Dunboyne… 2-14
Seneschalstown… 0-12
A Tailteann Cup medal, a wedding ring and the small matter of a honeymoon – it’s been some couple of weeks for Donal Lenihan. Now read on…
The good vibes continued for the accurate forward tonight in Dunsany as he hit 1-10 when Ger Robinson’s men opened their SFC Group B account. Eventually getting the better of a dogged and useful Seneschalstown side.
The convoy of combine harvesters, silage harvesters and tractor-trailer combinations hurtling past Pairc Na nGael was indicative of the time of year it is and weather that was doing its best to break and spoil the party.
However, whatever way crops may end up yielding, early on it appeared the odds compilers and got their crop analysis completely skewith as there was no way the black and ambers looked within the right parish of being 1/8 favourites, as they were chalked up.
If anything, the Yellow Furze men – who had Graham Geraghty among their management team – were by far the better team for the majority of the first half. With Cathal Hickey pulling the strings around midfield, the blue and gold opened a lead of 0-05 to 0-03 early on.
Seimi Byrne, Eoin Finnegan and Dylan Keating were at their most productive in this spell but eventually the Jones brothers found their tune in the engine room and as a result, those who last held Tom Keegan in 2018 worked their way up the scoring charts.
Lenihan and Cathal Lacey were deadly accurate during that phase of play in particular but it was a goal from Championship debutante Dan Hickey which left the pre match favourites clear by the minimum, 1-05 to 0-07 as referee Andrew Smith signalled the midway point.
The sides again went point for point in the early stages of the second half but then, as the match entered its final quarter, that man Lenihan hit 1-3 without reply realistically ending the contest.
This was a decent performance from Dunboyne, no more. But any day you score 2-14, win by eight points and still have plenty to work on is still a decent workload. Though the turf accountants are unlikely to alter the 9/1 outright price just yet.
SCORERS – D. Lenihan (1-10, 4F, 1-0P, 1 ’45’), D. Hickey (1-0), C. Lacey (0-3), L. Carolan (0-1).
DUNBOYNE – C. Flynn; L. Conway, J. Scannell, M. Furlong; S. Lowndes, S. McEntee, C. Doran; N. Jones, R. Jones; C. Lacey, C. Finn, L. Carolan; D. Hickey, D. Lenihan, J. Kinlough.
SUB – D. McEntee for Finn.
Referee: Andrew Smith (Dunshaughlin)
FOGRA: Mile Buichos as always to the great people of Dunsany GAA for the kindness and assistance shown to Susie and I.