ACFL Division 2
Rasharkin 0-7(7) St Teresas 2-8(14)
Photographs: Mark Hasson
St. Teresa’s recovered from a heavy defeat in Dunloy on Sunday to gain their second brace of points against a Rasharkin team who had run the Cuchullain’s close a couple of weeks ago.
It took 12 minutes for either side to register and It was visitors St. Mary’s who were first to register when Tiernan O’Boyle pointed them ahead after a dour and uneventful opening period as both sides struggled to deal with the blustery conditions.
This score seemed to spark the Glen Road side into life as they replied with points from John Mallon 0-2 and Conor O’Rawe to move two in front by the 20th minute.
Ryan Lynch replied with a good point for the visitors but the momentum was with the Glen Road men and Anthony Varndell and Phillip Maguire fired over to move the home side three in front with four minutes remaining to the break.
Tiernan O’Boyle closed the gap to two with half time approaching but big full-forward got in for a vital goal for St. Teres’a just before the break with the impressive O’Boyle keeping the visitors hopes alive with a pointed free in first half injury time.
H.T. St. Teresa’s 1-5 Rasharkin 0-4
Rasharkin battled hard to get themselves back into the game but it was St. Teres’s who drew first blood when John Mallon pointed in the 6th minute with the visitors replying with a good point from Ryan Lynch to keep the gap at four.
John Mallon was influencing matters on the ‘40’ for the West Belfast side and he struck with his second point of the half in the 10th minute with the visitors struggling to hit the target in the worsening conditions.
It was a further 10 minutes before Shane Hasson split the posts to again give his side a glimmer of hope but once again St. Teresa’s were able to find a response and Mark Small got his name on their score sheet as he pointed with eight minutes remaining.
Ryan Lynch was doing all in his power to keep the Dreen men afloat and his point in the 22nd minute again closed the gap to four but that was as close as they got with John Erskine putting the game out of reach with his second goal of the game to conclude the scoring.
A good win for St. Teresa’s which moves them onto four points and once again they have shown that if they can get their best team out they are hard to beat on their Glen Road ground.
They were solid at the back throughout with John Mallon impressing on the ‘40’ and big John Erskine in a rick vein of form at the edge of the square getting two goals to add to a great goal he scored in Dunloy on Sunday.
Rasharkin have been turning in descent performances lately without much reward but never reached those levels in this game and will need to get back to their best if they are to get anything from Sunday’s visit to unbeaten Davitt’s while St. Teresa’s face a similar hurdle as they travel out to Crumlin to meet St. James.
St. Teresa’s: 1 Odhran O’Neill, 2 Ryan Mallon, 3 Joseph Rainey, 4 James McGorrian, 5 Conor O‘Rawe, 6 Colm McGoldrick, 7 Liam Gault, 8 Anthony Varndell, 9 Luke Cassin, 10 Phillip Maguire, 11 John Mallon, 12 Paul McGoldrick, 13 Mark Small, 14 John Erskine, 15 Stephen O’Hara
Rasharkin: 1 – Tiernan O’Boyle 2 – Seamus Ellis 3 – Daniel Doherty 4 – Pearse Kelly 5 – Colm Kennedy 6 – Emmet McFerran 7 – Conor Hasson 8 – Ruairi OBoyle 9 – Thomas McMullan 10 – Shane Hasson 11 – Ryan Lynch 12 – Andrew Hasson 13 – Thomas Doherty 14 – Conor McKeever 15 – Conor McFerran
SUBS:
Eamon McNeill for Thomas Doherty
Cahir Henderson for Andrew Hasson
Jack Quinn for Conor McFerran
