Patrick Ward U-16 Tournament Final
Seneschalstown 5-09 Simonstown Gaels 4-11
Sunday evening last saw Fr. Tully Park play host to a thriller as Seneschalstown and Simonstown Gaels served up an excellent match in the final of the Patrick Ward Tournament. End to end throughout, both sides had spells of dominance and right to the death the outcome was in the balance as had the game gone on a further thirty seconds Simonstown may have had time to engineer one further score to either draw or win the match.
Patrick Ward U-16 Tournament Final
Seneschalstown 5-09 Simonstown Gaels 4-11
Sunday evening last saw Fr. Tully Park play host to a thriller as Seneschalstown and Simonstown Gaels served up an excellent match in the final of the Patrick Ward Tournament. End to end throughout, both sides had spells of dominance and right to the death the outcome was in the balance as had the game gone on a further thirty seconds Simonstown may have had time to engineer one further score to either draw or win the match.
Ultimately it was the scoring contribution of centre forward Alan Mulvany which was to prove to be the difference between the sides as he contributed a handsome 1-07 over the hour and deservedly walked away with the Man of the Match Award. Whether from play or placed balls the Meath U-16 player proved a constant threat up front in a forward line shorn of the services of Sean Commons while Dylan Keating was unable to start.
Mulvany it was who opened the scoring when in the second minute he pointed from play before he sent over seconds later after a fine defensive intervention from Sean Carey. Simonstown didn’t take too long to draw level and by the fourth minute had equalised when Brian Boyd was forced to palm a goal effort over. Boyd then pulled off a smart stop in the tenth minute just after Mulvany had hit the back of the Simonstown net following good play from Simon Rooney and Daire Finnegan.
Points from Cillian Gormley and Mulvany again pushed Seneschalstown five clear but typically Simonstown responded in style as they reeled off three points in a row. Midfielder Daire Finnegan was causing some issues with his piecing runs and on one of these he was fouled in the twenty eighth minute and from the resultant dead ball Alan Mulvany made sure of his score. U-14 star Seanie Dalton, who had earlier been introduced to the fray in place of injured full forward Ciaran Mongey, sent over a well taken point before Joseph Moore goaled as he latched onto a sumptuous through ball from Gormley. Simonstown though had the final say of the half when in the fourth minute of stoppage time they hoisted over a free to leave six points between the sides.
That Seneschalstown lead became nine soon after the restart when after he did superbly in defence Cathal Hickey fed Alan Mulvany who appeared to overcook his long ball in but Ross Mullen showed an impressive turn of foot to race behind the full back line and coolly side foot past the advancing goalkeeper. This though seemed to spark something off in the visitors and they moved swiftly through the gears as they scored two goals and five points in the space of five minutes to not only cancel out Seneschalstown’s five point lead but also move into a two point lead with forty-one minutes on the clock.
Seneschalstown now needed something to spark themselves to light once more and it was half time substitute Keating who provided it. Gathering possession well out the field he took off on a jinking run which saw him evade numerous tackles before he unleashed an unstoppable shot which nestled in the far right corner of the Simonstown net for what was a brilliant individual goal. Mulvany then added a brace of points either side of a great Brian Boyd save but Simonstown were to draw level once more on fifty-three minutes as they grabbed their fourth goal of the match.
The ebb and flow nature of the game continued apace when wing back Jamie Kirwan stole in to pilfer a goal and push Seneschalstown back into a three point lead, the goal coming after Joseph Moore had picked out Mulvany who in turn laid off to the raiding wing back. A four point lead was secured when after Sean Carey intercepted a stray free kick, he found Alan Mulvany who fired over his seventh point of the hour. There remarkably was still time left for one last sting in the tail when with time practically up Simonstown fashioned one further goal for one last sting in the tail. They though hadn’t enough time left for another score as the referee blew for full time soon after.
Seneschalstown: Brian Boyd, Jason Lyons, Simon Rooney, Fionn Hall, Cathal Hickey, Sean Carey, Jamie Kirwan (1-00), Daire Finnegan, Joseph Moore (1-00), Ross Mullen (1-00), Alan Mulvany (1-07, 0-03 Frees), Cillian Gormley (0-01), Liam Maguire, Ciaran Mongey, James Commons.
Seneschalstown Substitutes: Seanie Dalton (0-01), Alan Carey, Dylan Keating (1-00).
The club would like to thank Joe Ward and the extended Ward family for putting up the cup for the tournament and man of the match trophy for the final. As well as this they laid on a superb spread of food in the clubhouse after the game. Joe’s brother Patrick was a very promising young footballer whose life was tragically cut short in an accident at Seneschalstown Cross many years ago and this tournament is a fine way to keep his memory alive in the community.
