Bracks dig deep in thrilling win over Yellow Furze

Points from stalwarts Chris O'Connor and Damien Carroll sealed the important win for Ciaran Giblin's side.

Ballinabrackey 2-1-13 (21)

Seneschalstown 2-2-9 (19)

TOM GANNON

Late scores for stalwarts Damien Carroll and Chris O’Connor ensured that Ballinabrackey took the spoils over Seneschalstown in an unpredictable and exciting SFC encounter at Trim on Sunday.

Ballinabrackey were without the services of their county star Sean Coffey who was one of several players that have suffered the dreaded ACL injury in recent weeks but the man who filled in for him at centre-back Adam O’Brien was crucial to a very important win for Ciaran Giblin’s side.

O’Brien scored a brace of goals in the first-half and set up Carroll for that late point which edged the Bracks in front before former Meath senior Chris O’Connor put Ballinabrackey two ahead deep in injury time. The foundation for the Bracks’ success was built in the first-half as O’Brien’s goals helped his side to a 12-point advantage at the break. Seneschalstown will have regrets over the chances they missed in that opening 30 minutes.

David Hosie’s side kicked 12 wides in the first-half and finished with a wide tally of 18. Meanwhile, the men in geen and yellow only registered 6 wides in total, a third less than their opponents. Having trailed by 12 at the interval, Seneschalstown dominated the third quarter and outscored their opponents by 1-8 to 0-1 which gave them a narrow lead. The Bracks' response was very positive and they rattled off four points on the spin to regain the advantage and restore a gap of three points.

In what was a topsy-turvy final 10 minutes, Seneschalstown edged ahead again when they capitalised on a few mistakes from Shay Curry who is not Ballinabrackey’s usual net-minder but was standing in for the absent Dean Pluck. Ballinabrackey finished strong though and recorded a massive victory which keeps them in the hunt for qualification to the knock-out stages.

After a cagey opening five minutes, Mark Coffey set O’Brien up for the first of his brace of goals. Mark Coffey was quite influential in that first 20 minutes or so and he also registered two lovely points himself and set up Sean Kavanagh for a score.

Seneschalstown were quite wasteful in the first 20 minutes and kicked five wides however, Dylan Keating and Danny Waters did polish off two well-worked moves with points. Down into the Aura end of Trim’s pitch, the Bracks were flourishing and a nice strike for a point from Danny Quinn was followed up by O’Brien’s second goal.

David Hosie will certainly not be happy about his sides defending for that goal as O’Brien was afforded so much space right in front of the goalmouth before he received a pass from Carroll and buried the ball to the net.

After 25 minutes, Ballinabrackey led by eight points and that gap was extended to nine when Carroll won a David Gordon kick-out and played a lovely kick-pass to Gavin Quinn who did well to split the posts under pressure from Seneschalstown defenders. At the break Ballinabrackey led comfortably by 2-6 to 0-3.

The third quarter belonged to Seneschalstown and they kicked it off in style soon after the restart when Darren O’Brien scored a fantastic individual goal. Cian Commons rattled off three points in a row before Keating struck a stunning two-pointer with the outside of his left boot which made it 1-5 on the spin for the Yellow Furze between the 30th and 39th minute.

Richie Coffey put Ballinabrackey ahead by two again before a Robbie Finnegan two-pointer drew the sides level and Commons edged Seneschalstown ahead by 1-11 to 2-7 at the end of the third quarter.

In the 47th minute, Simon Finn’s two-pointer leapfrogged Ballinabrackey back in front before Niall Smullen and Carroll put the Bracks three ahead with 10 minutes left. Alan Mulvaney then swung the tide back in Seneschalstown’s favour when he captalised on a poor kick-out from Curry, bursted through the defence and slotted past the netminder for Seneschalstown’s second goal.

The men in blue and yellow began to put a squeeze on Ballinabrackey’s kick-outs and substitute Cathal Finnegan who made his return from an ACL injury edged Hosie's men ahead again. However, Ballinabrackey finished strongest and contributions from Gavin Quinn along with the stalwarts O’Connor and Carroll sealed the victory for the Bracks.

Cathal Hickey received a red card late on for a high tackle on Nicky Judge and Alan Mulvaney had a penalty claim waved away by referee Andrew Smith but in truth Seneschalstown’s downfall was their own wastefulness, particularly in the first half.

Ballinabrackey: Shay Curry; Jason Lynch, Nicky Judge, Conor Ennis; Richie Coffey (0-1), Adam O’Brien (2-0), Mark Coffey (0-2); Simon Finn (0-2 two-pointer), Erick Clancy; Danny Quinn (0-1), Niall Smullen (0-1) David Carroll; Gavin Quinn (0-3), Damien Carroll (0-2 one free), Sean Kavanagh (0-2). Subs: Chris O’Connor (0-1) for Kavanagh 51m, Evan Daly for G Quinn 65m.

Seneschalstown: David Gordon; Conor McDonnell, Woody Nicholson, Seimi Byrne; Colin Scanlon (0-1), Simon Rooney, Danny Waters (0-1); Darren O’Brien (1-0), Cathal Hickey; Ronan Conneely, Dylan Keating (0-3 one two-pointer), Alan Mulvany (1-0); Eamon Finnegan(0-1), Cian Commons (0-4 three frees), Robbie Finnegan (0-2 two-pointer). Subs: Donal Commons for McDonnell (half-time), Cathal Finnegan (0-1)for R Finnegan 44m, Sean Carey for E Finnegan 53m.

Referee: Andrew Smith (Dunshaughlin).