Rathnew on course
The Village have too much firepower for Bray Emmets
RATHNEW BRAY EMMETS 2-13 1-7
Rathnew remain on course to retain the Renault Senior Football Championship following their comfortable nine-point victory over Bray Emmets at Joule Park, Aughrim on Saturday last.
While Bray Emmets did go ahead five minutes before half-time they were reeled back in with a Phil Murphy goal just before the break.
The Bray men got back within a point early in the second half, but they never really looked capable of causing an upset and the Rathnew men controlled the last quarter completely during which Bray failed to register a score
Leighton Glynn got Rathnew on the scoreboard with a point in the first minute. As usual Glynn could turn up anywhere on the field, but he had a quiet enough game by his standards.
Eddie Doyle with points from two frees and one from Phil Murphy had Rathnew four ahead before Diarmuid Masterson raised Bray Emmets first white flag after thirteen minutes.
The pace of the game was quite leisurely and Eddie Doyle and Cathal McGee exchanged points from frees. Nicky Mernagh went on a run straight up the middle and had Rathnew ahead by 0-6 to 0-2 at the 23-minute stage.
Shane Lohan, who had spent the earlier stages of the game playing in front of his full-back line, moved out to the centre of the field, Mark Lennon and Cathal McGee moved out to get on more ball and with Des Kelly, Dylan Terry and Diarmuid Masterson pushing forward, Bray Emmets came more into the game.
Ben McCormack scored their third point and when overlapping wing back Padraig Bell beat Peter Dignam in the Rathnew net with a left footed shot for a fine goal with eight minutes left to the break, the game was all square.
A Des Kelly point from a free put the Emmets into the lead for a short period but Rathnew struck a powerful blow on the stroke of half-time. Nicky Mernagh launched a long ball in on Mark Doyle.
The full-forward knocked it down into Phil Murphy’s path and the corner man planted the ball past Paul O’Keeffe to leave Rathnew leading by 1-6 to 1-4 at the break.
Jody Merrigan pointed straight from the start of the second half.
Dara Rochford responded for Bray and one minute later Mark Lennon missed a great chance of a second Bray goal when he shot outside Peter Dignam’s right post from close in. Cathal McGee pointed another free to reduce the gap to the minimum.
Bray were putting together a lot passes but were making little progress as movements invariably broke down.
Theo Smith and Edward Doyle pushed the lead back to three points. When Cathal McGee re- sponded with a left footed point, it turned out to be the final score of the game for the Emmets.
Substitute Danny Staunton pointed in the fifteenth minute and from here on Rathnew took control.
James Stafford screwed over a left footed point and followed up a minute later with a left footed goal sending a ground shot across Paul O’Keeffe’s goal and just inside his left post.
Rathnew ran out the final few minutes well ahead and added two more points from Eddie Doyle.
The final score was Rathnew 2-13, Bray Emmets 1-7.
Scorers – Rathnew: Eddie Doyle 0-6, Phil Murphy 1-1, James Stafford 1-1, Jody Merrigan 0-1, Leighton Glynn 0-1, Nicky Mernagh 0-1, Theo Smith 0-1, Danny Staunton 0-1.
Bray Emmets: Padraig Bell 1-0, Cathal McGee 0-3, Diarmuid Masterson, Ben McCormack, Des Kelly and Dara Rochford 0-1 each.