Junior A Football Championship. Grp C - Rnd 7. Skryne 1-16, Navan O'Mahonys 1-09

Skryne 1-16 Navan O’Mahonys 1-09

Junior A Football Championship, Group C – Round 7

Skryne completed their JF Championship campaign on a high note with victory over old rivals Navan O’Mahonys this evening (Wednesday). This match played in ideal conditions under the lights at well appointed Dunshaughlin was a meaningless game for both as Skryne were already safe in this Division for another year while O’Mahonys are already bottom of the table and in a relegation playoff.

But in this match it was the Navan side who began much more smartly and scored a goal and a point before the Skryne men realised the game had started. Their goal came from the penalty spot after Dermot Brennan found himself with no option but to dive at his opponents feet to try to prevent a score. But in so doing he completely upended the Inrushing forward and Referee Andrew Smith correctly pointed to the spot.

This seemed to kickstart the Blues into action and with Allan Carty pulling the strings for the younger men they picked off some lovely points from Craig Nolan, Neil Burke, James Hegarty, Niall Morley and Carty himself. By halftime they had eased their way to a three point lead 0-10 to 1-4 which they fully deserved after that slow start.

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On the resumption it was Skryne that got the blistering start and Niall Morley hit a rasper to the roof of the O’Mahonys net after being put through by a pinpoint pass from Aidan Tuite. This goal seemed to knock the O’Mahonys flat and they didn’t recover until it was too late as by then Skryne had moved into a nine point lead. Tuite and his midfield partner Keith Donoghue ensured a plentiful supply of ball to the exciting Skryne forward line who racked up enough scores to win the match. In fact a score of 1-16 would win most matches.

A solid back line were on top for almost all of the match – apart from very early on and again late in the game when overconfidence let O’Mahonys reduce the arrears to a manageable five points. In this section Tommy Carpenter, Mark Harrington and Sean Byrne stood out although overall this game was all about team performance and not individual performance.

Unfortunately there may not be another second team match – either League or Championship – until next February meaning some of these players have nothing to play for until then. What a pity the League was not played over a much longer period.

Skryne – Felim O’Rourke, Sean Byrne, Mark Harrington, Dermot Brennan. Tommy Carpenter, Darren Fox, James Hegarty (0-3). Aidan Tuite (0-1), Keith Donoghue. Craig Nolan (0-1), Colm Doherty, Neil Burke (0-3). Niall Morley (1-3), Allan Carty (0-4), Frank Carty.

Subs. – Ciarán Finnerty, John Morley, Gordon Geraghty, Sean Cassidy (0-1), Ciarán O’Rourke and Eddie Dunne.
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