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All action O'Dwyer leads determined 'Vat to a good, commanding win
Mullinavat 1-10
Mooncoin 0-5.
IT TOOK Mooncoin nearly 65 minutes to register three points from play in this opening intermediate hurling league/championship game against Mullinavat in delightfully-prepared Piltown on Saturday, a statistic barely conceivable in a wild dream and certainly not acceptable by the club’s core support.
Another hard to credit statistic will inform that in the same period of time, not one of their many forwards came close to troubling umpires at either end, unless it was to signal a wide, of which there were plenty. And to compound the Mooncoin malaise still further, they were numerically superior by one for 38 minutes of the game after a Mullinavat player was red-carded.
Mooncoin’s three points from play were scored by James Grace, their best player by a city block, and he was operating with the No. 9 on his back. Pity many of his colleagues could not expend even half of young Grace’s energy, enthusiasm, determination and pride and we just might have had a different result.
I should exonerate lads like Alan Walsh, P.J. Rowe and Niall Mackey from the negativity because they did their best. That more or less sums up the Mooncoin story.
Mullinavat came to win. I could use a dozen adjectives relative to the Mullinavat players, and every one of them would more than adequately underscore their contribution to a victory that had the stamp of pride emblazoned all over it.
Playing with the breeze in the first half Mullinavat were determined to take what advantages they could from its effect. They had come to wage war.
Not set for battle
They were still smarting from the setback 12 months ago in the championship in the same arena, against the same foe. Mooncoin, it appeared, had come to enjoy tea and scones but not to battle for the points at stake..
A feature of the game was the contribution of many of the Mullinavat players, but one man stood head and shoulders above all others. To the Mullinavat cause, Willie O’Dwyer was omnipotent.
What a display of unselfish, controlled and imaginative hurling he brought to the table. He was absolutely astonishing. He orchestrated every move that was Mullinavat, particularly in the second half. When they were a man down, it was O’Dwyer who hauled them through the darkest tunnel.
He dropped so deep into his own battlements that at times he was closer to the umpires than his own goalkeeper. The underlying fact of course was that he inspired every player around. When backs were super-glued to walls, Willie O’Dwyer stormed forward to deliver well aimed ball.
Mickey Murphy, Dinny Butler, Jamie Fennelly Nickey Anthony and Michael Farrell insured that two of them would be forward at all times to receive what ball was being pumped out of their defence. The other three took it in turn to occupy space in front of their own goal area. The plan worked a dream.
Players couldn’t find time or space to strike. Mullinavat didn’t care as long as Mooncoin players were denied freedom. And right behind them all was the elegant O’Dwyer.
It is often said in boxing that “tough aint enough”. Never was it more applicable than in Piltown.
Mullinavat were tough, but they bedded toughness with guile, spirit, pride and determination under the same duvet and won.
Mooncoin against the breeze in the first half were defensive, with Rowe, Walsh and the Mackeys’ prominent. Michael Grace settled them somewhat with a point after 60 seconds, but within three minutes, and after a few attempts, a determined, clever run by Jamie Fennelly saw him place Nicky Anthony, who shovelled the ball to the Mooncoin net for the only goal of the game.
Conor Conway added a pointed free to give the winners a clear goal advantage by the 8th minute. It took another 10 minutes before Mullinavat added to the advantage.
Struggling
In the interim Moonoin were struggling to keep them at bay, but there were too few of them matching the efforts of Rowe, Walsh, Grace and the Mackeys’. Points by Dinny Butler and a brace by Jamie Fennelly got Mullinavat to the halfway house with 1-6 on the ’board. They had lost a defender in the 21st minute.
Michael Grace added to his total with a single point to see his side retire with a miserable three points behind their name on the ’board.
If the second half was the Willie O’Dwyer show, it was well supported with high-quality performances from Ian Duggan, Seamus Farrell, Padraig Gahan, Conor Conway, Michael Malone and the forwards already mentioned, who all worked their socks off. Points by Conway (3) and substitute, Andrew McGovern were enough to earn the points for Mullinavat, who must have thought they were in a fantasy world at a fairground instead of the second most important Kilkenny competition.
A bad day at the office for Mooncoin? They never even got on the bus!
Scorers: Mullinavat – Conor Conway (0-5, frees); Nicky Anthony (1-0); Jamie Fennelly (0-2); Mikey Murphy, Dinny Butler, Andrew McGovern (0-1 each). Mooncoin – Michael Grace (0-3); Diarmuid Mackey (0-2, frees).
Mullinavat – James Culleton, Ian Duggan, Seamus Farrell, Joe Fennelly, Michael Malone, Walter Burke, Damien Aylward, Padraig Gahan, Conor Conway, Michael Farrell, Dinny Butler, Michael Murphy, Willie O’Dwyer, Jamie Fennelly, Nicky Anthony. Sub - Andrew McGovern.
Mooncoin – Patrick Kinsella, Liam Hennebry, Alan Walsh, Niall Mackey, Cormac Daly, P.J. Rowe, Eddie Mackey, Keith Kirwan, Michael Grace, Ray Wall, Mark Fitzgerald, Eoin Hennebry, David O’Brien, Diarmuid Mackey, Daniel Purcell. Sub - Stephen Crowley.
Referee - R. Dowling.
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Weather for Kilkenny
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
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