Rathvilly......0-10 Erin's Own......0-8 Carlow champions Rathvilly had to work extremely hard for their two-point victory over Kilkenny kingpins Erin's Own in the opening round of the Leinster club football championship at Dr Cullen Park on Sunday 3rd November. A comfortable victory for Rathvilly had been predicted and it looked like panning out that way when Pat Molloy and Francis Kelly fired over early points. But the Castlecomer men, who recently captured the Kilkenny title for the first time, responded with points from Adam Holden and Eddie Brennan to trail by 0-4 to 0-5 at half-time. Within two minutes of the restart, Holden had brought Erin's Own onto level terms and the sides remained deadlocked until Derek O'Donoghue restored Rathvilly's lead in the 43th minute. Erin's Own then suffered a major setback when Brennan was sent off for a second yellow card and by the 50th minute, the home side had opened up a 0-9 to 0-6 advantage. Ken Brennan and David Buggy replied with points for the Kilkenny champions but Rathvilly held on for a narrow victory. Rathvilly - A Doyle, K Byrne, C Doyle, J Bolger, P Molloy 0-1, J Keogh, C Cole, K Doyle, S Kavanagh 0-4, JJ Smith, T Bolger, D O'Donoghue 0-2, M Curran 0-1, D Leonard, F Kelly 0-2. Subs: D O'Brien for Smith, WJ Burke for Cole Erins Own - F O'Neill, D Mullins, P Shore, L Shore, Donal Dunne, E Rothwell, K Normoyle, D Buggy 0-1, M Owens, M Coogan, P Mullins, K Brennan 0-1, David Dunne, E Brennan 0-1, A Holden 0-5. Subs: B O'Neill for Owens, P Donovan for D Mullins Referee - P Daly (Westmeath) Tweet

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