Pal denied impressive win by late Rathvilly equaliser
Kevin Murphy scores a goal for Rathvilly
A late point from Liam Gavin saw these two sides share the Senior Football Championship third round points at Netwatch Cullen Park on Friday.
Palatine enjoyed the better of the first half with Mark Buggy and Shane O’Neill raising white flags. Rathvilly’s Liam Gavin converted a free but this was cancelled out and doubled on when Buggy landed a two-point free.
When Ciaran Moran slotted a two-pointer from play for Palatine, they looked capable of driving on but their defence was ripped open and Kevin Murphy found the Palatine net at the scoreboard end of the ground.
The Bennekerry side were not fazed and thanks to further two-pointers from Josh Egan and Buggy they led 0-13 to 1-5 at the interval.
An early two-point free brought Rathvilly from Gavin onto their rivals but Palatine looked as if they had the answers with O’Neill, Buggy and Tomas Kenny all finding the posts for vital points.
Yet Rathvilly persisted and with time running out a booming two-pointer from Conor Doyle left only a point between them in the 58th minute. It was all Rathvilly in the final minutes. Gavin was brave when landing the equaliser and that is how it finished. Both sides will probably be a little bit disappointed not to have taken the win but a draw was probably a fair result.
K Murphy 1-3 (1f), L Gavin 0-6 (2fs), P Burgess, C Doyle (1-2p) 0-2 each, B Kelly, D Murphy 0-1 each.
M Buggy 0-7 (2-2pfs 1f), S O’Neill 0-3 (1f), J Egan (1-2p), C Moran (1-2p) 0-2 each, T Kenny, E Ryan, C Crowley, F Kavanagh 0-1.
Regan Murphy; Paraic Deering, Colin Byrne, Kenneth Bello; Eric Molloy, Dara Curran, Padhraig Bolger; Josh Moore, Adam Burgess; Conor Doyle, Brandon Kelly, Peter Burgess; Kevin Murphy, Darragh Murphy, Liam Gavin. Subs: Brynn Nolan for A Burgess (44), Brendan Murphy for Bello (48), Brian Smith for D Murphy (54).
Craig Kearney; Gavin Healy, Cian Cashman, Conor Reynolds; Tomás Kenny, Ciaran Moran, Sean Walsh; Sam McHugh, Finbarr Kavanagh; Josh Egan, Shane O’Neill, Bryan McMahon; Mark Buggy, Conor Crowley, Eoin Ryan. Subs: Darragh Fitzpatrick for O’Doherty (45), Brandon Cassidy for Ryan (48), Conor Doherty for McHugh (61).
David Hickey (Fenagh)
