Premier FC Division 5
Senescheschasltown 3-14 St. Colmcille’s 2-16
Seneschalstown’s third string picked up their inaugural win of the 2023 Premier FC Division 5 at the fourth attempt on Friday evening, beating St. Colmcille’s in a thrilling end to end contest played in a picturesque Seafield venue. At the end of the 60 minutes, Alan Geraghty’s men had Ross Mullen to thank who clipped over the winning score 40 seconds from the end of normal time.
Playing with the aid of the early evening breeze, which died out as the half went on, Seneschalstown enjoyed a strong start to proceedings. Just 51 seconds were on the clock when Shane Mulvany split the posts for the first score of the evening and Brian Sheridan doubling the advantage in the third minute with a simple free from the middle of the D’ after Liam Maguire was upended. Joe Norris clipped over another before Ross Mullen, who would go onto kick 0-07 over the course of the hour angled over his first of the evening from 20 metres to the left of the post.
In the 6th minute, St. Colmcille’s registered their opening point but two minutes later Seneschalstown, slightly fortuitously had their first goal. After breaking from midfield, Tom McDonnell set up wing back Cormac Mullen for a shot. Mullen didn’t catch the shot properly but the flight deceived the St. Colmcille’s keeper and landed in the net. Up by six points after eight minutes was certainly a pleasing start but Seneschalstown failed to kick on.
That lead was wiped out in four minutes, the home side enjoying a mini purple patch and running up 1-03 without reply. However, Seneschalstown responded well to this, Mullen kicking points in 90 seconds to restore the lead. The tit-for-tat nature continued, St. Colmcille’s replied with of their own.
Mullen put his side back in front on 21 minutes after Liam Maguire did well to flick the ball inside just when it looked to be getting away from him. This was followed by another goal.
Full forward Cian Rooney found himself in space in the corner and after playing a one-two with Shane Mulvany, Rooney placed the ball into the net. Joe Norris showed great strength to shrug off a number of challenges and fire an effort between the posts moments later, before Shane Mulvany finished the half’s scoring, popping over after receiving a pass from Cormac Mullen to leave Seneschalstown four in front at the break, 2-09 to 1-08.
In keeping with the theme of the game, Seneschalstown saw the lead wiped out within three minutes of the restart as St. Colmcille’s struck for 1-01. Half-time substitute Robert Coombes put Seneschalstown back in front with an effort that crept inside the right-hand upright before the game went almost eight minutes without a score, ended by Ross Mullen with his fifth of the evening.
The Cilles pulled one back before the third Mullen, Owen, found his range for a score. Another point from Ross was sandwiched between two St. Colcmile’s efforts before the key score arrived in the 51st minute.
Robert Coombes deftly flicked the ball into the path of the onrushing Cian Rooney who drilled the ball low and hard across the keeper and into the bottom left hand corner of the net giving Seneschalstown some breathing space.
At that point the small band of loyal supporters would have thought the game was Seneschalstown’s to lose as four points was the biggest margin between the sides since the very early stages, but St. Colmcille’s incredibly pulled level with four points on the trot with just under two minutes left, aided in part by a Seneschalstown black card. There was one last twist however. Tom McDonnell ran at thew heart of the Seneschalstown defence but looked to have lost the opportunity when he met some traffic close to goal. He managed to squeeze the ball to Ross Mullen, and the man who had barely missed all evening clipped the winning score just over the crossbar to the delight of the Seneschalstown players and management team. The home side had two further chances to earn a share of the spoils but both were spurned and Seneschalstown hung on for their first win of the competition.
Seneschalstown: Luke Healy, Peter Tierney, Oran Lawlor, Josh Keating, Liam Maguire, David Fox, Cormac Mullen (1-00), Teean Cummins, Tom McDonnell, Joe Norris (0-02), Brian Sheridan (0-01, 1f), Owen Mullen (0-01), Ross Mullen (0-07), Cian Rooney (2-00), Shane Mulvany (0-02).
Subs: Robert Coombes (0-01), Tommy Walsh, James Commons
