Moville Celtic proved too strong for Aileach Reserves in Friday’s Charlie O’Donnell Cup final at Maginn Park.
Aileach Reserves 1 Moville Celtic 5
Two defensive lapses early in the second half contributed greatly to preventing Aileach from causing an upset.
Aileach had a great chance on five minutes when Benny Hegarty released Eamon Brown on the left and his cross found the unmarked Stephen Doherty who headed wide from six yards.
Moville suffered a blow then when captain Carlie Gill had to retire injured. Moville gradually found their feet and on 15 minutes Finn Mclaughlin fired over after Nathan Harkin had set him up.
Midway through the half Caolan Doherty had a curling effort from the right had edge of the box come off the bar and post before being cleared while Harkin had a curling effort saved by Ciaran Bradley.
Michael McNaught then turned and twisted inside the area but his effort was blocked behind by Damien Barr and Conor Doherty headed wide from the corner. Aileach responded with a James Wallace free saved by Ryan Coyle before Paddy Curran latched onto a poor back pass but Coyle blocked his effort.
Aileach suffered a blow on the stroke of half time when they lost their captain Damien Barr through injury.
Moville had the first chance of the second half on 55 minutes when a long clearance from Coyle sent Harkin clear but Bradley spread himself to block well.
The great work by Conor Doherty took him into the area where his effort was blocked by Bradley and Caolan Doherty ‘s follow up clipped the outside of the post.
They broke the deadlock when Shane Canning threaded a superb pass into the inside right channel for McNaught to finish superbly past Bradley.
Aielach equalised immediately when a Shane McMonagle cross broke to Benny Hegarty who fired to the roof of the net.
Moville regained the lead within a minute after Harkin sized on a poor defensive header to lift the ball past Bradley from ten yards.
Minutes later a long range free by Canning evaded Bradley and landed in the net and there was really no way back for the Aileach men.
Another long clearance from Coyle sent McNaught clear and he unselfishly squared to Caolan Doherty to tap home.
Aileach defende Brown then averted a certain goal with a timely intercept before Moville completed the scoring when McNaught dribbled in along the end line and from an acute angle fired home.
