Impressive Start to AFL1 Return

St Sylvester’s impressed in their return to AFL1 beating St Vincents 3:14 to 2:08 in a rematch of last season’s SFC 2 final.

Sylvester’s had to wait just two minutes for their first goal of the campaign. An Aaron Lynch handpass found an unmarked Cian Donnelly in front of goal before he smartly squared it to Dylan Connolly for an easy finish. Vinnies replied with two points but long distance efforts from Ronan Palmer and Seán Guiden maintained Sylvesters lead. Sean Guiden was involved again sending a perfectly weighted ball into Jack Hazely who beat his man in the air and put it past the keeper for Sylvester’s second of the day. A couple of points from Andrew Cunningham, a second from Seán Guiden and Cian Donnelly scoring in his first competitive senior game capped off a strong first half, walking in at the break with a two-goal lead, 2:06 to 0:06. 

Dylan Connolly resumed the scoring in the second half putting one over from a tight angle. Jack Hazely found the net yet again with a goal near identical to his first, while Sean Guiden added two more points to his tally including a perfectly struck 45 sunk right between the posts. Senan Hogan came off the bench to make his AFL 1 debut, comfortably slotting into the Sylvester’s backline. Following a second yellow card Sylvester’s had to work hard to hold off a late Vincent’s resurgence that saw them score two goals late into the match. Syls would stick over another five points, including two from Mark Hazely. The pick of the bunch however came from Josh Bannon sending a curling effort between the uprights from just inside the forty-five-yard line. It was a strong display from Sylvester’s who will hope to continue their winning form when they play Skerries in two weeks time.

Report by Sean McStay

Scores:

Jack Hazley 2-0

Dylan Connolly 1-1

Sean Guiden 0-4

Mark Hazley 0-2

Andrew Cunningham 0-2

Dan Brennan 0-1

Ronan Palmer 0-1

Stephen Cunningham 0-1

Cian Donnelly 0-1

Josh Bannon 0-1

Well done to the squad led by Derek & Dan

Thanks to Gibney’s Malahide for its kind sponsorship & 1903 Horsebox for coffee supplied to supporters on the morning