Meath B League Division 1 Round 2
Seneschalstown 1-08 Wolfe Tones 0-11
Meeting for the first time since last year’s Junior B Football Championship Final when Wolfe Tones won out by a point these two sides once more served up a tight, entertaining encounter when playing in Fr Tully Park on Saturday evening. With their opening round of the Championship only two weeks away this was a much improved display from Seneschalstown who were winning by three points late on but were pegged back by a late scoring burst from the Tones.
Meath B League Division 1 Round 2
Seneschalstown 1-08 Wolfe Tones 0-11
Meeting for the first time since last year’s Junior B Football Championship Final when Wolfe Tones won out by a point these two sides once more served up a tight, entertaining encounter when playing in Fr Tully Park on Saturday evening. With their opening round of the Championship only two weeks away this was a much improved display from Seneschalstown who were winning by three points late on but were pegged back by a late scoring burst from the Tones.
The Dunbia sponsored home side were the first to score when experienced corner forward Shane Clare, making his seasonal reappearance, clipped over a trademark point. This was soon followed up by a Rob Darby score when he sent over after Brendan Lynch had bravely flicked on a Kevin Casey pass into his path. The Seneschalstown side’s bright start continued when Jonathan Gilsenan stretched their advantage to three before two Wolfe Tones points in a row, one from play and one from a free as they began to get a foothold in proceedings.
On the quarter hour Seneschalstown carved open the opposition defence before contriving to mess up a glorious goal scoring opportunity and this presented Wolfe Tones with the opportunity to equalise soon after which they did on nineteen minutes. This advantage though was short-lived as Sean Noonan, operating at midfield sent a sumptuous shot curling inside the left hand upright from the right of the posts.
The away side then hit a hat trick of points, one from play and two frees before the deficit was cut thanks to a James Meade free. Another Wolfe Tones point on twenty eight minutes soon followed before Ross Howard took the game by the scruff of the neck, and after racing through the heart of the defence rolled the ball past the goalkeeper to send Seneschalstown into a one point lead. The tight nature of the game was in evidence though as in stoppage time Wolfe Tones tagged on their eight point of the half to send the sides in at the interval level, 1-05 to 0-08.
Seneschalstown were first to find their stride at the outset of the second half when Meade slotted over his second free of the evening with only fifty five seconds on the clock after Howard had drawn a foul. Jonathan Gilsenan then showed the virtues of a hard working full forward when after putting pressure on a defender taking the ball out of defence he won possession before soloing towards goal and bisecting the posts with a clinical left footed effort.
A seventeen minute scoreless spell followed this Gilsenan point before after being sprung from the bench Senior Manager David Hosie sent over a point to send the home side three points clear. However Seneschalstown could easily have found themselves behind prior to Hosie’s point as they had seen Wesley McDonagh pull off a fine one on one save just a couple of moments previously.
A lengthy delay soon followed as Brendan Lynch was treated for a head injury, having to be replaced by Steven Dillon as a result. When the play resumed Wolfe Tones tapped over a close range free to register their first score in twenty five minutes. Suddenly, like waiting for a bus two more points soon came along and when the final whistle was sounded the two teams had to be content to share the spoils.
With this much improved display in the bank Seneschalstown’s focus now turns to the opening round of the Seamus Connolly Catering Junior B Football Championship when they take on Navan O’Mahonys in Walterstown on April 19th. With throw in fixed for 12:00 that day they will be looking to shoot the lights out in a high noon showdown.
Seneschalstown Scorers: Ross Howard 1-00, James Meade 0-02 (0-02 Frees), Jonathan Gilsenan 0-02Robert Darby 0-01, Sean Noonan 0-01, Shane Clarke 0-01, David Hosie 0-01.
Seneschalstown: Wesley McDonagh, Niall McCabe, John Smith, Ronan Conneely, Kevin Casey, David Matthews, Niall Groome, Darragh Keogh, Sean Noonan, Brendan Lynch, James Meade, Ross Howard, Shane Clarke, Jonathan Gilsenan, Robert Darby.
Seneschalstown Substitutions: Ruairí Keogh for N. McCabe, David Hosie for N. Groome, Eoin Finnegan for S. Clarke, Steven Dillon for B. Lynch.
