St. Michaels 0-11, Rathkenny 3-12,

Two goals in the opening two minutes gave Rathkenny the perfect start over St. Michaels in this division 2 match in Rathkenny last evening.

The game was barely a minute old when a Rathkenny attack was brought to an abrupt halt in the St. Michaels square and Jack Gore gave Shane McCormack no chance in the St. Michael goals, less than 30 seconds later the same player had bagged his second major, this time an unstoppable shot from play.

St. Michaels who started minus five players from Saturdays IFC victory over Drumbaragh struggled to gain a foothold in the opening half and gave away hard earned ball too easily which the home side lapped up at their ease. Rathkenny earned their second penalty after 12 minutes of play which resulted in their third major and the home side had built up 3-5 lead by the time Kevin Cassidy opened the St. Michaels account with a point on 19 minutes. A Jamie Farrelly point from play and a Ciaran Lynch pointed free completed the first half scoring for St. Michaels as the home side led by 3-8 to 0-3 at the interval.

Ciaran Lynch opened the second half scoring for his side with two points, one from a free which finally kick-started the St. Michaels challenge as they began to impose themselves on the game and held Rathkenny to just a single point in the third quarter as Farrelly and substitute Ben Tobin added a point apiece. Rathkenny added two more points from play in the 16th and 20th minutes but it was always going to be too much to ask of the St. Michaels lads to haul in the Rathkenny lead, however they fought to the bitter end and can be a tad pleased with their second half performance as it was a 100% improvement on their opening half exploits. Points from Ray Reilly, Farrelly and Lynch completed the St. Michaels scoring as Rathkenny had the final say with a point in the 58th minute.

St. Michaels team and scorers: Shane McCormack, Adam O'Brien, Matthew Halpin, Christopher Drew, Paddy Clarke, Philip Rogers, John Stafford, Peter O'Connell, Jamie Farrelly 0-2, Kevin Cassidy 0-1, Ronan Cassidy, Thomas O'Brien, Ciaran Lynch 0-6, Ronan Lynch, Ray Reilly 0-1.
Subs: Shane McDonnell for R. Lynch 27 minutes, Joe Martin for R. Cassidy 36 minutes, Ben Tobin 0-1 for T. O'Brien 41 minutes, Darren O'Connell for K. Cassidy 50 minutes.

Referee: Paul Mooney.

Report and photo Pascal Reilly.

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