Palatine are off to a great start.
2024 Michael Lyng Motors SFC , Round 1 , Group 2
Palatine 0-10
Rathvilly 0-8
By Stephen Bambrick
The first points of the 2024 Carlow SFC deservedly headed the direction of Bennekerry following Palatine’s 2 point win over perennial opponents Rathvilly.
With difficult conditions and incessant rain throughout the game their better overall performance as a unit ( winning both halves 0-5 to 0-4 ) saw them gradually grow in to the game though some errant early shooting on another day may have proved costly.
Never headed through the hour, Pal eventually got the championship’s first score of 2024 via a 7th minute Craig Kearney free from 35m following a Josh Egan run; Egan himself finding the target to double their advantage in the 10th minute.
Though by minute 12 we were all level, Brandon Kelly’s turn and shot then Kevin Murphy after some good Josh Moore play both with points, quick hands by Finbarr Kavanagh finding the inrushing Conor Crowley to punch Pal ahead once more , Ciaran Moran doubling that advantage with a booming effort in the 19th minute for 0-4 to 0-2.
Brendan Murphy left a perfectly weighted ball on Kevin Murphy’s chest for a mark from which he duly obliged in the 23rd minute, Eric Molloy with possibly the score of the game ( from possibly the player of the game also ) , outside of the right in to the Dublin Rd end meant we were level again with 27 minutes on the clock.
Craig Kearney bookended the half with another free, this time the angle the same but the distance just outside the 45m line, fitting given the seemingly imminent announcement of one of the first regular scoring goalkeeper’s in Shane ” The Cake ” Curran as Carlow Senior Football manager! 0-5 to 0-4 as Patrick Murphy called time on the first half.
The consensus at the break was Rathvilly would improve on the restart, Tomas Kenny had other ideas, his 32 minute point cutting in from the old press box sideline for point number 6.
Somewhat of a Rathvilly improvement did come, Conor Doyle’s goal bound effort saved smartly by Kearney before the mightily impressive Molloy cut through with a pair of incisive runs to hand Josh Moore and Conor Doyle both chances to point, both availed of, level at 6 points each on 38 minutes.
It’s not often that it’s the 42nd minute of a game before Shane O’ Neill has a sighting of the posts, but here he was much later than we would expect dispatching a free just outside the Rathvilly D and the resultant kickout back over the bar meant it was worth the wait from a Pal point of view anyway. 0-8 to 0-6 soon became 0-9 to 0-6 , Bryan McMahon justifying his taking of a mark by taking the point on offer, Pal having weathered the storm for now anyway.
Kevin Murphy’s 3rd of the evening for Rathvilly in the 51st minute ended a barren spell for scores , 0-9 to 0-7 , still anyone’s to win , then in the 54th minute a free in for Rathvilly on the Palatine 20m line near the sideline resulted in a flashpoint, a red card to Ed Finnegan leaving Rathvilly down to 14 for the remainder of the game.
Sensing victory Tomas Kenny produced a carbon copy of his earlier score in the 57th minute to push the lead out to 3. Another lung bursting drive from Molloy saw him point this time off his left in the 2nd of 3 additional minutes , 0-10 to 0-8 it remained to the end with a late Rathvilly free ‘ lobbed in ‘ but to no avail.
The points were to be Palatine’s and fully merited at that , their younger players growing in confidence as the game went on while Rathvilly will be very disappointed by their own overall performance.
Subs:
Palatine – B Broderick ( blood sub ), J Cranny
Rathvilly – D Murphy, D Curran , K Curran
Scorers:
Palatine – C Kearney 0-2f , S O’ Neill 0-2 ( 0-1f), T Kenny 0-2, C Crowley 0-1, J Egan 0-1, C Moran 0-1 , B McMahon 0-1m
Rathvilly – K Murphy 0-3 ( 0-1m) , E Molloy 0-2, B Kelly 0-1, C Doyle 0-1 , J Moore 0-1
Referee – Patrick Murphy
