Rathnew’s old guard roll back the years
at Aughrim Keogh made two excellent saves to deny Johnny Byrne a goal but Gary Byrne made an incisive run through the Baltinglass defence and Ronan Doyle struck the ball over the bar. Rathnew led by a point at half time.
Rathnew continued to attack early in the second half. Johnny Byrne’s shot was knocked out for a 45 and Trevor Doyle calmly stroked the ball over the bar. Two more wides and another ball dropped short could have increased the lead by even more before Johnny Byrne converted a free won by Doyle to open up a three point lead.
Baltinglass responded with two points in a brief spell of pressure from Swinbourne and Peter Dowling but then a hammer blow came in the form of Stuart Murphy’s goal.
The Rathnew defence turned the ball over and kicked the ball long to Trevor Doyle.
He switched play across to Philly Murphy while Stuart Murphy made a run towards goal unmarked. Philly Murphy played a high ball over the head of the despairing Baltinglass defence for Stuart Murphy to catch and blast home.
That was the game over as a contest but Trevor Doyle still had time to jink one way and then another to kick a beautiful point on his left foot. Johnny Byrne and Swinbourne kicked the final four points of the game between them and it finished 1-10 to 8 points.
Rathnew won’t have it as easy against some of the other teams in the championship but will still be a formidable team to beat with a few of their players rolling back the years. RATHNEW SCORERS: Johnny Byrne (0-5, 2 frees); Trevor Doyle (0-3, 1 45); Stuart Murphy (1-0); Ronan Doyle, Jonah Graham (0-1 each). BALTINGLASS SCORERS: Paidi Swinbourne (0-6, 5 frees); Peter Dowling, Adam McHugh (0-1 each). RATHNEW: Shane Brennan; Alan Clarke, Jason Devlin, Jamie O’Connor; Nigel Darragh, Gary Byrne, Stephen Cruise; Stuart Murphy, Jonah Graham; Seamus Cosgrove, Philly Murphy, Ronan Manley; Ronan Doyle, Trevor Doyle, Johnny Byrne. Sub: Dean Franey for Seamus Cosgrove (43 mins). BALTINGLASS: Patrick Keogh; John Whelan, John Gillespie, Sean Parke; Mick Dowling, Thomas Cullen, Aaron Barrett; Peter Dowling, Conor Keogh; Lee Furlong, Shane Wall, Paraic McGrath; Adam McHugh, Páidí Swinbourne, Chris Heaslip. Subs: Mikey English for Conor Keogh (24 mins); John Timmins for Adam McHugh (41 mins); Luke Daly for Chris Heaslip (52 mins); Fabien Dunne for Sean Parke (54 mins); Kevin Lord for Shane Wall (59 mins). REFEREE: Damien Byrne.
A fixture that historically could go either way is the second part of Saturday’s winners’ section double bill. Coolkenno have upset St Pat’s a number of times over recent years and never hold any fear when facing the town team.
One concern for the Coolkenno men will be the injury picked up by star forward Eamon Rossiter who looked like he may be side-lined for some time with a bad hamstring injury. Conor Doyle also left the action early and these are players Coolkenno can’t afford to be without. Conor Walker was a revelation against Hollywood and on his day there are few better forwards locally to take scores from play.
They will hope the experience of Don Jackman, Paddy Dalton and the Rossiter and Cushe brothers have garnered from those wins over Pat’s over the years will stand to them again here.
Saint Patricks had an easier than expected win over Eire Óg the first day out and this has catapulted them right back to the top of the contender’s charts. They overcame the distraction of a club wedding to turn in an impressive performance where youth is the main emphasis in a vibrant team.
A forward unit that has serious movement and imagination left the Greystones men chasing shadows at times with Tommy Kelly and Eamon Wolfe particularly impressive.
With Paudge McWalter leading the charge from centre back and Dean Healy and Johnny Delahunt a new mid field pairing also looking good they will fancy the direct route to the quarters and will see this as a game they should win.
Prediction: Coolkenno will be waiting anxiously for injury news and if they can take to the field with a full hand they will make Saint Pat’s work hard for their expected win.
Two teams coming in to a game on the back of contrasting first round games. Baltinglass survived a nightmare start against Saint Boden’s before coming away with an easy win where Paul Garrigan won’t have found out much about his young team. They did look impressive at times and seem to have a really good system where players are willing to put in serious work off the ball to close down space. Ian Sheerin and Kevin Murphy although starting as wing forwards worked all over the field and had their hands on loads of ball during the hour. Forwards like Joey and Dan Kelly along with Henry Sinnott will make the most of the space left in the forward division. John McGrath and Jason Kennedy will keep the supply coming but McGrath may be closer to goal in this one.
Newtown fought really hard for their win over Avondale and a win like that will give them great confidence and they will have a real cut at this. John Murphy has some fine young talent at his disposal and with a nice spread of experience through the team they will see this as very winnable.
Any team with Dean Odlum in it will always have a chance, Avondale kept him quiet for a large chunk of the first half of their game and in the blink of an eye he nearly burst the net with a screamer of a goal. With Ross Davis and Darragh Callan chipping in with scores some of the pressure was taken off him in the forward line and Balto could have more to worry about than just Odlum.
Prediction: Tradition would have to favour a Baltinglass win and Newtown could struggle to get the scores from a hard working Baltinglass back division that gets plenty of help.
The champions overcame a sticky hurdle in the shape of Kiltegan in the first round, the handicap of missing some of their main players not causing them much concern. They looked a lot sharper in this game than they did this time twelve months ago and the need for promotion to senior ranks of the likes of Andrew O’Brien and Jordan Graham will further strengthen them going forward.
Leighton Glynn is rumoured to be gone stateside for a few weeks and his absence will be a boost to Tinahely but with James Stafford, Eddie Doyle and Jody Merrigan coming back in to the team Deccie Byrne will not be short on options.
The form of Mark Doyle at full