Seamus Connolly Catering Meath Junior B Football Championship Quarter Final
Seneschalstown 1-10 St. Patrick’s 0-09
Seamus Connolly Catering Meath Junior B Football Championship Quarter Final
Seneschalstown 1-10 St. Patrick’s 0-09
In a game where cool heads were required it was Seneschalstown who were able to keep their coolest amongst the rising on field temperatures in Skryne on Saturday evening as they progressed to the semi-final of the Seamus Connolly Catering Meath JBFC for the third consecutive season. On an evening where referee Michael Ryan was kept busy it was Seneschalstown who managed to keep his umpires slightly busier than the Stamullen men and managed to eke out a four point victory.
When the match got underway it took just under two minutes for St. Patrick’s to open the scoring when they pointed from a free which was sent over by their centre forward. Seneschalstown didn’t take too long to reply when just two minutes later Brendan Lynch equalised after he picked up a loose ball when excellent tackling from the forwards forced a turnover and Lynch, lining out at full forward made no mistake. On six minutes Shane Clarke sent over a free following a tug of Daire Geraghty’s jersey before Lynch added his second when he got on the end of a good move involving Stephen Finnegan, Niall McCabe and Shane Clarke.
The Stamullen men got the next score when following a Seneschalstown point effort which dropped short they worked the ball upfield and their full forward split the uprights. Shane Clare replied with a pointed free before St. Patrick’s exploded into life as they fired four points in a row, three from play and one from a free. This left Seneschalstown in need of a score and when in need they knew who to look to as after Daire Geraghty had bravely put his body on the line in the build-up Jonathan Gilsenan fired a rocket of a shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to bring his goal tally for the week to four. Having picked up an injury Daire Geraghty was forced off the field to be replaced by 2009 Keegan Cup winning captain Ciaran Macken. There was still time for one more score in the half and this arrived in stoppage time when St. Patrick’s equalised to leave the scoreboard reading Seneschalstown 1-04 St. Patrick’s 0-07 at the interval.
Upon the resumption Shane Clarke hit the opening score when he arced over a free following a foul on Kevin Casey before after a nine minute spell without a score was ended by a St. Patrick’s free. Jonathan Gilsenan then replied with an excellent effort from play as he benefited from good work by Aled Ingman and Shane Clarke. This score seemed to spark his side into life as they moved up a gear in the following fifteen minutes to push clear.
Firstly Shane Clarke pointed another free after Brendan Lynch was fouled, a score which was followed up by a Gilsenan free. As Gilsenan waited to kick his free St. Patrick’s received a blow as they went down to fourteen men following the decision of the referee to request one of their players take a leave of absence from the field of play. By now the Seneschalstown support were in full voice and when Gilsenan sent another corker of a point over the crossbar they let out a cheer which could have been heard back in Fr. Tully Park. Second half substitute Ross Howard then rounded off the Seneschalstown scoring when he sent over with the aid of the left hand upright. This score left his side ahead by five and although a stoppage time effort from St. Patrick’s reduced the lead to four it was too little too late from the team in white as Michael Ryan blew for full time almost instantaneously and bring the sometimes tempestuous game to a close.
Seneschalstown: Shane Corbally, Ronan Conneely, Andrew Collins, Adam Gargan, Niall McCabe, Joe Cowley, Niall McCabe, Darragh Keogh, Aled Ingman, Stephen Finnegan, Shane Clarke (0-04, 0-04 Frees), Jonathan Gilsenan (1-03, 0-01 Free), James Conlon, Brendan Lynch (0-02), Daire Geraghty.
Seneschalstown Substitutions: Kevin Casey for S. Finnegan, Ciaran Macken for D. Geraghty, Ross Howard (0-01) for D. Keogh.
