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22 Oct 2025
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22 Oct 2025
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Melvin Gaels never got out of the traps in Sunday’s Smith Monumentals IFC Final according to their manager Aidan Murray who also felt that referee Enda Egan “bought into” time wasting tactics from winners Annaduff in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.
Asked about a final that didn’t live up to expectations of a free flowing encounter, Aidan said “Finals never are” before adding “They were cute enough in the way they played the game in terms of going down and not letting us get a run at them.
“I felt now that the referee may have bought into the things they were at, they went down injured an awful lot, there was nothing in it and it wouldn’t let us get a run at it.”
Yet the Melvin Gaels boss agreed that Annaduff’s tactics were probably influenced by the Kinlough team’s group stages victory in Annaduff: “That was the fear they had about us after beating them in the last round of the group stages. Finals are there to be won and fair play to Annaduff, they did it.”
Despite the disappointment of not performing to the levels they set for themselves, Aidan is confident that Melvin Gaels will be back next year: “We just didn’t get out of the traps. We did try to target the first 15 minutes of the game but we couldn’t build on it so hopefully we will be back here fighting next year.
Check out our Smith Monumentals IFC Final fans gallery
Fans from Annaduff and Melvin Gaels thronged into Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada last Sunday for the Smith Monumentals IFC Final with Annaduff taking the honours on a 0-9 to 0-7 scoreline. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was a busy man as he captured images of fans enjoying the action ... see who you can spot!
“That’s it, there is an awful young team there, maybe 15, 16 of them were U21s and the rest are older lads. It is important now that the older lads stick with and stay another year so that we can try to get out of this Intermediate set-up and get back to the Senior Championship.”
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