Seneschalstown 1-16  Summerhill 3-08

Less than twenty four hours after their Senior sides had met in Round 10 of the A League Division 1 Seneschalstown and Summerhill's Minors faced off in the Summer League opening round in Fr. Tully Park on Sunday afternoon.  With the rules of Summer League football restricting players to two touches when in possession players are encouraged into playing with their heads up and results in every player on the field seeing plenty of the action.   Another facet of the competition rules is that Fair Play applies which meant that when Summerhill arrived for this game with fourteen players both sides had to field with that number.  

In the Spring League Summerhill had reached the semi-final of Division 1 while Seneschalstown had qualified for the same stage of Division 2 so the side from the south of the county would have entered this encounter as the team expected to win.  However from the outset of the game Seneschalstown played with a creditable ambition, looking to play quick direct football with some excellent off the ball running creating space for their forwards to take on shooting opportunities while at the back their defenders put plenty of pressure on the Summerhill forwards, never allowing them get away an easy scoring attempt. 

Summerhill were the first side to register when on two minutes they counter attacked the length of the field to point after a Seneschalstown point effort had dropped short.  Eoin Finnegan replied a couple of minutes later when getting on the end of a good move involving Dylan Doyle, David Gordon, Alan Mulvany and Adam Carey.  Mulvany edged his side ahead soon after before his side got a massive early boost when Eoin Finnegan coolly finished past the Summerhill goalkeeper to raise the first green flag of the day.  Alan Mulvany then tagged on his second point of the game when getting on the end of a very patient build up in attack before his side was awarded a penalty by referee Peter Sheridan.  After Colin Walsh, who was to go on to have an outstanding game, won a ball deep in his own defence his side launched an attack which resulted in the winning of a penalty.  Dylan Doyle came up from his full back berth to take responsibility and though his effort was very well saved Robert Wogan eventually salvaged a point.  Wogan soon added his second when getting into space to latch onto a pass from Walsh before firstly Eoin Finnegan and then David Gordon pointed, Gordon's score coming after brilliant play out the field from Richard McKeown. 

The visitors to Fr. Tully Park were suddenly thrown a lifeline in the twentieth minute when after Ruairí McDonagh pulled off a fine stop in the Seneschalstown goal his defenders were unable to get the ball clear and the loose ball was driven into the back of the net.  Seneschalstown steadied themselves with a Cathal Finnegan point after the diminutive corner forward was picked out in space by Niall Hickey before Summerhill hit back with a brace of points.  The home side were though to have the last scoring act of the half when following an inspirational block from Adam Carey Robert Wogan did the necessary and chalked up his third point of the game thus far and left his team with a lead of 1-09 to 1-03 at the interval. 

Summerhill were bound to come out firing at the outset of the second half as they sought to reel in their six point deficit and true to form struck the first point of the half with just over a minute elapsed on the stopwatch.  They then came agonisingly close to a goal just two minutes later but with goalkeeper Ruairí McDonagh beaten, corner back Ruairí Keogh came to his sides rescue with a quite brilliant goal line clearance.  Both sides suddenly found scores difficult to come by and it wasn't until the fortieth minute until the next score arrived when David Gordon worked hard to get to a loose ball first and poke it on towards Robert Wogan who showed off his shooting prowess by splitting the posts for a point.  Shane Mulvany added another seconds later before Summerhill hit a goal and a point in the space of ninety seconds.  Firstly they struck for a goal before adding a point and indeed could have added a third major when being denied by a fine Ruairí McDonagh save. 

Eoin Finnegan who was a constant menace throughout landed a twenty one metre free following a late tackle out the field as the ball was passed in towards the full forward line but although behind Summerhill were far from out of the game and were next to launch a surge which looked like giving them a great chance of winning the game.  They began by clawing back the Seneschalstown lead to two points when landing a brace of points, one from a free before with two minutes of the regulation hour remaining they hit the front for the first time since the second minute when Ruairí McDonagh was beaten by a deflected shot.  Momentum was now firmly with Summerhill and with Seneschalstown struggling to get to grips with it despite the switch of Dylan Doyle and Niall Hickey it looked as though the side which had operated in Division 1 of the Spring League would go on to secure the spoils. 

The home side though dug deep into their reserves of character and Eoin Finnegan soon managed to conjure up an equalising score before Robert Wogan edged his side ahead once more when fisting over from a narrow angle following good work from Eoin Finnegan and Alan Mulvany.  Mulvany, who the previous day had lined out for Meath U-15's against Dublin stretched his teams advantage, when getting on the end of a flowing team move involving Niall Hickey, Adam Carey, David Gordon and Dylan Keating.  With the game now well into stoppage time Eoin Finnegan extended his sides advantage to three when pointing from play before there was almost a massive twist to the plotline as Summerhill created one last goal chance to equalise at the death but saw their chance of earning a share of the spoils evaporate when the shot flashed inches over the crossbar. 

Peter Sheridan sounded his final whistle of the day seconds later to give Seneschalstown the perfect start to their Summer League.  On a day when each and every member of the team stood up and put in a fine performance much of the foundations for the victory were laid in their half back line where Mark Kennedy, Colin Walsh and Richard McKeown formed an often impenetrable barrier while in attack David Gordon worked hard in a creative half forward line alongside Shane Mulvany and Robert Wogan.  A notable factor of the game was that by the end Seneschalstown had three U-15 players on the field, Alan Mulvany, Sean Carey and Dylan Keating with Carey and Keating both contributing handsomely as second half substitutes. 

Seneschalstown:  Ruairí  McDonagh, Ruairí Keogh, Dylan Doyle, Mark Kennedy, Colin Walsh, Richard McKeown, Niall Hickey, Adam Carey, David Gordon (0-01), Robert Wogan (0-05), Shane Mulvany (0-01), Cathal Finnegan (0-01), Eoin Finnegan (1-05, 0-01 Free), Alan Mulvany (0-03).

Seneschalstown Substitutions:  Dylan Keating for Cathal Finnegan and Sean Carey for Shane Mulvany.

Tweet

Most Read Stories