Post date: May 26, 2013 12:50:59 PM
Rathangan travelled to Kildangan on a beautifully sunny Sunday morning to take on Cúchulainn Gaels in Round 4 of the Under 14 League.
The home side got off to a flying start with points from Eoin O’Loughlin and Robert McGrath, Rathangan soon clicked into gear with four points on the trot, with full forward Adam O’Brien the scorer in chief. Conor Lindy and Fearghal O’Mahoney thwarted repeated Rathangan attacks as the Gaels regained control with three unanswered points. A fine individual goal from Eoin O’Loughlin put the home team further ahead but Maurice Curtin replied with a similar score to keep Rathangan in the game.
With Rathangans Teaghan Kemmy and Ryan Ivors now dominating at midfield, the visitors pressed hard for further scores, but Callum Sourke and James Sutton were solid at the heart of the Gaels defence.
The home side were dealt a blow when goalkeeper Daniel Cawley was forced off injured, nevertheless the Gaels finished the half strongly with some fine scores to go in at the break 1:9 to 1:5 ahead.
On the resumption, Tomas Scully got on the end of a long ball from Stephen Keogh to goal for Cúchulainn Gaels despite the best efforts of Finn Kelly in the Rathangan goal.
Superb play from Shane Mooney and Dylan Herbert helped the visitors stay in contention as Rathangan knocked over a couple of points to stay in touch. Just as they seemed to be getting back into the game the hard working Harry Arkwright rattled the net following superb play from Eibhin Conroy and Kevin Martin.
As the morning sun grew stronger the legs grew weaker but both teams deserve great credit for maintaining the tempo as the clock ticked down.
Rathangan again showed their resilience with points from Corey Kenna and Jack Savage but the Gaels displayed their goal scoring skills once more as Robert McGrath goaled with a neat finish following good work by Jordan Nolan.
Both teams swapped points before the final whistle sounded to signal a 4:12 to 1:10 win for Cúchulainn Gaels. The Gaels next game is against Sallins, Wednesday 29th in Sallins at 7.30pm.