Syddan Tournament
Drumconrath 3-4 Seneschalstown 5-7
On what can only be termed as a terrible night for football Seneschalstown and Drumconrath U.10’s served a up a feast of good football last monday night in the final of the Syddan Tournament for 2009. The same two teams met at the same stage last year with Seneschalstown coming out on top and with both teams having come through their respective group stages unbeaten this year we had all the indications that they would be two very evenly matched teams.
Syddan Tournament
Drumconrath 3-4 Seneschalstown 5-7
On what can only be termed as a terrible night for football Seneschalstown and Drumconrath U.10’s served a up a feast of good football last monday night in the final of the Syddan Tournament for 2009. The same two teams met at the same stage last year with Seneschalstown coming out on top and with both teams having come through their respective group stages unbeaten this year we had all the indications that they would be two very evenly matched teams.
Due to Holiday’s unfortunately Seneschalstown had to line out without a number of their top players during the league campaign , the attacking right half back Eoin Traynor and the goal machine Cathal Finnegan as well as Conor Johnson, James Commons and Paddy Kiernan.
The game started at an electric pace right from the throw in and with virtually the first attack of the game a high ball into the Seneschalstown square was beautifully fisted to the back of the Seneschalstown net by the Drumconrath full forward giving Ben Lyons no chance. The Seneschalstown lads took a few minutes to settle into the game and after a number of good attacks Eanna Mc Larney was fouled 21 yds out and Brian Maguire slotted the free over the bar for their first score. Seneschalstown at this stage started to dominate around the half back line with Brian Boyd, (who stepped in to replace Eoin Traynor), Jason Lyons and Ciaran Mongey very dominant and not giving their opponents any space and subsequently set up a number of good attacks but unfortunately scores were hard to come by until the 12th minute when a high ball into the square was flicked on by the big man in full forward, Keith Watters and Alan Mulvaney picked up the break and blasted the ball to the net, this score seemed to settle the Seneschalstown lads and when Brain Maguire landed another point from play they lead 1 – 02 to 1 – 00 after 15 minutes and seemed in control of the game. The half forward line were really on top of the game with Sean Carey doing alot of good work up along the right wing and Eanna Mc Larney again fighting for every ball and Dylan Keating setting up attack after attack on the left wing things were starting to look good for the Seneschalstown lads. At this stage the mid field battle was being won by the Seneschalstown lads with Robert Wogan and Brian Maguire winning alot of ball around the critical middle sector of the field and setting up good scoring opportunities for the forward line with some lovely passes. It was during this stage that the Seneschalstown second goal came with and attack up the left wing originating in the full back line with a nice pass from Daryl Redmond to Jason Lyons who found Dylan Keating on the left wing and he sent in a lovely cross field pass where Keith Watters again flicked the ball down to the waiting Cillian Gormley (who replaced Cathal Finnegan), who cooly fisted the ball to the net for Seneschalstown’s second goal.
At this stage the rain bagan to bucket down and this score seemed to rally the Drunconrath lads and they started to set up a number of good attacks and put alot of the pressure on the Seneschalstown lads with a number of good attacks, but once again the determination and tenacity of the Seneschalstown backs really started to shine with some great high fielding from Jason Lyons and full back Colin Monerawella and each time they drove out with the ball and delivered good passes to the waiting forward lines, Daire Finnegan at this stage was really settling into the game and made a couple of important interceptions, one that lead to a lovely Seneschalstown point when he picked the ball up from Ben Lyons and gave a lovely pass up field to Brian Boyd who found Eanna Mc Larney who slotted a lovely point, this was a critical point at a time when Drumconrath were beginning to dominate. But once again the Drumconrath refused to lie down and showed their resilience when driving forward directly from the kick out they sent in another high ball into the Seneschalstown square and again the big full forward got his hand to the ball to deflect it past Colin Monerawella and Ben Lyons for their second goal with 17 mins gone in the first half.
The game really came to light at this stage with both teams giving it their all with some wonderful displays of skill and determination on show during the worst of the weather conditions and the pitch getting very heavy under foot.
Drumconrath really took control at this stage and the Seneschalstown lads were really up against it and slotted another point but once again the wing back line’s of Daryl Redmond, Ciaran Mongey, Daire Finnegan and Brian Boyd were giving as good as they got and showed a tremendous and never say die attitude with some great blocking from Robert Wogan and Jason Lyons at critical times. It was during this stage that the Drumconrath lads got their reward for all the pressure with third goal of the half, with the corner forward picking up a loose ball and firing home an unstoppable shot to the corner of the Seneschalstown net right on the stroke of half time to give them a 1 point interval lead.
