Summerhill took on Skryne in an A-League Division One back fixture on a beautiful sunny evening in Summerhill. The weather was in sharp contrast to the torrential rain that caused the last-minute postponement of the original fixture a few weeks back. Following the home side’s win against Dunboyne in the previous round they were back in second position in the league and in with a chance to making the League Final. Skryne on the other hand also badly needed the points also to try and pull away from the bottom of the table.

The visitors scored the opening point of the game from a free in the third minute. Summerhill were dominating possession in the early stages but hit a number of wides before they eventually scored the first point of the game in the 14 minutes with a point from Liam Shaw. From the resulting kick out Shaw scored his second point of the game to put the home side ahead for the first time. Kevin Ryan then took over the home sides scoring hitting two points of his own in the 21st and the 22nd minute to stretch the Summerhill lead to three. The visitors toowere guilty of some poor misses dropping 3 shots in a row short but did his the last three scores after half to leave the sides level at four points each at halftime.

Summerhill dominators the opening stages of the second half adding five points without reply by the 12th minute, with two of these points coming from Liam Shaw and the other three from Kevin Ryan. The visitors rallied and scored the next three points to cut the lead back to 2 by the 18th minute. The decisive score of the game came in the 20th minutes of the half. A Summerhill kick out was flicked on by midfielder Adam Flanagan to Ben Moran who played a good ball in to Cathal Brien who laid it off to David Dalton who coolly rolled the ball to the back of the net to restore Summerhill’s 5 point lead.

Perhaps understandably, given the heat, the pace of the game dropped for the last 10 minutes with both sides exchanging a point apiece to leave the final score Summerhill 1-10 Skryne 0-8. The win maintain Summerhill’s position in second place in the league just a point behind leaders Ratoath with two rounds left. Next up for Summerhill it is an away game in Simonstown next Tuesday evening.

Team: Sean Mudiman, Eoghan Jennings, Jack Davies, Ben Moran, Padhraig Geraghty, Conor McNally, Adam McDonnell, Adam Flanagan, Conor Ryan, David Larkin, Eamonn Ryan, Kevin Ryan (0-5), Liam Shaw (0-5, 2f) , David Dalton (1-0), Conor Summerville.

Subs: Mark Donoghue for Conor McNalley, Cathal Brian for Conor Summerville, Daragh McVann for Conor Ryan, Eoghan Grehan for Jack Davies.