Castlerahan 2-11
Lacken 0-14

Castlerahan and Lacken got the 2010 Hotel Kilmore Senior Championship underway last night in front of a large audience at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Both teams came into the game on the back of good league wins over Redhills and Ballinagh respectively and both sides would have been hopeful of extending their winning run into the championship and gaining the initiative in what will be a tightly fought Group 1.

The game was a tense affair with patches of good quality football throughout however Castlerahan proved more clinical in front of goal and this was ultimately the decisive factor as the Ballyjamesduff based side prevailed by three points.

Castlerahan opened the scoring in the third minute when Ronan Flanagan slotted over from a free kick. Lacken hit back with two points, the first coming from Raymond Galligan, who started the game brightly, kicking over despite Fergal Flanagan being is close attendance.

Niall McKiernan got Lacken's second score with a great effort off his left boot. Castlerahan responded with two points from Enda Mulvey and Oisin O'Connell before Raymond Galligan pulled one back from a free midway through the half. The teams exchanged points through Enda Mulvey and Niall McKiernan.

Lacken paid the ultimate price for kicking a number of bad wides when Ronan Flanagan, who set up all of Castlerahan's scores, was again on hand to land a pin point ball into the arms of Oisin O'Connell, who made no mistake in finishing the ball to the back of the net.

Lacken responded well to this setback when Joe Crowe cut the deficit to two points from the resulting kick-out. The teams again exchanged points with Cian Mackey getting his first of the evening for Castlerahan before Raymond Galligan again closed the gap. It was Castlerahan who finished out the half the stronger with Lacken conceding two frees in the dying minutes and these were duly converted by Flanagan and Mackey.

Castlerahan would have been expecting a Lacken resurgence and this materialised as Lacken emerged in the second half to score five points in the opening twelve minutes while Castlerahan could only manage a solitary score from Ronan Flanagan.

Raymond Galligan started the fight back with a pointed free in the opening minute before Colm Sheridan (2), Niall McKiernan and Finbarr Reilly pulled Lacken level with eighteen minutes left on the clock.

It took Castlerahan seventeen minutes to register their second point of the half when Flanagan again slotted over from a free. The county player put two between the sides moments later before Lacken were dealt a major blow when Sean Brady was left free on the edge of the square and he showed great composure to finish the ball to the bottom corner.

The sides exchanged points at this stage when Niall McKiernan, who was rock solid from free kicks all evening, shot over from range before Sean Brady got his second score of the evening to settle the Castlerahan nerves once more.

To Lacken's credit they never gave up and notched two more scores in the latter stages through James Moynagh and Niall McKiernan but they paid the price for squandering a number of good scoring opportunities in the same period.

Castlerahan will be delighted to have come away with the spoils while Lacken will be left to rue a number of missed opportunities and their inability to come to terms with the quality in the Castlerahan full-forward line.

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