Summerhill and St Colmcille's secure league final spots

The top two going into last Tuesday's final round of A FL Div 1A fixtures, Summerhill and St Colmcille's, maintained their positions and booked their place in the final following an exciting series of games.

The relegation spots were also confirmed with winless Navan O'Mahonys joined by Ballinabrackey who narrowly failed to pick up the win they needed against Gaeil Colmcille to avoid the drop.

It would have taken a series of unfortunate results to deny Summerhill their place in the final, but St Colmcille's clash with Skryne was a straight shootout to determine which one of the pair would make the final.

Following a cracking game in Skryne it was in-form St Colmcille's who booked their place in the decider with a 1-14 to 0-11 win.

The Cilles lined out with a strong team which included Graham Reilly, James Conlon, David Bell, Ben Brennan, Endy Ehichoya and Shaun Leonard, while Skryne were missing four of their regular starting lineup with Ciarán Lenehan, John Finnerty, John O’Regan and David Carroll all away, but Eoghan Greene made a welcome return to their starting 15.

A tight opening half saw Jeff Kavanagh, Graham Reilly, James Conlon, Cathal Hilliard and David Bell fire St Colmcille's into an impressive early lead, but Skryne rallied well and closed the gap to 0-5 to 0-8 at the break with Darragh Campion, Niall Finnerty and Mark Battersby on target

After the resumption Kavanagh and Cathal Hilliard restored St Colmcille's five-point advantage. However back came Skryne with Campion (from a '45' after Finnerty was denied a goal by a great save), Battersby and Finnerty all on target to close the deficit to the minimum, but then came the decisive goal as Conlon weaved his magic to fire to the net.

Campion replied immediately with a point, but that proved to be Skryne's last as St Colmcille's finished strong with Conlon adding three more points to secure the final spot.

Skryne – Ian Gillett; Kristoffer Kinsella, Andrew Moore, Eoghan Greene; Tommy Carpenter, Stephen O’Brien, Frank Carty; Harry Rooney, Oisín Keogh; Conor O’Brien, Darragh Campion (0-4), Shane Smyth; Niall Finnerty (0-3), Patrick Fox, Mark Battersby (0-4). Subs – Timmy Lennon, Neil Burke.

There was still an outside chance that Gaeil Colmcille might get dragged into the relegation zone when they travelled to Boyne Park to take on Ballinabrackey, but they took care of business and scored a 1-15 to 1-13 win to secure their status while condemning their hosts to the drop.

After a tense opening quarter it was Gaeil Colmcille who kicked on to lead by 1-9 to 0-5 at the break, but all that good work was wiped out early in the second-half as a Seamus Curry point was followed by a goal for Sean Coffey before Damien Carroll, David Carroll and Danny Quinn all pointed to edge Ballinabrackey into the lead, 1-10 to 1-9.

The sides continued to traded points before the excellence of Brian Hanlon's free-taking put Gaeil Colmcille in control and once they got their noses in front again they didn't relinquish the lead.

Ballinabrackey - Dean Pluck; Conor Ennis, Nicky Judge, Adam O’Brien; Leo Cullen, Chris O’Connor, Richie Coffey; Erick Clancy, Sean Coffey (1-1); Danny Quinn (0-2), David Carroll (0-1), Mark Coffey; Seamus Curry (0-2), Damien Carroll (0-6), Sean Kavanagh. Subs - Gavin Quinn for Clancy, Stephen Donoghue for Cullen.

Ratoath were one of the other serious contenders for a place in the final, but they needed a win over Na Fianna and for either Summerhill or St Colmcille's to slip up if they were to sneak into the final.

A tight opening half ended with Jamie Queeney, Oisin McCloskey and Daniel Queeney firing Na Fianna into a 0-4 to 0-3 interval lead, but it stayed tight throughout before Luke Kelly lofted over what proved to be the equalising point (0-9 each) that was enough to secure Na Fianna's status and deny Ratoath an outside chance of a final spot.

Na Fianna - Shane Geraghty; John Baldwin, Michael Farley, Michael Collins; Paul Kennedy, Sean Martin, James Geagan (0-1); Jamie Queeney (0-3), Owen McDonnell; Ronan Byrne, Conor Downey, Oisin McCloskey (0-3); Daniel Queeney (0-1), Luke Kelly (0-1), Jack McNally. Sub - Brian Queeney for Geagan.