Moynalty has gained plenty of headlines for its Tidy Towns achievements and the popular annual Steam Threshing Festival and it is now pushing to create a name for itself once more on the football fields. In September the pretty north county village took the county Tidy Towns accolade for the 14th successive year. Moynalty has a proud footballing tradition dating back to the 1930s when county senior and intermediate championships were annexed and Mattie Gilsenan captained Meath when they lost narrowly to Kerry in the 1939 All-Ireland SFC final. The most recent adult championship triumph by Moynalty was the junior victory in 1987 when Cortown were conquered in the final at Kells. However, the wearers of the red and white slipped two rungs down the ladder since then and are now operating in the junior B grade in which they got to the semi-final stage in 2008. It was the fourth year for Moynalty's first team to compete in the second junior grade and they were one of four first teams among the 16 participants, Clonard, St Paul's and St Vincent's being the others. Moynalty were in a group with Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Syddan, Ratoath and St Patrick's and were idle in the opening round. The campaign began with a Friday evening outing against Donaghmore/Ashbourne in mid-May and Moynalty just scraped the win on a 2-7 to 0-12 scoreline. It was 2-1 to 0-5 at the break and David Murtagh took the scoring honours with a goal and four points while Kevin Donegan also finished to the net. The team managed by Shane McEntee had got away to a winning start and there was cause for optimism. David Murtagh again raised the green flag in the 1-10 to 0-10 second round success over Syddan at Nobber. The sides were level (1-2 to 0-5) at the break but with Stephen Blackburn, Paul Govern, Karl McMahon and Plunkett Tormay also showing good form, the men in red and white had the better of the second period. The winning run was maintained when Ratoath were just edged out by the minimum margin (1-7 to 0-9) in a tight contest in Slane. There was a third goal in as many championship outings for David Murtagh and Stephen Blackburn put over three points. Moynalty were back in Slane for their fourth and last Junior B FC group game of the year and they went down to their first defeat with St Patrick's defeating them by 3-6 to 0-9 in a Friday evening clash. They led by 0-7 to 1-1 at the break and although David Murtagh again grabbed a goal, a second half fade out cost them their unbeaten record. They recovered from that defeat to gain a third minimum margin in a quarter-final played out at Walterstown with St Paul's from Clonee being overcome on a 1-6 to 0-8 scoreline. It was 1-2 to 0-2 at the halfway stage and Ronan Tormay scored 1-2 with Paul Govern and Stephen Blackburn getting the other points for the winners. Moynalty's hopes of reaching the Junior B final ended at Rathkenny on the first Saturday of September when Donaghmore/Ashbourne's second string reversed an earlier result with a 0-18 to 1-12 victory after extra-time. It was 0-13 to 1-10 at the end of the hour with David Murtagh netting his first goal of the campaign. Stephen Blackburn put over five points and Sean Lynch raised the white flag four times. It was the second year in succession for Moynalty to bow out of the Junior B championship in extra-time as they were ousted by eventual outright winners Wolfe Tones in a quarter-final tie at Carlanstown in 2007. Looking back at the latest bid to get back up junior A ranks, secretary Michael Casey felt it was a reasonably good campaign despite losing at the penultimate stage. It was a first term with the club for busy TD Shane McEntee who had Jimmy Reilly of the Cuchulainns club in Cavan as the team trainer. Hugh Lynch and T. P. McKenna were selectors with McEntee's sidekick, Pat McConnon, also on the management team. "Sean and his assistants put in a lot of effort. They gave very good commitment, showed great interest and plenty of enthusiasm," said Casey. However, it can be difficult for small junior clubs to hold on to some of their better players and Moynalty lost Jim Gallagher and Stephen Smith, both All-Ireland junior winners in 2003, to neighbouring clubs in the last few years. "The junior B grade is quite competitive. We had two very good matches against Donaghmore/Ashbourne, we beat them in our first game and they beat us in the semi-final which went to extra-time, they were a fairly useful side with some