Monivea-Abbey 0-14

Kilconly 0-11

By Alan Dooley at Tuam Stadium

A decisive scoring surge in the final quarter drove Monivea-Abbey to victory and the Intermediate football title for only the second time in the club’s history after a tensely fought promotion decider against Kilconly in Tuam Stadium last Saturday.

Trailing by one after 48 minutes of high-octane action, Monivea-Abbey kicked for home with four points in as many minutes to open up the biggest lead of the game and their energy levels all over the field, and amongst their large band of supporters, proved too much for Kilconly to overcome as they fell agonisingly short in the final for the second year running.

Classy inside forward Glenn Kelly was Monivea-Abbey’s scoring hero with seven points, including three top quality efforts from play when his side really needed them in the second half, but this was a terrific team display by Francis Roche’s side, minus their injured captain Cillian McDaid who broke a bone in his leg in their semi-final win.

Backboned by the superb efforts of Trevor Mullins, Lee Kenny, Keith O’Reilly, Philip Muldowney, and influential substitutes Paddy Mullins and Daire King, Monivea-Abbey dominated the Kilconly restarts when it mattered most and forced turnovers at key moments that stopped Kilconly building up any sort of momentum in the closing stages, which included over five minutes of injury time.

Once they had built up the 0-11 to 0-8 lead, they were crucially able to respond with a score whenever Kilconly scored, and even though they had to play a man short for the last few minutes after Brian Flaherty was black carded, it was fitting that Monivea-Abbey burst up the field at pace to close out the game in fine style, Paddy Mullins and Niall Mannion setting up Muldowney for a fisted point that sparked wild celebrations when the whistle sounded shortly after.

Pictured: Brian Igoe and Conor O’Neill of Kilconly prepare to halt the progress of Monivea-Abbey’s Glenn Kelly during Saturday’s County Intermediate Football Final at Tuam Stadium. Photos: David Cunniffe.