Moynalvey suffered their third straight defeat in Division 2 of the A league when going down to fellow senior side Rathkenny on a 2-11 to 0-14 score line at Rathkenny on Sunday afternoon July 21st.
Rathkenny 2-11 Moynalvey 0-14
At the interval the long journey to Rathkenny for Moynalvey looked to be a profitable one as the visitors were ahead 0-9 to 1-2 after playing with the breeze in the first half. However the four point half time lead was not enough as the home side outscored Moynalvey 1-9 to 0-5 in the second period to record a three point win.
Moynalvey started the game the more positive of the two sides, racking up a 0-3 to 0-00 lead after nine minutes. James Weldon opened the scoring in the 2nd minute, Anthony Brien pointed in the 7th following good work from Cathal McCabe out the field and Weldon fired over his second effort in the 9th minute after receiving a short free from John Donoghue. Jack Gore sent opened the home sides account in the 10th minute. Moynalvey increased their first half lead to seven points with four unanswered points between the 12th and 22nd minutes. Darragh Branigan opened his account for the afternoon in the 12th minute, which was followed by a trio of James Weldon scores, two from play and one from a free, leaving the score board reading 0-8 to 0-1 in favour of Moynalvey after 22 minutes of play. Sixty seconds later Rathkenny got the boost they needed when a high ball in broke to Brian Lenihan who found the back of the net. Two minutes later the deficit was reduced to two points when Lenihan sent over his first point of the game. James Weldon laid on Anthony Brien in the 30th minute to point his second effort of the afternoon; giving Moynalvey a 0-9 to 1-2 lead at the interval.
With the home side playing with the aid of the breeze in the second half, it didn’t take long for them to use the elements to their advantage. Within 10 minutes of the restart the sides were level. In this period Rathkenny hit 1-2, with the points coming from Jack Gore, Brian Lenihan (2f) and the goal coming from the boot of Thomas Martin, Moynalvey’s two points came from a John Donoghue free and another Weldon effort. Rathenny took the lead for the first time in the 41st minute when the ever reliable free taking of Brian Lenihan put the home side a point ahead, 2-6 to 0-11. Now with the upper hand around the middle of the field, Rathkenny furthered their advantage to two points when Ronan Curtis fired over in the 47th minute. Moynalvey fought hard over the remaining quarter and centre half forward Barry O’Keeffe pointed for Moynalvey in the 47th minute, leaving the minimum between the sides. Two Rathkenny points from David Donegan and Donal Curtis left just three points between the sides, 2-9 to 0-12, with nine minutes remaining. John Donoghue pointed an excellent ’45 for Moynalvey, before the home side pushed four points ahead with four minutes remaining courtesy of points from Jack Gore and Ross Gore. Despite the game looking out of Moynalvey’s grasp in the final minutes, the visitors almost grabbed a point from the game with a late Cathal McCabe point and a centre from John Donoghue almost finding its way to the Rathkenny net with the deftest of touch’s from Donal smith. Despite this late scare Rathkenny held on for a three point victory on a 2-11 to 0-14 score line.
Best for Moynalvey were Padraig Donoghue, Paul Weldon, John Donoghue, Cathal McCabe and the impressive James Weldon.
Moynalvey: G. Drum, R. Kiernan, P. Donoghue, B. Byrne, B. Dixon, P. Weldon, D. Donoghue, D. Smith, J. Donoghue (0-2), J. Weldon (0-6), B. O’Keeffe (0-1), C. McCabe (0-1), D. Branigan (0-2), J. Kelly, A. Brien (0-2).
