Summerhill took on St Colmcille’s in round three of the LMFM Minor Football Championship in Summerhill on Monday evening. The home side knew a win would qualify them for the semi final and it turned our to be a tightly contested game that went right down to the wire.
The Summerhill boys started off brightly and raced into a 3 points to 1 lead after 20 minutes with two pointed frees from Bobby O’Shea and an effort from midfielder Declan Byrne. In the lead up to half time the visitors hit 3 late points to lead by a single point at the break, 4 points to 3 with all to play for in the second-half.
A great point from distance from Bobby O’Shea opened the scoring in the 2nd half and drew the sides level in the third minutes. But the visitors dominated the next 15 minutes of the game and raced into six point lead when the found the back of the Summerhill net midway through the half. The concession of the goal spurred the Summerhill boys back into action, and quick points from Brian Quinn and Bobby O’Shea saw them cut the deficit to four. In the 20th minute of the half, a long ball into the St Colmcilles square rebounded off the keeper and substitute Pierce Anderson was on hand to dispatch the ball to the back of the net to cut the deficit to just a single point with 10 minutes remaining.
The visitors responded with a point of their own to extend the lead one more, but a point from substitute Caolan Comey in the 25th minute cut the deficit to the minimum once more. With time almost up with Summerhill, pressing for the equalizer the visitors broke forward and scored another point to push the lead out to two on the stroke of full time. At this stage, Summerhill knew only a goal would do and in a frantic final few minutes they laid siege to the St Colmcilles goal. With the last play of the game a high ball lobbed in to a pack goal mouth from Sennan Loughery bounced agonizingly over rather than under the bar. This was to be the final action of the game and it left the final score. Summerhill 1-8. St Colmcilles 1-9.
Even with the defeat Summerhill knew they were still in with a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages. Tensions were high as they awaited the result of the Navan O’Mahonys Simonstown game. News came through of a Navan win which raised hopes as Summerhill, O’Mahonys and Simonstown all finished on the same points. Under new GAA rules the team progressing would be based on who topped the “mini” league between the 3 sides. Under the old rules of the score difference in the whole group we would have qualified.
Eventually after all the calculations Summerhill missed out. Amazingly all three teams finished with a point difference of zero but Navan O’Mahonys came out on top by virtue of having higher scores for and qualified for the semifinal. 1 more point scores or 1 less pointed conceded over the campaign would have seen Summerhill qualify.
The lads put in a great campaign and played brilliantly throughout. It was a great achievement to be in the top division of Meath football and coming so close to progressing. It was heartbreaking to miss out by a single point. But that’s football. Huge credit must goes to the players and to their management of Ger Ryan, Tommy Quinn, Adrian Byrne, Eamonn O’Shea, Tom McVann and Paddy. Many of this team will be minor again next year so hopefully they can look forward to going even better next year.
Team: Michael Madden, Josh Coughlan, Daithi Grehan, Mike Feeney, Jake Ryan, Brian Quinn (0-1), Mark McDonald, Lewis Ryan, Declan Byrne (0-1), Ben McQuaid, Bobby O’Shea (0-4, 2f), Danial Gaffney, Aaron Hussey, Cormac Murray, Seanan Loughrey (0-1).
Subs: Kyle Byrne, Callum Farrell, James O’Connor, Harry Gray, Pearse Anderson (1-0), Jake Farrell, Eoin King, John McVann, Caolan Comey (0-1), Jack Seerey.
