class of the two county colleagues stood out, Kelly summed up one last jolt of energy to bisect the S-K defence one last time and knock over the last score of the game. As a match-winning score, it was apt.

Of course, when the ball sailed over the bar, nothing was won yet. There was still time for Salthill-Knocknacarra to muster up a couple of long-range frees, but the first one being awarded on the left hand side meant that it was the responsibility of Tomo Culhane rather than Finnerty, and after Finnerty called out his right-footed partner to take on the shot, Culhane’s kick drifted narrowly wide. The second was too far out to be anything other than a fairytale and once it dropped shot and Maigh Cuilinn cleared their lines, the Frank Fox Cup was in full view, glistening in anticipation of David Wynne taking it in hand.

Pictured: Maigh Cuilinn’s Niall Walsh getting the better of Cathal Sweeney of Salthill-Knocknacarra during Saturday’s Galway Senior Football Final at Pearse Stadium. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.