Skryne made the journey to Stillorgan yesterday morning to participate in the famous Beacon Hospital Kilmacud 7s competition, Ireland’s premier sevens competition which takes place every year on All Ireland weekend. Clubs from all around Ireland take part to battle it out to take home an All Ireland trophy.
The following clubs took part in this year’s competition
- Mountbellew Moylough (Galway)
- St. Annes (Dublin)
- Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin)
- Erne Gaels (Fermanagh)
- Clonduff (Down)
- Salthill Knocknacarra (Galway)
- St. Sylvesters (Dublin)
- Ballymun Kickhams (Dublin)
- Bryansford (Down)
- Ballyboden St. Endas (Dublin)
- St. Pats (Wicklow)
- Dungannon Clarkes (Tyrone)
- St. Galls (Antrim)
- Augnamullen Sarsfields (Monaghan)
- Naomh Columba (Donegal)
- Templeogue Synge Street (Dublin)
- Ballinteer St. Johns (Dublin)
- Skryne (Meath)
- Steelstown Brian Ógs (Derry)
- Carryduff (Antrim)
- Fingal Ravens (Dublin)
- Blessington (Wicklow)
- O’Tooles (Dublin)
Each club had a squad of 10 players. The games were 20 minutes long (10 minutes per half). Normal GAA rules applied.
Skryne’s victorious squad were Stephen O’Brien, Darragh Campion(C), Patrick Fox, Conor O’Brien, Harry Rooney, Ciarán Lenehan, Eoin Smyth, John Finnerty, Shane Smyth and John O’Regan.
Group 5 Matches
Skryne were drawn in Group 5 of the competition, a group that pitted them against hosts Kilmacud Crokes, All Ireland Intermediate Football Champions Steelstown Brian Ógs and Ballinteer St. Johns.
Results
Skryne 7-05, Ballinteer St. Johns 3-07
Skryne 4-12 Steelstown Brian Ógs 1-06
Skryne 4-10 Kilmacud Crokes 3-05
Quarter-Final
After winning Group 5 Skryne now faced the runners-up from Group 1, Erne Gaels from Fermanagh. Erne Gaels started the game well with an early goal and a point, but points from Eoin Smyth, Stephen O’Brien, Conor O’Brien and Shane Smyth saw Skryne draw level. An excellent goal from Darragh Campion who slalomed past the Erne Gaels defenders before dispatching to the net saw Skryne stamp their authority on the game. This was followed up by a second Skryne goal, this time from Patrick Fox who palmed to the net after Darragh Campion fisted across the face of the goal to find Foxy with the goal at his mercy. Two more pointed frees from Shane Smyth and Darragh Campion ensured Skryne had a commanding lead at half-time. Half-time score Skryne 2-08, Erne Gaels 1-04.
Skryne maintained their momentum in the second half with early points from Patrick Fox and Shane Smyth. John Finnerty added a third goal for Skryne when he hit a low shot past the keeper from the left-hand side. Erne Gaels responded immediately with a goal of their own. They added a point but then Skryne got a fourth goal when Darragh Campion spotted the run of Eoin Smyth. Smyth arrowed towards the Erne Gaels goal before hitting a rocket to the back of the net. Paddy Fox added another point before dispatching a fifth goal to the Erne Gaels net when he shot low past the keeper from the right-hand side. The Gaels did bag a consolation goal with less than 2 minutes remaining when they looked to have lost possession but the ball somehow ran loose and a quick-thinking Gaels forward cracked a shot off the ground into the top right corner of the Skryne net. However, it was too little too late as Skryne overpowered the Fermanagh men to secure a semi-final spot against Blessington.
Eoin Smyth(1-1), Stephen O’Brien(0-1), Conor O’Brien (0-3), Shane Smyth (0-3, 1f), Darragh Campion (1-2, 1f), Patrick Fox (2-2), John Finnerty (1-0), Harry Rooney (0-1)
Semi-final
Skryne faced Blessington in the semi-final. Blessington won their group against Carryduff, Fingal Ravens and O’Tooles and then beat Ballyboden St. Endas by a point in the quarter-final.
Skryne started off quickly in this game with Eoin Smyth opening the scoring with a point before adding a goal a minute later when John O’Regan put Smyth in on goal and he finished cooly under the keeper. Stephen O’Brien hit another point for Skryne before Blessington got their opening score with 3 minutes on the clock. Darragh Campion slotted over a free for Skryne before Stephen O’Brien added his second point of the game. Blessington tacked on their second point of the game. Darragh Campion hit Skryne’s second goal 7 minutes into the game when he soloed in along the right-hand touchline before sidestepping the challenge of the Blessington defender and tucking the ball past the keeper. Blessington had somewhat of a resurgence after this, scoring 2 goals in quick succession to give them a foothold in the game. However Darragh Campion was on hand again and pointed to stop the rot. In injury time in the first half, Harry Rooney did brilliantly to win the ball on the left-hand side. He moved the ball across to John Finnerty who quickly squared to Stephen O’Brien in front of the Blessington goal. O’Brien slammed the ball to the back of the net to give Skryne a six point lead at half-time. Skryne 3-05, Blessington 2-02.
