Clinical Moyne see off feeble Moate challenge

Three first half Moyne goals, one of which was a case of grand larceny, and a missed Moate penalty cemented Moyne Community Schools place in the semi-final of the North Leinster Schools Junior "B" Football Championship.In Lakepoint Park, Mullingar last Wednesday, a more clinical Longford side swept aside the feeble challenge of Moate Community School to deservedly march on after producing a balanced, if not completely polished, performance.Only once over the course of the hour did the young men from Moate manage to get their noses in front and that was in the opening ten minutes but once Moyne breached the the loser"s defence for the first of their three goals, in the ninth minute, the game began to turn in favour of the Longford lads.A second goal followed six minutes from the break and just short of the half time whistle, Moyne put the issue almost beyond doubt when Niall Woods "robbed" Moate custodian, Stephen Butler to slip in the simplest of goals to put Moyne 3-5 to 0-3 ahead a the interval.One sensed it was not going to be Moate"s day when, in the 26th minute, the Westmeath men missed a penalty, with Sean McNerney, between the Moyne posts, pulling off a magnificent full-length save from Lee Scanlon"s sweetly struck spot kick.A goal at that juncture would have offered Moate a window of hope but the subsequent killer third goal meant there was a major mountain to climb on the change of ends.On a frozen pitch which presented its own difficulties to players on both sides, Moyne got up an early head of steam and Niall Woods powered his way through the Moate rearguard to loft over the opener in the first minute.When Woods shook off Patrick Holloway for a second time, moments later, he set up corner forward Gary Maguire. As Stephen Butler advanced smartly off his line, Maguire lifted the ball over the stranded custodian but the trajectory of the ball took it over the bar.Moate bounced back and John Maguire might have found the net on five minutes, after being put through by Colm Casey, only for Sean McNerney to deny him with a fine stop. The losers finally got off the mark when Daniel Kelleher pointed a free. Kelleher motored through a minute later but spoiled his good work with a woeful finish.His midfield partner, Eamon McCabe brought Moate level when he pointed on six minutes and the men in red moved ahead for the only time in the game when a splendid move, started by Jamie Cornally and continued through John Maguire and Lee Scanlon, ended with Colm Casey fisting the ball over the bar.The lead was shortlived as Moyne struck back for a fine goal, when Stephen Leddy released Gerard Percival and the corner forward slipped the ball beyond Stephen Butler. Midway through the half, Eoin Keane added a minor and five minutes later, he showed a clean pair of heels to the Moate defence to increase the advantage.Adrian Caffrey experienced a nightmare moment on 24 minutes when he missed the flight of an Eoin Keane crossfield ball and Brian Ellis ghosted in behind to leave Stephen Butler helpless. Four minutes later, after Daniel Kelleher had failed to convert the penalty when Lee Scanlon was hauled down, Butler had his own aberration. There looked to be no danger as he advanced with the ball to clear his lines but Niall Woods picked his pocket, so to speak, to slip the ball home. That wrapped up the first half and effectively ended Moate"s championship campaign.In fairness to Moate, they did attempt to redress the balance somewhat on the change of ends and after Dillon Quinn had stretched Moyne"s lead five minutes in to the second moiety, the Westmeath school produced a brief rally. After initially denying Chris Maguire with another tidy save, Sean McNerney was finally beaten when substitute Daniel Digan set up Daniel Kelleher and the powerful midfielder blasted the ball home.They moved a point closer to the eventual winners on 10 minutes when Eamon McCabe found the target after corner forward, Cian Bradley created the opportunity. Sadly for the vanquished side, that was to be their last hurrah and the remainder of the contest elapsed without a Moate player troubling the scoreboard.Moyne, on the other hand, simply weathered that brief storm before closing out the game with points from Niall Woods, a Brian Ellis brace and Eoin Keane"s third of the afternoon to round off an efficient day at the office.Scorers: Moyne CS - B. Ellis 1-3, N. Woods 1-2, E. Keane 0-3, G. Percival 1-0, G. Maguire and D. Quinn 0-1 each.Moate CS - D. Kelleher 1-1, E. McCabe 0-2, C. Casey 0-1.Moyne CS: Sean McNerney; Karl Kiernan, Paddy Bannon, Peter Conneely; Gary Hourican, Francis Mollaghan, Adrian Caffrey; Dillon Quinn, Diarmuid Cooney; Stephen Leddy, Niall Woods, Brian Ellis; Gary Maguire, Eoin Keane, Gerard Percival. Sub. Paudge Gill for G. Percival.Moate CS: Stephen Butler; Jack O"Kelly-Lynch, Lee Colgan, Oisin Daly; Jamie Cornally, Patrick Holloway, Robert Gorman; Eamon McCabe, Daniel Kelleher; David McCormack, Lee Scanlon, Chris Maguire; Cian Bradley, Colm Casey, John Maguire. Subs. Robert Duffy for J. Cornally, Daniel Digan for C. Casey, Chris Donlon for O. Daly, Jack O"Meara for B. Ellis.Referee: Mr. Terry O"Dowd, Mullingar Shamrocks.