A draw against a plucky Simonstown Gaels side was enough to see Jenkinstown Gaels scrape through to the semi-finals of the Coolrite U-19 Div. 3 Football Championship.
Full Time Score:
Simonstown Gaels 2-12
Jenkinstown Gaels 1-15
Three points gained from three outings was enough to see Jenkinstown Gaels secure second place in Group A behind unbeaten Na Fianna who topped the group, with both sides now progressing to the semi-finals.
Nothing separated the sides during this contest, with the sides even at half time and again at full time to take a share of the spoils, although Jenkinstown will feel aggrieved they didn’t take the two points on offer, especially with their number of wides and couple of guilt edge goal chances spurned early on.
Early on things were looking comfortable for Jenkinstown Gaels as they had four points on the score board by the time the home side opened their account in the 10th minute.
The first point came via a Liam Jennings free after the same player played a good ball in resulting in Kyle O’Malley being fouled close to goals and Jennings tapping over the resulting free. The second, third and fourth points came from Tom Powderly, Jennings and Leon Giblin. Simonstown opened their account with a free, making it 0-4 to 0-1 with ten minutes gone.
Simonstown pointed their second free, with Leon Giblin responding for the Independent side, before a goal chance went a begging when Barry Walsh’s shot a goal was finger tipped around the post by the Simonstown ‘keeper, Liam Jennings stepped up to split the uprights from the resulting ’45 making it 0-6 to 0-2 midway through the opening half.
Another Simonstown free was followed by another goal chance for Jenkinstown, this time the Simonstown ‘keeper producing another fine save to deny Liam Jennings this time.
The home side narrowed the deficit to two, 0-6 to 0-4, with their first score from play in the 18th minute and sixty seconds later they took the lead for the first time when raising the game’s first green flag, leaving it 1-4 to 0-6 after nineteen minutes.
Liam Jennings restored parity five minutes later when sending over his fourth point of the afternoon. A brace from each side rounded off the scoring to leave it all square at half time, 1-6 to 0-9. Jenkinstown’s points from Leon Giblin and a Liam Jennings free in response to a pair of frees for Simonstown.
Half Time Score:
Simonstown Gaels 1-6
Jenkintown Gaels 0-9
The home side opened up a four point lead, hitting Jenkinstown Gaels for 1-1 within three minutes of the restart, making the score 2-7 to 0-9.
A purple patch for Jenkinstown Gaels saw them turn that four point deficit into a one point advantage with five points on the trot, Liam Jennings (3), substitute Mark Foley and Tom Powderly accounting for them. Simonstown converted to tie the sides level for a fourth time on the three-quarter hour mark.
A Liam Jennings free edged Jenkinstown Gaels in front again, but the home side responded with a pair of points to take the lead again, 2-10 to 0-15.
Then came what looked like the decisive score in the 55th minute, a Liam Jennings free curled in from the right hand side fell short and the breaking ball was volleyed on by substitute Oz Conboy through a sea of defenders to find its way to the Simonstown net, giving Jenkinstown a two point lead with five minutes remaining, 1-15 to 2-10.
However, Simonstown failed to lie down and two points, their 7th & 8th points from frees of the afternoon, drew the sides level for a sixth time. The home side almost nicked the win when a poor kickout from Jenkinstown goalkeeper Cian Williams left him scrambling back onto his line to atone for his mistake pulling off a brilliant fingertip save. It finished all square, 1-15 to 1-12 when the referee’s full-time whistle blew soon after.
At full time, all Jenkinstown were checking to find out proceedings over in Baconstown to see whether Na Fianna had accounted for Carnaross which would mean Jenkinstown Gaels draw here in Simonstown would secure second place in the group and a place in the semi-finals.
Best for Jenkinstown here were Colm McIvor, Luke Gallagher, Sean Gerard Walsh, Leon Giblin, Liam Jennings, Luke O’Halloran, Evan Drum & Conor Byrne.
Jenkinstown Gaels team & scorers:
Cian Williams, Cillian Kelly, Colm McIvor, Charlie Benson, Jack Lynch, Luke Gallagher, Max Kennedy, Sean Gerard Walsh (0-1), Leon Giblin (0-2), Kyle O’Malley, Liam Jennings (0-9, 6f & a ‘45), Barry Walsh (0-1), Evan Drum, Tom Powderly (0-2), Luke O’Halloran.
Sub used: Conor Byrne, Mark Foley, Oz Conboy (1-0), Ben Foley.
