Skryne 0 – 13, Dunboyne 1 – 12
Dunboyne had two points to spare over Skryne on Friday evening. Played in Skryne at championship pace this was an exciting encounter which could have gone either way at the end. The crucial score came on 22 minutes when the ball fell kindly for a Dunboyne forward who tapped it to the back of the net to leave the score at Dunboyne 1 – 5, Skryne 3 points. Indeed Dunboyne had 4 points on the board before Skryne, through a Kevin O’Reilly free, got Skryne of the mark on 7 minutes. Dunboyne then added another point but with 17 minutes gone Mark Battersby pulled another one back and Conor O’Brien reduced it further at 0 – 3 to 0 – 5 on 21 minutes. Dunboyne then scored the above mentioned goal and added a further point on 24 minutes. However Skryne had the final say of the half with Kevin O’Reilly (2) and Ian Davis finding the range to leave just a goal in it at the break.
The second half was a much more even affair. Dunboyne went further ahead on 34 minutes but Davis, pulled it back to three on 35. Two minutes later Reilly reduced this to two, but on 39 and Dunboyne posted two more. Ian Davis and Mark Battersby reduced the deficit to two again by the 44th minutes but with 15 minutes left to play it was back to a three point deficit. Battersby was again on target on 48 minutes but this was cancelled out a minute later to leave the scores at 0 – 11 to 1 – 11. Ian Davis reduced this to two and when full back Martin Mulvany found himself within range he reduced the deficit to a single point on 53 minutes. Skryne now upped the tempo and went in search of an equalizer but just couldn’t hit the target. With six minutes left to play Dunboyne stretched their lead to two points. The final score line was Skryne 0 – 13, Dunboyne 1 – 12.
Skryne: Skryne: F O’Rourke N Lehehan, M. Mulvany(1), D. Brennan, P. Fox, M. Harrington, R. McCabe, D McGoldrick, H. Rooney, K Reilly(4), B. Davis, M Battersby(3), C. O’Brien (1), I. Davis (4), C Byrne. Subs:J. Jordan for C Byrne, N. Burke for B. Davis.
