U-16 Summer League Division 3 Round 1
Seneschalstown 1-12 Ballivor 1-16
On a perfect evening for football in Fr. Tully Park a Seneschalstown team denied the services of some key players fell to a disappointing home defeat in their first match of the league after only managing to score a goal and a point for the thirty minutes of the second half.
All appeared to be so different during a first half where they had built up a six point lead at one stage but momentum is so important in sport and the home side were unable to garner any during the second period.
U-16 Summer League Division 3 Round 1
Seneschalstown 1-12 Ballivor 1-16
On a perfect evening for football in Fr. Tully Park a Seneschalstown team denied the services of some key players fell to a disappointing home defeat in their first match of the league after only managing to score a goal and a point for the thirty minutes of the second half.
All appeared to be so different during a first half where they had built up a six point lead at one stage but momentum is so important in sport and the home side were unable to garner any during the second period.
The opening exchanges of the match were very tight with the teams all square at two points apiece after six minutes with the two Seneschalstown scores coming from Cathal and Eoin Finnegan. Cathal had grabbed his point after only twenty two seconds as an attack was launched direct from the throw in while Eoin popped over a free following a foul on midfielder David Fox after he had embarked on a driving run forward.
For the next fifteen minutes Seneschalstown took over and rattle off six points on the bounce. Cathal Finnegan notched his second of the match following excellent work from Robbie Littler before adding another to his account shortly after. Eoin then kicked three in a row including one from a free and a rare effort off his right. On eighteen minutes an alert Ciaran Mongey sprang to his sides rescue when getting back to clear a ball off his line. Another pointed free from Eoin Finnegan then brought the scoring run to a close.
Ballivor managed to stem the flow of points when grabbing one of their own from play before Alan Mulvany opened his account when pointing from a free from the left of the posts after the referee had brought play back when he deemed no advantage had accrued. The maroon clad visitor’s then hit a purple patch when reelingin their hosts with a quickfire goal and two points, all accrued in a blistering two minute spell before two points from play courtesy of Sean Carey and Cathal Finnegan seemed to steady the Seneschalstown ship.
Upon the resumption the momentum which the boys in blue appeared to have wrester back appeared to disappear as the Ballivor team began to take charge. Goalkeeper Ruairí McDonagh prevented what appeared to be a certain goal and disastorous start to the half when somehow clawing a goalbound effort away from all of five metres out before Ballivor kicked two points to reduce the deficit.
The Ballivor full forward had begun by this stage to drift out the field in search of the ball but this served to bring Brian Maguire out from his full back berth and it was Maguire who set up a goal opportunity for Dylan Keating to flash home with his left boot after a great solo run from the liberated full back.
The Ballivor response to this goal was most impressive as they rattled off a sequence of five points, one of which came from a free which resulted in Maguire receiving a black card for pulling a forward down.
Alan Mulvany added a second free to his account but Ballivor closed out the match with the last four scores, all of which were pointed efforts from play.
Seneschalstown will be disappointed with this display but will know that if they perform to their potential they are well capable of picking up enough victories to be in contention for a final spot later on in the summer.
Seneschalstown Scorers: Eoin Finnegan 0-05 (0-03 Frees), Cathal Finnegan 0-04, Dylan Keating 1-00, Alan Mulvany 0-02 (0-02 Frees), Sean Carey 0-01.
Seneschalstown: Ruairí McDonagh, Ciaran Mongey, Brian Maguire, Louis Healy, Jason Kearney, Richard McKeown, Robert Littler, David Fox, Jordan Oganami, Sean Carey, Eoin Finnegan, Alan Mulvany, Keith Waters, Cathal Finnegan, Dylan Keating.
Seneschalstown Substitutions: Éanna McLarney for B. Maguire (B.C.), Naois Sweeney for K. Waters.
