Halligan stars in Rathkenny win

1-13 1-8

THIS was a must-win game for Rathkenny to stay clear of the SFC relegation zone and they didn’t disappoint as they saw off the challenge of a poor Ballinlough side in Pairc Tailteann on Saturday evening.

The victory, their second of the campaign, has set up a crunch final-round clash with Skryne, and a win there will see them advancing to the knockout stages.

This defeat for Ballinlough condemns the Intermediate champions of two years ago to the relegation play-off.

Rathkenny led by the minimum at half-time, 1-7 to 1-6, but then found themselves trailing in the third quarter after Ballinlough snatched the opening two scores of the second half.

However, those was their only scores of the half and Rathkenny went on to dominate, registering six unanswered points in the process to end comfortable winners.

Caolach Halligan was the star of the show for the winners, finishing with a personal tally of 1-5. Four of those Halligan points came in the opening 20 minutes as Rathkenny led 0-5 to 0-4.

That rich vein of form continued as the corner forward then found the net to put Rathkenny four clear.

Ballinlough responded almost immediately with a goal of their own from Ronan McGuinness and Derek Muldoon tagged on a point to level matters.

Jack Gore and James O’Higgins then traded scores before a fine effort from wing back Stephen Crosbie late in the half left Rathkenny ahead at the break.

Ballinlough started the second half in promising fashion with points from Colm Mallen and O’Higgins.

Their challenge fizzled out after that, though, as Rathkenny took inspiration from a Donal Keogan point.

Midfielder Brian Meade hit two fine points, while Brian Lenehan, Thomas Martin and Halligan were also on the mark as Rathkenny ran out easy winners.