Moycullen’s second-half blitz books place in knockout stages

Gort 1-14

By Pádraic Ó Ciardha at Pearse Stadium

A superb final quarter, in which they steamrolled their opponents by 1-7 to no score, saw Moycullen flip this game on its head, securing a place in the preliminary quarter-finals while Gort now must escape from a relegation dogfight for the second year running.

A strong showing in the first-half saw Gort build up a seven point lead by the end of the first 30 minutes, 1-12 to 0-8, and while they would have to face into a stiff breeze in the second half, few in Pearse Stadium would have predicted the near-total collapse that was to come.

Brian Regan’s men still led by five with a little over 15 minutes remaining, but they failed to score at all in the final quarter and managed just two points in total in the second-half.

Credit has to go to Moycullen for how they turned things around, however. Coming off the back of a chastening 24-point defeat to St Thomas’, Moycullen were out of the blocks quickly in this one and created plenty of chances in the first-half, despite playing into the elements. The wides began to rack up, however, as their opponents pulled away.

Crucially, Frank Enright’s side refused to panic and things finally began to click for them early in the second-half. While Richie Cummins, Aiden Helebert, and Caoimhín Marren all gave Moycullen serious trouble in the first half, they were starved of possession after the change of ends and it’s hard to think of a single Moycullen player who wasn’t at least the equal of his opposite number in the second-half.

Matt Donohue led an excellent showing from the full-back line; Mark Kearns was the pick of the next line up; while Éanna Noone, James Bradley, and Cian Folan led the charge up front. Moycullen also got a contribution off their bench with Paul Kearns and Mark Bradley pucking three points during the decisive scoring burst.

A preliminary quarter-final against reigning champions Loughrea is a tough reward for Moycullen’s endeavors, but they’ll at least head into the game battle-hardened and with a spring in their step.

It was the Gaeltacht side who got off the mark first on Sunday afternoon with Folan opening the scoring after a minute. Gort responded with points from Helebert and Nathan Gill, before Folan and Diarmuid Davoren edged Moycullen back in front by the 7th minute.

Pictured: Moycullen’s Colm Cunningham gets his pass away to Evan Kenny, despite the close attentions of Gort’s Jack Linnane in Pearse Stadium on Sunday. Photo: Joe O'Shaughnessy.