Summerhill went into their A-League Division 3A game looking to bounce back from a defeat in the previous round to St Colmcilles. Rooted at the bottom of the table getting something from this match would be vital if they hope to survive the drop. Thing did not start well for the home side and were 1-1 down with little over a minute on the clock. A Moynalty shot for a point came back of the post and the Moynalty forwards were quickest to react to fire to the net to give them the perfect start. Conor Summerville opened Summerhill’s account with a point in the 4th minute but over the next 15 minutes the visitors hit another 1-5, answered only by a Ross Tallon point to extend their lead to 10 points with 22 minutes on the clock. Summerhill rallied in the latter stages of the half-scoring 5 of the next 6 points with 2 coming from Liam Shaw as well as one each for Ross Tallon, Gavin McVann and Conor Summerville. This left the score at the break Summerhill 0-7 Moynalty 2-7.
Summerhill open the 2nd half with a Gavin McVann point from the throw in but this was soon cancelled out by the visitors. Another Ross Tallon Point was followed by the home sided first goal in the 11th minute. A long ball from Paddy McGrath was knocked down to the in running Conor Summerville who just managed to get a strike on the ball before he and the ball ended up in the back of the net. This goal cut the lead to just 2 points and put the home side right back in the game. However, the visitors responded in fine style to this setback. From the resulting kickout they broke forward to score their 3rd goal of the game to restore a 5 point cushion.
What looked a foregone conclusion mid-way through the first half was turning into a great end to end game with each team looking like they would score with every attack. A Paddy McGrath point was followed up in the 14th minute with Summerhill 2nd goal from Ross Tallon to cut the lead to just a single point. Yet again the visitors answered this goal with 2 points of their own to pull clear again. The home side scored 3 of the next 4 points, another from Ross Tallon and 2 from Eamonn Ryan to close to within one point once more as time was running out.
Moynalty pushed the lead out to 2 but another effort from Ross Tallon closed the gap once more to the minimum as the game moved into added time. Moynalty played keep ball and held onto possession well as the game moved well onto added time but finally the home side got their hand on the ball and broke forward. The ball was worked to the man in form on the night, Ross Tallon’ who hit the equalising point. Referee Henry Clifford blew the full time whistle from the kickout to leave what was probably a fair result after a great game.
Moynalty will be disappointed to let such a big lead slip but the point may prove to be very valuable in Summerhill’s bid to stay in the division. At the end of the match the players all wish the best of luck to Gavin McVann who played his last game for a while as he heads to America for the summer.
Team: Robbie McDonnell, Mark Donoghue, Eoghan Grehan, Paddy Troy, Darragh McVann, Eoghan Jennings, Donal Matthews, Paddy McGrath (0-1), Conor Ryan, Conor Summerville (1-2), Liam Shaw (0-2, 1f), Luke Byrne, Gavin McVann (0-2), Connie McGrath, Ross Tallon (1-6).
Sub: Cathal Brien for Luke Byrne, Eamonn Ryan (0-2) for Gavin McVann, Sean Hughes for Paddy McGrath.