Moynalvey secured their first Junior final appearance since last winning the crown in 1981, courtesy of a fully merited 3 point victory over Moylagh in this championship semi final played in front of a large crowd at Bohermeen on Sunday, September 23rd.
Moynalvey 0 – 14 Moylagh 1 – 8
It was Moylagh who settled fastest and the green and whites scored the first 3 points of the game to lead by 0 – 3 to 0 – 0 after 5 minutes. Moynalvey then came into the game and proceeded to dominate the next ten minutes, scoring 5 points without reply courtesy of Cathal Sheridan (3 including 2 frees), Robbie Quinlan and John Donoghue. Points from Willie Byrne and another free from Sheridan cancelled out 2 further Moylagh scores to leave Moynalvey ahead by 0 – 7 to 0 – 5 at the interval.
Sheridan opened the scoring after the resumption to push Moynalvey further clear and although Moylagh cut the deficit, further scores from Quinlan, Byrne, Sheridan and an inspirational Paul Weldon effort had Moynalvey 0 – 12 to 0 -7 ahead with 15 minutes to go and seemingly well on course for a final appearance.
Moylagh refused to give up however, and a controversial goal, given after Moynalvey keeper Ollie Regan caught the ball in his own square before being bundled into the net, cut the deficit to 2 points. However, Moynalvey refused to panic and from the resultant kick out, John Donoghue secured a fine catch at centre field before soloing half the length of the field and kicking a fine score to push the maroon and whites 3 points clear again.
Another Sheridan free in response to a late Moylagh pointed effort kept the margin at 3 points as Moylagh pressed for an equaliser but to no avail, with Ollie Regan producing a fine save late on to hand Moynalvey their first Junior championship final appearance since Liam Harnan captained the club to the crown in 1981.
Moynalvey can now look forward to a final appearance against Clann na nGael who overcame St Brigids by 0 – 12 to 1 – 6 in the other semi final yesterday, and the maroon and whites have plenty to work on as, despite dominating play for the majority of this semi final game, the shooting of 16 wides could have proved more costly on another day.
Team & scorers – O Regan, R Kiernan, P Donoghue, D Durkan, P Weldon (0 – 1), D Dixon, A Brien, S Donoghue, G Fagan, W Byrne (0 – 2), C Sheridan (0 – 7), R Quinlan (0 – 2), C Collins, J Donoghue (0 – 2), D Donoghue. Subs – J Weldon for R Quinlan, B Conneely for G Fagan, P Conneely for R Kiernan, G McHale, C Ennis, D Kane, R Donovan, F Cunningham, D Smith, PJ Walsh, G Drumm, D O’Shea, M Knightly.
