St. Michaels 0-14, Rathkenny 3-08       

St. Michaels fell short on their home ground in Carlanstown on Tuesday evening in their bid to chalk up a second victory in the AFL division 2 competition.

The Michaels lads gave as good as they got for three quarters of the match but a blistering four minute spell in the run up to the final quarter in which they clocked up 1-3 without reply proved pivotal in propelling Rathkenny into the winners enclosure.   

The visitors opened the scoring in the first minute with a point from play, Gearóid O'Malley opened his sides account two minutes later with a point on the run, indeed O'Malley was the stand-out player on the pitch as he split the Rathkenny posts for eleven of his sides fourteen points including two two-pointers. The visitors went through a barren 15 minute spell before they registered their next score, a fisted point. Davy Lynch cancelled that one out with an excellent effort from an acute angle but the visitors rallied and registered 2-2 in the final ten minutes of the half for a 2-4 to 0-8 interval lead. 

Both sides made a very slow start to the second half, 10 minutes had passed before Lee Morris added a point for St. Michaels while Rathkenny took three minutes longer for a converted free which was the start of their best period of the match which gave them a 3-7 to 0-9 lead after 47 minutes. Cian McFadden replied with a fine effort from play and although O'Malley sent over a further four minors and despite keeping the pressure on the visitors to the bitter end St. Michaels just couldn't manage to pull the fat from the fire.             

St. Michaels team and scorers: Graham Dooner: Cathal Walsh, Ciaran O'Reilly, Ryan Gaffney; Dan Murphy, Matthew Halpin, Jack Griffin; Kuba Bidzinski, Brian O'Reilly; Cian McFadden (0-1), Declan Reilly, David Lynch (0-1, Gearóid O'Malley (0-11), Lee Morris (0-1), Matt Moriarty. Subs: Luke Kelliher for McFadden, Scott Doyle for Moriarty.                                                                                

Referee: Kieran Olwell

Match report: Pascal Reilly PRO.                                                                           

                                                         

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