Skryne 1 – 10
Wolfe Tones 2 – 6
A one point win for Skryne saw them avenge their defeat to the same opposition of last week in the championship. Played in Skryne under near perfect conditions this was a very entertaining game which the Tara men would have won much more comfortably had they taken a bigger proportion of the chances they created. Both sides played with two changes to what fielded in the previous game which helped make this encounter competitive.
The game itself started with a flurry of activity with the ball in the net for each side within the first minute. From the throw-in, good work by Ciaran Lenehan saw his pass to an unmarked Adam O’ Sullivan who rifled the ball past the helpless Sean Power in the Tones goal. Immediately from the kick-out the ball was quickly moved the length of the pitch and a shot which should have been cleared after it hit the post came to Alan Fox on the edge of the square who doesn’t miss gilt edged chances too often. From there the Oristown side pushed on and two points each from Paul Byrne, and Mark Coleman had them ahead by four by the nineteenth minute. Ian Davis kicked the next three points for Skryne to leave them only one point behind coming up to the half-time break. However a free taken by Cian Ward dropped short and Skryne’s goalkeeper looked to have it safely but under pressure lost control and the inrushing Darren McGrath fisted the ball to the net to give the Tones a four point cushion going into the break on a score-line of Wolfe Tones 2 – 4, Skryne 1 – 3.
Half time resumed which saw the influential Eoin Harrington replaced by Paddy Caffery on the Tones team. Mark Battersby and Richie Brady traded points in the opening minutes. Skryne were then unfortunate to lose the very influential Ian Davis. However instead of retreating under this blow they upped their game by the 40th minute had the game level with points from James Hegarty, Mark Battersby, Declan Morley and substitute John Quinn. Cian Ward then scored a point from a difficult angle to put the Tones side ahead again but with 45 minutes gone Battersby again levelled the proceedings. From then until the end it was Skryne who dominated but just could not hit the target. With the game entering the final minute it looked very much that the honours would be shared but Battersby had the last say with the winning point.
Skryne – F. O’Rourke, D Brennan, M Mulvany, D Morley(1), J. Looby, A. Carty, J Hegarty(1), D. McGoldrick C. Lenehan , A. O’Sullivan(1-0), I. Davis (3), D Lynch, R McCabe, J Jordan, M. Battersby (4). Subs J. Quinn (1)for Davis
Wolfe Tones: S Power, D Coleman, A McKeown, R Brady(1), N McLoughlin, E Harrington, S Glynn, S Corrigan, M Coleman (2), P Byrne(2),S Shepard, C Blaney, A Fox (1-0), D McGrath(1-0), C. Ward (1).
Subs: P Caffrey for Harrington, Eanna harrington for Fox, C. McLoughlin for Mark Coleman.
