LMFM Minor Football Tournament Division 1 Round 1
Seneschalstown 2-09 St. Colmcille’s 0-07
Seneschalstown picked up their first win of 2022 in the opening game of the LMFM Minor Football Tournament, beating St. Colmcille’s by 8 points on Saturday after a strong second half display. With both sides missing players for a whole host of different reasons, it gave others a chance to stake their claim for a place in the starting 15 going forward.
LMFM Minor Football Tournament Division 1 Round 1
Seneschalstown 2-09 St. Colmcille’s 0-07
Seneschalstown picked up their first win of 2022 in the opening game of the LMFM Minor Football Tournament, beating St. Colmcille’s by 8 points on Saturday after a strong second half display. With both sides missing players for a whole host of different reasons, it gave others a chance to stake their claim for a place in the starting 15 going forward.
The visitors to Fr. Tully Park played with the aid of the breeze in the first half and opened the scoring inside two minutes with a point from play. Despite playing into the stiff breeze, Seneschalstown stood up to the task and were level on 5 minutes, Darren O’Brien putting over a free after Joe Norris was fouled. St. Colmcille’s made good use of the elements early on and scored two more points to move 0-3 0-1 ahead with 8 minutes gone. However, the home side began to get a strong foothold in the game and kept the Cilles scoreless for 15 minutes.
Following some good play between Eamon Finnegan, Tommy Walsh and Sam Kirwan, Alex Finnegan was on hand to finish the move by popping the ball over the bar. Kirwan levelled the game from the next phase of play, before a lull of 10 minutes without either side troubling the scoreboard. Indeed it was Kirwan who broke the duck with his second of the afternoon, picking up the pieces after a Luke Healy 45’ had dropped short. Three minutes later Healy started a wonderful team move which made its way the whole way up the pitch with Kyle Hosie on hand to clip over from the right hand side. One last point from St. Colmcille’s left the minimum between the teams at the break, 0-05 to 0-04.
St. Colmcille’s made a strong start to the second half, drawing themselves level almost instantly, before moving one ahead in the 42nd minute despite playing into the strong wind. Seneschalstown will have been disappointed with the way they started the second half but the key turning point was to arrive in the 44th minute.
After Eamon Finnegan ran at the St. Colmcille’s defence, he popped the ball to Joe Norris whose attempt for a point from 20 metres was half blocked. Fortunately, the ball fell delightfully into the waiting arms of Danny Waters who rolled the ball beneath the keeper. Two points to the good again, the home were keen to build on this momentum shift and Sam Kirwan pointed following a pop pass from Alex Finnegan. Eamon Finnegan was next to score, using the wind to good effect to raise another white flag in the 48th minute.
The work rate of the Seneschalstown forwards was noticeable, forcing St. Colmcille’s to concede possession off a number of their short kickouts in both halves. When Alex Finnegan forced a turnover high up the pitch, he played in Joe Norris who blasted over when perhaps a goal was on. A few minutes later, Jack McDonnell intercepted a short kickout to set up Sam Kirwan for his fourth point of a fine individual performance on the day.
St. Colmcille’s managed to add one final free before Kyle Hosie capped a good win with a well taken goal to leave the hosts eight ahead at Robbie Barrett’s final whistle.
This will undoubtedly be the first of many meetings between these two sides this year who have met in plenty of finals at Under 14 and Under 15 level, which were all cracking ties. Seneschalstown will be happy to start the year on a positive note with a strong second half performance, and will hope to have a long 2022.
Seneschalstown: Luke Healy, Seán Davis, Danny Waters (1-00), Seán Reilly, Conor Rooney, Kyle Hosie (1-01), Liam Dillon, Darren O’Brien (0-01, 1f), Joe Norris (0-01), Sam Kirwan (0-04), Eamon Finnegan (0-01), Alex Finnegan (0-01), Liam O’Reilly, Tommy Walsh, Tadhg Lenehan.
Subs: Darragh Nangle, Jack McDonnell, Peter Geraghty. Colm McDonnell
