Seneschalstown 1-08 Skryne 3-10
U21 Football Championship, Quarter-final Replay
Skryne overcame Seneschalstown in the replay of the under 21 Championship quarter final played in Walterstown today. The fact that the game was played at all means that great credit must go to the ground staff in Walterstown who had the pitch in excellent condition despite the torrential rain which fell relentlessly right up to throw in. Conditions underfoot were heavy but there was very little wind to affect the game in either half. In fact both teams overcame the very wet day to serve up another very entertaining game which was much closer than the final score suggests.
With less than ten minutes to go Skryne were just one point to the good when an attempt by Neal Burke for a point came back off the upright and substitute Eoin Smyth reacted first to fire to the net for the decisive score. After two great games Seneschalstown had finally cracked and Skryne added a few more scores to put the icing on the cake.
Donie Ryan was the star of the show at midfield and his work rate all over the field was the reason Skryne prevailed in the end. He was ably assisted by Harry Rooney in the middle while Neil Lenehan, Stephen O’Brien and Niall Morley (particularly in the second half) defended as if their lives depended on it. Up front once again Conor O’Brien was scorer in chief while Paddy Doherty and Eoin Smyth when introduced gave the Furze defenders most trouble.
Skryne started the game better than Seneschalstown and went 1-3 to 0-1 in front by the tenth minute but like the drawn match the lead didn’t last long and at half time the Yellow Furze men were ahead by 1-5 to 1-4. Skryne tended to foul too much in this period and in all conceded 15 frees and 2 penalties in this half alone. Dean Reddy made an excellent save from the first penalty and this proved crucial to the overall result as Seneschalstown were well on top at this juncture. But in the second half the Blues outscored the opposition by 2-6 to 0-3 to progress to the semi final for the first time since 2006 on a scoreline of Skryne 3-10 Seneschalstown 1-8.
Skryne – Dean Reddy. Eoghan Greene, Niall Lenehan, Stephen O’Brien. Niall Morley, Oisin Gryson, Darragh Campion (0-1). Donie Ryan, Harry Rooney. Sean Cassidy, Neal Burke (0-3), Cian Lynch. John Morley (0-2), Conor O’Brien (1-4), Paddy Doherty (1-0).
Subs used – Jason Fox, Eoin Smyth (1-0), Enda Byrne.
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