Slicker Moate overwhelm disappointing St. Finians

As the scoreline might undoubtedly suggest, this one sided Leinster Schools clash was decided well before Mullingar based official, Terry O"Dowd called a slightly premature end to proceedings at a bitingly cold but pristine Kinnegad venue on Wednesday last, November 19. Even by the halfway mark, the Saints were in need of heavenly intervention as the Mullingar based students were already eight points in arrears of their more accomplished Moate counterparts, even though they had played with the advantage of the wind in the opening period. Indeed, as early as the third minute, Finians knew they were in for a torrid hour of football as Moate Community School"s full forward, Colin Casey had punched a hole in the rearguard with a splendidly taken goal after excellent approach work by Lee Scanlon and the very busy Dan Kelleher. It was the only time that St. Finians" agile custodian, David Higgins was to be beaten over the hour and but for his heroics, including a 12th minute penalty stop from the aforementioned Scanlon, the contest would have been a complete whitewash. As stated, the South Westmeath boys were really up for this joust and having slipped up against St. Mary"s, Edenderry on day one, they were determined not to slip up again. They were dominant throughout the field, driven on from defence by Patrick Holloway, at centre half back. Kelleher, in the centre of the park, ably supported by Eamonn McCabe were in almost total control and with dynamic finishing from Colin Casey, Lee Scanlon, Chris Maguire and Emmet Heavin, St. Finians simply could not mount any meaningful resistance. Higgins was outstanding between the sticks, providing a one man barrier between defeat and humiliation, while Kevin Lynch, after a shaky opening settled well at full back. Skipper, David Reilly and opposite wing back, Ronan Cahill worked feverishly to stem the tide while Declan Lennon had his moments at midfield. It was up front that St. Finians really struggled with only Conor Phibbs and Tyrone Quinn making any real impact. Having slipped in that early goal for Moate, Colin Casey almost doubled his tally a minute later only to be denied by the Saints "keeper who fingertipped the effort over the bar. In their first meaningful attack, St. Finians put together a fine move, with Paul Purcell, Adam Gaffney and Declan Lennon all involved before the latter fired over. Once again David Higgins was to prove the Saints saviour when Colin Casey put through Emmet Heavin through but the Finians No. 1 managed to divert the goalbound shot over the bar. That was on ten minutes and a minute later, he was to break Moate hearts again, this time getting down to save Lee Scanlon"s weakly struck spot kick, awarded after Emmet Heavin had been hauled down by Jack Kennedy. Scanlon atoned somewhat when tacking on a point but again was frustrated by the faultless Higgins who managed to push a further Scanlon pildriver on to the upright. It was almost a one man show as the Finians netminder denied the very dangerous Chris Maguire but Dan Kelleher lofted over a 20th minute point to push Moate six points clear. And even at this early juncture there was not way back for St. Finians. Emmet Heavin, Colin Casey and Maguire all added minors before the hard grafting Declan Lennon got his side moving and was twice involved before Tyrone Quinn registered his St. Finians second and last point of the half. That left Moate with a healthy 1-7 to 0-2 advantage with the wind behind on the change of ends. And there was to be little respite for the Mullingar side in the second. An early Conor Phibbs point only served to rouse Moate once more and points flowed from Lee Scanlon, Dan Kelleher and wing forward, David McCormack. Higgins again earned his corn when turning a Kelleher effort over the bar and, as the onslaught continued, Chris Maguire extended the lead to the round dozen. Colin Casey, Emmet Heavin and substitute Jack Linnane joined in the point fest before a third quarter rally saw Conor Phibbs and replacement David Dixon raise white flags. In truth it was only token resistance and Lee Scanlon and Eamon McCabe went on to complete the rout as a highly impressive Moate Community School side marched confidently on. Scorers: Moate CS - C. Casey 1-3, E. Heavin, L. Scanlon and D. Kelleher 0-3 each, C. Maguire 0-2, D. McCormack, J. Linnane and E. McCabe 0-1 each. St. Finians - C. Phibbs 0-2, D. Lennon, T. Quinn and D. Dixon 0-1. Moate CS: Stephen Butler; Jack O"Kelly, Chris Donlon, Oisin Daly; Jamie Cornally, Patrick Holloway, Robert Duffy; Eamonn McCabe, Dan Kelleher; Chris Maguire, Lee Scanlon, David McCormack; Emmet Heavin, Colin Casey, Cian Bradley. Subs. John Maguire for R. Duffy, Jack Linnane for C. Bradley, Robert Gorman for O. Daly, Jack O"Meara for C. Casey, Oisin McNamee for C. Maguire. St. Finians: David Higgins; Jack Kennedy, Kevin Lynch, Brian Faughnan; David Reilly, Pauric Murray, Aaron Cahill; Darragh O"Keeffe. Declan Lennon; Kenneth Rabbitte, Tyrone Quinn, Conor Phibbs; Conor Cleary, Paul Purcell, Adam Gaffney. Subs. John Heffernan for B. Faughnan. David Dixon for C. Cleary, Davin Cogan for P. Murray, David Wallace for K. Rabbitte. Referee: Mr. Terry O"Dowd, Mullingar Shamrocks.