Rathnew have too much power for Kiltegan
KILTEGAN 2-6 RATHNEW 3-10 RATHNEW turned in a powerful performance on the road last weekend to put Kiltegan to the sword on the Carlow border in their opening Division 1 football league game of 2019.
Jody Merrigan was top man on the day for Harry Murphy’s side with the full-forward bagging 3-1 in total over the 60 minutes.
Merrigan had the first green flag waving within 60 seconds of the start and the Village side showed absolutely no mercy in that openinghalf as they opened up a gap that would never be closed.
Merrigan had 2-1 in the opening half with his second goal coming as he rounded the Kiltegan goalkeeper Seanie Furlong and firing home. County stalwart James Stafford kicked an impressive 45 that he wouldn’t be renowned for and at the other end Rory Finn kept plugging away trying to drag his side through but Kiltegan trailed 0-3 to 2-7 at the half time break.
The second half opened with the same vein of the first half concluded with Rathnew’s industrious half back line being the platform for so many attacks with their ability to turn over possession and supplying passes for James Stafford, Eddie Doyle and even Warren Kavanagh popped up with a score from half back himself. Merrigan’s third goal was a real feather in his hat.
An audacious attempt at a score looped over Furlong and into the corner of the net to seal Rathnew’s victory. Kiltegan to their credit battled hard in the final twenty minutes with Rory Finn capping an impressive personal performance with a well taken goal along with Aaron Byrne who also raised a green flag for the home side. Kiltegan’s famous passion and spirit was much more evident in the second period but Rathnew’s blockbuster first half had the damage done at that stage.
Scorers - Rathnew: Jody Merrigan 3-1, Eddie Doyle 0-4, James Stafford 0-2, Dylan Smith 0-1, Ross Quinn 0-1, Warren Kavanagh 0-1.
Kiltegan: Rory Finn 1-5, Aaron Byrne 1-0, Cathal Fitzgerald 0-1.
KILTEGAN: Seanie Furlong, Jonathan Tallon, Bryan Kearney, Ciaran Doyle, Luke Byrne, Colm Keogh, Liam Keogh, Blaine Harmon, Stephen Farrell, Aaron Byrne, Rory Finn, John Farrell, Steven Coogan, Cathal Fitzgerald, Andy Foley. Subs; Ronan Byrne for L Byrne, James O’Brien for C Doyle, Eoin Coogan for J Farrell, Mark Pierce for S Coogan, Faustas Andrulenis for J Tallon.
RATHNEW: Peter Dignam, Dean Franey, P Merrigan, David Jameson, Warren Kavanagh, JT Moorehouse, Garry Byrne, James Stafford, Ciaran Coffey, Graham Merrigan, Eddie Doyle, Jonah Graham, Dylan Smith, Jody Merrigan, Philip Murphy. Subs: Philly O’Neill for J Graham, Tristan O’Toole for W Kavanagh, Damien Power for D Jameson, Luke Corcoran for G Merrigan, Ronan Doyle for J Merrigan, Ross Quinn for D Smith