Seneschalstown 3-14 Rathkenny 0-15

Seneschalstown made it six games unbeaten to conclude their JM Food Services Football League Division 2 campaign after an eight point win over Rathkenny on Saturday evening. With it came a place in the top four in the division’s final standings and booking a semi-final spot.

Going into the game Seneschalstown knew their fate was out of their hands as they lay in fifth place in table, requiring a win in this game and then one of the teams above them dropping points.

Like the previous round against O’Mahony’s, Seneschalstown were never headed throughout and started on the front foot with Donie Commons putting them ahead inside the opening minute with a point after finding space 30 metres from goal.  Points from Eoin Finnegan, one from a free and one from a fine team move had Seneschalstown 0-03 to 0-00 ahead after five minutes.

Rathkenny got on the scoreboard with points in the sixth and ninth minutes before Finnegan got his third of the evening from another free.

Seneschalstown were enjoying a lot of early possession and were able to put together some slick attacking moves. One such move lead to kick pass from Eamon Finnegan into Cian Commons and the Meath Under 20 swivelled to curl over.

Shortly after, Seneschalstown were heading towards goal again but despite the move breaking down Eoin Finnegan picked up the loose ball to pop over. Before the water break Seneschalstown extended the lead further.

Cian Commons and Cathal Hickey exchanged passes down the right hand side and as Hickey headed for goal he spotted Alan Mulvany off his shoulder and when the wing forward gained possession he finished the ball to the net.

Rathkenny pulled two points back before Finnegan was on target again. Rathkenny answered in kind to leave five points in it after 25 minutes.

Tempers threatened to boil over in the run up to half-time but Seneschalstown ensured they headed to the dressing with a lead as Donie Commons teed up Danny Waters over the top with an inch perfect pass and the midfielder, not necessarily renowned for his goal scoring ability showed the coolness of an inside forward to place the ball in the bottom left hand corner and Seneschalstown’s lead was now out to eight points.

A point from Cathal Hickey came in the middle of two in a row for the home side as David Hosie’s men lead 2-08 to 0-07 at half-time.

Rathkenny started quickest in the second half with a trio of points before Seneschalstown’s first point of the second half came from a close range Cian Commons free.

A minute later Eoin Finnegan intercepted a loose pass in the Rathkenny defence and punished it by kicking another score for himself. Two minutes later Seneschalstown made sure of victory.

The Hickeys, Niall and Cathal combined through the hands and it was the former who was upended in the large square as he tried to get a shot away on goal. Referee Robert Lynch came in and awarded penalty which Eoin Finnegan hammered home into the bottom right hand corner to put Seneschalstown nine to the good.

The sides quickly swapped points with Donie Commons kicking his second of the game in the 42nd minute. After the water break Seneschalstown were able to keep Rathkenny at arms length as the sides swapped scores for the remainder of the game.

With ten minutes to go, Darren O’Brien announced his arrival from the bench when clipping over into the clubhouse end. Danny Waters also got forward to hoist over a point to add to his earlier goal.

The home side did kick a late two point effort from play, the only one from either team over the 60 minutes, but Seneschalstown had the last say when Eoin Finnegan fisted over as he came in along the endline.

When the full-time whistle went, Seneschalstown were left waiting on other results to filter through to see if they made it into the top four. When word came through that Simonstown, Oldcastle and Meath Hill had all drawn, Seneschalstown could start planning for a semi-final and a shot at immediate promotion back to Division 1.

Seneschalstown: David Gordon, Conor McDonnell, Woodley Nicholson, Simon Rooney, Séimi Byrne, Niall Hickey, Brian Maguire, Donie Commons (0-02), Danny Waters (1-01), Éamon Finnegan, Dylan Keating, Alan Mulvany (1-00), Cathal Hickey (0-01), Cian Commons (0-02, 1f), Eoin Finnegan (1-07, 1-00 pen, 2fs).

Subs: Colin Scanlon, Darren O’Brien (0-01), Aran Carey, Liam Dillon

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