Premier Football Championship, Division 5 – Round 1. Skryne 1-07 Simonstown Gaels 2-06

Skryne lost out narrowly to Simonstown Gaels in Round 1 of their Division 5 Premier Championship campaign in near perfect conditions in Fr. Mc Manus Park.

Up until midweek last week, Skryne weren’t sure if they would be fielding a team in this competition, but credit to Des Finnerty who agreed to take on the role of manager for 2022. Within a few days he had put together a squad of players, a mix of youth and experience to kick off the championship campaign against Simonstown Gaels. Despite the loss, Skryne showed plenty of positives and were a good match for the men from the northside of Navan.

Simonstown started off strongly and were guilty of squandering a number of early opportunities to tack on the opening score, but it was James Hegarty who set the scoreboard in motion when Felim O’Rourke arrowed a pass into the centre, picking out Hedge who fired over with his trusty left boot. With Simonstown still struggling to find their range, Dermot Brennan fired Skryne further in front with a goal on the eighth minute when he won possession inside the Simonstown penalty area and then slid the ball low underneath the advancing keeper. Des McAvinney came to Skryne’s rescue on the eleventh minute when a Simonstown 45 fell kindly for one their forwards to the left of the Skryne goal. He fired a rasper of a shot towards the Skryne goal, but Dessie reacted superbly to parry the ball away to safety. Simonstown finally got off he mark on the eleventh minute with a point from play. They levelled matters five minutes later with a goal of their own when their corner forward stole in from the left hand side and shot a powerful drive into the roof of the net. Skryne did take the upper hand towards the end of the first half with Felim O’Rourke and Alex Grendon adding two points. However, with 3 minutes remaining in the half Simonstown got their second somewhat fortuitous goal when their corner forward looked to chip the ball over the bar. However, he miscued and his shot went across the face of the goals and into the path of his teammate who palmed the ball to the Skryne net. Half-time: Skryne 1-04, Simonstown Gaels 2-02.

The second half was a low scoring affair with both sides trading scores throughout. Ronan McCabe and Felim O’Rourke(2 points, 1 free) hit points for Skryne while Simonstown notched up four points. Skryne had an opportunity late in the half to overhaul the Simonstown men, when a Simonstown defender was blackcarded for dragging back Aidan Gill who was advancing forward on the left hand side. However, the Simonstown men managed the game well while down to 14 men and kept Skryne scoreless during this period. The game petered out with neither side scoring in the last 10 minutes of the match with Simonstown holding on for a two point victory.

Skryne – Des McAvinney; Paul McGoldrick, Ciarán Finnerty, Liam Gill; James Keane, Michael Swan, Tommy Kelly; Alex Grendon(0-1), Seán Byrne; Dermot Brennan(1-0), Felim O’Rourke(0-4, 2fs), James Hegarty(0-1); Aidan Gill, Ronan McCabe(0-1), Bryan Clarke.

Subs used – Jason Fox, Darren Fox, Oisín Coyle

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