Senior Championship
Sun 25th Jul St. Patricks 0-8 Seneschalstown 0-11
SEEKING to bounce back after their 22-point humiliation at the hands of holders Blackhall Gaels in their last Championship outing, St Patricks hopes were seriously dented before the ball was even thrown in for this SFC tie at Duleek last Sunday.
Senior Championship
Sun 25th Jul St. Patricks 0-8 Seneschalstown 0-11
SEEKING to bounce back after their 22-point humiliation at the hands of holders Blackhall Gaels in their last Championship outing, St Patricks hopes were seriously dented before the ball was even thrown in for this SFC tie at Duleek last Sunday.
The Stamullen were forced to line out without the injured Daithi Whyte, Ray Russell and Ciaran Duffy while Keith Whearty was on holidays and were always playing catch up against a Seneschalstown outfit who have now given them-selves a chance of a knockout place following this victory.
However on the evidence of this display there is not much chance of the Keegan Cup sitting proudly on the counter of Maguires or McKeevers next October. This was a dour match with little fluency at any stage, though the Beauparc men proved worthy winners.
They were the stronger in most areas, especially in attack where Graham Geraghty showed sporadic signs that he still has plenty to offer.
Geraghty was booked after 10 minutes along with St Patricks keeper Paddy Muldowney and played his best football when dropping out around the 40 in the second half. He accounted for two of his sides first half points, both from close range frees, and added two more fine efforts from play in the second.
The winners with the stiff breeze in the opening half scored the games three opening points within 10 minutes and eventually led 0-7 to 0-3 at the break.
Daithi Whyte was badly missed by the St Patricks attack but in his absence Niall Whearty did well accounting for five of his sides points, including their entire first half tally.
Ronan Kearns at fullback and Cormac Murphy at centreback coped adequately with the threat of Joe Sheridan and Geraghty in that first half.
However with Damien Sheridan and Mark Carey on top at midfield Seneschalstown had much more possession but still only managed three points from play.
On the restart St Patricks moved keeper Paddy Muldowney to midfield and Cormac Sullivan to full forward but those switches failed to make much difference and by the 41st minute Seneschalstown had stretched their lead to six points, 0-10 to 0-4.
Brian Clarke (two frees) and Graham Geraghty from play were on the mark in that period with Whearty again on target at the other end.
Seneschalstown only added one more score after that, from Geraghty, as the east Meath side staged a brief comeback with Barry Campbell, Whearty, and wing back Niall Mooney firing between the posts.
Campbell from a free reduced the deficit to three points in the 59th minute but there was never much chance of them getting the goal that would have saved the game, in the four minutes that was played after that.
Seneschalstown coach Mickey McQuillan wasnt there to see this win over his old club due to holidays. Apart from the result, he didnt miss much.
Scorers Seneschalstown – Brian Clarke, Graham Geraghty 0-4 each, Joe Sheridan 0-2, Gary Conlon 0-1. St Patricks – Niall Whearty 0-5, Barry Campbell 0-2, Niall Mooney 0-1.
SENESCHALSTOWN D Geraghty, C Gleeson, J Cowley, J Byrne, C Clarke, T Maguire, G McGovern, M Carey, D Sheridan, J Macken, J Sheridan, Brian Clarke, G Conlon, G Geraghty, S Dillon. Subs: P OBrien for Macken, Barry Clarke for Dillon.
ST PATRICKS P Muldowney, N Russell, R Kearns, JP Ryan, N Mooney, C Murphy, K Russell, C Sullivan, C Calvey, A Reilly, M Hagan, D Ryan, N Whearty, B Campbell, M Byrne. Subs: N Flynn for JP Ryan, J Woods for D Ryan.
