Skryne take the spoils in Paddy O’ Brien Park
Navan O’Mahonys 1-03 Skryne 3-10
Minor Football Summer League, Division A2 – Round 3
Skryne Minors have found Navan to be a happy hunting ground of late and memories of their sensational Division 2 title win against Navan O’Mahony’s bitter rivals Simonstown are still very fresh in their minds.
Navan O’Mahonys had a big opening ceremony yesterday at Brews Hill with the christening of their headquarters as ‘Paddy O’Brien Park’. However, it was Skryne who had the better opening this evening as they raced into a 5 point lead inside the first 10 minutes of this game with points from Eoin Smyth, Jason Fox, Eoin Greene, the impressive Darragh Campion and a cracker from Paddy Carpenter from the right hand side. Skryne did have the benefit of a stiff breeze in the first half although it was blowing diagonally rather than straight up the pitch. Jason Fox pointed a free for Skryne on the 12th minute before there was a lull in the scoring. Skryne lead by 0-06 to 0-00 at this stage. O’Mahonys were struggling to get a foothold in this game, but on the 18th minute an O’Mahony’s forward grabbed the ball on the right-hand side of the Skryne penalty area and sent a shot past Dean Reddy hitting the crossbar. The ball rebounded to another O’Mahony’s man who amazingly opted to head the ball goalwards. Dean had managed to get back to the centre of the goal at this stage and pushed the ball away to safety. O’Mahonys did get a 45 for their troubles. They took the 45 short and the receiver was fouled within scoring distance of the Skryne goal. The O’Mahony’s free-taker slotted the ball over for their first score on 20 minutes. 3 minutes later Skryne launched an attack forward into the O’Mahony’s half. The ball landed short into the O’Mahony’s Keeper’s hands. His clearance was poor and was intercepted by Shane Dowling who squared the ball to Frankie Carty. Frankie dispatched the ball to the O’Mahony’s net with some aplomb. O’Mahonys managed only one more score in this half which also came from a free on the 27th minute. Half time score was O’Mahonys 0-02 Skryne 1-06.
The O’Mahonys’ players started the second half in a more determined mood and were quicker into the tackle than they had been in the opening half. Within the first minute of the half, they got their reward when they forced an error from the otherwise excellent Darren Fox. Darren lost possession on the O’Mahony’s 40 and they quickly worked the ball forward punishing Skryne with a goal from an unstoppable shot. This was their only score from play. On the eight minute of the half, O’Mahonys scored their final point of the game with a point from a free on the 21 yard line. The scoring ceased for almost 15 minutes. Skryne were finding it harder to get the ball forward in this half due to the wind. On 18 minutes, a Skryne attack broke down and the O’Mahonys caught the Skryne rearguard a little shortstaffed as the ball broke forward. An O’Mahony’s forward made a run at the Skryne defence with Oisin Gryson in hot pursuit. The O’Mahony’s man enticed a Skryne defender towards him before he released a ball to his compatriot. The compatriot hit a rasper of a shot which beat Dean Reddy all ends up before coming back off the post. The referee then blew for a free to the O’Mahonys for a late challenge by Oisín Gryson, who received a Black Card for his troubles. O’Mahonys were unable to capitalise as they missed the resultant free. The O’Mahonys threat was finally nullified on 22 minutes when their Centre Half Back received his marching orders after a second yellow card reducing O’Mahonys to 14 men. Skryne rallied from this point on and broke the resistance of the Brews Hill men. Paddy Carpenter scored an excellent point on 23 minutes ending a brilliant Skryne move which started way back in their own defence. Colm Mc Loughlin and David Carroll added 2 more points to the Skryne tally before Frank Carty side-footed to the net for his second goal of the evening. Frank got the opportunity to bag a hat-trick 2 minutes later when Michael Doherty made a rampaging run into the O’Mahony’s penalty area only to be taken down by an O’Mahony’s defender. Frankie full of confidence stepped up and slid the ball low to the Keeper’s right evading his despairing dive. The referee blew his whistle to end the game with Skryne running out convincing victors against an O’Mahonys team who never really threatened to derail them. Final score: O’Mahonys 1-03 Skryne 3-10
Skryne Team: Dean Reddy, Cian Toomey, Michael Long, Barry Clarke, Paddy Carpenter, Robbie Clarke, Darragh Campion, Michael Doherty, Darren Fox, Eoin Greene, Eoin Smyth, David Carroll, Frank Carty, Colm McLoughlin, Jason Fox. Subs: Shane dowling, Andy Moore, Oisín Gryson
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