Junior A Football Championship. Grp C - Rnd 1. Skryne 1-09 Seneschalstown 2-07

Skryne 1-09 Seneschalstown 2-07

Junior A Football Championship, Group C – Round 1

Skryne kicked off their Junior Championship campaign against Seneschalstown this evening in Syddan. A strong breeze made conditions difficult for both sides who found scores hard to come by.

Skryne were much the better side in the opening half with Ciarán Lenehan and Michael Doherty lording the exchanges at midfield while their colleagues hoovered up the breaking ball. Up front Ian Davis tormented the Seneschalstown back line scoring a hat-trick of points inside the opening 10 minutes. Skryne had 4 points on the board before Seneschalstown got off the mark. Skryne almost goaled at the midway point of the half when the ball was sent across the Seneschalstown goalmouth but wasn’t converted. The sides exchanged points before Seneschalstown’s centre forward Ross Howard made a meandering run along the end line before squaring the ball across the face of goal where it was palmed to the net by the incoming corner forward Alan Mulvany to level the scores. The scoreline flattered Seneschalstown who had been playing second fiddle to Skryne up until this point. A pointed free from Mulvany saw Seneschalstown take the lead for the first time. Skryne, who might have felt like their luck wasn’t in, got a break 2 minutes before the end of the half when Niall Morley shot for a point but the ball dipped in over the keepers head for a somewhat fortuitous goal. Half time score: Skryne 1-05, Seneschalstown 1-03.

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Skryne again assumed control of proceedings early in the second half with Ciarán Lenehan opening the scoring inside the first minute. On three occasions in the opening 10 minutes of the half, Skryne were presented with goal opportunities but the Seneschalstown keeper Keith Waters pulled off 2 fine saves from Ian Davis and the third effort from Kevin Reilly snuck just past the outside of the post and out wide. Skryne would rue these missed chances later in the half. Seneschalstown narrowed the gap to 1 with a pointed free from Mulvany and another from play from Ross Howard. Skryne’s scorer in chief Ian Davis picked up an ankle injury midway through the half and was replaced by Felim O’Rourke. Felim’s first contribution was to slot over a Skryne free. The decisive score of the game came on the 20th minute when Seneschalstown’s full forward Edward Meade made a burst towards Skryne’s goal surrounded by Skryne defenders. Meade went to ground and Seneschalstown were awarded a penalty which was slammed past Dessie Mc Avinney by Adam O’Mara. From then on the play swung from end to end. However, Seneschalstown were able to convert 2 more points to extend their lead to 3 points with full time fast approaching while Skryne notched up a number of wides. Skryne worked hard to try to close the gap and 2 injury time points from Felim O’Rourke reduced the deficit to 1, but the final whistle came too soon for Skryne who will have been disappointed to have let this game slip away after being in control for long periods. Final score: Skryne 1-09, Seneschalstown 2-07

Skryne: Des Mc Avinney; Timmy Lennon, Mark Harrington, Barry Clarke; Niall Morley(1-00), Ronan McCabe, Darren Fox; Michael Doherty, Ciarán Lenehan(0-01); Kevin O’ Reilly(0-01), Colm Doherty, James Hegarty; Ciarán Finnerty, Ian Davis(0-04), Frank Carty

Subs: David Carroll, Felim O’Rourke(0-03, 2f), Aidan Tuite, Craig Nolan, Dermot Brennan

Seneschalstown: Keith Waters;Ronan Conneely, Darragh Keogh, Fionn Gallaher Hall; Sean Carey, Cormac Duffy, Neill Darby; Roberty Reddy, Andrew Collins; Peter Tierney, Ross Howard(0-01), Brendan Lynch(0-01); Adam O’Mara(1-01), Edward Meade, Alan Mulvany(1-04, 4f)