Unstoppable Skryne surge past Gaeil Colmcille

Skryne...1-3-13

Gaeil Colmcille...1-1-9

In their well-structured, no-nonsense, warm-up routine before this SFC encounter got underway at Dunganny on Saturday evening, Skryne used approximately 27 footballs and when the game itself got underway the men in blue certainly looked comfortable in possession.

Not only that they looked sharp and focused, each player in the team fully aware of what he was supposed to be doing; what his role was.

They had also in Niall Finnerty, Paddy Carpenter, Billy Smyth, Darragh Campion and Padraig Finnerty the kind of players who possessed the pace and awareness to really trouble their opponents.

Niall Finnerty, in particular, was really in the zone with his contribution of nine points an indication of the profound influence he exerted. He also had an effort rebound off the upright.

Mick O’Dowd’s well-coached side were more disciplined than Gaeil Colmcille who had a man, Daniel Farrelly, shown a black card just before the interval.

Gaeil Colmcille, shock winners over Summerhill in round one, also gave away quite a few needless frees, as well a penalty early in the second-half and had the ball brought forward for dissent at least once.

The penalty came about when Campion embarked on one his surging runs and was driving through the heart of the Gaeil Colmcille defence when he was clearly pushed. Referee Andrew Smith had no hesitation in indicating a spot-kick.

Up stepped Conor O’Brien but his spot-kick, aimed for the bottom corner, was brilliantly saved by Gaeil Colmcille ‘keeper Barry Farrelly. It was a real let-off for Conn Cleary’s team.

By then Skryne had already helped themselves to a goal. In fact it was their first score of the game after five just minutes. Niall Finnerty delivered a lovely pass to Oisin Keogh out on the right.

Keogh switched on his after-burners and sliced through the opposition cover to fire past Barry Farrelly. Skryne players were throughout the 60 minutes adept at skipping past their markers and thus causing consternation in the Gaeil Colmcille defence.

That goal helped Skryne to go in at the break with a hefty 1-9 to 0-4 advantage. Even with the help of the breeze, and the advantage of the slope on the pitch, Gaeil Colmcille couldn’t overtake their opponents who were organised and strong defensively.

A feature of the Skryne display was the way three substitutes – Conor Donohoe, Charlie Swan and Andrew Canavan – arrived into the fray in the second act and each of them pointed to help keep their team ticking over.

It was one of Gaeil Colmcille’s replacements, Ryan Farnham, who scored their goal on 51 minutes when he latched onto to loose ball in the Skryne goalmouth to fire home.

That left the scoreboard reading 1-13 to 1-9 and caused the Gaeil Colmcille followers in the sizeable crowd to find their voice. Such hope Farnham’s goal did engender, however, was to prove illusionary as Skryne marched on.

Full-back Rian Early gave a commanding defensive display for Gaeil Colmcille but too often his team’s attacks floundered because of Skryne’s own defensive sturdiness.

Seamus Mattimoe, the ever-busy Fionn Reilly, Andrew Gormley, Oisin Reilly, Ajay Tormay and Farnham all landed noteworthy points from play but the scores arrived far too infrequently for a subdued Gaeil Colmcille side to seriously threaten Skryne’s superiority. A superiority that was more comprehensive, than their winning margin of eight points might suggest.

Last season this well-honed Skryne side made it into the last four of the SFC. They could go even further this time around.

Skryne – Ian Gillett; Jack Swan, Ciaran Lenihan, Niall Lenihan; Paddy Carpenter, John O’Regan, John Finnerty; Daniel Fitzpatrick, Harry Rooney; Padraig Finnerty, Niall Finnerty (0-9 one two point, three frees), Oisin Keogh (1-0); Conor O’Brien (0-1), Darragh Campion (0-5, two two pointers one free), Billy Smyth (0-1). Subs – Conor Donohoe (0-1) for Smyth 39m, Charlie Swan (0-1) for P Finnerty 48m, Andrew Canavan (0-1) for Keogh 55m, James Reeves for Carpenter 56m.

Gaeil Colmcille – Barry Farrelly; Adam Donnelly (0-1 free), Rian Early, Adam Muldoon; Johnny Quigley, Jordan Muldoon, Daniel Farrelly; Liam Ferguson, Seamus Mattimoe (0-3 one two point free); Aaron Browne, Ajay Tormay (0-1), Fionn Reilly (0-1); Andrew Gormley (0-3 two frees), Oisin Walsh, Oisin Reilly (0-1). Subs - Ryan Farnham (1-1) for Browne half-time, Brian Hanlon for Walsh, Evan Sheridan for D Farrelly both 46m.

Referee - Andrew Smith (Dunshaughlin).