Senior Championship
Sun 8th Aug Summerhill 1-6 Seneschalstown 3-5
Scrappy and untidy with very little quality football describes Seneschalstown’s SFC victory over Summerhill at Dunsany on Sunday.
The Yellow Furze side won’t worry unduly as they moved a step closer to the quarter-finals.
The driving wind and rain ruined the first-half and with treacherous underfoot conditions the second period wasn’t any better, but Summerhill displayed all the characteristics of a side destined for a relegation tussle.
Senior Championship
Sun 8th Aug Summerhill 1-6 Seneschalstown 3-5
Scrappy and untidy with very little quality football describes Seneschalstown’s SFC victory over Summerhill at Dunsany on Sunday.
The Yellow Furze side won’t worry unduly as they moved a step closer to the quarter-finals.
The driving wind and rain ruined the first-half and with treacherous underfoot conditions the second period wasn’t any better, but Summerhill displayed all the characteristics of a side destined for a relegation tussle.
Seneschalstown celebrated at David Coldrick’s final whistle as if they had secured qualification, but St. Patrick’s shock win over Kilmainhamwood dampened the enthusiasm.
The scenario is as complicated as ever with any three of four teams still in with a chance of qualification. Seneschalstown must defeat Walterstown in their final group game to be sure, but for Summerhill the prospects look bleak.
Just one win, against Cortown, means they must defeat Kilmainhamwood to force at least a relegation play-off and on Sunday’s display that could be too tall an order.
Paddy Carr’s side were bereft of ideas throughout. Playing with the strong second-half wind they failed to execute the basics to a sufficient standard as wayward passing squandered possession.
They trailed by 1-2 to 3-5 in the final quarter and deployed just one man in the full-forward line. Seneschalstown must have thought Christmas came early and moved Graham Geraghty back to cut off the supply into the lone attacker.
Geraghty missed the start, he must have believed the game was at 2.30 instead of 2.0, and Seneschalstown started without him, but they would have won even if he hadn’t arrived.
Joe Sheridan shrugged off a couple of indifferent displays to produce an excellent performance. He was back to his menacing best especially when he completed a potent two-man full-forward line with Ciaran Macken.
Mark Carey and Damien Sheridan enjoyed the lion’s share of possession at midfield while Gary Conlon produced a solid display and covered almost every blade of grass.
Both sides made basic errors and while the hearts and bodies were strong, the levels of skill were weak.
Only Mark and Niall O’Reilly and occasionally Cathal Sheridan looked up to the task for Summerhill while Seneschalstown had a few more players who looked capable especially the Sheridan brothers, Geraghty, Conlon and Joe Cowley.
Following their exceptional display against Blackhall in the previous round Summerhill must have been hopeful of rescuing their season and when Cathal Sheridan pointed brilliantly against the wind after two minutes they looked strong.
However, Seneschalstown pulled clear during a four-minute spell before the end of the first-quarter which effectively ended the game as a contest.
Conlon netted after Joe Sheridan rattled the crossbar, Joey Macken added a point before Joe Sheridan was tripped as he went around goalkeeper Tony McDonnell. He converted the resultant penalty for a 2-1 to 0-1 lead.
Maurice Kennedy replied with a goal for Summerhill, but Seneschalstown were in the ascendancy and led by 2-4 to 1-2 at the break.
After the resumption Summerhill played like a team with lead in their boots as Seneschalstown maintained the upperhand and secured victory within four minutes of the restart when Joe Sheridan netted again.
