2016 Meath U-21 Football Championship Preliminary Quarter Final
Summerhill 1-12 Seneschalstown 1-10
Seneschalstown saw their involvement in the 2016 U-21 Championship fall at the first hurdle on Saturday afternoon as they fell to defeat against Summerhill in Trim. Goals win games and in the end, it was a series of missed goal scoring opportunities which they were left to rue as they lost out by a two point margin.
2016 Meath U-21 Football Championship Preliminary Quarter Final
Summerhill 1-12 Seneschalstown 1-10
Seneschalstown saw their involvement in the 2016 U-21 Championship fall at the first hurdle on Saturday afternoon as they fell to defeat against Summerhill in Trim. Goals win games and in the end, it was a series of missed goal scoring opportunities which they were left to rue as they lost out by a two point margin.
The nature of the U-21 Championship as it’s run means it can be hard to get much preparation done in advance with players involved with different teams and then the competition run off whenever adult sides are knocked out of their respective competitions.
With Summerhill probably hampered by the involvement of some of their team with Kiltale, Seneschalstown would have been looking for a quick start and this is exactly what they got when U-17 player Cathal Finnegan sent over two points inside the opening eight minutes, one from a free after a foul on Sean Noonan and the other from play at the end of a good move involving Ryan O’Dowd, Mark Fox, Ross Howard and Adam Carey.
Summerhill had the breeze at their backs but were finding scores hard to come by in these opening stages as the Seneschalstown backs were exerting a lot of pressure on the ball and it took them until the eleventh minute to register when Conor Lyons converted a free. Seneschalstown almost struck back instantly but after breaking free of the defence Eddie Meade saw his goal effort go wide off the butt of the left hand upright.
His side though were playing with great intensity and pushed three to the good through a Ryan O’Dowd free before Meade himself burrowed through a host of tackles to point. The second quarter saw Summerhill come more into the match and they reeled off five points on the spin to push into the lead approaching the interval.
Seneschalstown however hadn’t come to simply make up the numbers and they responded in admirable fashion when they fashioned a goal out of nothing. Eddie Meade did excellently to somehow break a high ball down to Adam Carey who was now operating at wing forward and he swept the loose ball along the ground to Ross Howard who with space in front of him headed directly for the goals. With a two on one situation developing he drew the defender before slipping the ball to Cathal Finnegan who made no mistake as he left the net billowing. Adam Carey tagged on a point which was followed by a fine Sean Noonan effort before Summerhill picked off the last score of the half to leave Seneschalstown with a two point lead, 1-06 to 0-07.
The start of the second half was all Summerhill and it didn’t take them long to edge back in front when after he had slotted a free Conor Lyons converted a penalty which was awarded by Colm McManus to the great displeasure of the Seneschalstown sideline. David Myles added a point from play to push Summerhill three to the good but once more Seneschalstown came back.
Cathal Finnegan sent over two frees, the second of which came from forty metres and then Seneschalstown drew level when Eddie Meade bisected the posts from out on the right. The large cheer from the Seneschalstown supporters alerting all in the ground that the ball was going over long before it had gone over the bar. The ebb and flow nature of the game continued when in the last five minutes Summerhill picked off three points to pull clear but there was still time for Seneschalstown to fashion two goal chances but all they could muster was a Meade point with their goalie pulling off a super save from Robert Wogan’s effort.
Best for Seneschalstown were John Smith, Cathal Finnegan and Ronan Conneely.
Seneschalstown: David Gordon, Colin Walsh, David Fox, Ronan Conneely, Mark Fox, John Smith, Adam Carey (0-01), Darragh Keogh, Sean Noonan (0-01), Niall McCabe, Niall Hickey, Ryan O’Dowd (0-01, 0-01 Free), Cathal Finnegan (1-04, 0-03 Frees), Eddie Meade (0-03), Ross Howard.
Seneschalstown Substitutions: Niall Lyons for D. Keogh, Robert Wogan for R. O’Dowd.
Summerhill: Jack Davies, John Keane, Eoghan Jennings, Jack Payne, David Myles (0-01), Iarla Hughes, Eamon Mc Donnell, Cian Devlin, Ronan Ryan, Diarmaid McCabe, Kevin Ryan (0-01), Liam Shaw (0-01), Conor Lyons (1-07 1-00 pen, 0-05 Frees), Ross Ryan, Cathal Ryan (0-02).
Summerhill Substitutions: Jack Bruton for J. Payne, Kyle Benson for D. McCabe
