Seamus Connolly Catering A League. Division 1A – Round 7. St. Colmcilles 3-13, Skryne 0-11

Skryne had what could be best described as a ‘bad day at the office’ yesterday evening in Piltown. They were out-gunned in almost every department against a slick St. Colmcilles outfit who out-played and out-muscled Skryne throughout this encounter.

In a mesmerising opening 10 minutes the Seasiders amassed a tally of 1-4 without a reply from Skryne, who struggled to get to grips with the pace and power of their opponents.  The goal came from their marauding midfielder Liam Stafford who stole into the Skryne penalty area to get on the end of a pass from their # 11 and he finished low into the bottom left corner of the net. Skryne opened their scoring 12 minutes in with Ciarán Quinn pointing after Paddy Carpenter won possession on the dugout side of the pitch. Oisín Keogh added a second when he rounded his marker near the end-line on the left-hand side and squeezed the ball over from a tight angle. Disaster struck again a minute later when David Bell fed the ball to midfielder Jeff Kavanagh who raced through on the Skryne goal before blasting to the roof of the net. Ian Davis opened his account midway through the half with a pointed free to leave the scoreline reading St. Colmcilles 2-04, Skryne 0-03 at the end of the first quarter. Colmcilles added another point from David Bell and then they struck their third goal 22 minutes in when James Conlon attacked in from the right-hand side and found the net again leaving Skryne cut adrift with the lead now out to 11 points. Skryne did pull back three points in the final 5 minutes of the half with Ian Davis hitting two points (1 free) and goalkeeper Ciarán Lenehan also showed great leadership when he launched an attack from his own goal and then in Rory Beggan style picked up the ball at midfield, advanced forward and struck a fine shot high over the bar as he tried to rally the troops. Half-time: St. Colmcilles 3-05, Skryne 0-06.

Oisín Keogh, who had a good outing for Skryne, hit the opening score of the second half, his second point of the game and Skryne’s fourth without a reply from the Cilles. Skryne were pressing forward trying to get a foothold in the game, but tenacious defending from the Cilles denied Skryne who registered a number of wides in the opening 5 minutes of the half. Cilles then began to pick off more points, four in total with Skryne replying with just a single free from Ian Davis leaving the score St. Colmcilles 3-09, Skryne 0-08 at the midway point of the half. The last quarter saw the match coast to its inevitable conclusion. Skryne could find no way through the Cilles defence to fetch the goals that they so badly needed and they had to work hard for every score they got. They did manage a further three points, all from the boot of Ian Davis(2 frees), but Cilles hit four points in this period to finish the game off with a resounding victory of St. Colmcilles 3-13, Skryne 0-11.

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