Moyfenragh march on to decider
REGIONAL FC SEMI-FINAL
It won’t go down as a classic but that will not matter a jot to Tommy Hanley and his Moyfenragh team who maintained their 100% record and secured a place in this year’s Regional Championship final with a nail-biting 0-10 to 0-8 win over Bru na Boinne at Dunganny tonight, writes Davy Rispin.
Remarkably the winners could only muster one point in the opening 25 minutes of the contest, arriving via the left boot of Brendan McKeon in the ninth minute. Niall Ronan’s side grabbed complete control for the next 15 minutes reeling off five points on the trot including a brace each from Duleek/Bellewstown duo of Alan Bowden and John Flood along with a free from Paddy McGill.
The omens looked bleak for the Boardsmill, Clonard, Longwood, Ballivor and Clann na Gael combination but they managed to somehow lift themselves off the canvas in the run-in to half-time.
An Adam Gannon score in the 25th minute stopped the rot, and this was supplemented by a couple of Danny Dixon frees before the break to reduce the arrears to one, 0-4 to 0-5 in a scrappy but engrossing affair.
Dixon restored parity five minutes into the second half with an excellent long-range effort however McGill converted an advanced mark moments later to edge the Duleek/Bellewstown, St Mary’s, St Patrick’s and St Vincent’s men in front again.
The gritty and physical Moyfenragh failed to relent though and by virtue of hitting two of the next three points with Adam Dowdall and Dixon on target, they were level with the riposte coming from a Flood free.
Manager Hanley had two aces up his sleeve in the form of Mickey Burke and David Raleigh who were introduced, and they certainly added a degree of experience and class to their sides ranks.
A brilliant McKeon free had Moyfenragh back in front for only the second time in the 54th minute. They were pegged back once more by the gutsy east Meath region thanks to a clutch McGill free but that’s as good as it got for Bru na Boinne.
Dixon kicked his side back into the lead entering stoppage time and the superb Brendan McKeon added the insurance score deep into stoppage time finishing off a fine team move to book their final ticket.
Moyfenragh - Eoin Griffin (Clann na nGael); Jamie Smith (Ballivor), Stefan Connolly (Ballivor), Eoin Treacy (Clonard); Brendan McKeon (Ballivor 0-3 one free), Jack Doherty (Clann na nGael), Brian O’Reilly (Clonard); Sean Coloe (Longwood), Kevin McKeon (Ballivor); Stevie Gibbons (Boardsmill), Danny Dixon (Boardsmill 0-5 three frees), Adam Dowdall (Clonard 0-1); Stefan Kelly (Ballivor), Darragh Swaine (Clann na nGael), Adam Gannon (Ballivor 0-1). Subs – David Raleigh (Ballivor) for Gibbons 27m, Mickey Burke (Longwood) for Connolly 37m, Ross Kerrigan (Longwood) for Treacy 49m, Gary Sherrock (Ballivor) for Dowdall 62m.
Bru na Boinne – Evan Connor (St Vincent’s); Oisin Miland (Duleek/Bellewstown), Davy Tallon (St Vincent’s), Adam Byrne (St Patrick’s); Sam O’Leary (Duleek/Bellewstown), Robin Clarke (Duleek/Bellewstown), Ryan Hand (St Vincent’s); Conor Harford (St Vincent’s), Jack Byrne (St Vincent’s); Paddy McGill (St Vincent’s 0-3 2 frees one mark), Alan Bowden (Duleek/Bellewstown 0-2), Nigel Hand (St Vincent’s); Adam Tuite (St Vincent’s), John Flood (Duleek/Bellewstown 0-3 one free), Sam Victory (St Mary’s). Subs – Jamie Crosby (Duleek/Bellewstown) for Victory half-time, Padraig Nulty (St Patrick’s) for J Byrne 37m, Liam Sheridan (St Mary’s) for N Hand 43m.
Referee - Andrew Smith (Dunshaughlin).