Skryne hit a goal immediately from the throw-in when Eoin Smyth picked up the break from the throw-in and galloped forward before handpassing to Darragh Campion on the left side. Darragh hit a low powerful shot that raised the green flag. Blessington hit back immediately with a goal of their own less than a minute later. Shane Smyth and Darragh Campion added two more points with Blessington adding a single. With nearly four minutes gone in the half Conor O’Brien hit a beautiful pass to John Finnerty who had stolen in unmarked at the far post. Finnerty jinked from one foot to the other before finishing low with his right foot to the back of the net to give Skryne a 10 point cushion. However, Blessington again replied with a goal to peg Skryne back. Midway through the half Eoin Smyth saw his goal bound effort ricochet back off the crossbar as Skryne hunted for another goal. Paddy Fox duly rewarded Skryne for their efforts after playing a one two with Darragh Campion which left the Blessington keeper stranded and Fox with an open goal and an easy finish. Skryne looked to be out of sight and safely into the final but Blessington hit 3 goals and a point to Skryne’s single point in the final two minutes of the game and suddenly Skryne were breaking out the calculators to find out if they had held on. Hold on they did securing a single point victory in a game which really should have been much more comfortable. Full-time: Skryne 6-08, Blessington 7-04.
Scorers: Eoin Smyth (1-1), Stephen O’Brien (1-2), Darragh Campion (2-3, 1f), Shane Smyth (0-1), John Finnerty (1-0), Patrick Fox (1-1)
Final
Skryne faced Galway champions Mountbellew Moulough in the final. Mountbellew Moylough had emerged as Group 1 winners in a group that contained Kilmacud Crokes, St. Annes and Erne Gaels. They beat Dungannon Clarkes in the quarter-final by 4-09 to 1-09 before defeating Donegal side Naomh Columba by 4-08 to 1-08 in the semi-final.
Skryne opened the scoring in the final with Shane Smyth slotting over a fine point. Mountbellew Moylough then hit five points without a reply from Skryne to lead by four points midway through the half. Skryne reduced the deficit to a single point when Harry Rooney burst through the middle of the M/M defence before passing to Ciarán Lenehan on the right of the M/M penalty area. Lenoi shrugged off the attentions of the M/M defender and blasted to the back of the net. M/M pointed again before Leno hit a lovely long-range point. M/M kept the scoreboard ticking over with their seventh point of the half. Eoin Smyth conjured up an excellent goal-scoring opportunity but saw his shot superbly saved on the line. M/M then moved the ball up field and were awarded a penalty after one of their lads was dragged to the ground. The penalty was a poor one and Darragh Campion who assumed the role of goalkeeper scrambled the ball away off the line. M/M added another point to lead by three at half-time. Half-time: Mountbellew Moylough 0-08, Skryne 1-02.
M/M opened the scoring in the second half with a point to extend their lead to four. Skryne’s Darragh Campion quickly replied with a side-footed effort over the bar. Shane Smyth added another point after he won a kickout in the middle of the park. Despite close attention from the M/M defenders, Smyth got a shot away with the outside of his right boot and bisected the posts. Six minutes into the half Darragh Campion twisted and turned on the right-hand side before side-footing over the bar. Skryne drew level when Darragh Campion pointed a free with only three minutes remaining. M/M hit a point with less than a minute to go to take the lead. Skryne looked to be heading for defeat but then M/M uncharacteristically gave away possession and Eoin Smyth broke forward before hand-passing to brother Shane who pirouetted before hitting a low left footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net to snatch victory for Skryne. Full-time: Skryne 2-06, Mountbellew Moylough 0-10.
Scorers: Shane Smyth (1-2), Ciarán Lenehan (1-1), Darragh Campion (0-3, 1f)
Skryne made history yesterday being the first Meath club to win the Kilmacud All-Ireland 7s Competition in it’s 50 year history. This win will give Skryne a huge confidence boost in the run up to the opening round of the championship. Well done to all the players and management.
Also a big thank you to the Kilmacud Crokes organising committee who did a brilliant job in ensuring the event was extremely enjoyable for all who took part and indeed watched on.
