Ratoath secure first SHC win
After a thrilling contest that saw 43 scores and Mickey Burke sent off in the 15th minute it was Ratoath who held on in an thrilling finish to earn their first SHC victory of the campaign with a 0-23 to 0-20 win over Longwood tonight.
The loss of Burke was a huge handicap to Longwood, but it was the brilliance of Gavin McGowan that ensured Ratoath gave themselves a massive chance of surviving in the senior grade with this stunning win.
Burke shook his head in disbelief as he made his lonely walk to the dressing room as referee Bernard Heaney dismissed him following an off-the-ball incident which left Darragh Kelly on the ground.
Whatever happened between the pair was caught by an umpire and after consultation with the referee Burke was sent-off and the tide stayed firmly in Ratoath's favour.
While there was little to choose between the teams throughout as Anthony Healy's outstanding accuracy from frees was countered by equally impressive accuracy from Padraig O'Hanrahan and Kelly, it was the impact of McGowan that made all the difference.
The deadly Ratoath full-forward finished with nine points from play and was a general torment for the Longwood defence that couldn't cope with him following Burke's absence.
Longwood started on the front foot with Anthony Healy converting a free after just 45 seconds. A minute later he saw another free drift wide, but one of the linesmen informed the referee the ball may have sailed inside the upright.
After further consultation with his umpires, referee Heaney ruled the effort wide, but Longwood did soon double their lead when Burke converted a huge score from inside his own 65-metre line.
A free from O'Hanrahan settled Ratoath and in the 10th minute Kelly levelled it up for the first time.
Another Anthony Healy free was countered by a superb score from Bobby O'Brien and when Kelly converted a free after Chris Lynch picked up a yellow card it edged Ratoath into the lead for the first time, 0-4 to 0-3, in the 15th minute.
The early stages of the third quarter saw the sides exchange point three times. Firstly O'Hanrahan and Anthony Healy traded frees before Niall Murphy and Ryan Moore added points to their respective side's tally to make it 0-6 to 0-5 to Ratoath.
McGowan opened his account before another Anthony Healy free closed the gap to the minimum once again.
O'Hanrahan stretched Ratoath's lead to 0-8 to 0-6 before Burke saw red in the 25th minute and a minute later Kelly had recovered sufficiently to loft over a free from 10-metres inside his own 65-metre line to put three points between the sides for the first time.
Two huge frees from Anthony Healy and a fine score from Damien Healy dragged Longwood back on to level terms, but McGowan closed the half impressively with two excellent scores to ensure a 0-11 to 0-9 interval lead for Ratoath.
The close quarter nature of the contest continued throughout the second-half with Ratoath briefly going four points clear on two occasions, but each time they were hauled back to just one score.
After the resumption three McGowan points were countered by two Anthony Healy frees and a Karl Ennis point to make it 0-13 to 0-12, but then Ratoath took a burst for the gate with McGowan (two) and Kelly (free) making it 0-16 to 0-12 in the 40th minute.
Two more Anthony Healy frees looked to have settled Longwood back into the contest, but Ratoath continued to keep them at arms length with two Kelly frees countering scores from Jamie Connolly and Anthony Healy (free).
Ratoath moved four clear for a second time when McGowan and Sean Keogh made it 0-20 to 0-16 with 11minutes remaining, but again Longwood refused to go away as two more Anthony Healy frees and a Damien Healy score closed the gap to 0-19 to 0-20.
Kelly (free) and Aaron Ennis exchanged scores to maintain the one-point difference heading into injury-time and in the added minutes Murphy and McGowan tagged on further scores to ensure Ratoath had enough breathing room to hold on in a thriller.