Ruthless St Patrick's firmly in the frame

Stamullen men issue decisive message

St Patrick’s 2-4-11 (25)

Moynalvey 0-1-7 (9)

If St Patrick’s weren’t already included to the conversation for outright honours in the IFC they are now following the hammering they handed out in this last eight tie against Moynalvey at Ashbourne on Saturday evening.

It was one-way traffic from the time Donal Landy ran on to a pass from Sean Emmanuel and finished ruthlessly to the Moynalvey net on two minutes. The Stamullen men hit three points after that before Moynalvey were finally off the mark on 11 minutes. By half-time Colm Nally’s side were all but out of sight when leading 2-11 to 0-3.

Moynalvey were outplayed throughout that opening half and were impacted greatly by an injury to Hugh O’Sullivan which forced him off after just 13 minutes and then four minutes later Michael Brady was black carded. In the 10 minutes that Brady was forced to sit out St Patrick’s hammered home their numerical advantage and scored a goal and eight points without conceding a score.

Though they had the advantage of the breeze Moynalvey failed to make any meaningful inroads on the scoreboard in the second half and St Patrick’s could afford to replace talisman Jamie Murphy toward the end of the third quarter. Murphy had been a doubt due to injury but made a telling contribution before his departure with seven points which included two two-pointers and a ’45.

Senan McKeon took over the long range free-taking with some success as he nailed his side’s fourth two-pointer, this after raising an orange flag from play in the opening half. Donal Landy was a constant threat in the winner’s attack and finished with a tally of 1-4.

Substitute David McLoughlin added some dash to the Moynalvey attack in the second half but they struggled to convert chances from both play and frees while the St Patrick’s defence, in which Liam Brennan, Alex Curran and Conor Black excelled, gave them few opportunities to kick-start a revival.

Ben Sullivan, Murphy and the lively Landy all had points after that early goal before Adam Murphy opened Moynalvey’s account. Vinny Walsh had Moynalvey’s second point from a free while their remaining point of the half came from the tireless Padraic Harnan.

Four successive scores from Murphy left it 1-9 to 0-2 after 23 minutes and McKeon then hit his first two-pointer while St Patrick’s last score of the half was a brilliantly executed goal from Conor Black after the Moynalvey defence had been sliced open.

Barry Walsh added to Moynalvey’s tally at the start of the second half and substitute McLoughlin then kicked a two-pointer but that was as good as it got for Barry O’Keeffe’s charges.

Moynalvey simply had no answer to the speed and off the ball movement of Donal Landy and Ben O’Sullivan while Neil O’Flaherty, Sean Baxter, John Mannion and Seán Emmanuel did the heavy lifting around the middle third.

St Patrick’s last five points all came from placed balls while Moynalvey’s only scores in the fourth quarter were a two-pointer free from Padraic Harnan and a single pointer free from Cillian O’Sullivan, all in added time.

St Patrick’s: Evan McDonnell; Liam Brennan, David McQuillan, Alex Curran; Senan McKeon (0-4 one two-point, one two-point free), Conor Black (1-0), Shane Dowling (0-1); Sean Baxter, John Mannion; Sean Emmanuel, Ben Sullivan (0-2), David Rothwell; Neil O’Flaherty, Jamie Murphy (0-7 two two-point frees, one free, one ’45), Donal Landy (1-4 three frees). Subs – Shane Landy (0-1) for Murphy 43m, Noah Boland for Rothwell 20m, Darren Hagan for O’Flaherty 53m, Cian Murphy for McKeon 56m.

Moynalvey: Conor Egan; Seán McDonagh, Conor Harnan, Charlie McCormack; Brian O’Reilly, Darren Brennan, Michael Brady; Adam Murphy (0-1), Padraic Harnan (0-3 one two-point free); Barry Walsh (0-1), Hugh O’Sullivan, Craig Gilsenan; Vinny Walsh (0-1 free), Mark O’Sullivan, Cillian O’Sullivan (0-1 free). Subs – Sean Duggan for H O’Sullivan 13m, David McLoughlin (0-2 two-pointer) for McDonagh half-time, David Regan for V Walsh 43m, Paul Corcoran for B Walsh 48m.

Referee: Andrew Smith (Dunshaughlin).