Fairyhouse Steel Senior Football Championship. Group D - Round 2. Summerhill 1-18 Skryne 1-12

Poor first half showing condemns Skryne to defeat

Summerhill 1-18 Skryne 1-12

Fairyhouse Steel Senior Football Championship. Group D – Round 2.

On a side note, well done to the committee and volunteers in Moynalvey GFC for the excellent work in hosting yesterday’s championship game. The pitch was in fine condition and both teams were met with a friendly and enthusiastic Moynalvey team who made sure the event ran smoothly.

The Match

2 weeks ago Skryne surprised one of the championship favourites, St. Peter’s Dunboyne with a brilliant first half display of what Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp describes as ‘gegenpressing’ i.e. pressuring the opposition, giving them no time on the ball. Yesterday, Skryne produced the opposite to ‘gegenpressing’ in the first half and gave Summerhill way too much space and time on the ball and the men from the Hill capitalised on this racing into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead by the time the game broke for the first water break. Summerhill seemed to have overlaps all over the field as wave after wave of attack swept towards the Skryne goals with the Frayne brothers and Conor Lyons causing all sorts of problems for the Skryne defence. Skryne’s two points came from Oisín Keogh who superbly dispossessed a Summerhill defender, before taking a quick snap shot which opened the scoring for Skryne. Mark Battersby converted a mark after fielding a fine pass from Padraig Finnerty. Water break: Summerhill 0-6, Skryne 0-2.

Summerhill added another point after play resumed, before Niall Finnerty hit a superb point from a sideline ball on the right hand side touchline. Summerhill again hit the gas and reeled off a further three points without a reply and were almost out of sight as the game moved towards half time. However, two late points, the first from Mark Battersby who received a long pass from Michael Doherty. Despite close attention from two Summerhill defenders, Batts quickly turned a fired over. A pointed free from Padraig Finnerty after Battersby was fouled, reduced the deficit to five points. Summerhill’s David Larkin hit their last point of the half to leave them with a healthy six point lead at half-time. Half-time: Summerhill 0-11, Skryne 0-5.

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Skryne gathered in a huddle at half-time with Manager Liam Harnan in the middle. Harnan cut a frustrated figure on the sideline throughout the first half. Whatever he said in the huddle certainly seemed to give Skryne some fresh impetus as they looked a different team in a third quarter where they notched up five points without a reply from Summerhill to leave just the minimum between the teams as the game moved towards the water-break. Conor O’ Brien kicked things off with a point from the outside of his left boot from the left hand side after Oisín Keogh had fed him the ball. A Padraig Finnerty pointed free came next. From the kickout Michael Doherty battled and won possession before laying off to Darragh Campion who slotted over. It was Campo again on the 08th minute of the half who weaved his way past four Summerhill defenders before popping over Skryne’s 09th point. A Niall Finnerty free brought Skryne within a point of the Hill. However, Summerhill finally got the scoreboard moving and began to regain control of the game 12 minutes into the half when substitute Diarmuid McCabe made an immediate impact by hitting two points in a row to ensure Summerhill had a three point cushion at the second half water-break. Water break: Summerhill 0-13, Skryne 0-10.

Summerhill were quick out of the blocks after the water-break with Conor Frayne pointing before Adam McDonnell broke forward and got on the end of a fine Summerhill move to blast the ball past Ian Gillett into the Skryne net. Another two unanswered points saw Summerhill stretch their lead to nine points. Skryne did hit a goal and two points(2 frees) to reduce the gap to just four points, the goal coming from a defensive mistake by Summerhill which Niall Finnerty punished by lobbing the ball into an empty net with seven minutes remaining on the clock. However, Summerhill were not to be denied as they added two more points in the last five minutes to see off the Skryne challenge.

Summerhill have now qualified for the quarter finals with a game to spare, while Skryne languish in third place in the group and look very unlikely to overhaul St. Peter’s, Dunboyne who lie in second place in the group after their 20 point victory over Seneschalstown in Skryne on Friday night. To grab that second spot, Skryne will need Summerhill to beat St. Peter’s, Dunboyne in the last round and Skryne will need to rack up a big victory over neighbours Seneschalstown to amass a good enough score difference to trouble the men from Dunboyne. If they can’t achieve that, Skryne will be contesting a relegation quarter-final whether they win or lose against Seneschalstown.

Skryne: Ian Gillett; Niall Lenehan, Ciarán Lenehan, Robbie Clarke; David Carroll, Patrick Fox, Shane Smyth; Harry Rooney, Michael Doherty; Conor O’Brien(0-1), Padraig Finnerty(0-4, 4fs), Darragh Campion(0-2); Niall Finnerty(1-2, 1f, 1 sideline), Oisín Keogh(0-1), Mark Battersby(0-2).

Subs used: Stephen O’ Brien, Neil Burke, Tommy Carpenter, Paddy Carpenter

Summerhill: Tony McDonnell; Padhraig Geraghty (0-2), Ronan Ryan(c), Pádraig Jennings; Adam McDonnell (1-1), John Keane (0-1), John Lavelle; Micheal Byrne, Ross Ryan; David Larkin (0-1), Paul Larkin, Conor Lyons (0-4, 2f); Conor Frayne (0-3), David Dalton, Eoghan Frayne (0-4, 2f)

Subs used; Diarmuid McCabe (0-2), Jamie O’Shea, Liam Shaw