Moynalvey emerged victorious in round 2 of Division 1 of the Minor Football Championship with a hard fought 1-13 to 2-9 victory over host side Donaghmore/Ashbourne on Tuesday evening August 30th.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne 2-9 Moynalvey 1-13
Moynalvey got off to the best possible start after 20 seconds when James Kelly blasted to the back of the Donaghmore/Ashbourne net. Kelly added a free to his tally two minutes later, before Donaghmore/Ashbourne opened their account in the 5th minute. The visitors added to their great start when hitting 0-5 without reply, putting them 1-6 to 0-1 ahead midway through the first half. During this period of dominance Kelly added another two frees, Anthony Forde’s effort at goal was palmed over the bar by the keeper, Cillian O’Sullivan opened his account, while so too did Brian Harnan when sending over from a seemingly impossible angle along the end line. However the second quarter belonged to the home side as they endured their purple patch hitting 0-6, with Moynalvey responding through two Cillian O’Sullivan efforts. A couple of fine saves from Moynalvey’s Chris O’Malley ensured Kelly’s early goal remained the difference between the sides as Moynalvey led 1-8 to 0-8 at the interval.
A James Kelly free a minute after the restart furthered Moynalvey’s advantage to 0-4, before Donaghmore/Ashbourne raised their first green flag of the evening to narrow the margin to a solitary point. Moynalvey responded to this set back with a brace of O’Sullivan points and another Kelly free, restoring the four point advantage with seven minutes left. Donaghmore/Ashbourne failed to lie down and after tagging on another free they levelled matters when finding the Moynalvey net in the 57th minute. In the final minute of normal time, several phases of play saw the ball recycled back to Cathal McCabe who was fouled and Kelly sent over the resulting free to set up a nerve wrecking four minutes or so of additional time for Moynalvey. Moynalvey held out to scrape home with a hard fought minimum margin win, maintaining their 100% record in the championship after their opening round victory over Walterstown.
Moynalvey: C. O’Malley, C. Egan, S. Browne, D. Hoban, D. Brennan, A. Forde (0-1), B. Regan, P. Harnan, S. Burke, C. McCabe, C. O’Sullivan (0-5), F. McCabe, B. Harnan (0-1), J. Kelly (1-6), E. Ryan. Sub: C. Sheerin for Hoban.
