Moynalvey’s hopes of progression to the knockout stages of the 2013 Hoganstand.com Meath SFC remain intact following their seven point win over Walterstown on a 1-12 to 0-8 score line at Ashbourne on Tuesday night August 27th.
Moynalvey 1-12 Walterstown 0-8
Moynalvey manager Ian Kearney put one over the club he once plied his trade with as a player, as his charges kept their hopes of claiming a quarter final place in the Senior football championship alive with victory over Walterstown last night, meaning Saturday’s tie against Duleek/Bellewstown now becomes a winner takes all encounter.
The games top scorer Cillian O’Sullivan opened the scoring as early as the first minute, converting a close range free after county player Padraic Harnan was fouled. Parity was restored between the sides in the 4th minute when Walterstown’s full forward Alban Crosbie split the uprights from a free. After a quarter an hour of play the sides remained tied 0-3 apiece, with Moynalvey’s scores coming from Barry O’Keeffe and an O’Sullivan free, while Walterstown’s two points came from Paul Donellan and a Crosbie free.
For the first time in 2013 Moynalvey were fielding with both the 2011 and 2012 Meath young footballers of the year Anthony Forde and Cillian O’Sullivan, and the two combined in the 19th minute when a well-worked move saw O’Sullivan place the impressive Anthony Forde for a point that left it 0-4 to 0-3, a lead Moynalvey weren’t to relinquish. Three minutes later a piece of brilliance from the excellent O’Sullivan saw him outpace his marker to fire home the only goal of the game, giving Moynalvey a four point lead on a 1-4 to 0-3 score line. Walterstown reduced the deficit to two with points from Donellan and a Crosbie free once again in the 26th and 29th minutes respectively. A minute into added time good interplay between Moynalvey’s Padraic Harnan and O’Sullivan resulted in the later being fouled and he duly dispatched the resulting free over the cross bar, leaving the goal between the sides at the break on a 1-5 to 0-5 score line.
Within two minutes of the restart Walterstown’s Cathal Hennelly fired over to leave two between the sides. However an impressive third quarter saw Moynalvey increase their lead from two to seven points. The sequence of five points was started with an O’Sullivan point in the 38th minute, followed by points from John Donoghue, an O’Sullivan free, a Padraic Harnan effort and ended with a Barry O’Keeffe point after the ball was recycled back to him after a goal chance for William Harnan was saved at point blank range by the Blacks ‘keeper John Davis.
Moynalvey came under scrutiny in the final quarter, but tenacious defending from the Moynalvey defence restricted the Blacks to just 0-2 during this period, with Moynalvey adding two points themselves from Ciaran Ennis and O’Sullivan, leaving the men in maroon and white seven point winners on a 1-12 to 0-8 score line.
The final group game takes place on Saturday evening next against Duleek/Bellewstown at 6pm in Dunshaughlin.
Moynalvey: G. Drum, R. Kiernan, P. Weldon, P. Donoghue, D. Brennan, S. Donoghue, A. Forde (0-1), P. Harnan (0-1), D. Smith, J. Donoghue (0-1), C. Ennis (0-1), B. O’Keeffe (0-2), C. O’Sullivan (1-6), W. Harnan, R. Ryan.
Subs used: J. Kelly for W. Harnan, B. Dixon for Kiernan, D. Branigan for Ryan.
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