A League Division 1 - Round 4. Skryne 0-13 Simonstown Gaels 2-15

Skryne 0-13 Simonstown Gaels 2-15

A League Division 1 – Round 4

Skryne’s struggle to dig out results in the early part of the league is mainly due to a long injury list which is robbing the team of numerous first team players. Things didn’t improve for Skryne yesterday evening as visitors Simonstown continued to heap misery on the boys in blue with a convincing victory in Round 4 at Fr. Mc Manus Park.

Simonstown’s pacy attacking had the Skryne defence at sixes and sevens early on in the game as Skryne struggled to cope with Simonstown’s attacking half back line who were hoovering up every break in midfield and immediately launching forward in numbers heaping pressure on the Skryne defence. Skryne had to weather this early storm which yielded 6 points for the Simonstown men inside the opening quarter of an hour to Skryne’s 2 points, both from Paddy O’Rourke. Disaster struck on the 16th minute when Simonstown’s Shane Barry intercepted a short kick out from Skryne and found himself with a clear run on the Skryne goal. He squared the ball across the goal to Podge McKeever who palmed to the net for an easy finish. Skryne dug deep and fought back with 3 quickfire points, the pick of the bunch being Mark Battersby’s point on the 18th minute. Eoin Smyth fielded a Simonstown kickout and laid the ball off to Harry Rooney who ran at the Simonstown defence before slipping the ball to Batts who blasted a low shot which arrowed over the crossbar. Simonstown’s Podge McKeever who was lethal from frees all evening converted 3 more frees for the men from North Navan. Simonstown almost bagged a second goal when a mistake from the Skryne defence saw Simonstown’s corner forward bare down on the Skryne goal, but his powerful effort was parried away by goalkeeper Ian Gillett. Scoreline at half-time: Skryne 0-05, Simonstown Gaels 1-10.

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The opening attack of the second half almost saw Simonstown grab a second goal as Brian Conlon stormed through the heart of the Skryne defence and shot narrowly wide of the Skryne goal. This was a let-off for Skryne who then started pressurising the Simonstown goal. 3 early frees from Paddy O’Rourke saw Skryne reduce the deficit. A reply from Simonstown’s Sean Conlon saw the gap back to 7. Harry Rooney fetched the ball in midfield and found Ian Davis free on the 40. Davis launched a beauty over for Skryne’s 4th point of the half as they continued to chip away at the deficit. Another from Mark Battersby saw Skryne gaining in confidence as the gap was reduced to 4 points, but this confidence was shattered by the Simonstown men who found the net again courtesy of Mark (Crouchy) McCabe who got on the end of a sweeping attack to palm the ball to the net for Simonstown’s second goal of the evening on the 10th minute of the half. Simonstown were clinical in defence and were adopting a ‘Thou shalt not pass’ philosophy as they guarded their lead. In a number of cases they cynically fouled as Skryne attempted to claw their way back into the game. This tactic disrupted the momentum of Skryne’s attack and while Paddy O’Rourke was accurate with his frees, Skryne found it hard to make a breakthrough on the Simonstown goal when a goal was needed. Skryne’s remaining scores all came from the trusty boot of Paddy O’Rourke, all frees (3 in total). Simonstown added a further 4 points as they coasted to victory. Final score: Skryne 0-13, Simonstown Gaels 2-15.

Skryne – Ian Gillett. David Carroll, Mark Harrington, James Hegarty. Ciarán Lenehan, Ronan McCabe, Eoin Smyth. David McGoldrick, Harry Rooney. Aidan Tuite, Ian Davis(0-1), Colm Doherty. Mark Battersby(0-2), Paddy O’Rourke(0-10, 9f), Jason Reddy.

Subs used – Michael Doherty, Craig Nolan, Niall Morley, Patrick Fox.