Kilmacanogue

at Greystones six minutes to kill off the Rathnew challenge to emerge worthy winners with an eleven-point victory which must have left Jonathan Daniels and Wesley Callaghan happy with the result but a word of warning that much stiffer opposition lies ahead.

The opening score saw Kilmacanogue take the game to their opponents from the start which saw Niall Meldon score a point after two minutes from play, the next six minutes saw the play flow from end to end but no score was recorded which both defences on top.

A Rathnew attack resulted in a free being awarded which saw Edward Doyle score a point to bring

the sides level after nine minutes played.

At this stage the winners suffered a blow when corner Aaron Craven had to leave the play following an injury sustained and was replaced by Josh O’Callaghan, who went to be one of the winners best players, which saw him score three points for the rest of the encounter.

Scores were becoming scarce with three points being recorded. Following a move that was started

in their own defence Josh O’Callaghan scored the first of his three points which brought a quick

response from the Village as Johnny Byrne showed his ability to score two points in a row, both from play, which saw Darren Ronan’s side leading on a score of 0-3 to 0-2 after 17 minutes.

The same pattern of play continued which saw both sides guilty of mistakes and both sets of forwards were off target.

The winners launched an attack which saw a foul being committed, with Josh O’Callaghan pointing the free, but not for the first time Rathnew responded as they scored a point by Edward Doyle, which resulted in the winners surging up field after good work by midfielder Cian Rafferty, who gave a perfect pass to Steven Morgan who scored a point to bring the sides level at 0-4 each.

Not for the first time in the game both sides missed chances but it was the winners that finished