Rathkenny 0-09
Blackhall Gaels 1-06

Rathkenny opened their Senior Championship account by drawing with Blackhall Gaels in a game of two halves, in Pairc Tailteann last Sunday afternoon.

In a typical first round affair both sides were a little ring rusty and Rathkenny will rue a host of missed scoring opportunities as they accounted for 16 wides compared to 2 for Blackhall Gaels. Blackhall Gaels were fastest out of the blocks and had registered five points before Rathkenny finally got a score on the board, with a free from Brian Lenehan on eighteen minutes. He added a second five minutes later and when Brian Meade kicked over two minutes before halftime it left two between the sides. Just before halftime, Blackhall Gaels had the ball in the net after Rathkenny net minder John Martin produced a great save, but the rebound seemed to come off Rathkenny captain David Donegan before ending in the net. This left five between the sides at the break.

Rathkenny changed things slightly in the second half and began to get a lot more breaking ball around the middle third to dominate the possession stakes. David Donegan pointed, before his brother John, a second half sub, narrowed the gap to three. Further scores from Brian Lenehan, Colm Gore and Donal Curtis tied matters up with five minutes remaining. Meath player James Macken popped over with two minutes left to edge Rathkenny in front for the first time. Blackhall Gaels got the equaliser in the four minutes of added time, to leave both sides pondering what could have been.

Rathkenny - J. Martin; R. Martin, M. Macken, D. Keogan; D. Donegan (0-1), T. McKeever, J. Gore; J. Macken (0-1), R. Curtis; D. Smith, B. Meade (0-1), B. Lenehan (0-3); R. Timmons, I. Lenehan, D. Curtis (0-1). Subs - C. Gore (0-1) for Smith, J. Donegan (0-1) for McKeever, D. Barron for I. Lenehan Tweet

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