Dunshaughlin 1-5 Ratoath 1-11

Dunshaughlin hosted Ratoath in the second round of the minor championship.

Ratoath started quickly with Daithi McGowan winning the throw in and Sean Johnson getting on the end of a good pass to open the scoring.

Ratoath settled well and scored further points in the 3rd minute through captain Ryan kelly, the 9th minute, Peter Barry and the 13th minute with Cian Rogers. Dunshaughlin scored their first point in the 9th minute.

To be fair, Dunshaughlin were having more of the play and were passing the ball well around their team. Ratoath seemed to be playing very deep and inviting Dunshaughlin on. A combination of good defending and poor shooting was hurting Dunshaughlin

Nathan Dunne  added Ratoath's 5th point in the 24th minute against the run of play and it wasn't until injury time that Dunshaughlin scored their second point.

Half time Dunshaughlin 0-2 Ratoath 0-5

Ratoath again settled better in the second half but scoring chances were hard to come by . Nathan Dunne registered the first point of the second half, a stunning effort from the right hand touchline, in the 36th minute - Dunshaughlin responded with two points in the 42nd and 44th minutes to leave two in it! The turning point of the game came in the 45th minute when sub Connell ahearne returning from injury scored a cracking goal after a good team move

Ahearne added points in the 46th, 50th and 51st minutes to put Ratoath in a commanding lead. Dunshaughlin kept fighting and responded with a point in the 51st minute and a goal of their own through Neil  Byrne in the 53rd minute. Another point in the 56th minute confirmed that this game was still in the balance.

However, Ratoath didn't panic and with Daithi McGowan dominating in the air for the last quarter it was Ratoath  who finished stronger over the last 10 minutes. A Nathan Dunne free and a Connell Ahearne fisted point completed the scoring leaving Ratoath with a 5 point cushion

This was a good team performance by Ratoath but debutant Jack Flynn should be mentioned for a very solid performance at half back while captain Ryan Kelly led by example throughout

Foireann Ráth Tó: Daragh McPartlin, Simon Barry, Cormac Butler, Ryan Kelly (0-1), Ben Wyer, Jack Flynn, Andrew Gerrard, Daithi McGowan, John Walsh, Leigh Sullivan, Cian Rogers (0-1), Nathan Dunne (0-3), Sean Johnson (0-1), Peter Barry (0-1). Subs: Connell Ahearne (1-4) for Johnson, Tom Fadden for Cian Rogers, Ruairi Crawford for Simon Barry, Tiarnan Ahearne for John Walsh

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