Ratoath revived their bid to reach the SHC final for the second year running with an emphatic round four win over Na Fianna at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday.

Ratoath ........ 3-25
Na Fianna .... 1-13

This fixture failed to ignite as contest apart from in the opening quarter. Gavin McGowan's brace of first-half goals flatlined any semblance of a competitive nature.

Padraig O'Hanrahan's point-taking was one of the highlights to go along with Gavin McGowan's fine goals.

Wing-back Niall McLarnon chipped in with a trio of points and by the end nine different players had scored for Ratoath.

Barry Slevin top scored for Na Fianna with 1-7. His goal came from a 20-metre free in the third quarter that did little to soften the deficit. The Baconstown-Enfield side have now fallen to four defeats from as many outings in this campaign, leaving them propping up the table with one round of fixtures to go.

Proceedings got underway with a flurry of points. The sides shared eight points in the opening nine minutes during which time the scores were tied four times.

The first break arrived in the 16th minute when Gavin McGowan fired home his first goal to leave four points between the teams, 1-6 to 0-5.

With Padraig O'Hanrahan firing over four points in a row, Ratoath had opened up a double scores lead by the 22nd minute.

McGowan bagged his second goal in the 28th minute, again with assistance from brother David. When the latter pointed in the 29th minute, 10 points separated the teams and the gap was 11 when Padraig O'Hanrahan registered from play.

Na Fianna's Barry Slevin closed the first-half scoring with his side's first point since the 17th minute when midfielder Ronan Byrne sent over from his own 45, aided by the strong wind.

Ratoath led by ten points at half-time, 2-11 to 0-7. By then any semblance of a contest had evaporated. .

The focus of both sides for the remainder of the hour was to improve their score difference. By the end Ratoath's points-difference stood at +18 for the afternoon.

Scorers: Ratoath - Padraig O'Hanrahan 0-14; Gavin McGowan 2-1; Ciaran O'Hanrahan 1-0; Niall McLarnon 0-3; David McGowan 0-2; Jack McGowan 0-2; Padraig Byrne 0-1; Bryan McMahon 0-1; Sean Corbett 0-1.

Na Fianna - Barry Slevin 1-7 (1-4 fs); Will Flynn 0-2; Sean Martin 0-1;Johnny McCloskey 0-1; Stephen Slevin 0-1; Ethan Devine 0-1.

Ratoath - Gearoid Crowley; Domhnall Rogers, Liam Corbett, Sean Murphy; Conor Ward,Ben McGowan, Niall McLarnon; Padraig O'Hanrahan, Padraig Byrne; David McGowan,Jack McGowan, Tom Fadden; Ciaran O'Hanrahan, Sean Corbett, Gavin McGowan. Subs - Liam Kelly for B McGowan (ht), Bryan McMahon for G McGowan (ht), Bobby O'Brien for S Corbett (48)

Na Fianna - Adam Farrell; Luke Boggan, Peter Slevin, Mark Murphy; Eoin Bright, Daniel Gleeson, Stephen Slevin; Ronan Byrne, Ethan Devine; Rory Fagan, Barry Slevin, Oisin Bright; Will Flynn, Cian Slattery, Sean Martin. Subs - Johnny McCloskey for Slattery (ht), Slattery for Byrne (bs 51-54).

Referee - Stephen Masterson (Kildalkey)

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