Moynalvey secured their place in the quarter finals of the Hoganstand.com Senior football championship with a comprehensive 10 point victory over Duleek/Bellewstown on a 2-13 to 1-6 score line at Dunshaughlin on Saturday evening August 31st.
Moynalvey 2-13 Duleek/Bellewstown 1-6
Both sides entered this game knowing the winner was guaranteed progression to the knockout stages of the championship. After the first 30 odd minutes of football either side would have been confident of making the quarter finals, as only a goal separated the sides at the interval, 1-5 to 0-5 in favour of Moynalvey. A six minute spell after the restart yielded 1-3 without reply for the winners, effectively killing off any Duleek/Bellewstown challenge.
Moynalvey took the lead in the 5th minute when Cillian O’Sullivan sent over a free after he had been fouled. A fisted point from Donal smith and a William Harnan effort following good interplay with O’Sullivan left Moynalvey three points to the good after nine minutes. Steven Nolan opened Duleek/Bellewstown’s account in the 12th minute and sixty seconds later the deficit was narrowed to the minimum when Brian Moore fired over. However this was as close as Duleek/Bellewstown would get to Moynalvey. At the quarter hour mark the score board read 0-4 to 0-2 in favour of Moynalvey after midfielder Donal Smith sent over his second point of the game. Cianan Byrne converted a free for Duleek/Bellewstown in the 20th minute before two minutes later the first green flag of the game arrived when Moynalvey’s William Harnan fielded a high ball in and as he turned a path to goal opened up and he calmly finished low to the net. Both sides added a point apiece before the interval with Duleek/Bellewstown’s effort coming from a Cianan Byrne ’45 and Moynalvey’s from Ciaran Ennis. The goal remained between the sides at the break as Moynalvey led 1-5 to 0-5.
The six minute period after the restart saw Moynalvey blitz Duleek/Bellewstown for 1-3. The scoring spree began with an O’Sullivan free and was followed by 1-1 from William Harnan and an Anthony Forde point, leaving the score reading 2-8 to 0-5 after 36 minutes of play. Duleek/Bellewstown registered their only point of the second period in the 45th minute. A minute later Padraic Harnan claimed the ball in the middle of the field and fed O’Sullivan who pointed giving Moynalvey a commanding nine point lead. Duleek/Bellewstown’s only other second half score arrived in the 50th minute when Padraig Howard palmed the ball into the Moynalvey net. Moynalvey rounded off the final 10 minutes with a further four points from Cillian O’Sullivan, Barry O’Keeffe, Donal Smith and substitute Darragh Branigan, leaving them run out impressive 10 point winners.
Best for the winners were Padraig Donoghue, Robbie Kiernan, Paul Weldon, Stephen Donoghue, Donal Smith, Cillian O’Sullivan and William Harnan.
Moynalvey: G. Drum, R. Kiernan, P. Weldon, P. Donoghue, D. Brennan, S. Donoghue, A. Forde (0-1), P. Harnan, D. Smith (0-3), J. Donoghue, C. Ennis (0-1), B. O’Keeffe (0-1), C. O’Sullivan (0-4), W. Harnan (2-2), R. Ryan.
Subs: D. Donoghue for Ryan, D. Branigan (0-1) for Ennis, B. Dixon for S. Donoghue, J. Kelly for W. Harnan.
