By Damien Maher
Having failed at the semi-final stage last year, Moate All Whites made it to the Junior Football Championship final with an impressive display at Shandonagh last Saturday, in which they posted a 2-22 to 3-6 victory over St Paul’s.
The club with eight senior titles to its name will be bidding to return to the intermediate grade for the first time since 2011 when they take on Multyfarnham, who will contest their first junior final in 17 years on Sunday week. Moate manager, Paul Conway was happy with his side’s victory and with many aspects of their performance.
“I was very satisfied with the first half and the opening five or six minutes of the second. We moved the ball well and we’ve trained all year to do that; move it fast and play with pace. To be fair to the lads, they did that today,” he observed.
“We put up a decent score and you’d have to be satisfied with that. The last 10 minutes weren’t the best but we got across the line, which is the main thing,” he added.
The former Westmeath star, who took up the reins in Moate at the start of the season, felt that the game became disjointed in the second half when his side built a sizeable lead.
“We made six substitutions and we probably rushed things a little in that regard. It upset the shape of the team and maybe if we eased them in it would have been more effective,” he noted.
On closer inspection, Conway felt that his side must defend better in the final.
“We learned that if we move the ball well we can play good football. That’s what we’re aiming to do, play to our strengths. The score will probably suggest that we won’t learn much, but we switched off for a while and we can’t afford to do that. We conceded three goals which gives us plenty to work on,” he remarked.
Having won the last two minor titles, Moate are back in the minor premier semi-final on Saturday and at present, the club is clearly moving in the right direction.
“We’ve got some fine young players coming through and they have a bright future: the likes of Ruairi Cunningham, John Corbally and Rob Gorman, to name but a few,” said Conway, who managed his native Tang in recent years.
The problem now for a youthful Moate side is that they will be installed as red hot favourites to win the final, but Conway is confident complacency won’t be a factor.
“We spoke back in January about it and decided we’d take this year one game at a time. There was no talk of winning championships, every game was looked at as a new challenge. I’ve never heard it from the lads inside the dressing room, obviously we can’t control what’s said outside,” he remarked.
“For us it was one game at a time and we are now where we aimed to be. The final is just another challenge and we aim to go there and win it,” added Conway, whose famous winning point against Dublin in the historic 2004 Leinster campaign still sits fondly with Westmeath fans.
