Champions held to draw in SHC opener

Goals in the last quarter from Mark Horan and Joey Keena earned Kilmessan a draw with Ratoath in the SHC opener at Trim on Thurday.

Ratoath 0-23

Kilmessan 2-17

TOM GANNON

For any neutrals in attendance, an exciting second-half made amends for a rather dull opening 30 minutes as Ratoath and Kilmessan shared the spoils at Trim in this SHC opener on Thursday.

Having trailed by two points at the break, Ratoath outscored Kilmessan by 0-8 to 0-2 in the third quarter and found themselves in a commanding position. In the final quarter, goals from Mark Horan and veteran Joey Keena proved crucial to Kilmessan as they earned a draw with the current Jubilee Cup holders.

The battle in midfield was enthralling and was equally as tight as the contest itself. Finn Conroy had an excellent game for Kilmessan while Ciaran O’Hanrahan worked tirelessly for Andy Dermody’s side.

Both sides will want to improve on their shot conversion rate next time out. Kilmessan finished with a very high tally of 18 wides. Ratoath were not much better in front of the posts and relied heavily on Podge O’Hanrahan who finished with 0-15 to his name.

Ratoath started the contest well and led 0-6 to 0-3 at the end of the first quarter. Podge O’Hanrahan contributed five of those points, and the pick of them was a superb free into the Aura end from right in front of his own dugout.

Kilmessan registered two points in the first five minutes through a brace of scores from Conor Horan. Darragh Kelly and Kevin Keena both added to their respective sides' tally early on.

Kilmessan began to settle into the clash in the second quarter. Seanie Doyle got in on the action with a nice point before he gathered a lovely long ball from Shane Brennan and set up Darragh Horan for Kilmessan’s fifth point.

Podge O’Hanrahan kept Ratoath’s noses in front with a brace of frees and a lovely score that had some nice link-up play between himself and Jack McGowan.

Kilmessan finished out the half very strongly. After doubling his personal tally, Kevin Keena set up Kyle Donnelly for a long-range score. Lorcan Byrne added two points either side of a Conor Horan free. Doyle set up Mark Horan for a point just before the half-time whistle and at the break Kilmessan led 0-11 to 0-9.

After the restart, the champions took a stronghold in the contest and rattled off four points in five minutes. Their captain, Jack McGowan, got their second-half tally underway. Cian Rogers was lively in the third quarter and he split the posts twice. Rogers was also heavily involved in the build-up to Podge O’Hanrahan’s ninth point.

Kris Gorman who was having an excellent game reduced the gap back to one before Podge O’Hanrahan and Conor Horan traded frees. Padraic Byrne did well to gather a lovely ball from Jack Lanigan and split the posts in the 40th minute before a brace of Podge O’Hanrahan frees put Ratoath four points clear of the opposition at the end of the third-quarter.

Kilmessan needed a response and they certainly got a big boost when a long ball into Joey Keena was knocked down by the stalwart into the path of Mark Horan. The tricky corner forward struck at the sliotar first time and found the back of the Ratoath net.

In response to Kilmessan’s goal, Podge O’Hanrahan kept his growing tally ticking over before Kelly and Conroy traded points. Another Podge O’Hanrahan free put Ratoath ahead by three points with five minutes left.

Doyle‘s free in the 66th minute left two between the sides before a long ball from Kris Gorman caused Colm O’Riordan some issues. Joey Keena took advantage and finished to the back of the net to edge Kilmessan ahead with three minutes left.

Ben McGowan delivered a big score from distance for Ratoath to bring them back on level terms before points brothers Ciaran and Podge O’Hanrahan edged the Jubilee Cup holders ahead by two in injury time. Kevein Keena reduced the gap back to the minimum and there was just about enough time left for Doyle to slot over the all-important equaliser.

Ratoath: Colm O’Riordan; Liam Kelly, Ben McGowan (0-1), Conor McGill; Jack Lanigan, Darragh Kelly (0-2), Niall McLarnon; Ciaran O’Hanrahan (0-1), Rob Hayes; Padraic Byrne (0-1), Daithi McGowan, Padraig O’Hanrahan (0-15 nine frees) ; Gavin McGowan, Cian Rogers (0-2), Jack McGowan (0-1). Subs: Tim Fitzpatrick for Hayes 42m, Tom Fadden for McLarnon, Eoin Flanagan for Byrne both 51m.

Kilmessan: Sean Power; Kyle Smith, Shane Brennan, Chris Green; Kris Gorman (0-1), Kyle Donnelly (0-1), Alex Smith; Cian Maguire, Finn Conroy (0-1); Kevin Keena (0-3), Lorcan Byrne (0-2), Darragh Horan (0-1); Mark Horan (1-1), Seanie Doyle (0-3 two frees), Conor Horan (0-4 three frees). Subs: Joey Keena (1-0) for Maguire 40m, Peter Farrell for K Smith, Jack Cottrell for Green both 55m.

Referee: Derek Argue (Cavan).