AFL Division 1B Round 1
Seneschalstown 1-13 Syddan 0-09
Seneschalstown began their Division 1B League campaign with a home game against Syddan on Saturday afternoon in Fr. Tully Park, and came with a seven point win after pulling away from their opponents in the second half.
Coming into the game off the back of three good performances in the Feis Cup, Seneschalstown were made to work hard for this victory.
Seneschalstown opened the scoring when Alan Mulvany popped over after linking up well with Dylan Keating, which Syddan answered immediately with a pointed mark and another point to hit the front for the first time.
Rob Wogan hoisted over a point from out on the right to level matters, before Seneschalstown struck for the only goal of the hour.
John Smith claimed a kickout in midfield before setting Ross Howard off into space. Howard got in on goal and made the unselfish choice to lay the ball across to Alan Mulvany who palmed the ball to the corner of the net. Syddan replied with the next score from a free to leave a goal in it
Cathal Finnegan then put his name to two points from play, the first an excellent effort on the turn, the second came when the Syddan keeper gifted him possession 30 metres out and his attempted lob went just over the crossbar.
However, Syddan continued to make a mockery of the two Championship grades between the teams as they reeled off the next 5 points without an answer from the home side to move back in front at 0-08 to 1-04.
Two minutes before the break Alan Mulvany got his second point to add to the goal to ensure parity for the home side at the break, 1-05 to 0-08.
Ross Howard nudged the home side ahead two minutes after the resumption after a Cathal Finnegan goal bound shot was saved. After a 10 minute period without a score, Dylan Keating clipped over the next point on 43 minutes. Seneschalstown were now starting to put the foot down and Cathal Finnegan claimed a mark and made no mistake to increase the lead to two.
Syddan’s only score of the half came from a free on the three-quarter mark, which Donie Commons cancelled out with a fisted point at the other end. Keating added another almost instantly from a high turnover and some good work from the Seneschalstown forwards, and it was him again who put the hosts six in front with his fourth point of the second period just a few minutes from time. Cathal Finnegan finished the scoring with one last point as Seneschalstown ran out seven point victors in the end. Next up is an away trip to Carlanstown to play St. Michael’s next Friday night at 8pm.
Seneschalstown: David Gordon, Danny Waters, Brian Maguire, Cillian Lawlor, Rob Wogan (0-01), Niall McCabe, Séimí Byrne, John Smith, Donie Commons (0-01), Ross Howard (0-01), Podge Finegan, Alan Mulvany (1-02), Cathal Finnegan (0-04, 1m), Dylan Keating (0-04), Neill Darby.
Subs Used: Ryan Finnegan, Darren O’Brien, Sean Carey, Robbie Finnegan, James Meade.
