It was 3rd time lucky for Summerhill in the Premier 2 final as they defeated Wolfe Tones in Paddy O’Brien Park on Friday evening. Having lost out to Ratoath two years ago and by a single point after extra time last year to St Colmcilles, Summerhill will be delighted to finally return to the top tier of 2nd team football in Meath.
Summerhill had beaten Wolfe Tones in the first round of the competition earlier in the summer but the Summerhill side were expecting a sterner test in the final. The Tones started of brighter and dominated possession for the first 10 minutes and lead by 3 points to 1. In the 12th minute Summerhill struck for their first goal. A long ball in from Jack Regan was well gathered by Cathal Brien who fired to the back of the net. A brace from Kevin Lyons, a 45 and a free extended the lead to 3 by the 20th minute. A Tones point from a free was quickly cancelled out by an excellent Ben Moran point in the 23rd minute. Eammon Ryan struck for Summerhill’s 2nd goal following good work by Jack Regan out the fields to stretch the lead out to six. Two late points from the Tones left the half time score 2-5 to 0-6.
Within 30 seconds of the resumption Conor Summerville scored a point. Tones replied with a point of their own before getting themselves right back into the game with a goal. A Tones shot was well saved by keeper Tony McDonnell but the ball was not cleared properly and was fired to the back to the net to cut Summerhill’s lead to just 2 points.
Despite the concession of a goal Summerhill’s heads did not drop and from the resulting kick out broke forward and a great move involving Conor Ryan, Jack Bannon saw Cathal Brien score his 2nd goal of the game. Summerhill dominated the game till the end but were wasteful up front adding three further points from Eammon Ryan and Kevin Mulligan and Cathal Ryan. Tones struggled to make headway against a strong Summerhill defense and added 2 point of their own to leave the final score Summerhill 3-9 Wolfe Tones 1-9.
Team: Tony McDonnell, Mark Donoghue, Eoghan Grehan, Ben Moran (0-1), Darragh McVann, Jack Bannon, Eoghan Jennings, Jack Regan, Conor McNally, Conor Ryan, Kevin Lyons (0-3, 1f, 1 45), Eamon Ryan (1-1), Conor Summerville (0-2), Cathal Brien (2-0), Gavin McVann.
Subs: Jack Davies for Eoghan Jennings, Kevin Mulligan (0-1) for Gavin McVann, Cathal Ryan (0-1) for Conor Summerville, Willie Ryan for Darragh McVann, Ross Tallon for Cathal Brien. Paddy McGrath, Connie McGrath, James Gray, Paddy Troy, Darragh Loughrey, Darren Chapman, Robbie McDonnell,
Wolfe Tones: Dan McHugh. Sean Considine, Sean Moriarty, Conor Mc Keever, Odhran O Beaglaioch, Éanna Harrington, Laochra Ó Fionnagain, Sean Murray, Aaron Tolan (1 01), Ben Reilly (0 01), Kyle Moran (0 01), Gary McFadden, Joe Smith (0 05), Alex Penny (0 01), Seán Kendall.
Subs: Rioghan Ó Beaglaioch, for Conor Mc Keever, Iarlaith Ó Kelly Lynch for Laochra O Fionnagain, Mark Diamond for Alex Penny.
