Malachy’s advance unbeaten

St Malachy's 3-11 Multyfarnham 2-11

St Malachy’s advanced to the quarter-finals of this year’s intermediate football championship with a 100 percent record, recording a hard-fought win over Multyfarnham, whose 2023 campaign is at an end.

Shane Corcoran netted twice and set up a third as the Dysart men, without the services of Niall O’Brien, ground out the win in TEG Cusack Park on Saturday afternoon.

With St Malachy’s already through to the knockouts, Multy were looking for a late miracle and this was by no means a meaningless fixture, with both sides entertaining despite the occasional onset of biblical downpours.

Multy looked dead and buried after four minutes, trailing 2-1 to no score. David Lynch shot an early free, and Corcoran, teed up by Cian Gavigan, smashed to the net after two minutes, before feeding Darren Ruane to fist a second goal (4).

A Lynch free cancelled out Multy’s opening score from Ian McGovern, but the Derravaraghsiders settled down from there, scoring 1-2 in quick succession. Ronan Wallace tacked on a free, before a swashbuckling move involving Louis Greene, Anthony McGivney and McGovern ended with Gareth Mullaniff finding the net, with Shane Clavin unlucky not to keep his shot out.

Greene then negated a score from Cian Gavigan (St Malachy’s). The latter, coming after 12 minutes, was the last St Malachy’s point of the half.

Steven Cleary’s Multyfarnham charges then went on to take the lead by the 23rd minute, with Wallace, McGivney, Feichin Óg Brennan and Ciaran Madden all finding their range.

St Malachy’s had no answer, and their response was made all the more difficult by the deteriorating weather. In stoppage time, Ronan Wallace kicked a superb free off the ground, and Multy led by two at the interval.

To shore up their attack, the Saints introduced Jack Gallagher after the break, but it was Shane Corcoran who again made his mark in the opening moments, finishing off a decent move with a cheeky lob over Multyfarnham ‘keeper Craig Sweeney.

This was a suckerpunch to Multy, and it showed; they went on to conceded three more points, with Darren Ruane and flying centre half Peter Murphy (2) dividing the posts for Malachy’s.

However, Multyfarnham weren’t finished yet, and on 42 minutes, Ronan Wallace won the ball excellently before feeding the inrushing Cian Lee, who finished to the net from close range. A minute later, Ian McGovern pinged another point off his left, and suddenly the sides were level again.

They remained so after a further attritional 12 minutes, in which Shane Corcoran (St Malachy’s) and sub Jamie Coffey (Multyfarnham) provided the only scores.

In the last five minutes, it was Kenny McKinley’s St Malachy’s troops who dug deep and broke the impasse with three quality scores on the trot from Cian Gavigan, Peter Murphy and Morgan Gavigan.

In stoppage time, Ronan Wallace (Multy) and Neal Kirby (St Malachy’s) exchanged points, but by then the result was beyond doubt, and St Malachy’s now face a quarter-final against Rosemount.

Scorers - St Malachy’s: S Corcoran 2-1, D Ruane 1-1, P Murphy 0-3, D Lynch (frees) and C Gavigan 0-2 each, M Gavigan and N Kirby 0-1 each. Multyfarnham: R Wallace 0-4 (1f), G Mullaniff and C Lee 1-0 each, I McGovern 0-2, L Greene, A McGivney, F Óg Brennan, C Madden and J Coffey 0-1 each.

St Malachy’s: Alan Mangan; Eoin Kiernan, Aaron Glennon, Naoise McKenna; Shane Clavin, Peter Murphy, Aonghus Clarke; David Lynch, Johnny Bermingham; Cian Gavigan, Shane Corcoran, Morgan Gavigan; Conor Murphy, Ódhran Gavigan, Darren Ruane. Subs used: Jack Gallagher for Ó Gavigan (h-t), Neal Kirby for Ruane (44).

Multyfarnham: Craig Sweeney; Tommy McGivney, James Greene, Ronan Greene; Feichin Óg Brennan, Ciaran Madden, Aran Whelan; Cian Lee, Ronan Wallace; Stephen Sweeney, Anthony McGivney, Adam Bate; Ian McGovern, Gareth Mullaniff, Louis Greene. Subs used: Jamie Coffey for L Greene (49), Josh Lee for Mullaniff (60), Cian McPhillips for McGovern (60).

Ref: Barry Kelly (Mullingar Shamrocks).