McCarthy red card spurs Rathmore to extra-time win

Rathmore 3-12 Milltown/Castlemaine 0-15 THIS was a tightly contested affair played in a hot and sunny Rathbeg.

Milltown/Castlemaine raced into an early lead with scores from Cathal Moriarty, Gavin Horan and Pa Wrenn but these were quickly cancelled out by a well-taken left-footed effort from Daniel O`Sullivan that rattled Joe Dalys net. This was as good as it got for Rathmore in the first half as they trailed 0-7 to 1-1 at the break.

Similar to the first half Milltown/Castlemaine began the better side as frees from Cathal Moriarty meant that they were dominant not only on the scoreboard but also in the physical stakes.

Rathmore suffered further agony as goalkeeper Padraic McCarthy was given a straight red for a goal mouth altercation. This served to spur on the home side as Donal O’Sullivan and Aidan O’Mahony began to exert more influence around the middle of the park.

Three Aidan O’Mahony points in quick succession brought Rathmore to within three points of Milltown/Castlemaine.

A breakdown in communication in the middle of the field for Milltown allowed George O’Keeffe to run half the length of the pitch to slide the ball into the corner of the net. This was to be it for an entertaining tie as both sides headed into extra-time level and on a scoreline of Rathmore 2-5 Milltown/Castlemaine 0-11.

Rathmore pushed on during both stages of extra-time and were rewarded when Michael A. Kelleher finished off a goal from short range.

Milltown/ Castlemaine failed to score from play in this period as this enthralling game came to a conclusion.

RATHMORE: Padraic McCarthy, Cathal Murphy, James O`Sullivan, Conor Jenkins, Paul Murphy, Tom O`Sullivan, Brian O`Leary, Aidan O`Mahony (0-5), Donal O`Sullivan, Daniel O’Sullivan (1-0), Brendan O’Keeffe, George O’Keeffe (1-1), Michael O`Riordan, Eoin Lawlor (0-1), Shane Ryan (0-3, 1 ‘45’). Subs: TJ Freil, Conor O`Sullivan, Mark Reen, Shane O’Callaghan, John Buckley, Michael A. Kelleher (1-2)

MILLTOWN/CASTLEMAINE: Joe Daly, Paul Carroll, Damian Murphy, John Blennerhassett, David Roche, Shane Murphy, Pa Wrenn(0-1), Mike Burke, Brendan Delaney, Gavin Horan (0-1), Donal Kelleher (01), Jeremiah Hayes (0-1), Ciaran Kelliher, Marcus Mangan, Cathal Moriarty (0-8, 4f).

Subs: Derek Twiss (0-3), Eoin O’Brien