Kennedy in sparkling form for Monivea/Abbey

Monivea/Abbey 2-10

St. Michael’s 1-5

SECOND half goals from man of the match Craig Kennedy and substitute Brian Moran secured Monivea/Abbey the first brace of points on offer in their opening Group 4 senior football championship fixture at Kenny Park, Athenry last Saturday evening.

Although they only led by a single point, 0-4 to 0-3, at the break, when Monivea/Abbey had to go to the proverbial well in the latter period, they were not found wanting, particularly in the final quarter when they outscored St. Michael’s by 1-5 to a goal.

It was during this period that, at last, a small bit of quality football began to emerge for other than that, this was your typical first round opener – cagey, error-ridden and largely uninspiring.

For their part, Monivea/Abbey will be delighted with collecting the points from this tricky assignment but, in saying that, a total of 17 wides in this contest will be a cause of concern for them going forward.

No doubt, the spurning of these opportunities – they also dropped a couple of chances short and hit the post with another effort in the second half – deprived them of the traction they could have easily conjured up far earlier in this fixture and, as a result, really made life arduous for themselves.

Another area of concern for manager Brian Mulry will be the free count against, with Monivea/Abbey conceding three times as many as St. Michael’s. This wasn’t a case that the victors had played on the edge but that they gave away some needless frees through lazy tackling and over-carrying, among others.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.