Skryne clinch victory to win the Jack Cummins Cup
An Scrín 1-10, Naomh Peadar Dún Búinne 1-09
Tommy Dowd Oil A League Division 5 – Final
Paths to the final
St. Peter’s blazed a trail through their Division 5 League campaign registering just a single loss away to Cortown in Round 2. Apart from that slight blip, they had been commanding in each of the other 9 rounds with an average 13 point victory in each game.
Skryne’s League journey got off to a rocky start with 3 straight defeats, the first at the hands of today’s opponents. This was followed by losses to Kilmainhamwood and Wolfe Tones. Skryne hit form after the Tones game, winning 4 in a row before shipping a defeat at home to Simonstown Gaels. They recovered well and a hat-trick of wins saw them make a late surge to snatch third place in the table and a semi-final spot against Wolfe Tones. Skryne overpowered the Tones men with a magnificent performance in Seneschalstown to book their place in this evening’s final.
With St. Peter’s looking so good in the group stages, they were hot favourites to secure victory in the final. However, Skryne have come a long way since that opening round defeat and it’s been the weekend of the underdog in GAA/LGFA circles with our brilliant Meath Ladies defeating reigning All-Ireland champions Kerry on Saturday before Tipperary sprung a huge surprise in the All-Ireland Hurling Final to win the Liam McCarthy Cup. So if ever Skryne needed inspiration, they didn’t need to look too far.
The Final
Skryne played against the wind in the opening half on the fine new pitch in Dunganny. It was definitely a game where defences were on top. Skryne were rock-solid throughout with player/manager Michael Donnelly commanding in goal, well protected by the excellent full back line of Darragh O’Dowd, Jack Dardis and Seán McCarthy. McCarthy who had been superb was forced off due to a hamstring injury, but Ben Armstrong came in and ensured the line remained solid. Wing half backs Ciarán Quinn and Conor Reuter were impressive both in defence and when foraging forward while David Carroll patrolled the middle. Dunboyne too were well organised at the back, so scores were going to be hard to come by. Indeed Dunboyne took 4 minutes to register the opening score of the game, a point from play. A Cian Donohoe free opened Skryne’s account 7 minutes in before Dunboyne added their second point. In the 17th minute, Skryne won possession on the left wing and Ciarán Quinn arrowed a ball into full forward Cian Donohoe. The ball initially slipped from Donohoe’s grasp but he still managed to dribble the ball past the Dunboyne defender before side-footing to the back of the net to see Skryne take the lead. A Charlie Swan free stretched their lead to 3 points. Dunboyne, who for 20 minutes could not find a way through the dogged Skryne defence, won a free in the last minute of normal time. The free was outside the large arc in two point territory. To the relief of the team in black and amber, the free was converted and they left the field just 1 point behind the Taramen but would face into the wind in the second half. Skryne 1-03, St. Peter’s Dunboyne 0-04.
Despite having the wind at their backs in the second half, Skryne were faced with a more determined challenge from the Dunboynemen. An early free levelled the game. However, Captain Fantastic David McGoldrick hit a massive 2 pointer for Skryne to restore the lead. Andrew Canavan added another from a free to leave a goal between the sides. Dunboyne potted another 2 pointer free to leave the minimum between the teams. A Cian Donohoe free followed by a point from Andrew Canavan kept the the scoreboard ticking over. However, Skryne were hit with a sucker punch on the 20th minute when Dunboyne attacked down the right hand side before the ball was fisted across the small square where it was palmed to the back of the Skryne net to see Dunboyne draw level. To Skryne’s credit, they kept their cool and tagged on 2 more pointed frees to lead as the game reached the end of normal time. Alas, Dunboyne won another free in 2 point territory a minute into injury time. Their free taker was dead-eye and yet again the teams were drawn level. With injury time almost up, Skryne worked the ball forward to Andrew Canavan. Canavan who had missed a chance a minute earlier, showed true character and class when he turned his man and slotted over the winning point to secure victory for the Taramen in what was an epic showdown.
Skryne had excellent performances all over the pitch with Robert Gallagher and McGoldrick excellent in the middle of the park. As mentioned before, the defence were superb throughout. Up front the young guns Liam Donohoe, Cormac Pentony, Kian Reddy, Cian Donohoe, Charlie Swan, Andrew Canavan and Stephen Corry all posed a threat and ensured Skryne tagged on the scores that secured a momentus victory to bring the Jack Cummins Cup back to Fr.McManus Park !! This was truly a team effort and while some of the squad didn’t get a run out today, their contribution throughout the campaign played a big part in ensuring this trophy made it’s way back to the Blue Kings of Tara.
Well done to all the lads and the Management team. This was a well deserved victory after months of hard work.
Skryne: Michael Donnelly; Darragh O’Dowd, Jack Dardis, Seán McCarthy; Conor Reuter, David Carroll, Ciarán Quinn; Robert Gallagher, David McGoldrick(0-2); Liam Donohoe, Andrew Canavan(0-3, 1f), Cormac Pentony; Charlie Swan(0-1,1f), Cian Donohoe (1-4, 4fs), Stephen Corry.
Subs used: Kian Reddy, Ben Armstrong, Riain McConnell
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