ST PAT’S ARE SENIOR COUNTY FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS AFTER DEFEATING RATHNEW IN REPLAY
West side put Rathnew to the sword in a thriller
at Roundwood
ST NICHOLAS took home the spoils in this thrilling Under-15 ‘A’ Football Championship final against Rathnew after a composed display in a highly turbulent encounter in a packed Roundwood last Wednesday evening.
Roundwood proved a great venue for the final, with great banter and colour between both sides, in a packed stand along with the scoreboard keeping everybody updated.
Joey Mills had the opening score with a point in the opening 30 seconds to get the west side off to a flying start.
Jack Reid landed another point before Sean Doyle landed a major in the fifth minute as the St Nicholas side were cruising at this early stage, to finish off a great team move.
The Donard/Dunlavin combination side added another brace of points as they tore into a shellshocked Rathnew side.
But the Village side were soon right back in this game. William Moorehouse fielded a mark and fed Ross Quinn who played a sweet pass into Eoin Doyle whose shot shook the back of the Nic’s net to get the east coast side up and running in the 10th minute.
The game settled down a bit with both defences on top in the next few minutes. Mikey O’Rourke landed St Nicholas’ fifth point in the next attack to close out a lively opening quarter.
St Nicholas were piling on the pressure, but some resolute defending by Ewan Culbert and Ryan O’Toole were clearing anything that came their way.
The lively Eoin Doyle fired over a pair of long range frees for Rathnew to eat into the lead. Eoin Doyle then levelled matters as he blasted the ball to the roof of the St Nicholas net in the 25th minute as the Rathnew faithful roared on the red and green in this rip-roaring contest, with the scoreboard reading 1-5 to 2-2.
Joey Mills split the posts from a tight angle to restore the lead for the westerners. Rathnew won a 45, which was duly dispatched straight and true, through the uprights into the floodlit night sky to level proceedings once again, going into additional time.
However, Sean Doyle, who was having a fine game for St. Nic’s, pointed a free to give the west side the lead at 1-7 to 2-3, as the half-time whistle sounded in this highly enjoyable encounter.
As in the first half, St Nicholas had registered a score in the opening 30 seconds with Jack Reid pointing from an acute angle, roared on by a highly vocal following.
Indeed, Jack Reid added another point in the next attack after good work by Sean Doyle.
TJ O’Neill laid a fine pass into Eoin Doyle who tapped over another point for Rathnew’s opener, of the second period.
The St Nicholas defence were under pressure and the only way they could curtail big Eoin Doyle was by fouling him, however, Doyle was as accurate with the placed balls as from play as he added another brace of points off the carpet to reduce the deficit to the minimum in this blockbuster.
Mark Murtagh and Oisin Traynor broke down the next couple of Rathnew attacks before Adam Byrne and Sean Doyle each pointed to further the lead for the west outfit.
Eoin Doyle took the paintwork of the outside of the post after good build up play by Reece Doyle. Rathnew were making their opponents fight tooth and nail for every chance. Chris Doyle brought off a powerful save from a Sean Metcalfe piledriver to keep Rathnew within touching distance.
However, Doyle was helpless when Willie Eager drove through the Rathnew rearguard and rocked the net for a major blow to the red and green as the roof literally lifted of the stand as the Nic’s faithful celebrated and roared on their team.
Rathnew rallied again, and Eoin Doyle added another point, however, the St Nicholas defence battened down the hatches, before Joey Mills and Jack Reid closed out the scoring with a point apiece.
Pat Dunne thanked both teams, the referee, Roundwood for hosting, and then presented the cup to Rory Martin, the St Nicholas captain. The Coiste na nÓg chairman then thanked Brendan Lawrence and the Wicklow People for sponsoring the Man of the Match award, which went to Sean Doyle of St Nicholas.
Scorers - St Nicholas: Sean Doyle 1-3, Jack Reid 0-4, Joey Mills 0-4, Willie Eager 1-0, Mikey O’Rourke 0-2, Adam Byrne 0-1. Rathnew: Eoin Doyle 2-7
St. Nicholas: Meitheal Cleary; Ronan Kelly, Rory Martin, Oisin Traynor; Sean O’Sullivan, Mark Murtagh, Cian Fox; Tadgh McCarty, Willie Eager; Joey Mills, Adam Byrne, Mikey O’Rourke; Sean Doyle, Jack Reid. Subs: James Walshe, Ciarán Geoghegan, Liam Metcalfe, Jack Keogh, Dylan Prendergast, Eoin Sheridan, Andrew Thompson, Matt Miley, Conor Manifold, Josh Thompson, James Flood, Ben Lawless.
Rathnew: Christopher Doyle; Cory Devlin, Jamie Coleman Kelly, Thang Tran Quoc; Ryan O’Toole, Killian Clarke, Ewan Culbert; Ben Free, Charlie Cruise, TJ O’Neill, Ross Quinn, William Moorehouse; Aaron Douglas, Reece Doyle, Eoin Doyle. Subs: Jake Brady, Zack O’Connor, Joshsua O Connor, Toby Curran, Bill Moorehouse, Fionn O’Neill.
Referee: John Keenan (Aughrim)