Gaels blown away by rampant Rathvilly
Kevin Murphy scores a fine goal for Rathvilly Photo: Pat Ahern
Rathvilly were convincing winners of this senior football championship quarter-final at Netwatch Cullen Park on Sunday.
Key to their success was the first half performance where they overwhelmed their Bagenalstown rivals. Trailing 0-5 to 0-2 it looked as if the Gaels were set to throw down a challenge when Jamie Clarke scored a great goal which swerved inside the left-hand post but just hard enough to beat the diving goalkeeper, Robbie Molloy.
Rathvilly hit straight back . Earlier Conor Doyle had shot wide from a good position in front of goal but his colleagues made up for the miss. Padhraig Bolger and Kevin Murphy both scored goals while three of the starting forwards raised white flags. At the interval no-one could argue that Rathvilly didn’t deserve their 2-13 to 1-4 lead.
The second half proved to be a procession. Rathvilly did what they pleased with little fight from the opposition. The winners ran out all their substitutes with Daragh Murphy scoring a goal. Eric Molloy also found the net for a rampant Wicklow border side. It was far from ideal for them as they would surely have hoped for a tougher challenge with a semi-final date with Old Leighlin in a weeks’ time.
K Murphy 1-6 (4fs), L Gavin 0-6 (2fs), D Murphy 1-1 (1fs) E Molloy 1-1, P Bolger 1-0, A Burgess 0-3, B Murphy 0-3, B Kelly, D Curran 0-1 each
J Clarke 1-2, P McDonnell 0-2 (1f), J McCullagh, S Clarke 0-1 each
Robbie Molloy; Colin Bolger, Eric Molloy, Paraic Deering; Padhraig Bolger, Josh Moore, Dara Curran; Brendan Murphy, Adam Burgess; Brandon Kelly, Liam Gavin, Jake Elliott; Kevin Murphy, Ed Finnegan, Conor Doyle. Subs: Darragh Murphy for B Murphy (h/t), Robbie Ryan for Bolger (39), Barry John Molloy for Byrne (39), Ryan Sibbald for Kelly (48), Conor O’Neill for Doyle (49).
Ciaran Cunningham; Sean Wall, Alan Corcoran, Andrew Casey; Darren Crooks, Darragh Nolan, Liam McDonnell; Jack McCullagh, Jamie Clarke; Jason Wall, Cian Doyle, Oisin Dillon; Shane Clarke, Paddy McDonnell, James Farrell. Subs: Thomas Maher for Crooks (38), Thomas McDonnell for Casey (38), Jason Wall for Corcoran (49), Darren Crooks for Farrell (53).
James Foley (Kilbride).
