Summerhill travelled to Simonstown on a warm sunny Tuesday evening for their penultimate A-League Div 1 game. Summerhill sat in second position in the league, a point behind leaders Ratoath and in a position to qualify for the final but knew any slip up would open the door to third place St Colmcilles who were just a single point behind.
Summerhill began the game well and by the 10th minute they led by 4 points to 1 with points from Eamonn McDonnell, Eoghan Frayne and a pair from Jamie O’Shea who was returning after a spell out through injury. The home side had drawn level by the 17th minute but Summerhill reestablished control of the game hitting 5 of the next 6 points in the run in to half time. Four of these point coming from Liam Shaw frees as well as a fine effort from play from Padhraig Geraghty. This left Summerhill leading by 4 at the break on a score line of 0-9 to Simonstown 0-4.
The home side dominated the early stages of the 2nd half hitting 1-2 without reply to take the lead in the game by the 11th minute. Simonstown’s goal coming in the 5th minute when a quick break forward was well finished to the back of the net from a tight enough angle. Summerhill’s cause was not helped when Ben Moran picked up a black card in the 15th minute of the half. Despite been a man down Summerhill rallied during this period and hit the next 2 points to retake the lead. The home side perhaps didn’t take full advantage of the extra man and seemed to be content to hold onto possession without really threatening to score. With 5 minutes left on the clock the home side equalised again with what turned out to be the last score of the game. With time running out Summerhill missed a number of chances to score a winner but were lucky not to ultimately lose the game. In the final play of the game a good run from a Simonstown attacker saw him get in 1 on 1 with Summerhill’s keeper Sean Muddiman. Rather than tap the ball over for the winning point he went for goal and Muddiman made a smart save down to his left to earn his side a point. Full time score Summerhill 0-11 Simonstown 1-8.
The draw means qualification for the final is now out of hand and will rely on other results going our way. Next up is our final round of the league v Donaghmore Ashbourne in 2 weeks’ time.
Team: Sean Mudiman, John Lavelle, Iarla Hughes, Ben Moran, Padhraig Geraghty (0-2), Adam McDonnell, Jamie O’Shea (0-2), Adam Flanagan, Kevin Lyons, David Larkin, Eoghan Frayne (0-1), Eamonn Ryan, Eamonn McDonnell (0-1), David Dalton, Liam Shaw (0-5, 5f).
Subs: Eoghan Jennings for Kevin Lyons.