Daly is the man

Mountbellew/Moylough 2-15

Menlough 0-7

MENLOUGH were unceremoniously sent packing from the 2014 Galway senior football championship title race by a rampant Mountbellew/Moylough outfit at Tuam Stadium on Sunday evening.

Mountbellew/Moylough really did run riot and were full value for their 14 points victory – on this evidence, they will be a serious test for whoever they meet in the next round.

Even allowing for the lack of quality of the opposition – Menlough were missing a huge amount of first-choice players through injury, emigration and work commitments – Mountbellew/Moylough looked a serious team that is well balanced.

In attack, Galway minor Michael Daly, who bagged 1-3, proved a major influence, Cathal Kenny (1-1) looked lively on his return to action, while Barry McHugh, big Joe Meehan, Eoin Finnerty and Colm Mannion were all threatening.

Joe Bergin is a towering presence alongside Colm Colleran at centre-field and Cathal Duffy and Paul Donnellan were sturdy in the backs. The return of Gary Sweeney and Joss Moore was a big boost for Mountbellew/Moylough and will help tighten-up their defence as the campaign progresses.

They really will be a force to be reckoned with, and could be put in the ‘dark horse category’. Manager Val Daly won’t be losing the run of himself, though, as Menlough were very limited. They showed heart midway through the first half to ‘make a game of it’ and having initially fallen seven points in arrears, they battled back to leave it 0-6 to 1-6 at half-time.

That was as good as it got, however, and despite the honest efforts of the likes of Mark Costello, Robert Hughes, Joey Glynn, Thomas Mannion, before he was shown the line for an off the ball incident, and David Reilly, who all tried hard, Menlough were second-best throughout.

Mountbellew/Moylough dominated the early exchanges and cruised into a 1-5 to 0-1 lead after 18 minutes. And just when you thought they’d romp home, Mountbellew/Moylough fell asleep, and Menlough showed a bit of fight to outscore their opponents by five points to one until half-time. Any hopes that they’d cause an upset were dashed five minutes after the re-start, however, as Cathal Kenny got his side’s second goal that killed off any hopes of a Menlough comeback.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.