A strong second half performance saw Moynalvey overcome visitors St. Ultan’s by 12 points in round nine of the Tommy Dowd Oil Division 3 A League played at Kilmore Park Moynalvey on Thursday evening July 26^th.

Moynalvey 1-15 St. Ultan’s 0-6

Moynalvey maintained their push for promotion with a well deserved 12 point victory over St. Ultan’s preserving their position of joint second in the table behind table toppers Na Fianna. At half time the margin of victory didn’t look to be as big as it was at the final whistle, as the first half was a tit for tat affair with the home side shading matters with a double score half time lead, 0-8 to 0-4. Moynalvey’s Mark O’Sullivan opened the scoring in the 2^nd minute when converting a free kick after he had been fouled. Wing back Daniel Treacy added a second for the home side five minutes later before St. Ultan’s opened their account in the 10^th minute. A purple patch of scoring between the 11^th and 15^th minutes saw Ciaran Ennis, Ken Hyland and David Donoghue open their accounts for the evening, pushing Moynalvey’s advantage to four points. St. Ultan’s posted their second score in the 16^th minute with O’Sullivan replying for Moynalvey a minute later after John Donoghue was hauled down. Ultan’s narrowed the gap to three but another O’Sullivan free for Moynalvey maintained their four point advantage, 0-7 to 0-3 after 22 minutes of play. Four points remained between the sides at the interval as Ken Hyland grabbed his second point of the game after an Ultan’s free, leaving the half time score reading 0-8 to 0-4.

St. Ultan’s added their fifth score of the evening in the first minute of the second period but would have to wait until the final minute of the half to post their sixth and final score. Moynalvey’s dominance of possession and tenacious defending nullified the Ultan’s attack in the second half resulting in them hitting 1-7 without reply in the interim period running out easy 12 point winners. Three further players got in on the second half scoring, Darren Brennan and Donal Smith pointed and Stephen Donoghue found the net. Ciaran Ennis, David Donoghue and Mark O’Sullivan (3 frees) also added to their first half tallies meaning eight of the starting fifteen scored over the sixty minutes.

Moynalvey: O. Regan, R. Kiernan, P. Weldon, C. McCabe, A. Forde, B. O’Keefe, D. Treacy (0-1), S. Donoghue (1-0), D. Smith (0-1), D. Brennan (0-1), J. Donoghue, D. Donoghue (0-2), C. Ennis (0-2), K. Hyland (0-2), M. O’Sullivan (0-6). Subs: P. Conneely for O’Keefe, L. Duffy for Ennis.