Moy Davitts move swiftly onto their next mission
Ryan Kenny and Conor Reid of Moy Davitts double up on Ardnaree's Ronan O'Malley in this battle for midfield possession last Sunday. Picture: Martin McIntyre
“You know, there was a lot of hurt in the dressing-room from last year, to see what Crossmolina have done this year.”
Chris McGlynn only articulated what most people presumed had to have been the case – but this was perhaps it was the first time to come from the club’s own mouth so to speak.
Speaking after Sunday’s win against Ardnaree Sarsfields, the Moy Davitts goalkeeper could finally look towards his club’s return to the county final. They could conceivably have won last year’s – the drawn one and the replay – but instead had to watch Crossmolina not only lift the Sweeney Cup but add Connacht and All-Ireland intermediate titles to the cabinet also.
And whereas Crossmolina engaged themselves last Saturday in one of the great games in modern Mayo senior championship history, Moy Davitts delivered a quite flat first-half in their intermediate semi-final that saw them trail underdogs Ardnaree by three points at half-time. But were they to put two halves of football together like their second-half, which saw them outscore Sarsfields 1-16 to 0-4, then it’s almost certain they’d be following the Deel Rovers into the senior ranks for 2026.
“Look, there's no medals won, that was our fourth semi-final in-a-row so we've been there or thereabouts. Then last year we had the two finals and fair play to Crossmolina for getting over the line,” said McGlynn.
“What’s in our head now is Kilmeena. We have a bit of rivalry, our first two semi-finals. They’re an excellent team and we know they're going to be really, hungry because they have that recent memory of playing senior football last year. They're going to be chomping for it but we're really, really up for it this year and looking forward to it now.
“That first-half, we were a bit disappointed at half-time but second-half, I think we put in the performance we knew we had in us,” continued the Donegal native. “But it's all about now, the week recovery, training tomorrow, training Wednesday and looking forward to a final on Sunday.”
It was hard to square Moy Davitts’ sensational second-half with their first, which could easily have seen them further behind had Ardnaree backed themselves to score a goal on any of the three occasions they instead chose to fist the ball over the crossbar.
“Do you know what? I would give huge credit to Ardnaree to be honest. I thought they were excellent in the first-half, the way they set up on the kickouts; lads were getting turned over and that was kind of putting pressure on us,” Chris McGlynn admitted.
“I think that second-half, we kind of just gave ourselves a kick up the arse. We said, ‘Look lads, we’ve thirty minutes or we’re going to be knocked out and we’re not going to make the final, and we want to be there’.”
Moy Davitts went from three points behind to six in front in the space of thirteen minutes at the start of the second-half, aided by Brian Reape’s goal directly after the half-time and some excellent long-range shooting by Cian McHale.
“That’s the way the game has gone, it's momentum. Whatever team has momentum, we had it and we had to keep the scoreboard ticking over," McGlynn added.
“For Ardnaree it dried up a wee bit and they were forcing [shots]. Credit to our lads in the defence, I thought they stood up today. They were excellent.”
Central to Moy Davitts’ twelve points victory was Cian McHale who scored exactly that amount, half from two pointers.
“We were under the cosh at half-time,” admitted the Mayo panellist, “but we didn't panic. We knew we could push on when the game opened up a bit and probably experience came into it as well.”
McHale didn’t disguise the fact that playing intermediate semi-finals four years running hasn’t been to the team’s liking – that they’d much rather be playing senior championship football – but at least Sunday was another positive step in the right direction.
“We were very hurt after last year obviously with what Crossmolina are doing but we're delighted to get back to the final.
“Kilmeena beat us in two semi-finals in-a-row but we’re going to MacHale Park next Sunday absolutely chomping for them. We’ve a solid team and we're looking to push on and get over the line.”
