Rathvilly rule the roost with ten-point over Éire Óg in Division 1 final
Rathvilly captain Ed Finnegan lifts the Carlow Football League Division 1 trophy with Igor Cardoso from sponsors Carlow Credit Union and John McDonald Carlow GAA Chairman.
Rathvilly are the 2026 Carlow Credit Union Football League Division 1 Champions after a dominant second half saw them beat Éire Óg by ten points on Sunday night at Netwatch Cullen Park.
Rathvilly cruised past Tinryland in the semi-finals, winning 1-16 to 0-5, while Eire Og were given a sterner test against Palatine, eventually winning 0-19 to 2-9. Rathvilly were the team to back up that victory with another fine performance, as goals from Kevin and Darragh Murphy helping their side to a comprehensive victory.
Mark Behan had Éire Óg in front inside 60 seconds and there were barely three minutes on the clock when Colm Hulton charged through on goal to raise a green flag.
Kevin Murphy got Rathvilly off the mark, but Éire Óg returned fire with a wonderful two-pointer from Hulton to put five between the teams inside six minutes.
Murphy raised another white flag in the 11th minute, but there was a feeling around the ground that it could have a been a flag of a different colour had he been a little braver.
Brendan Murphy then added a superb two-pointer from well outside the arc, but a point in response from Brendan Kavanagh left Éire Óg up by three.
Eric Molloy charged forward from wing back to score for Rathvilly before his side went in front moments later when Kevin Murphy ran clear through on goal and calmly side-footed the ball into the bottom corner of Ben McCarron’s net.
A two-pointer from Éire Óg’s Chris Blake and a white flag at the other end from Eric Molloy had the sides level after 20 minutes, although both sides had been guilty of some uncharacteristic wides.
Éire Óg were back in front courtesy of Mark Furey, but with 27 minutes played, Rathvilly were in for goal number two off a powerful finish from close range from Darragh Murphy. Ronan Quinlan pointed a free in response, but Rathvilly stormed forward again where Brendan Murphy raised his second orange flag of the half to leave his side a goal to the good at the interval, up 2-8 to 1-8.
Éire Óg hit first after the restart with a free from Darragh O’Brien before Rathvilly’s Darragh Murphy wiped that out. Kevin Murphy then pointed a free before hand-passing over the bar, followed by a beauty from Liam Gavin to make it a six-point game.
Hulton and Molloy swapped scores, before a free from Gavin extended Rathvilly’s lead to seven points approaching the final quarter.
Éire Óg were offered a reprieve soon afterwards when referee Lar Murphy awarded a penalty. Niall Quinlan took the responsibility, but Rathvilly goalkeeper Regan Murphy was equal to the task, making an excellent save to his right.
Ben McCarron converted the resulting 45, but that was immediately cancelled out by a free from Kevin Murphy.
Having missed the penalty, Niall Quinlan was then shown a contentious black card in the 54th minute, followed by four cracking scores from Rathvilly - one each from Molloy and Ryan Sibbald plus two from Conor Doyle.
Adam McCarron pointed for Éire Óg, but it was quickly wiped out by Brendan Murphy at the other end. A Ross Dunphy free brought the game to a close, with Eire Og finishing ten points adrift of Division 1 champions for 2026, Rathvilly.
K Murphy 1-5 (0-2f), B Murphy 0-5 (2tp), D Murphy 1-1, E Molloy 0-4, L Gavin (1f) and C Doyle 0-2 each, R Sibbald 0-1.
C Hulton 1-3 (1tp), C Blake (tp) and M Behan (1f) 0-2 each, B Kavanagh, M Furey, R Quinlan (f), B McCarron (45), A McCarron and R Dunphy 0-1 each.
Regan Murphy; Paraic Deering, Josh Moore, Daire Byrne; Eric Molloy, Brendan Murphy, Padhraig Bolger; Kenneth Bello, Conor Doyle; Adam Burgess, Peter Burgess, Ed Finnegan; Kevin Murphy, Darragh Murphy, Liam Gavin.
Colin Byrne for Deering (37), Ryan Sibbald for Finnegan (43), Eoin Corcoran for Gavin (55), Cillian Molloy for B Murphy (59).
Ben McCarron; Mark Behan, Ryan Donnelly-Finn, Cathal Kelly; Lee Moore, Adam Nolan, Alex Delaney; Mark Furey, Eoin Myers; Brendan Kavanagh, Darragh O’Brien, Ross Dunphy; Colm Hulton, Chris Blake, Ronan Quinlan.
Adam McCarron for Quinlan and Eoghan Byrne for Kelly (both HT), Niall Quinlan for Kavanagh (39), Evan Kelly for Behan (40).
Lar Murphy.
