JACFC Div 5: Seneschalstown 3rds cruise into semi-final

Seneschalstown's Joe Sheridan

Seneschalstown 5-20 Simonstown Gaels 1-05

Seneschalstown qualified for the semi-finals of the Meath Cleaning Supplies Junior All-County Football Championship Division 5 with a comprehensive win over Simonstown Gaels played in Boliden Tara Mines Park on the north side of Navan on Friday night.

Before throw-in, there was a minutes silence held in memory of Conor Ahern, a member of the Simonstown team that took to the field last night who sadly passed last week. The Simonstown players also wore black armbands during the game.

Seneschalstown got on top immediately and lead pretty much the whole way through. Shane Mulvany opened the scoring after a minute of play before Simonstown equalised sixty seconds later.

From there it was all Andrew Rogers side, once Bryan Clarke put them ahead from a close range free it was one way traffic. Johnny Gilsenan kicked his first point after eight minutes and when Clarke kicked a two point free Seneschalstown were motoring. Jamie Barry got on the scoreboard with a fine individual point which Gilsenan added to.

Seneschalstown’s first goal arrived after 18 minutes when Joe Sheridan and Clarke linked up for the latter to finish and the lead stood at 1-07 to 0-01. The home side got their second score of the game before Sheridan got his name on the scoresheet when firing over from close range.

Two further points from Gilsenan and a point for the Navan side closed out the scoring for the first half as Seneschalstown had a healthy ten point lead at break, 1-10 to 0-03.

Seneschalstown were wary of a Simonstown backlash in the second half and went about putting the game to bed with a flurry of scores in the third quarter. Joe Sheridan raised a white flag inside forty seconds before Seneschalstown punished a slack kickout when Clarke found the net for his second goal of the night. Johnny Gilsenan continued his fine form from the opening half with a point before Clarke found the net twice inside a minute to complete a second half hat trick of goals in under five minutes and bring his tally of majors on the night to four. The same player kicked a superb two pointer from play after 41 minutes as Gilsenan also kept chipping away on the scoreboard with a brace of points.

As the game entered the final quarter, all shape and tactics had gone out the window and Simonstown had a mini spell of their own hitting 1-01 and despite Seneschalstown’s scoring rate slowing down somewhat Gilsenan, Sheridan and Stephen Finnegan helped bring Seneschalstown up their final tally of 5-20 and earn a semi-final date with Carnaross on Saturday September 26th at 16:00 in Carnaross.

Seneschalstown: Colm McDonnell, Oran Lawlor, Eoghan McGauran, Conor Cowley, Tom Smyth, Niall McCabe, Joe Norris, Podge Finegan, Mark Fox, Bryan Clarke (4-07, 1tpf, 1f), Johnny Gilsenan (1-07), Jamie Barry (0-01), Stephen Finnegan (0-01), Joe Sheridan (0-03), Shane Mulvany (0-01).

Subs: Luke Healy, Jack Kearns