Connacht is looking like a land of opportunity for the clubs still involved in the provincial championship. In Leinster, Munster and Ulster, familiar names are lining up to sustain another year’s campaigning for provincial and All-Ireland honours. Even Clonmel Commercials, the most striking surprise packets of the weekend, are former Munster champions.
In the west, none of the competing clubs had ever won the title and after the weekend, Galway champions Moycullen have been catapulted in as market leaders at 1 to 5 after their comprehensive defeat of new Mayo champions Westport.
They won the county title by the skin of their teeth, conjuring a slightly freakish late goal to stop Salthill but are now up and running in Connacht.
Title holders Pádraig Pearses were defeated in Roscommon and succeeded by Strokestown, champions for the first time in 20 years and who will be Moycullen’s next opponents.
The Galway side have an added motivation in that they won their first county title two years ago but because of the pandemic couldn’t compete in the provincial championships, which were suspended for 2020.
Now they are two matches away from adding a first Connacht championship and with it a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
The club has provided Galway with four panellists on its journey to this year’s All-Ireland final, including captain, Seán Kelly. Peter Cooke, valiantly commuting from work in the US, is another former county man who may be in a position to engage again with the intercounty game for next season.
The interesting aspect of the weekend’s thumping win over Westport is that the Galway players who were confined to a bench role during the summer played a significant part in Moycullen’s big performance.
Captain Dessie Conneely kicked 0-10, split evenly between frees and play, from 10 shots. Seán Kelly’s brother Paul kicked two from play whereas Owen Gallagher was conspicuously busy throughout.
Gallagher, the former Antrim player, who played with his county up until 2017, came to Galway to study medicine and after gaining prominence playing Sigerson with NUIG, was approached to play for Moycullen by manager Don Connellan, who had coached him at college.
Now working as a doctor in Galway, he is also a member of the county panel and on the trail of club success.
[ Economical Conneely leads way as Moycullen trounce WestportOpens in new window ]
He has high praise for his captain’s role in the team.
“We all know what Dessie can do. He did it two years ago against Mountbellew in the county final and he had some massive performances this year – against Corofin particularly.
“He was just on fire and there’s very few forwards in the country that can produce what he can produce when he’s on form. He can win his own ball, take his man on and it makes my role very easy.
“I just kind of run at him and throw it to him on the loop and he can kick it over from anywhere.”
He says they didn’t need to be asked twice to target the club championship after missing out two years ago.
“Yeah, in the last two years there’s definitely been that kind of ‘What if?’ You’d be sitting around with the lads every now and then and you’d be like, ‘What if we got that opportunity to kick on and give Connacht a crack?’
“You’d be talking about the potential match-ups you would have faced, the likes of Knockmore and St. Brigid’s and all. But we really wanted to come back and win a county championship and go on and have this opportunity to progress, and we’ve taken this very seriously.
“We have Strokestown next week. I know the bookies will have us as massive favourites but they had been written off in Roscommon all year. Nobody expected them to come out but they got the results and they are here on merit.
“They have had a month to prepare for this game. They’ve been able to watch us play in the county final and against Westport. We can’t be resting on laurels too long after this. We have to go back Tuesday and be ready to go again.”
