Rathkenny 1-06 St. Vincent’s 1-06 

St. Vincent’s travelled to Rathkenny for the second round of this year’s Division 3 Football League. With both teams having started the league with a win this was always going to be a tight affair. 

The first chance of the game fell to Gary Tuite who kicked wide form a free. Rathkenny worked the ball well down the field and earned a 45 from the blocked shot, but it dropped short. The teams traded wides from play before Rathkenny opened the scoring in the 6th minute. A short kickout was won by Rathkenny who had an opportunity for a goal, but the ball was blasted over the bar. Rathkenny doubled their score with a well pointed free from just inside the 45. St. Vincent’s broke down the wing with Conor O’Brien finding Gary Tuite who was fouled as he headed towards goal. Gary Tuite pointed from the free for St. Vincent’s first score. It was Gary Tuite to the fore again as he found Patrick McGill with a direct pass before McGill was fouled. Gary Tuite stepped up to cooly slot the free over the bar with his left foot. Despite some promising attacks from Rathkenny it was St. Vincent’s who were growing into the game. Michael McIvor pointed from a free outside the 21 in the 21st minute to give St. Vincent’s the lead for the first time in the game. Despite both teams pushing hard this was to be the last score of the half, due to tight defences and shots dropping wide or short.

Half Time – Rathkenny 0-02 St. Vincent’s 0-03

The second half started with Rathkenny drawing the sides level in the first minute from play. St. Vincent’s replied with a free from Michael McIvor to take the lead again. The hosts squared the game up with a well kicked point from a free. As the game became more stop/start than free flowing it was Rathkenny who took the lead with a hard-fought point from play. Despite losing Stefan O’Neill for 10 minutes to a black card St. Vincent’s dug deep and got the next score from a pointed free by Patrick McGill to leave the sides level once again. Rathkenny replied with a point from distance. In the 44th minute St. Vincent’s intercepted the Rathkenny kickout and Conor O’Brien kicked a long high ball in which the Rathkenny keeper gathered but stepped back over the line with the ball to give St. Vincent’s the first goal of the game. There was to be no further scores for 14 minutes as both sides were guilty of missed opportunities through wides and short balls. It was during this period that Ryan Hand also collected a black card. It wasn’t until the dying minutes that the game really came to life. A Rathkenny attack from their own 14-yard line was worked forward and a direct pass from the 45 into the Rathkenny midfielder, who was one-on-one with Evan Connor in the St. Vincent’s goal, cooly slotted it to the net. Rathkenny with a 1-point lead as the clock ticked down. St. Vincent’s responded with a long-range point from play by Adam Tuite to draw the sides level once again. St. Vincent’s battled hard looking for the winning score. Davy Tallon won the contest at midfield for the ball, passed to his brother Bob who kicked a huge ball in to the 21-yard line where Adam Tuite gathered for a mark.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t convert to give St. Vincent’s the win. Honours even in a hard fought game. 

Best for St. Vincent’s was Gary Tuite, who always looked a threat with ball in hand as he pushed forward for the full 70+ minutes.

St. Vincents scorers: Conor O’Brien (1-00), Gary Tuite (0-02), Michael McIvor (0-02), Adam Tuite (0-01), Patrick McGill (0-01)

St. Vincent’s: Evan Connor, Conor White, Davy Tallon, Barry O’Sullivan, Dylan Kavanagh, Ryan Hand, Gary Tuite, Bob Tallon, Martin Fox, Conor O’Brien, Kevin McEnerney, Nigel Hand, Patrick McGill, Michael McIvor, Adam Tuite

Subs: Stefan O’Neill for Martin Fox, Niall Tallon for Dylan Kavanagh, Paddy Arnold for Kevin McEnerney, Mark Crawley for Patrick McGill

 

 

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