LMFM Minor Football Tournament Group A Final
Seneschalstown 2-11 Skryne 1-08
Seneschalstown collected the first trophy on offer for the 2022 Minor football season by overcoming Skryne on the May Bank Holiday Monday morning in the excellently presented Bective club grounds.
Only promoted from Division 2, Skryne made the final at the first attempt in the Division while Seneschalstown were hoping to continue their success at this age having won the Paddy O’Brien Cup two years ago.
LMFM Minor Football Tournament Group A Final
Seneschalstown 2-11 Skryne 1-08
Seneschalstown collected the first trophy on offer for the 2022 Minor football season by overcoming Skryne on the May Bank Holiday Monday morning in the excellently presented Bective club grounds.
Only promoted from Division 2, Skryne made the final at the first attempt in the Division while Seneschalstown were hoping to continue their success at this age having won the Paddy O’Brien Cup two years ago.
A sizeable Seneschalstown support made the short trip for this decider, and they would been quite happy with the display from the Seneschalstown team. Never headed from start to finish, this success will undoubtedly provide a good platform for Declan Byrne’s side to build on for the rest of the year.
Seneschalstown got themselves on the score board early, Robbie Finnegan opening proceedings with a pointed free after Cian Commons was fouled. Kyle Hosie doubled the advantage in the sixth minute with a point from play to the right of the posts.
Seneschalstown lost Jack McDonnell to injury shortly afterwards following an accidental heavy collision, thankfully Jack and the Skryne player involved were ok.
In the 11th minute, Seneschalstown moved three clear with a fine move all started from Luke Healy’s kickout. Colin Scanlon pounced on the breaking ball, before linking up with Tommy Walsh and Robbie Finnegan with the latter applying the finishing touches by pointing off his left boot. By the end of the quarter, Eamon Finnegan had Seneschalstown’s fourth point converting a free when Séimí Byrne was impeded.
Skryne opened their account for the day with a 16th minute free, but Seneschalstown were about to strike the first major blow in the next attack. After Seneschalstown won another one of their long kickouts, Alex Finnegan played a diagonal ball towards his cousin Eamon on the 20 metre line. Eamon was unable to hold it cleanly but in swooped Cian Commons to pick up the pieces and finish to the bottom left hand corner, moving Seneschalstown six to the good ,1-04 to 0-01.
Robbie Finnegan notched another point for himself two minutes later, but two Skryne points got them back into the contest, and if it wasn’t for some wasteful shooting in front of the posts the gap could have been closer.
Cian Commons was next to score for the winners, climbing high to claim a free that had dropped short, turn and pop over another point.
Just before half-time, Seneschalstown had netminder Luke Healy to thank for his sharp reactions to keep out a goal bound punch when the ball dropped in the Seneschalstown square. Skryne registered their fourth point of the half in injury time, however Commons would have the final say when he won a Skryne kickout and returned it with interest, running straight at the defence and pointing to leave Seneschalstown 1-07 to 0-04 up when Andrew Smith blew for half-time.
The six point lead became seven two minutes into the new half when Kyle Hosie curled over a free from an angle after Conor Rooney was fouled. But Skryne were about to enjoy their best spell of the game reeling off three points in a row between the 34th and 37th minutes while also making life very difficult for Seneschalstown to get out of their own half.
However, Seneschalstown were handed a major boost in the 42nd minute when they managed to get in for their second goal while Skryne were still on top. Alex Finnegan did extremely well to chase a hopeful ball into the corner before picking the ball up and almost burrow his way by his marker along the endline. While bearing down on goal, he could have taken the easy option and fist over the bar, but he spotted Conor Rooney across the square who had the simple task of palming into the net to restore Seneschalstown’s seven point lead.
Moments later, Seneschalstown were reduced to 14 men for an incident after the referee’s whistle was blown, but this did not knock the Seneschalstown youngsters out of their stride. Robbie Finnegan settled his side again, pointing magnificently from a side line ball. By the three quarter stage, the lead had grown to nine. Alex Finnegan neatly sidestepped his man to point from close range, reacting quickest when Séimí Byrne’s initial shot had come down off the post.
Skryne pulled one back in the 53th minute, but were unable to add anything else to their tally until injury time. Meanwhile, Byrne put over Seneschalstown’s last point from distance. The aforementioned Skryne score injury time was a goal from the penalty spot following a foul spotted by Andrew Smith.
The final whistle went seconds later, and with that Seneschalstown were worthy winners of the LMFM sponsored Minor Football Tournament. Brian Kelly presented the trophy to captain Séimí Byrne after the game. Hopefully this is the start of a long year for this team, whose coaches have put in a huge effort over the years.
Seneschalstown: Luke Healy, Seán Reilly, Danny Waters, Conor Rooney (1-00), Jack McDonnell, Liam Dillon, Colin Scanlon, Cian Commons (1-02), Darren O’Brien, Kyle Hosie (0-02, 1f), Robbie Finnegan (0-04, 1f, 1s/l), Alex Finnegan (0-01), Eamon Finnegan (0-01, 1f), Tommy Walsh, Séimí Byrne (0-01)
Subs Used: Sean Davis, Tadhg Lenihan, Josh Keating
