McGowan and Rogers fire Ratoath to victory

Daithi McGowan and Cian Rogers were crucial to Ratoath's comfortable victory over Gaeil Colmcille.

Ratoath 3-3-11

Gaeil Colmcille 2-1-6

Daithi McGowan was handed a hiatus from his duties with Meath to line out for Ratoath on Friday evening in the first round of the FL Div 1 and he certainly delivered an outstanding performance.

McGowan and Cian Rogers accounted for 2-10 of the home side's tally as Kevin Daly’s outfit put Gaeil Colmcille to the sword. Tomas Corbett also had a brilliant game at centre-back.

Ratoath failed to score in the final quarter as a black card for Glenn O’Reilly briefly took the sting out of the Ratoath attack. Prior to that though, they had racked up enough on the scoreboard to comfortably take the spoils.

Gaeil Colmcille never really threatened the result but they did close out the game well. They scored 1-2 on the spin in the last quarter and also missed a late penalty.

However, the writing was on the wall early on for the Kells outfit and they trailed 0-4 to 1-6 after 12 minutes. Ratoath extended their lead in the second quarter as they outscored their opponents 1-6 to 0-3 and led by 11 points at the interval.

The game was put to bed after the restart when McGowan hit a brace of two-pointers and Rogers found the net for Ratoath’s third goal. Gaeil Colmcille’s late rally in the final quarter had little impact on the outcome.

After just 20 seconds, Oisin Kelly played a long ball into the danger zone and Emmet Harley capitalised on a Gaeil Colmcille error to scramble the ball into the net. Points from O’Reilly and Andy Gerrard followed and after three minutes, Ratoath led by five points.

Evan Sheridan got Gaeil Colmcille off the mark with a well-struck two-pointer before a brace of McGowan points handed Ratoath a 1-4 to 0-3 lead after seven minutes. Gaeil Colmcille were dealt a blow when Fionn Smith was given a black card and Ratoath took full advantage of the extra man.

Rogers scored two points on the bounce before Liam Barry pulled one back for the visitors. Bryan McMahon cancelled out Barry’s score with a free before he was involved in the build-up of a nice move that was finished off with a well-taken point from O’Reilly. O’Reilly then scored a cracking two-pointer and by the time Smith returned to the field, Ratoath led 1-10 to 0-4.

Barry’s soccer-style assist to Ajay Tormey was crucial when the latter found the back of the Ratoath net in the 28th minute. However, Gaeil Colmcille’s joy was short-lived as McGowan registered another point and Rogers scored his first and Ratoath’s second goal just before the half-time whistle. At the break, Ratoath led 2-12 to 1-4.

Ratoath effectively put the game to bed early in the second half. In the 35th minute, McGowan scored a cracking two-pointer from a near-impossible angle on the left-hand side of Ratoath’s back pitch. In the 38th minute, Rogers burst through the Kells defence again and scored Ratoath's third green flag before McGowan raised another orange flag a minute later.

Gaeil Colmcille pulled two points back through a brace of Tormey points. Eoin Feldman’s point in the 42nd minute transpired to be Ratoath’s last as two minutes later Glenn O’Reilly was handed a spell on the sidelines for a black-card offence.

Gaeil Colmcille seized the opportunity as Tormey registered a free before Adam Muldoon got on the end of a nice move and scored his side's second goal. In the 59th minute, Daniel Farrelly pulled another point back for the away side.

Charlie Twomey was then fouled inside the Ratoath large rectangle and Gaeil Colmcille were awarded a late penalty. Tormey stepped up to take the penalty but he was denied by Ratoath’s new shot-stopper Devon Burns. The final whistle soon after confirmed a comfortable victory for Ratoath.

Ratoath - Devon Burns; Sean Brazil, Liam Kelly, Eoin Drysdale; Andy Gerrard (0-1), Tomas Corbett, Rob Hayes; Conor McGill, Oisin Kelly; Glenn O’Reilly (0-4 one two-point), Daithi McGowan (0-7 one free, two two-points), Eoin Feldman (0-1); Emmet Harley (1-0), Cian Rogers (2-3), Bryan McMahon (0-1 free). Subs - Eamon Wallace for Gerrard 41m, Cian Crawford for Feldman, Bobby O’Brien for Harley both 43m, Domhnall Rogers for O’Brien, John Walsh for Corbett both 52m.

Gaeil Colmcille - Barry Farrelly; Fionn Smith, Bruno Griffen, Daniel Farrelly (0-1); Adam Muldoon (1-0), Rian Early, Jordan Muldoon; Aaron Browne (0-1), Sean Cleary; Liam Barry (0-1 free), Ajay Tormey (1-3 two frees), Conor Og Ferguson; Evan Sheridan (0-2 two-point), Ryan Farnham, Liam Devine. Subs - Charlie Twomey for Cleary half-time, Paul Tormey for Farnham 46m.

Referee: Tomas Macleod (Ballivor)