Minor Spring League Division 2 Round 7
Wolfe Tones 1-14 Seneschalstown 2-08
On a fabulous morning for football Seneschalstown travelled to Kilberry to take on their table topping hosts knowing a victory would secure a semi-final spot. At the end of an absorbing sixty minutes football they were to travel home with nothing except a case of the Monday blues as they fell to a three point defeat which combined with St. Michaels victory over Jenkinstown Gaels deprived them of fourth spot in the league.
Minor Spring League Division 2 Round 7
Wolfe Tones 1-14 Seneschalstown 2-08
On a fabulous morning for football Seneschalstown travelled to Kilberry to take on their table topping hosts knowing a victory would secure a semi-final spot. At the end of an absorbing sixty minutes football they were to travel home with nothing except a case of the Monday blues as they fell to a three point defeat which combined with St. Michaels victory over Jenkinstown Gaels deprived them of fourth spot in the league.
In the full knowledge of what was at stake the young men from Seneschalstown took the game by the scruff of the neck playing the game at a high tempo, hunting and tackling in packs. Indeed the very first score of the game came as a direct result of this game plan as the ball fell to corner forward Ryan O’Dowd after excellent tackling from the forwards and he rifled the ball into the goal to get the men in blue off to the perfect start on three minutes.
The home side began to settle thereafter and a pointed thirteen metre free on ten minutes had them back within a point. Seneschalstown though immediately hit back in fine style. After some excellent work from wing forward Ronan Conneely, Eoin Finnegan latched onto a ball delivered in by Adam Carey before getting away from the corner back and rattling the back of the net to stretch their advantage to four points.
The Kilberry outfit steadied the ship and from the twelfth minute to the nineteenth picked off three points, two from play and one from a free.
O’Dowd then grabbed Seneschalstown’s first point of the game on twenty two minutes, after a succession of wides, when he received a knock down from Sean Noonan after a fine delivery from Niall Hickey.
Once more though Wolfe Tones managed to put a string of scores together as aided by the strong breeze they struck four points, one from a forty five and three from play before Daire Geraghty tapped over a free to leave the minimum in it after the impressive O’Dowd had forced the goalkeeper to hop the ball twice when exerting great pressure in the tackle on him.
Within seconds of the whistle being blown for the start of the second half Seneschalstown suddenly had a steep hill to climb as they conceded a goal before the deficit was stretched to five following a pointed free.
They slowly but surely began to chip away at the deficit as they recorded the next three points, the first coming from Sean Noonan with his left foot. Geraghty then continued to show his free taking expertise as he capitalised on fouls in the Wolfe Tones rear-guard. Firstly Dylan Doyle drew a foul and this was quickly followed by a cynical foul from behind on Finnegan as he carried the ball at pace towards the posts. To the bemusement of many of the Seneschalstown support a free was all that was given.
The rot was stopped from a Tones point of view with a point on forty minutes but Daire Geraghty continued to convert his frees as Eoin Finnegan was fouled once more before he landed a monster free off the ground from the left hand sideline to get the margin back to one. Danger man Ryan O’Dowd then brought his tally for the day to 1-02 from play when he fielded a forty five and split the posts.
Unfortunately from a Seneschalstown point of view this was to be as good as it got. Shortly afterwards they were awarded a free on the left hand side which if converted would have put them one up and all the momentum on their side. However the referee correctly threw the ball up after a reaction to the foul and from this point on Wolfe Tones began to get on top.
From the fifty sixth minute to the final whistle on sixty one they tapped over two frees and then the insurance point from play before Seneschalstown had one last chance to grab something from the game but when the ball broke it was driven wide and with that their chance was gone.
The final nail was put in their coffin when word came through from Carlanstown that St. Michaels had won their match and thus by virtue of their opening round victory over Seneschalstown were through to the semi-final in spite of the Furze teams superior score difference.
Seneschalstown Scorers: Ryan O’Dowd 1-02, Daire Geraghty 0-05 f, Eoin Finnegan 1-00, Sean Noonan 0-01.
Seneschalstown: Ruairí McDonagh, Ruairí Keogh, David Fox, Peter Tierney, Cormac Mullen, Niall Hickey, Adam Carey, Darragh Keogh, Mark Fox, Dylan Doyle, Daire Geraghty, Ronan Conneely, Eoin Finnegan, Sean Noonan, Ryan O’Dowd.
Seneschalstown Substitution: Shane Mulvany for D. Keogh (B.C.).
