Denny Premier A
Fenit Samphires-4
Chris Murphy, OG, Bill Mullins, James Duggan
Tralee Dynamos-3
Our seniors got their season off to a good start with a hard fought win over Tralee Dynamos on Friday night. Dynamos opened the scoring early in the game which set up a tough task for us but we settled into the game soon after. Our front three of James Duggan, Ivan Parker and Chris Murphy were threatening every time they were in possession but we couldn’t find a way past the Dynamos goalkeeper. Despite the threat we carried going forwards we looked very disorganised when defending, allowing Dynamos to score a second midway through the half. In fact we could have been 3 or 4 goals down but Eoghan O’Brien made two top class saves to keep us alive. We came close to grabbing a goal back when James saw his volley from distance hit the crossbar. A tough second half would await us.
We emerged like a different team in the second period and immediately set about reducing the deficit. Our back four of Sean Allen, Peter McCarthy, Sean Foley and Donnchadh McGarry were getting a bit more protection which allowed us to stifle our opponents any time they looked to establish possession. We pulled a goal back when Chris finished after a neat combination between Bill Mullins and James. With confidence starting to grow we dominated the game for a long period allowing Ferdia O’Brien and Thomas Lenihan to wrestle control back in the centre of the pitch. The equaliser soon arrived when Dynamos scored an unfortunate own goal after sustained pressure from us. This seemed to spur us on more and Bill added a third shortly after when he turned a defender on the edge of the box and beat the keeper at his near post. We introduced Des McCarthy, Austin Clifford, Alan McElligot, Ryan Dolan and David Ahern and their fresh legs kept us ahead as the clock wound down towards full time. We added a fourth late in the game and it was definitely a case of saving the best until last as James lobbed the keeper from just inside the half. Dynamos pulled a goal back close to full time and we closed the game out after this.
A good win to start the season as we showed flashes of brilliance going forward. Our lack of organisation when defending will need some attention in training and future games. Thanks to Tralee Dynamos for a sporting game and thanks to Adrian Quirke for officiating.