JM Food Services Football League Division 2 Round 5
Seneschalstown 4-15 Moynalvey 2-07
Seneschalstown maintained their winning run in the JM Food Services Football League Division 2 with a comfortable victory over Moynalvey on a sunny Saturday evening in Fr. Tully Park.
After being without a number of regular starters for the last outing against Walterstown, Seneschalstown were able to recall James Meade, Donie Commons and Alan Mulvany to the starting fifteen, but were still without the services of Cathal Finnegan in the full-forward line. The absence of Finnegan in that part of the field had caused Seneschalstown problems in previous years but so far this year it has been less of a worry with a number of other players helping take up the scoring burden, and all six forwards went on to register from play over the course of the sixty minutes here against the side from Kilmore Park.
Even at that, it was a defender who was first to score for Seneschalstown when centre-back Brian Maguire decided his best option was to take aim from long range with the outside of his left which prompted the umpire to go for the white flag. Moynalvey opened their account with an immediate reply, which possibly could have been a goal and the fast start to the game continued when Seneschalstown put together an excellent move where Joey Moore found Eoin Finnegan inside to kick over his first score of the evening in the third minute. The visitors levelled again for what would be the last time from a free before Darren O’Brien put Seneschalstown in the driving seat for the remainder of the game when he calmly rolled the ball to the Moynalvey net after haring through the centre of the defence to finish for the first goal of the hour.
Boosted by that goal, Seneschalstown began to power on. Diminutive corner-forward Dylan Keating came round on a loop at the top of the ‘D to float one over into the railway end goals of Fr. Tully Park which was added to by Joey Moore four minutes later as the lead continued to grow. In the 21st minute, Alan Mulvany leapt high to claim an attacking mark 30 meters out to the left of the posts and he made no mistake with the shot. Less than a minute later, Seneschalstown lead by nine. Keeper James Meade picked up a loose ball and it was moved forward through Brian Maguire and Ross Howard, with Maguire finding Dylan Keating who transferred onto Alan Mulvany to round the keeper and finish to the net. Eoin Finnegan added his second point of the hour when he clipped over after good work from Darren O’Brien and the lead entered double figures.
From that kick-out, Seneschalstown added goal number three. Mulvany was alert to the short kick-out and Eoin Finnegan picked up the loose ball and when he could have went for goal himself, he slipped it back to Mulvany who had the simple task of rolling the ball home.
To their credit, Moynalvey didn’t throw in the towel and raised a green flag of their own after 26 minutes but Seneschalstown continued to add to their own tally. Darren O’Brien ran onto a long kickout from Meade and he had oceans of space to carry the ball into and compose himself to curl over a point to add to his earlier goal. Alan Mulvany brought his tally for the half to 2-02 when he ran onto a ball and cut inside to score. One last Moynalvey point left Seneschalstown 11 points up at the break, 3-08 to 1-03.
Seneschalstown came out fast at the start of the second half and proceeded to add to the scoreboard. Almost instantly, Joey Moore took on his man when he won the ball towards the sideline and he managed to create space for himself to hoist the ball between the posts. Darren O’Brien continued to impress in front of goal when he he managed to ride a tackle into open space and kick another.
Alan Mulvany (free) and Ross Howard continued to put more daylight between the teams with further scores, Howard did well to create space for his own score after Liam Dillon did not connect properly with a long range free.
Moynalvey scored again in the 39th minute but Eoin Finnegan was about to produce one of the scores of the evening when he won a ball in the corner that he had no right before running at his man and pop over. Those who thought they were looking at an action replay could have been forgiven seconds later when the full-forward did practically the exact same thing and was once again unerringly accurate.
The absolute dominance of the home side was rubber stamped in the 49th minute. Even after all contributing the scoreboad, the Seneschalstown forwards continued to hassle and harry Moynalvey in their half of the pitch and when it was turned over the ball eventually made its way to Darren O’Brien. O’Brien spotted substitute David Fox all alone in the large square and he had the simplest of tasks to beat the keeper and Seneschalstown had a massive 19 point lead.
With the game long over as a contest, Seneschalstown made a number of changes and positional switches and Moynalvey reduced the arrears gradually in the last ten minutes. They kicked three points along with a goal that came from a penalty, Seneschalstown’s only score in the closing stages came from the lively Finnegan who chipped over his fifth point of the hour.
Five points for Finnegan, a total tally of five points for Darren O’Brien, five scores for Alan Mulvany and a fifth win on the bounce in the League for Seneschalstown who continue to lead the way in Division 2 with maximum points. A trip to Trim awaits in two weeks where the Yellow Furze men will be hoping to atone for last summer’s Championship defeat to the Reds.
Seneschalstown: James Meade, Cillian Lawlor, Simon Rooney, Cormac Carolan, Seán Carey, Brian Maguire (0-01), Liam Dillon, Donie Commons, John Smith, Ross Howard (0-01), Joey Moore (0-02), Darren O’Brien (1-02), Dylan Keating (0-01), Eoin Finnegan (0-05), Alan Mulvany (2-03, 1m, 1f).
Subs Used: Mark Fox, David Fox (1-00), Robbie Finnegan, Neill Darby, Rob Wogan, James Conlon.
