B League Division 1 Round 9

St. Peter's Dunboyne 1-11
Seneschalstown 2-08

Seneschalstown travelled to Dunboyne on a damp Tuesday evening to take on their table topping hosts in what was a dead rubber tie in the final round of Division 1 of the Meath B Leagues.  With numbers on the evening tight the away side struggled for scores in the first half, only managing three but were only two points in arrears at the interval as two of these scores were goals from flying corner forward Neil Darby.  Their work rate from this opening period was complemented in the second as their forwards began to get some better ball delivered in and they soon began to tag on some points.

Dunboyne opened the scoring after only two minutes with a point from play before Neil Darby scored the first of his brace of goals when rolling the ball under the goalkeeper following some excellent build up play from his forward colleagues.  The home side struck two points in a row to equalise, the first of these coming from a close range free before Seneschalstown edged back in front by a point.  Sean McCabe mopped up a loose ball in his defence and it was quickly worked upfield to Ronan Conneely who spotting Peter Waters on the overlap offloaded the ball to him to strike over the bar. 

The ebb and flow of the match continued when in the seventeenth minute stand in goalkeeper Adam Gleeson was forced to pick the ball out of his net when unable to prevent a Dunboyne goal. Darby though had displayed his eye for a goal earlier and when James Conlon put him in for another opportunity their was only going to be one outcome and sure enough he blasted the ball into the roof of the net to straight away cancel out the preceding Dunboyne major. 

Seneschalstown were unable to register a score for the remaining nine minutes of the half and the home side tagged on three points on the bounce, the last one from a free, to edge back in front by two when Richard Morris sounded the half time whistle. 

David Hosie's men were looking for a fast start in the second half and Ronan Conneely attempted to deliver just that when he went for an audacious lob over the Dunboyne goalkeeper who just about jot back to tip the ball over the bar.  The home side hit back with a point of their own a minute later before Jonathan Gilsenan, operating at midfield,  kicked two booming efforts in three minutes to tie the match up again.  The first of his points arrived after Mark Fox did very well to gain possession deep in his defence before getting the ball out to Gerry McKendry.  The ball was then worked across the width of the pitch to Ross Howard who under pressure managed to avaoid being forced over the line.  After making good ground up the right flank he delivered the ball infield to James Conlon who after slipping on the greasy surface got the ball back out to Gilsenan to kick a confidence boosting score from forty metres. 

Dunboyne edged back in front by two points with scores in the thirty ninth and forty first minutes but their efforts to grab a second goal of the match in the fortieth minute were undone by Wesley McDonagh who had been unable to start.  A flowing team move in  which Conneely and Paul Carey had central roles resulted in a point for Robert Darby before the two score margin between the sides was restored courtesy of another Dunboyne free. 

Peter Waters began to come to the fore as he led the Seneschalstown attack from his centre forward berth and proved to be the creator and scorer of his teams next score.  Finding himself in possession he threaded a lovely pass low in front of Conlon who then passed off to Ross Howard running off his shoulder.  Howard got bottled up but recycled the ball back out to Waters to fire between the uprights off his left foot.  Waters then kicked the equaliser after running at the defence at speed after being spotted in space by Fox while he then proceeded to edge his team in front by one when curling over a forty five to leave Seneschalstown in front by one. 

However their opponents who at championship level operate at a grade higher than Seneschalstown and had been unbeaten throughout this campaign were in no humour to see this record spoiled on the final day and with three minutes remaining pulled back level when emulating Waters' forty five with one of their own.  Seneschalstown did manage to carve out two opportunities in the remaining couple of minutes but were unable to find the winning score and in the end had to be content with a share of the spoils. 

Seneschalstown Scorers:  Neil Darby 2-00, Peter Waters 0-04 (0-01 Forty Five), Jonathan Gilsenan 0-02, Ronan Conneely 0-01, Robert Darby 0-01. 

Seneschalstown:  Adam Gleeson, Mark Fox, Sean McCabe, Damien McDonnell, Kevin Casey, Paul Carey, Gerry McKendry, Jonathan Gilsenan, Tean Cummins, Robert Darby, Peter Waters, Ross Howard, Neil Darby, James Conlon, Ronan Conneely. 

Seneschalstown Substitution:  Wesley McDonagh for D. McDonnell (inj.).

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