Minor Championship Semi-Final

Full Time Score: Summerhill 3-07 Ballinabrackey 1-11

They say “goals win games” and so it proved to be in Summerhill on Sunday morning in this tight and tense minor Div 3 semifinal. But the goals were not the only talking point as the result was in doubt up to the final whistle. The visitors brought a mobile style of football, mixed with a physicality not experienced by the home side in this competition to date. To come out on top in the end was testament to Summerhill refusing to panic when things were going against them.

Playing against a strong breeze in the first half scores were hard to come by. Adam Larkin got on the end of a great move to finish expertly to the net to open the home account, while a fine effort from play by Kian Hussey and two from Jamie O’Shea (1free) gave Summerhill a narrow one point lead at the break, 1-03 to 0-05.

Great defensive work by Conor Ryan, Gavin McVann, Kevin Mulligan etc. kept the ‘Brackies scoring efforts to a minimum in that opening period. However it was the visitors who got on the scoresheet earliest in the second half, carrying on where they left off and making little of the fresh breeze to go ahead for the first time. Eoghan Frayne, who found the going tough against a well drilled defense, at last got on the scoresheet, before substitute Jamie Ryan, in the right place at the right time at the edge of the square finished an Adam Larkin high ball to the net.

The final minutes were filled with drama. Ballinabrackey, who were winning the lionshare of midfield possession, scored a rather fortunate goal to go ahead by a point. The home side drew level with a super Adam McDonnell effort, at the second time of asking, and extra time looked to be on the cards. However the Summerhill lads had a senior semifinal to go to, and a superb finish to the net by Jamie O’Shea ensured the road to Navan shortly afterwards was a happy one.

Team and scorers;

Oisin Hussey; Ben Moran, Gavin McVann, Darren Chapman; Kevin Mulligan, Conor Ryan, Adam McDonnell(0.01); Adam Byrne, Donal Matthews; Conor Summerville, Jamie O’Shea(1.02),Adam Larkin(1.01); Kian Hussey (0.01), Eoghan Frayne(0.01), Luke Moran;

Subs; Jamie Ryan(1.01) for Conor Summerville.

Subs not used: Luke Byrne, Sean Mulligan, Harry Ryan, Henrique Magno, Darren McVann, Jack Brennan.