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ARKLOW Town hosted their league rivals Rathnew in what turned out to be a day to forget for the Arklow outfit.
The home side started the brightest of the two teams and almost opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Sonad Muse went one on one with Rathnew keeper Josh O’Connor, but O’Connor pulled off a great save with his legs to deny the Arklow midfielder.
Arklow Town looked to be solid in defence in the opening twenty minutes as the hosts held firm on multiple occasions to keep out Rathnew strikers Zach O’Connor and Adam Byrne, but it was in the 29th minute when the away side broke the deadlock through a great goal by Scott Devlin.
The midfielder gained possession on the edge of the box before he fired a low shot that deflected up and over Arklow keeper Calum O’Neill.
The first half ended with the home side down by one goal and needing a big improvement in front of goal in the second half to get back into the game.
Sonad Muse was proving to be a big problem for the Rathnew defence as the midfielder had the skill and pace to go on great solo runs but unfortunately for the home side he couldn’t find the back of the net for his team.
Rathnew managed to grab another goal in the 37th minute after a well organised short free kick from Ryan O’Neill who found Jack Moorehouse at the back post who headed home to make it 2-0. A great goal from the away side who were in total control of the game.
Arklow Town striker Victor Gadjek should have opened the scoring for his side in the 53rd minute when he went on a great run down the right wing beating two Rathnew defenders but his shot on goal went narrowly past the post and wide.
Gadjek went on another one of his great solo runs minutes later but when he squared the ball across the box there was nobody to get on the end of his cross.
Rathnew added another goal to their tally on the hour mark after some great play from Adam Byrne.
Byrne went on a great run down the left wing, the striker beat a number of Arklow players before squaring the ball across the goal to Killian McAllister who slotted the ball home.
Rathnew rubbed salt into the wounds of their opponents adding two more goals before the final whistle, goals coming from Scott Devlin and then Jake Merrigan and Adam Byrne combining for the fifth goal of the game.
The away side were so clinical going forward and made every opportunity on goal count.
Arklow Town weren’t as clinical in front of goal and that cost them the result but despite being five goals down they had more possession throughout the game but in the end they couldn’t find a way past a solid Rathnew outfit.
1. Calum O’Neill, 2. Konrad Korpalski, 3. Aaron Doyle, 4. Peter Boddy, 5. Thomas Burke, 6. Christian Nazari, 7. Oisin Reilly, 8. Graham Martin, 9. Sonad Muse, 10. Victor Gadjek, 11. Owen Byrne, 12. Oran Dowling, 13. Conor Mc Eleron, 14. Jamie Paine, 15. Cormac Ward.
ARKLOWTOWN: RATHNEW:
1. Josh O’Connor, 2. Ryan O’Neill, 3. Ethan Snell, 4. Ryan O’Toole,
5. Jack Haughton, 6. Killian Mc Allister,
7. Scott Devlin, 8. Jack Moorehouse, 9. Ethan Power, 10. Zach O’Connor, 11. Adam Byrne, 12. Jake Merrigan, 13. Aaron Douglas.
REFEREE:
Matt Dowling.