Mountbellew-Moylough shape like a team that’s here to stay

Inside Track with John McIntyre

COROFIN’S dominance of the Galway senior football championship is over. Having captured the Frank Fox Cup a staggering 13 times over the past 20 years, a period in transition is inevitable after the reigning All-Ireland club champions were swept aside in Sunday’s county final at Pearse Stadium.

On a day of liberation for Mountbellew-Moylough, the local football landscape is undergoing a seismic change. Corofin weren’t just beaten in Salthill, Kevin O’Brien’s charges had no answers to their strong-running and younger rivals who were in control for virtually the entire match in powering to a 1-12 to 0-9 victory.

Havin been scourged by Corofin in big matches – they lost four finals to them over the previous 12 years – Mountbellew/Moylough had broken this stranglehold in last year’s semi-final, and they were in no mood for the old order to be restored in the 2021 decider. Showing an impressive level of intent, they carried the fight to Corofin from the throw-in and were the vastly superior outfit.

In collecting only the club’s fifth county title and their first since 1986 when current manager Val Daly was the team captain, Mountbellew-Moylough were also atoning for their defeat to Moycullen in the 2020 decider. The 5/2 outsiders made a mockery of the pre-match odds, and such was their overall dominance, a six-point winning margin didn’t flatter them one iota.

We haven’t seen a Corofin team so badly beaten up in Galway for years. Their defence was under constant pressure, the midfield area offered them few crumbs of comfort, while apart from Dylan Canney up front, their attack made little headway. Some of their big guns never fired, but they weren’t allowed to.

The opening exchanges saw Mountbellew/Moylough take the game by the scruff of the neck. There was no sitting back or waiting to size up the opposition. They were determined to lay down an early marker and with a savage work ethic all over the field – highlighted by the likes of Colin Ryan and Shane Moran – they soon had Corofin on the retreat.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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