Dessie Conneely
By Daragh Small
Promising Galway forward Dessie Conneely believes that having players on board who have won senior provincial medals will give them an edge against Sligo in the EirGrid GAA Football U-21 Connacht Championship final on Saturday. He has come straight from playing minor last year to make a big impression at U-21 level this season.
The 18-year-old Maigh Cuilinn corner-forward scored a goal as Galway knocked the reigning All-Ireland champions Mayo out of the semi-final last weekend to qualify for the decider at Markievicz Park.
Sligo are looking to create history and win their first ever Connacht U-21 title, having scored an impressive victory over Roscommon in the semi-finals.
Sligo are the only county not to have won a Connacht championship at this level, but Galway have 18 provincial crowns and Gerry Fahy’s side have also won All-Irelands as recently as 2011 and 2013.
And with back-to-back Connacht minor titles – they beat Sligo after a replay in 2015 – Conneely, who played in both teams and captained them last year, says they have a well-balanced squad.
“There is plenty of potential, with coming through having won the last two minor titles,” said Conneely.
“A lot of the lads who are U-21 for a while have senior experience, and some even have senior Connacht medals, so it has the makings of a very good team here.
“In the big games you need big players to step up, and it’s always great to have the likes of Michael Daly, Paul Mannion, Rory Greene, all of the senior members in the panel who step up for us.
“So far they have been doing it, and I’m sure they’ll keep leading us on.”
Peter Cooke was outstanding for Galway at Tuam Stadium.
Galway have played twice in this year’s U-21 renewal with victories over Leitrim and Mayo. Sligo have just one victory behind them, but they were very impressive as they tore Roscommon apart in the second-half of their game at Kiltoom last week.
Midfielder and captain Darragh Cummins scored four points from play in that game, but they have danger men all over the field, with senior star Kyle Cawley up front another real threat.
But Galway have scored 6-23 in their two games in this year’s championship, and Conneely will be to fore again this weekend.
“Any time Galway play Mayo it is always a big game but now everyone is going to be pumped up for the final.
“After the Leitrim game we knew we had to prove ourselves and play better again. And fair play to everyone, they stepped up on the day and we did enough in the end.
“But Sligo are going to be a good team. We played them in minor two years ago and they brought us to a replay.
“A lot of their players, like us, are really young but there is a lot of them there that are brilliant footballers and we expect a tough challenge on Saturday.
“The history side of it, is probably going to help them a bit, they are trying to win their first Connacht title. But that won’t affect us.
“We are going out there to win the Connacht final and we will have our own motivation behind it.
“The Connacht final is always great, but going up to Markievicz Park it’s going to be a really tough game.
“We are just going to have to tune in from the start and expect the game to last the full 60 minutes. And be ready to go for it for that long.”
The EirGrid Connacht U-21 Football Final is scheduled to take place this Saturday, 1st April in Markievicz Park, Sligo at 6pm. Fans who cannot attend the game can catch all the action live on www.tg4.ie or keep up to date following #EirGridGAA. EirGrid is a state-owned company that manages and develops Ireland's electricity grid. For more information please see www.eirgrid.com.
