Moy shake off Aghyaran’s challenge

INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

Moy 1-19  Aghyaran 1-7

By Niall Gartland

BY no means did they have it all their own way, but the Moy rolled through the gears in the final quarter to secure a handsome enough victory over Aghyaran in Sunday’s Intermediate Championship first-round encounter at Loughmacrory.

There’s no point beating around the bush – the Moy want to win this competition. They lost the last two finals and there’s one way to itch that particular scratch.

And when word filtered through that neither Ronan McNamee nor Ronan McHugh were fit to start on Saturday, it was easy to make blithe assumptions about how this particular game was going to go.

To be fair, Aghyaran gave it a right rattle.They trailed 0-10 to 1-3 at the break, and Ryan McMenamin’s side could count themselves somewhat unlucky not to be awarded a second penalty late in the half when Eoghan McHugh was through on goal and felled by Steve Donaghy, who had an excellent game.

That said, the Moy led from start-to-finish and never looked in any real danger of losing. They played a controlled game, cleverly probing for openings without completely overdoing it, and their inside forward line of Liam McGeary, Ryan Coleman and Michael Conroy were all on form in front of the posts. Conroy was in his pomp – he played a sort of quarterback role but picked his moments to advance and the scores duly followed.

The Moy bossed possession early on and raced into a 0-4 to no score lead via Conroy, Patrick McGeary, Jamie Coleman and Liam McGeary. Aghyaran reduced the deficit to a single point in one fell swoop when Benny Gallen smashed the ball into the corner of the net from a penalty, which was awarded when Eoghan McHugh was subject to a rash foul by Eunan Deeney.

The Moy kept on plugging away though with four points on the spin – Liam McGeary splitting the posts before the effervescent Conroy tagged on point six, seven and eight for his side.

Aghyaran were struggling to make in-roads in attack and getting their hands on possession in the middle was proving difficult with Declan Conroy and Adam Donaghy lording matters, but they managed to get their first point of the day when Ethan McHugh scored following an expert delivery from Benny Gallen.

The Moy kept on coming through and got their final points of the half via Coleman and Declan Conroy. Aghyaran had the final say with a two-point free from Benny Gallen, but they could still feel somewhat aggrieved that they weren’t awarded a penalty in injury-time when Eoghan McHugh was one-on-one with the goalkeeper and was unceremoniously dispossessed. To be fair it was a big call to make.

The opening exchanges of the second half were even, not to mention quiet on the scoring front, and Aghyaran moved to bring on stalwarts Ronan McHugh and Ronan McNamee ahead of the final quarter.

Liam McGeary made it 0-15 to 1-4 before Benny Gallen struck back for Aghyaran, but the Moy looked increasingly comfortable and the game was more or less put to bed when sub Matthew Laverty and Michael Coleman both scored two-pointers.

With the game opening up, the Moy scored a fine breakaway goal, Declan Conroy embarking on a 50-metre run before Michael Conroy palmed to the net with five minutes remaining.

Aghyaran never threw in the towel and got the last score of the hour, a Benny Gallen two-point free, but the outcome had long been settle and the Moy march on to the last eight of the competition where they will take on the Rock.

Scorers

Moy: Michael Conroy (1-8, 1 2pt f, 3f), Liam McGeary (0-3), Ryan Coleman (0-3, 1f), Matthew Laverty (0-2, 1 2pt), Declan Conroy, Patrick McGeary and Jamie Coleman (0-1 each)

Aghyaran: Benny Gallen (0-6, 1 2pt f, 2f), Eoghan McHugh (1-0), Ethan McHugh (0-1)

Teams

Moy: Philip Mallon, Ronan O’Hanlon, Mark Gribbin, Eunan Deeney, Diarmuid McKeown, Steve Donaghy, Patrick Lavery, Adam Donaghy, Declan Conroy, Patrick McGeary, Jamie Coleman, Cathaoir Hughes, Liam McGeary, Ryan Coleman, Michael Conroy. Subs: Matthew Laverty for Patrick Lavery, Eoin McGeary for P McGeary, Ryan McAlary for Cathaoir Hughes.

Aghyaran: Niall Hilley, Tommy Dolan, Caolan McGinty, Jack Gallagher, Kevin Penrose, Cormac McHugh, Alex Dolan, Diarmuid McHugh, Ronan McLaughlin, Caolan McHugh, Benny Gallen, Brian Penrose, Ethan McHugh, Eoghan McHugh, Barry McLaughlin. Subs: Ronan McHugh for B McLaughlin, Ronan McNamee for C McHugh, Tiernan McSorely for R McLaughlin

Referee: Justin McKenna (Dungannon)