Rathnew seal final spot after victory over Balto
Late goal helps Harry’s men set up clash with Blesso
RATHNEW booked a date with destiny after a hard-earned defeat of Baltinglass in the Renault Senior football championship in Joule Park, Aughrim, on Sunday.
With the game finely poised in the last five minutes of action, a quick free from their own 21 worked themselves into a scoring position and Stephen Byrne fired into the net to open an unassailable five-point lead.
The opening stages were extremely cagey with both sides guilty of coughing up a number of wides and errant shooting.
Mikey English was sent to the edge of his own square to stop the threat from Rathnew full-forward Mark Doyle. Baltinglass lost nothing with his absence from the middle third with Jason Kennedy, Peader Burke and Kevin Murphy all proving prominent early on.
For the men from the Village, the Glynn brothers were going through Trojan work for their side with Enan being a main target for a lot of the Rathnew kickouts. The wides tally was at 8 after as many minutes before Eddie Doyle fired over a good score from a free near the sideline.
The Baltinglass reponse was quick with Mark Jackson firing over a monster free from 55 metres and Daniel Kelly added another free shortly after to give his side the lead after a foul on Tom Burke. Leighton Glynn and Sean O’Brien traded a score each to bring the opening 20 minutes to it’s conclusion with both teams struggling to pick out any runs in the forward lines.
John McGrath was proving to be an influential player in the opening stages picking up a lot of breaking ball and driving his team on but he was moved into corner forward while having his hamstring heavily strapped.
The county footballer was having a right tussle with Warren Kavanagh who is a tough man marker when he is required and with the threat of McGrath waning with the injury, Kavanagh was given a license to become an attacking threat also.
Great footwork and composure by Jody Merrigan with Baltinglass defence swarming released Mark Doyle into a first goal chance but his effort was saved fantastically by Mark Jackson. James Stafford levelled matters on 26 minutes with a sublime piece of quick thinking.
The towering midfielder appeared to lose control of the ball in a group of bodies but his swinging left foot drop kicked the ball over the Baltinglass bar.
A Jackson free and another from Stafford brought the sides to 0-4 a piece just before the half time whistle and two big moments for the Rathnew team. First of all, an attack from Baltinglass found its way to Peader Burke and his turn and shot just flew wide. Moments later, another attack from Baltinglass almost resulted in another goal for Baltinglass, Christopher Heaslip managed to get himself into a goal scoring position and Rathnew goalkeeper got down low and makes a fantastic save to keep his side on parity. With the time just up, Rathnew almost got themselves into the lead after Billy Cullen fouled Leighton Glynn and a quickly taken free to Doyle was agonisingly wide.
The second half started with a yellow for Cullen before the ball was thrown in for the earlier incident and an early attack from Tom Burke resulted in a fine score for the young Baltinglass man. The second half would be a tale of some fantastic defending.
For Rathnew, Jamie Snell and Enan Glynn turned over a huge amount of possession and on the other side, the Baltinglass team hunting in backs forcing turnovers were crucial during Rathnew’s purple patch.
Baltinglass delivered a large number of long balls into the Rathnew territory but with Damien Power, Paul Merrigan and Jamie Snell dealing with each one it was akin to feeding biscuits to a bear and setting up Rathnew attacks.
An Eddie Doyle free restored parity between the two sides before James Stafford sniffed out a chance and fired over from 40 metres to give Rathnew the lead. Around this time, Leighton Glynn came into his own.
There is probably no better player in the county when it comes to picking up breaking balls from kick outs and the former all-star nominee seemed to have magnets in his hands when loose ball spilled out from kick outs.
Glynn’s prominence was crucial in setting up attacks for his side and scores from brother Enan and the tigerish Warren Kavanagh stretched the lead to three. Another free from Kelly reduced arrears after a clever turnover from Adam McHugh.
Stephen Byrne was introduced for Nicky Mernagh early in the second half for a black card and Byrne proved a nuisance to Baltinglass, almost setting up a goal for his side only for Jackson to be off his line to prevent the danger.
Jackson also prevented a certain goal for Graham Merrigan a minute later with a fine save. From the resulting 45, Jody Merrigan stretched the gap to three with four minutes to go.
A free from Adam McHugh made it a two-point game with 27 minutes on the clock. Almost immediately, they had a chance to reduce the gap to one after a long sweeping move and while maybe trying to manoeuvre a goal chance, they were adjudged to have over-carried.
The Rathnew free was rapid, a ball into Stephen Byrne on the 45 found him in a lot of space and left his side in a four on three scenario. A quick one-two with Enan Glynn gave Byrne a chance to fire home and the second half substitution did not disappoint his side.
Mikey English pulled one back for Baltinglass immediately after but Rathnew played keep ball for the remainder and deservingly progress to next Sunday’s show piece.
Key Moment: Just before half time, Baltinglass had two goal chances. One was wide and the other resulted in a fantastic save from Peter Dignam. A goal there and Baltinglass would have had a three point lead and their tales up at the break. Interestingly, Baltinglass produced three goal chances to Rathnew’s one in the opening half but Rathnew did not allow their opponents a single opportunity on goal in the second half compared to their four.