Summerhill 0-7
O'Mahonys 0-14

Summerhill suffered a seven point defeat against Navan O'Mahonys on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon in a meeting of the last two Keegan cup winners in Summerhill.

The game was preceded by a minutes silence in memory of the recently deceased Terry Martin and Paddy Lyons. A message on behalf of the club was read out by Colm Gannon acknowledging their contribution to the club over the years.

O'Mahony's had the advantage of the strong wind in the first half and scored the first two points of the match before Conor Lyons opened Summerhills account with a good point from play under pressure from the visitors defence. O'Mahonys added a further two points before the industrious Eamonn McDonnell replied with a fine point from play with the outside of his boot mid-way through the half. This was to be Summerhill last score of the half as their forwards struggled to deal with the strong wind. As the strength of the wind increased O'Mahonys took full advantage to score four unanswered points to leave the half time score Summerhill 0-2 O'Mahonys 0-8. Indeed things could have been worse for Summerhill except for two fine saves from goalkeeper Tony McDonnell. He did well to get a hand to a goal bound shot from an O'Mahonys forward and as the ball ricocheted towards the line full back Caolan Young who was covering back made an acrobatic save to prevent the ball crossing the line despite the protests of the O'Mahonys forwards.

As the supports headed for a welcome and warming cup of tea provided by the ladies of the club the main discussion among the supporters was whether a six point lead would be sufficient for O'Mahonys given that Summerhill would have the wind in the second half. The second half proved to be very frustrating for Summerhill. Even with the wind at their backs scores were hard got. O'Mahonys scored the first two points of the half before Sean Dalton put over a nice point from play. Summerhill had a number of good goal chances from Bobby Lyons, Brian Ennis and David Larkin but the goal that would have brought Summerhill right back into the game would not come.

Summerhill hit four points without reply with a 45 from Barry Dardis, good points from play from Paul Rispin and David Larkin and an excellent point from a side-line ball from over 40m out by Dardis again. With time running out this left just four points between the sides but as Summerhill piles on the pressure in search of scores O'Mahonys hit them on the break to score the last three points of the game to run out winners on a score line of Summerhill 0-7 O'Mahonys 0-14.

Despite the defeat there were several positives for Summerhill as they look towards the start of the championship in two weeks' time. Both Michael Byrne and Padraig Geraghty returned to the side after injury plagued seasons in 2014. Conor Gillespie's excellent performance for Meath in Newry after his long injury layoff also bodes well for the future.

Summerhill: Tony McDonnell, Eoghan Jennings, Caolan Young, Willie Ryan, Padraig Geraghty, Paul Rispin, Eamonn McDonnell, Damien Byrne, Michael Byrne, David Larkin, Brian Ennis, Conor Lyons, Ross Tallon, Barry Dardis, Sean Dalton Subs: Bobby Lyons for Conor Lyons (Half Time)

Scorers: David Larkin (0-1) Paul Rispin (0-1) Eamonn McDonnell (0-1)Barry Dardis (0-2,) Conor Lyons  (0-1) Sean Dalton (0-1)

O'Mahonys scorers: Scorers, S. Gillespie 0-7 (2f), David Bray 0-2, Ruari O Coileain 0-2 (1f), Alan Forde 0-1, Henry Finnegan 0-1, D.Dillon 0-1.

O'Mahonys: Marcus Brennan, Daragh Smyth, Daragh Maguire, James O'Malley, James O'Reilly, Shane Crosby, Ross Geraghty, Cormac McGuinness, Stephen Monaghan, Ruairi O'Coileain, Rory Maguire, Henry Finnegan, Shane Gillespie, Alan Forde, David Bray. Subs used. David Dillon for David Bray (30), Damien Moran for Cormac McGuinness (50).

 

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