Kennedy lands five points as Monivea-Abbey stay in hunt

CAHERLISTRANE 1-9

Mark Walsh at Tuam Stadium

FOR the second senior football championship game in succession, Monivea-Abbey hit the 0-17 scoring mark, and their third win on the bounce in Group C has them eyeing up a quarter-final berth.

Brian Mulry’s side must still get something out of their round five clash with Killanin if they are to reach the last eight, but it was Caherlistrane who fell victim to Monivea’s compact style of football on this occasion in Tuam Stadium.

Craig Kennedy had his full bag of tricks on display in scoring five points from the inside line, twice fisting the ball over the black spot and twice executing the very difficult skill of flicking the ball up into his arms on the run, an art perfected by Maurice Fitzgerald.

For Caherlistrane, it was a fourth championship loss this season, but one where they didn’t go quietly into the early autumn evening. Eight points down, 0-13 to 0-5, after Monivea/Abbey’s strong start to the second half, Ronan Conneely’s 42nd minute penalty gave them a marker to drive towards, and they stayed score-for-score with their opponents until the final whistle.

This was despite the fact that Caherlistrane lost experienced campaigner Brendan Murphy to injury prior to half-time, and Stephen Reilly at the interval. Céin D’Arcy was again confined to the sidelines, whilst Stephen Lawless had the distinction of winning a New York SFC title with the Sligo GAA club in the Big Apple on Sunday.

For their part, Monivea lost Brian Moran to injury at the same time as Brendan Murphy retired, and were minus the services of Cillian McDaid and Trevor Mullins, who were both at midfield in their round three win over An Cheathrú Rua, as well as Jason Flaherty and Fionnan Garvey, both of whom also started in that victory two weeks previous.

Philip Muldowney was one of the contingent to profit from these absences, and the wing-forward got Monivea’s scoring chart up and running with roughly 30 seconds on the clock. The first half was defined by Monivea/Abbey’s ability to eke clear of Caherlistrane, and by the quarter-hour mark, Mulry’s side led 0-6 to 0-3.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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