Simonstown survive mid-game wobble to see off Skryne

Football is a funny old game. One minute you're riding high, lording proceedings and the next thing you're on the back foot. That was certainly the case for Simonstown as they eked out a deserved 1-14 to 0-11 SFC victory over Skryne at Pairc Tailteann today.

With a deceptively strong wind at their backs Simonstown looked like world beaters for the first 25 minutes.

Leading 0-9 to 0-1 in the 25th minute, Simonstown lost two players to black cards as Skryne managed to get back to within two points with seven minutes remaining and had their tails up.

However Mark Gardiner made amends for his black card and snatched what proved to be the crucial goal that killed off Skryne's resistence.

Padraig McKeever's accuracy from frees was just as impressive as his contribution from open play. He opened the scoring in the first minute and added two more frees after Andrew Kearney had scored to make it 0-4 to 0-0 after 12 minutes.

Simonstown remained in control with Kearney adding his second before Niall Finnerty eventually opened Skryne's account from a 15th minute free.

The traffic continued to flow one-way with McKeever (free), Brian McGrath and Kearney making it 0-8 to 0-1 before Kearney saw black following an incident after he had scored.

Sean Tobin added a free two minutes later before the impressive Harry Rooney kicked Skryne's first from play in the 27th minute.

O'Rourke restored Simonstown's eight-point lead with an outrageous point from the right-hand sideline with his right foot - proving class is permanent, but Simonstown then went down to 13-men when Gardiner was ordered off for 10 minutes in first-half injury-time with his side leading 0-10 to 0-2 at the break.

After Kearney resumed McKeever extended Simonstown's lead with another free, but successive points from Mark Battersby (free), Darragh Campion ('45') and Brian Davis closed the deficit to 0-5 to 0-11 while Simonstown were still down to 14.

After the Simonstown wing-back returned Campion and McKeever traded fine points, but it was Skryne who were on the front foot as Campion from a '45', Battersby with two in-a-row, one from a free and one from a mark, and Ciaran Lenehan all found their range to make it 0-10 to 0-12 with seven minutes remaining.

Hope of an amazing comeback lasted just another minute as O'Rourke and McKeever combined to set up Gardiner for an excellent goal - game over.

Campion did reply with a fine score, but it was Simonstown who were comfortable again as they added two more points from McKeever to seal the win before Rooney picked up a second yellow card.

SCORERS

Simonstown - Padraig McKeever 0-8 five frees; Andrew Kearney 0-3; Mark Gardiner 1-0; Brian McGrath 0-1; Sean Tobin 0-1 free; Shane O'Rourke 0-1 sideline.

Skryne - Darragh Campion 0-4 two '45s'; Mark Battersby 0-3 two frees, one mark; Niall Finnerty 0-1 free; Harry Rooney 0-1; Brian Davis 0-1; Ciaran Lenehan 0-1.

TEAMS

Simonstown – Robbie Burlingham; Michael Gavin, Stephen Moran, Josh Carolan; Brian McGrath, Brian Conlon, Mark Gardiner; Sean Tobin, Rory O'Connor; Ben Hoey, Padraig McKeever, Nicky O'Brien; Shane Barry, Shane O'Rourke, Andrew Kearney. Subs - Rory Connor for O'Brien 42 mins, Joe Lyons for O'Connor 52m, James Heaney for Hoey 56m.

Skryne – Ian Gillette; Robbie Clarke, Ciaran Lenehan, Niall Lenehan; Andrew Moore, Eoghan Greene, Stephen O'Brien; Harry Rooney, Tommy Carpenter; Shane Smyth, Darragh Campion, Paddy Carpenter; Niall Finnerty, Mark Battersby, Padraig Finnerty. Subs - Eoin Smyth for Carpenter, Conor O'Brien for P Finnerty both half-time, Brian Davis for Carpenter 34 mins, Ian Davis for S Smyth 48m.

Referee – Andrew Smith (Dunshaughlin).