Ratoath   7-6

Summerhill   3-7

The Ratoath and Summerhill squads served up a very entertaining game on Monday night in Division 1 of the Under 15 championship.

The home side, playing in a borrowed red kit to avoid a clash of colours, started well, with John Walsh slotting a lovely point off his weaker foot in the first minute. 2 minutes later Tom Fadden added a goal following some lovely play by Ratoath. The next score came in the 9th minute with Alex Neville pointing after a strong run.

Ratoath netted twice in two minutes with Fadden adding his second and Andrew Gerrard also scoring. Leigh Sullivan added a point on the 17th minute with a superb score from wide out on the left side - probably the score of the night!

At this stage Ratoath were leading by 3-3 to no score and it looked like it was going to be an easy night out for them. Their mid field pairing of Ahearne and Gerrard were on top and were being well supported by Captain Ryan Kelly and John Walsh who was having a fine game. Summerhill made a tactical change bringing Conor Frayne out from the full forward line where he became more involved in the play! Summerhill got off the mark with a 19th minute goal to signal that it wasn't going to be all one way. Ratoath responded with their fourth goal with Jack O'Brien getting on the score sheet. Summerhill added two more points to Ratoath's one before half time leaving the score at 4-3 to 1-2 at the break.

The second half was an entirely different affair, and as the Summerhill mid field started to click and with Liam Shaw in particular to the fore, the game tightened up! Connell Ahearne scored a fine goal against the run of play to put Ratoath further ahead and this was followed by another goal from Fadden. These scores hid the fact that Summerhill were starting to win a lot of ball from kickouts and but for 5 wides they could have been closer to Ratoath.

Summerhill finished stronger, scoring 2-4 in the last 20 minutes while Ratoath managed a further 1-2. This left the score at Ratoath 7-6 to Summerhill 3-7.

The game was played in great spirit with many of the boys knowing one another through the county development squads. The pace to the game was fast and challenges were strong but fair. The battle between Ryan Kelly and Conor Frayne was particularly entertaining with the two Meath development players competing very strongly and fairly with one another.

Unfortunately, Liam Shaw from Summerhill picked up what looked like a bad hamstring strain right at the end. All hope he won't be out for long.

Best for Ratoath were John Walsh in the half forward line and Peter Barry in the full back line who made some crucial blocks and interceptions, Ryan Kelly and Ahearne while Summerhill were best served by Shaw and Frayne and Sean Blackwell.

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