Story of the Season: The Firsts

The firsts recovered from a terrible start to their league season in LSL Major 1B to surge through the division with a brilliant streak of form in the second half of their campaign, only to fall agonisingly short of a top-three finish and promotion.

There was no shortage of goals in Seaford's early-season matches. The campaign began with a 3-3 draw at home against St James's Gate, a match that was lit up by a stunning Tyrone McNelis volley to open the scoring, before Paul Lydon poached a late equaliser for Seaford. There followed an extraordinary 6-7 defeat at home to Kilnamanagh, before an inexperienced Seaford side suffered a heavy defeat at Beggsboro. A first win arrived against Clontarf, Harry Crowe's six-minute hat-trick turning the game on its head in the final stages, but three straight league defeats plunged Seaford into  the relegation zone, marring the dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Verona in the Leinster Junior Cup.

The appointment of Stephen Faherty as the new first team manager proved to be the turning point of the season. Although Faherty's first couple of matches resulted in cup defeats, there was an immediate upturn in league form, with an impressive away win at Hartstown Huntstown followed up by a battling victory at home to Greenhillls.

There was a setback in the form of a 2-3 reverse against Ringsend Rovers before a brilliant streak of seven wins from eight put Seaford right in promotion contention, with Crowe netting at a rate in excess of a goal a game, and the defence making an equally important contribution, with skipper Fionn Lawlor reinventing himself as a centre back, alongside Alan Brennan or Stephen Kelly.

A disappointing display away at Greenhills - and three points dropped against the relegation-battlers - would prove decisive in the final outcome, even though the team bounced back by staying unbeaten in its final six matches. Those included a superb double home and away against champions-elect Booth Road Celtic, as well as a comfortable win over Leixlip and a battling win at St James's Gate.

But ultimately, Seaford's poor start left them with slightly too much ground to make up, even though overall it was a season during which the club took a step forward in quality, giving plenty of grounds for encouragement for the next campaign.

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Results & Match Reports 2016/17

Date	Competition	Opposition				Goalscorers	Report
20 Aug 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	St James’s Gate	H	3-3	D	McNelis, Crowe, Lydon	Link
22 Aug 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Kilnamanagh	H	6-7	L	McNelis (2), Crowe (2), Faherty, o.g.	Link
27 Aug 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Beggsboro	A	1-5	L	Finnegan
3 Sep 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Clontarf	H	5-3	W	Johnson-Barker, L Kelly, Crowe (3)	Link
10 Sep 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Clontarf	A	0-2	L		Link
17 Sep 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Home Farm	A	1-4	L	Crowe
24 Sep 16	LFA Junior Cup	Verona	A	0-0*	D		Link
1 Oct 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Mount Merrion	H	2-3	L	Crowe, Sullivan	Link
8 Oct 16	LFA Junior Cup	St Mochta’s	A	2-7	L	Crowe, Sullivan
15 Oct 16	Noel Ryan Cup	Swords Celtic	A	1-3	L	Farrelly
22 Oct 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Hartstown Huntstown	A	4-2	W	Crowe (2), Connolly, J O’Neill	Link
29 Oct 16	Carroll Cup	Booth Road Celtic	A	3-4	L	Connolly, O’Neill, Crowe
5 Nov 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Greenhills Greenpark	H	3-2	W	Crowe (2), Lydon
19 Nov 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	RIngsend Rovers	H	2-3	L	Lydon, Lawlor
26 Nov 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Beggsboro	H	4-2	W	M O’Neill, Connolly, J O’Neill, Crowe	Link
2 Dec 16	LSL Sat Major 1B	Phoenix	A	3-0	W	Crowe (3)	Link
14 Jan 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Kilnamanagh	A	1-0	W	S Kelly	Link
21 Jan 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Leixlip United	A	0-2	L
28 Jan 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Home Farm	H	3-1	W	Connolly, McNelis (2)	Link
11 Feb 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Lucan United	A	3-1	W	Crowe, J O’Neill, O’Fatharta	Link
18 Feb 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Phoenix	H	5-0	W	McNelis, Tansey, Crowe, Connolly (2)	Link
25 Feb 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Hartstown Huntstown	H	2-1	W	Higgins, Crowe
1 Apr 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Greenhills Greenpark	A	1-2	L	Crowe
8 Apr 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Ringsend Rovers	A	1-1	D	Higgins
10 Apr 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Booth Road Celtic	H	2-1	W	Crowe, o.g.	Link
22 Apr 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Lucan United	H	0-0	D
29 Apr 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Leixlip United	H	3-1	W	Mulhall (2), o.g.
6 May 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	St James’s Gate	A	2-1	W	Crowe, Mulhall	Link
15 May 17	LSL Sat Major 1B	Booth Road Celtic	A	3-1	W	J O’Neill, M O’Neill, O’Fatharta	Link

   *AET. Seaford won 5-3 on penalties

Player Statistics 2016/17

Player	App	Gls	Ass	Yel	Red	Mins
Harry Crowe	27	24	11	1	0	2368
Paul Tansey	23	1	4	1	0	2012
Fionn Lawlor	23	1	3	1	0	1923
Mike O'Neill	21	2	1	2	0	1787
Darragh Connolly	24	6	8	2	0	1754
James O'Neill	21	5	7	2	0	1596
Paul Lydon	23	3	3	1	0	1368
Fionn Geoghegan	18	0	5	1	0	1364
Oisin Geoghegan	15	0	0	0	0	1350
Alan Brennan	14	0	0	3	1	1184
Piers Shelton	16	0	3	0	0	987
Stephen Kelly	12	1	1	3	0	939
Jim Nolan	12	0	1	0	0	822
Tyrone McNelis	9	6	6	0	0	777
Eoin English	8	0	0	1	0	720
Theo Cullinane	12	0	1	0	0	597
Steve Kane	11	0	0	2	0	583
Neil Harrington	6	0	0	0	0	526
Dylan O'Reilly	6	0	1	1	0	518
Dave Higgins	7	2	0	1	0	504
Luke Kelly	5	1	1	1	0	450
Donal Howley	7	0	0	0	0	411
Darragh Roche	7	0	1	1	0	382
Paidi O'Fatharta	10	2	1	1	0	339
Mark O'Brien	5	0	0	0	0	316
Chris Monk	7	0	1	0	0	297
David Devaney	4	0	1	0	0	293
Frank Mulhall	5	3	1	0	0	245
Ben McAuley	4	0	0	0	0	238
Mark Sullivan	3	2	0	0	0	232
Stephen Johnson-Barker	3	1	0	0	0	215
Marc Smith	5	0	0	1	0	213
Paddy Farrelly	5	1	0	1	0	202
Stephen Faherty	3	1	2	0	0	200
Conor Geoghegan	4	0	0	0	1	196
Barry Kirwan	2	0	0	0	0	195
Darren Grealish	3	0	0	0	0	148
Adam Finnegan	3	1	0	0	0	128
Jimmy Hussey	1	0	0	0	0	90
MJ Tierney	2	0	0	0	0	67
Andy Roe	1	0	0	0	0	65
Amer Herenda	1	0	0	0	0	55
James Thompson	1	0	0	1	0	45
Denis Donnelly	1	0	0	0	0	45
Stephen Nolan	1	0	0	0	0	42
Coly McCarron	1	0	0	0	0	26
David Mackey	1	0	0	0	0	20
John O'Brien	1	0	0	0	0	15
Carl Doyle	2	0	0	0	0	14