Skryne make it 3 wins out of 3 in Group B
Skryne 1-12, Walterstown 2-04
Coolrite U19A Football Championship Group B – Round 1
Skryne and Walterstown finally got to lock horns in their Group B – Round 1 fixture which was rescheduled after the original fixture was ruled out due to bad weather. Skryne played 2 away games so far, beating Oldcastle and Killary Gaels, while Walterstown also claimed the scalp of Killary Gaels and received a walkover against Oldcastle. So the prize up for grabs in this evening’s game was a semi-final home fixture for the victors.
With Skryne’s Minor girls fixed to play their Championship game in Skryne, Skryne had to travel to Walterstown to play away for the third time in this group. The conditions were very slippery underfoot and while Skryne opened the scoring with an early pointed mark from Billy Smyth, Walterstown did most of the pressing in the opening eight minutes but good defending from the Skryne rearguard ensured they posted a trio of wides. After absorbing this early pressure Skryne hit back with a goal after a sideline ball was floated into full-forward Stephen Corry. Corry flicked the ball down to Billy Smyth who rifled the ball to the roof of the net. Conor Donohoe floated over a peach of a point two minutes later, followed by a Billy Smyth pointed free as Skryne began to turn the screw. The excellent Charlie Swan poached a Walterstown kickout before moving the ball inside to Billy Smyth. Smyth offloaded to Ciarán Quinn who lofted over to see Skryne lead by 1-04 to 0-00 at the midway point of the half.
The second quarter was a mixed bag for Skryne. Walterstown got off the mark with a point from Neil McGinley 17 minutes in. Conor Donohoe struck his second point of the game from a narrow angle on the right hand side, but then Skryne seemed to switch off as Walterstown ran the ball from one end of the pitch to the other before Oliver Maloney fired to the back of the Skryne net. Walterstown won the kickout and worked the ball to Maloney again who pointed to leave just three between the sides. Walterstown’s purple patch continued when Lorcan O’Connor was afforded too much room and lofted over a third point for the Men in Black. Skryne weathered the storm with Billy Smyth and Charlie Swan both finding the target in the final minutes of the half to extend Skryne’s lead to 4 points at the interval. Half-time: Skryne 1-07, Walterstown 1-03.
The second half saw Skryne continue their domination with James Mangan hitting a fine point off the ground from a 45 to open Skryne’s second half scoring on the fifth minute. Walterstown’s Neil McGinley added a pointed free before Skryne’s man of the match Billy Smyth hit 4 points in a row to extend Skryne’s lead to eight points. Walterstown did lose a man to a sending off midway through the half and this made their task all the more difficult. A goal from Eanna Holland 5 minutes from time gave Walterstown fresh impetus but Skryne’s resolute defending ensured that they held on for a comfortable victory to top Group B and gain a home semi-final.
Skryne: Luke O’Brien; Seán McCarthy, James Reeves, Riain McConnell; Cillian Moss, John Finnerty, Mark Swan; Robert Gallagher, Ciarán Quinn (0-1); James Mangan(0-1, 45′), Conor Donohoe(0-2), Andrew Canavan; Charlie Swan(0-1), Stephen Corry, Billy Smyth(1-7, 4fs, 1m).
Subs used: Cathal Lenehan, Liam Donohoe, Darragh O’Dowd, Ben Armstrong, Cormac Pentony
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