Born in south London, his early artistic aspirations were considered alarmingly effeminate to his tough Irish father who steered him towards the boxing ring. Moroney won a gold medal fighting for his area but having proved himself felt able to paint full time. In his twenties he was feted as one of the coming young men by those who saw his work at the 1976 RA Summer Exhibition. His pastiche scenes were very much of the moment during the pseudo-Edwardian zeitgeist of the 1970s and he was taken up by two New York galleries. He was undoubtedly a very fine and technically able painter, albeit self-taught. He had a lightness of touch that made him much in demand even up to the 1990s. A fondness for a drop could blunt that talent at times and his need for ready money would lead him to paint under a number of nom de plumes to avoid his obligations to galleries.