Seamus Connolly Catering A League. Division 1A - Round 11. Skryne 0-11, Ratoath 2-11

Skryne 0-11, Ratoath 2-11

Two Ratoath goals, one in each half ensured Skryne had a nervous wait at full-time to see the outcome of some of the other matches and discover whether they had retained their Division 1A status for another year. Na Fianna secured victory over Gaeil Colmcille this evening to leapfrog Skryne in the table. Trim were already relegated before the final round and Dunshaughlin sat just one point behind Skryne in the table before this evening’s game and needed a win to jump ahead of Skryne in the table. However, victory for Simonstown over Dunshaughlin was enough to ensure Skryne stayed ahead of Dunshaughlin and will ply their trade in the top division in 2024, while Dunshaughlin and Trim drop down to Division 1B.

The first quarter was a close affair with neither team troubling the score-board operator until the 6th minute of the game when Ratoath hit the opening score. They added a second from a free converted by Bryan McMahon. Conor O’Brien opened Skryne’s account with a fisted point from a narrow angle. An Ian Davis pointed free drew Skryne level, before Bryan McMahon struck a double from play, the first of which came after he gathered a high ball on the end line to the right of the goals and then broke across the face of the goal before firing over from in front of goal when he had the goal at his mercy. Ian Davis fielded a beautiful pass from Shane Smyth before turning and shaking off the attentions of Conor McGill, and then firing over his second and Skryne’s third point of the game to leave just a point between the teams at the midpoint of the half.

Skryne levelled matters 21 minutes in when Ian Davis struck another point from a free. The wheels came off for Skryne from then until the half-time break. Ratoath edged ahead again with a point from their wing half-back. The Ratoath centre-back then won the kick out for Ratoath from over near the dugout. He shifted the ball forward into the right-hand corner where Ratoath managed to get Bryan McMahon on the ball again to the right of the goal near the end-line. Similar to his effort in the first quarter, McMahon moved across the edge of the small square, but this time he side-footed the ball low to the bottom right corner of the net for Ratoath’s first goal. Ratoath turned the screw further adding another four points before the half-time whistle blew leaving them with a healthy eight-point lead as Skryne looked shell-shocked after such a bright opening. Half-time: Skryne 0-04, Ratoath 1-09.

Shane Smyth immediately set about reducing the half-time deficit with a fine point in the opening minute of the second half. Conor O’Brien fisted over his second point of the game 4 minutes into the half. Ratoath found the target on the 6th minute of the half to open their scoring. Then disaster struck when a Ratoath attacker pounced on the Skryne kickout, broke inside the Skryne defence and squared the ball across the face of the goal where it was palmed to the back of the net by their corner-forward to increase the gap to an almost unassailable 10 points. To Skryne’s credit, they continued to battle on, hitting a hat-trick of points without a reply from Ratoath, the pick of the bunch a long-range effort from corner-back David Rathborne.Ratoath added a free before Skryne finished the half with another double, two pointed frees from Mark Battersby and Ian Davis to leave six points between the sides when the final whistle blew. Skryne 0-11, Ratoath 2-11.

Skryne: Cian Donohoe; David Rathborne(0-1), Andrew Moore, Niall Lenehan; Conor Donohoe, John Finnerty, Ciarán Quinn; Patrick Fox(0-1), Michael Doherty; Conor O’Brien(0-2), Padraig Finnerty, Shane Smyth(0-1); Mark Swan, Ian Davis(0-5, 4 fs), Paddy Carpenter.

Subs Used: Harry Rooney, Mark Battersby(0-1, 1f), David Carroll, Luke O’Brien, Robert Gallagher