ACFL Division 2
St. Mary’s Rasharkin 1-17 Kickham’s Ardoyne 1-4
St. Mary’s Rasharkin took advantage of the strong breeze in the opening half to put this game at Dreen out of reach of visitors Ardoyne by half-time. With Eamonn McNeill on fire St. Mary’s led by 1-11 to 0-1 at the break and it was as good as over.
The North Belfast side performed a bit better after the break and managed to match the home side’s second half total but Brtendan O’Neill’s goal after 20 minutes came too late to have any bearing on the final result.
During the opening half it was Rasharkin who got off to a flier with Eamonn McNeill leading the way and the excellent number 15 would contribute 1-7 of his side’s first half total as he proved virtually unmarkable.
Conor McFerran made a sizeable contribution with 0-3 and Daniel Doherty, Fearghal Kennedy and Oran McMullan were all on target with Ardoyne’s only point of the opening half coming from Joe Gibson.
Half time Rasharkin 1-11 Ardoyne 0-01
With the wind behind them the visitors needed a good start to the second half but it was Rasharkin who started the 2nd half against the breeze brightly with 3 early points through Conor McFerran and Eamon McNeill 0-2 and to open up a 16 point gap but despite plenty of possession the scores dried up.
It was visitors Ardoyne who began to enjoy a wee bit of success as Joe Gibson kicked his and his side’s second point from a free in the 6th minute with Cormac Mullan adding two more by the end of the third quarter.
These scores seemed to give the visitors some encouragement and Brendan McNeill finished to the net in the 20th minute to bring their total to the evening to 1-4 but that would be as good as it got with the home defence closing shop.
Once again it was Eamonn McNeill who led the Rasharkin charge as they climb clear of the bottom two with their third win of the present campaign.
Indeed their point total could have been much great but they suffered one point defeats to St. Paul’s and Naomh Padraig but they seem to be heading in the right direction and will test any side in the division on their day.
Ardoyne seem to be going through a bit of a crisis at present with a number of regulars missing but if they can get those players back on board then they are capable of much better than they showed in this one.
Rasharkin: Cathair Henderson, Pearce Kelly, Emmet McFerran, Liam Quigg, Colm Kennedy, Fergus Quigg, Conan McMullan, Ruairi O’Boyle, Oran McMullan 0-01, Killian O’Boyle, Fearghal Kennedy 0-02, Daniel Doherty 0-01, Jack Quinn, Conor McFerran 0-04, Eamonn McNeill 1-09
Subs:
Donagh Quigg for Jack Quinn
Caolan Maria for Eamonn McNeill
Daniel McGurk for Conor McFerran
Ardoyne: Dan Watson, Ethan Magill, Mico mcAuley, Oisin Hickey, Aron Stewart, Pearse Marley, Brendan Marley, Dan Moore, Rinnian O’Brien, Conor Magee, Joe Gibson, Brendan O’Neill, Odhran McKee, Owen Corrigan, Brian McAree, James McAuley, Ciaran O’Neill, Cormac Mullan, Gary McKeown.
Referee: Paul Burns (St. Comgall’s)
