Summerhill began their Senior Football Championship campaign with a game against Ballinabrackey in Clonard on Saturday evening.

As usual, the pitch in Clonard was in great condition. Despite the recent poor weather, it was a bright but breezy evening with a swirling wind blowing across the pitch that was going to make things difficult for the forwards.

Early exchanges in the game were cautious with both sides trying to find their feet. The Bracks opened the score in the 5th minute with a point to take the lead. Summerhill were having trouble adjusting to the conditions and were guilty of missing a number of chances. They finally got off the mark with a good point from Barry Dardis in the 8th minute. An Eoghan Frayne mark and a point from Kevin Ryan saw them lead by three points to one by the 13th minute. Another Ballinabrackey point was cancelled out by a long range free from Barry Dardis to leave the score four points to two by the 22nd minute. In the lead up to the break the Bracks hit a purple patch hitting three unanswered points to reach half time leading by five points to four.

Ballinabrackey carried the momentum from the end of the first half into the second scoring a point within 30 seconds of the restart to extend their lead. In the 5th minute of the half the Bracks squandered a good goal chance that would have extended their lead even further. This let off finally spurred a lethargic Summerhill into life as they began to find their range. Three points in as many minutes from a Barry Dardis free, Eoghan Frayne and Conor Lyons saw them retake the lead by the 9th minute.

In the 13th minute Summerhill scored their first goal through recently introduced substitute Eamonn McDonnell. A ball from Eoghan Frayne played in over the Bracks defense found McDonnell who managed to get a touch to the ball to divert it passed the stranded keeper to score with his first touch of the game. Summerhill were in full control of the game at this stage and were dominating around the middle with Ballinabrackey struggling to gain possession. Summerhill added points from Conor Lyons and Adam McDonnell, to further extend the lead.

In the 18th minute of the half, the result of the match was put beyond doubt when Barry Dardis cut in from the right to fire to the back of the net for Summerhill’s 2nd goal to extend their lead out to nine points. Ballinabrackey scored their second point of the half in the 20th minute to briefly stem the flow. However, Summerhill pushed on and added three points late on, one from a Barry Dardis free, one from Eoghan Frayne and a point with the last kick of the game from Ross Ryan, to run out comfortable winners in the end on a score line of 2-12 to 0-7.

Summerhill 2-12 Ballinbrackey 0-7

Summerhill: Sean Muddiman, Iarla Hughes, Ronan Ryan, John Lavelle, Adam McDonnell (0-1),Ross Ryan (0-1), Padhraig Geraghty, Michael Byrne, Adam Flanagan, David Larkin, Eoghan Frayne (0-3,1m), Kevin Ryan (0-1), Conor Lyons (0-2), David Dalton, Barry Dardis (1-4,3f).

Subs: Jamie O’Shea for John Lavelle, Eamonn McDonnell (1-0) for Kevin Ryan, Liam Shaw for David Dalton.