Skyrne............1-11
Starlights...........0-6
Ronan Fagan
DESPITE A gallant second-half effort, which saw the Wexford standard-bearers coming close to goaling on a number of occasions, Starlights ambitions of building upon their historic quarter-final success in the Leinster Club senior football championship were ended by Meaths finest, Skyrne, at an idyllic St. Conleths Park in Newbridge, County Kildare, on Sunday afternoon last.
While Skyrne were dominated for the first 19 minutes of the second-half (in which time Starlights succeeded in reducing an interval deficit of 1-3 to 0-2 to 1-5 to 0-6), the 12-time Meath winners, with county ace Trevor Giles hugely influencing the play from his midfield berth, and corner-forward Jamie Jordan stretching them clear on the scoreboard, were very worthy winners. When no.15 Jordan goaled for them after 18 minutes, to open-up a 1-1 to 0-0 lead, even at that early stage one suspected that the goal would prove a decisive blow for Skyrne. And, in truth, with some tidier shooting the winners could have been out-of-sight by half-time, as they had kicked eight bad wides, while Starlights shot two wides during a half in which the Enniscorthy town sides attack was starved of any quality possession.
The Bellefield based outfit merit praise for their unquenchable determination throughout, and they certainly caused Skyrne a few worries during the second-half, especially when narrowing the gap to two points. But the blue-and-whites finished with an unanswered 0-6 to secure their first-ever appearance in the Leinster final (and they now take on Portlaoise on December 5th, after the Laois men overcame Kilmacud Crokes of Dublin by 0-14 to 0-7 on the other side of the draw).
The ranks of the Starlights were considerably boosted with the return of Tom Wall and Declan Ruth, with Wall, who missed both Rathvilly games, having come back from Thailand on his trip en route to Australia to lend assistance. He and his defensive colleagues certainly saw plenty of the first-half action, as Giles inspired Skyrne from the word go. While the likes of Maurice Donohoe, Mark Gahan and Adrian Fenlon displayed grim defiance for the Stars, Skyrne had kicked two wides before James Gibbons pointed them in-front on five minutes.
John Hudson, the Starlights leading marksman and captain, was started at left wing-forward, but he had been switched to the edge of the square just before being unfortunate to shoot wide after good work by the two Ollies, Kinlough and OConnor in feeding the ball forward.
The Skyrne defence remained strong throughout the first period under high deliveries from the Starlights defence/midfield, when the Enniscorthy men would have been better advised to send the ball in at a lower trajectory. Skyrne, however, kept up the pressure, and they added a couple of further wides, before man of the match Jamie Jordan netted at the town-end in the 18th-minute (1-1 to 0-0); a free from inside their own half by David Donnelly was fielded by Jordan before the ball was threaded through Giles and Mick ODowd for Jordan to regain possession and fire to the roof of the net.
There was an amount of relief for Starlights as Skyrne added another three more wides. However, the winners managed to extend their lead to 1-2 to 0-1 after 23 minutes when centre-forward Brian Smyth pointed, after Paul ODonnell had fetched a Starlights kick-out. John Hudson eventually got Starlights off-the-mark from a free out on the left wing in the 24th-minute, following an indiscretion by Skyrne wing-back Nicky Hamill.
Hudson then switched roles with centre-forward Declan Ruth, but to no avail, as the service continued to be extremely poor. But Ruth encouraged Starlights connections when his 26th-minute attempt at lobbing the 'keeper, who was off his line, was barely touched over the crossbar by the retreating Felim ORourke. However, Kevin Mulvaney quickly negated that score, when he fisted over from close range just before being replaced by Alan Carty.
Starlights kicked another wide, before keeper Jason Russell cut out a possible goal threat, as he raced off his line a minute into injury-time to punch a cross from the right corner by Trevor Giles away from the ever threatening Jamie Jordan and to eventual safety. That all left the Slaneysiders feeling fortunate to have still been in the frame at the interval, when they trailed by just 0-2 to 1-3.
