Mullinavat are Kilkenny’s kings of football once more.
In a repeat of last year’s championship decider, Mullinavat met defending champions Thomastown in UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday afternoon to determine a home for the 2022 senior football crown.
With Thomastown having stopped Mullinavat doing an historic five-in-a-row last season, you could be forvgiven for thinking the scales were tipped in their favour from the outset.
Rory Monks gave the defending champions an early lead off the back of a Ger Malone black card, Thomastown extending their lead 0-03 to 0-01 with ten minutes played.
By half-time however it was Mullinavat in control, Killian Dunphy chipping in with two scores to take a 0-07 to 0-04 lead into the break. Mullinavat turned up the heat in the second half, Brian Phelan finding the back of the net to take a 1-10 to 0-06 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
Conor Duggan and Adam Mansfield would add to the new champions tally, the game running out 1-12 to 0-08.
The win hands Mullinavat their sixth county title at senior football level following wins in 2007, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and sets them up for a run at the Leinster club intermediate football championship later this year.