Maigh Cuilinn brush Mountbellew Moylough aside with ease

Mountbellew Moylough struggled to match their opponents’ intensity and gain possession from their own kickouts, while injuries have also taken their toll on Damien McHugh’s side throughout the season.

Billed by many as the game of the weekend, the clash was a repeat of the 2020 county final, but it failed to live up to expectations as Maigh Cuilinn took control from the opening minutes.

The county champions made immediate use of the strong breeze, with Owen Gallagher landing two orange flags inside the opening four minutes. James McLaughlin followed up a minute later with Maigh Cuilinn’s third two-pointer to give them a six-point advantage.

John Daly opened Mountbellew Moylough’s account on six minutes before Colin Ryan raced through and created a goal-scoring opportunity. However, Ryan’s effort came back off the post, while Ciaran Mulhern added another point for McHugh’s side to reduce the deficit to four on nine minutes.

Mountbellew Moylough were still in contention on 17 minutes, trailing 0-8 to 0-3, with the advantage of the breeze awaiting them in the second half. However, Maigh Cuilinn took complete control during the final 13 minutes of the opening period.

The men in green outscored their opponents by 0-12 to 0-2 during that spell. Fionn McDonagh, Sean Kelly and Dessie Conneely, making his first appearance for the club in 2026, all registered two-pointers.

Further scores from Fionn and Fiachra McDonagh, Sean O’Connor and Conneely saw Maigh Cuilinn head into the interval with a commanding 0-20 to 0-5 lead.

Mountbellew Moylough faced a mountain to climb after the restart and needed to take every scoring opportunity to give themselves any chance of getting back into the contest.

Billy Mannion landed a two-pointer a minute into the second half, while Barry McHugh converted a two-point free as the 2021 county champions trailed 0-21 to 0-9 on 37 minutes.

A short kick-out from Michael Foley was then intercepted by Fiachra McDonagh, who played the ball across to his namesake before the forward finished past Foley and into the net to extend Maigh Cuilinn’s lead to 1-21 to 0-9 on 39 minutes.

Maigh Cuilinn outscored Mountbellew Moylough by 2-5 to 0-4 during the closing 20 minutes, with goals from Charlie Cox who was set up by Peter Cooke who was iontroduced off the bench in the second half and Fiachra McDonagh completing a comprehensive 21-point victory.

The North Galway side could only manage scores from Barry McHugh and Fionn Colleran during the closing stages as Maigh Cuilinn booked their place in the semi-finals in emphatic fashion and will be raging hot favourites to take care of Annaghdown in the Galway SFC semi-final.

Conor Corcoran, Sean Kelly, Sean O’Connor, Ger Daveron, Fionn and Fiachra McDonagh all delivered impressive performances for the winners. Billy Mannion, Ciaran Mulhern, John Daly and Barry McHugh all tried their best for a difficult day for the men in black and amber.

MAIGH CUILINN: N O’Donnell; C Corcoran, E Kelly, M Maughan; A Claffey, S Kelly (0-3, tp), S O’Connor (0-1); P Kelly, G Daveron; J Moloney, O Gallagher (0-4, 2tp), J McLaughlin (0-3, tp); Fionn McDonagh (1-7, tp), Fiachra McDonagh (1-2), D Conneely (0-5, tp, 0-2 45, 0-1f). SUBS: M Hynes for Maughan (33-37 temporary), P Cooke for O Gallagher (40), Hynes for O’Connor (51), C Cox (1-0) for Fionn McDonagh (54), C Gallagher for Moloney (54), L McLaughlin for S Kelly (56)

MOUNTBELLEW MOYLOUGH: M Foley; B Noone, B Mannion (0-2, tp), C Murray; C Ryan, J Daly (0-1), J Foley; L Donnellan, S Kelly; C Mulhern (0-1), M Burke, C Mannion; P Kelly, B McHugh (0-7, 2tpf, 0-3f), E Finnerty (0-1). SUBS: A Colleran for S Kelly (Half-time), T Shields for P Kelly (38), O O’Reilly for Donnellan (43), F Colleran (0-1) for J Foley (48), C Fallon for C Mannion (56).

REFEREE: Tommy Murphy (Annaghdown)