City side are Cooked by the accuracy of Moycullen man

Moycullen 3-15

St Michael’s 2-5

Moycullen got their 2018 Senior Championship campaign up and running over the weekend after they strolled to a comfortable win over St Micheal’s in Pearse Stadium. They scored two goals inside a minute midway through the second-half to really kill off the contest, but St Michael’s had not put up much of a fight even before that.

Moycullen dominated most areas of the pitch and did an impressive job in shutting down St Michael’s two key men in attack, Eamonn Brannigan and Eddie Hoare. The city side were held scoreless from the 9th to the 38th minutes as their opponents went about building a comprehensive lead.

The beginning of the contest gave the impression that the teams might be slightly better matched as both sides had the ball in the net inside the opening seconds of play. It was Moycullen who struck first through Conor Bohan. Dessie Conneely and Seán Kelly linked up on the right wing before Kelly powered in towards goal and fisted the ball across the square where Bohan rose highest to palm the ball into the net with only 15 seconds on the clock.

St Michael’s responded almost instantly, however. Dylan Thornton did well to keep a long ball into the corner alive and he passed the ball back to Keith Ward, who laid possession off to the onrushing Damien Connaughton to step around Shane Richardson and fire home.

Moycullen nearly struck their second goal of the match in 4th minute when Bohan saw his shot fly back off the post but his side claimed the rebound before David Wynne stroked over the first point of the game. Hoare converted a close-range free to draw the sides level after 8 minutes, but St Michael’s wouldn’t score again for nearly half an hour as Moycullen took control.

St Michael’s were being cut open at the back and Evan Kenny, Conneely and Kelly all combined to set up another great chance on goal for Moycullen after 13 minutes. Kelly was played in by Conneely but saw his shot well saved by Blain Sheridan, who managed to deflect Conneely’s fiollow-up shot wide of the post.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.