A FL Div 1
Sun 24th Oct Seneschalstown 2-6 Trim 2-7
Seneschalstown’s U-21 team help deny Trim a place in AFL Div 1 Final. Seneschalstown decided to field their U-21 team to give them a practice match before the semi – final of the U-21 Championship and were unlucky not to come away with victory against one of the team’s fancied to win this year’s Keegan Cup.
A FL Div 1
Sun 24th Oct Seneschalstown 2-6 Trim 2-7
Seneschalstown’s U-21 team help deny Trim a place in AFL Div 1 Final. Seneschalstown decided to field their U-21 team to give them a practice match before the semi – final of the U-21 Championship and were unlucky not to come away with victory against one of the team’s fancied to win this year’s Keegan Cup.
The match was spoilt by poor refereeing from Frank Lynch where he sent off 2 players, failed to book several other players for bad and dangerous tackles, and also failed to dismissed Darren Fay for running 60 yards to throw a punch in a confrontation that broke out involving his brother Arran.
Trim were anxious to win this game and make into the AFL Div1 final to make up for a disappointing end to a season that promised so much a few months ago. They started the better team and took some good early scores to take a 3 point lead. But this dominance was short lived as the Seneschalstown team settled with a well taken goal by Joe Sheridan. Both sides had good spells in the game and exchanged some good scores, including 2 well taken goals within a minute of each, one from Robert Darby which gave Seneschalstown the lead and one from Ronan Fitzsimons that restored Trim’s advantage and gave them a 2 point lead at the interval.
On the resumption of the game for the second half, Seneschalstown made several tactical changes to curb the influence of Ronan Fitzsimons, who by far Trim’s best player on view. The changes made a huge difference with Seneschalstown clawing back Trim’s lead to level the contest. Both sides exchanged scores to level the game with 10 minutes remaining. Then came the controversy that led to a confrontation involving Fay, who ran 60 yards to throw a punch after an alteration involving his brother Arran. The incident was clearly seen by all including the referee and his umpire, but he failed to deal with situation and did not even issue Fay with a yellow card. Maybe past incidences involving county players and referees influenced his decision not to take action.
On the restart of play, the referee again failed to take action after a late challenge on Seneschalstown’s Shane Clarke by Frankie Murphy resulted in the player having to being stretchered off and transferred to hospital by ambulance. This was a turning point in the game and allowed Trim to grab a late winner within the 8 additional minutes of injury time played.
As it turned out the win was of little consolation to Trim, as Simonstown’s margin of victory over Kilmainhamwood meant that they progressed instead of Trim.
Seneschalstown – B. Grogan; P. Carey, J. Cowley, C. Duffy; C. Gleeson, J. Byrne, D. Byrne (0-1); D. Sheridan, R. Ruddy; B. Clarke (0-1), R. Darby (1-0), K. Casey (0-1); S. Clarke, J. Sheridan (1-3), B. Sheridan. Subs – A. Dunne for B. Sheridan, S. Finnegan for S. Clarke.
