Below Par Colaiste Choilm Surrender To Moyne
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Moyne CS 2-7. Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore 0-5.
ON a wet and dreary afternoon last Wednesday, Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore exited the North Leinster senior football championship at the hands of a slicker and more potent Moyne CS.
Played on the super Astro Turf facility in St Loman's, Mullingar, the Tullamore men were on the back foot from the very first minute and once star forward Johnny Kavanagh was given his marching orders in the 44th minute, the Tullamore school were never going to get back into the game.
Kavanagh was their main threat up front but they could have done with him in both the half and full forward lines. Moyne CS bottled him up for the majority of the game and curved his influence to great effect. The quality of ball sent in to the full forward line was also not up to scratch and Moyne fully deserved their victory even if the scoreline flattered them a small bit.
Conditions were brutal as the driving rain and wind battered the St Loman's grounds but the astro turf facility did provide the players with decent underfoot conditions at least.
Moyne had the ball in the net in the opening minute of the game and it was all up hill for the Tullamore men after this. Playing against the wind in the first half, Colaiste Choilm struggled to get the ball in to the danger areas but they battled hard to only go in three points down at the break.
Their challenge wilted in the second half and coincided with Kavanagh's dismissal for an off the ball incident with Shane Clarke. Eoin Carroll tried gallantly at midfield while Declan Byrne and Willie Molloy both had their moments. Carroll was another one they maybe needed to be in a few positions given his strength and accuracy.
Mikey Keogh held things together at full back while Sean Graham never tired in his quests from wing forward.
Colaiste Choilm got off to the worst possible start and were behind to an opening minute goal after Dean Cosgrove made the most of some hesitant defending from the Tullamore men.
Willie Molloy opened the scoring for his team in the fifth minute but Moyne had 1-1 on the board by then. They then spurned to glorious goal chances in the space of two minutes when Sean Graham and Ciaran Maloney came agonisingly close to netting. Instead, Moyne came down the field and Dean Cosgrove clipped over another point before Niall McCabe also missed a brilliant chance of a goal for Tullamore.
The scores were hard to come by and with the first half just up, Eoin Carroll kicked over a super solo point to give his side a boost before the break and leave them trailing 0-2 to 1-2 in a low scoring affair.
Colaiste Choilm had the wind behind them for the second half but Moyne dug their heels in and kicked the first three points of the second half all before the 40 minute mark with wing forward Martin Cassidy kicking a brace to leave them 1-5 to 0-2 ahead.
Willie Molloy then kicked a free and Tullamore were off the mark. Moyne cancelled that score out soon after before on 44 minutes Johnny Kavanagh saw red for an uncharacteristic retaliation with Moyne full back Shane Clarke.
At first this spurred on the Tullamore school and Ciaran Maloney had the ball in the net in the 50th minute but their joy turned to anger when it was ruled out for a square ball.
Gareth Byrne pointed a minute later but at 0-4 to 1-6 and a man down, it didn't look good. Eoin Carroll scored a rousing point with five minutes to go but it was all in vain as with two minutes to go, Johnny McCabe stepped up and converted a penalty for Moyne and sent Colaiste Choilm home empty handed.
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