Ratoath 2-12 Donaghmore Ashbourne 0-14

It was the fourth meeting in six years since Ratoath moved into the Senior ranks between the two local rivals and before today it was the Moore men that held the advantage with two wins against Ratoaths single victory. And for at least 35 minutes of this encounter, it looked like it was Ashbourne that were going to extend this record of victories.

Ratoath did start the quicker of the two teams and Daithi McGowan had them ahead inside the first minute with a well taken point from play. However, a combination of poor shooting, bad decision making and good defending from Ashbourne meant that Ratoath didn’t register another score until the 10th minute of the half through Cian Rogers to draw Ratoath level after Ashbourne had kicked two points, one from play and one from a dead ball. Ratoath struggled with their kickouts and Ashbourne, after taking the lead through a point from play, intercepted one of these kickouts and doubled their lead at 0-04 to 0-02. The teams traded points before the water break with Joey Wallace scoring for the defending Champions before Ashbourne kicked the last point of the quarter to leave it 0-05 to 0-03. Ratoath looked to come out with a bit of vigour in the 2nd quarter and Daithi McGowan kicked two points either side of an Ashbourne point from play. However, a major turning point came when Joey Wallace received what looked like an extremely harsh black card after 22 minutes. From here on Ratoath failed to score for the rest of the half, with Ashbourne tagging on 3 points from play to leave the score at 0-09 to 0-05 and the Moore men well on top, dominating the kickout, breaking ball and looking the all-round hungrier team.

BUT, as the old saying goes, football is a game of two halves (or 4 quarters nowadays) and Ratoath came out in the second half like a scalded cat. They looked a completely different team and in the 3rd quarter alone had almost finished the game off. In this period Ratoath kicked 2-06 to Ashbourne’s 0-01 and looked to be coasting to a second victory. The first goal, which arrive just after a Joey Wallace point from play, seemed to cause a bit of confusion as the umpire failed to raise the flag despite the referee appearing to award the goal. It came after a fast, free flowing move culminating with Ben McGowan handpassing the ball across the goal and Conor Rooney palming in at the back post. Whether the confusion was over if it was a square ball or a dodgy hand pass is anyone’s guess but the goal stood and Ratoath now had momentum. Ratoath kicked three more points from Rooney, Bryan McMahan and Daithi McGowan again before Ashbourne registered their first score of the second half to leave the scores at 1-09 to 0-10. Ratoath once again turned the screw and an excellent deft through ball from Cian Rogers to Conor Rooney put him in on goal and he made no mistake as he rifled the ball into the roof of the net. Two more points from Bryan McMahon and Eamon Wallace left Ratoath leading by 2-11 to 0-10 at the 2nd water break. The final quarter was a slightly drab affair. Ashbourne did outscore their opponents by 0-04 to 0-01, but their search for that elusive goal ended in failure as everything the threw at the Ratoath goal ended up on the right fist or in the arms of Ratoath full back Conor McGill who was dominant in his display against Ashbourne full forward Andy Tormey. Ratoath did have a chance to add a third goal before the end as Cian Rogers looked to latch on to a hand pass over the top. As the ball came down to him, Rogers looked to summon his inner Paolo Di Canio and attempted to strike the ball on the volley first time. Unfortunately, it was more like West Ham forward Carlton Cole rather than Di Canio and the ball skewed off his foot and harmlessly wide. The last score was an Ashbourne point from play before the referee blew his final whistle, with the scores showing Ratoath the victors 2-12 to 0-14.

Ratoath scorers: Conor Rooney 2-01, Daithi McGowan 0-05 (3 f’s), Joey Wallace 0-02, Bryan McMAhon 0-02, Cian Rogers 0-01, Eamon Wallace 0-01

Ratoath: Darragh McPartlin, Sean Brazil, Conor McGill, Andrew Gerard, Brian O Connor, Ciaran O Fearraigh, Jack Flynn, Keith McCabe, Ban McGowan, Daithi McGowan, Conor Rooney, Eamon Wallace, Cian Rogers, Bryan McMahon, Joey Wallace.

Pauric Bryne for Conor Rooney, Cian O Brien for Brian O Connor, Tom Fadden for Keith McCabe

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