The Moy keep Division One hopes alive against Clonoe

Moy 0-10

Clonoe 0-9

IT was tough, it was nerve-racking and at times it was downright messy, but the only thing that mattered was the final result and the Moy kept their survival hopes alive with a 0-10 to 0-9 victory over Clonoe on Saturday. The O’Rahilly’s were visibly shell-shocked by the outcome and will play Division Two football next season as a result.

Only a week ago they put it up to Carrickmore in the Senior Championship semi-final, but they failed to find an equaliser during ten minutes of stoppage time on Saturday (it was that sort of game), marking a disappointing ending to a disappointing league campaign.

The Moy aren’t out of the woods just yet – they’ll take on the winners of next week’s promotion clash between Edendork and Pomeroy and that certainly won’t be straightforward, but they were delighted nonetheless when the final whistle blew on a jittery, tense contest.

The blustery weather was a factor in the low overall score, a cross-field breeze making life difficult for the respective forward divisions, but the Moy played the smarter football on the day, exemplified by a typically intelligent performance from the ageless Colm Cavanagh, whose clever plays when the game was in the melting pot can’t go unmentioned.

A 57th minute mark from full-forward Ryan Coleman proved the winning score, but Clonoe had ample time to seek a winner as referee Mickey Quinn ended up playing 10 minutes of injury time (as way of explanation – there were a couple of fracases that interrupted proceedings).

Clonoe had their chances to bring the game to extra-time, but they made a few poor decisions and that was that – Division Two football awaits and that’ll take some time to sink in.

Moy started the game strongly with points from wing-back Patrick Lavery and Michael Conroy, before the O’Rahilly’s got up and running with a good free from Connor McAliskey in the ninth minute.

Surprisingly, Clonoe would fail to notch another point until injury time of the first-half, but it wasn’t as if they didn’t have opportunities – they struck a number of wides, and while the wind was an undoubted factor, credit must go to the Moy’s ultra-disciplined defensive unit.

With Clonoe racking up the wides, the Moy edged 0-3 to 0-1 in front when Ryan Coleman knocked over a free after stealing a few yards.

Clonoe had a goal chance when an alert Fintan McClure flicked the ball behind his head when the Moy goalkeeper was stranded, but the ball came back off the post.

Declan Conroy polished off a flowing team move for the Moy, while Ryan Coleman found his range from a free, and as half-time approached it already looked as if it was going to be their day. Connor McAliskey reduced the deficit to 0-5 to 0-2 with the last kick of the half and unsurprisingly Clonoe called for another dangerous attacker Danny McNulty, who entered the fray for the second-half.

The O’Rahilly’s came flying out of the traps when the action resumed, rattling off three points in as many minutes via Stephen McNulty, Paul Coney and Fintan McClure.

Moy responded with a score of their own, but Clonoe kept their momentum going and led for the first time all game when Stephen McNulty scored another point from distance.

If you were a betting man, you’d have put your money on Clonoe pushing on and claiming the win, but the Moy dug their heels in and enjoyed a purple patch with Michael Conroy, Ryan Lavery and Jamie Coleman leaving it 0-9 to 0-7 in the home side’s favour.

It was tense stuff and Clonoe levelled matters with two scores, nine minutes apart, from Fintan McClure and McAliskey.

There were 49 minutes gone, nothing between the teams, plenty of stoppages, plenty of missed opportunities (the wind an undoubted factor) and only one more point for the rest of the contest – a fine ‘mark’ from Ryan Coleman.

Clonoe had their chances in an interminable period of injury time (ten minutes in total), but the Moy held on to record a massively important play-off victory in a game that was as tense as any full-blown championship encounter we’ve seen this year.