There was more Championship heartache for our Junior C Footballers on Tuesday night last when they ran into a powerful Rathdowney side. It brings an end to a year which held a lot of promise, and brought one piece of silverware with the Division 5 trophy, the final of which sadly was won off the field due to a walkover, but nonetheless this side will play in Division 4 in 2023 and hopefully this will develop them further in their efforts to reach a higher Championship grade. Plenty to be learned from the past few months, and we thank the players and management for their dedication and endeavours. More to come with these boys, of that we have no doubt.
Laois Junior “C” Football Championship SemiFinal
Rathdowney 2-10 Park Ratheniska 1-8
Rathdowney have advanced through to the Junior ‘C’ Football Championship final after defeating last year’s beaten finalists Park-Ratheniska in the Centre of Excellence this evening.
There was just a point between the sides at half-time but a strong second half performance from Rathdowney saw them through to victory.
David Brennan opened the scoring for Park-Ratheniska with a point two minutes in, but Rathdowney hit back strongly.
Padraig Rafter got the opening goal when he got the ball near the posts and sold a couple of dummies before neatly placing the ball into the corner with his left foot.
Eric Killeen then displayed some fine footballing ability when he pointed a free off the ground and followed up with a lovely score from play off his left and Rathdowney led by four points.
Killeen came to the fore once again when he played a ball into space for his midfield partner Brandon McGinley to run on to and he popped the ball over the bar. Brian Bowe struck a free over for Rathdowney’s fourth point.
Pauric Tierney got Park-Ratheniska back on track with a point from a free before goalkeeper Stephen Hitchcock made amends for missing a 45 by landing one over the bar a moment later.
Stephen Knowles and David Brennan scored a point each within 20 seconds of each other and it was just a two-point game.
After a scoreless 14 minutes for Rathdowney they got back on the board with a point from Padraig Rafter after some more fancy footwork from the youngster.
The game was levelled on 29 minutes with a goal through Ben Delaney. Oisin Nolan and Sean Tynan combined brilliantly and the latter found Delaney with a searching ball towards the square and Delaney dispatched it into the net.
Padraig Rafter had the final say of the first half with a well taken point from distance to bring his tally to 1-2, and put Rathdowney into a 1-6 to 1-5 lead at the break.
It was a very dull start to the second half as just one point was scored in the opening 15 minutes, a fine effort from Shane Madden out on the right wing for Rathdowney on six minutes.
Things picked up as we headed for the fourth quarter of the game as Rathdowney rattled off a quick 1-2.
Killeen scored his third point of the game with a free before Brian Bowe dealt Park-Ratheniska a huge blow with an expertly taken goal after some fine interplay between Darren Bowe and Dan Bowe.
Dylan Carroll followed immediately with a point that he buried over the bar and Rathdowney led by seven point with 10 minutes left to play.
Park-Ratheniska were shell shocked but they managed to get a couple of scores back through Stephen Knowles, one from play and one free.
Brandon McGinley got Rathdowney’s final score of the game with a point and Stephen McCabe hit one back for Park-Ratheniska in vain just before the final whistle.
SCORERS – Park-Ratheniska: Ben Delaney 1-0, Stephen Knowles 0-3 (one free), David Brennan 0-2, Pauric Tierney (free), Stephen Hitchcock (45) and Stephen McCabe 0-1 each Rathdowney: Padraig Rafter 1-2, Brian Bowe 1-1 (0-1 free) Eric Killeen 0-3 (two frees), Brandon McGinley 0-2, Shane Madden and Dylan Carroll 0-1
PARK-RATHENISKA: Stephen Hitchcock; Brendan Dowling, Brendan Conroy, Peter Conroy; Dylan Rogers, Keelan Barry, Killian O’Connor; Patrick Kelly, Stephen McCabe; Ian Moore, David Brennan, Martin Walsh; Ben Delaney, Stephen Knowles, Pauric Tierney. Subs used: Sean Tynan, Oisin Nolan, Paul Ruddy, Niall Heagney, Aaron Szwaglis
RATHDOWNEY: Cian Bourke; Damien Madden, Dan Bowe, Shane Bracken; Shane Madden, Dylan Carroll, Padraig Rafter; Brandon McGinley, Eric Killeen; Paddy McCane, Brian Bowe, Jimmy Keegan; Enda Meagher, Ryan Costigan, Jordi Kavanagh. Subs used: Enda Meagher, Darren Bowe, Aaron Costigan, Shane Bracken, Ross King, Paddy Maher
Referee: Brendan Hickey (Graiguecullen)
TURNING POINT
Brian Bowe’s goal on 50 minutes really put the game to bed for Rathdowney. They had been leading for the vast majority of the game, but Park-Ratheniska were well in with a shout of nicking the game off them up until that point. Rathdowney took total control of the game from then on and saw out the victory well.
