Gaeil Colmcille and Seneschalstown met in the opening round of the Premier Championship Division One in Fr. Tully Park with playing conditions ideal for football.
In a frantic opening four minutes both sides traded four points with Gaeil Colmcille’s corner-forward Cormac Mattimoe accounting for both of the Gaeils scores. Ryan Farnham got Gaeil Colmcille’s third point of the day on six minutes and Mattimoe got his third of the game one minute later to get Kells off to the perfect start.
Alex Williams, making his first competitive start in Adult football was unlucky not to hit the net as his shot came off the crossbar and the upright and somehow stayed out, he did get on the scoreboard when he burst through the centre and popped over to extend The Gaeils lead to three. Seneschalstown reduced the gap with a pointed free but Shane Bennett cancelled that score out just as the referee called a halt to play for a water break.
Kells picked up where they left off and two points in a row, the first off Aaron Brownes left boot and a free from Mattimoe saw Gaeil Colmcille push five points clear. Two Barry Farrelly points, one from play and another from a placed ball saw Gaeil Colmcille push six points clear with 23 minutes played.
Seneschalstown did rally for the final ten minutes of the half and hit throw scores but two Farnham points meant Kells would take a 0-12 to 0-07 lead at Half-Time.
Seneschalstown got the opening score of the second-half but Danny Muldoon found himself up in the forward and pointed for Gaeil Colmcille to keep Kells lead to five. Gaeil Colmcille’s could have been more as they hit four wides in a row from scoreable positions. Those misses proved costly as Seneschalstown struck for three goals in a row over a nine minute period. High balls into the Seneschalstown was causing problems with Joe Sheridan striking for two goals and winning a penalty which Dylan Keating dispatched beyond Conor Murray in the Kells goal.
This gave the hosts the ascendancy but a Phil Ward fisted point and another point from Farnham reduced the Seneschalstown lead to two points. Two points from Seneschalstown and a Farnham point left a goal between the sides with minutes to go and despite the best efforts for a goal, Shane Bennett, Farnham and substitute Adam Muldoon couldn’t get the all important goal that would have levelled matters up and it would be Seneschalstown who’d take the two points on offer.
Gaeil Colmcille: Conor Murray, Cormac Ferguson, Adam Donnelly, Ahmed Lawal, Daniel Farrelly, Jonny Quigley, Danny Muldoon (0-01), Phil Ward (0-01), Cian Doogan, Shane Bennett (0-01), Aaron Browne (0-01), Alex Williams (0-01), Barry Farrelly (0-02), Ryan Farnham (0-05), Cormac Mattimoe (0-04)
Subs: Adam Muldoon, Fionn Smith,
