The hosts came away with the spoils in this J M Food Services, Football League Division 2, Round 3 match played in Simonstown last Saturday afternoon, April 5th.

Simonstown 4-10 Rathkenny 2-09

Referee Paul Mooney threw up the ball just on 3pm in bright sunshine, but a strong cross field wind made conditions a little tricky for both sides. The visitors had the first real chance of the half with just over two minutes played when a ball into the full forward line found Eoghan Heavey. He rounded the full back, but his low shot grazed the flag to the left of the goalposts. Rathkenny opened their account from a right footed free from Noah Jenkinson as the clock approached four minutes. The hosts then took over the scoring mantle with four points on the bounce between the fifth and ninth minutes. Noah Jenkinson sent over another free in the eleventh minute to put two between the sides. The hosts scored the first of their goals in the thirteenth minute, when a move down their left dissected the Rathkenny rearguard and they had a man over on the edge of the square to palm it to the net. Rathkenny clawed back a point from a Noah Jenkinson free, before the hosts tagged on two further scores to leave six between the sides at the quarter stage.

Rathkenny tagged over their fourth free of the game through Noah Jenkinson on seventeen minutes. Simonstown added another point a minute later before Joey Curtis sent over Rathkennys first from play on the twenty-minute mark. The hosts finished the half with 1-1 as they punished Rathkenny mistakes to leave it 2-8 to 0-5 at the short whistle.

Rathkenny failed to take three early second half chances and were duly punished when Simonstown rattled the net on 39 minutes. This left twelve points between the teams and a mountain for the visitors to climb. Simonstown popped over the next score of the game before Christy Meade sent over Rathkennys first point of the half with eleven minutes played. Things got even better for the hosts as they netted again, and the gap was out to fifteen at the three-quarter mark.

In fairness to the visitors, they never stopped trying and the hosts did not score again in the final quarter. Noah Jenkinson sent over his fifth free of the game before David Curtis finished off a fine team move to the net to reduce the gap. He then sent over a free as we approached the final few minutes. Centre back Padraig McKeever then added a second goal with another good team move as we entered stoppage time. There was still time for substitute Patrick Knowles to send over from a free before Paul Mooney brought proceedings to a close.

Rathkenny – Charlie Cullen; Christy Meade (0-1), Adam Byrne, Corbin Jenkinson; Robert Garry, Padraig McKeever (1-0), James O’Hare; Joey Curtis (0-1), James Macken; Jeaic Timmons, Max McKenna, Sean O’Hare; Noah Jenkinson (0-5), David Curtis (1-1), Eoghan Heavey

Subs – Mark Byrne for Jeaic Timmons (HT), Niall Branigan for Robert Garry (52), T J Farrelly for Eoghan Heavey (52), Patrick Knowles (0-1) for Joey Curtis.

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