League Div 1 Rd 3

Summerhill travelled to Simonstown on Tuesday evening for round three of the League Division One. It was touch and go all day whether the game would go ahead following all the recent rain. The pitch in Simonstown was soft in spots but all in all was not in bad condition considering all the recent rain. 

Summerhill opened the scoring with a Conor Frayne free. The home side hit back with 4 unanswered points, 3 from free kicks and one from a mark to lead by four points to one after 10 minutes. Summerhill scored their second point in the 10th minute from Kevin Ryan. This was quickly cancelled out by the home side to restore their three-point lead. At this stage Summerhill lost goalkeeper Sean Muddiman with an injury who was replaced by Ross Tallon. Summerhill then took control of the match, hitting 5 unanswered points between the 12th and the 25th minute, with points from Jack Davis, Seanie Dalton, Barry Dardis and two frees from Conor Frayne. On the stroke of half time Simonstown added another free to cut the gap to just a single point on the halftime whistle.  

Halftime score. Summer Hill 0-7, Simonstown 0-6  

Summerhill opened the scoring in the second half with another Conor Frayne point. But in the 4th minute of the half, Simonstown struck for their first goal to take the lead. Summerhill responded immediately with a Diarmuid McCabe point draw the sides level once more. However, in their very next attack, Simonstown scored their second goal to extend their lead out to 3. Summerhill needed an immediate response, and they got it with a goal from Kevin Ryan. Barry Dardis picked up the ball around the middle of the field and held off some strong challenges to run at the Simonstown defense. He laid off the ball to Johnny Lavelle, who found the in running Kevin Ryan who fired the ball to the back of the net. 

The home side responded with a point of their own to take the lead again. Summerhill took control of the match again scoring the next four points, a 45 from Barry Dardis as well as points from Diarmuid McCabe, Jamie O’Shea and Conor Frayne to lead once again by three with 10-minute remaining. However, with 6 minutes left. The home side scored the third goal of the game to tie up the match once more and undo all Summerhill’s hard work. Barry Dardis added another point in 27th minute to give Summerhill the lead again. With time almost up Summerhill finally made the game safe when Johnny Lavelle scored their second goal. With the home side pushing for an equalizing score Summerhill turned over the ball in their own defense and moved the ball quickly the full length of the field. A neat one two between corner backs Ben Moran and Johnny Lavelle ended with Lavelle firing to the back of the net to seal the win. 

Final Score Summerhill 2-15 Simonstown 3-8.  

 Team: Sean Muddiman,  Ben Moran, Iarla Hughes, John Lavelle (1-0), Padhraig Geraghty, Jack Davies (0-1), Jamie O’Shea (0-1), Adam Flanagan, Diarmuid McCabe (0-2), David Larkin, Kevin Lyons, Kevin Ryan (1-1), Conor Frayne (0-6, 5f), Sean Dalton (0-1), Barry Dardis (0-3), 1 45m). 

Subs: Ross Tallon for Muddiman, Darragh Tormey for Geraghty, Conor Ryan for Lyons.