ummerhill 2-9

St Attractas 3-9

By Evan Brennan

St Attractas produced a dominant second half display to defeat a dogged Summerhill side last Tuesday afternoon in round four of the Connacht Junior League. Josh Brady registered the first score of the day for the home side on the sixth minute. An unfortunate mistake from the Summerhill defence was seized upon by the ever dangerous Ben Henry who tapped the ball into the net to give Attractas an undeserved lead. Summerhill responded superbly to the concession of this goal and by the time Jack McGovern scored a well taken goal in the 15th minute Summerhill were now leading 1-3 to 1-0. Ben Henry’s predatory instincts and superb precision resulted in another goal for Attractas keeping them in the game on the scoreboard. Once again Summerhill responded phenomenally by scoring two points without reply through forwards Ryan McMorrow and Jack McGovern to give them a two-point lead. Luke Marren who was very impressive on his return to the Atrractas line up got a good score from distance. Again Summerhill responded with Danny Cronin scoring a very impressive goal to leave them in control once again. A tactical change resulted in Attractas gaining some momentum towards the end of the half. An expertly struck 45 from Marren and two superb long ranch points from Adam Gallagher left the bare minimum between the sides at the interval.

On the resumption Summerhill, who would have been disappointed to have went into the interval only one point ahead having played much the better of the two sides, started much brighter with points from Conor White and Cian Oates leaving them three points to the good with two minutes played in the second period. Then Attractas found their groove with two points from Marren and one from Gallagher levelling the match at 2-7 apiece. In this period Summerhill couldn’t get out of their own half thanks to the hard working forward line and instrumental midfielder Niall Towey. A goal from Joshua Flynn put Attractas ahead and in the driving seat. Summerhill responded with the busy Conor White registering a good point from play. Both sides introduced fresh legs as they both looked for the victory that guaranteed the winners top spot in the group and a semi-final place. The hard working Flynn then scored a point to add to his goal to leave three points between the sides. Summerhill didn’t give up and ensured that the result was in doubt up until the final whistle with the very impressive Canice Mulligan kicking his second point of the day to keep his side in contention. Aiden Marren who was had a very good second half nailed from the right hand side to seal the victory. The south Sligo side now await Group 1 to finish to see who their semi-final opponents are while Summerhill take on St Geralds Castlebar in a winner takes all clash to take second spot in Group 2.

St Attractas: J Lundy, C Johnston, K Jennings, K Feely, D McLoughlin, K Golden, C Gorman, N Towey, T Goldrick, J Flynn, A Gallagher, S Donoghue, A Marren, L Marren, B Henry. Subs. F Lucey, L Carty, K Brennan, S Feely.

Summerhill: B Gavin, H Keaney, S Clifford, B Cawley, J Cawley, J Burns, J Brady, C Mulligan, C Smith, R McMorrow, C Oates, M McDaniel, D Cronin, J McGovern, C White. Subs. J McDermott, J Walsh.