A League Division 1 Round 3

Seneschalstown 2-07 St. Patrick’s 1-12

The difficult start to 2017 for Seneschalstown’s Senior side continued on Sunday when they led a second half lead slip from their grasp as they went down to a two point defeat to St. Patrick’s in a windswept Fr. Tully Park.

This defeat leaves the team without a win from their opening three games of the League and came despite the fact players such as Brian Sheridan, Niall Hickey and Sean Noonan were available for selection for the first time this year.


A League Division 1 Round 3

Seneschalstown 2-07 St. Patrick’s 1-12

The difficult start to 2017 for Seneschalstown’s Senior side continued on Sunday when they led a second half lead slip from their grasp as they went down to a two point defeat to St. Patrick’s in a windswept Fr. Tully Park.

This defeat leaves the team without a win from their opening three games of the League and came despite the fact players such as Brian Sheridan, Niall Hickey and Sean Noonan were available for selection for the first time this year.

A facet of the first couple of League games this year has been the early concession of a three pointer and as has been the case in the other two games Seneschalstown’s goalkeeper found himself scooping the ball out of the back of the net before the last of the money had been taken in on the gate as Niall Mooney stole in behind the cover on sixty-four seconds and rolled the ball into the back of the net.

The tricky crossfield wind made shooting for points tricky and having miscued on a couple of occasions Seneschalstown did manage to pull level in the twelfth minute following points from Brian Sheridan, Joe Sheridan and John Smith who got on the end of a layoff from Robert Wogan before curling over a rare score. A fourteenth minute free saw St. Pat’s edge back in front and they could have had a goal soon after were it not for David Gordon pulling off a smart stop as he made up for an errant kickout.

Jonathan Gilsenan, on as an early sub for the injury stricken Brian Maguire, made an instant impact as he flashed over a point after fielding a Bryan Clarke free which had just dropped short. The Yellow Furze outfit then struck the front for the first time in the match when from the right of the uprights Robert Wogan clipped over a well taken point at the end of a good team move.

From there though to the end of the half it was all St. Patrick’s om the scoring front as they landed the last three points of the opening thirty minutes to push into a two point interval lead, 1-04 to 0-05.

The commencement of the second half saw Seneschalstown take to the field minus the services of Meath U-21 star Sean Noonan with the influential midfielder forced from the fray with injury, Eddie Meade replacing him with Brian Sheridan moving out to midfield.

Just as they had ended the first half on the front foot, St. Patrick’s started the second and picked of the first three points, two from frees before Jonathan Gilsenan pointed for the second time in the game after great play from Brian Sheridan. Gilsenan was to end up as his sides top scorer and soon raised a green flag as he palmed into the back of the net after Joe Sheridan had presented him with the easiest of goal scoring opportunities.

His scoring burst continued on the three quarter hour mark when he capitalised on a poor kickout and split the uprights. The tactic of playing Joe Sheridan on the edge of the square was reaping benefits and the experienced forward was to play a key role in his sides second goal. A long ball was well won by Sheridan who flicked on into the path of Bryan Clarke who despite being brought to ground managed to find the lurking Robert Wogan who made no mistake as his shot for goal nestled in the top corner.

This saw Seneschalstown move three points clear but for the last fifteen minutes of the game the home side failed to trouble the umpires while St. Patrick’s found their shooting boots again as they kicked the last five points of the game to win out by two points.

Best for the home side were Gilsenan, John Smith and Niall Hickey.

Seneschalstown: David Gordon, Conor Cowley, David Matthews, Ronan Conneely, Niall Hickey, John Smith (0-01), Brian Maguire, Sean Noonan, Damien Sheridan, Ross Howard, Joe Sheridan (0-01), Niall Groome, Robert Wogan (1-01), Brian Sheridan (0-01, 0-01 F), Bryan Clarke.

Seneschalstown Substitutions: Jonathan Gilsenan (1-03) for B. Maguire, Eddie Meade for S. Noonan, Dylan Doyle for R. Howard

By gordonmcguirk Tue 14th Mar