A League Division 1B Round 3
Seneschalstown 2-10 Oldcastle 1-10
Having had their respective second round outings postponed, Seneschalstown and Oldcastle met in Round 3 of the Division 1B League under the lights of Fr. Tully Park on a miserable Friday night.
The visitors were first to score as Seneschaltown stuttered early on, as it toom them eight minutes to get on the board themselves when Cathal Finnegan used the tricky Crossfield breeze to his advantage when he curled the ball over from in front of the dugout. Despite the sloppy start, the hosts were ahead immediately as Dylan Keating found his range from distance. Oldcastle drew level in the 13th minute with a score from play, before Seneschalstown plundered 1-01 for themselves to give themselves some breathing space.
After 18 minutes, Seneschalstown were patient with possession around the Oldcastle ‘D’, before Donie Commons found himself in space to swing a high shot over the bar. Three minutes later, Seneschalstown’s first goal arrived when Robbie Finnegan carried the ball some 30 metres before finishing excellently across the keeper into the far left corner of the net.
Two Oldcastle scores reduced the deficit but the hosts finished the half strongly, coming from the boot of Cathal Finnegan and Brain Maguire, the full back venturing forward for a rare score which he nicely chipped over the bar. The home side were two point ahead at the break, 1-05 to 1-03.
Despite playing with the advantage of the diagonal breeze Seneschalstown produced another slow start, allowing Oldcastle close the gap and subsequently move ahead after 40 minutes.
It took a fisted effort from Rob Wogan to calm the hosts down and level things up once more at 1-06 apiece, before the game’s crucial score arrived 13 minutes from time. Séimí Byrne found Dylan Keating with a pass inside who had Alan Mukvany coming off his shoulder at a rate of knots. Mulvany unselfishly popped the ball the Cathal Finnegan who went round the goalkeeper and finished to the net as Seneschalstown went three in front again. Two minutes later, the lead became four points when Keating and Mulvany combined for the latter to split the posts. Oldcastle reduced the arrears with two on the bounce again, but Seneschalstown countered likewise with Eoin Finnegan, on for the injured Cathal, getting a fist to a dropping Dylan Keating shot to divert it over the bar and Séimí Byrne raiding forward from defence to clip over a tidy point for himself. Seneschalstown’s last score would come from the boot of Alan Mulvany and despite two late Oldcastle scores, the home side did enough to keep them at arm’s length for the vast majority of the game despite not playing overly well.
Next up for Seneschasltown is a trip to Ballinabrackey on Easter Saturday.
Seneschalstown: David Gordon, Cillian Lawlor, Brian Maguire (0-01), Séimí Byrne (0-01), Rob Wogan (0-01), Danny Waters, Seán Carey, John Smith, Donie Commons (0-01), Alan Mulvany (0-02), James Meade, Ryan Finnegan, Cathal Finnegan (1-02), Dylan Keating (0-01), Robbie Finnegan (1-02).
Subs: Darren O’Brien, Simon Rooney, Eoin Finnegan (0-01), Neil Darby, Ronan Conneely.