Half Time Score : Seneschalstown 2 – 03 : Drumconrath 3 – 01
The second half was one where the Seneschalstown lads really found their feet and threw everything at the Drumconrath lads and dominated from the word go on all lines of the field, they quickly settled into the game with an attack set up by Robert Wogan and Ciaran Mongey on the left wing where the ball was picked up by Alan Mulvaney who beat his marker and fired the ball to the back of the net after just 3 minutes of the second half. This was the spark that once again set this game into life and the Drumconrath lads almost immediately replied with a point of their own to prove that they weren’t finished yet, the kick out was won in mid field by Robert Wogan who passed to Dylan Keating and he slotted a lovely point for Seneschalstown to restore the 2 point lead again. The subsequent kick out was again won in mid field by Robert Wogan who this time passed to his mid field partner Brain Maguire who ran at the Drumconrath defence and added another point. Things were looking good for the Seneschalstown lads at this stage with Keith Watters, Cillian Gormley, Dylan keating and Sean Carey really dominating and working hard to win their respective battles. Another great goal came directly from some good work in the heart of the Seneschalston defence from Jason Lyons who’s pass found Sean Carey who in turn slipped the ball to the in running Eanna Mc Larney who fired the ball to the new for the fourth Seneschalstown goal, this was followed up with a fine solo effort from the hard working mid fielded Robert Wogan who won a breaking ball and ran through the heart of the Drumconrath defence to score a fine point.
It was at this stage mid way through the second half that the game was won with every player on the field giving their full effort to the cause.
Fresh legs were introduroced at this point when Richard Mc Keown was brought in to replace the tough tackling corner back Daire Finnegan and Jason Kearney brought in to replace the flying winger Brian Boyd and Michael Rice was brought in to replace the little man with the big heart Daryl Redmond, in attack the heavy ground was beginning to have an impact and flying corner forward Cillian Gormley was replaced by Andrea Norton. Again Drumconrath refused to give up and launched two quick attacks and had two great goal chances in the space of 2 minutes that called on Ben Lyons to be at his best and he took off two great diving saves that without a doubt kept the Seneschalstown lads in the game. At this stage another Seneschalstown attack coming from full back Colin Monerawella and the substitute Richard Mc Keown found Sean Carey who gave a lovely pass to Alan Mulvaney who again rounded his marker and fired the ball past the Drumconrath keeper for this third and Seneschalstown fifth goal with 15 mins gone. Dylan O’ Dwyer was then introduced to replace the live wire Dylan Keating with Naoise Sweeney and Gary Brady both being introduced also. Robert Wogan then scored another point for the Seneschalstown lads but Drumconrath continued to drive forward and got two good points of their own and on two occasions the fresh players from the Seneschalstown subs bench came close to scoring with both Andrea Norton and Naoise Sweeney getting onto the end of good attacks to be foiled by a very good Drumconrath goalkeeping with time nearly up.
When the referee sounded the final whistle the Seneschalstown players Management team and the large contingent of supporters jumped with joy and without doubt everyone knew that they were in the battle of their young lives against a very resilient and talented Drumconrath side, who I’m sure we will meet again on many more occasions in the coming years. At the end of the day football was the big winner here.
Joe Sheridan took time out from his busy inter county schedule to come down and present the cup to the Seneschalstown captain Brian Maguire and Robert Wogan thanked the Drumconrath team for a great game and asked for three big cheers, all the victorious team got medals and a great night for all involved……
Final Score : Seneschalstown 5 – 07 : Drumconrath 3 – 04
Seneschalstown Team : Ben Lyons, Daire Finnegan, Colin Monerawella, Daryl Redmond, Brian Boyd, Jason Lyons, Ciaran Mongey, Brian Maguire, Robert Wogan, Sean Carey, Eanna Mc Larney, Dylan Keating, Cillian Gormley, Keith Watters, Alan Mulvaney, Subs, Michael Rice, Richard Mc Keown, Jason Kearney, Gary Brady, Cian Bennett, Dylan O’ Dwyer, Andrea Norton, Noise Sweeney, Jack Kelleher, Daniel Radford, Malik Monerawella, Fionn Hall, Dylan O’ Dowd.
Management Team : Helen Mulvaney, Colm Lyons, Ray Wogan, Joe Finnegan, Ian Maguire.
