Skryne Ladies took the field against Seneschalstown in this Junior B League fixture at FatherMcManusParkthe Skryne home ground on Monday evening the 30th April and in the end the home side came away with an emphatic victory. The evening stayed dry for once with a slight breeze favouring the visitors in the first half.
Seneschalstown opened the scoring with a point from play in the 1st minute and this was followed a minute later with a wide for the visitors. The next ten minutes saw the home side at sixes and sevens with Seneschalstown bossing proceedings on the pitch. By the eight minute the opposition hit a further four wides all of which should have been converted. Seneschalstown were now completely in charge of the game and only for dogged defending by Orla Cragie and Emma Fitzpatrick the home side would have been in right trouble. The visitors again hit the target on the 10th minute with a point from play followed by a further point again from play on the 12th minute.
Skryne appeared to be out of sorts with a number of key players just not performing on the evening. The 13th minute saw Skryne launch their first attack on the opposition goal, however, their effort was waved wide by the referee. There was some confusion on this one with the referee first of all awarding a point but then changed his mind. The 14th minute saw another Seneschalstown effort waved wide which was followed on the 16th minute by a wide for the home side.
The 17th minute saw the sides draw level when Skryne full forward Michelle Whelan got on the end of a long delivery into the opposition goal area. She collected the ball and cooly finished to the back of the visitors net. This was followed on the 21st minute with a wide from Skryne before the opposition chalked up another point from play on the 22nd minute to restore their lead. The Skryne side were hanging in there despite a below par performance so far in the game. However, the 26th minute saw them take the lead against the run of play when they were awarded a penalty. The opposition back line was porous to say the least and their frailty was again exposed when Colleen Jordan was hauled down on her way through on goal. The referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty which Colleen stepped up to take. She made no mistake when she sent the ball low and hard to the bottom corner of the net out of the reach of the opponent’s goalkeeper. The 27th minute saw Skryne half forward Saoirse McGrath carried from the pitch with an ankle injury. However, the home side had an able replacement when Melanie Kirwan took her place. Seneschalstown chalked up their last point of the half on the 28th minute before the sides each exchanged wides with Skryne hitting a wide on the 29th minute and the visitors striking a wide on the 31st minute to leave the scores at the break:
Skryne: 2 – 0. Seneschalstown: 0 – 5.
The second half started with the Skryne team management urging the side to pick the game up as the game was there for the taking. However, the opposition launched the first assault on the Skryne goal area but saw their effort blasted wide of the posts on the 31st minute. A minute later we saw Colleen Jordan make one of her trade mark runs through on the visitor’s goal only to see her effort rebound off the crossbar to deny her a second goal. The next two minutes saw the opponents hit a further two wides one from play and the other from a free kick. However, on the 35th minute they found the target when they struck their first goal of the evening to put them back in front. This was responded to almost immediately when birthday girl Eimear Clarke Skryne corner forward slipped in behind the defence to find the back of the net and restore the home sides lead. Seneschalstown responded to this within a minute with a point from play to again tie up matters. They then struck two points before Catriona Keoghan for Skryne broke through from centrefield and found Eimear Clarke with an excellent pass. The Skryne birthday girl made no mistake when she clinically finished to the back of the net.
We next saw an exchange of goals when Skryne’s Colleen Jordan added another goal to her tally on the 41st minute which was responded to on the 43rd minute by the visitors with a goal of their own. Seneschalstown followed this a minute later with a further goal but this time it was Skryne who responded with a goal from full forward Michelle Whelan, when she begged her second goal of the evening. We now had the unusual situation in Gaelic football in that Skryne has struck six goals but no points. This anomaly was corrected on the 47th minute when Skryne’s Ruth Moore struck a point from play after she took a delivery from Colleen Jordan following on from a 45mtr kick.
The Skryne side had by now found their game when up stepped Skryne centre fielder Eimear Finnerty on the 50th minute to add a further goal to the home side tally followed a minute later by a point from Colleen Jordan. The opposition were still fighting hard and responded strongly when they hit their fourth goal of the evening on the 52nd minute to leave the scores at this stage: Skryne: 7 – 2. Seneschalstown: 4 – 6, a five point advantage for the home side. Skryne were determined to maintain their momentum when Collen Jordan converted a free kick to add a point and she followed this with a further two points form play on the 54th and 55th minutes. Seneschalstown were determined to keep in touch when they struck their fifth goal of the evening in what proved to be their final score. The home side next hit two wides before half back Ruth Moore added a further goal to the Skryne tally and the scoring for the evening was completed when Skryne centre fielder Aisling Bowens found the back of the opponents net to leave the scores on the final whistle:
Skryne 9 – 5. Seneschalstown 5 – 6.
Team – Roisin Gryson; Niamh Lynh, Deidre Kennedy, Megan O’Brien; Emma Fitzpatrick, Orla Cragie, Ruth Moore{1 – 1}; Eimear Finnerty{1 – 0], Aisling Bowens{1 — 0}; Catriona Keoghan, Colleen Jordan{2 – 4}; Saoirse McGrath; Eimear O’Brien, Michelle Whelan{2 – 0 }, Eimear Clarke{2 – 0}. Subs – Melanie Kirwan for Saoirse McGrath {Injury}, Aoife Swan for Niamh O’Brien, Sinead O’Kane for Deidre Kennedy.
