Sharper attacking bite pays dividends for Lyons and his troops
Na Fianna's slow start leaves them chasing the Gaels
Simonstown Gaels...1-15
Na Fianna...1-12
So many football teams these days seemed to be obsessed with stopping opponents from scoring rather than focusing on fashioning scores themselves.
Simonstown Gaels showed an admirable sense of adventure when it came to carving out openings in this SFC encounter at Pairc Tailteann today. It was an approach that paid off handsomely with a victory that gets their campaign up and running in just the way they would have wanted.
They led all the way holding off a rejuvenated Na Fianna side in the second-half to cross the finishing line in front like a sprinter staying one step ahead of a chasing rival in an Olympic final.
The Gaels were in front, 0-9 to 0-6, at the break and continued to show the way throughout the second-half helped greatly by a sweetly-taken goal by Padraig McKeever. Na Fianna got within a point of their rivals in the second moiety but that was as close as they got.
The Gaels sense of adventure was shown in the way they kept two or sometimes three players in the opposition half throughout the game. Hardly going for broke but in this era when the term 'blanket defence' is the norm, the Gaels' approach could certainly be termed adventurous - big time.
The team managed by Limerickman Joe Lyons also like to keep players out wide right on the sideline, thus leaving space inside for others to exploit. Again that approach paid dividends helping to discommode a Na Fianna defence that looked vulnerable at times.
Another big plus for the Gaels is that they are adept at moving the ball at lightning speed when they do attack and that ability helped them create what proved to that oh so vital McKeever strike after 36 minutes.
Na Fianna sought to move the ball up the field when, about 40 metres out, the the alert, in-tune Eoghan Gough intercepted a pass. He dinked a perfect foot-pass into the path of McKeever who tucked the ball away like the class finisher he has proved himself to be down the years.
That goal put the Gaels 1-9 to 0-8 in front but also gave them a morale boost at just a time when Na Fianna were getting a firm foothold. Gough delivered a number of perceptive passes throughout and also lofted over three fine points from play for good measure. He got a rousing reception from the Simonstown fans when he was substituted late on.
Sean Tobin was another Gaels player who had a big game. He finished with four points, one free, one 45, and was just about everywhere. Lively attackers Aaron Farrelly and Tadgh Hanrahan helped themselves to two apiece.
Farrelly was played in by one of Gough's perceptive passes on 59 minutes and could easily have found the net. Instead he went for his second point. Mark Delvin, Brian McGrath and James Heaney were others to raise white flags for the winners.
Na Fianna were very slow getting out of the blocks. After 16 minutes they trailed 0-1 to 0-6 after missing chances and repeatedly giving the ball away (although the Gaels were not exempt from that tendency either). The Black and Ambers did well to haul themselves back into contention but were unable to push on.
Their goal on 40 minutes was the end result of a swift, devastating forward thrust that started with goalkeeper Shane Geraghty and ended with Owen McDonnell sliding the ball to the net, soccer style.
Sean McDonnell registerd four points, two frees and Shane Walsh hit three, two frees, over the hour although the latter will also be annoyed at missing two relatively easy frees. The busy, enterprising Cormac Rafferty was also denied what looked like a certain goal by a brilliant save by Robbie Burlingham in the second-half.
Na Fianna produced some good spells of football in this relatively entertaining encounter but the more adventurous Gaels were in the zone from the start and rightly reaped the rich rewards.
Simonstown Gaels - Robbie Burlingham; Mark Devlin (0-1), Michael Gavin, Aaron Chinchilla; Eddie Nash, Brian Conlon, Brian McGrath (0-1); Sean Conlon, Tadgh Hanrahan (0-1); Shane KcKenry, Sean Tobin (0-4 one free, one 45), Ben Hoey; Aaron Farrelly (0-1), Padraig McKeever (1-1), Eoghan Gough (0-3). Subs - Shane Barry for S Conlon half-time, James Heaney (0-1) for McKenry 42m, David McKeever for Gough 56m.
Na Fianna - Shane Geraghty; Dean Hosey, Mick Farley, Oran Smullen (0-1); Luke Kelly, Sean Rafferty, Peter Slevin; James Geagan (0-1), Owen McDonnell (1-1); Jack McNally, Conor Downey (0-1), Cormac Rafferty (0-1); Sean McDonnell (0-4, two frees), Dan Queeney, Shane Walsh (0-3, two frees). Subs - Sam Jordan for Hosey 18m, Sean Hurley for D Queeney, Jamie Queeney for Geagan 44m, Ciaran Regan for Kelly, Patrick Jordan for McNally both 54m.
Referee - Kieran Olwill (Moynalty).