St. Michaels 0-14
Moynalvey 2-6

Moynalvey lost out to St. Michaels by two points in round 12 of the All County A League on a 0-14 to 2-6 score line at Carlanstown on Sunday afternoon July 27th.

With both sides sitting mid table in the league safe from the relegation zone and out of the equation for promotion hopes, it was the Intermediate side St. Michaels who ran out two point winners against their Senior opponents Moynalvey. As the score line proved, Michaels' easily outscored their South Meath opponents fourteen scores to eight. Only two points separated the sides at the final whistle and but for two excellent second half saves from St. Michael's goalkeeper Paul McCormack the visitors Moynalvey nearly snatched something from this game.

The home side were first to trouble the score keeper when St. Michael's wing forward J.B O'Reilly split the posts in the 4th minute. Moynalvey's first score of the game arrived in the 5th minute when full forward William Harnan unleashed an unstoppable left footed rocket to the corner of McCormack's net. Two minutes later Moynalvey midfielder Brian Conneely fisted over, extending the visitor's lead to three points, 1-1 to 0-1. Following a second point for the Carlanstown men, Moynalvey wing back Brian Harnan burst forward to point in the 21st minute following some excellent build up play from Barry O'Keeffe. Harnan's point proved to be Moynalvey's last score of the first half and the home side rattled off six unanswered points before the half time whistle. The departure of St. Michael's midfielder Felim O'Reilly to a serious injury accounted for six additional minutes at the end of the first period in which Moynalvey's Paul Conneely was black carded and O'Reilly's replacement substitute Matthew Halpin accounted for two of his sides' three injury time points, the third from David Lynch, leaving Michaels ahead 0-8 to 1-2 at the break.

Thirty seconds after the restart Michaels' extended their advantage to four points when corner forward Ronan Lynch clipped over. A mazy run from Moynalvey's Shane Lenehan from his own half back line saw him fouled 21 yards out near the sideline, Ciaran Ennis stepped forward to curl the resulting free kick over the black spot to leave three between the sides again eight minutes into the second half. David Lynch fired over Michaels' 10th point of the game in the 42nd minute with Moynalvey's William Harnan replying with an excellent point of his own three minutes later. The three point margin separated the sides for eleven minutes as scores came hard to come by, before St. Michael's Peter O'Connell broke the lull in the 26th minute. Michaels' looked to have secured both points on offer when pointing again in the 57th minute, leaving five between them on a 0-12 to 1-4 score line. However two minutes later a Ciaran Ennis '45 which was dropping short was fisted to the St. Michael's net by Moynalvey midfielder Brian Conneely, leaving an anxious few minutes for the home side with six minutes of additional injury time set to be played after numerous second half injury stoppages. In the injury time David Lynch pointed yet again for the home side and two Ennis frees for Moynalvey, the first a converted free after Barry O'Keeffe was bundled over and the second an effort from play left just a point between the sides with three minutes left to play. Some wasteful shooting from Moynalvey cost them snatching something from the game and St. Michaels' Peter Connell ensured victory for the Carlanstown side when pointing in the 64th minute, leaving St. Michaels' holding out for a well deserved two point win on a 0-14 to 2-6 score line.

Moynalvey: Ollie Regan, Anthony Brien, Padraig Donoghue, Fearghal McCabe, Brian Harnan (0-1), Stephen Donoghue, David Donoghue, Donal Smith, Brian Conneely (1-1), Eamonn Walsh, Ciaran Ennis (0-3), Paul Conneely, Shane Lenehan, William Harnan (1-1), Barry O'Keeffe. Subs: Luke Duffy for P. Conneely (black card), Mark Lenehan for Walsh.

July 27th 2014.
A FL Division 2, round 12

Full time: St. Michaels 0-14, Moynalvey 2-6.
Half time: St. Michaels 0-8, Moynalvey 1-2.

St. Michaels and Moynalvey slugged it out in a dour game of football in this the penultimate round of the division 2 league played under ideal conditions in Carlanstown at noon on Sunday. To say that the football being played in the opening half was poor would be an understatement, however things did improve as the game wore on.

A J.B. O'Reilly point in the fourth minute opened the scoring for St. Michaels, Moynalvey then won the kick out and headed goal-wards sending it to the top corner of the net past the outstretched Paul McCormack, for the next 25 minutes St. Michaels registered 3 further points from Felim O'Reilly, Ronan Lynch and Peter O'Connell, their opponents faired worse registering just two points but the wide tally for the same period read St. Michaels 9, Moynalvey 5. An injury to Felim O'Reilly on 26 minutes added 5 minutes to the opening half and it was in that period that St. Michaels came to life as they slotted over 4 points in as many minutes, one fine point from Peter O'Connell, some good exchanges between Kevin Cassidy and Davy Lynch saw the latter fire over on the run-in and two well taken efforts from substitute Matthew Halpin left his side with a 0-8 to 1-2 half time advantage.

The second half was a much livelier affair with little between the sides, good work between Peter O'Connell and Ronan Lynch put Lynch through for the opening point, Moynalvey countered 4 minutes later with a point of their own, but once again Ronan Lynch got on the end of a good Robbie Briody move to restore the 4 point advantage and when another two great efforts from O'Connell and Ronan Lynch sailed over the home side could be forgiven for thinking they had the points in the bag, however back came Moynalvey and they got on the end of a 45 to send it to the back of the net on the stroke of full time. The score line could have been a lot different by this stage had Paul McCormack not pulled off two brilliant saves earlier on in the St. Michaels goals. The referee had indicated that there would be 7 minutes of added time due to another St. Michaels injury it was still all to play for. David Lynch combined with his brother Ronan to raise another white flag but time was on the visitors side and they replied immediately to leave just two between the sides with 5 minutes of injury time still to play, and credit to the visitors they had it down to the minimum a minute later to make it a tense finish for the home side but the insurance point came from Peter O'Connell's left boot in the fifth minute of added time for a deserved win.

St. Michaels team and scorers: Paul McCormack, Mark Stafford, Jamie Reilly, Dáithí Reilly, Sam Briody, Philip Rogers, Robbie Briody, David Lynch 0-3, Felim O'Reilly 0-1, Peter O'Connell 0-4, Kevin Cassidy, J.B. O'Reilly 0-1, Oran Meehan, Johnny Reilly, Ronan Lynch 0-3. Subs: Matthew Halpin 0-2 for Felim O'Reilly 26 minutes, Ben Farrell for J.B. O'Reilly 55 minutes, Christopher Drew for Philip Rogers 62 minutes.

Referee: Seamus O'Connor. Tweet

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