Rathnew run amok against Kiltegan men

RATHNEW KILTEGAN 6-9 0-13

EVEN taking into consideration that Kiltegan were without their usual full-back and centre back for the game, this Rathnew performance was devastatingly effective as they romped to a 6-9 to 0-13 win over Trevor Doyle’s Kiltegan in Joule Park Aughrim in the Renault Senior Football Championship on Sunday evening.

In this form, playing the type of football they are playing, moving the ball with such ambition and defending like giants, there are very few teams in the county who will live with the power that Harry Murphy’s men are producing.

On Sunday evening it was their relentless pursuit of goals that did the damage against Kiltegan as the defending champions put six past their western opponents in a ruthless display in front of goals over the course of the hour.

It says a lot about a team’s state of mind when they are still chasing every ball and every opposition number with everything they have even though the game has been well put to bed, and Rathnew did this on Sunday evening last right to the final whistle.

Kiltegan’s 13-point tally would win plenty of games but they simply had no answer to the attacking force of Rathnew or the defending prowess of Harry Murphy‘s men. Trevor Doyle would have cause to complain that Damien Power could possibly have gone on a black late in the first half for a foul on Seanie Furlong, but in terms of the outcome of this game it’s very unlikely that had the yellow been a black from John Keenan that the result would have been any different whatsoever.

Missing Blaine Harmon (injury) and Stephen Farrell (holidays) left Trevor Doyle’s men at a major disadvantage coming into this game and it was these areas which Rathnew attempted to exploit from the opening stages of this game as several early high balls were pumped in on Mark Doyle and Bryan Kearney with the Kiltegan full-back coping well early on.

Trevor Doyle had detailed Adam Wynne with the difficult task of limiting Leighton Glynn’s influence on this game. Wynne worked hard but Glynn is on another level in terms of game management and skill and the dual player had a huge impact on this game.

At the other end, Cathal Fitzgerald was initially pitted against probably the best full-back in the county in Damien Power with Seanie Furlong also enjoying a spell under the watchful eye of the Rathnew full-back and it’s safe to say that Power ruled the roost. Throw in fine showings from Paul Merrigan, Jamie Snell, Enan Glynn, Ross O‘Brien and JT Moorehouse and it was a difficult night for the Kiltegan men with Seanie Furlong registering eight pf their total score, all from frees.

The midfield dominance of James Stafford and Theo Smyth laid the platform for this victory and the tigerish play of Nicky Mernagh was fully appreciated by the Rathnew support as the half-forward returned a tally of 2-1 for the hour.

Rathnew’s opening goal came after three minutes after Eddie Doyle had exchanged passes with Jody Merrigan and Leighton Glynn and fired home at the second attempt to the back of the Kiltegan net.

Aaron Byrne opened the scoring for Kiltegan a minute later but the Rathnew pressure was relentless.

Two Leighton Glynn points and wides from Johnny Byrne and Eddie Doyle arrived before Kiltegan’s second point and then Rathnew moved up through the gears as they bagged goals from Leight- on Glynn and Nicky Mernagh and points from Jody Merrigan, Mark Doyle (2), Eddie Doyle (free) and Theo Smyth with Kiltegan responding through four frees from Seanie Furlong to send the defending champions in with a virtually unassailable lead of 3-7 to 0-6 at the break.

Kiltegan made a useful start to the second half with a Cathal Fitzgerald point but it was soon business as usual and another 1-1 from Nicky Mernagh and goals from Philly Murphy and Theo Smyth put this game to bed.

Rathnew would finish with 13 men having lost Jody Merrigan and Chris Healy to second yellows but the result of this game wasn’t in doubt from early on, all that was to be decided was the winning margin.

The Villagers sit atop group 2 on score difference from Hollywood who took a point from Harry Murphy‘s men. How many more teams will take anything other than defeats from the defending champions? There won’t be many.

Scorers – Rathnew: Nicky Mernagh 211, Leighton Glynn 1-2, Theo Smyth 1-2, Eddie Doyle 2-1, Philly Murphy 1-0, Mark Doyle 0-2, Jody Merrigan 0-1.

Kiltegan Seanie Furlong 0-8 (8f), Aaron Byrne 0-1, Jacko Dalton 0-1, Cathal Fitzgerald 0-1, Colm Keogh 0-1, Padraig O’Toole 0-1.

Peter Dignam; Jamie Snell, Damien Power, Paul Merrigan; Enan Glynn, Ross O’Brien, JT Moorehouse; James Stafford, Theo Smyth; Nicky Mernagh, Jody Merrigan, Eddie Doyle; Johnny Byrne, Mark Doyle, Leighton Glynn. Subs: Philly Murphy, John Manley, Chris Healy, Danny Staunton, Stephen Byrne

Fergal Harmon; John Farrell, Bryan Kearney, Adam Wynne; Ronan Byrne, Colm Keogh, Liam Keogh; Rory Finn, Anthony Furlong; Padraig O’Toole, Seanie Furlong, Aaron Byrne; Mark Pierce, Cathal Fitzgerald, Jacko Dalton. Subs: Geoffrey Bermingham.

John Keenan (Aughrim)