Feis Cup Round 3
Seneschalstown 3-15 Summerhill 4-10
Seneschalstown recorded their first victory of 2024 and of Stephen Kernan’s tenure with a come from behind win against county champions Summerhill in Fr. Tully Park on Thursday night. Trailing by ten points at half time, Seneschalstown played some excellent football in the second half to earn the two point winning margin, even if it was against a Summerhill team missing a few regulars.
The game was quite close for the opening twenty minutes of the as the sides were locked at 0-04 at that stage. Seneschalstown started brightly as Cathal Finnegan, who would go onto kick 1-07 on the night, got the scoreboard moving when he found space inside to turn and shoot. Summerhill levelled after six minutes, before Finnegan added a close range free after being halted himself. The point for point nature continued during this period and Eoin Finnegan came up with a tidy score after some good link up play with Alan Mulvany and Donie Commons, while the fourth point came courtesy of Robbie Finnegan after being teed up Dylan Keating.
After 20 minutes, the first goal of the hour arrived. A misplaced pass across the Seneschalstown defence was pounced upon by Adam Flanagan and he had the easy task of sliding the ball into the empty net. However Seneschalstown’s reply was immediate. They went straight up the other end of the field and after two Cathal Finnegan attempts were thwarted by the Summerhill keeper, Dylan Keaating was on hand to tap into the net.
Summerhill took control for the remainder of the half, adding 3-01 in the space of six minutes to lead by ten at the break. The home side’s only riposte to this was a long range effort from play from top scorer Finnegan.
Looking for a response, Seneschalstown came out at the start of the second half with intent. Joey Moore kickstarted the eventual comeback with a point, and in the 33rd minute Cathal Finnegan came up with the point of the night. The ball went out over the sideline near the 21 yard line on the ideal side for a left footed kicker. Instead Finnegan had other ideas and decided to kick with the outside of his left boot, and rather inexplicably it sailed between the uprights. When Alan Mulvany got on the end of another fine hand passing move to pop over, and Finnegan followed up with another inside 30 seconds, Seneschalstown now had real momentum.
The scores kept coming for the home team, but the scoreboard was reading 4-06 to 1-10 in the 36th minute in favour of Summerhill when Eoin Finnegan created space for himself to raise another white flag after receiving a pass inside from Dylan Keating.
Summerhill briefly broke the Seneschalstown charge with a point from a free, but the elder of the Finnegan brothers, Eoin replied when he blasted over via upright when there was half a goal chance on. The same player was a key cog in the wheel for Seneschalstown’s second goal.
Finnegan had the ball and was bearing down on goal when he spotted Donie Commons in behind the Summerhill defence. Commons gathered the ball and kept his cool, slotting the ball into the corner of the net and now there was only the minimum between the sides.
Dylan Keating tied the game 17 minutes after the restart, and when Seneschlastown were awarded a 45, Cathal Finnegan made no mistake to put his side ahead again. Like all champion teams do though, Summerhill dug in and levelled again after 49 minutes. However, Seneschalstown were about to strike a decisive blow.
When Cathal Finnegan was picked out over the top of the Summerhill defence, he made no mistake with a low, powerful drive into the bottom left corner of the net and now Seneschalstown lead by that goal. The scoring rate slowed down considerably in the final ten minutes, understandable due to the pace the game was played at. Summerhill pulled two points back to make it a one point game with time almost up, but Eoin Finnegan tagged on the insurance score for Seneschalstown as the clocked ticked into injury time.
Referee Sean Gahan felt little need to add on much injury time and from the kickout, he blew his final whistle. Seneschalstown will be happy with their second half display and will go into their League opener at home to Dunshaughlin on Thursday week in positive spirits.
Seneschalstown: James Meade, Cormac Carolan, Danny Waters, Ronan Conneely, Neill Darby, Brian Maguire, Sean Carey, Darren O’Brien, Donal Commons (1-00), Alan Mulvany (0-01), Joey Moore (0-01), Robbie Finnegan (0-01), Dylan Keating (1-01), Cathal Finnegan (1-07, 2 fs, 1 45’, 1 s/l), Eoin Finnegan (0-04).
Subs Used: David Fox, Eamon Finnegan, Peter Tierney
