Leinster Club SFC Quarter-final Replays/St Vincent's 1-12 Seneschalstown 0-10:The story concerning the meeting of Senechalstown and St Vincent's has two acts. One was played out within earshot of the Dublin champions' Marino base last week; a draw made famous by the referee's failure to include extra-time.
No surprise then that the programme for part II had "Extra- Time If Necessary" branded on the centre page of the programme. No time remains in the GAA calendar for further error.
St Vincent's were always the dominant force here but the Meath championship is only ever annexed by the most determined combatants. That means they put bodies on the line even when the November wind chill arrives.
Alas, Seneschalstown's sloppy passing out of defence was as prevalent as their bravery. When St Vincent's captain Tomás Quinn latched on to another error to make it 0-11 to 0-7 with seven minutes of normal time remaining that appeared to be that. Not so. The wonderfully accurate Brian Sheridan, son of manager Damien, and joined by a further four Sheridans on the Seneschalstown panel, kept it competitive with two frees. This brought his total to 0-6.
But it was substitute Gary Conlon whose point brought matters back to the minimum with a long shot entering a decent period of injury-time.
With the momentum now firmly behind the Meath champions, they seemed destined to at least force extra-time. St Vincent's had other ideas, though. More accurately, Quinn had other ideas. He struck a sideline that bounced over the crossbar, which his team-mate Kevin Golden subsequently claimed for himself.
Quinn relented but was deadpan in claiming he went for his goal two minutes later. It was surely an attempted point that sneaked under the crossbar. Quinn claimed it as a delicate lob, the work of a craftsman. The Dublin marksman is certainly that.
St Vincent's manager Mickey Whelan was absent due to a long-standing commitment to be inducted into his US College hall of fame as a soccer coach.
"I'd be of the opinion that the management team get you ready during the week and on the day a lot of it is down to the players," said Quinn. "But you would always miss him. You would always hear him. He is loud and he'll always be missed in the dressingroom. Thankfully, he has a game to come home to.
"That was a big aim of ours this week; that we wouldn't be finishing the year with him away."
After ending a 23-year famine to claim a Dublin title, Whelan stated the shackles were off: St Vincent's would play with less structure now the primary goal had been achieved.
That attitude has surely changed. Up next are Portlaoise; a team with aspirations of national honours to add to their raft of underage medals. The provincial semi-final next Sunday is a stepping stone to greater honours.
St Vincent's have probably adopted a similar attitude. "I don't think we can go out of the game for long spells as we did today. I know we had a couple of bad wides at the start of the second half that we will have to work on," Quinn acknowledged.
This was the most concerning criticism. St Vincent's silenced the partisan crowd in the main stand with an early burst of scores, Diarmuid Connolly showing well before becoming a peripheral figure who eventually limped to the sideline.
Golden covered for Connolly's disappearance and Quinn's slow start to put them 0-5 to 0-2 in front and in complete control midway through the first half.
Quinn's intent, however, was evident when he whacked the crossbar after a neat delivery from Tiernan Diamond.
There followed a string of Brian Sheridan points, one for Joe Sheridan too, and a massive Brian Clarke effort to put Seneschalstown ahead. Diamond brought it level just before the break.
Quinn then restored the St Vincent's dominance with two trademark long-range efforts from the deck followed by his third successive score which only served to spark an admirable fight-back from the Meath men.
It ended in failure and a standing ovation from their followers. They did not visibly acknowledge the applause but it is something that will stick in the minds when reflecting on their odyssey years from now.
St Vincent's march on. And to think that Mossie Quinn should be down in Florida these past few weeks: "Once the game was a draw I knew I was going to be here all week. I trained hard this week with the rest of the lads. Holidays are finished for the moment. We have enough to worry about with Portlaoise. Holidays are for later life. These are the football years."
ST VINCENT'S:M Savage; P Conlon, E Brady, H Gill; T Doyle, G Brennan, P Kelly; H Coughlan, M O'Shea; K Golden (0-3), T Diamond (0-2), N Billings (0-1); B Maloney (0-1), D Connolly (0-2), T Quinn (1-3, 45, free, capt). Subs:P Gilroy for Billings (37 mins); C Brady for Connolly (50 mins); R Trainer for Golden (64 mins).
SENESCHALSTOWN:D Lyons; S Sheridan, A Collins, J Byrne; M Carey, C Quinn (capt), C Gleeson; R Ruddy, D Sheridan; D Byrne, C Macken, J Cowley; B Clarke (0-2, free), J Sheridan (0-1), B Sheridan (0-6, six frees). Subs: G Conlon (0-1) forD Byrne (42 mins); G Sheridan for Gleeson (51 mins); S Clarke for Cowley (59 mins); W Smith for J Byrne (63 mins).
Referee: J Bannon(Longford).
