There really never is much between these two.
Carlow SFC Group 2, Round 3
Eire Og 1-10, Rathvilly 1-10
By Jamie Wall
Game two on Saturday night saw a battle between the 2023 and 2021 champions as Rathvilly took on Eire Og in round three of the Michael Lyng Motors Senior Football Championship.
Like the game before, there was action straight from throw in as Eire Ogs Kyle O’Byrne, who was subbed off due to injury last week from throw in, gathered the ball to find Ross Dunphy who got in on goal only to be denied by a great save from Robbie Molloy. Murtagh Ware converted the 45 with a lovely strike from the deck.
Padhraig Bolger got a great score from distance. Three minutes later he went on to find Eric Molloy with a pin point pass and Molloy heads for goal but unselfishly hand passed the ball across the box for Kevin Murphy to palm the ball into the Eire Og net.
Liam Gavin with a fine right footed effort off the ground extended Rathvilly’s lead before a great ball by Mark Furey found a miss match between the tall figure of Murtagh Ware and Colin Byrne and even with the pressure of Byrne, Ware found the net to close the gap to one.
The importance of a goal keeper showed after ten minutes as a Brandon Kelly run through the Eire Og defence saw his effort well saved by Johnny Furey.
Hard working centre forward Liam Gavin cut out a ball looking to find Mark Furey and Kevin Murphy punished the mistake by bringing his tally to 1-1 in just 11 minutes. Ross Dunphy, who is always a handful to deal with, showed his class as he stood up Dara Curran before dropping the shoulder and heading down his inside to fist the ball over the bar.
The next six minutes proved a point that defenders are practicing their shooting as Eric Molloy and Colin Byrne for Rathvilly. Paul McElligot kicked a fine score for the men in red before Conor O’Neill kicked a fine score making it 1-6 to 1-3 to Rathvilly.
The next eight minutes were quiet on the scoreboard before a dinky pass from Shane Buggy found Alex Delaney in space who was fouled and Dunphy made no error from the free, making it 1-6 to 1-4 at half time.
Eire Og start the sharper and move the ball to Dunphy who again goes the inside line and fists over the bar. A Darragh O’Brien free levelled the game before Ross Dunphy cuts in off the stand side and slots over his 4th of the game off his left boot and gives Eire Og the lead since the first minute.
A Liam Gavin free was sandwiched between two Brandon Kelly points with the second one coming after a turn of foot from the Rathvilly man who gathered the ball from Brendan Murphy.
Murtagh Ware then broke through, but Rathvilly turned him back which saw Ware shoot over the shoulder to bring it back to one point game.
Johnny Furey shows his class yet again as he denied Conor O’Neill. Darragh Murphy’s follow up was stopped by Kieran Nolan on the Eire Og line.
Great ball by Paul McElligot found O’Brien in space, he was awarded a free and converted it himself to level the game with three of normal to play.
Liam Gavin free, from 45 metres out, put Rathvilly ahead before Brandon Kelly went in on goal. Could he seal the win? Johnny Furey showed his intercounty experience and saved excellently diving to his right.
With just two minutes left on the clock it was déjà vu for Darragh O’Brien who found himself standing over a free on the 45 metre line from the same position as last week but this time the Eire Og man made no mistake and kicked it over the black spot, leaving the game all square.
The last few minutes saw Eire Og sit deep in their own half and they seemed happy enough to play out a draw which was enough to see them through in second place in the group. Rathvilly did press on for a winner but Eire Og stood firm and the game finished 1-10 apiece.
Rathvilly
Robbie Molloy; Colin Byrne, Eric Molloy, Barry John Molloy; Padhraig Bolger, Josh Moore ©, Dara Curran; Brendan Murphy, Adam Burgess; Brandon Kelly, Liam Gavin, Robbie Ryan; Kevin Murphy, Conor O’Neill, Conor Doyle. Subs: Ed Finnegan, Darragh Murphy, Ryan Sibbald
Scorers: Kevin Murphy 1-1, Liam Gavin (0-3f), Brandon Kelly 0-2, Eric Molloy, Padhraig Bolger, Adam Burgess, Conor O’Neill (all 0-1 each)
Eire Og
Johnny Furey; Cathal Kelly, Shane Buggy, Eoghan Byrne; Alex Delaney, Mark Furey ©, Paul McElligot; Sean Gannon, Kyle O’Byrne; Lee Moore, Darragh O’Brien, Kieran Nolan; Ross Dunphy, Murtough Ware, Colm Hulton. Subs: Kelvin Chatten, Kyle Nolan, Benny Kavanagh, Diarmuid Ruth
Scorers: Murtough Ware 1-2 (1’45), Ross Dunphy 0-4 (0-1f), Darragh O’Brien (0-3f), Paul McElligott 0-1
Referee: Patrick Murphy
