Valley dig deep to secure semi-final spot

A low scoring but ultra competitive affair saw Boyne Valley advance to the knockout stages of the Dioralyte Regional FC and a semi-final date with Lough Crew following this 1-7 to 1-2 victory over Moyfenragh at a breezy Dunganny on Wednesday evening, writes Sean Wall.

With the business end in sight this was probably the most hard fought of all the games so far in the competition. It was tough and uncompromising on the pitch and tempers also reached boiling point among the respective management teams along the line.

The Rathkenny, Walterstown, Bective and Slane combination ended deserving winners but it should have been by much more than five points after they practically owned the ball in the second half.

Moyfenragh played with the advantage of the breeze throughout the opening half and Longwood’s Ryan Moore pointed them ahead after two minutes. Cathal McConnell replied with an equaliser before Davy Curtis from a free edged Cathal O Bric’s charges in front.

Defences were most certainly on top in that opening half with James and Sean O’Hare, Donagh Garvey and Cathal McConnell doing Trojan work for Boyne Valley and Stefan Connolly, David Conneely and Damien Healy putting in a similar shift for the Longwood, Ballivor, Clonard and Boardsmill outfit.

The half was 22 minutes old before Moore converted another free following a foul on Danny Dixon to draw the teams’ level. Then a minute before the end of the half Dixon was fouled again, this time in the penalty area, and Moore made no mistake from the resultant spot kick to leave Brendan Murphy’s side leading 1-2 to 0-2 at the break.

A superb Davy Curtis point reduced the deficit within a minute of the restart and Boyne Valley then hit a couple of poor wides before Keith Curtis converted a 35 metre free to leave the minimum between the teams on 37 minutes.

Boyne Valley had numerous other chances in that third quarter but squandered them all. However their dominance eventually paid off when Cathal McConnell knifed his way through and offloaded to Brian O’Connell who found Con Smith and from close range the Bective man made no mistake for a well executed goal.

With five minutes remaining just two points separated the teams but it was the dominant Boyne Valley who finished in style with Keith Curtis converting a long range free and his cousin Davy picking off two excellent points to leave it comprehensive at the finish.

SCORERS

Boyne Valley – David Curtis 0-4, one free; Con Smith 1-0; Keith Curtis 0-2, two frees; Cathal McConnell 0-1.

Moyfenragh – Ryan Moore 1-2, 1-0 penalty, two frees.

TEAMS

Boyne Valley – Scott O’Sullivan (Bective); Mark Byrne (Rathkenny), Donagh Garvey (Bective), Sean O’Hare (Rathkenny); Cathal McConnell (Bective), James O’Hare (Rathkenny), Mark Dowdall (Bective); Donal Keogan (Rathkenny), Adam Quinn (Walterstown); Conor Farrelly (Walterstown), Barry O’Connell (Walterstown), Con Smith (Bective); Davy Curtis (Rathkenny), Keith Curtis (Rathkenny), Marty Mulhall (Bective). Subs – Lorcan O’Connor (Walterstown) for O’Connell 25 mins, Matt Tully (Slane) for Quinn, Brian O’Connell (Walterstown) for Mulhall both 37m, Sean Martyn (Slane) for Byrne 49m, Jim Marry (Slane) for Dowdall 57m.

Moyfenragh – Harry Hogan (Longwood); Stefan Connolly (Ballivor), David Conneely (Ballivor), Jamie Smith (Ballivor); Gary Sherrock (Ballivor), Damien Healy (Longwood), Eoghan Connolly (Clonard); Kevin McKeon (Longwood), Sean Coloe (Longwood); Fergal O’Hare (Longwood), Mickey Burke (Longwood), Billy Hogan (Longwood); Danny Dixon (Boardsmill), Ryan Moore (Longwood), Brendan McKeon (Ballivor). Subs – Johnny Mitchell (Boardsmill) for Burke 37 mins, Ryan Raleigh (Clonard) for Sherrock 52m, Brian O’Reilly (Boardsmill) for Conneely 54m, Liam O’Brien (Boardsmill) for B Hogan, Shane Dunne (Clonard) for Moore, Conor Smith (Ballivor) for H Hogan all 56m.

Referee – Bernard Heaney (Clann na nGael)