Senior Championship
Sun 11th Jul Kilmainhamwood 0-12 Seneschalstown 0-8
Graham Geraghty’s return failed to inspire Seneschalstown as they lost to Kilmainhamwood in this poor SFC match at Kells on Sunday evening, July 11.
Geraghty lined out at centre half-forward and with Joe Sheridan also back in action Seneschalstown must have fancied their chances against the Cavan border side.
Senior Championship
Sun 11th Jul Kilmainhamwood 0-12 Seneschalstown 0-8
Graham Geraghty’s return failed to inspire Seneschalstown as they lost to Kilmainhamwood in this poor SFC match at Kells on Sunday evening, July 11.
Geraghty lined out at centre half-forward and with Joe Sheridan also back in action Seneschalstown must have fancied their chances against the Cavan border side.
However, on the overall balance of play Kilmainhamwood deserved their third championship win from four outings and, having narrowly avoided relegation last year, they are now in a strong position to claim a place in the knock-out stages.
Both sides were guilty of some very bad finishing in a generally uninspiring contest, but the Wood always had their noses in front and would have won with more to spare had they taken the clearcut goal chances that came their way.
The fact that Seneschalstown failed to score from play in the first half and didn’t score at all in the last quarter just about sums up their attacking frailties, while the statistic which reveals that neither side hit the target in the last 10 minutes doesn’t make particularly good reading either.
Indeed, Seneschalstown might have stolen the two points at the death as Brian Clarke was foiled by a superb save from Kilmainhamwood goalkeeper Ronan Finnegan in the 57th minute and Joe Sheridan saw his penalty come back off the right post as the match ticked into injury time.
But that would have been an injustice to the Wood who impressed when they moved the ball fast into attack – a tactic they simply didn’t use often enough.
With Shane Clarke doing most to keep Seneschalstown in the hunt with his accuracy from frees in the opening half, the north Meath men looked more potent in attack as Ken Russell and Ray Madden helped provide an ample supply of ball from midfield.
Seneschalstown’s only scores of that half came from three Clarke frees and two more from an often disappointing Sheridan, but Kilmainhamwood were more threatening and managed to hit the target five times from play as they opened up a 0-8 to 0-5 interval advantage.
Ray Magee, who failed to hit the heights he is capable of, kicked three points in that period (all from frees), Russell was on target from play twice inside the opening five minutes and Aidan Rogers, Bernard Bennett and Raymond Cunningham completed the winners first half tally from play.
Rogers might have added a goal, but Seneschalstown goalkeeper David Geraghty advanced well to foil him in the 18th minute.
Seneschalstown reduced the deficit to the minimum with points from play by Joey Macken and a superb score by Graham Geraghty within seven minutes of the restart, but every time they threatened to draw level, the Wood responded with a score.
Cunningham restored their two-point cushion with a point four minutes later and, after Sheridan had reduced the deficit again at the other end with a superb free, Cunningham curled a shot off the crossbar as the Wood fluffed another goal opportunity.
However, he proved a big threat in the second half and had his side two points clear again when he pointed from play 12 minutes from the end.
Magee stretched the advantege to three with another score from play a minute later and Paddy Carolan completed the scoring with a great point with all of 10 minutes still to play.
Seneschalstown’s hopes of making a recovery were seriously undermined when Joe Cowley was sent off for a second yellow card in the 52nd minute, yet they still had chances which might have won the game as Finnegan made that save from Clarke and Sheridan’s penalty hit the post at the end.
But there was no denying that Kilmainhamwood deserved to win, though Seneschalstown will wonder what might have happened if they had the services of Alan Finnegan, Ciaran Macken and Tony McDonnell.
Kilmainhamwood – R. Finnegan; S. Mulligan, K. Shankey, D. Cunningham; A. Farrelly, P. Shankey, L. Shankey; K. Russell (0-2), R. Madden; A. Rogers (0-1), M. Shankey, B. Bennett (0-1); R. Magee (0-4), P. Carolan (0-1), R. Cunningham (0-3).
Seneschalstown – D. Geraghty; J. Cowley, T. Maguire, G. McGovern; C. Clarke, M. Carey, P. Carey; D. Sheridan, R. Ruddy; J. Macken (0-1), G. Geraghty (0-1), G. Conlon; S. Clarke (0-3), J. Sheridan (0-3), B. Clarke. Subs – S. Dillon for Ruddy, J. Byrne for Conlon.
Referee – Noel Martin (St. Mary’s).
