Awesome AGB turn on style

Rathnew seconds hit for six

AGB 6-12 RATHNEW 0-15

THE footballers of AGB turned in a devastatingly effective performance against Rathnew’s second team in Pearse’s Park last weekend in their SFL Division 2 clash.

Damien Redmond’s flying side put six goals past the Villagers on a splendid summer’s evening in Arklow and they might have had more but for some glaring wides.

The Rathnew men will take some consolation from the fact that they clocked up a very respectable tally of 0-15 over the course of the hour; testament to the fact that they never once threw in the towel, despite trailing by 4-09 to 0-07 at the break.

That 0-15 tally will serve AGB well in the sense that they won’t be getting carried away ahead of their championship campaign which gets up and running in a few weeks.

In attacking terms the Arklow side are moving very well, running at pace against their opponents, supporting in numbers, and they are not short in confidence. It’s in defence that they can find the most improvement by cutting down on the concession of frees within shooting distance of Mervyn Travers’ posts, especially when a freetaker of the caliber of Edward Doyle is knocking around.

Doyle’s eight points from placed balls kept Rathnew on the coat tails of the AGB men and while they were never going to catch the home team they were always there in the background. They needed goals though and they never looked like coming to be fair.

It was a bright start for the visitors with a converted Edward Doyle free getting them up and running after a foul on Jordan Graham at full-forward.

AGB’s movement up the field was very impressive and the ball was worked all the way from Mervyn Travers to Philip Healy and the full-forward grabbed the first of their six goals with two minutes on the clock.

Healy was impressive in the opening half while Cormac O’Shea had a superb opening 30. He was like a ghost, drifting in and out of the action like an uncatchable mist.

Cathal Kelleher pointed and Edward Doyle replied and for the opening quarter of an hour it was thus, scores being swapped here and there with Philip Healy and Philip Gleeson notching sweet points for AGB and Jordan Graham, Philip O’Neill and Doyle replying for Rathnew to leave it at 1-03 to 0-05.

Then Cormac O’Shea went from casual Casper ghost style to full on horror show.

In the space of a few minutes he had rattled the back of the Rathnew net twice and points from Gleeson and himself left it 3-05 to 0-05 after 22 minutes.

And it didn’t stop there. Philip Healy grabbed their fourth goal while Tiernan McBride fired over a lovely point and so did Stephen Hurley and Philip Healy and O’Shea punched over to leave the half-time score reading 4-09 to 0-07.

If Rathnew were to have any hope they would need a great start to the second half but they got the opposite when Cathal Kelleher pointed when Philip Healy might have goaled and then that master of the where-the-hell-did-he-comefrom move up the field, Ciaran Hyland, popped up to collect a ball and drive home to the back of Dylan Keogh’s net.

At 5-11 to 0-07 the game was well and truly over but Rathnew kept plugging away and they rattled off the next seven points to make it 5-11 to 0-14 after 19 minutes of the second half. White flags were raised by Philip O’Neill, Jordan Graham (2), Gary Byrne, and Edward Doyle (3).

With legs tiring it was the AGB side who pushed on again with a fine effort from Chris O’Brien. Ronan Doyle hit back for Rathnew before substitute Shane McBride made up for a glaring wide in front of goal with a ripper of a strike to the roof of the Rathnew net.

AGB are moving well and they have a host of players that will press hard for starting places on that team. They had a healthy panel of over 30 in Pearse’s Park and they look like they’re really enjoying their football.

Rathnew will take heart from their tally and their overall performance. They gifted AGB a couple of goals with defensive errors. They won’t hang their heads and they’ll cause teams all sorts of headaches come championship.

Scorers – AGB: Philip Healy 2-03, Cormac O’Shea 2-02, Ciaran Hyland 1-00, Shane McBride 1-00, Cathal Kelleher 0-02, Philip Gleeson 0-02, Tiernan McBride 0-01, Stephen Hurley 0-01, Chris O’Brien 0-01.

Rathnew: Edward Doyle 0-08 (8f), Jordan Graham 0-03, Philip O’Neill 0-02, Gary Byrne 0-01, Ronan Doyle 0-01.

AGB: Mervyn Travers; Jack Hamilton, Danny O’Harte, Alan McBride; Karl Kirwan, Ciaran Hyland, Darragh Fitzgerald; Chris O’Brien, Cal Kelly; Tiernan McBride, Stephen Hurley, Cormac O’Shea; Cathal Kelleher, Philip Healy, Philip Gleeson. Subs: Garreth Kenny for P Healy; Shane McBride for T McBride; Peter Hempenstall for C O’Shea; Ciaran O’Shea for A McBride.

Rathnew: Dylan Keogh; David Jameson, James Manley, Patrick Connor; Jamie O’Connor, Gary Byrne, Andrew O’Brien; Stuart Murphy, Jonah Graham; Edward Doyle, Danny Staunton, Ronan Manley; Philip O’Neill, Jordan Graham, Ronan Doyle. Subs: John Heaney for D Jameson.

Referee: Brendan Furlong