Coolkenno triumph after battle with Village
at Merrymeeting
have three wins from five and sit in fourth spot behind high-flying Tinahely, Avondale who played an extra game and Éire Óg Greystones.
A tight opening 15 minutes on an extremely heavy pitch was followed by a period of dominance from the competitive Coolkenno side with goals from Conor Doyle and a screamer from Paul Murphy to send the Carlow border men in to the half-time break leading by 2-4 to 0-4.
Rathnew would have been hopeful of turning things around given that they were playing with the significant wind for the second half, but the Villagers couldn’t rattle the back of the Coolkenno net to put pressure on the visitors’ lead.
Rathnew had good performers in Johnny Byrne, Philly Murphy, Ciaran Coffey and the half-back line of the Healy brothers and Garry Byrne. They won’t be sorry to see the back of this league campaign and will look to drive forward for the Intermediate championship with a full team to select from.
Coolkenno will obviously be delighted with the win, but they will know that this weekend’s clash with Avondale will be crucial in terms of staying clear of the relegation play-off section.
A feisty affair at times with the referee having to intervene on a number of occasions as the players became acquainted with each other, this was a game lacking in quality but rich in effort and endeavour.
Final score: Coolkenno 2-8, Rathnew 0-7
John Corcoran; Shane Walker, James Gregan, Willie Doyle; Colm Murphy, Robert Keogh, David Cole; Jim Cushe, Paddy Dalton; Conor Doyle, Eamon Rossiter, Paul Murphy; Pauric Coleman, Conor Walker, Eoghan Dolan. Subs: Stevie Donoghue, John Kavanagh, Niall Bailey, David Tompkins, Cormac Byrne, Cathal Rossiter, Chris Doyle, Don Jackman.
Paddy Reynolds; Ross Quinn, James Manley, J Moorehouse; J Healy, Gary Byrne, Chris Healy; Ciaran Coffey, Jonah Graham; Edward Doyle, Philip Murphy, Ronan Manley; Johnny Byrne, Dean Franey, Ronan Doyle.
Coolkenno: Rathnew: Referee:
Kieran O’Shea.
Casey O’Brien’s St Pat’s footballers followed up their victory over Blessington last week with a satisfying win over visiting Bray Emmets at Dunbur Park last weekend.
Leading by 0-10 to 0-4 at the break, the Wicklow town men survived the Bray challlenge in the second half to emerge as 0-16 to 0-11 winners on the day.
Tommy Kelly and Jordan Pettigrew were the chief tormentors in the Bray Emmets defeace with both men scoring four points apiece, Pettigrew with four from play, Kelly with three from play and one free.
Paudge McWalter, Dean Healy and Johnny Delahunt all notched two points each as O’Brien’s men continue to show improvement.
They entertain Dunlavin next weekend.
Scorers - St Patrick’s: Tommy Kelly 0-04 (1f), Jordan Petticrew 0-04, Stephen Duffy (2f), Padge McWalter, Dean Healy and Johnny Delahunt 0-02 each.
Bray Emmets: Diarmuid Masterson 0-03 (2f), Marc Lennon 0-03, Des Kelly 0-03, Adam Dixon 0-01, Padraig Bell 0-01.
St Patrick’s: Ian Murphy; Simon Bouchier, Shane Murley, Aidan Dunne; Padge McWalter, Conor Ffrench, John Crowe; Dean Healy, Ronan Murray; Jack Dunne, Stephen Duffy, Johnny Delahunt; Jordan Petticrew, Tommy Kelly, Paul O’Brien. Subs: Chris Kavanagh, Eric Dunne, Wayne Doyle and Hugh Humby.
Bray Emmets: Tadhg Dornan; Mark Linehan, Daire Lohan, Ciaran McKay; Ben McCormack, Shane Lohan, Padraig Bell; Johnny Kinch, Des Kelly; Declan Snow, Diarmuid Masterson, Niall McGraynor; David Haughton, Marc Lennon, Eoin McCormack. Subs: Adam Dixon
Mick Murray’s Hollywood are sitting pretty in fourth spot in the Arklow Bay Hotel Division 1 Football League this week after a 2-15 to 1-13 victory over Baltinglass last weekend.
This latest win is their second of the league campaign after they accounted for Blessington in the opening game.
Baltinglass enjoyed a healthy start as they stormed into a 1-3 to 0-2 lead after 13 minutes with Mark Jackson and Sean O’Brien firing over points and Brian Lord grabbing 1-1. Hollywood’s two points came from Tony Hannon (free) and Matthew Kelly from play.
Murray’s men came storming back into the game with five unanswered points, three in a row from Thomas Burke, and singles from Tony Hannon and Steven Kearney to leave Hollywood leading by 0-7 to 1-3 with 24 minutes gone in the opening half.
Two second half goals for Hollywood, the first from Tony Hannon, the second from Michael Healy, put paid to the Baltinglass challenge in this game with Ciarán Walshe’s charges unable to breach the Hollywood rearguard for a second goal.
The defeat leaves Baltinglass second from bottom with only three points from six games and only a single point above Kiltegan who have only played two games.
Scorers – Hollywood: Tony Hannon 1-6 (4f), Thomas Burke 0-05 (3f), Michael Healy 1-00, Matthew Kelly 0-01, Steven KJearney 0-1, Conor Burke 0-1, PJ O’Keeffe 0-1.
Baltinglass: Brian Lord 1-1, Dan Kelly 0-4, Mark Jackson 0-2, Tadhg O’Toole 0-1, Cian Lee 0-1, Jason Kennedy 0-1, Rocky Nolan 0-1, Sean O’Brien 0-1.