St. Pats of Navan qualified for their second consecutive North Leinster PPS Senior Football "A" League Final after overcoming the challenge of Moate CS on Monday afternoon in Moate in wet and breezy conditions.  Report by Shane Mulvaney

St Pats Navan 2-10 Moate CS 1-5

It was the visitors who opened the scoring after two minutes when full forward Thomas O'Reilly tapped over a close range free after excellent work from the forwards resulted in the Moate goalie over-carrying the ball.  The opening exchanges were tense with no team scoring again until the 12th minute with Moate equalising for the first and only time in the game with a point from play.  Another brace of O'Reilly frees restored Pats advantage.   The first free was awarded after Podge McGowan was fouled, the second when Paddy Doherty was dragged down.  St. Pats then opened up a five point advantage when O'Reilly burst through for a goal.  Having received the ball inside the '45', he powerfully ran at the Moate defence before clinically dispatching the ball to the bottom left corner of the net.   McGowan followed this up a minute later with a point of his own after Darren Kavanagh picked him out with a sideline ball.  Moate kicked their second point in the 25th minute reducing the gap to five points.  Padraic Diamond then took over for the final minutes of the half scoring 1-02.  His goal was an excellent effort, taking a pass from O'Reilly and sending an absolute rocket to the roof of the net from the twenty metre line.  His points were set up by McGowan and midfielder Brian McGrath.  McGowan was also the provider for Pats last point of the half as Paddy Doherty opted to take his point with half a goal chance on.  Pats held an eleven point lead at the break 2-07 to 0-02.

Despite not scoring for 22 minutes of the second half St. Pats did not let the home side get too close to turn the game around.  Moate got in for a soft goal two minutes into the half when the ball was palmed over Louis Timmons head and into the net.  Three more Moate points brought St. Pats lead down to five points again with 12 minutes to play.   However, the defence stood firm and did not concede any more scores as they soaked up any Moate pressure.  McGowan opened Pats account for the second half after Padraic Diamond found him in space.  With a minute of normal time left, another O'Reilly free extended the advantage before Diamond rounded off the days' scoring when kicking one last point.

Todays' performance might not have been their greatest ever, but the team still showed their battling qualities and kept going right until the end.   The win ensured their place in the league final against St. Mel's of Longford who beat defending champions St. Marys, Edenderry in the other semi-final on a score line of 2-13 to 2-12.

St. Pats: L. Timmons, T. McGuinness, É. O'Kelly-Lynch, P. Leahy, C. Halligan, C. O'Reilly, É. Mooney, C. Nash, B. McGrath, D. Kavanagh, D. Lynch, P. Diamond (1-03), P. McGowan (0-02), T. O'Reilly (1-04, 0-04fs), P. Doherty (0-01). Subs used: C. McGarry for McGrath, N. Hickey for Mooney, S. Smyth for Lynch, B. O'Connell for Doherty.

 

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