quality young players. St Paul's, whom we beat at the quarter-final stage, were also strong, it will be hard to get out of the grade but we can look forward to giving it a good shot next year," said secretary Casey. "Like most teams our side was made up of a mixture of older players and some young lads on the way up. David Murtagh, who had a very good year and got some vital scores, was the senior member while minors Sean Lynch, Christy Cahill and Joseph Curley were the youngest," he added. Moynalty are joined with Carnaross for minor football and play under the banner of St Ciaran's and in the second week of September there was an outright success in the MFL Division 3B under lights at Pairc Tailteann with Moynalvey being defeated by 2-6 to 1-8. The winning team was captained by Sean Lynch and other Moynalty players on the side were Michael Lynch, Joseph Curley (son of well-known referee) Joey), Christy Cahill and Cormac Donegan. Moynalty mentors along the sidelines were Joey Curley and Tom Lynch. Moynalty were celebrating an under 12 summer league success in August after the Group C final victory over Seneschalstown in the final played in Moynalty. The score at the full time whistle was 7-6 to 3-5 after Seneschalstown had led by 2-2 to 1-3 at the break. It was an enjoyable encounter played in very wet conditions and the Moynalty lads got on top after being in arrears at the halfway stage. Cathal Reilly took the scoring honours with three goals and Anthony Nevin, Jamie Maloney, Barry Nevin and Shane Faulkner also raised the green flag. Moynalty team and scorers - Matthew McKenna; James Cassidy, Jonathon Lynch, Edwina Olwill; Padraig Connor, Robert Nevin, Ronan Lynch; Patrick Farrelly (0-3), Patrick Byrne (0-3); Shane Farrelly, Anthony Nevin (1-0), Jamie Maloney (1-0); Barry Nevin (1-0), Shane Faulkner (1-0), Cathal Reilly (3-0). Subs - Louise Byrne for Reilly, Marion Farrelly for Maloney, Mark O'Brien for A. Nevin, Sean Nevin for B. Nevin. Moynalty's under 10 squad also had an active year with Charlie Reilly and John Cassidy the main men with this squad. Budding young footballers seem to start getting coaching tips soon after dispensing with nappies these days and a number of sessions for whippersnappers from the tender age of four up to eight were well supported. The Moynalty club has also been busy on the development front with the park's floodlighting being completed in the autumn of 2007 and giving fixture committees in the county extra options for night matches. While Moynalty did not get any SFC matches in 2008, they played hosts to a number of intermediate and junior championship games, the most notable being the IFC quarter-final between Cortown and Syddan. "It's a good dry pitch an we also hosted a few underage finals under lights. We have replaced the fencing around the pitch and there are plans to develop a training pitch,'' said Michael Casey. Junior team manager Shane McEntee returned after three years away from the sidelines and the busy Meath East dail deputy was very impressed by the facilities and enthusiasm in the Moynalty club. How did the man from Nobber manage to combine his duties as a TD with taking charge of a football team? "I missed being involved and was delighted to be back with a team. I got to training at least once a week and when I wasn't there, Jimmy Reilly or Pat McConnon took charge. I got to all the matches and I was highly impressed by the facilities and the way the club is run," he replied. "While I enjoyed it very much, it was disappointing that we didn't go further in the championship, while it may have only the junior B grade, to me it was important as trying to win an All-Ireland. "We were hit by a few injuries going into the semi-final against Donaghmore/Ashbourne but I'm not making excuses for the defeat as they were the better team on the day. The Moynalty players were very committed and they were well disciplined too," added McEntee. The former Meath minor boss feels that Moynalty need to get up out of Division 5 of the All County League in order to improve their standard. He is impressed by some of the young players on the way up and would like to see some of the players who left returning to don the red and white again. Moynalty have too proud a footballing tradition to be lingering in such low ranks for too long and come 2009 they will be expected to make a bold bid in their efforts to get back up the ladder. Tweet

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