SENESCHALSTOWN 2-8
SUMMERHILL 0-10

Summerhill relinquished their grip on the Keegan Cup when two goals in quick succession in the first half boosted Seneschalstown to a hoganstand.com SFC quarter-final victory at Skryne on Skryne on Saturday evening.

In a clash between sides who had claimed the title in three of the previous five years, the Yellow Furze outfit was much sharper throughout and took their scoring chances much better than the opposition.

Summerhill hit a wasteful total of 16 wides, 10 of them in the second half, while Seneschalstown had only six for the hour. Also Brian Ennis only managed a point from a penalty midway through the second period.

Seneschalstown, who started without injured centre-back Gary Conlon, suffered another blow in the early stages when goalkeeper David Lyons was forced to retire after just four minutes, having hurt his back in the pre-match warm-up.

The sides were level on 0-3 each when Ciaran Macken latched on to a Mark Carey centre and finished to the net on 23 minutes. That goal was promptly followed by the second with Joe Sheridan taking a pass from brother Brian and firing an unstoppable shot past Tony McDonnell.

Seneschalstown increased the lead to eight points before scores from Paul Rispin and Ennis (free) in added time at the end of the first half left the board reading 2-5 to 0-5.

Summerhill had plenty of the play up front after the switching of ends but all the misses cost them their crown. Around the three-quarter stage David Larkin was fouled for the penalty which Ennis put over the bar to reduce the deficit from five to four points.

Three points in the second period was enough to see Seneschalstown through and the third of them was a spectacular effort from Brian Sheridan. That left the margin six points before Larkin and Adrian Kenny put over consolation scores for the 'Hill.

Andrew Collins was in impressive form at full-back, Robert Ruddy showed up well at midfield and forwards Joe and Brian Sheridan left their calling card.

Summerhill's defeat means that the sequence of Keegan Cup holders failing to retain the trophy goes on. No team since Dunshaughlin in 2002 has managed to keep the title.

Seneschalstown: D Lyons; J Byrne, A Collins, G Sheridan; M Carey (0-1), C Noonan, N Groome; R Ruddy, D Sheridan (0-2); C Macken (1-0), J Sheridan (1-1), S Finnegan; A Gleeson, Brian Sheridan (0-3, 2f), B Clarke (0-1). Subs: R Walsh for Lyons (4), N Lyons for Macken (28), D Hosie for Lyons (46), J Gilsenan for Finnegan (51), S Clarke for B Clarke (58).

Summerhill: T McDonnell; D Dalton, C Young, W Ryan; P Geraghty, R Hatton, A Kenny (0-2); M Byrne, C Gillespie; D Larkin (0-2), M Kennedy (0-1), P Rispin (0-1); B Dardis, S Dalton, B Ennis (0-4, 3 frees, 1 pen). Subs: P Jennings for D Dalton (20), D Byrne for Kennedy (39), M Gorman for M Byrne (51).

Referee: C Reilly (St Mary's). Tweet

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