19th March 2006 - County Senior Football League Div 1 Rd 1 in Rathbeg

St. Mary's 0-05 V 1-10 Rathmore

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Rathmore stole the show on the opening encounter of the Credit Union sponsored County League Division 1 tie between the home side and St. Mary’s. Rathmore held the advantage from beginning till end and when on 27 minutes Jerry Murphy hit a quick free to Michael O’Riordan he sent a bullet of a shot to the roof of the net to finish any grasp of the game in which St. Mary’s were clinging on to. Rathmore were still rampant throughout the second half finding scores at will, while St. Mary’s were finding it hard to string a number of passes together without being closed down.

After a frantic opening few minutes to the game Rathmore were first off the mark thanks to Michael O’Riordan and Jerry Murphy, who between them scored the opening three points, Murphy began with a close range free, then O’Riordan intercepted a wayward pass and punished the Mary’s slack marking while after a foul on John Buckley, Murphy pointed another free to give his side a 3 point to no score advantage. St. Mary’s finally woke up and after 17 minutes of play good combination work between Niall O’Driscoll and Daniel O’Sullivan created an Austin Constable point, but to no avail as Tim Cronin cancelled this out two minutes later after a great ball from Michael O’Riordan. Bryan Sheehan was then called upon for his free taking abilities, and he didn’t let his team down when pointing from 45m and 30m respectively, to bring the margin to a single point. But then as half time loomed, a quick free from corner forward Jerry Murphy found Michael O’Riordan completely unmarked and he rifled the ball to the top right hand corner of Darren Corcoran’s goal, to leave the half time score, Rathmore 1-4, St. Mary’s 0-3.

Rathmore took control from where they left off in the first half when straight away Michael J. Kelliher pointed after a great pass from John Buckley, the East Kerry side added three more points in a row without reply from Daniel O’Sullivan, a Jerry Murphy free and a fantastic long range effort from John Buckley. St. Mary’s rallied hard but Rathmore seemed to have a hand in everything and it took a great Bryan Sheehan run to break the Rathmore defence and when he left the ball off to Vinny Moriarty he made no mistake in pointing. With the game approaching the final quarter, and 7 points between the sides, the game lost its bite, and sloppy mistakes were abundant, but with this the home side still produced the goods, Kieran O’Sullivan pointed after receiving a long ball from corner back Kieran Cahill, while St. Mary’s young Paul O’Donoghue made a great run and finished it off in style with a magnificent point, but the game was finished off when Daniel O’Sullivan came one on one with Darren Corcoran in the St. Mary’s goal, but when O’Sullivan struck for goal Corcoran denied him with a good save at the cost of a point to leave the final score at Rathbeg, Rathmore 1-10, St. Mary’s 0-05.

The games Man Of The Match would go to Aidan O’Mahony, who shone out over everyone else and remained strong throughout, also Kieran Cahill, Tim Cronin, John Buckley, Michael O’Riordan and Jerry Murphy stood out for Rathmore, while Darren Corcoran, Paudie O’Shea, Brian Curran, Bryan Sheehan and Paul O’Donoghue played well for the Mary’s. This was below standard performance from St. Mary’s and with this being a vital game for them, they will sure find it very hard not to face the drop from Division 1 this year, while Rathmore minus Tom O’Sullivan on this performance should secure a mid table position.

St. Mary’s Team & Scorers: Darren Corcoran, Brian Curran, John M Clifford, Paudie O’Shea, Mike T O'Connor, James Fitzgerald, Aidan O’Sullivan, Bryan Sheehan (0-2,2f), Niall O’Driscoll, Vinny Moriarty (0-1), Ray Keane, Liam Sheehan, Daniel O'Sullivan, Austin Constable (0-1), Paul O’Donoghue (0-1). Subs: Cormac O'Shea, Connie Connor, Sean Cournane.
 

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