‘We really wanted to do it for him’

Monivea-Abbey win title for McDaid

THEY had to do it without a 2022 All-Star and Footballer of the Year nominee, but Monivea-Abbey dug deep and found a way past the sizeable challenge from Kilconly in Saturday's Galway Intermediate Football Championship final at Tuam Stadium.

Afterwards Herald Sport spoke to their injured captain and county man Cillian McDaid, manager Francis Roche, as well as 'keeper Denis Farragher and forwards Glenn Kelly and Paul Flaherty on a 0-14 to 0-11 victory that sealed their immediate return to senior ranks for 2024.

FRANCIS ROCHE (MANAGER)

ON HIS VIEWS COMING INTO THE FINAL

If I'm being honest about it, I was confident all week because we played at a different level to what Kilconly played last year. We played senior championship football and we lost a lot of games by a point. That doesn't get you where you want to get. You have to go out and perform. We did not perform in the first half. The only good thing I said to the lads at half-time, we had five lads playing up to the standard required in the first half, but we were still level with Kiconly. I was really confident if we got 10-12 lads motoring to their capabilities that we would come out winners at the finish. That's the way it happened. I'm grateful to be over the line because Kilconly are a super team. They played six championship matches last year and they've played six this year. They've lost two finals. They're some team…

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