WATCH: Mellows bridge 47-year gap

ON SUNDAY afternoon at 3.36pm when referee Christy Browne sounded his final whistle, 47 years seemed like no time at all for the Liam Mellows players and their fervent supporters.

Mellows had come from nowhere at the start of the year to become county champions, and in a season when Galway ended 29 years of waiting to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup, perhaps fate had something to do with Liam Mellows halting the club’s own period of hurt that dated back to their last Tom Callanan Cup in 1970.
Throw-in was delayed by ten minutes as the crowd continued to flood in through the gates of Pearse Stadium. Underdogs at the start of proceedings, Mellows fell behind to Gort in the early going, but joint-captain Aonghus Callanan’s 19th minute goal settled them, and a burst of 1-2 coming up to half-time was one of the game’s key spells as the city side ran out 3-12 to 1-15 winners.
“That turned it,” said Liam Mellows’ other joint-captain David Collins of that period, which was defined by Tadhg Haran’s 31st minute goal.

WATCH goalkeeper Kenneth Walsh sing 'Wild Mountain Thyme'