Fianna condemn Moortown to the drop

Coalisland 1-10 Moortown 0-4

COALISLAND safely negotiated the first hurdle in their bid to retain their senior status when they emerged emphatic winners over Moortown at Father Campbell Park on Saturday afternoon in the ACL Division One relegation playoff.

The St.Malachys went close to two goals in the opening twenty minutes but after that it was the Fianna who assumed complete control. The winners rattled off seven points in a row after the visitors had got the first two scores to lead 0-7 to 0-2 at the break and when man of the match Tiernan Quinn banged in a 43^rd minute goal it was all over bar the shouting.

The St.Malachys managed only four points in the game with Paudie Hampsey immense in the heart of the Coalisland defence while Plunkett Kane rolled back the years with a superb display in the middle of the park contributing a trio of points. Coalisland now await the winner of the Division two promotion playoffs while for Moortown they will be plying their trade in Intermediate football in 2024.

Blaine Ryan opened the scoring for Moortown in the 2^nd minute from a mark and when the next kick out from keeper Dylan Woods went straight to Shea Lawn he lobbed the ball back in and was unlucky to see his effort come back off the bar. It was an early let off for Coalisland and they fell two points behind when Peter Devlin converted a free.

A superb score from Quinn opened Colaisland’s account in the 6^th minute and Kane matched that from the opposite wing to leave it all square at the end of the opening quarter.

In the 20^th minute a blistering run from Brian McLernon carved open the Coalisland defence and he offloaded to Tarlach Quinn whose goal bound effort produced a brilliant save from Woods. It was another warning for Coalisland and this time they heeded it as they dominated the remainder of the half. A Quinn free gave them an advantage that they were never to lose and that was followed by quality points from play from Peter Heron, Paddy McNeice, Kane and Quinn to leave it 0-7 to 0-2 at the interval.

Both sides missed chances on the restart and it took ten minutes for the opening score to arrive as Ryan Kelly placed Lawn for a point. Any hopes that the Loughshore men had of mounting a comeback disappeared three minutes later when Niall Devlin’s ball found Quinn who cut inside two men before blasting the ball to the roof of the net past keeper Tony Quinn.

Straight from the kick out Moortown substitute Rian Smith responded with a point but that proved to be their last score of the afternoon. Moortown’s afternoon got worse when they lost midfielder Kelly to a black card with ten minutes left to play but by that stage the game was already over as a contest.

Quinn knocked over a free and moments later he went on a surging run through the Moortown defence and while his shot was saved by his namesake in goals Cathaoir Quinn played the rebound out for Kane to notch his third of the game. Niall Devlin then got forward from the halfback line to get his name on the scoresheet as well as the home side ran out convincing winners in the end.

THE SCORERS

Coalisland

Tiernan Quinn 1-4 (2F), Plunkett Kane 0-3, Niall Devlin 0-1, Peter Heron 0-1, Paddy McNeice 0-1

Moortown

Shea Lawn 0-1, Blaine Ryan 0-1 (M), Peter Devlin 0-1 (F), Rian Smith 0-1

THE TEAMS

Coalisland

Dylan Woods, Jack Fee, Paudie Hampsey, Conal Lyons, Michael McKernan, Louis O’Neill, Niall Devlin, Plunkett Kane, Cormac O’Hagan, Bailey Leonard, Sean Corr, Peter Heron, Stephen McNally, Paddy McNeice, Tiernan Quinn. Subs: Cathaoir Quinn for McNally, Niall Kerr for McNeice, Mark Hamilton for Corr, Liam Lyons for Kane, Odhran Bayne for Tiernan Quinn

Moortown

Tony Quinn, Tiernan Corr, Patrick Quinn, Conor McVeigh, Sean Paul Quinn, Tarlach Quinn, Brian McLernon, Ryan Kelly, Christopher McGuigan, Padraig O’Hagan, Paul Quinn, Blaine Ryan, Shea Lawn, Peter Devlin, Conor Quinn. Subs: Rian Smith for McVeigh, Shaun Conway for O’Hagan, Karl O’Hagan for Ryan, Tomas Doris for Conor Quinn

Referee: Mark Loughran, Errigal Ciaran