Summerhill travel to Skryne on Tuesday evening to take on the host in the second round of the Premier Division 6 Championship. Summerhill were hoping to build on the win against Simonstown in the first round. Probably due to the school and college holiday Summerhill had a big squad togged out for the game which was great to see. The pitch was in good condition despite the recent rain but as the players warmed up the rain started to fall and it turned into a very wet evening a making for very slippery conditions under foot.
Summerhill opened brightly with Ray Comey point, firing just over the bar after been set up by Connie McGrath. Skryne however took over for the next 15 minutes scoring 6 unanswered points with some excellent scores from play. During this period of Skryne dominance Summerhill spurned several decent goal chances with wayward shooting to let the home side off the hook. By the middle of the half the Summerhill’s defence started to get to grips with the nippy Skryne forwards. Summerhill scored four of the next five points in the run up to half time, with points from Darragh McVann, Conor Summerville, a Paddy Mulligan free and a point from Connie McGrath. This left the half time score Summerhill 0-5 Skryne 0-7.
Conditions continued to deteriorate as the second half got underway but Summerhill continued from where they left off in the first half scoring the first three points at the half to take the lead for the first time, an excellent point from distance by Paddy McGrath was followed up by two frees from Paddy Mulligan. Skryne hit back with a point of their own in the 10 minutes to leave the sides level with all to play for entering the last quarter. In such a tight game and given the conditions a goal was always going to be vital and this goal the scored by Summerhill. A long kick out evaded everyone in midfield and was picked up by substitute Ross Tallon who raced through on goal. His shot was deflected by the Skryne goalkeeper but a combination of the posts and the in-rushing Luke Byrne saw the ball finish up in the back of the Skryne net for a vital score. Two minutes later “super sub” Tallon got on the scoreboard again with a point to extend Summerhill’s lead to four with a little over 10 minutes left.
With the game slipping away from them Skryne pressed forward and were awarded a penalty following a foul by Summerhill goalkeeper Sean Hughes. Hughes made-up for the concession of the spot kick by making a great save down to his left to preserve the Summerhill lead. Skryne added a further two points in the closing stages of the game but some resolute Summerhill defending kept them out to secure a hard-fought win. Final score Summerhill 1-9 Skryne 0-10. Summerhill will be delighted to come away with the win and showed great character to in such a tight game and given the difficult condition. Another plus was the return to action for Paddy McGrath after a long injury layoff.
Team: Sean Hughes, Paddy Troy, Gary Rispin, Gerry O’Neill, Darren Chapman, Conor Ryan, Donald Matthews, Paddy Mulligan (0-3, 3f), Paddy McGrath (0-1), Connor Summerville, Luke Byrne, Dara McVann (0-1), Ray Comey (0-1), Connie McGrath (0-2), John Comey.
Subs: Kian Hussey for Ray Comey, James Gray for Conor Summerville, Gavin McVann for Darragh McVann, Ross Tallon (1-1) for Paddy Mulligan, Jamie Burke for Connie McGrath.
