Moynalvey fell at the first hurdle of the Leinster Intermediate Club Football Championship when going down to the Louth champions O’Raghallaighs on a 0-14 to 0-8 score line at a rain soaked Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda on Sunday afternoon October 23rd.
O’Raghallaighs 0-14 Moynalvey 0-8
After a year of slow starts to games Moynalvey were unable to reproduce their strong second half performances which saw them claim the Mattie McDonnell cup in Meath. The men in maroon and white found themselves 0-5 to 0-1 down after 18 minutes with their solitary score coming from a Ciaran Collins free. The visitors narrowed the gap to two points in the 23rd minute following scores from James Kelly (free) and David Donoghue, however this was as close as Moynalvey got to their opponents all afternoon. Both sides added a further point apiece before the break leaving the O’Raghallaighs with a double score half time lead of 0-6 to 0-3.
Two points in the opening three minutes of the second period saw the Louth champions take a five point lead over their Meath counterparts. Moynalvey then endured their purple patch, scoring 0-3 without reply courtesy of Mark O’Sullivan, Stephen Donoghue and another Kelly free to cut the deficit to 0-2 once again after 40 minutes play. With O’Raghallaighs playing with the strong second half wind at their backs they too also enjoyed their second half period of dominance, hitting 0-4 without reply between the 45th and 52nd minute. Despite O’Raghallaighs having a player dismissed for a second bookable offence ten minutes from the end, Moynalvey found a second half comeback on this occasion too much to muster and their slow start along with some scoring chances going a begging in the opening period found themselves six points adrift of their opponents at the final whistle. Despite the disappointing loss, the large loyal brigade of Moynalvey supporters stayed on to applaud their players off the field after a fantastic year for the club, who now look forward to playing in the premier grade of Meath football in 2012 for the first time in the guts of a decade.
Moynalvey: O. Regan, R. Kiernan, P. Weldon, P. Donoghue, A. Forde, B. O’Keefe, W. Mahady, J. Donoghue, S. Donoghue (0-1), D. Donoghue (0-1), M. O’Sullivan (0-2), D. Treacy, W. Byrne, C. Collins (0-1), J. Kelly (0-2). Subs: K. Hyland for Mahady, W. Harnan for Treacy, J. Weldon for Byrne, R. Ryan (0-1) for Kelly.