John Hudson was back at full-forward on the resumption, and after Skyrne had quickly got back on target with a 32nd-minute point from Paul ODonnell, the Enniscorthy men began to feature far more prominently. Indeed, Tomás 'Mossy' Mahon sent over a 34th-minute point following some good play by Willie Hudson. On 37 minutes John Hudson cut in from the right flank, in a move reminiscent of that which led to his spectacular goal in the county final, and which again held the promise of him bagging a similar score.
However, having gained possession from a good pass by 'Mossy' Mahon, and having made quite some yards, the top shooter slipped some 20 yards from goal, no doubt to the immense relief of Skyrnes 'keeper, Felim ORourke, who will have noted how Hudson had accounted for all but a point of Starlights tally of 2-13 in the two games against Rathvilly.
The sides each fired wide before John Hudson made some amends when reducing the gap to 1-4 to 0-4 when pointing a free from inside the arc. Skyrne were not attacking with as much regularity as they had during the first period. But they did call Starlights netminder Jason Russell into making an excellent save on 42 minutes (when he blocked a powerful drive from close range by Paul ODonnell), at the expense of a '45 from which the winners added their 10th wide.
An unfortunate error by the otherwise solid Liam Boland led to Trevor Giles shooting over to stretch Skyrne back into a four point lead in the 45th-minute (1-5 to 0-4). John Hudson pegged back a point after 46 minutes, and that was only moments before Ollie OConnor blasted a gilt edged goaling opportunity wide, when Adrian Fenlon and the Hudson brothers had contributed to one of the teams consistently top performers finding himself unmarked as he raced in from the left.
OConnor was rather harshly substituted immediately afterwards. But his replacement, Michael Donohoe quickly made an impression, when showing good strength to win a delivery down the left wing from 'Mossy' Mahon to cut in and shoot a good point. It kept Starlights hopes alive as the margin was closed to just two points with 11 minutes to go (1-5 to 0-6). While Skyrne went on to shoot six unanswered points inside the last 10 minutes (with Jamie Jordan 3, Paul ODonnell, Brian Smyth and Ken OConnell each obliging), the ever tenacious Starlights created a number of further goaling chances.
The opposition 'keeper raced off his line to cut out one threat following a long delivery from Ryan Quigley; Willie Hudson then shot across the face of goal, with his elder brother John being unlucky not to connect at the far post; good pressure by substitute Anthony Russell saw the ball break to Declan Ruth only for Tomás Mahon to see his shot blocked out for a '45 by Skyrne centre-back John Quinn; and Quinn then cleared the resultant phase of play. The Meath men went on to add their final two points, to make their passage safe.
To Starlights, plenty of praise. Winning a county championship is no mean feat, while getting a first-ever win in the provincial series can be considered even more noteworthy. In addition, they have blooded some new, young talent into the subs, something which should help them in their efforts to try to build upon this years progress when they get back down to business in 2005. Sunday simply wasnt to be their day. But they have plenty to be proud about.
Skyrne, Meath - Felim ORourke, David Rogan, David Donnelly, Andrew Curry, Martin Mulvaney, John Quinn (capt.), Nicky Hamill, Trevor Giles (0-1), John McDermott, James Gibbons (0-1), Brian Smyth (0-2), Paul ODonnell (0-2), Kevin Mulvaney (0-1), Mick ODowd, Jamie Jordan (1-3).
Subs: (Temporary, Alan Carty for Brian Smyth); Alan Carty for Kevin Mulvaney; Ken OConnell (0-1) for Brian Smyth.
Starlights - Jason Russell, Tom Wall, Mark Gahan, Maurice Donohoe, Mark Quigley, Adrian Fenlon, Liam Boland, Ollie Kinlough, Ryan Quigley, Tomás Mahon (0-1), Declan Ruth (0-1), John Hudson (capt., 0-3, 2 frees), Ollie OConnor, Eamonn Furlong, Willie Hudson.
Subs: Anthony Russell for Eamonn Furlong; Michael Donohoe (0-1) for Ollie OConnor; Pa Mernagh for Ollie Kinlough; Shay Deegan for Willie Hudson. Referee - John Bannon (Longford).
© Echo Newspapers
Thanks to Ronan for allowing us to publish this.
