Athea 1-08 St. Senans 0-12
Our Intermediates chances of making the knockout stages of the championship have disappeared following defeat to St.Senans by the narrowest of margins in Glin on Friday evening last. Conditions were wet and slippy as the rain poured down and hopes were high that we could beat the favorites for the championship after a great win against Gerald Griffins in the last round.
We started well in the first half and it was Gerard Ahern who opened the scoring with a point from a free after Jamie Collins was fouled. St. Senans were quick to respond with two points of their own. A second point for Gerard Ahern levelled the match after great work by Martin Chawke and Kevin O’ Keeffe. A well worked move by our boys ended up with Kevin O’ Keeffe bearing down on goals only to be fouled in the square and Gerard Ahern converted the resulting penalty for the only goal of the game.
St. Senans started to pile on the pressure and soon after scored a point. Timmy Enright was called into action and pulled of a brilliant save and then it was the turn of Matthew Tierney as he cleared the ball of the line to deny the opposition a certain goal. Two more points from St. Senans levelled the match but a point each from Kevin O’ Keeffe and Denis Greaney had us two ahead after twenty two minutes of the match. We had further chances to score but failed to take them as St. Senans added three more points before the break to leave the half time score Athea 1-04 St. Senans 0-08.
Shortly after the start of the second half Timmy Enright pulled of another great save but soon after St. Senans tapped over a point to go two ahead. Gerard Ahern pointed a free to narrow the gap and a super point by Shane Mulvihill after great work by Pa Chawke and Jamie Collins left the match all square at this stage. St. Senans kick three unanswered points in a five minute period and looked like pulling away but the Maroon and White’s came back.
Our defense kept the opposition scoreless for the rest of the match and our midfield and forwards upped their game. Gerard Ahern pointed another free to close the gap and Mark O’ Connor split the posts with a super point to leave just one point between the teams with minutes remaining.
We tried hard to find a winner but it wasn’t to be and the final score was Athea 1-08 St. Senans 0-12. It was disappointing to bow out of the Championship with one game to play but no one can fault our Boys for the effort and commitment they showed throughout the year and during this match. Our final Championship game is against Hospital-Herbertstown in three weeks’ time and we also have a league quarter final to look forward to shortly.
Team Timmy Enright, Michael Reidy, Matthew Tierney, Shane Tierney, Dylan Griffin, Denis Greaney, Padraig Reidy, Martin Chawke, Tom Collins, Shane Mulvihill, Jamie Collins, Kevin O’ Keeffe, Gerard Ahern, Kevin Murphy, Mark O’ Connor, Jonathan Fitzgerald, Paul Collins, Eoin McCarthy, Jason O’ Flaherty, Padraic Walsh, Kieran Harnett, Dan McMahon, Jack Denihan, Jason Dalton.
