Pearses found the going tough against a much more physical Moycullen outfit in Round 6 of the U15B Group in Moycullen on Thursday evening. Moycullen cruised to a comfortable win on a scoreline of 3-20 to 3-9. That said there were some stalwart performances with the powerful Diarmuid Ryan particularly commanding at the back and stellar performances from James Queeney, Cian Burke, Conor Hillary, Fionn Donohue and young Tommy Nutley in goals. It took 9 mins for Pearses to open their account through a Jonah Donnellan free and at that stage Moycullen had 0-5 points on the board, all from play, as they hit the ground running. They added 4 more points on the bounce before Donnellan pointed from play. Pearses then hit 2 points in a row- 2 frees from Jonah Donnellan with Sean Kelly doing the hard work to earn the 2nd free when he blocked down his opponent and was fouled on picking up the loose ball. Moycullen responded with 2 points of their own – a free and one from play which just landed on the roof of Tommy Nutley’s net.
Darren Moran then got in on the scoring act after good work from Conor Hillary at the back up to Sean Kelly who played a cross field ball to Moran. Donnellan raised a green flag after a run through on goal saw him unleash a low hard shot from a good distance out which deflected off the goalies hurl and in. David Walsh then went on a run down the wing, and took a shot at goal which found its way to the net to tie the game up at 2-5 to 0-11. Suddenly Pearses were back in the game. However, the hosts closed out the half strongly with 2 points and a goal sandwiched in between despite the best efforts of Cathal Hynes & Tommy Nutley. Half time. Pearses 2-5; Moycullen 1-13.
Moycullen continued the 2nd half in the same vein as they pointed immediately on the throw-in while Tommy Nutley did well under a high lobbing dangerous ball with James Queeney adding to the clearance. Nutley again did well to save a 65’ from Moycullen but the rebound raised a green flag 4mins after the restart as they built up a significant lead which they held on to for the rest of the match. It felt like Pearses had a bit of a lifeline when Moycullen’s No.8 received his marching orders for a head butt on Dillon Roche. However, it was Moycullen who scored next as things started to unravel for Pearses; a point from play and Jonah Donnellan responded with a point over his shoulder. Donnellan added from play when Fionn Donohue broke the ball kindly for him and Nutley had to be alert to make a fine save. 2 more points from Moycullen and a reply through a Donnellan free and one from play after he collected a lovely crossfield pass from young Daniel Lydon.
Cathal Hynes, James Queeney and Cian Burke were vigilant to a high lobbing ball as the score board clocked Pearses 2-9, Moycullen 2-18. Nice link up play between Sean Kelly and Diarmuid Ryan saw Ryan’s effort saved by the keeper as the ball deflected onto the crossbar with the rebound cleared by the defence. Luke Mitchell, Jamie Nutley & Stephen Murphy got a taste of the action as 2 more Moycullen points sandwiched with a low hard powerful shot into the far corner of the goal 22mins into the second half saw out the game for the hosts as they kicked on. A late Pearses goal put a bit more gloss on the scoreline as Fionn Donohue played David Walsh whose shot took a low trajectory and a deflection on its way to find the net. It was a tough outing but these lads will get back on the horse for the next outing against Ardrahan. Final score: Pearses 3-9; Moycullen 3-20.
Scorers: Jonah Donnellan 1-8 (0-4F); David Walsh 2-0; Darren Moran 0-1.
Panel: Tommy Nutley, Daniel Lydon, Dillon Roche, Cathal Hynes, James Queeney, Diarmuid Ryan, Cian Burke, Fionn Donohue, Conor Hillary, Sean Kelly, Jonah Donnellan, David Walsh, Eoghan Ryan, Darren Moran, Conor Walsh, Kyle McDonagh, Luke Mitchell, Jamie Nutley, Stephen Murphy.