Burke goals to seal victory

Hollywood beat Rathnew

HOLLYWOOD RATHNEW 2-8 2-7

A goal from full-back Eoin Burke with eight minutes to go turned out to be the decisive score for Hollywood, as they carved out a well earned win in this Division 1 Dunne Cup play off game, played at windy Merrymeeting on Wednesday night last 13th June.

This score put the Western side five points up at that stage but they needed them all as Rathnew pulled out all the stops in the final 13minutes (five minutes injury time) in an effort to save the game. Hollywood defended valiantly and hung in there for a deserved win – but only just.

A strong wind blowing into the Village end of the ground proved to be a spoilsport for this game. Both sides coped well when playing against the wind, playing a running close passing game.

However, with the wind, both sides found difficulty in judging the flight of the ball and many attacks came to nought as a result.

Hollywood did make better use of the advantage in the final ten minutes of the first half.

They tagged on 1-4 to no reply for Rathnew in this period to lead by 1-6 to 1-3.

Leighton Glynn got the home side off the mark with a point in the first minute. Hollywood centre forward Ciaran Tyrell responded but Rathnew were very dominant for the next 15 minutes carrying the ball forward against the wind and holding possession for long periods.

Mark Doyle fisted home a goal and Graham Merrigan added a point to leave the home side ahead by four points after ten minutes.

However, they were finding it difficult to reflect their dominance in possession on the scoreboard.

The Hollywood defence were resisting stoutly and making scoring difficult.

In addition, the strong wind made shooting for scores a bit of a lottery.

Midfielder Robert Kelly got Hollywood’s second point after 18 minutes but Mark Doyle responded with a Rathnew pointed free.

For the remainder of this half, Hollywood controlled the game with points from Niall Clark, Thomas Burke (free), a great goal from corner forward Stephen Kearney, a long range point from Clark and a final point from centre back Mikey Healy to leave the visitors 1-6 to 1-3 ahead at the break.

This looked to be a precarious lead enough with Rathnew turning over to play with the strong wind in the second half.

Two early Rathnew points from Mark Doyle were responded to with a Harry Wilson point.

Hollywood proved to be very adept at holding possession and carrying the ball forward into the breeze.

Rathnew midfielder James Stafford pointed on 14 minutes but again Thomas Burke pointed a Hollywood free to leave his side two points to the good with ten minutes left, Hollywood felt very aggrieved when they had a goal disallowed for a square infringement but Eoin Burke’s goal put them five points up with eight minutes to go.

Rathnew put in a great finish in an effort to save the game. This led to some great last ditch defending in the Hollywood goalmouth with the Western men holding firm as the game approached full-time.

An unfortunate injury to Keith Traynor led to a five-minute delay while he was treated. When the game resumed Mark Doyle goaled for Rathnew and they then went after the winner.

They almost got it too when Damien Power got his fist to a ball dropped in on the goalmouth. However, the ball just cleared the crossbar and Hollywood went home happy.

Final score: Hollywood 2-8, Rathnew 2-7.

Scorers: Hollywood – Eoin Burke 1-0, Stephen Kearney 1-0, Thomas Burke 0-2, Niall Clark 0-2, Ciaran Tyrell 0-1, Robert Kelly 0-1, Mikey Healy 0-1, Harry Wilson 0-1.

Rathnew – Mark Doyle 2-3, Leighton Glynn 0-1, James Stafford 0-1, Graham Merrigan 0-1, Damien Power 0-1.

Ian Burke; Sean O’Keeffe, Eoin Burke, Kevin Cullen; Keith Traynor, Mikey Healy, Robert Houlihan; Robert Kelly, Harry Wilson; Niall Clark, Ciaran Tyrell, Conor Burke; Stephen Kearney, Matt Kelly, Thomas Burke. Subs: Liam Callinan, Jack Cullen, Colin Tutty.

Peter Dignam; David Jameson, Damien Power, John Manley; Paul Merrigan, John Moorehouse, Chris Healy; James Stafford, Graham Merrigan; Philip O’Neill, Stephen Byrne, Eddie Doyle; Mark Doyle, Leighton Glynn, Nicky Mernagh. Subs: Ronan Doyle, Philip Murphy, Enan Glynn, Ronan Manley, Garry Hughes.

John Keenan (Aughrim).