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Mooncoin League Review 2005
Expectations were high as we set out for Callan. The
first round of the League Championship is always an important game. This
team had made it to the county final less than twelve months previously
and people travelled in confidence rather than hope. They seemed to forget
the part that Freshford had to play in this tie.
A fortuitous goal got them started but they never relented. They piled
on the socres and left our selectors with serious selection difficulties.
That evening supporters and players alike realised the difficult path,
which lay ahead. This was not just a defeat this was a severe beating.
The situation needed to be rectified.
Personnel were altered for the next match. Mullinavat were the opposition. For fifty minutes we were a serious threat in this match. However in the last ten minutes the wheels came off the wagon and another defeat had been registered. The team, which had contested the county final a year ago, were now beginning to struggle. It was only early May but opinion as always was rife. Let’s not forget Championships are usually won in September in Kilkenny. There was time to put the wrongs to right.
Next on the fixture list were The Rower. Again the team struggled to hit top form. We found scores hard to come by in these games. Luckily for us in Ballyhale that evening so did the Inistioge men. We scraped a victory and that was all that mattered. The players battling qualities had managed to shine through. Were some people over estimating these qualities? There was only a goal between the sides at the final whistle and once again Mooncoin had failed to raise a green flag of their own. This type of performance would not be good enough against our other opponents.
Galmoy had won the Kilkenny Junior Hurling Championship
in 2004. They also won the subsequent Leinster and All Ireland Titles
in the aforementioned competition. They were a serious threat. In the
mean time a training ground incident had put pay to Ray Wall’s hopes
of playing in this match.
The game was played in Callan on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The team
started slowly and we gave our opponents a head start. We managed to score
a goal just before half time to keep in contention. A bright start to
the second half helped raise the spirits of the supporter’s. However
the team were just unable to get their noses in front as our opponents
fought gallantly to the end. As the team pushed on for a victory, which
would have been deserved we were open to a counter attack. The result
was inevitable. We failed to score a goal to draw the game and conceded
another to leave a six – point deficit. This was a cruel blow to
all concerned.
Our final League game was against our old enemy; Piltown.
By now our top marksman Diarmuid Mackey had sustained a hand injury, which
would see him take no part in this match. We needed a victory to eliminate
the possibility of relegation for this season. There was a large crowd
in attendance in Kilmacow as a young Piltown side took the game to Mooncoin
from the start. The reliance on Diarmuid to get scores haunted us on this
occasion. This meant that our defence were under a lot more pressure to
keep the game tight. In the end a late sideline ball decided the game
and even with a man sent off Piltown had their day in the sun. This was
a huge blow to everyone in the club because we were now staring relegation
head on. We finished second from bottom and would now need to win our
Championship First Round Match to avoid an appearance in the relegation
final.
Dicksboro managed to defeat a gallant Galmoy in the League Final after
a replay.