Moynalvey defeated local rivals and previously unbeaten Summerhill in the third round of the Junior A championship played in scorching heat at Kilmessan on Thursday evening, June 7th.
Moynalvey 2 – 11 Summerhill 1 – 5
Fielding without injured captain Cathal Sheridan, Moynalvey produced a dominant performance and bar a 5 minute spell after the interval, the maroon and whites always seemed the team most likely to win.
Summerhill opened the scoring from a free after 3 minutes but Moynalvey responded immediately with a well worked David Donoghue effort. Further points by Willie Byrne (2), Ciaran Collins, James Weldon and Damian Dixon was responded to by a second pointed free from Summerhill to leave the score 0 – 6 to 0 – 2 after 20 minutes.
Summerhill then brought themselves back into contention with a well taken goal but Moynalvey responded to this setback by scoring 2 more points from David and John Donoghue to leave it 0 – 8 to 1 – 2 at the interval.
The second half started with Summerhill playing their best football of the game, and they scored the first 2 points of the half to leave the minimum between the sides. Moynalvey survived this mini revival however and asserted their authority on the game once again. Points from Weldon and Byrne (free) was followed by a goaled effort from Weldon after he side footed a Ciaran Collins centre to the net. Weldon was on fire at this stage and he was on hand to net again after another good Moynalvey move.
The game was well won by this stage and a final Summerhill point was responded to by a Willie Byrne free to leave Moynalvey 9 point victors at the finish.
This was an excellent team performance by Moynalvey with all players giving 100%. The victory leaves Moynalvey top of the group with maximum points after 3 games played, but with tough games against Dunsany and St Brigids yet to come.
Team & scorers – O Regan, R Kiernan, P Donoghue, D Durkan, P Weldon, P Conneely, D Smith, B Conneely, J Donoghue (0 – 1), R Quinlan, D Dixon (0 – 1), J Weldon (2 – 2), D Donoghue (0 – 2), W Byrne (0 – 4), C Collins (0 – 1). Subs – S Donoghue for R Quinlan, PJ Walsh for D Dixon, G Fagan for B Conneely, C Ennis for C Collins, R Ryan, S Weston, C Dunne, A Brien, R Donovan, G McHale, S Collins.
