Maigh Cuilinn dedicate county title success to late manager Don Connellan
GALWAY CAPTAIN SEÁN Kelly dedicated Maigh Cuilinn’s third county title success to their late manager Don Connellan who died during the summer after a brief illness.
The former Roscommon footballer, who lived in Maigh Cuilinn for years after coming to Galway to work as a Garda, guided the club to their first county title in 2020 and followed it up again two years later.
The club, whose only previous county final appearance prior to 2020 was a loss to Corofin in 1977, have now been in five of the last six deciders and edged out Salthill/Knocknacarra by 1-17 to 1-15 after losing the last two finals to Corofin.
Kelly, whose late father Padraig ‘Dandy’ Kelly was the a mainstay of the club for years while he was also performing for Galway with whom he won five Connacht SFC titles, paid tribute to Connellan and all the others who set up this glorious period for them.
“It was a game of inches and you could say there was someone looking down on us and we are just delighted to get over the line for him and also everyone who has helped Maigh Cuilinn along the way.
“Salthill are an incredible team and they were unlucky on the day. We put in so much hard work all year and it showed there at the end, lads emptied the tank up and down the pitch and thankfully we got over the line.
“Rob Finnerty was flying it for Salthill but we got a few massive turnovers on him and that made a big difference, but we knew we would need to dig deep to beat them,” said Kelly, who struck a goal in the opening minute on his way to a man-of-the-match display.
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