Final failures mar Moynalty season
November 30, 2009
After reaching the final of both the Junior B Football Championship and the Division 5 FL, 2009 promised to be a memorable year for Moynalty but David Jennings found out that heartbreaking defeats in those deciders were a bitter pill to swallow in what was a very promising campaign for the club.
There is a fine line between success and failure. Sometimes you can have an abundance of talent, work tirelessly on the training ground and give your all when you take to the field but if lady luck doesn't shine on you, there's simply nothing you can do.
Take Moynalty for instance. Things couldn't have went much better for the North Meath men for the vast duration of the season. Both in the championship and the league, they found a rich vein of form and developed a winning mentality and most astute judges had them pencilled in for some sort of silverware.
The big one was the Junior B Football Championship though. Even before the campaign got underway, Moynalty were hotly tipped to make a big impact. And with the quality of players they had at their disposal it was easy to see why.
Popular North Meath TD Shane McEntee was at the helm for the second year and he admitted that the JFC 'B' Championship was very much in his sights at the beginning of the year.
"We had high hopes at the beginning of the year and I knew that the players were there to do well. The majority of lads gave 100% commitment throughout the year and I couldn't fault their effort. But there were one or two lads that could have given more and if they had, we could have done even better," McEntee said.
A surprise early defeat to a highflying Trim outfit didn't dent their confidence and victories over Kildalkey, St Vincent's and a most impressive six-point thumping of Ratoath safely secured their passage to the knockout stages.
They were paired with Walterstown in the quarter-final and quickly asserted their superiority in that outing before cruising to a 1-9 to 1-5 success. It wasn't as easy in their last four date with Blackhall Gaels however, as the Batterstown/Kilcloon outfit put up a stern resistance to Moynalty's potent attacking unit.
But Moynalty showed great character and managed to carve out a hard-earned two-point triumph (1-9 to 0-10), which booked their ticket to the decider against a fancied Duleek/Bellewstown side that had been equally impressive en-route to the final.
The stage was set for a mouth-watering tussle and game was the appetiser on the menu at Pairc Tailteann on the Monday of the October Bank Holiday weekend with the intermediate decider served for main course.
Duleek/Bellewstown needed two bites at the cherry to get over Dunshaughlin in the semi-final and that suggested that Moynalty would be slight favourites to return to the JFC for the first time since 2004.
But they met a young Duleek/Bellewstown outfit that were made for the big spaces of Pairc Tailteann and despite a valiant attempt, Moynalty came up short by two points - 1-7 to 0-12 - as the amalgamated side got their hands on the coveted piece of silverware.
Moynalty's bid for the Larry Kearns Cup were severely hampered by a sluggish break from the traps and by the end of the opening quarter McEntee's men had failed to make a contribution to the scoreboard and trailed 0-0 to 0-4.
Matters improved for Moynalty as the half wore but just over a third of the hour had elapsed when Michael Lynch opened their account. The first of Stephen Blackburn's five pointed frees soon followed and by half the north Meath men were just two points in arrears, 0-3 to 0-5.
The old adage of 'goals winning games' may not have applied to the final scoreline as Moynalty were responsible for the only green flag to be raised, but had they availed of several more goal opportunities that came their way, the outcome could very well have been altered.
Moynalty's major arrived in the very last action of the game when Paul Govern finished stylishly to the net but if some of his colleagues had shown the same composure in front of goal, the North Meath men could be looking forward to the junior championship next term.
Shortly after the restart Damien Coldrick had a gilt-edged opportunity to find the net but fired directly at Duleek/Bellewstown netminder Adam Everard. Then moments later, Casey Dunne came to his side's rescue when Sean Lynch tried to find the net at the O'Mahonys end from a close range free.
Had either of those goal chances found the net Moynalty might well have come out on top but McEntee believed that the best team won on the day.
"There is no denying that Duleek/Bellewstown were the better team on the day and they deserved to win the title. We might have come out the right side if Damien Coldrick's chance after half-time had found the net. That was a turning point.
"But we didn't deserve to win on the day. We came there fully prepared but we met a young and very fit Duleek/Bellewstown side that were full value for the victory.
"Duleek/Bellewstown's first team was in the league final and went a long way in the Feis Cup so they had plenty of talent in the club this year and their second team possessed plenty of players that were probably good enough to be part of their senior side but just didn't put in the effort."
Compensation was up for grabs in the Division 5 FL decider when Moynalty faced Curraha at Pairc Tailteann in early November. Again hopes were high that some silverware could make its way back to the trophy cabinet but once again a poor first half performance left McEntee's troops playing catch-up.
A brace of Stephen Blackburn frees were Moynalty's only scores in the opening period as they trailed 0-2 to 0-6 at the halfway mark. Plunkett Tormay sent over their only score from play for the entire hour in the second half but shortly after that white flag was raised Moynalty had a gilt-edged opportunity to find the net and what's more a chance to haul themselves back into contention when referee Eamonn Barry awarded them a penalty.
But Curraha 'keeper Anthony Dowling produced a fine stop to deny Blackburn's well-struck kick and once again Moynalty supporters were left rueing their luck in front of goal.
They did eventually managed to ripple the net when Ronan Tormay reacted quickest to the breaking ball that bounced in the dangerzone and fired to the net but it was very much a case of too little too late for McEntee's side as the bird had flown and Curraha were already planning their celebrations.
Moynalty almost netted a late consolation when Patrick Sheridan sent a piledriver goalwards but his powerful strike was deflected out for a '45' and Moynalty's hopes of success went with it.
The 0-13 to 1-4 scoreline in favour of Curraha was an indication of their superiority and McEntee had no qualms about the rest. "We were beaten by a better side on the day, just like in the championship final when Duleek/Bellewstown got the better of us. We just didn't turn up on the day," McEntee said.
Reflecting on his stint at the helm, McEntee revealed that he thoroughly enjoyed his two-year term with Moynalty but that he won't be continuing in the position for the forthcoming season.
"I said that when I took over Moynalty that I'd give it two years and that's what I did. Unfortunately we were unable to get that championship success but I certainly enjoyed my two years," McEntee said
"After we were beaten by Trim in the first round of the championship we weren't beaten in the league or championship for the rest of the year until the two finals which in itself is a good achievement.
"There was huge commitment from players and I must mention Jimmy Reilly who did a lot of the training and did a great job. I couldn't speak highly enough of him.
"Moynalty need to be in the junior championship. There were teams in the Junior B that have first teams in the senior championship and they have players that are very talented but just don't put in the effort to play senior football. It's well within Moynalty's reach to play Junior A football and I think they will do it in the nest few years," McEntee concluded.
The Moynalty side that was on duty in the Junior B Football decider against Duleek/Bellewstown: J. Curley; D. Kangley, K. Coldrick, P. Sheridan; S. Lynch, D. Lynch, A. Brogan; P. Tormay, K. McMahon; M. Lynch (0-1), R. Tormay (0-1), C. Govern; S. Brogan, D. Murtagh, S. Blackburn (0-5, 5 fs). Subs: Coldrick for McMahon (18), P. Govern (1-0) for C. Govern (half-time), Ado Lynch for Brogan (43 mins), Adrian Lynch for S. Lynch (49 mins), P. Farrelly for Murtagh (53 mins).
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