Seamus Connolly Catering All County Football A League Division 1 Round 4
Seneschalstown 2-11 Gaeil Colmcille 3-07
In the proverbial game of two halves Seneschalstown emerged victorious by one point this afternoon. Having failed to get going in the first half, at the end of which they trailed by ten points, they staged a Lazarus like comeback in the second period.
Seamus Connolly Catering All County Football A League Division 1 Round 4
Seneschalstown 2-11 Gaeil Colmcille 3-07
In the proverbial game of two halves Seneschalstown emerged victorious by one point this afternoon. Having failed to get going in the first half, at the end of which they trailed by ten points, they staged a Lazarus like comeback in the second period.
In a first half which Kells dominated on the scoreboard Seneschalstown only managed 2 points while missing 10 scoring opportunities. This profligacy was being punished by the ruthless Kells forwards who were proving to be deadly accurate in front of the posts, notching 2-06 from 10 scoring opportunities. At half time Seneschalstown appeared to be a beaten docket.
Gaeil Colmcille opened the scoring with a point from play before Joe Sheridan drove through the heart of their defence and arrowed the ball between the posts to instantly reply. From here on Kells took over and with their next score opened up a 2 point advantage when a high centre from the right hand side was slapped to the back of the net. They then tagged on two points before snatching their second goal of the half when rolling the ball to the back of the net. The Kells scoring machine continued to rumble as they picked off a further three points between the nineteenth and twenty third minutes.
On twenty six minutes James Meade pointed from play after being picked out excellently by Robert Ruddy from a free. Over the final ten minutes of the half Seneschalstown made three changes as they tried to resurrect their hopes of taking something from the match. There were no further scores in the half so at half time the scoreline read Seneschalstown 0-02 Gaeil Colmcille 2-06 and last year’s Intermediate champions looked as though they were about to bring the points home.
Whatever words were shared in the Seneschalstown huddle at half time seemed to stir something in the players as they burst out of the traps at the start of the second half. After nine minutes of the half the deficit was dramatically reduced as the shooting from the home side improved. Seven points were registered on the bounce and suddenly the faint flicker of light at the end of the tunnel began to grow.
James Byrne came up from defence to play a captains role in the recovery as he split the posts from 45 metres after a minute. This was followed by two Brian Sheridan minors in six minutes, the first after being set up by first half substitute Niall Lyons and the second a great individual effort following excellent defensive work from Davy Byrne to win himself a free. In between these two points James Meade notched two, one from a free following a foul on Joe Sheridan after he fielded a long ball in and the other from play after some good teamwork out the field. Bryan Clarke also kicked a fine point from play after thirty three minutes. Meade then notched his fourth of the day and Seneschalstown’s seventh during this purple patch in the fortieth minute.
The men from Kells then recorded their solitary point of the second half before Clarke rattled off a goal and a point to bring the sides level. The goal arrived when Joe Sheridan flicked on a long ball in from James Byrne and Clarke slipped the ball under the ’keeper. A few minutes later, having battled hard to win a free kick he then sent the ball sailing between the posts to bring the sides level. The level of belief among the home contingent now began to rise.
However, just as soon as this happened Kells hit back with their third goal of the game to once more reassert their superiority on the scoreboard.
Soon after the Seneschalstown management played what turned out to be their trump card when introducing Ross Howard for Brian Sheridan. By this point Joe and Damien Sheridan had switched and it was another long ball in, this time flicked on by Damien which Howard latched onto. Seemingly under severe pressure from the Kells full back line he managed to squeeze his shot away and into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Then, with the clock just ticking seconds into stoppage time Damien took possession of the ball out on the right hand side. As he has done so often from similar positions he launched the ball straight over the black spot to put Seneschalstown a point ahead.
As the home support gave the referee encouragement to blow the final whistle Kells began to work the ball forward but thanks to some excellent defensive work the Seneschalstown rear-guard managed to force a block and with that the whistle sounded to the relief of the majority in Fr. Tully Park. In a game where the amount of chances missed by both sides reached into double figures Seneschalstown will take great heart from the determination shown in the second half to comeback to secure victory from what was a seemingly insurmountable deficit at the interval.
Seneschalstown Scorers: Bryan Clarke 1-02 (0-01 free), James Meade 0-04 (0-02 frees), Ross Howard 1-00, Brian Sheridan 0-02, Joe Sheridan 0-01, James Byrne 0-01, Damien Sheridan 0-01
Seneschalstown: John Smith, James Byrne, Andrew Collins, David Byrne, Mark Carey, Joe Cowley, Colin Gleeson, Robert Ruddy, Damien Sheridan, Adam Gleeson, Bryan Clarke, James Meade, Joe Sheridan, Brian Sheridan, James Conlon.
Seneschalstown Substitutions: Niall Lyons for A. Gleeson, Niall McCabe for C. Gleeson, Ciaran Macken for J. Conlon, Ross Howard for Brian Sheridan
