St Marys 2-17 Ratoath 0-15

St Marys maintained their 100% record in Division 6 with a hard fought win away to a strong Ratoath side on Thursday evening. 

St Marys made the relatively short trip up the road on a lovely evening for football, looking to build on a comprehensive win in Round 1. While the weather may have been ideal, the newly sanded second pitch in Ratoath may not have been, with the playing surface more akin to Bettystown beach in places. This however was the same for both teams, and the home side adapted far quicker, flying out of the traps registering the first 7 points of the game, a well struck two pointed free among them. Marys had to find some momentum and after a very poor first quarter finally found it, Andrew Brien and Joey Greene sharing 3 quick fire points to reduce the gap. Ratoath extended the lead back to 5 with a score of their own before Brien brought it back to a 3 point game with a fine two pointed free. The away side were beginning to gain a foothold, with Cathal Sheridan a man mountain around the middle third when needed. The Marys first goal followed soon after, a swift counter attack found its way to James Lynch, who finished low to the keepers left to draw the game up. 

The away side were in the ascendancy now, and a further score from Adam Craven was followed by the second goal, Brien with an opportunistic effort beating the keeper at his near post to send the Marys into the lead approaching the break. The sides traded scores to leave the half time score 2-7 to 0-10.  

Ratoath started the second half looking to make an immediate impression, moving some of their danger men in closer to goal to try and stretch the Marys defensive unit. 

The full back line of Liam Lynch, John Spain and Conor O’Brien rose to the challenge though and were extremely solid, giving very little change to a potent home attack. Marys were putting together some very good passages of play, with Brien, Eoin Jackson, Tadhg Dixon and Craven adding to the scoreboard. Only for some hesitation in front of goal, the away side could have been out of sight heading into the last quarter of the game. Ratoath kept the game within their grasp, working some nice scores including another 2 pointer, but the Marys just seemed to have enough to pull away when needed. Further scores from Dylan Bagnall, James Lynch, Caimin Hughes and substitute Cian O’Brien brought the curtain down on a good game of football, with the away side happy to head back with the win, ahead of a big clash with fellow early pace setters Drumconrath next Thursday night in Donore. 

St Marys: Adam Byrne; Liam Lynch, John Spain, Conor O’Brien; AJ Bradshaw, Dylan Bagnall, Adam Craven; Joey Greene, Tadhg Dixon; Eoin Jackson, Cathal Sheridan, Caimin Hughes; Andrew Brien, James Lynch, Liam O’Neill Sheridan. 

Subs: Cian O’Brien for O’Neill Sheridan, Ruairi Condra for J Lynch, Eoin Kelleher for Jackson, Tadhg Lynch for Bagnall, Tom Loughran for Hughes, Darragh Maher for L Lynch. Peter Waters, Robbie Gallagher 

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