Match Report: Seaford Rock United 3-4 Blackrock College
LSL Saturday Premier 1
Back (l-r): Alex Smirnoff, Eoin Dunne, David Mackey, Rory O'Huiginn, Oisin Geoghegan, Aaron Hartnett, Carl Doyle. Front: Shane McNamara, Shane Gilroy, Mark Sullivan, Conan Murphy, Robbie Murray, Ryan McEnroe
Seaford turned in a fine display in difficult circumstances in the Rockfield Park derby, but couldn't quite hang on against a Blackrock College side packed with attacking talent, even if it was their own striker.Carl Doyle who bagged a quickfire hat-trick.
It was Rock's first match back in the Leinster Senior League after a couple of years in the United Churches League, and they named four ex-Seaford men in their line-up, including former first team talisman James O'Neill.
Seaford's new Premier manager Eoin Doyle was forced to name himself in his first starting eleven, alongside four other debutants.
It was Rock who had the first opening, when David Lynch tested Oisin Geoghegan, before at the other end Doyle was clattered by visiting keeper Jake Macken 20 yards from goal, the ball breaking to Shane Gilroy who couldn't quite direct his long-range on-target with the goal unguarded. Only a brilliant saving tackle from Blackrock's Sam Walsh denied what seemed certain to be a debut goal for Alex Smirnoff, before the men in black took the lead through Lynch, who tapped in from close range after Geoghegan had stopped Colm Daly's deflcted shot, as Seaford appealed for offside.
Smirnoff was inches from equalising with a long-range curler that clipped the angle of post and bar before Lynch got his second, pouncing on a defensive error to fire home from the edge of the box.
But then Doyle took control of the match. First, he raced on to a slide-rule pass from Ryan McEnroe, only to be bundled over by Niall Niall Sherin as he was about to pull the trigger, before smashing home the resultant penalty himself. Doyle made it 2-2 when he met David Mackey's header with a bullet header into the corner, and moments later he completed his hat-trick with an even better header, diving to divert Mark Sullivan's whipped cross into the net.
With only one substitute available and several players carrying knocks, Seaford wilted as the second half went on. They had a huge let-off on 64 minutes when McEnroe almost turned the ball into his own net from a corner, only for Robbie Murray to hack it off the goalline. But the pressure eventually told when James Kelly netted an equaliser for Blackrock, before the match was halted for more than half an hour due to a gruesome injury to Murray.
Seaford had to play the remaining 15 minutes a man short, and Blackrock made it count, as Kelly headed in Daly's cross from close range to seal the points on 85 minutes. There was still time for Seaford to miss a golden chance, deep into stoppage time, as McEnroe glanced Smirnoff's free-kick just wide, but it wasn't Seaford's day as they came up short.
Nevertheless, it was a gutsy performance from the new-look Premier team and with a host of players to come back into the reckoning, Dunne will be encouraged by his side's prospects for the campaign.
Seaford: Oisin Geoghegan; David Mackey, Robbie Murray, Eoin Dunne, Aaron Hartnett; Rory O'Huiginn, Ryan McEnroe, Mark Sullivan (Shane McNamara, 73), Shane Gilroy; Alex Smirnoff; Carl Doyle. Goals: Doyle (27, 38, 39)
Blackrock College: Jake Macken, Chris Sastre, Sam Walsh (Edward Kennedy, 89), Niall Sherin, Daniel Ryan, Clian O'Rafferty, Colm Daly, Ben McAuley, James Kelly, David Lynch (Alan Horgan, 87), James O'Neill. Goals: Lynch (15, 25), Kelly (71, 85)
Rockfield Park, 1 September 2018
It was Rock's first match back in the Leinster Senior League after a couple of years in the United Churches League, and they named four ex-Seaford men in their line-up, including former first team talisman James O'Neill.
Seaford's new Premier manager Eoin Doyle was forced to name himself in his first starting eleven, alongside four other debutants.
It was Rock who had the first opening, when David Lynch tested Oisin Geoghegan, before at the other end Doyle was clattered by visiting keeper Jake Macken 20 yards from goal, the ball breaking to Shane Gilroy who couldn't quite direct his long-range on-target with the goal unguarded. Only a brilliant saving tackle from Blackrock's Sam Walsh denied what seemed certain to be a debut goal for Alex Smirnoff, before the men in black took the lead through Lynch, who tapped in from close range after Geoghegan had stopped Colm Daly's deflcted shot, as Seaford appealed for offside.
Smirnoff was inches from equalising with a long-range curler that clipped the angle of post and bar before Lynch got his second, pouncing on a defensive error to fire home from the edge of the box.
But then Doyle took control of the match. First, he raced on to a slide-rule pass from Ryan McEnroe, only to be bundled over by Niall Niall Sherin as he was about to pull the trigger, before smashing home the resultant penalty himself. Doyle made it 2-2 when he met David Mackey's header with a bullet header into the corner, and moments later he completed his hat-trick with an even better header, diving to divert Mark Sullivan's whipped cross into the net.
With only one substitute available and several players carrying knocks, Seaford wilted as the second half went on. They had a huge let-off on 64 minutes when McEnroe almost turned the ball into his own net from a corner, only for Robbie Murray to hack it off the goalline. But the pressure eventually told when James Kelly netted an equaliser for Blackrock, before the match was halted for more than half an hour due to a gruesome injury to Murray.
Seaford had to play the remaining 15 minutes a man short, and Blackrock made it count, as Kelly headed in Daly's cross from close range to seal the points on 85 minutes. There was still time for Seaford to miss a golden chance, deep into stoppage time, as McEnroe glanced Smirnoff's free-kick just wide, but it wasn't Seaford's day as they came up short.
Nevertheless, it was a gutsy performance from the new-look Premier team and with a host of players to come back into the reckoning, Dunne will be encouraged by his side's prospects for the campaign.
Seaford: Oisin Geoghegan; David Mackey, Robbie Murray, Eoin Dunne, Aaron Hartnett; Rory O'Huiginn, Ryan McEnroe, Mark Sullivan (Shane McNamara, 73), Shane Gilroy; Alex Smirnoff; Carl Doyle. Goals: Doyle (27, 38, 39)
Blackrock College: Jake Macken, Chris Sastre, Sam Walsh (Edward Kennedy, 89), Niall Sherin, Daniel Ryan, Clian O'Rafferty, Colm Daly, Ben McAuley, James Kelly, David Lynch (Alan Horgan, 87), James O'Neill. Goals: Lynch (15, 25), Kelly (71, 85)
Rockfield Park, 1 September 2018