Understrength Skryne go down fighting!

Castletown 3-11 Skryne 1-11

B League Division 3 – Final

The B League Division 3 Final played in windy conditions today, Saturday, in Seneschalstown turned out to be a hollow victory for Castletown as Skryne were forced to play without five first choice players. No blame can be apportioned to Castletown for this but it’s a pity that the game HAD to be fixed the day before Skryne’s most important game of the season. Add in a Minor game on Monday and player welfare once again ‘goes out the window’ with some players being asked to play 2 games in 3 days and at least one eligible to play in all 3.
Skryne fielded without both midfielders Donie Ryan and Colm Craigie who were claimed for the more important Senior match on Sunday, defender James (Jack) Conroy is training in Limerick with the Irish Paralympic team, full forward James Hegarty is injured and wing forward Keith Donoghue was claimed by his boss Gordon Elliott for his professional job as a jockey in Navan. To be fair to Keith he rushed from the racecourse to Seneschalstown and played the last fifteen minutes of the match.

Skryne played against the strong breeze in the first half and led by 0-3 to 0-2 after ten minutes but then Castltown took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored two goals in as many minutes – they then added three points to leave the Blues with a mountain to climb. The Green and Gold men led at half time by eight points – 2-6 to 0-4.

The second half continued along the same lines with the physically stronger Castletown on top for most of this period and thoroughly deserved their victory on the day. Skryne’s mixture of experience and youth tried their best, did the club proud and but for the concession of preventable goals might have brought off an unlikely win.

In corner backs Andrew Moore and Sean Byrne, Skryne had two of the best players on the field. David Carroll and Oisin Gryson did well further out while upfront although under pressure the forwards put up a respectable scoreline.

Skryne – Felim O’Rourke. Andrew Moore, Martin Mulvaney, Sean Byrne. Paul Bannon, David Carroll, Darren Fox (0-2). Oisin Gryson (0-1), Kevin O’Reilly (0-2). Neil Burke (0-2), John Quinn, Sean Cassidy. Ciaran Finnerty (0-2), Brian Smyth (0-2), Colm McLoughlin.

Subs used – James Keane, Keith Donoghue, Paul McGoldrick, Declan Mulvey (1-0), Ciaran O’Rourke and Oisin Coyle.
Also available – Shane McEnroy and Eddie Dunne.

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