Meath U-16 Football League Division 1 Round 1
Donaghmore/Ashbourne 3-08 Seneschalstown 11-10
Life in Division 1 of the U-16 League began on a positive note for Seneschalstown when they recovered from a slow start to pick up a confidence boosting victory away to Donaghmore/Ashbourne on Tuesday evening. It took them a while to get going but once their forwards got their eye in the youngsters from Seneschalstown opened their shoulders and dominated from there to the finish.
Meath U-16 Football League Division 1 Round 1
Donaghmore/Ashbourne 3-08 Seneschalstown 11-10
Life in Division 1 of the U-16 League began on a positive note for Seneschalstown when they recovered from a slow start to pick up a confidence boosting victory away to Donaghmore/Ashbourne on Tuesday evening. It took them a while to get going but once their forwards got their eye in the youngsters from Seneschalstown opened their shoulders and dominated from there to the finish.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne got off to a bright start and within three minutes had registered a goal and a point, the goal coming after an initial shot had hit the upright and a Seneschalstown defender was caught napping for the rebound. This was a lightning quick start and it got even better for the home side when on ten minutes they struck for a second goal. At this stage Seneschalstown were struggling to get their first score and had already hit three wides which could only be described as poor although they were shooting into a low, piercing sun which may have made shooting difficult.
Now trailing by seven points it was vital they got the next score to settle their nerves and when Joseph Moore got into a shooting position after getting on the end of a well worked move involving Ross Mullen, Alan Mulvany and Dylan Keating most of the small band of supporters were hoping he’d pop the ball over the bar but Moore had other ideas and he fired past the goalkeeper to raise the green flag. Donaghmore/Ashbourne replied with a point from play just seconds after this score but Moore’s goal had done the trick and settled the away side.
On thirteen minutes Seneschalstown got their second score of the game and indeed their second goal when Dylan Keating picked the ball up out on the left and looking up he spotted a surging run through the middle from Moore. Moore when he latched onto possession quickly spotted Sean Commons lurking inside the cover and when he picked out the rangy wing forward with a hand pass Commons made no mistake as he buried another goal. Centre forward Alan Mulvany then on the quarter hour picked off the third Seneschalstown goal to push his side into the lead. Donaghmore/Ashbourne picked off their third point of the game but lively corner forward Adam O’Mara cancelled this out when after a driving run in from the left wing he recovered possession after spilling it and then fisted over from a tight angle.
Jamie Kirwan may have been wearing the number three jersey but with his opponent having a roaming brief he followed him out the field and when Kirwan picked up a loose ball in the middle third he played Sean Commons in for a point. Seneschalstown were now playing with great confidence and playing a very attractive style of football, a style epitomised when Sean Commons expertly dispossessed a Donaghmore/Ashbourne player he spotted Ross Mullen who had made an intelligent run and when Mullen got the ball into his hands he quickly looked up and played a sumptuous pass in to the full forward and when Dylan Keating got the opportunity he made no mistake as he slipped the ball past the home teams goalkeeper.
Less than thirty seconds after this goal Mullen grabbed his first of the evening and this was soon followed by another from Keating. Alan Mulvany then lofted over a free when referee Michael Ryan blew his whistle after the strength of Jamie Kirwan’s jersey was tested. Mulvany was enjoying a productive evening and when on twenty-five minutes he hassled the goalkeeper in the manner a narky terrier might a postman he forced a turnover and had the simple take of tapping the ball into the empty net. The first half scoring then came to a close when Sean Commons hit his second goal of the game to leave the half time score reading Donaghmore/Ashbourne 2-03 Seneschalstown 8-03.
When the match had begun it was on a fourteen a side basis due to that being the number of available players the home side had and by the start of the second half it was own to thirteen a side when Donaghmore/Ashbourne lost a player to a leg injury, something which meant Seneschalstown didn’t replace Jamie Kirwan when he also left the action with a knock. All involved with Seneschalstown wish the injured Donaghmore/Ashbourne player a speedy recovery.
Stung by their first half fade out Donaghmore/Ashbourne looked to start the second half quickly and with just over a minute elapsed had popped over a point from a free. Straight after they could have had a goal but the alert Brian Boyd between the Seneschalstown posts was alert to the danger and pulled off a smart save. Buoyed by this bright start the Donaghmore/Ashbourne side picked off the next two points, the second of which was another free but Seneschalstown were still looking lively when on the attack and Dylan Keating could have had a goal but saw his effort saved by the goalkeeper who deflected it over the crossbar.
Ross Mullen then hit a sweet point when he got on the end of a move started off by some superb defensive play from Simon Rooney. Seneschalstown next hit a brace of points from frees courtesy of the trusty tight boot of Sean Commons, the second of which was a peach of an effort from way out on the left. Commons had his eye in and on forty-one minutes showed that his left foot was equally as good when he swung over another point after Dylan Keating had played him in when he was picked out by a long delivery out of defence from Alan Mulvany who was now operating in a slightly deeper role.
Midfielder Joseph Moore picked off a well taken point before Donaghmore/Ashbourne got in for their third goal when after the Seneschalstown defence opened up the ball was fisted to the net from the edge of the square. Seneschalstown’s response though was impressive when Mulvany once more sprayed a lovely pass into Keating and when the lively full forward shot for goal his comrade in the full forward line Ross Mullen made sure that it was going to be another goal when he poked home. Dylan Keating added to this score with a point before Seneschalstown got their most fortunate score of the match when an Adam O’Mara effort for point from distance ended up falling just under the crossbar.
To their great credit Donaghmore/Ashbourne kept plugging away and hit the next two points but Seneschalstown were to have the final say when Dylan Keating pounced for his third goal of the match.
On an evening when Seneschalstown performed excellently all over the pitch with the substitutes used all adding to the performance this was a game in which they suggested that despite being the only rural club in Division 1 on their day they will give anybody a game. Best for them on the evening were Sean Commons, Jamie Kirwan (until he went off injured) and Alan Mulvany.
Seneschalstown: Brian Boyd, Simon Rooney, Jamie Kirwan, Cathal Hickey, Ciaran Mongey, Sean Carey, Joseph Moore (1-01), Daire Finnegan, Cillian Gormley, Alan Mulvany (2-01), Sean Commons (2-04, 0-02 Frees), Ross Mullen (2-01), Dylan Keating (3-02), Adam O’Mara (1-01).
Seneschalstown Substitutions: Christian McAuley for C. Gormley, Padraig Finnegan for S. Carey, Jason Lyons for R. Mullen, James Commons for A. O’Mara, Alan Carey for S. Commons and Ciaran Lynch for S. Rooney.
