Reserve Cup, Division 2. Group B – Round 3. Skryne 0-05, Ballinabrackey 2-11

For the second game running, Skryne’s young third team faced a second team from another club, this time Senior Club Ballinabrackey, and similar to last week against Clann na nGael, the experienced opposition proved too strong for Skryne. In fact 2 of Ballinabrackey’s starting line-up, Evan Daly(who finished with a personal tally of 1-5, 3fs) and Sean Fitzpatrick featured as substitutes in the Senior Championship relegation playoff vs Navan O’Mahonys in 2022. Skryne meanwhile had a starting lineup packed with players playing in their first year in adult football. This division was always going to be a test and a steep learning curve and while the results may not be going their way, the lads are benefitting hugely from the experience of playing at this level. It was very encouraging to see Skryne with a squad of 22 players to choose from for a third team game. The future is bright for Skryne if these lads keep building on their experience.

Skryne were guilty of overcomplicating things in the first half. While they won plenty of possession, they surrendered it far too cheaply when trying passes that weren’t on when a simpler pass was available. Ballinabrackey’s lively forward line punished these mistakes and they opened the scoring with an Evan Daly point four minutes in. Ronan Thompson added a second before Kian Reddy pointed a free for Skryne leaving only a single between the teams at the midway point of the half. The second quarter was all Ballinabrackey who hit 1-07 without a reply from Skryne, the goal coming from Ronan Thompson with 6 minutes remaining in the half. Skryne did find themselves reduced to just 13 men during this period as two players received black cards. Mark Swan added a second point for Skryne in a well-worked move with just a minute left in the half. Half-time score: Skryne 0-02 Ballinabrackey 1-09.

Skryne made 4 changes at halftime with the experienced Mark Harrington and Ciarán Finnerty coming in along with 2 more young guns Charlie Swan and Stephen Corry. Unfortunately, things took a further turn for the worst 2 minutes into the half when Evan Daly danced his way into the Skryne penalty area before finishing to the net. He followed this up with another pointed free to give Ballinabrackey an unassailable lead of 14 points. Skryne to their credit kept plugging away and Niall Morley struck a fine point 6 minutes in and Ciarán Fox added a free from the left-hand side. Skryne made it 3 points in a row when Mark Harrington fired over midway through the half. However, the final quarter was scarce of scores as the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion. Ballinabrackey added a single point to their tally to run out victors on a scoreline of Skryne 0-05, Ballinabrackey 2-11.

As mentioned above, there will be better days ahead for this team who are still very much acclimatising to adult football.

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