Rathkenny produced a strong second half performance to get past Summerhill and reach the Junior C Football Championship final last Saturday evening, August 22nd in Bective.

Rathkenny 1-10 Summerhill 1-05

Summerhill had the perfect start when hitting the net after two minutes before Paul O'Brien sent over Rathkennys opening score. Summerhill then hit a purple patch with three points on the bounce between the fifth and tenth minutes to lead by five. Rathkenny dug in deep and replied with three points of their own through Darren Barron (free), Cathal McCabe and a great effort from midfielder Adam Brennan to narrow the gap. Scores were at a premium in the final ten minutes of the half with Summerhill sending over their final first half score on twenty minutes. Rathkenny levelled matters on twenty three minutes when Simon Lenehan was quickest to react to a dropping ball and half volleyed to the net to leave it 1-04 apiece at the break.

Darren Barron sent over the opening second half score from a free. Summerhill levelled matters with what turned out to be their only score of the half. Rathkenny sent two over in two minutes through Barron and Barry Carolan. At the three quarter stage Darren Barron had sent over his fourth and fifth free of the evening as Rathkenny now with a man advantage led by four. Sub Connor Brennan popped up with the final score as Rathkenny reached their first Junior C final since 1999.

Rathkenny - R. Timmons; C. Mongey, M. Brien, D. Nulty; C. McCabe (0-1), G. Brennan, J. Thompson; D. Smith, A. Brennan (0-1); D. Barron (0-5), B. Carolan (0-1), R. Curtis; J. Esmonde, P. O'Brien (0-1), S. Lenehan (1-0).
Subs - B. White for Lenehan, C. Brennan (0-1) for Esmonde, D. Timmons for Thompson, C. Gore for White, O. Lynch for Carolan

Summerhill report:

Junior C Semi Final

Summerhill bowed out of the Junior C championship against Rathkenny in Bective on Saturday evening on a scoreline of Summerhill 1-5 Rathkenny 1-10.

Summerhill got off to a great start with a goal from Mark Donoughue with barely a minute on the clock. He pick up the ball near half way and ran right through the Rathkenny defence before firing to the net. Rathkenny responded with a point before Summerhill hit three unanswered points, two from Ray Comey and one from Bryan Hatton. Rathkenny began to dominate around the middle third and slowly began to take control of the game. They hit three point without reply before a Mark Donoughue free pushed the lead back out to a goal.

The momentum of the game swung towards the northmeath men in the minutes just before half time. Firstly a high ball that dropped into the Summerhill square was knocked down into the path of an in rushing Rathkenny forward who vollyed the ball first time to the back of the net to draw the sides level at 1-4 a piece. Moments later with seconds remaining in the half  Summerhill's Eoin Crowe was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card.

The second half started with a Rathkenny point from a free but a good Summerhill point from Rod McAuliffe drew the sides level again. This was to be Summerhill last point of the match as Rathkenny slowly pulled away with five unanswered points. Despite the numerical disadvantage Summerhill created several good scoring chances but just could not find the target eventully allowing Rathkenny to run out winners by five points.

Full-time Score:

Summerhill 1-5 Rathkenny 1-10

Date of Match:

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Half-time Score:

Summerhill 1-4 Rathkenny 1-4

Team:

Gary Gill, Mark Gannon, Harry Hatton, Paddy Troy, Eoin Crowe, John Comey, Sean Ryan, Rod McAuliffe (0-1), Robbie Troy, Cian Devlin, Jeremy Ennis, Bryan Hatton (0-1), Mark Donoghue(1-1), Ray Comey (0-2), Cathal Brien,

Substitutes:

Stephen Kennedy for Cian Devlin
Richard Fox for Cathal Brien
Sean Larkin for Ray Comey
Kyle Benson for Mark Donoghue.

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