Rathkenny came away with a slender but deserved one point victory over neighbours Syddan in this IFC game played in Slane last Monday August 28th. Rathkenny 1-07 Syddan 0-09 Both defences were on top early on as a large downpour just before throw in made conditions very slippery. Syddan opened their account after nine minutes. Rathkenny eventually found their range with two scores on the bounce at the end of the first quarter. Owen Elliott pointed after great work down the left. This was followed a minute later by a well worked John Curtis point. Syddan started the second quarter with four points in seven minutes, to open up a three point gap. With seven minutes of the half remaining Thomas Martin magnificently fielded a misdirected pass and in the blink of an eye, had turned his marker and from twenty five yards out, unleashed an unstoppable effort to the top left hand corner of the net. Syddan added two further scores, the second of which was a fine effort from a sideline ball. Thomas Martin added a free to close out the half, Syddan 0-7 Rathkenny 1-3. Rathkenny came out of the traps quickest after the break and while containing Syddan's attack, they also managed to add scores from hard working David Donegan and two more from Thomas Martin to lead by two. Syddan registered their first score of the second half on 50 minutes from a free to narrow the gap back to one point. Rathkenny were dominant at this stage but could not get the elusive scores to pull away. However, John Donegan popped up with a great score with seven minutes remaining to open the gap back up to two. Syddan replied with a close in free two minutes from time. However both teams had chances to add to their tally, but Rathkenny's hunger for possession and some great defending meant they were victorious when Jack Gordon blew for fulltime. Best for the winners in a fine overall team performance were Donal Curtis, John Donegan and Thomas Martin. Rathkenny - J. Martin; J. Macken, D. Curtis, M. Reid; M. Macken, T. McKeever, D. Donegan (0-1); J. Donegan (0-1), R. Curtis; D. Barron, B. Meade, O. Elliott (0-1); T. Martin (1-3), T. Rowan, J. Curtis (0-1). Subs - I. Lenehan for J. Curtis, D. Smith for Rowan. Tweet

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