Late goal sees Skryne through
Skryne 1-06 Ratoath 0-08
U21 Football Championship. Quarter-Final
Skryne reached the semi-final stage of the Under 21 Football Championship after this quarter final victory over Ratoath in Ashbourne last evening. After a day of persistent heavy rain the pitch resembled a paddy field and was just about playable which made good quality football almost impossible. As a result both teams found it difficult to come to terms with the underfoot conditions and a low-scoring game was the outcome.
Despite all this the players served up an exciting match in which neither team dominated with the result in doubt right up to Referee Barry Campbell’s final whistle. The surprisingly large crowd were well entertained on a bitterly cold night where the strong wind made scoring very difficult. Skryne had the dubious benefit of this breeze playing into the Town end in the first half and a slender lead of four points to one at the interval hardly seemed sufficient to win this encounter.
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The second half was just as close as the first and Skryne were still in front by six points to five with about thirteen minutes left to play. Then Ratoath scored three points without reply and seemed set for victory as the game headed for injury time. A mistake in the Skryne defence had given Ratoath the score that put them two points ahead for the first time in a really close game. Skryne also wasted two point chances against the strong breeze and seemed to have missed the boat. But with one final energy sapping effort from the Blues, a shot from Paddy Doherty was well saved by the Ratoath goalkeeper and rebounded to the feet of the Inrushing Paddy Carpenter who made no mistake in crashing the ball to the net for the only goal of the game. It probably looked like daylight (or even night-time) robbery to Ratoath but in such a close game a goal was always going to be crucial, and so it proved, and it came at a time when there was little chance of recovery.
Skryne fielded without the influential Donie Ryan and injuries to Meath minors Darragh Campion and Robbie Clarke forcing them out of the game in the second half made their task that much more difficult. But their defence tackled like tigers and held their more fancied opponents to just 8 points over the hour. All six were excellent but special mention must go to seventeen year old Colm Craigie at wing back who was ‘man of the match’ and Barry Clarke at corner back while behind them keeper Dean Reddy had his best game of the season. John Morley played a captains part at midfield while up front, as already stated, scores were hard to come by, but Paddy Doherty caused panic in the Ratoath rearguard every time the ball came his way.
Skryne – Dean Reddy. Robbie Clarke, Timmy Lennon, Barry Clarke. Michael Doherty, Eoghan Greene, Colm Craigie. John Morley, Paddy Doherty (0-1). Jason Reddy, Eoin Smyth (0-1), Jason Fox (0-1). Cian Lynch (0-1), Niall Morley, Darragh Campion (0-2).
Subs used – Sean Cassidy, Paddy Carpenter (1-0), Enda Byrne.
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